Instagram is a place to socialize and serve, not sell. So, if you want to grow a following organically on the platform, it is important to focus on your audience: Make decisions around what you hope to contribute to your dream clients first—and then provide a whole lot of value. Once you know your tribe and what you want to offer them, it’s time to purposefully design your feed to attract said audience. But what makes a beautiful feed beautiful? How do you choose a color story? (What is a color story?) Should your photos all be taken from the same angle? How do you write captions that promote engagement? And when is the best time to post? Today, I’m giving you a crash course in everything Instagram, starting with the WHY. I walk you through the elements of visual style, content strategy, and the visual rules you need to know—before you can break them! I offer advice on converting followers into clients and leveraging captions to build trust. Listen in for my secrets to organic growth and learn why follower quality is much more important than quantity. What You Will Learn How to determine your social media WHY Intersection of passions, talents, skill and values Brings value to lives of others How to establish your dream clients/customers The importance of a developing a consistent content strategy How to make decisions around visual style for your Instagram feed Beth’s visual ‘rules’ for Instagram How to choose an easy, recognizable name for your account How to select a profile image for Instagram Why your Instagram bio should be about the customer, not you How being honest about your humanity builds trust The benefit of including a call-to-action in your captions Why Beth is an advocate of organic growth Beth’s insight on creating your own branded hashtags How to determine the optimum times for posting The value in focusing on serving the followers you do have Connect with Beth Beth’s Website Beth on Instagram Beth on Pinterest Beth on Twitter Local Milk Blog Local Milk on Facebook Email hello@localmilkblog.com Resources Mentioned VSCO Adobe Photoshop Lightroom CC Snapseed on the App Store Snapseed for Android Beth’s Presets Planoly Beth’s Free Secret Weapons Guide @buzzfeedtasty on Instagram Linktree Tonic Site Shop Showit