why is my instagram dead that is the
number one question that i'm getting
from small business owners
and entrepreneurs right now so if you've
noticed a decline in your engagement or
maybe your follower count
don't take it personally it's definitely
happening to everyone
it's just very competitive on instagram
right now however there are
definitely specific steps that you can
take in order to cut through the
competition
so if you're looking to promote your
business and make some money
today's video i'm going to walk you
through each step so that you can get
out there
and start killing it on instagram
[Music]
but before we go any further i just want
to introduce myself my name is michelle
and i am a creative strategist
and if you're just stumbling upon this
channel welcome to learn with shopify
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just recently we dropped a video on how
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so i work with countless small business
owners and i started noticing a trend
i started noticing that they were saying
they were lacking engagement
or that they were having a hard time
making sales on instagram so i went back
did some research and i found out
exactly why this is happening to
everyone
and how you can beat the algorithm okay
so first let me explain
why you're actually having a hard time
growing and making sales on instagram
every social media platform is gonna go
through a life cycle
just like everything in life so it's
gonna start with launch
then it's gonna move on to growth and
then monetization at its peak
now the first phase is the launch phase
so at this point instagram was figuring
out what their value proposition was
they were doing all that behind the
scenes work and they were just getting
started
if you were a business or if you were a
creator on instagram at this time
this would have been a very easy time to
grow now realistically you probably
weren't because you probably didn't even
know instagram existed
the next phase is the growth phase this
is where instagram would have started to
pick up some steam so when you hear
people saying oh
instagram really isn't what it used to
be they're talking about that time
when it was you know wild there was a
lot of engagement you could have gained
followers super quickly
and that all happened during the growth
phase so this would have been about
five years ago um and at that point it
was just really easy to grow your
account
there was a lot of engagement and if you
were on it enough to monetize back then
you would have seen a lot of sales
coming through but if i think back to
where i was
at in 2016 i was probably somewhere on
my couch in my living room
hearing all my friends talking about
instagram but not on the platform yet
but those days have come and gone my
friends because instagram is now
at the monetization phase they're really
focusing on profit
so what they're doing is they are
working with advertisers
to sell users attention so that really
just allows them you know to pay their
employees and run their business
instagram is no longer handing out
exposure like it's halloween candy and
they are the biggest house on the block
but instead they're keeping their
exposure precious they are
only electing a small portion of the
population to be
the chosen ones um those people are
getting all the growth
they're getting all the exposure now i
know this sounds elusive
um but you can be a chosen one so here
are the four things that you can do
to make it to the other side become a
chosen one so that you can start growing
your business and start making sales
tip number one is make content that no
one has
ever seen before all right so now that
we know that instagram is in the profit
or the monetization phase we can gather
that they're gonna be willing to help
you if they can make a profit
off of you so in other words they're
going to reward you with exposure
if you keep users on the platform for
longer
this is because that's going to mean
they can show more ads to your audience
and collect money from companies that
are willing to pay for those ads
so if you make content that no one has
ever seen before
you're going to help instagram reach
their goal and then they're going to
help you reach
your goal so let's use this fake hot
sauce brand just as an example of what
not to do okay
so rule number one in making scroll
stopping content
is do not post bland product photos
product photos with a white backdrop is
amazing but those should be reserved for
the product page on your online store
or your shopify store you're going to
have a very hard time standing out
by posting product photos like this on
your instagram
but in sharp contrast take a look at how
you can still show your products
but in a creative and a different and
fun way so
look at this guy he's making hot sauce
fountain i think that is a genius
and this is really going to make people
stop and watch so
those people that are stopping and
watching they can potentially turn
into followers and then one day down the
line they can turn
into customers as well also don't try to
be perfect i know this one's a bit of a
hard one
um but perfection is 100 expected on
so to be different and to make content
that people have never seen before
try adding a human element so while this
picture over here is you know it's
obviously stunning
this photo lacks a human element you
know it's perfectly lit
it looks like maybe it was taken at a
studio so instead
embrace the human element with your
photos and with your videos
so when we look at this video here in
contrast we can see that you know maybe
it was taken with a smartphone
um you can see people's natural
reactions to how spicy the hot sauces
are
and there's a story storyline behind it
so it has a human element so keep that
in mind
as you're creating your content ever
wonder how you can make money on
like the many influencers and brands
that you see when you open up the app
register using the link below to gain
access to a
free webinar that's going to walk you
through proven methods
for growing an instagram following from
scratch
and the variety of ways that you can
start monetizing with as little as a
thousand followers
so in just 45 minutes you're gonna learn
strategies to get more engaged followers
and you're gonna learn how to use
instagram to drive traffic and sales
to your store so the next tip is to be
consistent now i know you guys have
definitely heard this advice before
but it's super important because being
consistent
tells instagram that you are a
trustworthy account
and that you are a reliable account so
if you're the type of person
that has you know a hard time staying
motivated and a hard time being
consistent
i know it happens to all of us here are
a couple of
really helpful tips for you guys so
number one
use a scheduling tool so you could use a
free tool like later
and later is going to allow you to
schedule content so that it
automatically
posts later that way
you're not posting a ton when you're
super motivated
and then completely falling off the map
when you start to get
busy so something like hootsuite
something like later those are really
going to help you stay on the ball and
on track
secondly set a dedicated time to plan
and shoot your content so if you decide
on every sunday at six for example
i recommend that you put a recurring
event in your calendar
and turn that alarm on baby because once
you hear that alarm
you're going to drop everything that
you're doing and you're going to start
creating
so the close sister of consistency is
actually
patience so my last piece of advice for
you
is just be more patient with yourself if
you're
trying to be consistent you're going to
also have to be
patient with yourself growth right now
on instagram is not going to happen
overnight i
you know like we discussed that but if
there are 365 days in a year
and you promise yourself that you're
gonna post once a day
that is 365 opportunities that you're
giving yourself
to blow up every piece of content can be
that shot
so really trust the process you know
trust the universe
enjoy have fun um and if you are
consistent and if you are
patient and you are dedicated about
growing your business
then success will just naturally come
rule number three
is don't be boring crazy advice
but what i'm trying to say is have
whatever is going on in your content
be super active and be super dynamic so
if we look at this picture right here
you know there's really not much going
on there's just you know we're just
looking at some ingredients
but if we look at this video here this
is
dynamic this person is showing us the
ingredients still
but he's showing us how the hot sauce is
made
now obviously don't give away your
secret sauce but maybe showing some
crazy or unexpected ingredients for
example
maybe that can catch people's attention
so hopefully now you get a better sense
of how to make content that no one has
ever seen before
now if you're stuck for ideas it happens
to all of us honestly i would just
recommend you hop over to tiktok
see what people are doing on that
platform because it's super creative
over there
and then just bring that content over to
instagram but make sure that you're
putting your own spin on it
next tip think like instagram so
we've definitely done a lot of you know
this kind of thinking like instagram
even just throughout this video but in
order for you to succeed on instagram
you want to
think like instagram what's on their
agenda and how can you use that
knowledge
to further your business so them
dropping the reels feature that is a
perfect example of how you might have
you know taken that opportunity uh to
think like them
and propel your business forward
obviously from a business standpoint
they were competing with tick tock so we
can wager a guess
that they would reward early adopters
with
more exposure if you were to use reels
early on
so you know just getting your brain into
that mindset of you know thinking like
instagram that can really help you and
propel your business forward
next tip is stop making selfish content
so i actually heard gary v say this
first but when i heard it i was like
this is
so accurate and i wanted to share it
with you guys so selfish content is
anything that you post for you know your
own agenda or your own ego
or your own business and i think that
it's really easy to fall into this trap
of making content that fulfills your own
needs
i mean i know i've done it before i
think we've all done it before but
what we want to focus on is providing
some sort of value so those examples
that i showed you before
they were selfless they were funny they
were
interesting you know they really took
the viewer into account
first and you just you know you want to
notice that none of them said like
big blowout sale or like new product
drop you know you want to assume that
people
don't care about your products but what
they do care about is consuming content
that's good so after you command a
viewer's attention
that's when you can start thinking about
monetizing that attention
later and honestly this is a little meta
considering that's exactly how
instagram did it with their platform you
know first they got the user's attention
and then they monetized it and
i think that's you know full circle and
this is a perfect place
to end off for today's video but before
we wrap up for the day
if you're looking to grow your business
with instagram then shopify is going to
have everything that you need
it allows you to sync your product
catalog to an
instagram shop so that you can easily
create ads and shoppable
posts transform posts and stories into
shopping experiences with product tags
offer a smooth shopping experience by
bringing the look and feel of your
shopify store
to facebook shops expand your audience
through facebook ads
and use shopify to create track and
manage your ad campaigns and orders
all in one place you can get started
with a free 14-day trial
no credit card required and building an
online store is a lot of fun and it is
super easy plus the powerful features
and the free apps are gonna make
marketing
really simple and it's gonna allow you
to make more sales
more often so i will leave a link for
you guys in the description box if
you're looking to get started on your
business journey
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so much for watching and i will see you
in the next one
you