Instagram Marketing, Not A Sprint

You probably heard the phrase “It’s a marathon, not a sprint” applied to a wide range of situations. Anything that requires some sort of long-term commitment and devotion to excellence and quality over time, that’s how the saying goes.  This is all about dedication and seeing something all the way through, from the beginning through the middle to the end. Instagram marketing is one of these things. 

It’s easy to get tricked into thinking that marketing success simply boils down to getting the right kind of software to do the right kind of job; or all you have to do is post that magical photo that will inherit you thousands of followers or maybe just upload that one video, that will somehow go viral and skyrocket you and your business to “Insta-Stardom”.  We get accustomed to watching Shark Tank, where we get to witness a small start up with passion and an idea, become the next biggest seller on Amazon and it all happened on the other side of a commercial break.  How awesome the world would be if things were that easy.  But the reality is, it takes work, commitment and sometimes even a marathon.  Just like anything that is real, there are all sorts of complications, challenges and struggles that require real work when it comes to social media success.  So often we see these instances that seem to be these massive overnight successes and it’s easy to get the wrong idea about what it takes.   We need to be mindful and keep reminding ourselves.  Otherwise, it’s too easy to fall into a mindset that things should be quick, easy and convenient.

It’s easy to see the upside. It’s easy to see the potential, after all, Instagram has over one billion active users and 500 million active users month after month. These are people who can’t help but look for their social media updates. It’s as if, they live, eat, breathe and go to the bathroom using Instagram. Given that tremendous traffic potential it’s easy to just jump in with both feet and look for the quick payout. How hard could it be? It’s all about getting clicks to your profile page so you can direct that traffic to where you wanted to go. Unfortunately, playing the game that way leads to disappointment. You have to understand that there is no one-time, big-time strategy here. You cannot focus on short-term success. If you did that, you’re going to put yourself in a one-way ticket to failure.

Make no mistake, Instagram marketing requires a tremendous commitment of your time, focus and attention to details because of the following: First, you will be focusing on patterns.  These patterns won’t happen overnight.  These patterns only take place when you have enough traction.

It’s easy to declare victory when you notice certain patterns that lead to your website really converting well, but it may turn out to be some sort of statistical fluke.  It may be a mirage; the things that you’re actually doing are wrong and just getting lucky and it won’t sustain.

And so, if you don’t really know what’s driving that data, how you can measure and evaluate?   If you can’t measure how do you know what to improve or equally important, not change at all and keep doing?  If you want to be successful on Instagram, you have to position your brand the right way.  This does not happen over night.  It takes time, effort and sustained focus. 

Ask yourself, “What’s my brand?”.  Ask yourself, “When people think of my brand how do they associate it with being able to solve a problem or a specific need in their own life?”.

Can they easily, in one sentence, describe what your business does and what’s in it for them?  More importantly, can you?  In one sentence, can you explain what your business does and how it benefits a potential customer?  One sentence.

If not, it’s the perfect (and much needed) place to start.