364: Your Instagram Growth Plan (That Doesn’t Involve Posting Daily or Burning Out)

 Hi, friends. I am excited today because we are starting a series here on the podcast that is going to last for the next seven weeks, and it is all around audience growth. I figured this was a really good topic for us to fully dive into for the rest of the summer and set ourselves up for a successful fall.

So we're gonna go week by week. Talking about different platforms and how to grow on them. So if you have been feeling stuck or like you might be ready to tackle a new platform, then you're going to really enjoy this series. And if you are enjoying an episode or part of the series or any of our other podcast episodes, will you do me a huge favor and share it with a friend?

Because our goal here is that we are helping as many content creators. As possible with this podcast. It's a free way for everyone to learn, and we wanna make sure everybody has access to it. So that starts with us all sharing. So let's get started. Welcome to the Thrive Podcast, where we believe creators deserve more, more money, more freedom, and even more love for what they do.

I'm Bree p, your coach for content creators. And I know the struggle. The long hours, the endless ideas, the feeling that success is just out of reach. But here's the truth. You've got what it takes in this podcast. It's your shortcut to getting there from strategies that actually work to behind the scenes insights.

We are unlocking your potential one episode at a time. So if you're ready to turn your creative hustle into a thriving business. Let's get started.

Today we are going to be talking about Instagram. So, how do we grow on Instagram? What does a growth plan look like that doesn't involve feeling like we have to post every single day or just burning ourselves out completely so it can look like, you know, we're, we're showing up, we're we're posting the reels.

Maybe we're even trying to batch some content or get ahead, but it still feels like your growth is stuck. Meanwhile, your feed looks curated. Your captions are thoughtful, but the results are just leaving much to be desired, and you're not lazy. Okay? So let's, let's throw all that out there, right? You're not lazy, you're not bad at content.

You probably just don't have a real strategy for growth, or the strategy that has gotten you to where you are now is no longer working. So let's change that with a 90 day plan that is going to give you actual momentum. So let's first talk about what most creators are getting wrong. And the most common thing that I'm seeing is that too many content creators are winging it, posting reactively, or what is inspiring you at that particular second or that time of the day, chasing trends or relying on what used to work.

And the truth is that growing on Instagram today isn't just about being consistent. It's about being strategic. You can't just keep showing up and posting every single day and hoping that you're going to get the same results you used to by doing that strategy. And my hot take is that I would rather see content creators post less per week and create higher quality, more strategic reels.

And in bold, fluent, we map that out for you. So if you haven't heard about Bold Fluences in a little while. It is our monthly membership program where we help you grow your audience, figure out how you're going to monetize and walk you through all of the steps to do that along with support and a community there to help you grow.

And so in there we map that out for you. We map out what to post, how to grow, and where to focus your energy so you stop wasting time on things that just aren't moving the needle. So, is Instagram still worth it? A hundred percent. It's still one of the best ways for us to build trust and connect really deeply with our audience and even convert them, whether that is encouraging them to purchase from an affiliate link, encouraging them to share your content, interact with any brands that you might be partnering with.

Sign up for your freebies purchase digital products. It truly works for almost every single monetization path that we teach other than website ads, obviously, but it works for every other monetization path that you may choose. So. The other good thing, and reason why I think it's still worth it is that even if reach is down, and one thing I can say, if you're feeling like my engagement rate used to be this, and now it's, it's so low, you are not alone.

If you do research and you look at stats of like what the engagement rate used to be and what it is now on average, it is lower for everyone across the board. Now that is not something, um, you may be excited about. Obviously I'm, I'm not excited about that. However, it is a little bit reassuring that okay, I'm not the only one dealing with a lower engagement rate and also that brand are aware of this.

That you're, again, when they're talking to other content creators and looking at who they're going to work with, the numbers are going to be different. Now, if you have an incredible engagement rate, this is just setting you up for even bigger success and something else for you to leverage to brands that you might wanna work with or leverage it in affiliates or in digital products that you're trying to sell.

So even if reach is down, we are seeing that content creators are still landing brand deals. That's not going away. Still selling products, making six figures, multiple six figures by sharing affiliate links and growing their email lists because. They're doing it with intention and we've had members triple their engagement land, multi-thousand dollar partnerships, not by posting more, but just by posting smarter.

So I'm gonna share with you now, what does a 90 day Instagram growth framework look like? How do we map it out? So I'm gonna walk you through that right now, and no matter if you've been doing this for five weeks or five years. This is every single piece of this is something that I think you should be looking at, because even if you've been doing it for a long time, you're listening to this episode because you have been feeling like things are a bit stagnant or could be better.

And so these are things that you would need to look at. So month one, and also notice like it's a 90 day framework. I am a firm believer that. Oftentimes we need somebody to tell us to slow down a little bit. Don't try to do this all in one week, in one month. Like there are certain things that take time for a reason, and that's because we want to do it the right way.

We want to make sure that what we are doing works. So month one, focusing on the foundation. So whether that's building your foundation, whether that is revising your foundation and making it stronger. Again, no matter where you're at in your journey, this works for you. So looking at your Instagram bio, when was the last time you visited that?

Is it super strong? Are you really, one thing that I, whenever I do audit anybody's Instagram bio, I. Typically there is something that needs to be tweaked, whether it is just being redundant with your username and the name on your Instagram profile, or maybe you're not utilizing that name fully to include some keywords there.

And then the same thing for the bio. Is it optimized? Are you wanting to attract people to click? Usually yes, the link in your bio. What is making them want to click? We have to use our words strategically in our bio to make sure we are going to get some results. So whether you're wanting people to click to find all of your affiliate links, to click over to your blog for some page views, to click and sign up for a freebie, we have to make sure it is all optimized to perform how we want it to.

And that does change. I change mine multiple times throughout the year, just depending on what I am trying to point people to and making sure that I am super optimized for that particular thing. The other thing is revisiting or choosing your content pillars. This is something that I've worked with a client of ours recently who just had like one main content pillar, and she realized she was starting to miss out on a few different things.

Her audience didn't know her as well as she wanted them to. She wasn't. Landing any brand deals, and so we needed to tweak a few different things and really add a couple of content pillars to fix those different things. So what are your content pillars? Are they landing with your audience? That is the key thing here when it comes to any type of content that we are creating.

We are selfish by nature, and I know I've talked about this multiple times on the podcast, but it bears repeating because it is so important if you are putting out content and I'm seeing it and. Scrolling through, it pops up in my feed. If it doesn't relate to me in some way, I'm gonna keep scrolling. I'm not going to engage with it.

I'm not going to watch the full reel, right? It has to speak to me. And so that's what you need to make sure is that your content pillars are speaking to your audience, not just something that you randomly want to do, and then you wonder why isn't this working? You have to make sure at the end of the day, that it is always focusing on your audience.

And that goes along with the third thing to focus on in month one, and that's analyzing what's currently working and what's not. If you don't take time to look through your content, you're going to just kind of keep repeating the same type of thing. Yeah, you may change up your content a little bit, but if you don't truly take the time to analyze, okay, why did this one work really well?

Why did this one fall really flat? If you don't take the time to do that, then you're not going to learn and apply it to the future content that you're creating. Month two, focus on boosting visibility and engagement. So this is where we're gonna shift from kind of posting and ghosting to a consistent engagement strategy.

And I'm not talking hours per day, right? We have to be very strategic with our time here as well. We need to figure out how are we engaging with our audience and how are we getting them to talk to us? So it is more so shifting from like, okay, great. I've got these awesome content pillars. I'm creating this great content, but it is starting to focus on how can I create more engagement?

How can I get people to respond to me? Maybe I need to ask some more questions. How do I get people to respond in polls, um, different things throughout the platform that you might need to be utilizing to get your audience to engage with you a bit more? So it's not necessarily that you need to spend hours on there posting, replying to comments, going and commenting on other people's stuff.

It's not that. It's that you need to figure out how are we going to get your audience to engage more with you. That's what you're gonna do in month two. That, and the other part of boosting visibility is making sure that reels are a solid part of your toolkit and you're using them intentionally. And if you have trial reels available, using that intentionally as well.

And then in month three, working on creating even more content that converts. So whether you're selling a product, growing your email list or landing brand deals, your content needs to lead somewhere. And in Bold, fluent, we really help you map that path. Inside Bold phones, it says all broken down in a done for you checklist so you never feel overwhelmed.

So if you're like, okay, great, that gives me a good starting point, but I need more. You might wanna go check that out. So what's possible when you follow through and you really hone in and like, okay, I'm gonna follow a 90 day growth framework. What can I, what kind of results can I see? And the truth is that when you stop overthinking your content and we actually are able to focus on what works, that's when we're gonna start to see things click.

So we're gonna start to see more saves, more shares, more dms, right? Your engagement go up. Then the eventual goal is like, okay, engagement is great, only if it's leading to more money, right? Otherwise, it's just more work. So when we're doing all of this very strategically, we're going to see our income grow as a result because we are taking our Instagram growth framework and we're pairing it with a monetization strategy.

And then when we combine the two of those together, that is when we see, oh, the number in our bank account is going up. Hooray. Elizabeth over at the country, PE is a perfect example of this. She had a very, um, like slow growth, I will say, over on Instagram. And she had great content, but what finally helped her, just like.

Grow to the next level and finally seeing the views that she deserved is she just really took the time to hone in on what she was good at. She honed in on what her audience loved and engaged with the most, and it did take time, but eventually something clicked and her audience took off. So she really focused on building that foundation and then kept tweaking until she found what landed with her audience.

And it worked. It took time. Yes, but if you're posting regardless, then you should take the time, right? That's, that's the thing, is that, you know, time is going to pass no matter what. If you're posting no matter what, then you might as well, you know. Do these different things to boost your engagement and to create some content that is going to convert and really learn from things.

So, jumping into the next part, why is it that most people quit? You know, why? Why do people quit Instagram and what can we do to avoid it or to make sure that we're doing things so what's not making us want to quit? Most people quit Instagram because they expect fast results from a platform that does reward long-term consistency and intention, banking on going viral, banking on having a real.

Quote, unquote, take off is not a strategy that we can rely on and people are burning out because they are doing all of the things and posting all of the things and seeing nothing. Right? Of course, of course you're gonna burn out if you're posting and not seeing results. So that is why we wanted to build audience growth tracks inside of Bold Fluence.

We've really done a lot of work inside Bold, fluence and revamped things completely. If you used to be in it before, or were in it whenever it was called Profitable Blogger Society, or even Thrive Tribe back in the day, we have completely revamped what it looks like inside and. These audience growth tracks give you a sustainable way to grow without burning out or second guessing yourselves.

Because the truth is you can't do it. All right? We think we can do it all. You are amazing. You are a superhero and you create amazing content, but you're only one person and there's only so much time in the day. So we need to make sure that we're mastering one thing first and then adding to it, right? So mastering one content pillar really, really well.

And then adding another one, I. And the other part of this is that we have to make sure that we're actually good at it. And this comes with a lot of like self-awareness and being honest with ourselves. Are we just not great on video? How can we practice if so and get more comfortable on camera? Maybe try voiceovers to get things rolling.

I did not used to be comfortable on camera or even speaking for long periods of time, but I had to keep practicing and it was not comfortable, but I kept showing up and kept honing my craft, and that is what we have to do. So if you want to make one of these platforms work, then it does require. Being a newbie and being okay with being a newbie, but also recognizing I'm going to do little things to improve every single time along the way, whether that is editing, whether that is recording, whether that is figuring out different hooks and different ways to get your audience to engage with you.

No matter what it is, even if you feel like you've mastered something really well, go back and look a year ago at the content that you used to post, and you probably are gonna be like, oh man, I thought this was really good at the time, and I could have done things so much better. So if you're ready to actually grow your Instagram and stop chasing random content ideas, I wanna invite you to join us inside of Bold Fluence.

You're gonna get the. Full 90 day checklist that I just shared, but in full depth, a full checklist as well as a done for you plan that you can follow for this platform, specifically, a real engagement plan and a community where we can troubleshoot with you and review things and help support you along the way.

So why don't you join us over there and let's make Instagram work for you and not wear you out.

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