Today we are going to be talking about what is working for me to reach more people on Instagram.
I want to be clear that I'm sharing what's been working for me lately because this could inspire you to try something different or keep going with what you're currently doing. It could also give you clarity that you DON’T want to try this!
Don't feel like you have to run out and do what I'm doing on Instagram. By no means am I saying that.
If you want to try this, great. If it feels good to you and it sounds fun, excellent.
But if it doesn't sound fun or if it sounds overwhelming, if it sounds like no thank you, then don't do it. Okay, so no pressure. I'm not trying to sell you a course on how to do what I'm doing right now.
My history with Instagram
I first had a personal profile starting in 2011 or 12. And then I've had my current business profile since 2015. So I've seen a lot of different things come and go.
When I first had my business profile, we didn't even have Instagram Stories yet. All it was was posting to your main grid. We didn't have Reels, we didn't have Stories. We didn't have IGTV. We didn't have any of these extra things that they keep adding and adding and adding and trying to get us to do.
I actually started it when I was doing my old iteration of my business which was more in the meditation and spirituality realm.
So I grew it to around 6000 followers from 2015-2016. And then in 2017 I switched gears to marketing so I just transitioned my account over. And so some of those same people will still follow me now.
There was crossover between people who followed me for meditation/spirituality and people who are business owners, but of course I did lose some people in that transition.
So if you’re sitting here thinking that 6000 followers seems like nothing because you have 100,000 or more, or if you’re thinking that you have under 100 followers and can’t imagine getting to 6000, it doesn’t matter. What I’m going to say today can apply to you at whatever place you’re at with your Instagram audience.
The way I built my Instagram up to 6000 followers in 2015 is probably not going to be how you build yours up. So it's not really that helpful to share. You know those strategies, it's so different now.
It seems harder to grow your Instagram following than it used to be
I believe it is much harder to grow your follower numbers quickly now than it used to be.
I've been following this in regards to some favorite reality TV shows - The Bachelor and Love is Blind. In the past, these dating shows were almost like a pipeline from being a contestant to getting a ton of Instagram followers and then having a career as an influencer with 1M or 500K followers.
And it isn't working the same way it used to. I follow this Instagram account called Bachelor Data. I saw this interesting post about the latest season of The Bachelor and the latest season of Love is Blind and it compared the numbers of Instagram gains for contestants to previous seasons.
This season the follower gains are lower for everybody across the board between both of those shows. So I don't think it's like a network TV thing. I don't think it's a particular show thing. I think it's a universal thing.
I definitely think it has to do with TikTok. A lot of people are splitting their time between Instagram and TikTok now.
And I feel like a lot of us follow a lot of people on Instagram. Maybe we hesitate more before following someone new. Like you have to convince us a little more before we hit the follow button.
Reaching new people with Instagram Reels
So speaking of TikTok, I do think that Instagram and Facebook may be a little bit threatened.
They've really been pushing people to do Reels, which is basically a version of TikTok with the short form videos where you can put music, sound effects, filters and all this fun stuff.
And that's what I'm wanting to talk about today. Because Instagram Reels are helping me to reach NEW people who aren't currently following me.
With a Facebook business page, it’s nearly impossible to reach anybody who doesn't already follow you with your posts. Unless you’re doing ads.
Reaching new people is a little bit easier with Instagram, but I feel like it's just gotten harder as the years have gone by. Even if you put all 30 hashtags on your Instagram posts, not that many new people are going to see your posts.
The most important thing I want you to know is the reason I'm trying Reels is because I find it fun. Making Reels helps me wake up in the morning and get my mind going. It also motivates me to brush my hair and put on mascara!
I think it's fun, it's creative. I love how you can put music with it. And I love what I'm seeing as far as my Instagram reach.
I’ve done 5 or 6 Reels in the last month and here’s what’s been happening. By the way, a lot of people will say that you need to be doing Reels every single day. But you don’t.
If that feels like too much pressure and too much work, then don’t do it. I’m not trying to do Reels every day. I'm trying to do them when I feel like it. It doesn't have to be that serious.
I think that the algorithm will probably show your stuff to more people if you post more often, but who knows. The algorithm is at least 3 million lines of code. People who tell you that they know what it does and how to game it are not telling you the truth because I don't think even Facebook and Instagram fully know how to control their own algorithm at this point. Just a theory!
So anyway, don't feel pressure that you have to do anything a certain way.
Okay, so, looking at the account insights, I have increased my reach by 1,284% compared to the previous 30 days.
Reels are the main way that I’ve achieved this massive increase in my reach.
This week I created a Reel about Facebook ads targeting that has reached over 4000 people in 2 days. And over 75% of those people weren’t following me.
What’s the point of reaching new people with Instagram Reels? How does that help your bottom line?
Okay, so you're like, great, you've been reaching more people. New people have been seeing you.
How does that actually help you?
Is this going to help me get new clients or build my business?
Honestly, it'll take a while. But the cool part is that when someone views a Reel for three seconds or more, I'm able to create a custom audience inside of the Facebook Ads Manager and retarget those people with an ad so that they see more of my content.
So maybe they just see my Reel, watch it for three seconds and move on. But then I have the chance to show up again, somewhere on a Meta platform. And I get to share more information about me, my brand, and what I offer.
I have a few of these ads set up that are retargeting folks who see my Reels so that I can continue to build the relationship with them.
If you go watch one of my Reels on Instagram - @marketingwithdelight - you may see one of these ads pop up and then you’ll see what I'm doing right now.
It’s important to note that I’m spending very, very little on these ads. Like $3 a day currently. So you don't have to spend very much money to just reach some more people and keep that relationship moving forward.
I think it's just extremely valuable to be able to reach more people who aren't already followers for free with reels because on Facebook, you have to pay to reach those people.
So that is a great reason to try making Reels, if it sounds fun to you.
Of course, it's going to take a while to nurture some of those Reel viewers into clients. But I'm willing to be patient because I'm having fun making these Reels in the meantime.
If you're interested in how to do the ad retargeting part, I do have a mini course that I created in 2019. It’s all about how to do retargeting with Facebook and Instagram ads.
It’s called Magical Facebook + Instagram Ads Retargeting.
I’m currently in the process of updating it so that it will include all the info about how to retarget your Reels viewers.
But I'd love to know if anyone would be interested in purchasing this course. It's extremely low price point. I had it for sale for $44 before.
If you're doing Reels and you're getting 1000s of views, then why not spend a couple dollars a day to retarget people with content that's going to help them become a client or an email subscriber or referral or even just to become a follower.
After watching your Reel, don't just let them see you one time and then disappear into oblivion. Let them see you again in the future and keep building that relationship.
