I cannot tell you how great it feels to have people mention my name when someone asks about using Instagram for business (thank you if that has ever been you!)

I know that what you do is equally as amazing and I want people to share your name when someone asks about your industry too!

Here are the 3 elements you must implement to become an authority figure in your niche:

1. Be your imperfectly-perfect self

There are A LOT of people on Instagram. Once you start really focusing on your Instagram strategy you’ll find that your niche isn’t as small as you may have thought. It’s likely there are a lot of people doing exactly what you do, so it’s imperative that you stand out from the crowd.

The best way to do this is to embrace who you are and make it known on your Instagram feed. Take advantage of your captions as a way to infuse personality into your brand. Highlight your quirks and share them! Don’t be shy and let your audience see the real you, I promise they’ll love you.

Below is a post where I got vulnerable with my audience and shared a few things I was struggling with at the time. Sure, I could curate a perfect feed and only share my best stories and accomplishments, but that’s not what connects you with your audience!

2. Teach don’t tell

This one concept will likely change it all for you: go out of your way to provide real value to your audience. Instead of simply sharing a pretty picture and telling someone that it’s possible to cultivate clients on Facebook, or manifest money, lose weight or whatever else it may be.. TEACH them how they can actually do it (like I am now! and like I do on my account @instawithalex)

Yes it does take additional time and effort to provide value but if you’ve gathered anything from my lessons so far it’s that putting in that extra bit of work is what’s going to make all the difference in your Instagram account and your business.

Below is a post where I taught my audience how to use Instagram’s new regramming feature (have you tried it yet?? Click the picture for all the deets)

3. Create and use unique branding

All authority figures have a signature style. What’s yours?

You want to make sure that when people see your posts in their feed, they immediately know it’s you. When you have a signature style your posts become both memorable and shareable.

This can be achieved by the unique way you style your photos, the consistent color palette you use, or even the silly way you write your captions. All you really need to do here is choose something, and stick with it!

Here’s a couple examples of strong and recognizable branding:

@gritandvirtu – this account uses a recurring font and a feeling of empowerment and positivity throughout all their posts. When you see that text in your feed, you know it’s Grit & Virtue!

@coffeecartelbali – if you see a food shot from above, with loads of pink and plenty of marble tables you know you’re looking at the Coffee Cartel Instagram feed!

Lesson 6 Homework

In today’s discussion thread I’m asking a tough question.. Click here to share your answer!

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