FAQs

TheSocialMediaPosse.com FAQs: The most popular questions about Instagram & our Guides & membership answered!

1. Why should I buy the guides?

A: Lack of direction, not lack of time, is the problem. We all have 24 hours in the day. Zig Ziglar How much time do you spend trying to “figure out Instagram” or going “down the rabbit hole looking at random accounts” on Instagram? If you are using Instagram for business, you need a strategy to get your account growing and get efficient with your time on Instagram. So what is your time worth to figure that out? We have consolidated months worth of trial and error into our Instagram Decoded Guide series to help you build your accounts.  Check out the Testimonials to see how many others invested in themselves, their business and the guides and got results!

2. Have other people had success with the TheSocialMediaPosse.com guides?

A: YES! Over 4,000+ people have purchased and use the TheSocialMediaPosse.com guides.  We believe our success is because we TEACH you the methodology and how the Instagram algorithms works so you can develop a strategy that fits YOUR business. We built our accounts to over 50K each in the different niches (Travel and Mom/Baby) in under a year using these guides. We are not celebrities, did not use money for advertising/strategy, post our own content, and had full-time jobs outside of Instagram. So these strategies are about streamlining your strategy and TIME to get results. You can check out the testimonials HERE or join our Facebook Group Instagram Posse with over 37,000 users and 100s of testimonials about our strategies.

3. Why should I care about adding followers to your Instagram account?

A: This answer is only for those using Instagram as a BUSINESS tool for a marketing channel and not a PERSONAL popularity content. Think about your Follower base like an Email list. When you send an email out to your email list, some will go to junk mail and not everyone will open it. But the more people you send an email to, the more opportunity you have for a higher number of people to respond. Example. If you have a 100,000 list and 1% respond = 1,000 people. If you have a 1,000 person list and 1% respond = 10 people. 1,000 people opportunity vs 10 person opportunity IG algorithms works the same, so the higher follower count you have, the more opportunity you have for your post to be shown to more people and for them to respond by liking your photo, commenting on your photo, interacting with your brand, brand awareness or clicking the link in your profile. Now we all know that IG is a layered approach and that the audience also needs to have an interest, they need to be REAL followers (aka not bought), and several other factors. But growing your Follower base IS one element to success on Instagram.

4. Do these guides work with the new Algorithm Changes?

A: Instagram is always changing and optimizing their algorithms.  We started figuring them out in Fall 2015 and part of that was analyzing the direction that Instagram was taking their algorithms.  When the major changes occurred in March 2016, June 2016 and the feed algorithm in spring 2017, our accounts actually picked up speed because our strategies were in line with these algorithm changes. Over 4,000 people have purchased the Instagram Decoded Guides since March 2016 and are finding success in developing their individual strategy from the information in the guides.

5. Do we need to buy a tool with the TheSocialMediaPosse.com Instagram Decoded Course?

A: No, our guides contain methodologies and information to help you build and streamline YOUR strategy to build your Instagram account by using the Instagram app directly. There are 3rd party apps / tools that will help you schedule posts, review your feed and help automate your strategy. However, you shouldn't grant third-party access to websites or apps that don't follow Instagram's Community Guidelines or Terms of Use (especially websites that sell or promise free followers or likes). These websites and apps are likely attempts to use your account in an inappropriate way.

6. What is a Bubble Net?

A: A bubble net is a special group Instagram strategy that we developed to get more followers on your Instagram Account. It is only available to those that have purchased and read the Instagram Decoded Course and hold a seat in our paid Instagram Posse VIP forum- as you need this knowledge to implement the strategy. Successful bubble netters gain up to 500+ new followers a day.

7. How do I grow faster on Instagram?

A: When people start in our Instagram Posse Facebook group, comment pods, 30-day challenge, or buy one of our guides… they start to see growth through a more streamlined strategy. But we also see comments saying… I am not growing as fast as others who are posting in the group. Why? Instagram is a layered approach of setting up your account correctly, having a consistent theme/niche, hashtag strategy, growth strategy, engagement strategy and understanding the 6 different algorithms and how to pick which ones are right to focus on for YOUR account. You can spend hours on the Internet or poke around our free Facebook group “Instagram Posse” or take the recommendation of 100’s of our customers and fast track your strategy development with the Instagram Decoded Course.

8. Why should I be building my email list?

A: It’s a lightbulb moment when you realize that you don’t OWN your social media accounts. Though Instagram, Facebook and other Social Media channels have a Terms of Service and generally “want” you on their platforms to be part of their customer base, you CAN be removed at any time with sometimes little ability to get your account back. Your account can also get hacked and before you can get it back, you can lose access to all those followers/fans in a moment. Now those scenarios are not meant to instill fear but to acknowledge the fact that you don’t actually own those social media accounts they are a marketing channel that you utilize. What is an asset for your business are the customers & contact information that you obtain from those social media channels on your website i.e. email addresses. A reminder to build that email list so that you have a long-term “known” asset for your business. Make sure you are capturing YOUR customers by utilizing the links in your social media profiles to drive traffic to your site and build your email list.

9. How much time does it take to build an Instagram account?

A: Each account will be different according to your niche, competition, picture quality, uniqueness … etc.. but here is what we do: To set the initial strategy of the account and a posting schedule (Guides 1-4) took a few hours… but this isn’t our first rodeo either. It gets easier setting up secondary accounts. Weekly, we spend one hour (a) creating posts with images, captions, hashtags for the week and (b) making strategy adjustment as our account grows (Guide 4,5,6,7). Daily, we spend 30-40 minutes on engagement (Guide 6).. though sometimes this is less. Our new accounts ie under 10K grow at ~100 followers / day. Our mature accounts grow ~200-250 dependent on growth vs engagement strategies we are working on and testing.

10. Why do people f/uf? I hate it! I unfollow everyone who unfollows me.

A: Have you ever been to a tradeshow? ✖Your business has a booth. ✖You interact with lots of people at the tradeshow. ✖Some people just look at your booth & walk on by without interacting. ✖Some people drop a business card in your fish bowl & keep going. ✖Some people stop at the booth & interact with your booth. ✖Some people say they want to do business with you, but might walk around the conference, see competitor & go with that vendor. ✖With all the people & different levels of interest, it’s your job to work through those contacts to get business & even sway back the people who are now talking to your competitor. ✖The tradeshow is a marketing opportunity to interact w/ potential customers. NOW LET’S GO OVER THAT AGAIN ✖Your business has an account on IG. ✖You interact with lots of people on IG. ✖Some people just look at your account and scroll on by without interacting. ✖Some people drop a LIKE on your post & keep going. ✖Some people stop and COMMENT & interact with your account. ✖Some people FOLLOW you, but might scroll around IG & decide to FOLLOW someone else / UNFOLLOWING you. ✖With all the people and different levels of interest, it’s your job to work through those contacts to get business & even sway back the people who are now FOLLOWING others. ✖IG is a marketing opportunity to interact w/ potential customers. We often wonder who made up the rules for what people are allowed or not allowed to do on Social Media. People who Like/Comment/Follow/Unfollow are implementing age old marketing techniques to GET BUSINESS. They may not be doing them well but they ARE getting out there & not being a wallflower waiting for business to come to them. Each person that interacts with your account is an opportunity. You are wasting that opportunity if you are spending time tracking down unfollowers or complaining about Follow/Unfollow. Provide value to make them a customer. This is what we recommend: ? If you use your account for personal reasons only, consider making it PRIVATE so you will not be personally offended by people following or unfollowing your account. If you use your account for business reasons and its public, understand that people will walk in and out of your store. ? Dont follow everyone who follows you. Choose accounts to follow that you are interested in personally or that make sense for your business. ? Dont follow people with the intent to quickly unfollow them. Follow people for strategic reasons and with intent for engagement to make them a customer. Instagram is a great FREE marketing tool to find your audience or customer. Use it wisely.

11. I got unfollowed, and it keeps happening. OR It upsets me when people unfollow me. What should I do?

(1) You should determine if this is a target customer that is important for your business. If so, engage with them. If you are an influencer, comment and like their photos. If you are a business, consider offering them a discount to click through and buy your product. Your actions should be inline to what you would do if this person walked in your store, looked around and then walked out. Would you run after them and yell at them to never come back (ie blocking them) or would you keep engaging the customer to come back to your store when they are ready to look again or buy

(2) If they don’t know you personally, don’t take it personal. Yes, your business, especially if you are a small business owner, is personal. The effort and time you put into it is personal. And the pride you take in the results is personal. However, other people’s opinions should not be taken personally unless you personally know and respect their input. Our golden rule is to only accept constructive criticism from those that we know are invested in our success or have a personal intention of wanting our success. Everything else is just information that we choose to either read and implement solutions for in our business or flat out ignore if there is no value add…. if they don’t know us personally, we don’t take it personal. That’s our version of business.

12. Can I repost photos from other accounts?

A: Per Instagram

• Share only photos and videos that you’ve taken or have the right to share.

  As always, you own the content you post on Instagram. Remember to post authentic content, and don’t post anything you’ve copied or collected from the Internet that you don’t have the right to post.

We follow these three simple rules of re-posting etiquette.

✔Do Be a good Instagram community member & request permission always before you use someone else’s picture on your feed. This can be in email or tagging their picture “Love your picture. May I repost on @succurotica? If so, reply @succurotica YES

✔Do Give credit to the handle of the repost i.e. Photo by: @succurotica

✔Do Provide value for YOUR community. Many reposts account are the best of the best or a specific collection and this is of value to their audience and why they repost. Provide details on why you reposted or why the photo fits your collection to add value.

✖Don’t assume that someone using a hashtag gives you their permission to repost, because nobody owns a hashtag.

13. What is the best time to post to Instagram?

A: Every account and niches best posting time will vary. There is not one universal time that works for everyone. What you need to think about is when is YOUR target audience is:

?Available to check their phone

?Wanting to take an inspirational break

?Bored & wants to escape .

If you are your own target audience, take note of when you check your Instagram. Be careful utilizing best time to post tools on 3rd party apps. It takes a LOT of data to be able to statistically figure out which time is best for your account. You would need to post at different times of day for a very long time without any other factors changing (ie picture quality, audience size etc) to figure this out with a tool. Know YOUR audience.

14. Someone left a mean comment on my Instagram Post. What should I do?

A: Our goal on our Instagram accounts is to promote a community.

• If the comment is just a difference of opinion, we try to answer the person and have a productive dialogue.
• If the comment is abusive, we delete it, block the user and move on. No one has time for that.

You can also access Instagrams Privacy & Safety Center here for further information

15. Where can I buy these guides everyone is talking about?

A:  Open Enrollment for the Instagram Decoded guides and Instagram Posse happens a few times a year. Please join our newsletter to get notified when the next open enrollment period happens.

16. How do I cancel my Membership?

A: Login to your Paypal account. Click this link: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/customerprofileweb?cmd=_manage-paylist and look for The Social Media Posse LLC. Click the name. Top left under our business name details you will see "Cancel". Click that and walk through those steps.

When you cancel, you will have access to thesocialmediaposse.com's "My Library" materials and the Instagram Posse forum through the last day of the billing cycle. Please be ready to read and absorb any materials before your access is restricted from your cancellation.