What happens when you just stop posting to Instagram.
And you might be thinking, isn't this a YouTube business boot camp?
And it is.
But there's a big reason why I'm talking about Instagram in this episode.
And it's all going to make sense in just a second.
Here's the thing.
If you want to grow anything, any platform, any business, you got to focus on the one
thing that you really want to grow.
So for me, I was focused on creating this series for you and I was also focused on our
paid programs.
So, I just kind of took a break from Instagram.
Stopped posting entirely for a month.
But I was really curious to see, would it still grow?
What would happen?
Would people just entirely forget about it?
I don't know.
So I was like, I'm going to make a video to show you what happened and how it kept growing,
and how YouTube played a huge part in that continued growth.
Here's what happened.
First thing, some people noticed.
I've taken Instagram breaks in the past and truthfully, not really anyone noticed.
Because if you're not active, people do just kind of forget.
So, if you've ever been tempted to take a little breather or break, I hope this video
shows you that it's okay.
And it's okay to focus on one thing at a time.
So yes, a few people noticed and I love you for your kind comments and for thinking something
might be wrong with me.
But nothing was wrong.
I was just focused on YouTube and I was focused on our paid programs.
So, thanks for noticing.
But in comparison to the over a 100 000 followers I have on Instagram, not that many people
took notice.
So, it's totally okay to take breathers.
That's first.
The second thing I noticed was the only real metric to decrease, and not increase, was
profile visits.
So my profile visits, as you can see, went down slightly.
But really not that bad, in comparison to the fact that I wasn't posting at all.
People were still visiting my profile.
It just wasn't as high as it used to be, because I wasn't actually active on my profile.
And the really interesting thing is, this is just from one week of not posting, and
you can see this was at the tail end.
So, up at this point, I hadn't been posting for three weeks prior.
And in the last week, where I hadn't done anything on my account, I still grew by 712
followers in just that one week.
So how?
First thing is, I made a video, not too long ago, on how I post to Instagram, and my post
less, reach more strategy, which is a huge part of how I'm still able to grow when I'm
not posting to Instagram.
And part of the reason that my profile was still getting visits, that people were still
engaging with my content, even when I wasn't actively posting.
So, you'll definitely want to watch that video to get the lowdown on how I post less, but
reach more, and continue to grow when I'm not active.
The very first tip is, you want to know the why behind your content.
So, I believe that it's okay at this point, with how the algorithm works on Instagram,
to post less, but be more intentional about what you are posting.
And the big reason why my content lives on, even when I'm not posting, and continues to
get engagement when I'm not posting, is because I'm very intentional about every post that
goes in my feed.
I know how I want it to impact my followers.
I have a real reason behind posting it, and that's why I'm posting less.
But those fewer posts are reaching a lot more people, than my older posts when I was trying
to post every day and trying to think of something new every single day.
So, that's the first thing is, I like to call it intentional social media.
Intentional marketing.
Having a real clear intent, instead of just like throwing up posts, just to throw up a
post.
Because that's not helping you grow in the long run.
The next thing is to continue to engage.
So just because you're not posting, doesn't mean you can't engage on the platform.
So basically, what I do is I noticed that people were still commenting on posts that
were like super, super old.
So, this post was from over a year ago, and yet people were still commenting on it, because
my posts are able to reach more people.
So, I'm just commenting back, staying active on my platform.
So that people can see that I'm still active, and it'll encourage them to continue to engage
with my posts, which helps me continue to grow.
When people engage with your posts, it shows up for their followers.
And then people will be more encouraged to follow you.
So, "I'm [inaudible 00:04:13].
So happy to have you here."
And then the other trick is making sure that you're staying active in the DMs as well.
So, just writing back to people, or even reaching out to brand new followers.
Sending them a direct message, sending them a voice note, engaging with them, so they
know you're actually there and they're going to engage with the content you have on your
profile, even if it's not new.
So, send that back.
And then the final piece of this, is not only engaging in the DMs, but also engaging with
audiences that are similar to you, so you can increase your reach while you're not posting.
So, y'all know that I love Marie Forleo, she was just on my channel, and her audience is
a very similar audience to mine.
So, I love going in and talking to her audience and engaging with her content.
Even if I'm just giving people a little heart, when I really love what they said, and replying
back to them.
Because that says, "Hi.
Maybe you haven't heard of me, but maybe you want to come over to my profile."
So, continuing to engage on the platform.
And if you haven't watched my video on how to use Instagram, or how to decode the Instagram
algorithm, I talk a lot about the three factors to getting seen and growing your platform
on Instagram, and growing your followers.
And a big piece of it, is relationships.
It's a huge part of how Instagram weights you in the algorithm, and gets you seen by
more people.
So continuing to build relationships, even when you're not posting, is a huge part of
growing without posting any content at all.
"So important."
Perfect.
So, that's really it.
Engage with your audience, engage in the DMs with new followers and old followers, and
engage on platforms that have a similar audience to you, so you can introduce yourself to new
people and build those relationships.
So you get seen by more people and to grow, even if you're not posting actively.
The third thing is YouTube, which we're talking a lot about right now in this YouTube business
bootcamp.
And the beauty of YouTube is that it brings in traffic, leads, followers and sales, when
you're sleeping.
It's what I like to call views while you snooze.
So, my Instagram account continued to grow, because I promote my Instagram handle in every
single video that I do, so I can engage with people off of this platform.
So you can see, it's in the corner right here.
And so people are watching my content all day, every day because I've figured out how
to rank my videos and get them pushed in suggested.
And so they're finding me, finding my Instagram handle, going to follow me, even when I'm
not posting.
So, YouTube is a beautiful thing to grow everything, when you're not even working or active.
The next tip is to use stories.
Stories are an amazing way to continue to deepen your relationships, which is a huge
factor on Instagram.
Make sure you check out that video on decoding the Instagram algorithm.
It'll tell you all about it.
And, in order to build those relationships, you can stay active on your stories, which
takes a lot less effort than putting something in your feed that's going to live there forever.
Stories go away in 24 hours.
It can help you engage with your audience, ask questions, do polls, and build those relationships,
so people are still engaging with your profile, even if you're not posting new content.
Another really important piece of continuing to grow your platform, even when you're not
posting, is finding people, and not waiting for them to find you.
So, using hashtags.
So let's just say I have a business or a brand, or the ideal follower for my Instagram account
is a stay at home mom.
So, I'm going to go on to Instagram and I'm going to look up the tag, stay at home mom.
There's 2.5 million posts.
So I'm going to go through, and see who would be an ideal follower for me, or an ideal client
for me.
And I'm just going to start engaging, commenting on their posts, liking their content, sending
them direct messages.
Just to say, "Hi," and introduce myself.
And that's going to attract people to your profile, because you're actively finding them
instead of sitting back and waiting for them to come to you.
So, don't be the cool guy at the party.
Be the really friendly guy at the party.
Because that's going to attract way more people and help you grow, even when you're not posting.
So if I were you, I would be doing that at least 10 times a day.
And I still do that.
I'm still introducing myself to new people every single day, using the right hashtags,
finding the ideal followers and clients for my business.
And it works wonders.
That is the hard work that you got to put in to actually grow.
It's not all rainbows and kittens all the time.
It's not just easy here.
In order to actually grow, especially when you're not actively posting.
You got to put yourself out there and meet the right people.
So, if you enjoyed this video, I know that you're going to enjoy the rest of the videos
in this entire YouTube business boot camp.
You can check it out at the link in the description below.
It's all about mindset, and creating the right content, and organization and motivation and
all of the things.
And if you want to enter for our incredible giveaway, where you'll win a scholarship for
our Authority Accelerator Program, where you get to work with me and my team to build your
business using YouTube, plus a $500 Amazon gift card and a Logitech C920 camera, make
sure that you check the details to enter it, in the description below this video.
If you liked this video, you're definitely going to like these videos as well.
So check those out next, and make sure you subscribe and hit the bell to get notified.
So you don't miss an episode, and you can enter for the contest.
I'll see you in the next video.
Thank you so much for watching.