In episode 549, Megan chats to Jess Saunders about strategies for growing a big Instagram account, emphasizing the importance of consistency, experimentation, and connection with followers.

Jess Saunders co-founded Vegan Punks in 2017 in order to show that vegan food is delicious, easy to make and accessible. Prior to this, Jess was the social media lead at the world's first green energy company, is accredited by the Charted Institute of Marketing and social media agency founder. In recent times, Jess has over tripled her Instagram following to over 110,000 using a unique strategy and reel formula that she developed over a number of months.

In this episode, you'll learn how to use Instagram analytics to find content that works, effective hooks that grab attention and whether the timing of your post matters.

Key points discussed:

- Consistency is key to Instagram success: Post in line with your strategy every day (or on a consistent basis) even when it feels like it's not working to see big results eventually.

- Compound small actions over time: Consistency compounds to significant results when maintaining effort on a long-term growth strategy.

- Find your niche: The narrower your niche, the easier it will be to find what engages your audience best.

- Experimentation is crucial for growth: What is working for other content creators? Trying new content types, hooks and styles is needed to find what resonates with your audience and increase reach.

- Analyze engagement metrics: Watch time, saves and comments can reveal what content performs best and where users lose interest to improve future posts.

- Consider audience activity times: Posting when followers are online can boost initial engagement and trigger wider distribution from Instagram.

- Use hooks to grab attention: Visual and spoken hooks at the start can intrigue viewers and increase time watched, a strong signal to Instagram.

- Engage your community: Asking viewers to comment or DM in captions builds relationships and indicates when a recipe is really popular.

Connect with Jess Saunders

Website | Instagram