Instagram recently passed 700 million monthly active users and is currently the most popular social media platform for Generation Z with over 59% of the cohort using it. With such massive growth, this platform is hard for any brand to ignore its power. But as people and companies launch their brands on Instagram, many are struggling with getting their following established.
If you want to achieve a massive following on Instagram, take note of Derrick Thompson (@throne) and his work building a following of over 5 million users across all of his accounts, including large some of the largest Instagram pages such as @abs. His work as a content creator has allowed him to reach massive fame and own a number of successful e-commerce businesses.
After taking a moment to sit down and talk to him about his story and how he became so successful, this was his take on how to use Instagram to build a brand.
Focus On Content Creation
Thompson dropped out of college in 2011 to pursue his career as an Instagram content creator full-time. He realized he had a knack for making content people enjoyed consuming. Rather than spend time and money sitting in class, he wanted to further develop that skill. Over the years, he has gotten even better at producing content people want to engage with, and this skill is what he attributes his success to.
For those aiming to be an Instagram celebrity or grow a branded account, he recommends focusing on content creation in every aspect. He states, “Time is a person’s most valuable commodity, so you have to make high-quality content that is deserving of their time.” Once you have perfected your content creation abilities, you need to be diligent about posting content consistently and never taking time off from building your following.
Build A Community
Thompson’s ability to create massive communities on Instagram is what truly sets him apart from the rest of the content creators on the platform. He is able to launch a number of accounts and not simply make them content channels, but interactive communities through relationship building with his audience. In addition to posting content, he regularly sits down and replies to his followers’ comments and likes their pictures as well.
He views Instagram as a two-way platform and wants to become a friend to his followers, not just some person that pops up on their image feed. Through his community building, he has been able to leverage long-term relationships with companies, because he has the established audience to back him up. After each of his client’s work with him, they almost always become long term bulk clients because he works hard to show results and drive real engagement with his communities.
Never Violate Your Audience’s Trust
The best advice Thompson has for those who want to follow in his footsteps is to respect your audience and work hard to earn their trust. Once you have this trust, never do anything to compromise it. He notes that many influencers want to drive monetization of their channels and lose sight of the main mission of content creation. Other brands become overtly promotional and annoying to follow. Neither of these strategies will result in long-term success and ultimately will mean losing the audience’s attention.
Instagram brands are built on enjoyable content. Just as a television show needs to maintain an interesting storyline in order to stay on the air, Instagram accounts must always publish the best content in order to stay relevant for followers. Additionally, if a television show runs too many commercials and not enough content, people will get annoyed. The same goes for Instagram, where brands will always fail if they care more about profits than their audience’s enjoyment.
Stick With It
Throughout the good and bad times, Thompson says you need to keep an eye on your end goal and think about why you are running the channel. As he said in our conversation, “There are patches where growing an account is a little harder than usual, but if you are providing good content than you'll be fine in the long run.” Whenever times get tricky and growth slows down, he suggests doubling-down on your skills and figuring out what new techniques you can try for building growth.
For instance, he regularly reads up on what new tools are out there for optimizing his content and using hashtags more efficiently. Furthermore, he is always browsing content to get inspiration for new posts. Just as with a 9-5 office job, you have a certain set of skills that need to develop in order for you to advance. Rather than hitting growing pains and giving up, make sure you are always getting better at your job and never lose the fire to keep producing high-quality content.
No matter what brand you want to build on Instagram, learning from the best how to execute content creation is important. Instagram can be a tricky world to navigate, but Thompson has shown that, with a focus on quality and determination, anyone can build a massive social media following.
