You guys know I’m all about that jab jab jab, right hook. You have to give a little to get a little, and social media is a great place to do that right now. BUT, are all platforms equal in their jabbing and right hooking? Are some platforms better built for one or the other? Not necessarily. I believe in always trying new things, testing it out. And the platform that I think most needs to be hacked for right hooks right now is Instagram. It seems like a mostly “jab” platform, right? You’re not wrong. But should you make right hooks on Instagram?
First, before you even start that right hooking, you have to debate the philosophy of a holistic social media approach. Should you just use Instagram as a jabbing platform, if that is what intuitively works best on there right now? Should Instagram be a place where you’re jabbing, because you also know a lot of your fans follow you on Twitter and Facebook and other platforms of that nature. Right hooking is a lot easier on those platforms. Maybe, if you’re confident in your right hooks on Facebook, you can let Instagram have the jabs.
But I know a way you can right hook on Instagram. And I’m already doing it.
The first couple years I was on Instagram, I used it exclusively for jabs, a lot of selfies and sneaker shots (of course, you know me). But if you’ve been paying attention, for the #AskGaryVee show, I am using Instagram as a right hook platform. Take a look at my last fifteen to twenty photos. Seriously, do it. What do you notice? I have been putting up fifteen second versions of the #AskGaryVee episodes. In fact, more so lately, I have been trying to throw in some more jabs because I thought it was getting too right hooky. The captions on these videos just say: “go into my profile”. Why? Because in my profile, I am linking to the current episode. This is, currently, the only way to actually drive people outside of instagram: change the URL in your profile. THAT is how you throw a Right Hook on Instagram:
- Put up piece of creative
- Drive people to your profile in the copy
- Link out in your profile and CONVERT your right hook
I’m always testing and going against my own stuff. All of you could call probably call me out later and say I contradicted myself or something. So yes, test out that right hook tactic above. DO IT. Because it’s worth it. But ultimately, right now, intuitively, I’m feeling like the jabbing on Instagram is a great way to go. But it’s like I said before: look at your whole thing like a holistic play. Maybe Instagram is where you’re jabbing, and Facebook is where you’re throwing that right hook. Bam.
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Not sure when or where to throw that jab or right hook? Reference this next time you’re considering your platform strategy 😉
