⭐️ Authentic Instagram Mastery (IG)

YES. How do I know? Because that describes me :)

To get an idea of who uses Instagram the most, here’s a breakdown of the platforms age-related demographics among US adults... 71% of people aged 18-29 have active Instagram accounts 48% of people aged 30-49 have active Instagram accounts 29% of people aged 50-64 have active Instagram accounts 13% of people aged 65+ have active Instagram accounts Income Demographics: 35% of people earning less than $29,999 use Instagram 39% of people earning between $30,000 to $74,999 use Instagram 42% of people earning more than $75,000 use Instagram Data was sourced from this Backlinko article.

Has it been a few months since you've used my courses? Visit the Orientation to see what's new: Click here to visit the orientation lessons. Once you're done visiting the above, click "Mark as Complete" below...

If you've never experienced one of my Work Retreats, you've got to try it :) You'll find yourself in a calmly focused environment where you accomplish a lot... the power of group intention on joyful productivity. Attendees are getting a lot of good work done and they're enjoying the group! Click here for Work Retreats 😊 These work retreats are usually for my group coaching members only... but even if you're not a member, I'm inviting you for the next 2 months! No additional cost to you. Your access will expire in 2 months, so please make use of it while you can 🙏🏼 Click the button above to get started.

When you signed up for the course, you received a few months of live Q&A access: See the dates & sign up for the Q&A You can "mark as complete" below to acknowledge knowing about the Q&A calls :)

I do a lot of Q&A calls on various topics including: How to describe your offerings Creating authentic content Growing a true fan audience Joyful productivity tips Gentle Launches Recent Q&A video segments are located here: George Kao Bonus Q&A Segments Your access to those Q&A segments are only for the next 2 months. Enjoy them while you can :)

A warm welcome here! The biggest value you'll get from this course, I believe, is each other. Through the mechanism of this course, we've brought together here a focused community...  not just random comments from random people, but rather, helpful and kind comments from your fellow authentic Instagram creators, for the purpose of learning and encouragement!  A community is defined by its culture... and each of us is a culture-setter. We influence one another and the whole, with every interaction we have.  A few principles for us to keep in mind: Comment once, reply twice. For each comment that you make, look for 2 other people's comments (especially ones with few comments) and add a reply – with your encouragement and suggestions if appropriate. This helps to balance the comment/reply ratio, and gives you practice in seeking and giving support in this community. Notice and name each others' energy signatures. Each person's presence and strengths are unique. It can be difficult for us to notice our own, and easier to notice others'. When you reply to someone’s comment, if they're sharing something personal, try to name something, however small, that you appreciate about their energy signature. Many of us have a fear of being seen. Let’s help each other feel fully accepted and received. Co-Learning Community. Nobody here (not even the "teachers") know everything about Instagram... far from it. It's a vast and complex platform with constant updates. Let's create a co-learning environment here. Even we "teachers" are learning from your shares too! Share generously. Be supportive of others here. If you discover something that works, or hear about a great tip, please do share it with us. Comment under the appropriate lesson if possible, or if not sure where, just comment under the IG Tips lesson. Sharing will make this course better for all of us! Keep all sharings confidential.  Let's keep this a safe space for sharing by promising to keep all comments (particularly the personal ones) confidential. The values we embody together here is what makes this course experience amazing for each other 😊 Comment below if you have any reflections on these values, or have a suggestion.  If you see no comments below, and no ability to comment, first log into this course.

The comment section below is a space to connect with others for mutual support...  Are you a tech angel... tech savvy and willing to meet with another member, to handhold them a bit to understand how to do the things we teach in this course? Do you need an Instagram tech angel... and how can you support them back in return? 😊 Would you like to create mutual support for accountability to go through this course? If any of the above resonates with you, add a comment below and tell us what support you're offering and/or seeking 🙏🏼 If you see no comments below, and no ability to comment, first log into this course.

As part of our co-learning, let's share below some effective ways to use Instagram, by commenting with any examples! When you share the example, also tell us why you think it's effective or resonates with you. If you see no comments below, and no ability to comment, first log into this course.

Click here for a short pep talk: What helped George overcome content perfectionism Especially video... how to get comfortable making videos & reels? George's pep talk: instantly impressive vs. consistently authentic For a deep dive course into becoming pro (from a beginner) in making video: Authentic YouTube Mastery What about you... what helps you overcome the perfectionism issue when creating content?

Why stories? Very visible to fans, the more they follow the more they’ll see it Can click through to website easily, or do polls etc… stickers. Can be used as a Highlight. People are used to seeing many stories. Because of the ephemeral nature, fans want to see it before disappears.

Watch my YT video about this conundrum

Why you might want to share other people's IG posts as part of your Stories: It shows your audience that you're a curator of interesting content! Some of your audience might start interesting conversations with you in DM's. It creates gratitude for the person whose post you're sharing. Potentially creates a new connection / nurtures connection with that person. You can easily share someone else's IG post as one of your Stories by doing this: Just below the post you want to share, there's a paper-airplane icon -- click on it Then at the bottom of the screen click "Add to story" Be sure to add an @mention of their username, so that (if they want to) it's easy for them to reshare your share :) Any other tips about sharing people's stories, comment below 🙏🏼

Click here for the YT video

All of us have the capacity to post pretty things on Instagram, and I think that's dangerous: You attract the wrong kind of attention (which can result in spam) And you dilute your audience with many non-ideal followers Even if the non-ideal don't follow you, just by viewing your pretty picture they're automatically included in your warm audience, such that your future IG Ads (if you run them) are going to be more expensive to reach the ideal people in your audience. You dilute the attractiveness of the rest of your posts that aren't as pretty! Therefore when you make offers on IG, it's going to get quite a discouraging result. It'll be engaged by far smaller % of your audience than expected. Instead, I focus my IG on posting what I can authentically sustain... what I am able to, without much effort, post consistently. The more I can express my energy signature -- without much effort -- the more true of an audience I grow. This allows me to test various messages, and different ways of communicating, to see what resonates with my real people, and then emphasize what resonates with both me and them.

Click here for the tutorial video Here is the link for: Meta Business Suite Don’t see your Instagram account? Try this link first.

Click here for my 2-minute tutorial

This is a preview lesson and you can watch it by clicking the Play button above.  Enjoy :) (To read or add comments, log in first and be sure you have access to this course. Info about getting access here.)

Watch the tutorial here

Click here for my tutorial (This is public on YouTube and you can share it.) Click here for Kapwing (my affiliate link)

Started with a personal account.  I started making videos, posting clips on IG, and photos of myself giving love advice. Then, I created a podcast and posted audiograms and images of my guests. Started creating really simple quote posts in Canva/Adobe Express and added more text in the post.  Made sure the content was snackable and easy to share.  In 2019, I made the very first Q&A story to Reel that I know of.  Later that year, I did my first solo Live video. Completely unscripted, one take on a single subject, speaking to one person.  Experimented with taking a clip from a course.  Experimented with different looks.  Wrote blog posts on Medium, found the most highlighted quotes, and used those as the quote post.  Or, dropped a few posts on Twitter, saw which got the most likes, took a screenshot, cropped it square, and posted it to IG.

“Don't be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.” -- Emerson

May this course be an ongoing source of learning and encouragement for your IG journey! In the spirit of spiral learning, maybe it's time to start again at the top of the course.  Look through the lessons to see which ones you'd like to revisit.  Study and implement. And en-joy :)

Two short(ish) videos to show you different ways of doing it with Kapwing: Simpler way More customizable way