Stand out on Instagram (and stand out in business)

INSTA-POCALYPSE has hit your home and business.  Now what do you do?

The Rising Tide Society, a social media blog called Instagram’s new algorithm, the INSTA-POCALYPSE.  Typically we hear the term, “apocalypse” and panic, but you don’t need to- we’ve done the work to ensure that your business will be just fine.

The good old days of whatever you posted that day to 1500 of your followers are long gone…

What does this mean for you and your business?  

A cliffs notes version of what this really means…Instagram is moving away from the chronological feed that we all have been accustomed to and has started using an algorithm to select and arrange the content that users will see.  ?

Let me tell you a little story about myself…

For a full year, I had an Instagram account just like you.  I had no idea what I was doing on there, so I kept up one single selfie.  

Pretty compelling, right? ;) 

Finally after some coaxing by friends who told me I was hurting my business by not being on Instagram, I brought it back to life. 

?Now, I am forced to hold myself accountable with the social media gods.  A few more sweaty selfies and some hashtags later,  I was ready to take on more.  The selfies have more in depth than that but you get the picture!

I thought that by posting my pictures along with some common hashtags (#life #fitness #believe), that my tribe would easily be able to find me.  I may have gone a little too far and trusted the Jimmy Kimmel and Justin Timberlake mentality.  #shutthef & ckup  For productivity sake, do NOT click on that link this second, but if you’ve never seen the skit, do yourself a favor and bookmark it for later.

??It used to be true that all 1,500 of my followers would see my posts along with everyone else’s as long as they signed in within a close time period to me.

Unfortunately, with the new algorithm Instagram uses, that sweaty selfie and those original hashtags need a little more TLC.  

I began to look at the algorithm and examined how I could best serve my tribe.

?If you are using Instagram for business purposes, I hope that is your #1 purpose: serving your tribe.?

To best serve the FPL Nation, we live and breathe by the 4 E’s. 

The 4 E’s are to:??

• Educate
• ?Entertain
• ?Empower
• Engage??

Instagram’s new algorithm is giving our businesses a nice slap on the thumbs up emoji to shape up and add more value to have our content be seen.  We work hard to make certain that our followers are being educated, entertained, and empowered.  If our posts aren’t seen, how are we supposed to do that?  ?

For the next few minutes, we are going to take you down that road of creating more value while showing you step by step what other creative entrepreneurs out there have shared with us.  ??

The Rising Tide Society showed us how to tackle our social media in five simple steps. Sharing is caring in this business, so let’s dig in and see what they had to say. 

?First, let’s look at what they say about how to Brand with Personality and why this should be important to you.  

Branding with Personality

?

We are sure that the first thing you think when signing into Instagram is, “I love how that person branded themselves like a robot!”  Right?!  NOT!?

People don’t want just another advertisement, they want value and a relationship.  If you are just all business and “here is my product” in every post, what fun is in that for your followers?  

Showing your personality is key to putting ANYTHING out there for your followers to see.

For example, we love to talk all things wine here at FPL.  ??Does that have a direct correlation to our brand?

Yes!  It is a part of us, so it is a part of our brand.  We can have fun with branding ourselves and really bring the best (wine) out of us to create an environment in which our followers want to be a part.

Now that we are friends… pretty close friends, (You like wine + we like wine = Friends)
let’s tackle step by step where you can walk with more direction to crush your Instagram.  

Step #1: Building Relationships

“How do I build relationships on social media?”

??I get this question a lot.??

People come to me asking for the secret formula or tool that no one knows about…

The secret is… 

There is NO SECRET.  It is quite simpler than people make it seem.  It is social media, so well… be social. 

That means that you should not be using your social media as a magazine ad or a billboard.

Instagram is a visually driven platform, so yes, your posts should be visually appealing, but you must stop and think,  “Are my posts inviting and socializing with my followers?”  If not, we need to fix that.

So.. how do you do that? 

?It comes down to engaging with your followers.  Every relationship is a two way street.  No one wants to be friends with someone who takes and takes, so don’t do that on your Instagram.  Instead, you want to make connections and keep that lovefest going! ??

Let’s do a quick fun exercise:

Write down 3 people that you follow on Instagram who you admire.

It can be anyone,  but preferably someone in the same business field as you.??

Ok, do you have them written down?

??Give them a ‘yes or no’ to the following  questions:?

1.   Does he/she ask questions?
2. ?  Does he/she provide meaningful content??
3.   Does he/she have a passion for the people who he/she serves?

??Now ask the same questions of your own Instagram.  

This is a quick system to see where you are at and how you can insert your flare into social media immediately.

Here are few others tips that will rev up your relationships to keep them fueling stronger and back to honoring social media for socializing:

Is this something you can introduce into your social media schedule?  To be honest with you, these took me awhile.  “I didn’t have time,” was my answer. 

That being said, as I stated earlier, I want to empower others, and if I’m not showing up, why should I expect that of them???

To keep it simple, dedicate the first 30 minutes after you post to comment and connect with others.  You don’t have to be a hawk and soar over your phone during this period of time, but getting into the habit of not posting and running will be beneficial for you to connect with your tribe.  

Step # 2: Encourage Post Notifications

WOAH.  I am not going to lie, I didn’t know about this feature.  When someone told me, I felt like they had just sent me an entire box of my favorite wine.  Okay, okay, it may not be that exciting, but this is a HUGE and underutilized feature that will help you to reach more and more people each day.

You should encourage your followers to do just that: “follow you.”  Just by clicking ‘follow’ doesn’t mean that they are going to see your posts.  If they want to be sure to see you (which of course you want), they have to turn on post notifications.

Although it’s not blatantly out there, it’s actually a really easy thing for us to ask people to do, and there are only three steps that they need to follow:

1. Go to the Instagram Account’s Page
2. Click the three dots in the right hand corner.
3. Choose, “Turn on Post Notifications” from the menu.

Fellow fitnessprenuer and social media guru, Scott Rawcliffe has taught us the key to keeping consistent with this notification feature by encouraging us to put in a video or message while “asking” our tribe to “turn on notifications.”?
Some suggestions:

• “Don’t miss out on new content.”
• “Don’t miss out when we launch our next program.”

These will encourage your followers to click that “notification” button without being too pushy.

As you can see in the image above, it is important to add flare and be fun when asking people to click, “turn on post notifications” or else they may just keep scrolling, which is obviously not what you are going for here.

On a side note, keeping it real and the energy high is big at FPL. Fun and flare are necessities.  It is in our bylaws.  I am not kidding.  

They state: “If you are not fun and are unwilling to take harsh jokes, you are no longer hired by FPL.”  

Don’t you remember the four Es?  The third one is to entertain, so be fun!  Your tribe will have more fun if you are entertaining! ?

Okay, let’s refocus!?

?#killercontent #yourockScott #WhyAreWeHashtaggingLikeThis?
?So, you may be creating hashtags like that right now.  If you are, don’t worry, we are in a no judgement zone.  That being said, don’t do that.  #yourockScott isn’t going to help you (or Scott for that matter) and it gives hashtagging a bad rap.  

Fortunately, there is a method to this #hashtag world we live in, and it’s not as complicated as you may think.

?Step #3: Develop A Hashtag Strategy

Being specific with your hashtags will be more crucial than ever with the new algorithm.  This will help your content be relevant to specific groups and you will have more of a connection with others that are searching those specific #hashtags.   

?There are two ways to post your hashtags that will be helpful for you to understand when and WHY to use hashtags.  

Hashtags are used wrongly because we simply don’t how to use them or we don’t really understand how to use hashtags to best serve our tribes.  #IGETIT #IdidNot #IwillStop ;)  #sorry Ah, I can’t help myself! ??

Here is a quick snapshot of the two types of hashtags:

??If you’re like me, you had no idea that there were two types of hashtags, so let’s dig a little further. 

?Type One: Overt Hashtags (image on the left).  These are placed in the caption and are relevant to current conversation.  These will direct your followers to a portfolio of posts.   ??

For example, your post could be:?I just got done training with my #TRSF crew and I am fueling up with my superfood shake, #shakeology.??You are making your hashtags visible in the picture caption and they are relevant to your current conversation.  ?

Type Two: Covert Hashtags (image on the right).  These are also known as Searchable Hashtags, and if I am upfront with you, these are a little more confusing, but I promise that I will make it as clear as possible.

?Don’t quit on me now! ? ?

The first thing you need to know: covert hashtags go into the first comment of your post and are not your caption.  ??

The hashtags have the same reachability, but they are more considerate of your brand.  Would you rather them see valuable content or 30 hashtags flooding your message?

??Putting your hashtags in the comments to keep it cleaner and more discreet.  

Please note: You can add 5 full stops on a new line before you add your hashtags to generate a symbol like this […] instead of a long body of content.

??Quick tip: I save my hashtags in my notes on my phone and have them all set and ready for a post.  This will be a time saver in the future!   ??

The hashtag world could feel trivial at first, but when you start connecting with clients that need what you have to offer, it will be well worth the learning.??

Plus, knowing how to correctly hashtag can lead to you connect with more people and communities within Instagram.  

Step #4: Create a Social Media Support Group

In the beginning of the article, we mentioned that your 1,500 followers are not all seeing your posts.  The new algorithm is increasing the need for engagement and not putting a lot of stock into quantities of followers.   ??

This one is very intriguing because the people in the industry that have big followers can be intimidating for inspiring fitnessprenuers to step into the scene.

This is actually good for those of us who don’t have tons of followers.  We are all on the same playing field now.  In turn, we are able to get back to earning our spot while adding valuable content and truly engaging with our tribe.  ??

We are really pumped about this because at FPL, we don’t put a lot of stock in having 80,000 followers or having 200 likes per post.  To us, that is a red flag that the content is not engaging and not giving enough value to serve our tribe.
?

Lead with serving your tribe and the followers “quality” will surpass “quantity” any day!

??More quality in your social media will lead you to teaming up with fellow fitnessprenuers out there.  You will be able to spread the love and intentionally “boost” others’ images.  You will also create a support group that lift one another up and will be part of a community instead of feeling that you are always in a competition. 

??We are in this together!??

Taking part in the community that Instagram has lead us to love will keep us standing out.

Step #5: Take Part in Community Activities

In Rising Society Tide’s final step, they explain that showing more attention to what is going on in Instagram will benefit us.  

If you are in the health and fitness industry, taking part in #TransformationTuesday will benefit your following because there is a big community on Instagram that posts every Tuesday to encourage and empower others to their health and fitness journey.

You want to get in on that!

??This community comes together for encouragement and inspiration to keep going.  

Stop for a second and jot down three things in which your niche may take part?  If you can’t think of any, go find those favorite Instagrammers and check our their hashtags.

Now you are all Instagram gurus and are ready to conquer the social media world. Right?  RIGHT!

In case you want a little visual to help you remember these Instagram tips, here is a quick recap for you:

??Just like anything else in life…if you work it, it will work for you.

SHOW UP and deliver for your tribe, and they will deliver for you.   ??

Until next time, ?

The FPL Team