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need to listen to today's episode

1:01

but I would still encourage you

1:03

to stick around because there are

1:05

going to be some strategies that

1:07

I share towards the end around

1:09

posting that should hopefully help you

1:11

kind of tip the scales back

1:13

in your growth in recent months. Before

1:15

we even get into this three-step formula, let

1:18

me share with you a little bit of

1:20

credibility and background as to who I am.

1:22

My name is Brock Johnson and I've been

1:24

an Instagram coach for about seven or eight

1:27

years now. I got my start teaching people

1:29

how to market specifically using Instagram stories and

1:31

since then I've grown my audience to over

1:34

700,000 followers on Instagram and we have

1:36

coached over 40,000 people through our Insta Club

1:38

Hub where we have an average growth

1:40

rate of 16,000 followers per year. To say

1:42

that another way, our average engaged student

1:44

grows by about 16,000 followers per year. I

1:46

tell you that not to brag, boast, or

1:49

gloat, but just to give you the facts,

1:51

and that is what we are all about

1:53

at the Insta Club Hub, giving you the

1:56

facts that actually matter, giving you the

1:58

strategies that are proven to be most effective.

2:00

because as you hear today there are

2:02

really only three steps to growing on Instagram.

2:04

Sure there are a million different strategies

2:06

and little techniques and hacks and things that

2:08

might work for a month or two and

2:11

then be gone for a month or two

2:13

but the reality is it's actually really simple

2:15

to grow on Instagram. Now, simple doesn't

2:17

mean easy. And so as we go through

2:20

today, I want you to keep in the

2:22

back of your mind that none of this

2:24

is going to be overnight. None of this

2:26

is going to be instantaneous. I

2:28

think we have a common misconception, many

2:30

of us who use social media, that

2:33

growth is supposed to be fast. But

2:35

I heard this analogy recently and I

2:37

loved it so I had to share

2:39

it. In nature, we have a term

2:42

for things that grow super fast and

2:44

uncontrollably, and it's called quickly plucked.

2:46

On the other end of the spectrum though,

2:48

you have something that takes a really

2:50

really long time to grow. Something like

2:52

the redwood forest in California that took

2:54

hundreds of years to grow to the

2:56

massive size that it is today. And

2:58

people plan entire vacations just to go

3:01

visit those trees. So the next time

3:03

you're concerned about not growing fast enough,

3:05

I want you to remind yourself that

3:07

you would much rather be a redwood

3:09

that took years to grow than a

3:11

weed that popped up overnight. So with

3:13

all of that said, let's hop into

3:15

the three-step formula. Step number one, and

3:17

this is in sequential order. This is

3:19

not just like three things to do

3:21

at any random time. Step number one,

3:23

is the thing that you need to

3:25

make sure that you have down pat

3:27

first. It is your foundation. It is

3:29

how you're going to grow and have

3:31

success long term, not just with a

3:33

following or a community, but building an

3:35

actual business or a brand. Or if

3:37

you're a content creator who wants paid,

3:39

paid endorsements and sponsorsments and sponsorships. your niche.

3:42

Now here at Build Your Tribe

3:44

and within the Insta Club Hub

3:46

we teach niche in two parts.

3:48

Part of your niche is the

3:50

who. Who are you specifically going

3:52

to be speaking to on your

3:54

Instagram? Who is your target audience?

3:56

Your target demographic? Your target follower?

3:58

And it is recommendable. It is...

4:00

advantageous to get as specific as

4:02

possible. And it's recommendable for a

4:05

few reasons. Number one, if you're

4:07

posting for everyone, or you're posting

4:09

for all women, or you're posting

4:11

for anyone in the United States, it's

4:14

such a broad audience that no one's

4:16

going to find your account and be

4:18

like, oh my gosh, I love this

4:20

person. This person was meant for me.

4:22

You're just kind of bland and basic.

4:24

You don't stand out. You're never going

4:26

to grow at the same rate. as

4:28

if you were to niche down. Also

4:31

another benefit of really getting super specific

4:33

with that target audience is eventually, once

4:35

you get into the business side of

4:37

things and you're creating products and services

4:39

and offers and you're selling things to

4:41

that audience, you don't have to convince them.

4:44

that your product is right for them. They

4:46

know that your product is right for them

4:48

and they're willing to pay whatever it is

4:50

that you set your price point at and

4:52

they're not gonna argue you, they're not gonna

4:54

ask for refunds, you're not gonna have to

4:56

work really hard to make a sale because

4:58

they're gonna know that whatever it is that

5:00

you have created was perfect for them because

5:02

from the start you knew who they were. I

5:04

have gone so far with my own Instagram

5:06

and this is what we teach our Insta

5:08

Clubers as well, that you should go so

5:10

far as to have one singular person in

5:13

mind when you're creating each of your posts.

5:15

But before we do, we need to get

5:17

crystal clear as to the who. Think about

5:19

their age, think about their religious background, think

5:21

about their marital status, do they have kids,

5:24

what is their health status, what are their

5:26

goals, what are their challenges, what are their

5:28

struggles. The more crystal clear you can get

5:30

on that, the better. And that's just

5:32

half of your niche. The other

5:35

half is the what. So of

5:37

course, what are you going to

5:39

be talking to them about? It's

5:41

great to know, okay, I'm talking

5:43

to 35-year-old moms of two or

5:45

more children in the Midwest, but

5:47

what are you going to be

5:49

talking to them about? What is

5:51

that thing that you're going to

5:53

be posting about? Oftentimes, this is

5:55

where people start when you say

5:57

niche. I'll ask someone, what's your

5:59

niche? should not be our last step

6:01

when we're nicheing down. So rather than

6:03

just sticking with your industry, I want

6:05

you to get more specific than that.

6:07

I want you to see if you

6:09

can niche down further and see if

6:11

there's a specific area. Rather than just

6:13

helping women over the age of 35

6:16

with two or more children in the

6:18

Midwest with fitness, what if you were

6:20

helping them by giving? 30 minute or

6:22

less at home workouts or low intensity

6:24

gym exercises or an easy way

6:27

to break through the weight loss

6:29

plateau that they've hit in recent

6:31

years. When you get that specific

6:34

with the problem and someone clicks

6:36

on your account they're like oh

6:38

my gosh I'm gonna follow this person

6:40

right away. That is the advantage of

6:42

having a niche. Now some common challenges that

6:44

I see people run into within this world

6:47

of niche is number one, they're worried about

6:49

the right niche versus the wrong niche. While

6:51

there are definitely better and worse niches, and

6:53

you might call it better or worse reasons,

6:56

maybe you want a niche with more people

6:58

in it, but someone else might want a

7:00

niche with less people. Maybe you want a

7:02

niche that has more spending power, more capital,

7:04

right? They have more money disposable income, you

7:07

could say. But then there's also the niche

7:09

that maybe is underservederved and more deserving and

7:11

more deserving and more deserving. and worse niches,

7:13

but I don't want you to stress out

7:15

over that. Ultimately, the great thing about a

7:18

niche is that you can change it down

7:20

the line. Later on, I don't wanna get

7:22

too far ahead of myself, but we're gonna

7:24

talk about posting. And when I talk about

7:26

posting and consistency, I think that

7:28

you should stick with your niche for at

7:31

least 100 days before deciding to change. If

7:33

after 100 days it's just not lighting you up, it's

7:35

not making you feel energized, you're not excited to talk

7:37

about it, you are constantly running out of ideas, you

7:39

feel like an imposter in this niche, you feel like,

7:41

oh my gosh, no one's listening to me, no one

7:43

cares, I don't really care that much anymore. If after

7:46

100 days you're at that point, change, pivot, you can

7:48

rebrand, you can start a new account, you can start

7:50

over, you can start a new account, you can start

7:52

over, you can start a new account, you can, you can

7:54

start over, you can start a new account, you can, you

7:56

can start a new account, you can, you can start, you,

7:58

you, you can start, it, it, it, it, it, over on

8:00

Instagram, which by the way if you

8:02

are thinking about starting over like you

8:04

are changing your niche completely and you're

8:06

like should I start over or not?

8:08

probably yes that's a big one if

8:11

you change from i don't know giving

8:13

tips for bakers to all the sudden

8:15

beginner rock climber gear reviews like completely

8:17

different niches you should probably start a

8:19

new account but that's neither here nor

8:21

there and again we will link up

8:23

the episode in the show notes about

8:25

should you start over or not but

8:27

the great thing about a niche is

8:29

while it is very important and while

8:32

it is your foundation to the house

8:34

You can pick up and move your

8:36

house at any point. You can change

8:38

locations, you can move to a new

8:40

lot, move to a new city at

8:42

any time. And so the foundation is

8:44

absolutely crucial before we move on to

8:46

step two. But I don't want it

8:48

to be something that stresses you out.

8:50

I don't want it to be something

8:53

that stresses you out. I don't want

8:55

it to be something that stresses you

8:57

out. I don't want it to be

8:59

something that stresses you, that works too.

9:01

But ultimately you just have to pick

9:03

something. you'll have all of this knowledge

9:05

and expertise and experience that you've gained

9:07

and you can apply that to your

9:09

starting over account. All right so your

9:11

target market your target audience your niche

9:14

your specialty your expertise whatever it is

9:16

you want to call it that is

9:18

step number one and the last thing

9:20

that I'll say about niche before we

9:22

move on is your experience matters a

9:24

lot more than your expertise. Oftentimes people

9:26

will say Brock I don't feel credible

9:28

because I don't have a degree or

9:30

I don't have this expertise or I

9:32

don't have these certifications. you don't need

9:34

any of that you just need your

9:37

own experience to tell you about my

9:39

own experience when I first got started

9:41

as an Instagram coach I mentioned this

9:43

earlier my specific what was Instagram stories

9:45

marketing so I was helping people market

9:47

their business and grow their account using

9:49

Instagram stories I didn't have even a

9:51

college degree at that point I was

9:53

still in college when I started that

9:55

business and I didn't have a massive

9:58

following myself I maybe had 20 or

10:00

30,000 followers when I got started as

10:02

an Instagram coach. But what I did

10:04

have was experience. And this is the

10:06

other thing that's really surprising for a

10:08

lot of people. A lot of my

10:10

experience wasn't even on Instagram. I had

10:12

grown my business initially with Snapchat stories.

10:14

And so I took what I learned

10:16

at Snapchat and from Snapchat stories and

10:19

applied it to Instagram stories. And that

10:21

was the experience that I had when

10:23

I got started. Now over time I've

10:25

developed my expertise. scale right I have

10:27

broadened my niche which is something that

10:29

you can do over time but when

10:31

you're first getting started I want you

10:33

to think about what experiences do you

10:35

have what unique problems have you solved

10:37

what groups do you feel called to

10:40

serve or to help or to create

10:42

content for or about and that should

10:44

hopefully help inform what your niche is

10:46

going to be So that's step number

10:48

one. Step number two for growing on

10:50

Instagram. Let's take that niche and actually

10:52

apply it to Instagram. Step number two

10:54

is optimizing your Instagram profile. And I

10:56

think oftentimes within the world of social

10:58

media we over complicate things, right? We're

11:01

thinking about algorithms and best practices and

11:03

hacks and strategies and settings and all

11:05

this stuff. When ultimately, let's think about

11:07

social media, just like we would, the

11:09

real world, the physical world, right? And

11:11

so if you're building a business or

11:13

a brand on social media on Instagram,

11:15

let's think about how you would build

11:17

a brand or a business or a

11:19

store in the real world. Let's talk

11:21

about that store. You need a sign

11:24

centered above the store that's well lit

11:26

and none of the letters have gone

11:28

out, like the lights are still on.

11:30

We need to make sure that there

11:32

are things to look at in the

11:34

store before the store opens. We can't

11:36

say grand opening and everyone comes in

11:38

and it's just an empty room. We

11:40

need to have a cash register set

11:42

up. We need to have the product

11:45

on display. We need to have the

11:47

people walking around the store with the

11:49

goals or intentions for them. They have

11:51

to have to have to have been

11:53

trained, have been trained, right. Fortunately, not

11:55

all of that is going to be

11:57

necessary for starting on Instagram, but the

11:59

same general principles you want to have

12:01

applied. So what is that storefront with

12:03

the... lights turned on that it makes

12:06

sense when you drive by it, right?

12:08

There's like a store in where I

12:10

live in Park City, Utah, that says,

12:12

I love Moo. What's I Love Moo?

12:14

Is it like a cow store? Is

12:16

it like a peril store that sells

12:18

cow-related merch? Is it a milkshake store?

12:20

Is it an ice cream shop? Like,

12:22

what is I Love Moo? I don't

12:24

know. But if right next to it,

12:27

there is a place called the Burger

12:29

Joint. I know that they're probably selling

12:31

burgers in there. If there's a place

12:33

called, you know, Bohemian apparel next to

12:35

it, I know they're selling Bohemian clothing.

12:37

So step number one within this optimize

12:39

your profile. Step number one, the first

12:41

step to setting up your Instagram profile

12:43

correctly is to simply pick a username

12:45

that is easy to read and or

12:48

understand. And if it's a business Instagram

12:50

account, somehow in the username, it... hints

12:52

at or articulates your niche. So there's

12:54

kind of three different approaches you can

12:56

take for a username. One is if

12:58

you're a personal brand, like my Instagram

13:00

is, right? If you check out my

13:02

Instagram, I'm in every video, I'm teaching

13:04

things relating to growing on Instagram, but

13:06

it's my personal brand. Well then my

13:09

name is my personal brand and that

13:11

is my username. And that is my

13:13

username. If you have a non-personal brand,

13:15

you have a business brand, then you're

13:17

probably going to want to use your

13:19

business name as the username. For example,

13:21

our Insta Club hub business has an

13:23

Instagram, which is at Insta Club hub.

13:25

Makes sense. Now, it's possible that, let's

13:27

say I was getting started on Instagram

13:29

today, and Brock Johnson was taken, so

13:32

I could do Brock Johnson.coach. Insta Brock

13:34

Johnson dot tips I could do something

13:36

like that that includes a keyword or

13:38

that includes something relating to my niche

13:40

in the username Those are the first

13:42

two approaches the third approach is to

13:44

basically get a little bit more creative

13:46

and Mix in some keywords into your

13:48

username that ultimately will improve your searchability

13:50

We'll come back to this topic of

13:53

searchability though, but generally speaking You need

13:55

a username. You don't want it to

13:57

be too long. And by too long,

13:59

I'm gonna say, you know, 30 plus

14:01

characters. I don't even know if you

14:03

can go that long, but you want

14:05

to try to make it as short

14:07

as possible while not having any ambiguity.

14:09

You want, you know, if there's a

14:11

name for it to be easily readable,

14:14

you know, even if my name was

14:16

like Brock Johnson, I would actually probably

14:18

prefer Brock Dot Johnson or Brock underscore

14:20

as one word because then it's a

14:22

little bit harder to read. Right? And

14:24

so using a period or an underscore

14:26

is a great way to break up

14:28

your name and make it more readable.

14:30

And also just make sure that it's

14:32

available because with Instagram being around for

14:35

over a decade now, a lot of

14:37

usernames are already taken. So that's the

14:39

first thing to think about. The second

14:41

thing to think about is you want

14:43

to make sure your storefront looks visually

14:45

appealing, right? Like the window dressing matches

14:47

what's inside the store. If I walk

14:49

by I love Mu and there's just

14:51

like a cow inside of a heart.

14:53

I still know what that store is

14:56

about, right? But if I walk by

14:58

I Love Moo and it's got like

15:00

a bunch of different ice cream on

15:02

the windows or a bunch of, you

15:04

know, photos of ice cream, then I'm

15:06

like, okay, I Love Moo is an

15:08

ice cream shop. The translation of that

15:10

to your Instagram is your profile picture.

15:12

For your profile picture, there's basically two

15:14

options that I will have you choose

15:17

between. Option number one is your company's

15:19

logo and that is if you have

15:21

a business brand. Now if you are

15:23

someone who's deciding between personal brand versus

15:25

business brand, I can tell you that

15:27

generally speaking personal brands, I can tell

15:29

you that generally speaking personal brands will

15:31

grow faster than business brands, but there's

15:33

nothing necessarily wrong with having a business

15:35

Instagram account. Just like we have insta

15:37

club hub and I have broccoli. but

15:40

not a huge deal there. If you

15:42

have a business brand and you're going

15:44

to use your logo, just make sure

15:46

it's a logo that was formatted to

15:48

be a profile picture. Like Google would

15:50

never use G-O-O-G-L-E as their profile picture,

15:52

right? They use just the little like

15:54

Rainbow G icon because that is much

15:56

more recognizable. When it's zoomed out super

15:58

duper small and tiny, you can still

16:01

make going to use your logo just

16:03

make sure that you don't have you

16:05

know like the tagline in in size

16:07

nine font at the bottom or any

16:09

extra words sometimes people have like you

16:11

know established in 2017 or Birmingham Alabama

16:13

like all this extra text try to

16:15

simplify your logo so that it's really

16:17

just an icon or something that's easily

16:19

recognizable If you are using a personal

16:22

brand, I would recommend having your face

16:24

as the profile picture. A mistake that

16:26

I see a lot of people making

16:28

is they're just simply too far away

16:30

from the camera. Your profile picture should

16:32

be a super close-up selfie. Like collarbones

16:34

or neck just to a slightly above

16:36

your head. Like basically the circle is

16:38

just completely filled by your face. That

16:40

way it stands out. When people are

16:43

scrolling through Instagram, they're seeing these tiny

16:45

little itty bitty bitty profile pictures all

16:47

day long. And so there's a reason

16:49

that my... has this big cartoonish grin

16:51

and this yellow background. It's because I

16:53

know that stands out and I know

16:55

that grabs attention. So an attention-grabbing profile

16:57

picture is the second step towards optimizing

16:59

your profile. The third step towards optimizing

17:01

your profile is the biggest step towards

17:04

optimizing your profile. The third step towards

17:06

optimizing your profile is the biggest mistake

17:08

people make when setting up their Instagram

17:10

account, and it is the name line

17:12

that says name, and you're like, oh.

17:14

Okay, I'll just write my first and

17:16

last year and you press save. But

17:18

here's the thing. Anything that you put

17:20

on that name line is a searchable

17:22

keyword. So if my username said Brock

17:24

11 Johnson, then the only way that

17:27

you could search for and find me

17:29

was if you googled or if you

17:31

looked up on Instagram, Brock Johnson, which

17:33

is very very unlikely, especially if you're

17:35

just getting started, especially if you're just

17:37

day one starting a brand new account.

17:39

So instead on your name line, what

17:41

I recommend doing is your first name.

17:43

a hyphen and then add some keywords

17:45

that are kind of like a title

17:48

for yourself or a title for your

17:50

brand or business. For example, on my

17:52

name line it says Instagram. growth coach.

17:54

I didn't put my name on that

17:56

line. That's not totally necessary. A lot

17:58

of people do like to include their

18:00

name on that line for various reasons,

18:02

but the essential thing that you need

18:04

to have on your name line is

18:06

a keyword or keywords that describe your

18:09

account and that would be searchable. Key

18:11

part there is that they need to

18:13

be searchable. I have seen people put

18:15

their nicknames on that line like Fit

18:17

Fab Funky Marketing Diva. That's cute that

18:19

your friends call you that or that

18:21

you came up with that nickname for

18:23

yourself, but that's not very searchable. So

18:25

instead we need to put something that

18:27

would be searchable. Marketing expert for Florida

18:30

small businesses, whatever it may be, searchable

18:32

keywords go on that line. Then when

18:34

it comes to the actual bio, your

18:36

bio can be as many lines as

18:38

you want it to be, but I

18:40

recommend only having four lines in your

18:42

bio. And the reason for that if

18:44

you go more than four lines, Instagram

18:46

will automatically truncate it. It won't delete

18:48

it, but it will hide it behind

18:51

a dot, dot, dot more window. And

18:53

so people have to tap on that

18:55

to expand the bio and read through

18:57

the rest, like no one's gonna do

18:59

that. The average person decides to follow

19:01

you in three seconds or less. So

19:03

your bio should be four lines or

19:05

less. It should be as concise as

19:07

possible. It should not use any insider

19:09

ling or any terms or phrases that

19:12

your ideal follower would not already know.

19:14

So don't use any acronyms or any

19:16

terms and phrases that like you and

19:18

your other experts or your other colleagues

19:20

know, but your followers don't. use terms

19:22

in your bio that your followers already

19:24

know. Again, your goal should be to

19:26

be as concise as possible. So rather

19:28

than saying something like, I help you

19:30

get fit and be healthy and lose

19:32

weight, just pick one of those things

19:35

because you don't need all three. You

19:37

don't need all the synonyms. We want

19:39

to be as short and concise as

19:41

possible so that people can skim our

19:43

bio as quickly as possible and understand

19:45

what it is that we do and

19:47

thus increase their likelihood of deciding. And

19:49

that's really the nuts and bolts of

19:51

setting up your Instagram profile. There are

19:53

other little things that I would recommend

19:56

like... Like, make sure that you do

19:58

not show your threads badge unless it

20:00

is your goal to grow on threads

20:02

or actively use threads to promote your

20:04

Instagram. Don't show your threads badge. Also,

20:06

turn off category display because category display

20:08

counts as one of those four lines,

20:10

but it's usually something that's kind of

20:12

generic and not helpful. Like, it'll say,

20:14

entrepreneur or video creator. It's just not

20:17

very helpful. So, turn off category display.

20:19

But besides that, the big goal is

20:21

that you want your bio to be

20:23

understood or understandable by a a strain.

20:25

out of glance. And now we're already

20:27

on to step number three of three

20:29

of three of growing on Instagram. And

20:31

yes, like I said, there are a

20:33

million other little strategies and techniques and

20:35

that's what we do here at Build

20:38

Your Tribe is we constantly update you

20:40

on all of those little things, but

20:42

part of what we assume is that

20:44

you already have step one, two, and

20:46

three down. And so we highly encourage

20:48

you I highly encourage you right now

20:50

to press subscribe if you haven't already

20:52

because every single week we put out

20:54

new little quick tips and helpful ideas

20:56

and about how to grow on Instagram

20:59

and how to grow on the other

21:01

social media networks as well. But the

21:03

foundation here is step number one niche,

21:05

step number two, optimize your profile, and

21:07

step number three, host. Now within post

21:09

there are some common questions, some strategies,

21:11

and some things that I want to

21:13

make sure that you understand. And the

21:15

first of those is, what do you

21:17

post? When I say post, what am

21:19

I talking about? Well, first and foremost,

21:22

let me say I'm only referring to

21:24

feed posts. So feed posts includes carisels,

21:26

single photos, and reals. Feed posts does

21:28

not include Instagram stories, it does not

21:30

include Instagram Live, and it does not

21:32

include direct messages. Those three things do

21:34

not help you grow. DMs have a

21:36

huge purpose. DMs are in fact the

21:38

most used area of Instagram. Instagram stories

21:40

are my bread and butter. They're what

21:43

I got started with. But Instagram stories,

21:45

and this might be shocking to some

21:47

people, they do not help you grow

21:49

on Instagram. Instagram stories only reach your

21:51

existing followers. Instagram stories are only shown

21:53

to the people who already follow you.

21:55

and so they usually equate to or

21:57

account for less than 1% of growth.

21:59

Like it's really hard for someone who

22:01

doesn't follow you to find your stories.

22:04

Really the only way is if they

22:06

find your account and then they watch

22:08

your stories or if someone like sends

22:10

them your story but both of those

22:12

things are very very rare. So usually

22:14

the only thing that's going to help

22:16

you grow is a feed post. Again,

22:18

carousel, photo or real. Now, which of

22:20

those three is the best? It depends

22:22

slightly on what your goal is, but

22:25

of course you clicked on this episode

22:27

because you want to learn how to

22:29

grow on Instagram. And so in general,

22:31

the best kind of post for growing

22:33

on Instagram is a real. And that

22:35

is because on average, reels get the

22:37

most views and reels get the most

22:39

reach to non-folars. So reels on average

22:41

will get shown to more new people

22:43

than a photo or a carousel. There

22:46

are people who grow on Instagram who

22:48

grow wildly successfully, who have millions of

22:50

followers, who have never posted a reel,

22:52

who only post photos, or who post

22:54

photos and carisels, or who only post

22:56

carisels. And that is totally fine, it's

22:58

certainly possible. But statistically speaking, you will

23:00

have the best odds of growing and

23:02

you will grow the fastest if your

23:04

focus is reals. Now, I say focus.

23:07

I don't think that anyone should do

23:09

100% of one kind of content. Even

23:11

if I'm working with someone who has

23:13

over a million followers and they have

23:15

those million followers from posting almost exclusively

23:17

carousel posts, I'm still going to recommend

23:19

that they mix in some reals and

23:21

they mix in some photos. A healthy

23:23

Instagram strategy has a balance of all

23:25

three kinds of feed posts. Now, what

23:27

should your reals be about? What should

23:30

your feed posts be centered around? related

23:32

to your niche. If they are not,

23:34

if you post something that is not

23:36

related to your niche, one of two

23:38

things can happen and both of them

23:40

are not very good things. The first

23:42

thing that could happen if you post

23:44

something that is outside of your niche

23:46

is it just doesn't perform well. I'll

23:48

use myself as an example. Occasionally I

23:51

will post a snowboarding video or photo

23:53

of myself because I love snowboarding and

23:55

it's something I'm very passionate about. And

23:57

I just can't not share it with

23:59

my audience sometimes. But I know that

24:01

every single time I do that, it's

24:03

going to perform very poorly. In fact,

24:05

some of my worst posts I've ever

24:07

made in terms of how they performed

24:09

were snowboarding posts. Post that I loved,

24:12

post that were great, if they were

24:14

posted on a snowboarding account, would have

24:16

done great, but my followers don't follow

24:18

me for snowboarding. They follow me for

24:20

Instagram tips. Similarly, your followers follow you

24:22

for whatever your niche is. So stick

24:24

to it with your feedposts. Now I

24:26

mentioned that there's two bad things that

24:28

could happen. That's the first. The other

24:30

bad thing that could happen is that

24:33

your post actually does well. It goes

24:35

viral. You post a hilarious video of

24:37

your dog pooping on your toddler and

24:39

it goes viral. Well now guess what?

24:41

Now, you have a viral hangover, your

24:43

account is struggling to grow because Instagram

24:45

doesn't know who to show you to,

24:47

because you just went viral for one

24:49

thing, and now it's trying to show

24:51

you to other people, it's confused, you've

24:54

confused the algorithm, you've confused your followers,

24:56

and you might have even gained hundreds

24:58

or thousands of followers who want more

25:00

videos of a dog pooping on a

25:02

toddler and not whatever it is that

25:04

you actually sell or do or post

25:06

about, not whatever your niche actually is.

25:08

So 99% of the time as close

25:10

to 100% of the time as you

25:12

can make it you stick to your

25:15

niche with your feedposts and like I

25:17

said there are exceptions sometimes I post

25:19

about snowboarding sometimes I post about my

25:21

wife I understand there are anniversaries there

25:23

are birthdays there are important dates that

25:25

you want to make sure that you

25:27

acknowledge and post about but generally speaking

25:29

keep it to the niche now when

25:31

I say keep it to the niche

25:33

I just mean that it has to

25:35

relate to either the who or the

25:38

what in some way preferably your post

25:40

would relate to both the who and

25:42

the what in every post but there

25:44

are going to be some posts that

25:46

let's take myself as an example right

25:48

I'm posting about how to organically grow

25:50

on Instagram for small business owners sometimes

25:52

I might post something that isn't directly

25:54

about growing on Instagram but it's going

25:56

to apply to a more general or

25:59

it's going to apply to content creators

26:01

rather than specifically small business owners. So

26:03

that's what we like to call Build

26:05

Your Tribe and Within the Insta Club

26:07

Hub naps. Naps stands for niche adjacent

26:09

posts and it's okay to take naps

26:11

from time to time. Naps can be

26:13

very healthy and helpful. Just make sure

26:15

that not every single one of your

26:17

posts is a nap or else there

26:20

is no niche in the first place.

26:22

And the final part of my answer

26:24

to what do you post is if

26:26

your goal is growth, the best form

26:28

of engagement is a share. According to

26:30

Instagram CEO and according to our own

26:32

research in the Insta Club Hub, you

26:34

will reach the most amount of non-folars

26:36

if your post is getting more shares.

26:38

A share also known as a send

26:41

is the best form of engagement to

26:43

increase that kind of reach. And so,

26:45

what I'm going to recommend that you

26:47

do is create shareworthy content. A lot

26:49

easier said than done, right? Obviously, you

26:51

want more shares, create shareworthy content. I

26:53

did an entire YouTube video and entire

26:55

podcast that I will link up in

26:57

the show notes below about shareworthy content,

26:59

what the different kinds of shareworthy content

27:02

are, examples, and how to create them.

27:04

But generally speaking, that should be your

27:06

focus. Rather than trying to create a

27:08

super valuable educational post that everyone is

27:10

going to press save on. Your focus

27:12

should be on creating a post that

27:14

everyone is going to send to a

27:16

friend, share to their story, send to

27:18

their group chat, tag somebody below, because

27:20

that is ultimately how you're going to

27:22

grow the fastest. So again, step number

27:25

three is posting. We just talked about

27:27

what to post. Another common question that

27:29

I hear is how much should you

27:31

post? I'm going to answer that without

27:33

giving you a number, which is unfortunate

27:35

because I know you want a number.

27:37

I know you want me to say,

27:39

you should post twice a day. You

27:41

should post three times a week. According

27:43

to Instagram CEO and according to numerous

27:46

studies, the more you post, the more

27:48

you grow. To say that another way.

27:50

As you increase your posting frequency, typically

27:52

we see an increase of growth rate

27:54

as well. So, should you post once

27:56

a day? Sure. Should you post three

27:58

times a day? Sure. Should you post

28:00

12 times a day? Sure. Should you

28:02

post? once a month. Sure, go for

28:04

it. Ultimately, what matters not is the

28:07

number. What matters is two things. Number

28:09

one, what matters is consistency sticking to

28:11

that number. So whether you post once

28:13

a month, once a day, or once

28:15

an hour, staying consistent with that number,

28:17

and number two, how you find that

28:19

number in the first place is asking

28:21

yourself the question, what can I sustain?

28:23

Whenever people ask me, Brock, how much

28:25

should I post? I love to flip

28:28

that back on them and ask them

28:30

the question, I don't know, what can

28:32

you sustain? Based off your own goals,

28:34

based off your own timeline, based off

28:36

your business, your availability, the season of

28:38

life that you're in, and all of

28:40

these things figure out what you can

28:42

sustain. maybe you can sustain one a

28:44

week maybe you can sustain one a

28:46

day figure out what that number is

28:49

and then challenge yourself to do just

28:51

a little bit more so if you

28:53

can consistently maintain five per week challenge

28:55

yourself to increase to seven a week

28:57

because not to get too philosophical or

28:59

preachy on you but in life and

29:01

on social media, growth happens when we

29:03

push ourselves past what we can sustain,

29:05

past our comfort zone. It's just like

29:07

in the gym. How do you get

29:10

bigger biceps? You do as many curls

29:12

as you think you can and then

29:14

you try to do one more, curls

29:16

as you think you can, and then

29:18

you try to do one more and

29:20

then you try to do one more

29:22

and then you fail. It's called going

29:24

to failure, your muscles, that's how you

29:26

grow your followers. So I don't want

29:28

you to get... to that point, but

29:30

I do want you to implement systems

29:33

and strategies, hire a team, outsource what

29:35

you can so that you can increase

29:37

your posting frequency because that is ultimately

29:39

how you will increase your growth rate.

29:41

And I did mention a moment ago

29:43

12 posts a day and I kind

29:45

of threw it out there as a

29:47

random hypothetical and I know that no

29:49

one will post that frequently, but According

29:51

to our own studies there are some

29:54

people who have had the craziest fastest

29:56

growth you've ever heard of we're talking

29:58

millions of followers in just a few

30:00

months and that is usually achieved by

30:02

this hyper extreme consistency. Now it's not

30:04

something I'm going to recommend. into you,

30:06

but I just tell you about it

30:08

to set the case in point that

30:10

it is absolutely true. The more you

30:12

post, the more you grow. I also

30:15

want to say I'm a big proponent

30:17

of the more you post, the more

30:19

you grow, because when it comes to

30:21

the debate of quality versus quantity, ultimately

30:23

both matter. Ultimately, if you are posting

30:25

crap, if you are posting super low

30:27

quality posts in order to meet your

30:29

criteria of frequency. that ain't gonna work.

30:31

But when people say that quality should

30:33

be your only focus and that that's

30:36

all you need to care about is

30:38

quality, I will often push back by

30:40

asking them... How do we achieve quality?

30:42

How do we make a good post?

30:44

And I'm a firm believer that you

30:46

make a good post by making a

30:48

bunch of really bad posts, not because

30:50

you're trying to make them bad, but

30:52

because you're still learning, you're still learning,

30:54

you're still growing, you're still growing, you're

30:57

still growing. And when you're first getting

30:59

started, I want to encourage you to

31:01

an A-plus, high quality slam dunk post.

31:03

Instead, what I'm gonna recommend that you

31:05

do is you just post it, and

31:07

then you learn from it. And then

31:09

you post again, and you learn from

31:11

it. You apply what you learned, you

31:13

post again, and you learn from it.

31:15

You apply what you learned, and you

31:17

post again. And that is how, by

31:20

the 300th post, you're an excellent content

31:22

creator. Who can create high quality content

31:24

in a super short amount of time

31:26

with minimal amount of effort or effort

31:28

or budget. because you've put in the

31:30

work to get there. To say it

31:32

another way, practice makes progress. So the

31:34

more you post, the more you grow,

31:36

and focusing on quantity is how you

31:38

can achieve higher quality. All right, so

31:41

that was how much to post. Another

31:43

really common question is when should you

31:45

post? And while sometimes might be better

31:47

than the others, there's ultimately no universal

31:49

best time to post. There's only your

31:51

best time to post based off your

31:53

audience, and the only way to figure

31:55

that out is by consistently posting. at

31:57

different times, posting at nine in the

31:59

morning for a week or two, posting

32:02

at noon for a week or two,

32:04

posting in the evening. for a week

32:06

or two. And just seeing if there's

32:08

any sort of correlation, if posts perform

32:10

better at certain times of the day,

32:12

eventually, you'll get to the point where

32:14

you know that Saturday afternoons are your

32:16

best time to post memes and Friday

32:18

mornings or your best time to post

32:20

memes and Friday mornings or your best

32:23

time to post educational caristles, you'll get

32:25

to that point eventually, but when you're

32:27

first getting started, outsourcing teams hiring help

32:29

and all of those things are absolutely

32:31

helpful. But if I can. you one

32:33

tip to actually increase your output without

32:35

significantly changing your input and that means

32:37

any form of input. Time, resources, energy,

32:39

anything like that is to upcycle your

32:41

content. Upcycling is a term that we

32:44

use in the Insta Club hub to

32:46

describe the act of reposting or recreating

32:48

something that you've posted in the past.

32:50

Now, if you're starting from zero day

32:52

one on Instagram, then you're not going

32:54

to have posts from the past to

32:56

pull from and we'll talk about that

32:58

in just a second what to do

33:00

if that's the case. But maybe you've

33:02

been consistent for a few months and

33:05

you missed a few months or maybe

33:07

you were trying to grow really hard

33:09

in 2023 and then 2024 was just

33:11

not your year. that you have previously

33:13

posted, specifically the content that is previously

33:15

done well, and do one of two

33:17

things, either directly repost it. What I

33:19

mean by that is literally just posted

33:21

a second time. Find it in your

33:23

camera roll so that you can post

33:25

it again or if you don't have

33:28

it saved in the first place, use

33:30

a website like save insta dot aPP

33:32

to download it once again. But basically

33:34

the bottom line is just post the

33:36

exact same thing, same caption, same audio,

33:38

same everything, if it worked well before,

33:40

it likely will work well a second

33:42

time. And you could also refresh or

33:44

recreate it. So slightly change the caption,

33:46

maybe re- edit the caption, maybe re-record

33:49

the exact same video just with your...

33:51

new haircut, recreate things from the past,

33:53

and that will be a great way

33:55

for you to create more content and

33:57

post more frequently without having too significantly.

33:59

increase the amount of work that you

34:01

have to do. In fact, this upcycling

34:03

strategy is what I do for about

34:05

75% of my posts. About three out

34:07

of every four posts that you see

34:10

on my Instagram are either a direct

34:12

repost or a recreation of something I

34:14

have previously posted. And I'm someone who

34:16

like I said earlier has over 700,000

34:18

followers on Instagram. I get 30 million

34:20

plus views every single month on Instagram

34:22

and I have never received one single

34:24

negative comment about reposting. and that's because

34:26

most people are seeing tens of thousands

34:28

of posts every single day. They don't

34:31

remember the post that you made a

34:33

few months ago and if they do

34:35

remember it, if they are part of

34:37

that elite 1% who remembers what you

34:39

posted 90 plus days ago, well then

34:41

they probably remember it because it was

34:43

that good, it was that funny, it

34:45

was that educational or valuable. And so

34:47

just like watching your favorite episode of

34:49

TV for a second or third time,

34:52

just like re-watching your favorite movie, they

34:54

would mind seeing it again. All right,

34:56

so that is really the one two

34:58

three of growing on Instagram, the three

35:00

steps to growing in 2025. If you

35:02

are starting a new Instagram account or

35:04

you are going to relaunch, here's what

35:06

I would recommend doing. First, take one

35:08

to two weeks to work behind the

35:10

scenes. Rather than trying to hit the

35:13

ground running as soon as you finish

35:15

this, I know you're excited, but hold

35:17

the horses and instead of trying to

35:19

immediately launch your new Instagram account, spend

35:21

a week or two batching content. Spend

35:23

a week or two just focused on

35:25

creating content and not even posting it

35:27

all yet. That way, a week or

35:29

two from now, when you do get

35:31

started, you could post once a day

35:33

and you could... Post once a day

35:36

without having to create content for a

35:38

week or two, right? Because you already

35:40

have all this stuff ready to go.

35:42

All of these posts that are in

35:44

the can, so to speak. So spend

35:46

a week or two just creating as

35:48

much as you possibly can. If you

35:50

are starting from zero, like it's a

35:52

brand new Instagram account, I would recommend

35:54

posting about 12 of those posts before

35:57

announcing that the account is open. Right.

35:59

It's going back all the way to

36:01

what we said at what we said

36:03

at the what we said at the.

36:05

starting a new Instagram account, have some

36:07

posts there for people to look at

36:09

before you announce on your Twitter, your

36:11

Facebook, all your other profile saying, hey,

36:13

new Instagram, go follow me. Make sure

36:15

that you have some. post for them

36:18

to look at. Even if you are

36:20

continuing on, you know, your same Instagram

36:22

account and you're just going to be

36:24

refocused on growing in 2025, I would

36:26

still recommend taking a week or two

36:28

to just batch content. That way, moving

36:30

forward, you feel like you're ahead rather

36:32

than feeling like you're constantly on the

36:34

hamster wheel trying to play catch up.

36:36

And that's it. That is how you

36:39

grow on Instagram. You get 1% better

36:41

with each post. You continue to just

36:43

press post and learn from each of

36:45

those posts that you make. You continue

36:47

to stay up to date on the

36:49

trends, the changes, the new hacks that

36:51

are working and that are not working

36:53

on Instagram. But ultimately, it's the same

36:55

123. Pick your niche, optimize your profile,

36:57

and get consistent with your posting. We

37:00

here at Build Your Tribe and in

37:02

the Insta Club Hub will continue to

37:04

help you stay up today with those

37:06

hacked trends and strategies so that you

37:08

can get the most out of the

37:10

post that you are making, but ultimately

37:12

if you take nothing else away from

37:14

today's episode, I hope it's these three

37:16

words. Just press post. Thank you so

37:18

much and as always, happy networking. Like

37:35

your favorite startup's growth curve, T-Mobile's coverage

37:37

keeps scaling. Because T-Mobile helps keep you

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connected from big cities to your hometown

37:41

on America's largest 5G network. Switch now,

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keep your phone and T-Mobile will pay

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it off at the $800 per line

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via prepaid card. Visit your local T-Mobile

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location. Visit your local T-Mobile location or

37:51

learn more at t-mobile.com, backsl keep and

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switch. Up to four lines, if you

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virtual prepaid prepaid, prepaid, prepaid, required.

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There's no cash access, it

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in six months. six months.