Community: How to Double Your Instagram Following

1. Beth Williams

2. • Owner of Travels in
Translation. A blog that
focuses on travel within Asia
and Asian culture.
• Started Instagram in October
2014 (only 1 year ago!)
• Majority of income now
made through Instagram
trips and brand
collaborations
Beth Williams
@travelsintranslation
travelsintranslation.com

4. • Social media advertising will make up 25% of the entire ad
market in 2016 {Carat}
• Marketers will spend $8.3 billion on social media ads in
2015 {Marketing Land}
• 38% of marketers say they will allocate more money to
social media marketing over the next few years {Gigaom}
• Budgets are projected to double within the next 5 years
{Social Fresh}

5. SO WHY INSTAGRAM?

6. INSTAGRAM IS STILL THE FASTEST GROWING
SOCIAL NETWORK IN THE WORLD
300 million+ users
•70% of users check it daily
•70 million photos daily
•2.5 billion likes per day

7. • SOCIAL > EMAIL
According to WSJ, people spend more time on social media platforms than
they do reading their emails
• INSTAGRAM > TWITTER
Inc. says top 25 brands see only 500K hits on Twitter vs. 19M on Instagram
• INSTAGRAM > PINTEREST
Audience is 3x larger with 58% more engagement
• INSTAGRAM > FACEBOOK
Community is a fraction of the size, yet interaction is 15x higher
==> PEOPLE WILL ACTUALLY SEE YOUR POSTS
Why Instagram Wins

8. • Far less time to reach thousands
of people
• Blog traffic is down, micro-
blogging is the new thing
• I’ve slowed way down in the
number of blog posts I write.
And now I make more money.
#sorrynotsorry
Instagram vs. (>) Blogging

9. • Instagram develops intimacy with your clients and
community more than any other platform
• That one daily picture helps them get to know you,
like you, and most importantly trust you.
• They’ll be more likely to come to you for
recommendations, be a part of your community or
even buy from you, because they’ll feel like you’re
friends.
Instagram is the Secret Sauce to
ANY Blog or Business

10. IT’S NOT TOO LATE
TO START
!!!
Instagram has opened more doors of opportunity for me than any other platform…

11. • Started at the end of
October 2014
• Developed a strategy
• In June 2015, I hit 20,000
followers (a mere 8
months)
• For free (not buying
followers, not hiring help)
…and now I’m going to teach you how you can as well!

12. Popular
≠
Profitable
(But you do need a following to show you have community and influence)

13. In Four Easy Steps…
1.Getting discovered on Instagram (on platform)
2.Getting discovered on Instagram (off platform)
3.Converting potential followers into actual followers
4.Maintain your following
HOW TO DOUBLE YOUR INSTAGRAM FOLLOWING

14. (on the platform)
Getting Discovered on Instagram

15. 1. Geotagging

16. This is a must for travel planning!

17. 2. Hashtags

18. • Use 3-9 hashtags to be the most effective
• If using more than one, place them in the
comment section
• Do not use the most popular!
• If thousands of people are already doing it - DON’T DO
IT
• Find the most relevant hashtags
• Look at tourism board accounts, airlines, be as local as
possible
• emojis
• Iconosquare
Again, Popular ≠ Profitable

19. • By Instagram
• Easier than ever before
• Curated weekly content
• By large accounts
• Not worth it IMHO
• By other bloggers or brand
partnerships
• Their followers are probably closer to
who you want anyways
• Reach out to brands you’ve worked with
or ones you want to work with
3. Getting featured

20. 4. The biggest secret to getting
followers is…

21. SAYING “HELLO” 

22. • How you meet in the real world applies online as well
• Say “hello” to potential followers
• Like, comment, interact with them
• 350
• 3:1
• DO NOT just follow to unfollow !!! (insert angry face here)
• Doing this will actually hurt you because who you follow and
interact with matters in Instagram’s algorithm.
• DO NOT spam others

23. (off the platform)
Getting Discovered on Instagram

24. • Try to be featured on top Instagram lists
• If they don’t exist, create them
• Far more effective than being featured by larger
accounts ON Instagram itself
1. Getting featured

25. • You probably have followers elsewhere online, direct
them to your Instagram ONLY.
• Links, links everywhere!
• Promote, promote, promote
• Any interviews
• People you meet
• Instagram cards
2. Direct your current following
You can’t push all social platforms and expect to see growth on all

26. • Plain and simple, if you really want to grow fast, and I
mean really, really… then you might want to consider
paying for ads*
• Facebook ads
• Instagram ads
3. Ads

27. So now that you have some
strategy to start growing that
following…

28. How to convert potential
followers into actual followers

29. What makes people decide to hit follow?
1.Your profile
2.Your content

30. • Structure your bio to include
keywords that give people the
information they need to make
them want to follow you
• Who, what, why, when, where
• Give them something in return
through your one link space
• Hint: it’s not always a link to
your blog
Revamp your profile

31. • Make it worthwhile for them—
there are so many great
accounts on Instagram and you
can only follow 7,000 or so at
any given time.
• It’s now shifting to more than
just pretty pictures
• Inspirational, educational,
marketing
• Okay to delete
Post the best of your best

32. Maintain that following

33. • Give them something in
return
• Keep in mind how your
current followers view
your feed versus your
potential followers.
• 9 v 1
#1 reason people leave is
because you don’t keep
them engaged.

34. • Don’t forget to go through your feed each day and actually like
photos.
• It’s easy to get sucked in and stop liking other’s work.
• Obviously there’s the simple solution such as responding to
comments.
Go another step further and if they comment on your photo,
make the effort to go and at least like one of theirs. Comment if
you can, but if you’re getting tons of comments this can get
overwhelming.
**Delegating this to a VA is okay with the help of a style guide.

35. Questions?

36. Contact me!
Email: beth@travelsintranslation.com
Insta: /travelsintranslation
Twitter: /translatetravel
Facebook: /travelsintranslation