Conversation Corner: Making Money off Instagram
Bryna Thorinn joined us to talk all about making money off Instagram but, this wasn’t your typical ‘Instagram marketing’ or ‘make your feed look pretty’ presentation. Bryna shared some ways that she has experienced success on the sales side of Instagram.
The Instagram Ecosystem
Bryna explained how she thinks of Instagram as an ecosystem that looks like this:
Outreach → DMs → Feed content → Stories
She begins her outreach by following the 3,2,1 method of 3 likes, 2 comments, and 1 DM. This allows you to establish a relationship before pitching any kind of sales. Bryna carefully explained that a huge foundation in making sales on Instagram is first creating meaningful relationships with people and that’s what the DMs are for! Your first message should be introducing yourself, or sharing something that you can connect with them about.
The biggest question she receives after explaining her outreach strategy is, who do I reach out to?
Start with the people who are already following you! These people have already bought into you or what you sell to some degree. Message them and build that authentic relationship. Another way to find people who you can outreach to are people who use the same location tags as you. Some examples are, Winnipeg, which is broad but you get an audience in your city or you can do specific places! You can also visit a client’s Instagram and go through their followers and see who you can connect with from there.
Nurture your relationships
DMing people and then not keeping the relationship going or then immediately going into a sales pitch are not good strategies. It can take weeks or months before these people become your clients but, it’s important to foster the relationships. Reply to their stories if you connect or resonate with them, comment on their photos or ask questions about them. This way before you try and sell them anything you have a real and genuine relationship.
Bryna can be found on Instagram, @brynathorinn or you can visit her website at www.brynathorinn.com if you have any questions!