For Ava Joanna, who has amassed 28 followers on Instagram, social media use goes beyond beautiful photos taken on the beach. She is sincere with her subscribers, sharing her real life. There are also positive posts on his blog, such as her recent bachelorette party in Tulum. And negative ones, like a post in which she shares what it’s like to be a homeless teenager. “Of course, photos are always important, but it was openness to the audience that helped me gain followers on Instagram. I share the good, the bad, and even the ugly in an attempt to remove the veil of “highlighting” that social media often creates,” she says.
Ava Joanna also shares yoga instructional photos and videos, yoga philosophy and discovering the world of yoga outside of the studio. Basically, she says, her Instagram blog is another way she keeps her connected with her students and followers.
Do you want to promote your own social networks? Here are 8 tips from Ava Joanna, other popular yoga instructors, and social media experts to help you succeed on social media.
Tip #1: Don’t get lost
Firstly, there is no magic formula that works for all social networks and for all brands, and only through your experience will you identify the right number of posts and the needs of your audience, says Valentina Perez, who works at the marketing agency Influencer. But there’s a good starting point – post content at least 3-4 times a week, don’t go out of your sight, Perez advises. “People want to see new content all the time, so being on social media is extremely important,” she says.
Tip #2: Don’t Forget to Engage with Your Audience
Create posts that generate discussions and questions. Then be sure to answer those questions and respond to comments, Perez says. She explains that not only will your audience appreciate it, but social media algorithms will work in your favor. Simply put: the more you interact with your followers, the more you will appear in people’s feeds.
Tip #3: Create a consistent color scheme
Have you ever looked at a popular Instagram profile and noticed how unified its color scheme looks? Of course, this is not a coincidence, but a thoughtful style. Ava Joanna suggests using various photo editing and content planning applications. This will help you develop a consistent aesthetic and color scheme that will make your profile look beautiful.
Tip #4: Buy a Smartphone Tripod
It is not necessary to buy expensive and professional, says Ava Joanna. This will help you not to depend on the photographer. Here’s a little lifehack: put your phone on video recording mode, take a video of yourself doing various asanas, then choose the most beautiful frame and take a screenshot. You will have a great photo. Or just record a video of your practice. Share it with your followers. Ava often makes videos like this so that subscribers around the world can practice with her.
Tip #5: Be yourself
This is the most important advice – be yourself, be open with your audience. Kino McGregor, an international yoga teacher who has amassed 1,1 million followers on Instagram, says instead of posting for likes, you better be a real person. “If you think a photo or post is too real to share, share it,” says McGregor, who frequently posts on Instagram about her own struggles with body rejection.
Tip #6: Add value and value to your social media
In addition to being open with your audience, you can also create compelling content to share, says Erin Motz, co-founder of Bad Yogi, an online yoga school. Posting something educational and useful can attract an audience. For example, in his stories and later in Highlights on Instagram, Motz answers questions from his audience, shares runs, and shows common mistakes people tend to make in the cobra pose. Bad Yogi’s largest audience is on Facebook with 122,000 followers, but the most engaged and active audience is on Instagram with 45,000 followers. It took Erin three years to garner such an audience.
Tip #7: It’s okay to ask for likes and reposts
“Your best bet is to be open with your audience. Do you need likes, reposts? Do you want people to read your latest post because it’s the best thing you’ve written this year? Then it’s okay to ask for it, just don’t overuse it,” says business consultant Nicole Elisabeth Demeret. You will be amazed at how many people are willing to show their appreciation for your work by sharing it. But the main thing is to ask politely.
Tip #8: Avoid photo stocks
Do you know the expressions: “a picture is worth a thousand words” or “it is better to see once than hear 1 times”? A photo can also be worth thousands of views if you choose it wisely, Demere says. So, don’t settle for stock photography. So many business pages do this that it’s going to be harder for you to grab people’s attention with stock photos. You’ll get a lot more shares if you use your own photos to make a how-to post or illustrate your own story.