Читать книгу Become Instagram Famous - Alexander Metelev - Страница 7

Your profile type and your monetizing method

Before you become a public account and start monetization of your Instagram page, you have to decide on your theme and your profile type. Your further steps and endeavors will differ depending on that choice. Besides, raising your follower count or getting your account popular is one thing; when it comes to monetization methods, it gets harder. Unfortunately, but without careful thinking it may easily turn out the best way to get any profit out of your account is to sell it.

How to choose a theme for your profile

Why is it important and what factors may affect your choice?

For each sector there is a certain target audience which you will have to work with. In some cases, you can easily identify the target audience: the audience for “Instagram mums’ is, obviously, parents or future parents. In other cases, it is possible but much harder to define a certain audience.

This is why deciding on how are you going to monetize your profile now is essential: afterwards you can determine your theme and how exactly are you going to make profit out of it. From there on out you may choose your strategy and a theme for your public profile.

Not all audiences have paying capacity and that is a fact. As an entrepreneur, you will have to choose a sector that would attract users who are willing to spend their money. Sounds easy, but in reality there are complications.

For example, there are certain themes that at first glance seem to be profitable, but in reality they are not: such themes we may call “theme traps’. Good example is men & style Instagram accounts: at first sight, the followers must be really interested in fashion and therefore would be more willing to spend money to buy various accessories and other things. When you dig deeper, however, you will realize that most of the followers usually are young men who are here to look and leave likes on nice pictures, not to spend any money.

Not every popular sector is profitable either. Pet Instagram accounts, for example, are immensely popular with their frequent updates and quality content. But when you think about it, exactly what kind of audience on such accounts would be interested in your ads and your business? If you cannot with certainty define your target audience, there may be problems with further monetization of your profile.

When deciding on your public profile theme, there are three major principles you would want to consider:

You must confidently define your target audience: your account must be fit thematically for certain clients. When an entrepreneur gets asked to “define his target audience” he must do so without any hesitation. That means cute animals, movies, interesting facts or world mysteries are not good themes for your profile because these themes do not have a defined target audience.

Know your audience’s paying capacity. You need to not only understand your audience but also know how you can turn that into profit.

Remember that you need to easily attract followers. Your audience has to be profitable but also extensible: i.e. choosing house purchasers as your target audience is a good idea but maintaining and expanding that audience might be extremely difficult.

Another good advice is to act on contrary: first you decide on what type of account you want to be, then you choose your monetization strategy and then define your target audience. Sometimes this method is more effective than other means. With these recommendations you will find your account type and can easily monetize it later.

Personal blogs on Instagram and their peculiarities

It is getting more and more popular these days to become a blogger, maintain interest of your followers and through that fulfilling your monetization goals. Not everybody knows what a blog is, however. A blog is a webpage which functions as a personal diary for its owner. He expresses his ideas and feelings about what is happening to him, shares his content and does all that via webpages or social networks. With each text post on Instagram a blogger attaches a video or photo related to that post. Usually bloggers keep their posts related to a certain theme such as sport, childcare or what they do professionally.

What distinguishes blogs from personal profiles

An interesting theme that resonates with large audiences. Unlike personal profiles, there is always a theme that you can follow through blog posts. Personal pages have a theme too, usually they tell about a person’s life and what surrounds it, but the audience for them is quite limited.

Posting frequency. For blogs there are much more posts per day than there are for personal profiles, sometimes bloggers manage to post multiple times a day in order to keep their blog relevant and sustain followers’ interest.

Each blog requires promotion. No matter how, via automation services or on their own, bloggers need to promote themselves. There are two factors that define a popular account: first is genuinely interesting quality content, which is also long-term engaging. Second is the blogger’s persona: people follow his or hers blogs no matter the theme but rather because they are really interested in that blogger as a person.

Blog’s starting numbers. For each blog there must be a certain amount of content and a certain amount of followers already on your account. After that you can start defining and obtaining your target audience which, combined with your starting numbers, will result in getting stable growth for your profile. With personal profiles there is no such necessity to get as many followers as possible: those profiles are created for user’s “casual’ use.

Lucrativeness. Bloggers’ pages can make profit by publishing ads which are offered to them by advertisers. Personal profiles most likely cannot do so due to limitations in following.

Each personal Instagram profile is created for a purpose of socializing and communicating with other users. Blogs serve various purposes for their creators: artistic expression, attracting audience to the persona, gaining profit.

Designing a blog on Instagram

Interesting photos and publications are necessary for any blogger to attract audience and make people engaged and interested in blogger’s persona. First thing everyone notices is your design and this is the first thing that shows others what type of content you create. Here are some general rules to design your blog-styled profile:

Photo quality. It is better to use professional photos for a blog. Do not use third-party logos and images even if your page is not created for profit purposes. According to statistics, profiles that represent real people gain more followers. A color scheme would also make your blog look more interesting: for that, your photos should have same color scheme or style.

Your Bio. Add as many information about you as possible, describe what you are doing on the platform, your contacts and general inquiries. All in all, open to your followers so that they know you can be trusted.

Your first post. Do not start your blog with soapy long stories about how you chose your business because it is likely that at this point nobody really cares. In the beginning it is better to set up a theme of your blog for your current and future followers.

Put as much effort as possible in making your content interesting, or else soon people will unfollow you and most likely will not come back. Here is some advice on how to create good posts:

– No long stories. Brevity is the soul of wit, and to Instagram it applies better than to anything else. People get tired reading long posts, usually they leave them mid-sentence or do not bother to start reading at all.

– Divide text into paragraphs. It is also good to divide each paragraph with space.

– Do not overburden your text with details. Most followers do not care about every single detail which led to the post, keep explanations at minimum and get straight to the point.

– Complete your text by attaching a photo. Each photo must be somehow related to your publication.

Public pages on Instagram and their peculiarities

You may compare thematic pages on Instagram to a web-magazine which collects posts related to certain interests, i.e. sport, fashion, music, cars, inspirational quotes or cooking. Most users thoroughly enjoy such pages: people like to look at nice pictures related to some activity, read interesting and insightful posts about that thing etc. It is quite easy to advertise via such pages while at the same time make it look natural and not distract users from the content.

Most popular niches already have popular public pages so it is not easy to become the most popular profile related to certain subjects. Besides, you would not attract as many followers when you talk about the same old thing. This is why you will have to invest a certain amount of time and be prepared for expenses which then, however, will be covered up with ad income.

Another type of thematic accounts is accounts related to a certain product. You can find various types of content there, both entertaining and meaningless posts and other ones which describe a product, its characteristics and price. For example, a person wants to sell vape kits and all the accessories related to it. To do so, they create a thematic page related to vape and post all types of content there – jokes, interesting facts and also occasional advertisements of their products or services. We have already discussed how Instagram became more than sharing platform for all types of pictures of food, cute cats or what you recently bought; now it is a large advertisement platform and using it that way will attract substantial income.

Designing a public page on Instagram

Unlike public pages on other social networks, such as Facebook or VK, Instagram pages are not separate types of profiles. They are the same accounts which use a different bio, different blogs or different posts. Here are some essential rules of designing a thematic account:

– Use keywords in your Username. Think of a simple yet memorable and creative username to your page. Ideally, people would look at that name and instantly associate it with what type of business you have.

– In Name Field, include what you think would describe your profile’s theme best; you can use emojis for that.

– Choose Profile Photo carefully. It should fit the theme and be of really good quality.

– Include all the information about your profile in Bio field. This is one of the most important parts of your account. For potential advertisers leave your business contacts and inquiries.

Celebrity Instagram accounts and their peculiarities

There are different “levels’ to fame on Instagram: it can be a celebrity that is famous in the city (from 1 to 10 thousand followers), in the country (from 50 to 500 thousand) or worldwide famous (more than 500 thousand followers).

A celebrity account is a personal page of a famous person (actor, dancer, singer etc.) which can be maintained by social media manager or a team of managers. In those profiles you will see news about celebrity’s activity, personal life or interesting facts about them and their life. Such accounts are suited well for advertisement but it requires thorough planning which should be developed considering a famous person that you represent and how he or she handles their Instagram account.

How to operate a celebrity Instagram account

Keep the account active and always make it interesting for the followers. You need to not only keep your current audience but also involve new users. An effective strategy for that is regular giveaways or any types of interactions which involve prizes.

Use hashtags to attract users. Do not put more than 3 to 5 hashtags in your publications and make sure they fit the description and are not just the most popular ones.

Publish new posts at peak activity time (from 5 to 9 PM according to most stats). Balance your publications and try to post actively but not too much. A good ratio is one post per 3 or 4 hours.

Talk to your followers but do not forget about the haters as well. Each celebrity has both and you can take different actions against the latter: you can ignore them, respond to them or block them. But talk to the former for as much as possible: answer fans questions, thank them, chat with them. It creates a good image for celebrity and leaves a good impression for both admirers and naysayers.

Pay attention to what photos you are posting. Do not post same or just very similar photos twice. Do not post too provocative and shocking pictures which may lead to controversy, unless you are intentionally do that in order to make people talk about you.

Analyze what photos your followers like more. For each celebrity there is a different image, and there is a certain one which your followers like better. For Russian users it is interesting when celebrities talk about their families and their personal lives while people from other countries prefer lifestyle photos, pictures from professional photoshoots and photos related to sports. Usually after a certain time with the audience the celebrities themselves know better what their fans like and what type of photos people would want to see from their idols.

Always include an interesting caption for any photo or video, do not hesitate and include English translations for your followers from all over the world (that is in case your comments and captions are not in English already).

Each celebrity has their own strategy on how to operate their famous account. Some stars almost exclusively promote their projects, some talk a lot about their personal life and others carefully mix both. There are many attributes that distinguish celebrity accounts and how they operate in comparison to common users.

Designing a celebrity account on Instagram

Usually, there are very little differences in how celebrity account looks comparing to other profiles. One exception is Bio where instead of long descriptions celebrities include their official websites or inquiries, as well as links to their new products or projects. A lot of celebrities include their agents’ contacts and advertising contacts.

Another important feature of most celebrity accounts is verification badge which you can see near their account names. Most of the time, they also have their photos as avatars for quick recognition.

Commercial and Brand Instagram accounts and their peculiarities

A while ago, Instagram introduced Business profiles to facilitate business operations for companies and brands. There are several features which distinguish such accounts from others:

“Contact’ button;

Additional stats on publications and activity;

New advertising features;

An option to include company’s physical address.

Here are some recommendations on how to operate a commercial account on Instagram:

Always provide fresh news and new information for your followers, keep them entertained. Try and divide your content into different sections: as a clothing line on one day you may publish a picture of your client in a new dress bought from you, on the other day you can publish a fresh package to send out to one of your customers, next time post an interesting fashion fact or behind-the-scenes photo etc.

Do not post too much, 3 to 6 posts a day is a sufficient amount. The exception is when you have a special event or important news to tell your followers about, on that day you may use from 5 to 10 photos.

Despite your account being commercial, try and mix your professional photos with random pictures from your daily routine made on your phone rather than professional camera. People like more “humanity’ in their company and will appreciate that type of sincerity from you.

Publish your photos on specific times:

Morning: 6—7 AM;

Afternoon: 12—2 PM;

Evening: 5—9 PM.

For each region and each business sphere a time may differ so after a while you will see when it is better to add new posts.

Think of your strategy of Instagram promotion. Come up with around 10 first publications, make them interesting for new users and keep them intrigued for the 11^th post. Make your brand look original for people.

Do not forget about live broadcasts. For any business accounts a live video where each customer may receive answers for their questions is a great opportunity.

Do not be too focused on your commercial image, your behind-the-scenes footage and photos are just as important: show your brand from inside out.

Always inform your followers on any upcoming events. This will boost the events’ popularity and attendance if necessary.

Designing a business account

Some advice on how to design your commercial account:

Instagram is a highly visual social network. Create quality and bright photos which will leave lasting impression, think of some interesting “gimmick’ for your pictures. Come up with a creative approach to your products and fulfill that approach on photosets for your products.

Use your brand name as the account’s nickname. Sometimes a name that you want to use is already taken, or cannot be used for other reasons; in that case use a name that could be quickly associated with your business or relates to it directly.

Use your logo as your avatar but design it beforehand.

Include all the information and fill out every info section. Put a link to your website, describe everything clearly and thoroughly.

How to design your publications:

Interact with your public: ask them questions in the description, play the “capture this’ game, entertain them with other small activities;

Despite being a common thing amongst all users and bloggers, do not hesitate to use hashtags, it still works even after all these years.

Use common hashtags even if they are too basic: for example, a gift shop could use hashtags such as #giftshop #gift #present #bestgifts etc.

Methods of Instagram monetization

There are three ways to make profit out of your Instagram account:

ads selling;

paid account promotion;

business advertising.

If you are serious about making profit out of Instagram you need to learn more about these methods and analyze them to choose one that suits you best.

The first method is selling advertisement. You need a fairly popular account with couple of thousand followers in order to choose that method. Your account can be a blog, a public page or a celebrity profile. Most popular accounts with dozens of thousands of followers usually choose from various ad offers themselves. But on the other hand it is fairly common for account owners to offer their profiles for promoters to place their ads on. There is no need to wait for a good offer when you can come to the advertisers yourself and show what your account can do. Another way of doing that is via promotion platforms where you can buy and sell ads. Usually there are numerous options and some may suit you better than the others.

The second method is paid account promotion. It is a fairly new way of promotion but is already proven to be really effective. Many companies have already tried hiring a promoter for their social network account, so-called “Instagram manager’. Here are some things that you need to do as one:

profile designing for a business account;

creating content and developing strategies for business starts and reaching mass audience;

applying different methods of account promotion (which includes using your popular Instagram profile);

organizing ad campaigns and working with other advertisers.

Third method is business advertising. One of the most popular demographics on Instagram is women who are 18 to 30 years’ old so your business will be popular if that demographic is considered. Some businesses on Instagram look out of place and probably will not attract many people: trying to sell construction supplies or cars on Instagram is probably pointless since Instagram relies heavily on visuals. Cosmetics or candies, on the other hand, would attract more users by just being visually pretty, so a lot of people would be interested in buying such products.

Here are some businesses that are popular on Instagram:

café, restaurants, bakeries and pizzerias: food attracts more people both online and in real life, making such businesses rather popular and profitable;

beauty salons and gym accounts that are popular in real life would reach wide audiences on Instagram also;

businesses related to teaching;

hand-made accessories and DIY;

baby products;

candies and pastries;

jewelry and accessories;

clothes and shoes;

perfumery and cosmetics;

generally speaking, everything brand new and unique: there are many popular items that are “revolutionary’ and “innovative’, i.e. bottled stockings, push-up bras, Kylie lipsticks etc.

There are many different niches and businesses that are not yet popular but have potential, i.e. wholesales, liquid makeup, budget travel, sand animation DIY master classes and clothing repairs etc.

Monetizing each method and average numbers

Now that we established three main methods we can walk through each of them:

Selling advertisement: the price for each ad – be that publishing a photo or mentioning a company that is being advertised – depends on how many followers you have on your account. There are businesses of all sizes on Instagram (small, medium, large-sized) and each has its own budget for advertising and its own audience. A large brand probably will not ask a blogger with 10 thousand followers to advertise their product, just like an average online clothing store will not be advertised by a celebrity. The prices are all over the place on Instagram with starting numbers at around 300 rubles per post ($5). Usually ad price ranges between 1 and 10 thousand rubles ($15-$175) with most ads costing about 3—5 thousand rubles ($50-$90). Some accounts can make more than 30 thousand rubles ($500) from ads monthly. Alyona Esipova, a beauty blogger with more than 600 thousand subscribers on her Instagram account, makes roughly 300 thousand ($5200) rubles from advertising per month. Anastasia Volkova, a popular professional photographer with 400 thousand followers, asks for 50 thousand rubles (almost $900) per ad post. Celebrities also are not strangers to advertisement as additional source of income: Kseniya Borodina, Russian TV personality, demands 70 thousand rubles ($1200) per ad. The most expensive ads on Russian Instagram are on Ksenia Sobchak’s profile: she charges 250 thousand ($4300) per one ad.

Paid account promotion: anyone can start promoting accounts, even with little to no experience. You only need an already popular account of yours and a couple of months to understand various specifics. In Russia, the price ranges from 5 to 20 thousand rubles ($90-$350). You can easily make 80 thousand rubles (roughly $1400) a month if you have 3 or 4 companies as your clients. You can promote profiles from anywhere, the promotion can even be automated for your convenience. For example, you have a profile called “prodvizhenie’ and it offers mass liking and mass following for fairly small prices: 100 rubles ($1.2) for 1000 likes or subscribers. Other services from prodvizhenie include profile promotion with creating target audience, hashtag selection and promoting accounts to top searched or most viewed. You can offer 3 service packs: Basic (1500 rubles, $25), Professional (3990 rubles, $70) and Gold (6990 rubles, $120). Your Instagram promotion account has 171 thousand followers: theoretically, your 10 clients would want you to mass like or mass follow their profiles, two clients purchased Basic packages and three purchased Professional packages and in that particular case, even with such timid numbers, it gives you 31500 rubles ($547) per month.

Business advertising: for example, we have a profile dedicated to hand-made. A young woman really likes making toys, hand-made soap or she is really into scrapbooking. With Instagram she can turn her hobby into business by just creating a profile! So she makes an account under the name “tree4happy’ and it is dedicated to pyrography and she creates albums or books with hand-made decorated wooden covers. On average, the price can be 3000 ($50) rubles with 1 to 3 daily orders. Her favorite hobby would return in a monthly income of 50 thousand rubles ($900) and everyone wins!