Instagram, Instagram, Instagram.
Today we're gonna talk about how to gain 1,000 followers
on Instagram without spending money.
'Cause you may be thinking wow, easy for you to say Dan,
you've got over 800,000 followers on Instagram.
But what if I'm just getting started
or I don't have the resources, I don't have the money,
I cannot pay to do shout-outs.
What can we do to just gain some followers on Instagram?
Just kind of get it going, right.
Again, I have Blake joining me,
my Social Media Director.
Also, the one who manages my social media account,
my Instagram account.
So Blake, talk to us.
In the beginning, I know you worked with,
before you joined my team, you worked with some clients.
Yeah
Which, where they don't have a lot of resources,
they don't have a lot of money but you've helped them grow
their Instagram account and get more followers.
That's right
How did you do that?
Well so, a client that I had she started
with me with 200 followers and she had no money.
200.
Yeah.
You know, and now she's at over 11,000 followers.
Yes.
And we haven't spent a dime on anything.
Wow.
No shout-outs.
It's all organic and--
No pay.
No pay ads.
No ads.
It's really easy for people to assume
like oh I can't do it because I'm not, you know, Dan.
I don't have resources or whatever,
but the truth is, the first like 50,000 followers
that we got together, it was all organic,
we didn't do anything we just,
we developed a solid strategy, right?
They weren't even that good of a post.
No (laughs).
They weren't good at all.
It's been a lot of iterations over time.
Oh man, yes.
But the main thing that, it doesn't matter
if you're starting with 200 followers,
or 50,000, or 150,000, there's three rules
that pretty much always stay true.
All right, let's hear them.
So number one is setting up your account
for success and the way that you do that
is making sure that you actually take the time
to develop like a theme and a niche,
and make sure that your Instagram account is something
that specifically speaks to somebody or a group of people.
Because it's like I say, if you try to talk to everybody,
or message to everybody, or like you say
if you try to market to everybody,
you actually are marketing to nobody.
Nobody, yeah.
Think of it this way, if you go into a subway,
and you yell hey everybody,
nobody's gonna actually look and listen to you,
but if you go down there and you yell hey John!
You're gonna get a few people that turn their heads, right?
Because it's very specific.
So number one is actually defining a niche.
You know, build an avatar, make an example avatar
of like your perfect audience, because if you don't do that,
then you're just gonna start making posts
and writing things that make no sense
to anybody in particular, and then you won't
get anybody's interest.
Yeah, not all followers are created equal.
You want the right kind of followers.
Example, if you are a personal trainer,
or in the fitness training business,
yeah of course, show off your body, show us your workout,
you'll attract certain type of clients, that's perfect.
But you have to be very clear who you are talking to.
Your message within a post, the photos,
they have to fit your brand.
So we're not just getting attention for the sake
of getting attention, because down the road,
if when you wanna monetize example.
If you want to promote other people's products and services,
it's much more powerful when you know
exactly who you're talking to, right?
What problems are you solving for your followers?
Number two, if you want sponsorship, sponsored posts,
well the sponsor would be sitting down with you,
and talking okay so who are your people?
Yeah.
And if you say well it's everybody,
well then it's not worth a whole lot.
No, you know what, my posts I focus on, you know,
moms who want to look better and have more confidence,
and look healthier, well that's a very different thing.
It is.
Yeah, then they would want to, these sponsors,
the advertisers, companies, brand, they're willing to pay
much more money for you to post something
versus oh just yeah I do stupid shit on Instagram
and I have a lot of people watching me do stupid stuff,
so well that's one way, but that's not the way we recommend.
What's rule number two?
Rule number two is to be consistent,
and you know, just keep messaging like almost every day.
That's a great point because in the beginning
when Blake told me well Sifu Dan we have to post
every day I'm like every day?!
Yeah.
What, where am I gonna get all these photos,
and do these posts, like it felt like a huge commitment.
Yeah.
Like for me 'cause I'm always very busy.
So on every single day I do a post, is it worth my time?
But we cannot emphasize this enough.
Why do we need to post every day?
So actually, we now post three times a day.
Three times a day?!
Okay, here we go.
And there's some brands, some accounts
that actually post up to eight times a day.
Sometimes more, you know, it's almost becoming
like a, you know, like Twitter's very popular too now.
Like with the how many times you can message.
But the reason why is because if you train your fans
to receive a message or some kinda content from you,
then all of a sudden it disappears, then there's two things.
The fans start to like not have a habitual way
of connecting with you every day, and the second thing
is that the algorithm will actually start to downplay
your account and rank it lower in the algorithm because--
Algorithm wants you to create more content.
Exactly, it wants you to post every day,
it wants you to post multiple times a day,
it wants you to keep your Instagram
stories full all the time, you know.
The more consistent you are with the platform,
the more it favors you and it'll push your content
in front of your people.
Yeah and I like Instagram
because in a way, it's very immediate.
It's very, very immediate.
Just like all social media platforms,
but Instagram fans they'll tell oh I love this, right.
They will share, they will bookmark it, they will heart it.
It's a very, you upload something, within like minutes,
you will get a response.
Is it a good post, is it not a good post.
Is it a good photo, is it not a good photo.
So I find that fascinating,
but it's very, very important that consistency.
You have to integrate the social media,
I always believe, with your day to day life.
If you're doing something, yeah share.
It's almost just share with your fans, right,
make that connection, hey here's what we're doing.
Hey we're doing some filming.
Hey we're eating.
We're traveling.
Here's something cool.
Instagram it's a glimpse of your life.
It's letting your fans see,
hey, who you are as a person, right.
What's it like day to day?
Sometimes we post stuff that's like,
I post stuff that's has nothing to do with business.
Like nothing to do with business, just fun stuff, right.
So that's rule number two.
What's rule number three?
Rule number three is to build a tribe.
Yes.
You don't wanna just market all over the place
and hope something sticks, you wanna be very specific
with who you're messaging
and like who your core audience is.
Because when those people understand that you get them--
Yes.
If they feel in their heart that you understand them,
then they will be so committed to everything that you do.
They'll engage with your content,
they'll buy your products, your services.
You're more likely to get a sponsorship
or any kind of affiliate deal as well
because they know what you stand for.
And if it's like hey, you know what,
I stand for the same thing that he does or she does,
then it's so much easier to get those deals,
or get people to buy your products and services.
Yes, yes.
I believe people follow you not because they understand
what you do, people follow you because they feel understood.
They feel you understand them.
That maybe you have a similar story,
that you have gone through the same struggles, right.
Whenever we, I share something personal
about my mom, about Jenny right, about my wife,
all these things where it's just my personal life,
but I connect, I connect with you, I connect with my fans,
that's how you build that tribe.
You don't build that tribe by being, you know,
plastic, fantastic, and perfect all the time.
That's not what it is.
You build that tribe, you build that trust,
when you just being vulnerable,
when you are transparent, right,
when you just share and people connect with that, right.
So those are the three rules.
How to get your first 1,000 followers on Instagram.
If you wanna know how to get more followers
and you say Dan, Blake I don't just want 1,000 followers,
I want 10,000 followers and beyond and more,
click the link here, Blake and I we're doing
a special training and online event just for you.
Teaching you how we went from zero
to over now 800,000 subscribers on Instagram.
It doesn't matter if you want to use Instagram
to promote your products, your own services,
you want to build a following to get attention,
or if you want to build up to a point
where you have so many followers that companies
and brands would pay you to make a simple post.
So click the link here, and join us.
This is a one-time event on March 11th
where you can participate from the comfort of your own home.
We're gonna stream this event live
so you can participate just from your computer.
Join us, click the link,
and I will see you very soon.