Going Big on The 'Gram

A Complete Guide to Instagram

This will be a beginner’s guide to starting out and growing your Instagram account. Instagram is one of the most popular social media platforms, and since most of the readers here are from Twitter, it’s easy to look down on it because “it has normies”.

You are not wrong, but there is a lot of money in their pockets.

Annoucement:

I am now on Instagram (talk about timing!). Follow me for more alpha!

Why you should be on Instagram

• Instagram has a LOT of engagement. My IRL Instagram account gets 10x the likes and engagement of my IRL Twitter account on a per follower basis.

• It is a visual platform, and visuals are great for sales (aka more $$$)

• They are pushing on Reels, which might win some market share from TikTok, leading to more growth for IG as platform

• IG is about flexing - a lot of people there are willing to buy products (specially if it’s a status increasing or normie product)

• It has way more people than Twitter or Substack, you can grow a lot there and market your website there

• There’s a lot of digital real estate at your disposal - reels, stories, post, IGTV, shop, guides, DMs. Few platforms can boast of this.

• There’s a lot of influencer marketing happening on IG right now, I have been offered upwards of $50k for some campaigns. There are influencers who get paid in millions for ONE post! Lots of money to be made.

• IG ads are GREAT.

Strategies for IG

I would strongly recommend reading my first two substacks on growing your followers in general and on Twitter. We will discuss some strategies for IG growth.

1. This is not Twitter

You need to get out of the Twitter mindset, specially if you’re from money twitter or the more useful part of twitter. There, people are obsessed with logic, value, and education. They want to learn something.

Instagram is completely different. Even the “useful” accounts post bullshit (look at any “Business motivation” page on IG and you’ll know what I’m talking about).

There are some minor exceptions here (Chad Marketing account on IG doesn’t involve much entertainment, just my Twitter posts - but that’s cause I use my Twitter account as growth engine and IG as a complement), but for the most part emotions > logic

2. Fun > Value

If you’re just starting out (i.e. you don’t already have a twitter or personal brand to extend on IG and it is the platform you’re starting out on), you should probably start something fun or emotional.

Don’t start a Wifi Money page (Twitter is a better place for it, use IG as a complement), start a meme account, a “Life Hack” page, a mental health page, or a dance page - you get the point, right?

IG people are irrational with 90 IQ, they are the “dimwits” (not midwits - that spot is for LinkedIn lmao, key distinction). No benefit in being an intellectual. Be someone who they can use to escape their hardships.

3. Focus on Reels

Reels are the talk of the town right now. Zuck is very determined to take over TikTok (he is a good competitor, I’m pretty sure he will) and reports have come out that they are doubling down on it.

Lesson? Start with reels. Reels can be reused on YouTube Shorts and TikTok, and they get lots of reach (all my short form IRL content does 2x number of usual posts/long form content).

4. Hashtags

Hashtags don’t seem to matter much on Twitter or Facebook, but they are THE shit on IG. Half of my IRL reach comes from hashtags. There are tonnes of hashtag tools out there which will help you identify the best hashtags for your niche.

Use all 30 of the allowed hashtags and use the ones with the most volume (experiment on this a bit, see which ones do well for you and keep using them).

People can follow hashtags on IG & the platform pushes content with relevant hashtags to new users. This is a great way to get “search discovery” on a hard-to-search platform.

6. DMs & Collabs

The usual suspects - building real connections with others in your reach is a great way to grow together. What’s more interesting here is that Instagram has some nice collab tools. I’ve talked more about building relationships with other creators in my Twitter Guide (same rules apply here).

There is a way to collab on reels, there is a way to make a “joint post”. This is a recent but very useful feature - you can get a lot of new viewers if you can do a joint post with someone in your niche. Few platforms have such features.

It’s very easy to connect over DMs, there are audio and video call features (plus you can also go live with other creators!). IG DMs are just brilliant for building great connections.

7. Ads

I always like unpaid marketing more than paid marketing (cause you save money lol!), but if you’re looking forward to grow via ads, IG is just AMAZING. Just choose a well engaging post, and promote it. You can gain followers at a really cheap rate.

You can sell products on IG ads as well, which is again sweet (they are great for E Comm sales).

We will have many substack posts later on about paid marketing, where we will discuss all of this in much more detail.

Tips for content creation

IG content is not rocket science, but it definitely harder to make than Twitter or Facebook posts. If you’re using it as a main account (aka lead generator for your website), you will have to focus on content quality a lot.

1. Invest in a camera

If you’re a woman trying to grow a modelling page, or a chef trying to grow his recipe page, or a gym bro teaching and flexing his muscles, you NEED your content to be aesthetic. You need a good camera.

“Camera” can be a good phone camera as well (specially if you have a high end phone or an iPhone), you can go into fancy cameras if you have the money (if not, delay it for later - phone cameras are getting really solid these days.

I still thank myself for buying my first DSLR (almost emptied my broke ass bank balance btw!) when I did.

2. Edit well

There are levels to the game of editing. The least I would suggest is to get a basic editing 101 course on YouTube which will teach you about the settings you can use to enhance the looks of your post (remember, IG is all about looks and feels).

If you create fancier content often (quotes, edited videos with captions, tiny bits of animations), I highly recommend investing in tools like Canva. They will make life a lot easier for you.

There are fancier tools like Photoshop, Lightroom, etc. but I don’t recommend going there if you’re a beginner.

3. Make a Content Pipeline

It’s a no brainer, but Instagram LOVES you when you post often (every platform does). You need to figure out a posting schedule that works for you and stick to it.

Once you’ve figured out what works (trial and error, looking at accounts that are doing well), keep doing it over and over again (don’t make your content the exact same tho lol, let’s say if recipes of cakes are doing well make recipes of donuts, pastries, different types of cakes, etc - bake the fuck out).

It’s easy to run out of content, so make sure you don’t pick a too ambitious schedule. Don’t bore your audience with the same shit, they’ll hate you.

I am soon launching a tool that will help you automate, analyse and schedule posts across different platforms. DM me on Twitter for more details and a beta test. Thanks!

4. Reel alfa

There is so much to talk about reels I thought I’d make a section.

First, make reels with the trendy songs (trendy on reels that is). People recognise trendy songs and would likely watch your reels longer.

Second, make LOTS of reels. Try to post one daily. You will likely get one hit video in your first month and get a good idea of what works and what doesn’t?

Why reels? Cause they can be repurposed on YT/TikTok, and cause that’s what gets the fucking engagement (Zuck wants you to post reels).

Third, make sure the reel has quick transitions and is as long as it can be without dragging. Watch time is golden and quick transitions hold attention longer.

Misc Points

• Have a good bio with a clear intent of who you are and why you should be followed. Great PFP is extremely important to get them to your profile.

• It’s hard to put links on IG, you only have your one bio link - so use it directly for your website (urge them to visit it one line above).

• Whenever you go on a trip or anything, capture some pics and videos and make a nice video or reel (even if that is not your content). It will be refreshing for your viewers + will give you content.

• IGTV is a failed project IMO, I don’t think too many people even use it, plus it’s harder to make long content. Much better to stick to reels and normal posts.

• Set up shop and guides, never a bad time to start another income stream

• Don’t be ugly. Get to the gym you fat fuck. IG is all about looks and flexing. If you’re hot, make sure you leverage that look to get more eyeballs. Dress and style well.

• We will discuss monetisation in later posts, but IG can be monetised via paid posts/stories/reels, shop, selling your own products, paid collabs, managing brand accounts, etc

Conclusions & Summary

1. IG is a big bad boy, you must be on it

2. It’s all about emotions & feels, start such an account

3. Reels are the rage, focus on them

4. Post good quality visual content regularly

5. Just look good, you’ll do well lol

This is it for now. There’s obviously a lot more to dig deep into, but we will wait bit for the next post. Step by step.

Hope you enjoyed it, do leave your queries as comments - I will address them all. Like this post and share it with a friend. I’ll be very grateful if you do that:

Till next time!

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