Hey guys, so a bit of a different look to my video today!
I'm in Cape Cod with the one and only Sue B Zimmerman, the Instagram expert. Sue: Hey guys!
And yes, thanks so much for being here and for inviting us down to stay with you.
I'm thrilled that you're here and that
you get to smell the hydrangeas. So beautiful.
I wish that this was smell-o-vision but it's not. And I feel like we're in an Instagram picture right now.
Your house is beautiful. It's basically like an Instagram museum
which is awesome, but since I have Sue here, I thought that I would ask
about your top five tips for growing your Instagram following fast
That's the number one question I get asked
all the time about Instagram is how do I grow my followers
and my number one tip would be to make sure that you do post
Instagram worthy photos! Make sure that they are high quality that you're
using some of
our favorite third party apps. I like camera plus, VSCO cam,
Afterlight. There are so many great free apps out there, some cost a little bit money
of money but you get what you pay for and of course right in
the Instagram app there are so many I think 22 great filters that you can play
around with so first and foremost the quality of your photo has to be awesome
second tip is to tell people
on your other social platforms that you're actually
on Instagram and 4 of the places that I like to direct people to
Instagram from is Facebook. I tell people that I'm on
Instagram and here's a really great tip you can take a screenshot
your desktop so that you really capture a lot a real estate on Facebook
Make sure you put your hyperlink there and announce that you're on Instagram
so announce on Facebook. I also like to use one of my favorite tools
If This Then That. LOVE IT! People think I work for them, because I promote them so much.
I don't, but I love it.
yes so on our account the Instagram expert whenever we post their
it automatically goes to Twitter taking up more real estate because the
image is also tweeted and not just the link. Right.
So that's the second place. The 3rd place, one of our personal favorites
as of late is announcing it on periscope so tell people when you're
scoping
come on over Instagram and leave a comment on Periscope that you're here
with me today
so that we can continue connecting on Instagram
And then the 3rd place, which is one of your personal favourites is Snapchat, right?
Of course! Yes, Snapchat's a really great platform. I love the ephemeral nature of it and
just shouting out and telling people, if they like your
story and they like what you're doing on Spapchat
they'll probably like what you're doing on Instagram as well, so let them know
that you're on Instagram.
The third tip is actually something I do frequently, and a lot of people don't know how to do this the right way.
I think. It is when someone comments on your photo in a
real
authentic way and they liked the value that you're giving in the post
ask them nicely to tag their friends because you know that if they're
actively engaging
that they're someone that is really okay they've already kinda endorsed your post
So asking them to tag not feeling like wait why you asking me do that
you're saying like tag so more eyeballs can get on my post. So, there's a way
to do that in a friendly way
and tip number 4 is engagement
authentically engage. If someone has educated you
entertained you made you laugh make you cry
made you smile let them know in the comments on
their post and tell them and tell them why. Because I think a lot of the times, people will
just say nice photo or nice pic
but that doesn't really give anybody a reason to come back and
check out your profile or engage with you back
yes and I'm very suspicious that those nice pic, nice photos especially when
it's a video
You know it's those bots.
So you gotta make sure you leave a comment that is relevant
to the actual post, right? Yes I love that tip.
and number 5 which I know we are at like doing the little up-and-down Instagram dance.
When Instagram updated the app in June
where you can now look at trending hashtag
in the Explore feature on Instagram, there's actually 16 trending hashtags
So if you don't know which hashtags to use, you on your posts, you can go in there
and see what's trending
each and every day and use some of those hashtags
on your post so that more eyeballs get on your content because they put you in
the hashtag hub, which is a
little term that I learned from you and I love that and also on hashtags, on that note
A lot of people as me about putting hashtags in the
caption we don't want to do that. So what's your advice for...
Yeah I totally agree with you when you put your hash tags in the initial
description
first of all it takes up too much real estate it looks a little
desperate, a little spammy it's not necessary you can use up to
30 hashtags per post, but we recommend putting them in
the comments below. Absolutely, and you have one final bonus
tip. Oh yeah I do you have a bonus tip, you want to hear it?
Let me tell you what it is. It's my hashtag, #SueBTip
and it is, you know, do not
use third party apps, to gamify getting followers
so many people have messaged me in Instagram, direct messaged me on instagram
or messaged me on Facebook and they've actually lost
their account gone they don't know what they did and I asked them
if they use a third-party app usually is what happened a lot
of these apps do not comply with Instagram's API
you need to be very careful and I always say that you should never
ever ever have to ask for follow you should earn a follow by
giving value. Yes and it is not
the quantity of followers it is the quality. Yes. So, numbers don'tt matter.
It's how many people are engaging and how many people clicking your link opting
into your
content and actually calling you
and communicating with you, yes, and I think the gamifying thing is one thing
and I think a lot of people also have thought about buying
followers which is another thing. Absolutely not, don't do it because
it's very obvious too, because you could have 30,000 followers and 10 likes on a photo
Oh yeah, I know right away if someone bought followers, you don't want to do that.
Can I give your followers a little challenge?
Absolutely. Okay so we're gonna pose for you guys to take a screenshot
Alright? So let's do the hash tag pose!
That should be enough time! Take a screen shot, share it, my favourite
sandbox is Instagram but you can share it wherever you want.
Tag me, @SueBZimmerman, @TheInstagramExpert and @SunnyLenarduzzi on all social platforms.
So that we know that you came over from this video, right? Definitely and
check out Sue's YouTube channel as well, she's got great Instagram tips over there.
and now we're off to have a little summer fun, I love these signs
perfect for this video
and perfect, obviously like I said, it's like an Instagram museum at Sue's house!
So make sure that you hit the Like button below if you like this video share this
video with your friends so they can check all these great tips
and subscribe because I post new video marketing and social media
tutoriasl every single Tuesday
Thank you so much for watching, thank you so much for being here!
And we'll see you guys next time. Bye you guys!