Are You Focusing On Your Instagram Followers As Much As You Should Be?

January 22, 2019

Your customer is the most important part of your business. Without followers, people buying your products, or fans of your brand, your business would not be where it is. For example, if you don’t have people buying your t-shirts, then you don’t have a successful business. You have a business, yes, but not one that’s making you a profit.

While treating your customers right on your website and in or on your shop is something that you need to do, you need to be treating them just as right on your social media. Instagram seems like an unprofessional setting no one will pay attention to, but it’s not.

Instagram is where big brands and businesses are promoting themselves, their shops, and their products. It’s where people build their brands and business. There are entrepreneurs making hundreds of thousands of dollars by promoting their Facebook groups or webinars, and people getting thousands of people onto their email lists with a link to their opt-in page on their profile page.

Instagram isn’t something that’s supposed to be taken lightly just because it’s another social media platform. It’s a way to grow your business.

Your followers on Instagram aren’t just random people

Your followers on Instagram aren’t strangers who happened to bump onto your page; they’re either potential customers or existing customers. If they’re existing customers, and they follow you on Instagram (and other social media platforms) it’s because they love what you’re selling and giving them. They love your message, your products, your advice, and of course, they love you.

What does that mean? Why does it matter if these followers are your potential or existing customers?

It matters because...

You have a reputation

Whether it’s a great reputation, a bad one, or even just a plain old good one, you and/or your business have a reputation. Your Instagram is just one of many places that people will get to know you. Instagram is supposed to be about being real with your customers and followers. It’s about sharing behind-the-scenes and interacting with people, and these little things add up to build a reputation.

You want a great reputation. You want to be the type of person who replies to as many comments as they can, who answer’s DM’s, who sends out stories, and who likes other people’s pictures. You want to be a omnipresence on social media.

You don’t want to ignore your followers comments and questions, never answer, and never be there. That’s what builds a bad reputation because next thing you know, people are calling your brand selfish. You also don’t want to reply rude comments. If you’re receiving hate comments, leave them alone. If you answer something rude, one of your followers is bound to take a screenshot and then have that picture spread.

The conclusion we’re coming to is this: You have to be focusing on your Instagram followers.

Are you focusing on your Instagram followers as much as you should be?

That’s the ultimate question. If you truly know that you’re focusing on your followers, as in you’re replying, liking, engaging, etc., then you can answer yes and stop reading.

However, if you can put your pride aside for a moment and truthfully admit that no, you’re not focusing on your Instagram followers as much as you should be, then keep reading.

You must be interacting with your followers. You have to engage and be present because that’s what is going to build you a great reputation. And really, it shouldn’t be for that. Like we said in the beginning, you wouldn’t have a business if it weren’t for your followers and customers, so don’t you want to show them how grateful you are?

Why did you start your business? Why are you branding yourself? Most likely, it’s because you want to help others. Whether you’re providing them with an escape through gaming, fashion advice for more confidence, or writing books, you want to help them.

Engaging with your followers on Instagram is another opportunity for you to do that.

The problem

Let’s say this sounds like the best idea in the world, and you decide that you’re going to interact with your followers more often. The one problem that deters people is a problem you might be having to. You don’t have time.

We’re going to find you time, so that you can focus on your Instagram followers much more.

The solution

1. Find time in the nooks and crannies

What do you do with your spare time? Really think about it. Say that you have five minutes before you have to head out somewhere, or you’re in an Uber, if you’re scrolling through Facebook and laughing at funny videos, stop. (Stop if you want to interact with your Instagram followers, that is. If not, then keep going.)

Take that time to go to your last post and reply to comments. You don’t have to go through all of them, but at least give a lot of likes. Find time in the place you waste time.

2. Get up 10 minutes earlier (or sleep 10 minutes later)

If you can spare ten minutes of sleep, you can take that time to go through your Instagram to engage and interact. You can also scroll through Instagram and interact with the people that you follow. If it’s someone’s birthday, leave a kind comment. If someone you know well uploads a story of themselves, excited because they’ve been verified, send them a congratulatory DM.

Just ten minutes can make a huge difference.

3. Schedule time

This counts as productivity. It may not feel like it because you’re scrolling through social media, but interacting with Instagram followers is advice that even the top people like Gary Vaynerchuk and Grant Cardone share.

They do it in their spare time. If they can find the time, you can too. Schedule ten or fifteen minutes into your day to sit outside or relax in bed as you interact with your followers.

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