Instagram: Function — Community

Instagram is the platform that I actively try to grow. I’ve mentioned previously that visual content is the most powerful for my particular merchandise, interest field, and target market. I currently have around 250 followers, and I would like to expand it by 100 more by the end of the semester. Doubling would be amazing, but I want my goals to be realistic. My follower count is actually slowly declining at the moment. I have intentionally stopped posting, deleted all but my favorite content, and put a pause on the whole operation. I have a considerable amount of merchandise I have been gathering and waiting to release all at once. The website is now finished as well — another secret I’ve been keeping until everything is ready to go.

I will reverse this decline with the product + website launch and hopefully gain followers at a more intense speed. I will also send some free products to thought-leaders in my industry. In November, I sent some stickers to a YouTube channel called “More Skids.” They opened it in a fanmail unboxing video. I saw a huge peak in sales and follower growth. I want to do more influencer marketing like this.

Facebook: Function — Sales / Conversions

It is well known that Facebook’s organic reach has dwindled. It is increasingly difficult to reach your existing community let alone recruit new members. In order to truly connect with your target market, you will have to employ paid advertising.

As such, I have chosen to reduce my use of Facebook as a organic community. I have given up my efforts for now on expanding it and instead have chosen to use it as an advertising and direct sales platform. First I will use paid advertising. I plan on “extensively” (remember, shoe-string budget) advertising my new website launch as well as all the new merchandise that is coming with it. I will promote several posts, primarily those linking directly to the website. Facebook has a much more clumsy interface as compared to Instagram. Most users simply will not go through the effort of clicking on the the page, scrolling through the info, then clicking on the website. Therefore, my advertisements need to lead directly to it.

The second technique I intend to use the “door-to-door” version of internet sales. I will find potential customers via relevant groups, acquaintances, or referrals. I can then either comment on a post or directly message the individual letting them know my offerings. I’ve done this on several occasions and usually I am met with welcome interest. Only occasionally have I met resistance. This will not only result in additional sales, but will also build my community as these individuals follow my social media pages. As my goal, I would like to find 25 more people interested in my products and my community via Facebook personal selling or paid advertising. The specific platform they choose to join my community via does not matter.

Twitter: Function – DOA

Twitter has provided me nothing. I have posted fairly regularly and I am now at a whopping 3 followers – only one of which is a real person: my coworker -_-. I have not been using hashtags frequently, but I think that Twitter is simply the wrong platform for my audience. I don’t think many 18 year old car enthusiasts are flocking to Twitter. I have decided to treat it as a personal “blog,” sharing mini-reflections related to events that happen in my life. I will continue to maintain it in case it suddenly starts becoming more popular. However, I have very little hope for it.

I will try using it in a similar manner as I mentioned with Facebook – direct sales. I can once again find individuals who would be interested and send them a personal message telling them of my offerings. However, I don’t expect to have much success. I have tried several times with no response, and my page is so small that it doesn’t look very credible.