How to Use Instagram To Dramatically Improve Your Business: “Using competitions can be a great way…

How to Use Instagram To Dramatically Improve Your Business: “Using competitions can be a great way to get followers to tell their friends about your business” With Foundr Magazine CEO Nathan Chan, & Candice Georgiadis

Using competitions can be a great way to get followers to tell their friends about your business — We use competitions all the time and we’ve found the best kinds that work well are giving away something that is going to attract the same target audience you’re looking to attract to buy your product. For example for our physical product business in the B2C space it’s a time marked drink bottle, so we do weekly giveaways where we team up with other brands and someone has to tag a friend to enter the giveaway. Super powerful. We get over 1000+ comments every time!

I had the pleasure of interviewing Nathan Chan who is the CEO of Foundr Magazine. Foundr is a global media and education company founded by Nathan Chan, an aspiring entrepreneur with a fire in his belly, launched Foundr back in 2013 with “nothing but a laptop and a fistful of dollars.” because he was frustrated with the lack of quality actionable content for entrepreneurs and founders. Fast-forward to the present, Foundr now connects millions of people every month with some of the most successful living entrepreneurs of our generation. Their magazine covers have been blessed by the likes of Richard Branson, Tony Robbins, Arianna Huffington, Mark Cuban, Tim Ferriss and many more. They break down strategies and experiences into actionable, battle-tested content through digital magazines, podcasts, videos, blogs, and online courses — so that everyone can build and grow a successful business.

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Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

I was really frustrated with the work I was doing (working in IT support) so I decided to pursue a career in marketing. After trying (and failing) to get a job in marketing even after going back to university to study marketing, I decided to create my own passion project product to market. This product was a digital magazine on entrepreneurship. Little did I know I would fall in love with this whole process and from there Foundr Magazine was born. Purely stumbled onto it, and never planned or thought I would ever become an entrepreneur.

Can you explain to our readers why you are an authority about Social Media Marketing?

I don’t like to consider myself an authority and more than anything I see myself as a practitioner. I’ve built multiple businesses of my own from scratch using Instagram and have generated millions of dollars using this platform. These businesses are in different markets as well, ecommerce and publishing, I know what works because I’ve practiced and tested everything in my own businesses Instagram accounts.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started this career?

When waiting to interview Tony Robbins for a foundr magazine cover story, I conducted the interview via skype, and due time zones I had to wake up to do this interview at 4am. When I woke up to do it, and Tony was waiting for me on his computer from the otherside of the world the power to my whole house wasn’t working. I panicked and stressed out so much, in the end he was cool that we re-scheduled. What were the chances the power wouldn’t be working in the whole street?

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

We were sued for trademark infringement in the first 4 months of starting Foundr (it wasn’t called that back then it was called Key to Success Magazine) by one of the biggest business magazines in the states! I had to change the name to Foundr. This was crazy!

Which social media platform have you found to be most effective to use to increase business revenues? Can you share a story from your experience?

Instagram by far. You can use it to increase business revenues without spending any money to acquire a customer. It takes time to build up, but if done right can be insanely powerful, especially in the B2C space.

When I first discovered Instagram for foundr, I was told it wouldn’t work for our business because we’re not in the health, food or fashion space by a friend that was crushing it on Instagram for his business. After playing around with it, after a few days I saw a massive spike in magazine subscriptions, and from there I dedicated a big part of the first few years of Foundr to understanding the platform and how to best master it.

Let’s talk about Instagram specifically, now. Can you share 6 ways to leverage Instagram to dramatically improve your business? Please share a story or example for each.

  1. Use influencers to grow your Instagram page and business, this is the key to rapidly growing your following and reach. At foundr to rapidly grow our Instagram page from 0–1m followers in 2 years we sometimes were getting influencers to post about our brand 10 times per week!
  2. Using influencers on Instagram isn’t just about accessing their audience and reach. It’s about content also. In one of my other businesses in the B2C physical product space, we work with many influencers by sending them the physical product to get exposure, but what’s even more powerful is getting the actual content with influencer using the product. You can use this to post on your Instagram feed + use in FB ads etc. One of the biggest requirements to grow an Instagram page is great quality content
  3. Using competitions can be a great way to get followers to tell their friends about your business — We use competitions all the time and we’ve found the best kinds that work well are giving away something that is going to attract the same target audience you’re looking to attract to buy your product. For example for our physical product business in the B2C space it’s a time marked drink bottle, so we do weekly giveaways where we team up with other brands and someone has to tag a friend to enter the giveaway. Super powerful. We get over 1000+ comments every time!
  4. Use Instagram to build awareness for your brand, then re-market to them using FB ads to bring them to your site and down your sales funnel. One thing people don’t realize with Instagram it’s an incredible platform for brand discovery. You can’t expect to generate a sale straight away, however over time you can, and if you can FB ads to re-market to your followers you can get a very strong ROI on time and money spent.
  5. Instagram stories are an incredible way to humanize your brand but also sell your products or services. At foundr we promote a lot of content via our stories using the swipe up feature (blog posts, magazines, books, free training etc.) — it’s super important to also to build a relationship with your followers, you can do with IG stories and show behind the scenes!
  6. Use Instagram DM’s to get personal with your customers and close sales. One really powerful strategy is using Instagram stories and using yes or no widget. If you’re talking about a product a few stories before you ask someone a question using the yes or no widget, you can segment and see who taps yes, then DM that person and close more sales. It’s super powerful!

Because of the position that you are in, you are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂

Exactly what we’re doing now at Foundr — helping build and develop the next generation of entrepreneurs from the movement we’re creating. I truly hope that our content can lead to someone or multiple people / groups/ produce a start up that drives humanity forward via the content we’ve provided to assist them on their journey.

Some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them 🙂

Elon Musk — What he’s doing to drive humanity forward is incredible, would love to understand how he thinks and who he learns from, it would really help push my mindset to think 1000x bigger. The way he thinks about the world and our human existence is incredible.

Thank you so much for these great insights. This was very enlightening!


How to Use Instagram To Dramatically Improve Your Business: “Using competitions can be a great way… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

How to Use Instagram To Dramatically Improve Your Business: “Many businesses forget that…

How to Use Instagram To Dramatically Improve Your Business: “Many businesses forget that engagement is key and it goes both ways”, With Jonaed Iqbal & Candice Georgiadis

Many businesses forget that engagement is key and it goes both ways. If you see someone you can provide value to, write a helpful comment. I often comment with career advice to users who are asking for it. I also respond to DMs from people who need help with their job search.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Jonaed Iqbal. Jonaed Iqbal is the Foudner & CEO of NoDegree.com, a career resource to help those without college degrees. A native of Queens, NY, Jonaed learned social media analytics from founding his own startup company and being a consultant for web startups using his analytical and statistical background to optimize and scale their Facebook ad marketing campaigns. Jonaed has also worked for the NYC School Construction Authority as a Data analyst where he also acted as a liaison between the Community Education Councils, the Community Boards and the city. Jonaed is a graduate of Queens College in economics and applied math and also attended Columbia University for actuarial science.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

I was on Reddit and saw a question that asked “For those of you without a college degree who make over six figures, what do you do and how did you get into it?” A lot of the jobs that people answered with weren’t your traditional jobs. Many of the answers mentioned that they got the jobs through a connection of some sort (such as family or friends) or they just happened to be in the right place at the right time. I thought that it wasn’t fair and looked for some online resource that could help. There were specialized sites but nothing that was comprehensive. I entered trades.com. It was for sale but I figured they would ask for something that was too much. I typed NoDegree.com. I didn’t expect much but a few days later I got an email with a price that 3 college guys could afford. While I didn’t mind my corporate job, it wasn’t as fulfilling as I wanted it to be. I spent a lot of my free time learning about how to make NoDegree succeed. I was able to use a lot of skills that were useless for a traditional corporate job, but were extremely important for a startup. I also felt happy that I could make an actual impact on peoples live as I know just how hard finding a good job can be.

Can you explain to our readers why you are an authority about Social Media Marketing?

I was forced to learn the ins and outs of Social Media Marketing as it was the only way for a small company to grow without spending a lot of money. I learned about the platforms and the strengths and weaknesses of each. One way I was able to learn a lot was by actually running the Social Media accounts of several businesses. I still help out several companies with their Social Media accounts and strategies. I stay up to date on the algorithm changes as an algorithm can have a big impact on your social media strategy.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started this career?

There was a time where we had an offer for funding. I was extremely happy. We were offered a decent amount for a small portion of equity. My partners and I prepared thoroughly to present our pitch deck. We had finally caught our big break. The day before we were supposed to present, we were told “You need more traction before we feel comfortable investing”. The investors knew where we were before they made the offer. I learned a valuable lesson. As an entrepreneur, you will always hear people who are interested in investing in your company or helping you out in some way. Until it materializes, don’t count on it. Don’t keep things on hold for a “potential” deal. It worked out better in the end, as it is easier to do things the way we wanted and stay true to our mission. Funding would definitely change that.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

Since I managed several social media accounts, I always have to switch between accounts. One time I posted a photo meant for a completely different account on my NoDegree Instagram. I realized my mistake right away and quickly deleted the post. Always make sure to triple check before sending things out publicly! That meme may not be appropriate for your company page.

Which social media platform have you found to be most effective to use to increase business revenues? Can you share a story from your experience?

I find Facebook ads to be one of the best ways to advertise my website to users. The more users I get, the easier it is to pitch to people to post jobs on my website. I always kept myself within entrepreneurial circles and as a result I was able to learn the ins and outs of Facebook ads. It takes a decent amount of time and a lot of research to get really good at it, but once you do it is one of the easiest ways to market at the lowest cost.

Let’s talk about Instagram specifically, now. Can you share 6 ways to leverage Instagram to dramatically improve your business? Please share a story or example for each.

Instagram is great for branding purposes and getting the word out. Businesses should focus on providing value to their users and avoid being spammy. Businesses should always remember the social aspect. Here are the 6 ways

  1. Instagram is great for reaching out to people in your niche. For example, I will be launching a podcast soon so I used Instagram to approach people who would be interested in being a guest on my podcast. I also use it to reach out to authors of books I review so I can ask them to contribute to my website in some way.
  2. You learn a lot about what type of users interact with your page. Use that to your advantage and cater your content to that type of audience. You will get higher engagement as a result.
  3. Many businesses forget that engagement is key and it goes both ways. If you see someone you can provide value to, write a helpful comment. I often comment with career advice to users who are asking for it. I also respond to DMs from people who need help with their job search.
  4. Use Instagram to display content that your audience would find helpful. I use Instagram to let people know of the latest content on my website
  5. Use Instagram to learn about events in your area. I have learned a lot about events I would have never known about and used it to form partnerships with great businesses and people.
  6. Figure out what is successful on Instagram by looking at other people who are doing well. Break down why they are doing well and use it to apply it on your own business.

Because of the position that you are in, you are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂

My goal is to spread the NoDegree movement. Often times, people are told that college is the only path to success and that people who do not get college degrees are not as intelligent as those that do. There are intelligent people in all types of careers and their intelligence should be judged by their skills and abilities, not by whether or not they have a degree. Once society starts to look past the resume and look at the actual person, I will feel like I have made a difference.

Some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them 🙂

I would love to meet Salman Khan, founder of Khan Academy. I am always inspired by people who leave traditional jobs to pursue a passion of theirs, as that is something I am doing. I love the fact that he is providing education to those around the world.

Thank you so much for these great insights. This was very enlightening!


How to Use Instagram To Dramatically Improve Your Business: “Many businesses forget that… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

How to Use Instagram To Dramatically Improve Your Business: “Use giveaways effectively” With The…

How to Use Instagram To Dramatically Improve Your Business: “Use giveaways effectively” With The Young Travelier, Chris Young & Candice Georgiadis

Use giveaways effectively. Giveaways are a great way to get new followers to engage with your page, but to do them effectively requires that you collaborate with the right people. For example, if your brand is a facial beauty product, it might make the most sense for you to collaborate with a hair tie brand or a bathrobe brand because those are products that are used in unison with each other. Think long and hard strategically in order to drive the most traffic and new followers if you are going to spend money on giveaways.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Chris Young. Chris started his career as an entertainment lawyer and has since been the founder of multiple successful e-commerce companies, one of which was taken public. During the past few years he has developed his passion of videography, travel, and food into a lifestyle blog and Youtube channel with millions of views, and 250,000 readers and viewers.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

Since I was 13 years old, I’ve always created content, starting with photography in the dark room. I had dabbled in it on and off since then but after selling my last company, I took some time off and started pursuing some of my old hobbies again. Photography turned into videography, then I started messing around with iMovie and Final Cut Pro and was instantly hooked. Quickly, I realized there was a need for clients in the travel industry to hire content creators for their social media needs, and that’s sort of how it all started.

Can you explain to our readers why you are an authority about Social Media Marketing?

I’ve been asked to create e-courses with other creators such as Erik Lauer and have consulted hotel groups such as the Ritz-Carlton, Anantara and Four Seasons on how to develop their social media marketing. I have also run multiple e-commerce companies that specifically use social media marketing to drive traffic and revenue. Additionally, I have an investment in a social media marketing tool called Magiclytics that helps brands identify what type of revenue they can drive off of influencers.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started this career?

The most interesting thing that happened was the first time I got paid to go on a trip to shoot content for a hotel — it was for the Ritz Carlton Reserve in Bali. It seemed like a dream to be able to go to a hotel that was on average $600 a night and to get paid to do something I loved to do. It was surreal to me that this was even a real thing.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

I was asked to shoot for a hotel chain which I will leave unnamed, and they wanted me to shoot a model in one of their suites in a massive jacuzzi tub that had a view. We used shampoo to make the water more opaque so that there wouldn’t be any nudity, but what I failed to realize was that the mirror on the ceiling of the bathroom created a reflection that totally negated that. Needless to say, the pictures were not able to be used.

Which social media platform have you found to be most effective to use to increase business revenues? Can you share a story from your experience?

Youtube and personal blogs seem to create the most business revenue. Instagram is probably the most popular, but its low barrier to entry and the need to create an endless stream of daily content on it really makes the return on investment incredibly low. You can write a blog article once a week, or create a Youtube video once a week, and the long tail on it is greater than a single picture or video on Instagram. As a result, advertisers and brands are willing to spend more on them.

Let’s talk about Instagram specifically, now. Can you share 6 ways to leverage Instagram to dramatically improve your business? Please share a story or example for each.

  1. Post consistent content. This seems so basic, but it’s something people fail to do. The Instagram algorithm rewards consistency and will make your profile much more available for new followers to find you or to view your work. When I post consistently, I notice my engagement and impressions improve by multiples.
  2. Tell a story. Every single article out there always suggests that your Instagram should have some sort of call to action, but what it fails to say is that you should use the text portion to also tell the whole story behind the picture. Although Instagram is very picture heavy, people will spend more time if you write something thoughtful and meaningful — something that tells the story behind the picture or video. I have found that my engagement dramatically improves if I spend time writing out more than a few words on a post.
  3. Try new types of content to test out what works for you. Each brand has its own feel and what works for one brand might not work for another. For example, I have seen some brands post only lifestyle content, but then change over to more product pictures and their engagement improves dramatically. If you’re not constantly testing new ideas and strategies on Instagram, you won’t know what works specifically for you.
  4. Use giveaways effectively. Giveaways are a great way to get new followers to engage with your page, but to do them effectively requires that you collaborate with the right people. For example, if your brand is a facial beauty product, it might make the most sense for you to collaborate with a hair tie brand or a bathrobe brand because those are products that are used in unison with each other. Think long and hard strategically in order to drive the most traffic and new followers if you are going to spend money on giveaways.
  5. Use tags in Instagram stories for related subjects. This is something that is often overlooked. If you are a shoe brand, for example, and you put up a picture on your Instagram story feed, you should research and use tags that are indirectly related in order to drive new traffic to your story. Hashtagify or Sprout Social are good tools to use when doing related hashtag searches. It doesn’t hurt to use a lot of them and then minimize them so they don’t detract from the story video or photo content itself.
  6. Don’t use follow unfollow techniques. This is an old technique to get people to follow your account. I don’t know why people are still using it — it’s outdated and will hurt the visibility of your account via the Instagram algorithm. I don’t know how many countless “services” are still being sold using this as a method to help “grow” your Instagram.

Because of the position that you are in, you are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂

I would love for people to be more present. I know this is completely dichotomous for someone who uses social media constantly, but I believe that social media can be a great way to learn and see the world, but not at the expense of enjoying and experiencing it yourself. I force myself to put down my phone for at least a few hours every day at some point and focus on just being in the moment. I think everyone would be a bit happier if they did this at some point in the day, considering how attached we are to our miniature computers in this day and age.

Some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them 🙂

I would love to pick the brain of Elon Musk. He seems like a pretty enlightened individual who has some really out there ideas. I’ve met less than a handful of people who really thought truly outside of the box, and every time I have met individuals like that it’s made me reassess my own thinking and world views.

Thank you so much for these great insights. This was very enlightening!


How to Use Instagram To Dramatically Improve Your Business: “Use giveaways effectively” With The… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

How to Use Instagram To Dramatically Improve Your Business: “Improve Customer Service With Quick…

How to Use Instagram To Dramatically Improve Your Business: “Improve Customer Service With Quick Replies”, With Brand Storyteller Melanie Deziel & Candice Georgiadis

IMPROVE CUSTOMER SERVICE WITH QUICK REPLIES: If you have a business profile (vs. personal profile) Instagram now allows you to create the Instagram-equivalent of keyboard shortcuts, making it easier to provide friendly customer service and save time on sending common responses. To do this, go to your profile page, tap to expand the menu in the top right, and tap “Settings” at the bottom. Scroll down to “Business Settings” and tap “Quick Replies” to create your own shortcuts for common responses. For me, this includes shortcuts I can use to reply to common questions I get via DM. For example, if someone asks me for help coming up with brand story ideas, I can type the phrase “help1” and Instagram automatically inserts pre-written instructions for accessing the free downloadable Story Idea Guide on my website. For your business, you might create shortcuts for how to submit a help request to your customer service team, how to resolve a specific error, answers to common product questions, or something else that saves you time and helps your customers and followers get the information they need.

I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Melanie Deziel. Melanie is a brand storytelling keynote speaker and the Founder of StoryFuel, a firm that teaches marketers how they can think like journalists to tell better brand stories. Before founding StoryFuel, Melanie was the first editor of branded content at The New York Times, and helping build the sponsored content teams at The Huffington Post and Time Inc. She serves on the board of the Native Advertising Institute, served as a adjunct professor for Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Communications and developed the first course in Content Marketing for Fairleigh Dickinson University. Melanie has traveled the world as a keynote speaker, speaking to tens of thousands of marketers and gracing the stages of industry leading events including Content Marketing World, Social Media Marketing World, Inbound, Native Advertising Days, The Inbounder, SXSW and more.

Thank you so much for doing this with us Melanie! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

I studied journalism in school, and always thought I’d end up in a newsroom telling hard-hitting stories about what was happening in the world. But when I was on the hunt for a job, I discovered that my skills as a reporter, interviewer and content creator were extremely helping in the marketing world, too. I learned that many marketers wanted to embrace content marketing and brand content, but weren’t quite sure how to come up with differentiated content ideas, create compelling content and distribute it strategically. I joined the Huffington Post in the early days of HuffPost Partner Studio, helping our ad partners tell stories that would appeal to our audience. I later moved to The New York Times, where I helped form T Brand Studio, and taught our advertisers how to create content that would appeal to an NYT audience. I also spent some time as the Director of Creative Strategy at Time Inc, laying the groundwork for a brand storytelling team that could serve ad partners for all 35 of our US magazines. I decided to take my mission of educating marketers about the power of brand storytelling global in 2016, launching the speaking and training company that is now StoryFuel.

Can you explain to our readers why you are an authority about Social Media Marketing?

I’ve worked on hundreds of branded content campaigns, each of which had strategic social distribution plans attached to ensure we engaged and reached the right audience. I’ve spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on social promotion over the years, and been privileged to run social accounts for my brand partners that amassed tens of thousands of followers. While I now focus more on strategy for content, much of that content ultimately finds its home on social media. And in my own life, I leverage social media to connect with my speaking audience and potential clients each and every day.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started this career?

Last year, after I finished speaking at Social Media Marketing World, I was approached by D. P. Knudten. He’d been a longtime follower of mine on Instagram, and it was our first chance to meet in person. He gave me a copy of his book, “ROTOMA: The ROI of Social Media Top of Mind,”where I’m featured as a case study on how to build a personal brand on instagram. It was so cool to meet, so we could go from social media connections to real-life friends, and to take a photo together with the book! As a nice bonus, his book referred to me as “less-caffeinated GaryVee with a far better wardrobe.” Not too shabby!

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

When I first started out speaking, I didn’t realize how much better my craft could become if I focused on a single presentation with some customization, versus trying to create brand new presentations for each and every event. The more times you give a presentation, and the more rehearsal you get with that content, the better it becomes and the more your audience will benefit!

Which social media platform have you found to be most effective to use to increase business revenues? Can you share a story from your experience?

Instagram is my favorite platform, but perhaps for an unexpected reason. As a former journalist, writing is my first content language, as I call it. Instagram challenges me to think in a different way, and to use visuals to tell my story. This is an exciting creative challenge, and has made me more mindful of the unexpected beauty all around me, in both my frequented locations and in the wonderful cities I get to visit when I travel to speak. By sharing my adventures, I get to help my followers understand what it is that I do, and I’ve met so many new friends and connections this way. While folks aren’t always requesting keynotes in DMs or commenting to ask about consulting from StoryFuel, Instagram allows them to get to know me so we can form deeper connections that often lead to business relationships down the line.

Let’s talk about Instagram specifically, now. Can you share 6 ways to leverage Instagram to dramatically improve your business? Please share a story or example for each.

  1. MAXIMIZE YOUR BIO LINK WITH LINKTREE: One of the key challenges on Instagram is the inability to drive traffic with clickable links in your comments and post captions. This has resulted in the ubiquitous use of the phrase “link in bio.” But Instagram only allows you to have one link in your bio, which can limit your ability to promote multiple links at once, or make it so that you have to be editing your bio all the time when your business priorities change. Instead, try a tool like LinkTree, which allows you to have multiple links in your bio, so you can link to all of your relevant promotions, pages, sites and campaigns. In my Instagram profile, I used to have to decide between linking to my website, other social platforms, or my latest lead magnet available for download. Now that I’ve started using LinkTree, I’m able to include links to my website, my speaker booking page, my downloadable Story Idea Guide, and links to my favorite products featured in recent posts.
  2. FOLLOW HASHTAGS TO FIND YOUR TRIBE: In December 2017, Instagram introduced the ability to follow hashtags the same way you follow users. When you follow a hashtag, selected posts with that tag appear in your feed. While this might be a cool way to get more content you like in your feed, it’s also a great way to keep an eye on your industry, monitor your competition, engaged with potential clients and connect with future customers. The key is to think carefully about the tags that these groups use, follow the tag, and make an effort to engage with these posts when they appear in your feed. As a brand storytelling keynote speaker, I want to make sure that I’m engaging with my fellow speakers as well as event organizers who may be interested in booking me. To that end, I’ve followed relevant hashtags like #keynotespeaker, #callforspeakers, and #professionalspeaker, so that I see posts from these people in my feed, even if I’m not following them individually. I make a point to like and add meaningful comment whenever I can, so that I’m part of the conversation and consistently connecting with new colleagues and potential clients.
  3. SECRETLY TAG YOUR STORIES: We know the power of hashtags to help people find our profile posts on Instagram, but we can often forget that the same discovery can happen with our Stories. At the same time, we don’t want to layer a bunch of text over out photos in a way that obscures the image itself. But if you do it right, you can use the built-in features of Stories to add up to 10 hashtags — the maximum allowed in Stories — and make them nearly invisible. If you do it right, your hashtags won’t detract from the beauty of your photo, but the Story will still be discoverable in relevant hashtag searches, giving you access to the widest possible audience. Whenever you’re creating an Instagram story, use the text tool to type a list of 10 relevant hashtags. Next, highlight the text and use the color-picker tool to choose a text color that matches some part of your photo. Once the color is selected, pinch the text to shrink it down as small as you can, and place it over the matching background color. They’ll essentially disappear!
  4. CREATE RECURRING IMAGE TYPES: When someone lands on your profile, they’ll look at your most recent photos to get an idea of the content you share and decide whether they want to follow you to see more content like that. By having a set list of post types that you create, you help your audience clearly understand what they stand to gain by following you, and you also create some visually pleasing consistency in your feed. Some folks will preach about a specific pattern that you create in your grid, but I think generally, consistency of some kind is more important than creating a pattern, since most followers will see your posts individually, as opposed to in your profile grid. On my feed, I try to stick to a few general categories of post types that best represent my company, my life and my brand: I post photos of me speaking to help emphasize what I do professionally. I post photos of coffee since it’s something I enjoy and people can connect with me on. I share photos of books and other items I recommend that I think my audience will enjoy. And I also share photos of my shoes on interesting floors, because it’s a quirky thing I take notice of. Because of this consistency, and the fact that I use a consistent color palette, people know what to expect when they follow me and they can recognize “an @meldeziel post” in their feed, almost before they see the name.
  5. IMPROVE CUSTOMER SERVICE WITH QUICK REPLIES: If you have a business profile (vs. personal profile) Instagram now allows you to create the Instagram-equivalent of keyboard shortcuts, making it easier to provide friendly customer service and save time on sending common responses. To do this, go to your profile page, tap to expand the menu in the top right, and tap “Settings” at the bottom. Scroll down to “Business Settings” and tap “Quick Replies” to create your own shortcuts for common responses. For me, this includes shortcuts I can use to reply to common questions I get via DM. For example, if someone asks me for help coming up with brand story ideas, I can type the phrase “help1” and Instagram automatically inserts pre-written instructions for accessing the free downloadable Story Idea Guide on my website. For your business, you might create shortcuts for how to submit a help request to your customer service team, how to resolve a specific error, answers to common product questions, or something else that saves you time and helps your customers and followers get the information they need.
  6. REQUEST VERIFICATION: While other social networks have elusive and mysterious processes for getting verified, Instagram actually allows you ro request a verification badge when you think you’re ready. If your business or personal brand would benefit from a verification badge, or if you’re battling some imposters on Instagram, go through the process to request your Instagram Verification, and signal to potential followers trust that you’re a quality profile worth following and engaging with. To do this, go to your profile page, tap to expand the menu in the top right, and tap “Settings” at the bottom. Scroll down to “Request Verification” and enter the requested information. You’ll need to share your full name, any aliases, your brand category (such as News, Sports, Government, Influencer, etc.) and then upload a photo of your ID to prove you are really you. Send the request and wait to hear back on whether you’ll be granted the verification badge that offers extra credibility for your account.

Because of the position that you are in, you are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂

In my own work, I’m hoping to inspire people to take an empathetic and audience-centric approach to the content the create and the marketing campaigns they deploy. If we can all focus on our audience, and the ways we can bring them value, then not only will we create better content, but we’ll also form deeper connections with our current and potential audience!

Some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them 🙂

As a young journalist, I was mesmerized watching the Page One documentary about the New York Times. I was lucky to get to know David Carr when I worked at The Times, but never did get to connect with Brian Stelter, who was also featured in the film. Talking shop with a fellow lifelong student of media would certainly make for a great meeting.

Thank you so much for these great insights. This was very enlightening!


How to Use Instagram To Dramatically Improve Your Business: “Improve Customer Service With Quick… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.