How I Hit 7 Figures with 7,012 Followers on Instagram

Now a lot of influencers out there have millions of followers, but they’re not making any money from that following. So the first myth we need to understand is that followers don’t equal the size of an income. We can’t be focused solely on follower count. Some people out there have paid for followers and it’s very obvious that that strategy is no good!

A much better strategy? Have a great core message and you’ll attract the right people if your message is very strong. Don’t fall prey to the illusion that followers are suddenly going to increase your income and you’ll be making a bunch of money. It’s a myth we need to stop believing!

The second myth: Influencers with lots of followers know what you should do.

Well, a lot of influencers are throwing around LOTS of conflicting information. Some say hashtags matter, some say they don’t… it can be super confusing to wade through!

It’s important to realize that once you get to a certain level - like having followers in the hundreds of thousands or even millions - you’re playing in a different field than someone who has under 10,000 followers.

You can’t make the same decisions. If you’re listening to someone with millions of followers or someone who is connected or related to a celebrity, and you’re trying to use their “methods” and advice, it’s almost like listening to an upline who built their business 8 years ago. What applies to them might not apply to you, so take everything with a grain of salt.
You still need to do your own testing and see what works for you- don’t just take what influencers are saying and assume it applies to everyone.

I truly believe different sets of rules apply to those with different amounts of followers. For example- those with millions of followers might not notice a difference if they don’t use hashtags, but those with smaller followings might need it. (I personally certain hashtags and if a person doesn’t use that one, I might miss their content.) For the average person trying to build a business, there are things that matter that a big influencer might be minimizing. Do your homework! Don’t base your entire business on what they say.

You want to make sure whoever you’re taking advice from has built a comparable business to yours, and make sure the advice they’re giving is relevant to where you’re at right now.

Whether it’s from an upline, or an influencer you're listening to- make sure the playing field is similar to the conditions you’re currently building your business in. There are a lot of influencers putting lots of ad spend behind their account… and when you spend money on ads, all of your organic stuff does better, too! When people see your sponsored post, they’ll go back to your account and do some digging! Often we’re not given the full picture, so do your research and make sure you’re looking at ALL angles. Follow people who are closer to your situation, or at least take that into account.

I know when I was first building my business, this kind of stuff made me a little angry. I was over-focused on followers, but as I got more seasoned in my business and worked with more coaches, I started realizing a lot of the people I worked with who had 7-figure businesses weren’t focusing much on that at all! They were focusing on paid advertising and getting ads to work, MUCH more than on their follower count. It’s easy for influencers to say “focus on engagement! Focus on followers!” But at the end of the day, you can’t cash those in to make a bigger paycheck.
 

Let’s talk about what it actually looks like to be making 7 figures with 7012 followers…

What you see on social media is just the tipping point. If you are looking over your social media account and don’t understand why you’re not getting more customers, there’s the problem. Social media is just a billboard. When you see a billboard, you become aware of something and you might recognize that company or person if you see them again. If you like what you see, you might do some research and engage further. But as you’re driving down the highway you’re not gonna pull out your credit card and buy from that person immediately! It’s not how relationships are built. A lot of reps and distributors think that’s how it should work, and that’s what you’re often told. “Just share your story on social media and people will buy from you!” Well if you’re just looking for this to be a hobby, yes… If you want this to be a legit business, you NEED to build a sales funnel.

EVERY business out there that’s driving sales is utilizing a funnel. (It’s just a fancy word for a process where people can become aware of you, go through certain steps, then they’re presented with an offer to buy from you.) If you want to build a profitable business, you need to get this on autopilot instead of depending on individual conversations. You’ll NEVER build a big business if you’re reaching out to people individually! You’ll be glued to your phone and always nudging people along, often feeling like you’re annoying people.

The beauty of a sales funnel is that none of that needs to happen. The system will do it.

I like to think of a funnel like this: The top is made of your posts. The top is your chance to shake hands and kiss some babies- the point isn’t to sell. Once people become aware of you, they might go behind the scenes and watch your stories.

Next, you want to move them into a more intimate space! You’ll notice successful influencers have a link in their bio offers something free for you. They’ll give it to you in exchange for your email address. After that, you’ll start receiving emails from them. It might drive you into a masterclass or training of some kind. The purpose of this stage is to build trust, likability and rapport. It’s an “indoctrination series” that tells you more about the influencer and directs you to their best content. (The point is to convert you to make a small time or financial commitment.) This means you’ll be more likely to jump on a bigger product in the future.

Once you set up these emails, they’re all automated so you only have to set it up once and everything will be ticking along, pushing your ideal customers into becoming actual customers on autopilot. When you have “evergreen” offerings that are always available, you can leave them running in the background without you ever having to send an individual message.

So your posts are driving them to your lead magnet or freebie, then they’ll be receiving emails from you that are driving them to an offer. This is the bread and butter of every influencer who’s making money.

That’s the thing that makes me most frustrated- a lot of people only talk about the FRONT end (like getting more engagement and followers), but the problem is if you don’t understand what you need to build on the backend, you’ll end up stuck in a hamster wheel of focusing on MORE engagement and MORE followers!

This back-end system is actually what it takes to build a 7-figure business.

Another step I’ve taken is to have a Facebook group. It’s a place I can deliver value. I have about 11,000 followers in “Business Bootcamp for Those Who Hate Selling Sh*t,” and while Facebook is not everyone’s desire, I’ve found it to be very helpful. Facebook and Instagram are the same company, and they want you to use what’s native to the platform. They want you to use FB groups, and they want you to advertise in your groups. (I think we’re going to see people re-focusing on these, and I’m betting we’ll see changes in Instagram that are similar.)

The caveat to all of this is once you get your funnel going, you’ll eventually want to put ad spend to it to get people to the front of your funnel. To be honest, I haven’t talked a lot about this because you really need to have your funnel set up first. You don’t want to push traffic to the front end of your posts if you don’t have a process to make it profitable (or at least break even)!

I think ads can be the difference maker between momentum and getting stuck. Coaches and reps reach a sticking point where they can’t find new people, and I don’t think it’s a small issue like hashtags. It’s bigger. If you want to get seen, you have to have a plan to get in front of more people and the cheapest way is advertising. It’s not by “hacking the algorithm” and spending hours at it. Your best time investment is to build the sales funnel, then giddyup and spend some money on ads to get in front of people.

I really hope this was helpful and pulled back the curtain on what it’s ACTUALLY going to take to build a profitable business that many influencers don’t talk about! A lot of people make money showing you how to spin your wheel son the front end of everything. I think hashtags and algorithms are important and have their place, but once you’re doing those things it’s time to think bigger. The bigger things will give you more lift in your business!

If this information was a breath of fresh air, then you definitely need to check out my Instagram Business Blueprint Workshop! I’ll be breaking this down further, and I’ll be putting together what an actual funnel looks like! You’ll see all the behind-the-scenes things you’ll need to get a profitable funnel up and running.

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