I never thought a regular person like myself could make money off Instagram.
Getting into Instagram was no accident. A friend suggested I leverage Instagram to earn side income and learn marketing. She was doing it pretty successfully, I might add, and believed I could easily replicate it.
I gave it a try. After all, with a diploma in digital media, I should put those skills to good use.
Using Instagram, I hoped to generate a small income and learn social media marketing as a bonus. Talk about priorities.
The journey of building an influencer-worthy profile
I started a brand new account from scratch as not to mix with the non-aesthetic images on my virgin account. The first six months of content creation were the hardest. Fully committing myself into taking action and churning out content ideas wasn’t a walk in the park.
With no direction or niche audience, I had made things inconceivably tougher. My only obsession was to make every post picture perfect.
I eventually settled on a niche by analysing what I was most interested in taking photos of – I love taking pictures on my travels.
All it took was a single image
A photo that inspired many others to repost and share with their followers. I guess it helps that the subject is a famous work of art created by Antoni Gaudi.
What I’ve learnt:
Not fully comprehending how it propelled my account to gain lots of organic followers. But it helped me reach the minimum requirement of joining marketing channels where I get to choose what products or brands I’d like to endorse.
This story may sound like an easy-to-achieve success story.
It is. It can be. It could be.
In fact, I did get to work with brands and was exposed to the quick paced industry of social media marketing.
But will I continue this side muse?
It was fun while it lasted.
This was a little project I took up under a friend’s recommendation. It was something she is proficient in and I’m sure she enjoys it inherently. I, on the other hand, found that my interests does not resonate with this Instagram business mainly because:
- Algorithms will keep changing. To be in the business, you must keep up with the platform.
- Engaging and growing your followers requires a lot of work.
- Being proficient in photography and photo editing is not enough. There’s so much more to the technical side of things, especially since Instagram is a powerful platform where you can build a business out of.
Perhaps one day I might get back into this Instagram business. Whether to work on the same business model or try something new. For now, my lack of interest with the current model is the reason that I’m giving up on.