July 22, 2021
Instagram can be infuriating sometimes. It’s a big game of feeling like you’re doing all the things and getting zero traction OR feeling the comparison and overwhelm because you know you’re NOT showing up as you should, but you’re overwhelmed with where to even START. You’re lost when it comes to Instagram, and you feel like you can never beat that dang algorithm. When it comes to Instagram you feel like you just always need MORE. More followers. More time. More content. More engagement. And you’re tired.
TRUST US. We’ve been there. More times than you can count. We know how much Instagram helps our businesses, but it feels like a chore sometimes, one that can seem impossible to understand.
Today’s podcast episode is diving deeper than we ever have before on the foundational aspects of Instagram marketing. When it comes to this app, the struggles you have are probably around the hacks, the engagement boosts, getting followers to engage with you, and not knowing what to say.
What if we told you ALL of those problems could be solved by focusing on the ROOT system of Instagram. By focusing on the foundational strategies of HOW you show up, WHY you’re showing up, and WHAT you’re offering.
To beat the algorithm, we have to stop chasing likes, followers, and hashtags but create and approach the app with the perspective of crushing your Instagram marketing game once and for all.
A lot of people think Instagram is all about this algorithm that is the make or breaks evil wicked witch of the west type of situation and there’s nothing you can do to win against it.
Well, we’re here to tell you today, that’s a load of garbage.
Beating the algorithm isn’t just about “what time of day to post” or “how many hashtags to use.” While yes, those are helpful hacks or tools, those should be the flowers on your tree. Let us give you the full picture.
Your marketing should be like a fruit tree. There are roots, a trunk, branches, leaves, flowers, and THEN fruit.
Many of us when it comes to Instagram, are just standing around looking for some ripe juicy fruit to pick. The reality is, you have to grow an entire tree. There’s way more than just fruit. Your root system, your trunk, and your branches are what’s doing ALL the behind the scenes brunt work. The flowers and the fruit are the results of those systems WORKING.
Your roots and your trunk are your foundational, structural core. Your why your reason for doing what you’re doing. Your what, knowing exactly what you’re doing and how it all works. Then eventually, your branches, leaves, flowers, which are your how systems. The engagement hacks, the tools, the HOW behind utilizing Instagram WELL to see the fruit in your business. They won’t work if your roots and trunk aren’t solid and doing their job.
We’re going to help you understand ALL of your systems and how they work together in your Instagram strategy. Here are your roots: niche, client avatar, content pillars
If your account doesn’t have a central focus, you can be doing ALL the engagement tools to pull people in. Such as hashtags, geotags, regular stories, but if people can’t hop on your account and know IMMEDIATELY who you are, what you do, and who you’re for. They won’t stick around.
People hate wasting mental energy trying to understand something confusing.
Questions to ask yourself:
Is your bio concise?
Do your highlights make sense to someone other than you?
Does your content have somewhat of a central focus?
Go to your page and look at it from the perspective of someone who has never been on your page before? Ask yourself:
“Is it clear who I am?”
“Is what I do easily understandable?”
“Will someone instantly know who I serve/what I offer?”
How will niching down help me beat the algorithm? People follow accounts where they know what to expect.
Think of going to your favorite restaurant. You love their pad thai there, so you order your favorite dish and then all of the sudden, you get anchovies. Like what the heck. You’ll never go back to that restaurant. It’s not worth the stress and confusion of trying to guess what you’ll get each time you order.
That’s how people feel about social media. They want to know what to expect. They want those tasty little morsels of their favorite dishes day after day. That doesn’t mean you’re stuck in a box, you can still have an entire menu of dishes but it means it’s consistent and centered around a central theme that people can rally behind.
When it comes to marketing online, you want that clarity and consistency in your content. You can introduce new dishes here and there, but people should be able to know who you are, what they’ll get, and why they should stick around.
When it comes to the algorithm, let’s further this restaurant analogy. Say you’ve niched down and mastered your menu (your content). People know exactly what to expect, and your dishes are quality. People start showing up. They’re telling their friends. Even if it’s just 5 people to start, you’re getting some attention and excitement.
When you focus on your niche and learn to master it, your reputation will precede you. And then guess what? The media will start picking you up. Then new sources start featuring your restaurant and pushing your menu out to the world.
That’s exactly what happens with the algorithm. When you niche down and focus on creating quality content that’s clear and consistent, the algorithm notices people showing up consistently and will start pushing your content out to more people.
Hopefully, that analogy explains why it’s so important to be CLEAR, SPECIFIC, and creating QUALITY consistently.
Now keep that restaurant analogy in mind as we move on to the next foundational root: Client Avatars.
Now that you have a niche (a quality, solid menu and genre of food) now the question (especially when it comes to Instagram) becomes “how can you market to people that specifically want or need your food (content).
This is where a client avatar is crucial. Believe it or not, you’re not trying to reach everyone online. You’re not trying to grow your account to any random stranger. Same with the restaurant analogy, you’re not trying to pull in any random person off the street. That person needs to want and need YOUR food. If your a Thai restaurant you want customers coming in that appreciate and love good Thai food. You don’t want customers coming in who are wanting a burger and fries.
Get even more clarity on not just what you offer and the niche you fall into but also EXACTLY who you’re trying to attract will bring so much power behind your marketing efforts.
How to Find a Client Avatar:
There’s a whole process to building out an entire client avatar. Keeping it clear and simple, let’s cover a couple of the most foundational and vital aspects:
Write down everything that comes to your mind that depicts your ideal customer. THAT, along with your niche, will give you a GOLDMINE of a map that you can reference every time you create content for Instagram. The algorithm will love this type of clarity and quality content serving and targeting the same people over and over. This will organically draw in the right people and the algorithm will notice that and push out your content even more.
Content pillars are typically 3-5 topics or genres of content that you create and talk about consistently on Instagram.
This is one of the last, final foundational pieces to your tree that result in GROWTH. This is the part that helps hold everything else together, while the roots do their WORK underground.
Your content pillars are built around both your niche and your client avatar and are what you return to day after day as you create quality, targeted content for Instagram.
How do you find your content pillars?
Now take this list and look for any consistency. Is there a piece of content that did well on Instagram before that you’re passionate about talking about? Or something that your customer needs to hear that will help show your expertise and provide value to them?
Compile that list into 3-5 core content pillars that you can then pull from with every piece of content you create.
To make this even more clear, here are our content pillars:
Evie’s:
Lindsey’s:
That is a lot of information for you, but the reality is, the Instagram algorithm is NOT the horrible beast we can make it out to be sometimes. If we learn how to work with it (rather than against it or just plain giving up) we can harness its power to our advantage.
Take a step back and look at your root systems. Are they in place? Or are you just trying to grow fruit without any of the foundational power of getting the nutrients to the right place?
If you think your strategies need a little more work, take some time to step back and begin establishing all the strategies we talked about today. Clarify your niche. Identify your ideal customer. Then strategically build out your content pillars to target and serve your ideal customer above and beyond.
If you start hitting those strategies HARD, we PROMISE your Instagram will look COMPLETELY different. The algorithm loves when there’s consistency and quality within your content.
If you’re feeling excited and ready for more strategies and tools like this or maybe you’re feeling overwhelmed and not sure where to start?
We got you.
We have an ENTIRE course PACKED FULL of detailed strategies, formulas, worksheets, tools, resources, and so much more. Our Instagram Major Course will guide you step by step through building out an Instagram presence that will shake your world.
If you liked today’s episode, this is barely a drop in the ocean of what’s
The Instagram Major: www.theinstagrammajor.com
Enrollment is only open from July 22th-28th
The Reels Minor: www.thereelsminor.com
Ep108: Why You Need to Pick a Niche: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/108-why-you-need-to-pick-a-niche/id1487265198?i=1000505763569
If you want to connect with us and other listeners in the Heart and Hustle community join our Facebook group here.
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WASSUP FRIENDS. We’re Evie + Lindsey, co-founders of this wild partayyy called The Heart University. Our goal is to empower entrepreneurs to kick freaking BUTT in their businesses, dive down into the heart of their why and how, and serve you with all possible tools you’ll need to up-level your business game and CRUSH those goals of yours.
Whether you’re coming to an in-person workshop, joining our online course, or soaking up all the strategies via this blog or our podcast, we’re STOKED you’re here + can’t wait to see you out there kicking butt.
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