What I would do if I had to grow my account from zero

If I had to start my account from 0…the thought scares me endless, but what would I do?

I will not lie; there have been times that I thought what would happen if I lost access to my account, and to be honest, it took me years to get where I am now. Yes, I know it is not such a big account, so what would I be crying about?

Have you tried growing an account organically with all the dos and don’ts that you have to remember?

So, what would I do to grow my account from scratch?

1. Find my niche

The first thing I would make sure I have nailed my niche, even before I create my new account. This will help you turn followers into clients at a later stage of your business. You want people to know you as the go-to person for social media tips; this will give them a reason to follow your account. If I think about the accounts, I follow it normally: friends, family, or accounts that talk about topics that I am interested in like female entrepreneurs, coaching accounts, or business pages.

But Natanja, Sally has 120 000 followers, and she posts whatever she wants. Yes, she can do that now, but I am sure when she started, she was very niched.

2. What does my brand look like

It would help if you also were clear about what your brand is. Are you going to be the face of your brand? The way to stay consistent with your brand identity is to have pillars; these will be what you focus your social media content on. As a social media manager, my pillars are:

• Social Media

• Entrepreneurship

• My story

As a fitness coach, your values might look something like

• Mindset

• Nutrition

• Fitness

Don’t forget how important it is to have values! My values are to add value and be transparent.

This will help with consistency.

3. Optimize my bio

This is one of the first things that a potential client will see. You want to make sure your picture is a clear picture of your face of your logo. Your profile photo needs to pop. You need to stand out from all the other accounts. Add a colour background or ad a colourful border.

Also, add a keyword to your bio name; this will increase someone's chances of finding you when searching for this keyword. For example, if you are a hairdresser, say: Jenny Smith | Hairdresser, or a social media manager like me, say: Natanja | Social Media Manager.

You need to have a short description of what you do, who you help, and what they can expect when working with you. If you are not clear on the value your account will ad to someone, they will most likely bounce!

Don’t forget to add a link to your bio; where do you want to send them once they are on your page. This can be to your freebies, website, packages, or about your page. This way, they get to know you even more.

4. Pre-plan my first 12 posts

It would help if you planned the ascetics of your Instagram account. There are a couple of apps you can use for this; I personally use Later.com. As a new account, you want to have those 12 photos go out almost simultaneously, as this will make your profile look complete and people an idea of what your account is all about, which will make them more likely to follow your account.

And now you might be asking, “But how many times do I post a week?”. That is up to you. If you follow Gary V, you know he says you need to produce 100 pieces of content a day! As crazy as that sounds, it does work. I have tried doing more pieces of content (not 100) and saw an increase in my engagement and had many new followers, but I could not keep up with that. I now do 1 post a day and, on the weeks where I am not so inspired to create content, even 7 posts a week is too much. But you have to be consistent, and batch create your content. If you are not sure how to plan content with each, be sure to read my post on that or hop over to my YouTube channel to watch my video on this.

5. Do my hashtag research

I have 7 hashtag groups ready to go; I did this for my account, and all my clients are convenient. I do not want to stress over finding hashtags each time I have to do a post. This way, my hashtags are intentional, and I can rotate them. I also use a “secret recipe” to pick my hashtags for each group. Your hashtags need to be what your ideal client would be looking for, so niche-based.

6. Follow accounts that are similar to mine

You want to show Instagram more or less in which category you fit in. This will show you more recommendations for similar accounts, and you will have better chances to connect with your ideal clients. Over time you will be able to “train” Instagram, and you might be shown in suggestions to others that follow similar accounts.

7. Follow those hashtags

There is no point for you to use your hashtags in posts; you need to follow them. This will help you with community engagement. Post using these hashtags will now show up on your feed, and you will be able to engage with these posts. I recently started using Dollar Eight as a community engagement tool. This is based on Gary V’s (yip, I might be obsessed) Dollar Eighty strategy. He suggests leaving your 2 cents (opinion) on 9 posts for 10 different hashtags.

0.02(cents) x 9(posts) x 10(hashtags) = $1.80

Growing an account from 0 is not going to be easy! It would be best if you put the work and time in. And to grow an organic account, you need to be social; you need to engage with content, and when I say engage, please add value and don’t just comment with a heart emoji.

8. Show up

Instagram stories are prime real estate, show your face, location tag stories, and use hashtags. These are things I forget so often; it takes time to learn a new habit. Did you know that with Instagram stories, you are not fighting the algorithm? Remember to ask questions, use the poll feature, question feature, or quiz feature; this way, you can start conversations in your DMs.

9. Content matters

You need to have quality content that people would want to make sure they see every day. Bring as much value with your content that people want to share your posts or interact with it.

10. Have a strategy

These points will not work if you do not have a social media strategy; this will be like driving somewhere new with no GPS!

The takeaway is that you need to be consistent with the number of the posts but with 1 post per week, 1 long text caption, remember your brand message. Have real conversations and put in some time to do hashtag research (this is a real rabbit hole)!

You do not have to start when everything is perfect or when you have the perfect camera to do the video – I record my YouTubes with my laptop. You need to show up and make sure your content is valuable.