Blog Camp Vibe focused on business; aimed at bloggers who want to grow their blogs and their blog’s earning power. Sponsored by Vibe Israel, most of the speakers were successful business owners from Israel.
Instagram success
We heard from @Roco_Runs who have grown their following from 4 in 2013 to over 63k today. A group of friends (ladies) who run together and stop to take pictures along the way, which are share on their feed. They have inspired others to start running and now Roco Runs is a huge community of runners. All started from one single decision to make the effort to start running every day without fail.
One small decision can make a massive difference
Tips
- Tell your story as it happens – so followers can experience it with you.
- Make sure the caption depicts the atmosphere.
- Make sure your pictures include something that captures peoples attention.
- Whatever interests you will make the best story.
- Every story has a beginning, a middle and an end, so tell the whole story.
Work Life balance
Liat, founder of the app 24 Me, spoke about the constant struggle to find a balance, while sharing the apps/processes that help her. She also gave an overview of the app that is now hers and her husband’s business.
The focus was on the fact that it is not easy. You have to accept this and choose every day what is the right thing to do for you and your family. On days when you are a good mum, you probably suck at your job and vice versa.
What works for her
- Having her partner involved in the business.
- Sharing the business with close circle.
- Make her own rules and define own boundaries.
- Be confident!
Life Hacks: Technology
- Put everything in a shared family calendar.
- Use tools for better management of grocery list, shared household tasks – for example 24Me.
- Use Cloud services to back up data.
- Outsource tasks to free up time.
- Always be looking for your next tool.
Life Hacks: Productivity
- Sleep – aim for 7 hours.
- Stress – reduce as much as possible.
- Have a hobby that you enjoy and make time for.
- Starting the day with an organised desk/desktop.
- Don’t multitask. Focus on one task at a time.
- Outsourcing.
There is always a price, but what matters is whether you are o.k with that price?
Things to remember
- Be determined – Believe in what you do.
- Develop a network of support.
- Be organised – have tools and use services to help you organise your life.
- Don’t delay things to the very last moment.
Do what you do best and outsource the rest.
Find your Insta Style – Lucy from Capture By Lucy
I was so excited to hear from Lucy. She is such a wonderful person and so enthusiastic about what she does; it’s infectious. I had some internal struggles with Instagram that I hoped she would be able to iron out (she did!).
Lucy started by explaining how important Instagram has become in her life and that 90% of the enquiries that she receives now come through her IG feed.
If you didn’t know Instagram is big news with over 400 million active monthly users, with 80 million photos share every day and 3.6 billion favourites. It is the platform with the most engaged users and the sense of community is strong.
Your IG Bio
- Textizer app can change the font on your bio to make it stand out. Think about how to stand out from the crowd, you only have a few seconds to hook people when they look at your profile.
- Make sure your name/profile image is consistent across all platforms.
- Try using your face, rather than a logo as the profile image.
- Hone your bio to your target audience.
- Analyse your grid to make sure people keep scrolling.
- Make sure people can contact you through IG – clickable web link.
- Check how the bio looks on web and on mobile.
ONLY THE BEST
If the image wouldn’t make it on to your blog, then don’t put it on Instagram.
Lucy’s recipe for success
- Become a photo snob.
- Post images that aren’t on other platforms – exclusive images.
- If the picture isn’t good enough, or in keeping with your style, post it to Facebook or Twitter instead.
- Take the time to style your photos.
- Use natural light
- Be consistent with your editing. Use a couple of filters.
- Use the caption box to tell a story and try to hook the reader into wanting to click through to your blog.
- Don’t compromise your feed!
- Find out the best time for you to post – Iconosquare can help you with this.
- Post regularly and keep theming consistent
- Space out content, so not to flood peoples feed.
- Use Latergramme to schedule.
- Analyse engagement with Iconosquare or Social Sprout.
- Lucy uses Faded – iphone app for photo editing.
- Making your images 600px wide means they are good enough quality for IG but won’t print well (preventing people from taking them).
- If you are promoting something with an IG image, change the link in your profile to the post you are promoting.
- A good liking ratio is 1.5% of total followers per picture.
Hashtags are important
- Avoid generic hashtags, as your picture won’t be noticed.
- Instead use specific and relevant ones.
- Find interesting community hashtags.
- Pop your hashtags in the first comment, so they disappear when people start commenting.
- 11 hashtags are optimum for engagement.
- Copy & paste your favourites.
Community is important
- Find and follow people.
- Make time to reply and comment.
- Read the Instagram blog.
- Communicate with brands.
- Tag, credit & mention those you admire.
- Start a #/collaboration.
I hope these tips helped? Have you ever been to a blogging conference?
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