Episode 010: How To Create And Maintain An Audience On Instagram

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This is the Rise of the Young Podcast, bringing you insights from the most innovative entrepreneurs and influencers of this era. Hosted by 17 year old entrepreneur, author, public speaker and branding expert, Casey Adams. Now let's get right into the show.

What's going on, everyone? Casey Adams here. Welcome to episode 10 of the Rise of the Young podcast. Today we're going to be talking about how you can grow and build and maintain an audience on Instagram and to do it for the long term, because I know a lot of people who are posting content who are sending DMs, but they're not growing their page. And to me, content is king, but marketing is queen and the queen runs the household. So that being said, if you want to grow your page, it comes down to the growth strategies you have in place. It comes down to the consistency of what you're doing. And, and in this episode, I'm going to be breaking down the tips and tricks I've used to grow and build my Instagram page, as well as what you can do to start building yours today. So let's go ahead and get right into it. So, number one, the key aspect of growing an Instagram page is about creating a culture. Like my mentor Gerard Adams always says, what kind of tribe are you creating on your platform? What kind of culture are you building? Whether that be for your business, whether that be for your audience, what are you building for your audience to stay involved? And, and I know that sounds a little cliche, that's not actionable thus far, but I'm gonna be getting into some very practical things that you can do to actually start building your Instagram. So number one, let's say you're in the entrepreneurship niche like I am, or in the traveling niche or whatever. It is the type of content that you're posting, it's very important that you comment on people's pictures and show you're interested in their content inside of their pages, inside their DMs, leave a comment. Commenting your name, where you're from, how their content has impacted you, and why you'd want them to check out your page. And don't just set up bots for this. Actually genuinely reach out to people who you want to get in contact with, who you would like to check out your page. Not even people with millions of followers, but people with a thousand followers. If you're just starting out and have a hundred followers, comment on people's pages that have a thousand followers that are in your niche because they're more likely to follow you than someone with a million followers. So that being said, a little quick tip is commenting on people's pictures, liking their pictures, spamming people's content, telling them that you love it, because you actually do, depending on what content and niche you're in. But that's just a little tip trick that I've used from a while back that still works today. If you're showing someone you're engaged and actually love their content, they're going to be very likely to follow you if they tell them why. If you tell them why they should. So another key strategy to content creation and just creating and maintaining an audience on Instagram is effective. Hashtags. I know I touched on this in the last video, but here's the thing with hashtags. If you can rank high on the hashtags and you can actually use specific hashtags that are in your niche, the people that are looking at these hashtags, if you're posting good content, you're posting great pictures, you're consistent with things, these hashtags are going to help you build and maintain an audience over time. And if you're posting the pictures that relate to that hashtag, if you're saying hashtag entrepreneur, but you're posting a picture of pizza, what would that do for your brand? Not many people would click on that picture inside of the hashtag because it doesn't relate to that hashtag. So make sure that you're posting with hashtags that relate to your brand, that relate to your content, and therefore hashtags will work effectively for you. And I also know that a lot of people would that be don't have a budget to get started, or they do. But I would highly recommend doing paid shoutouts with pages in your niche. Mean, like, for example, if you're in the travel niche and you want to grow your followers, reach out to influencers that post traveling pictures and tell them and that you would pay them for a shout out influencer posts on their page because that will allow you to grow your page organically. And if you do that enough, you'll then start to create a brand that you eventually won't have to keep paying for it, but then other people will start noticing you from different pages that repost your content like I talked about last time. So that's another quick tip when it comes to growing and maintaining an Instagram audience. Another thing is this is the most important thing in this podcast. Please, please implement this. And that is Respond to PEOPLE's DMs. Respond to PEOPLE's comments on your account. If you want to grow an Instagram page and you're putting out content based on your personal brand, number one rule, it's not about you. And what I mean by that is you, you're not posting the content for you, you're posting it for other people. So therefore, if you're posting stuff for them, you might as well reach back out to them, you might as well comment back to them, you might as well DM them back because that's how you're going to maintain an audience. I have so many people that have been following me since I had like 5,000, 10,000 followers that they will still hit me up to this day and be like, yo, bro, I've been following you from the start. Thanks so much for getting back to me. It's so, it's such a pleasure. And those DMs are what means the most to me. Due to the fact that they've been contacting me. I've been hitting them up since day one. They've been following my journey. And I have this loyal tribe of people that are following me, that are enjoying my content, that respect me. So if you want to do the same for yourself, start today. Even if you get one comment on your picture, comment back to them. Because over time you're going to want to build and maintain that audience by using effective comments back to your post. And what I mean by this is not just sending someone a comment that doesn't mean anything to them. Say something back to them, use their name, make sure that they're actually gonna see it because you actually comment back. Don't just comment without tagging them. Make sure that they're gonna see it. It pops up in their notifications. So that's another huge strategy when it comes to the Bare minimum of growing and maintaining your audience, which is comment back to people, DM people back, because that's how you're gonna win in the long run. And this is so true, and not even from me, but I remember when I was DMing Gary Vee, he literally hit me up once. I DM'd him on the fifth time or something like that. And then we had a quick conversation and that led into something massive in which you guys will be knowing about shortly. But the also key thing is send DMs daily to people. I know I may have made a entire podcast on the power of networking on social media, but sending DMs to people to get in contact with them is the number one strategy I've used to get new opportunities. But number two, send DMs to people regarding them to check out your page, tell them your story, tell them why they should check out your page, or why you deserve them to follow you. Because you have to grind from the start to get people to follow you. But don't be annoying. In a sense, say, follow, follow, follow. Be authentic. Be engaging with them. Tell them why you like their page, tell them why they should follow you, and give them a real reason. Whether that be you're trying to hit a goal and you'd like them to help you achieve it, whatever it may be. If you want to start maintaining and growing an audience, it starts today, not tomorrow. Don't wait to send 10 DMs tomorrow and sleep tonight and not do that. Literally after this podcast, once you hear it, go to Instagram, go to 10 people in your niche, follow them, DM them, comment on two of their pictures, like five of their pictures, because that's how people are going to notice you. Whether that be someone with a million followers, whether that be someone with a thousand followers. Once you start engaging with people, they will start engaging with you. And that works for anything. If you start a conversation with someone, someone else will start talking back to you in a good way. So therefore, those are tips and tricks about how to create and maintain an audience. And Instagram from the get go. Yes, there's tons and tons of other growth strategies that are paid strategies that I literally can't just explain over a podcast. It comes down to breaking down a strategy, breaking down how it all works in depth on the screen. So much more. But this is just the bare minimum about how to create and maintain an audience. I'm gonna go ahead and run through them one more time. Number one, create a culture. Be authentic with your audience. And comment back to people. Number two, think long term. Ask your audience questions and make sure that you're focusing on the relationship you have with their tribe. Step three, comment on people's pictures, use effective hashtags, and you could even do page shout outs with pages in your niche as an influencer. Post and then engage with accounts in your niche. Once you actually implement this, you will start seeing growth on your Instagram page. You will start seeing results. And therefore, I want you guys to hit me up and let me know how these have impacted your page. Yes, you're not going to get a million followers overnight. Yes, you're not going to get thousands and thousands of followers in a day. But here's the thing, Every person started with zero followers. So if you're listening to this right now and you have 10 followers, you have a hundred, you have a thousand, you want to triple it. Start by putting in the work today. Don't just expect people to come to you, but go to them first. If you can comment on 10 people's pictures a day for 10 days, that's a hundred people's pictures. And you do that 10 times. You've commented on about a thousand people's pictures due to the fact that you're just reaching out to them day by day. I'm not telling you to send a thousand DMS in a day. That's time consuming. That's annoying. But if you just do 10 a day, take 30 minutes out of your day, if you actually want to grow your Instagram, you will do this. Reach out to people, tell them why they should follow you. Give them a real reason, whether that be goal setting, whether that be you have good content and you want them to check it out and let them know what you think. And that's another thing. Ask people what they think about your content, because that's how you're gonna know whether to change it, whether to tweak it, whatever it may be. Ask questions to your audience, like I always say. But therefore, if you want to create and maintain an audience on Instagram, why don't you comment back to people? Why don't you like other people's pictures? Like I said, personal branding is not for you, it's for other people. If you want to give someone inspiration, if you want to motivate someone, you have to focus on how it's impacting them. Are you commenting back to their picture? Yes. Are you liking their pictures once they follow you? Yes. Making sure that you're engaging with your audience and your tribe and anything in general. It all comes down to how you're making other people feel and do that on a consistent basis, and therefore your audience will grow. Like I said, check out my Instagram page. Acadams1. Send me a DM. Tell me that you came from the Rise of the Young podcast, and I will follow you back gladly. And. And that being said, I want you guys to please subscribe to this podcast. Leave a review, drop a rating, let me know what you think about the podcast. DM me. Let me know what you'd want me to cover on the Rise of the Young podcast. And that being said, I will see you on the next episode.

Peace Legacy of Monsters An Apple Original Series the world is on fire. I decided to do something about it on 11-6-17.

This place.

It's not ours. Believe me, the most massive event of the year arrives. If you come with me, you'll know everything. I promise.

Oh, my God. Go, go, Go.

Monarch Legacy of monsters streaming November 17th only on Apple TV.

Plus.