Lately, I’ve been way into Instagram…it reminds me of the days when Facebook first opened up business pages to brands. It was like the wild west of social media and its fantastic for people like me. Instagram is experiencing that right now. It IS the next big thing for brands, entrepreneurs and small businesses (and big businesses for that matter). One of the reasons that I am loving Instagram is that they don’t differentiate between a business page and a personal page.

We are all created equal in the world of Instagram. We differentiate ourselves from other users through, the quality of our images or visuals, the use of hashtags and the content we write with that post. Instagram is a fantastic platform but it’s different like I said it reminds of the first days of facebook for businesses. There is true engagement that happens. People actually connect with one other.

Now, let’s be clear….this can happen on other platforms and you can use a similar philosophy as I’m about to share with you but I have found that this works best on Instagram.

So you’ve posted on Instagram….now what? I see SOOOOOO many people who just continue to post and do not take the time to respond back to people who comment on their post, they don’t thank someone for following them with a fun video (this can be challenging but it is worth it), and they simply post don’t comment on other people’s posts. Here is what I suggest…and like I said you can use this method on Facebook, Linkedin, and many other social networks. I’m just loving Instagram. I have done this on Facebook for myself and have been VERY successful.

What I’m about to tell you is simply going to blow you mind. It is an old and very unused technique in the world today. It’s simple and very difficult at the same time. Are you ready for it? Start a conversation. Engage with someone else on the platform. Connect with them. Get to know them. Their style. Their business. Their brand. Who they are. Be authentic when you do it. It’s crazy right? Who would think that you could meet someone on social media and do business with them. It happens…and you know how it happens? By connecting. By starting a conversation.

You may manage your social media or you may have someone do it for you but I challenge you this week to find 10 new people to connect with on Instagram or Facebook. Find someone who has liked or participated in your community. Reach out, say hi! You will be astonished by the results.