How to Grow & Stand Out on Instagram

By learning about all of the different types of posts you can have on Instagram and knowing the 5 neighborhoods of Instagram (stories, posts, IGTV, reels, and highlights) you will then understand how to best utilize this social media platform. By having this step-by-step guide to doing almost anything on IG, you will no longer be searching ‘Haw To Stand out on Instagram” on Google.

What does that mean?

To me, the quote is about having ADD. Everything around us is shiny. Everything around me catches my eye. If I don’t keep it together, I get side tracked and distracted (squirrel, squirrel, squirrel). In fact, I was just distracted by something shiny. The quote urges us to avoid chasing every shiny thing, lest we look like a cat chasing a pair of laser pointers.
The measure the quote asks us to use is our heart. If it catches the attention of our heart, then it is worthy of pursuit. That happens far less often.

You may still have to prioritize between all the things tugging at your heart, but you can at least screen out the worst of the shiny things.

“There are many things in life that will catch your eye, but only a few will catch your heart. Pursue these” – Michael Nolan

Why is keeping your eye on what has captured your heart important?

I imagine we have all been there. We have something near and dear to our heart, but then we blow it. We are distracted by something shiny. It catches our eye, and we lose focus. Our attention wanders, and we lose what our heart held dear.
It might have been a romance, or a job opportunity. It might have been a car or a house. It could have been pretty much anything. But we lost our focus, we were distracted, and we lost it. Sometimes we look back in time, but too often, sadly, we do not.

It can often be so much harder to get back than it was to get in the first place. And the loss is part of what we are trying to avoid by keeping our eye on what is important. Specifically, the things which have captured our hearts.

While it can be hard to avoid the distractions posed by the shiny things, if we are focused on something which has truly captured our heart, it should be much easier to stay focused. In that way, we can more easily pursue that which is worthy of our effort.

Where can I apply this in my life?

That would largely depend on how easily distracted you are. If you can keep a laser-like focus on a topic, and never stray, then you already figured this one out. Those with a well developed sense of self-discipline are also probably doing what this quote urges.

The rest of us have some work ahead of us. It may take a while, but it can be done, or at least made much better. Even those of us who are kind of scatter-brained can still focus at times. Sometimes we get involved in something and just can’t let go.

Sometimes it’s a TV show or a movie. Other times it’s a game on the computer or a console. Think about your first time in love. That was something shiny, true, but it also captured your heart. How difficult was it to stop thinking about them so that you could do things like brush your teeth or do your homework? It might be something like a TV show or podcast. Those distract me like nothing else.

But what about the internet? Have you ever found yourself starting to research a post, and find that hours have gone by, as you are distracted by one shiny thing after another.

There is so much noise out there and we are ALL competing with each other for everyone’s time and attention. So we need to figure out a way to stand out, be seen and heard above all of the noise. In short, we must start by doing things that other creators DON’T:

1. You have to stay on top of the TRENDS & know how to INNOVATE them
2. You have to be constantly adding VALUE
3. You must post Content CONSISTENTLY
4. You must figure out how to STAND OUT in an oversaturated market

By learning about all of the different types of Posts you can have on Instagram, and knowing the 5 neighborhoods of Instagram, from Stories, Posts, IGTV, Reels, and Highlights – you will then understand how to best utilize this Social media Platform. By having this step-by-step guide to doing, well, almost anything on IG you will no longer be searching “How To Stand out on Instagram” on Google.

By laying out a tactical approach to fixing your account and feed, you will become laser-focused and confident. You will become an authority in your field and make your brand stand out & be heard {and seen} above the noise.

3 types of posts

1. PHOTOS OF YOU
2. CAROUSEL POSTS
3. QUOTE POSTS

Whether you are creating a Carousel or Quote, think about something that resonates with your audience. What is something your followers want to hear about? Is it how to strum a Guitar? How to cook Pasta Al Dente? Maybe how to stay in a Yoga Pose? Think about posting things that your audience will want to THINK ABOUT, COMMENT, LIKE or SHARE.

This can be done simply by posting a QUOTE to Twitter, then screen shot that image and post it to Instagram. Next, you want a CTA {call to action}. Ask them to comment below or share the post. Tell them to DM you “UPLEVEL” and then you can start a sales conversation. This way you will get more engagement.

Carousels

Carousels are simply created to get more Saves or Shares {think of it like a mini Blog post}. They perform really well {check out your Insights}. Keep them simple. Don’t overdo it.

Selfies

Selfies can be great but you need to spice it up & be different. Make it a video, Boomerang, Panorama or even add a Swipe photo. Add an interesting topic about yourself. This is your opportunity to connect with your audience. Provide value & teach them something they don’t know. How did you get started in your business?

IGTV’s – This is a great way to:
*SHARE VALUE
*WARM UP YOUR AUDIENCE
*GAIN TRUST

This is a great conversation starter. Make sure your topics are relevant to what is going on in your industry or what is trending. It you will get more views, likes, comments, saves & shares. This will help you become an expert in your field. Elevate your IGTV’s by editing them, add captions, music, just make them look different. You can do this in free Apps like B-Roll {edit backgrounds}. Epidemic Sounds is an App to add music.

Reels

This is possibly the biggest thing to give you more followers.

Stories

Take a 24 hour break and then when you post a new Story add “a poll” sticker. Try to post every other day. That is, if you are looking to gain more followers