George Kao Courses

⭐️ Authentic Instagram Mastery (IG)

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For highly sensitive people who get overstimulated on social media -- can we still grow an IG audience?

7:44 Video (35 MB) HD Video (114 MB) Audio (7 MB)
Alright. Great great question here from somebody who's saying that what if, it's, you know, it's easy to get overstimulated with so much interaction on on Instagram, engagement, comments that come through, reactions. When you look at the notifications, of course, you get people who liked your stuff, people who commented on it, people who mentioned you in a story, people who, may have mentioned you in a comment or whatever. And for those of us who are more sensitive to that stimulation, can we still use Instagram effectively without connecting with our common you know, replying to comments or responding to the to direct messages? And the answer is absolutely yes.
Absolutely. There are people I mean, for example, there are bigger influencers. You could think politicians who are on Instagram, celebrities. There are there there's some, like, reality TV shows I've watched, and I've, like, followed those people on Instagram to kinda see, wow. This is a real person and, like and after the show is over, they're still here.
They're still posting. And I've commented before, and I don't expect a reply. Even though some some of their audiences is not that big. Some of them just have a a few 1,000 followers. But to me, they're they're special because they were on some kind of show, and, I commented on their stuff and you know?
And then, but sometimes other fans will reply to my comment or I will reply to other people's, fans. So think of think of if you if you're not interested in engaging with comments and and direct messages, you don't have to. You can think of your content on Instagram as a a way to a way to allow the community around your content to support itself. True. And, not just reality shows, but I follow other you know, some, like, spiritual teachers or other people who, who you know, they they are why they're too busy or don't want to engage on Instagram.
Yeah. They they just post their inspirational thing. I see it. I like it. I might comment on it, and others might sometimes comment and reply to them.
So, and if I if I directly message, someone like that on Instagram, I may or may not get a reply. Sometimes I don't. And I think it's okay, especially if well, okay. It's typically expected that creators will especially creators don't who don't have, like, 100 of thousands of followers, like someone who has maybe up to a few 1,000 followers, I think fans expect that if you message them or you comment on them, they you know, there's at least a 50% chance that you get a reply back. But if you are quite certain at this moment that you aren't going to reply back or comment, you might wanna say something about that in your bio.
You could just say posting my inspirations about the. You could say you could in terms of direct messages, say, currently not available for direct messages, not available in DMs. Please comment and enjoy each other's company or so. I don't know. Yeah.
I I I think it's okay. And in fact, if anybody knows or follows any Instagram accounts that where they don't you don't expect them to comment back or or to see your DMs perhaps. Give us an example below because I I think it is true. On the whole, most people expect some level of engagement from the creator. Now one other way of doing it is to look at your comments occasionally and your direct messages occasionally and respond with your post or respond in stories.
So if you get a question or or a comment that you know, you get a question, okay, that's clear, in a comment. Or if you get a something thoughtful as a comment or if you see a pattern within your comments that you want to address, you can make a new post sometime later to say, I've noticed from the comments that people are feeling this or thinking this, or I've got this question from a comment or this question from a direct message, and I wanna respond to it here. And that's perfectly fine. So consider these more, you know, relaxed strategies with Instagram. You are not required to post on a certain rhythm.
If you follow my content, you might think otherwise. Yeah. I'm always yelling at you to to do a certain rhythm, but do whatever rhythm is most sustainable for you. I would rather you be well, just like Sean says, having fun on Instagram, knowing that it's a place for you to distribute your message and your offerings, of course, as well. And, yeah, and don't don't let anyone pressure you in just thinking you have to do it this way or that way, really.
But I just hope that you don't go away from Instagram too long and and show up on some kind of regular basis. I hope that helps. And a good follow-up question here is, well, if you're using it to promote yourself and help your business, one would have to be more engaged. Not necessarily. Because as long as well, if posting content, some people will comment, some people might direct message you.
You you can ignore it, like I said, because well, think about it this way. The person who's commenting on your thing is probably commenting on other people's things too. Person sending you a direct message, probably doing that to other people. They're not probably keeping track of, I sent a message to George on last Tuesday and haven't missed or I I comment on certainly comments. They probably have forgotten it, you know, 27 minutes after they commented or something.
But direct message, maybe they'll still keep it in mind for a few days, but they're gonna they're gonna let it go because they're they're scrolling Instagram. There's so much so much other things they're engaging with. So so don't feel like it's a somehow they're only looking at you thinking of you. No. No.
It's it's it's gonna be washed washed away within within hours, probably. Okay? Okay. But in terms of, like, well, how do you grow your business if you don't comp you you don't reply to comments? Well, you can post offers.
You can post offers. You post content, yes, articles, videos, or whatever, images, but then occasionally post your offers to say, hey. I've got this service. I've got this course or whatever, and you still don't have to engage. Now if you if people are actually asking you about your product or service and you don't comment, well, of course, that that you know, well, they still might buy, but but chances are, some people will buy without commenting or direct messaging you.
Really. True. That happens to me all the time. And some people who do, well, you could choose whether to respond or not or and and if you don't respond to their product related question, well, it's probably not as likely they'll buy from you, but but other people will. So you don't have to engage to to still get business.
Of course, those of us who are able and willing to engage, it tends to build more of a connection, and that does help for sure. But I'm just saying you don't have to.
Last updated 3 May 2024.