How to Network on Instagram (It's More Than Just Sliding Into DMs!)

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1:03What's up? So the second person I DM'd just responded to me. Bang, bang. I love it. This is awesome. I love it. I love it. Real question. Have you ever thought about networking on Instagram? I'll be honest, I've never even thought about it. I only see Instagram as a place to post life updates in an aesthetically pleasing way. Or look at memes. Why not? Why not delve into Instagram and grow your network in a professional way? Okay, let's talk about the professional DM. How to write one, how to prep for one, and how not to look like spam.

1:50Everything good in my life has come after I was annoying. And that's just an insight I had right here in this conversation with you. This is Daryl Green, also known as Justy Beats. He is a music producer based out in Ohio. When he first moved to L.A. to build his music career, he needed to build connections. He found that using Instagram was a better, more personal way to connect with people rather than just emailing or using LinkedIn messaging. Instagram humanizes the prospect. You know, they're not just a resume. They're not just a person who has a job title that you want one day. An exec who is on LinkedIn, they're getting bombarded in their inbox like crazy.

2:36You know what I mean? But on Instagram, where they're, you know, posting their fishing trip on the weekend, it's not as crowded. But he does still spend time on LinkedIn before he even goes on Instagram. Just to get some info. I find the connections that I need to look up and talk to or see what companies or projects or like mutual people we have. Then I transfer it over to Instagram. I'm searching relevant hashtags. I'm doing all the recon I can and give them a follow. So you have all your info and you probably feel ready to go on Instagram. But before you do, you have to figure out how you are going to work with this person and how you're both going to benefit each other.

3:20and be confident in your offer. What are you offering them? Are you offering them money? You know what I mean? Or are, you know, for them to work on your project? Or are you going to offer, you know, your services to kind of help what they've got going on? And I found that people have 100 % responded more favorably to me when I have taken the initiative to find out what they have going on and present what I have of value for them. So now that you know what you want to say, it's time to go on Instagram and find your people. And once you do, engage with their content. The best case scenario would be you're interested in that too.

3:59I don't want you to go in there and just be completely fake. But, you know, when a person posts about an award or posts about a dog or a vacation spot or something crazy, click the heart. Hey, I'd love to go check that out. Where is that? Or if they've tagged the location, Check it out. Have you been there? Do you have anything to add to this conversation? Liking, commenting, if they have a call to action at any point, post it on your stories. Do what you got to do to kind of let a person know that you're around and active and engaged with the content that they're putting out. Is there anything that we shouldn't do?

4:40You should not come across it as spam. You should not come across as spam. You should be genuine and authentic in your interaction. Don't like every post, you know, interact with the things that you know something about. Like you have to be patient. You have to wait. Fall has never looked or tasted this good. Sweet Greens Fall Harvest Menu is back with seasonal favorites dressed to impress and made to be devoured. Warm roasted sweet potatoes, crisp apples, maple glazed Brussels, and crave-worthy flavors in the autumn harvest bowl, maple glazed salmon plate, and roasted bacon Brussels side. The season's most desirable menu has returned to Sweetgreen, featuring fall's best dressed.

5:27Make your move. Order on the Sweetgreen app. When you need to build up your team to handle the growing chaos at work, use Indeed Sponsored Jobs. It gives your job post the boost it needs to be seen and helps reach people with the right skills, certifications and more. Spend less time searching and more time actually interviewing candidates who check all your boxes. Listeners of this show will get a$75 sponsored job credit at Indeed.com slash podcast. That's Indeed.com slash podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Need a hiring hero? This is a job for Indeed sponsored jobs. We figured out our what we offer.

6:03We found them on Instagram. We liked their posts. We commented. We engaged with them. Now I go in for the kill, right? Don't do it. This is not a quick thing. This is a long haul approach. You know what I mean? The long tail. We're patient here. We're patient. So basically what I try to do is if a person will follow you back, I will DM them. You know what I mean? But at the end of the day, you know, like, okay, say they like my comment. I'm trying to stack a few of those likes. So let's just say three or four likes. If they reply to your comment back, I count that too. All right. We followed. We engaged with their content.

6:48They engaged back. We see indicators of interest. It is now time to write that DM. This was a lot harder than I thought. How do I put this? Hey, we should collaborate is a little abstract. You know what I mean? my ask is always an offer. So the first time that I ever got a content job, it was because I noticed that someone's videos had like a buzz or a humming sound in the background of their audio. It wasn't clean. It wasn't fresh. So I was like, okay, what can I do? This is my moment. I downloaded the video. I cleaned the audio and then I put it back together and then I uploaded it and I sent it to them.

7:31Hey, I noticed that your video had this. This is a four-step process on how to clean up your audio so that you're, you know, getting the result that you want. If you want, I could do it for you. Peace. I gave it away and told them how to do it. The person responds. Now I'm taking care of their post-production audio.

8:10And now we wait. Hopefully they don't leave me on read.

8:20What if I'm left on read, though? Like, what if I'm left on read and I go in, I'm really excited, and I DM this person, and they just seen 12 minutes ago. Seeing 12 minutes ago is all good. You know they saw it and they chose like people are busy. People are busy or they have a social media person who's handling their social media who's like oh I don't know how to respond to this let me back on out here. You know follow up. You don't have to do it every day but you know follow up in a week. Hey just following up I'd love to help. If you don't hear from them that is a-okay. All you have to do is just message them and follow back up.

9:00I know that sounds scary, but what's the worst that can happen? I don't want to seem annoying or that I'm like harassing them or something. You can be annoying. I understand. It was something that I definitely had to deal with as a person. Permission to be annoying, says Bestie. Yes, be annoying. Well, you don't want to be annoying, but you want to be persistent. There's a thin line between annoying and being persist. I think that people kind of psych themselves out of opportunities because they did not persist. It's their loss because they are rejecting the value that you're willing to bring to their thing.

9:43It's not personal. Just go to the next person. So what if I receive a no? What do I do now? Awesome. Woo. Write it down. Like, all right, look, get a calendar on your wall, put all the dates. Whenever you get a no, write it down and highlight it and get excited. You want to fill up your calendar with no's. Why? Because that means you're closer to the yes. It's a real thing. Just by doing and getting better and troubleshooting, you're getting better at the pitch. You're getting better and you will end up where you're supposed to be. So I've changed my mind about using Instagram when it comes to networking.

10:25And since I've done it, I do feel better. And I'm not gonna lie, I was scared at first. But the more you keep doing it, and the more persistent you are, the more comfortable it will be to just network in general. Do you wanna know something? What's up? So the second person I DM'd just responded to me. Bang, bang. I love it.

10:51Be persistent, be confident, and just put yourself out there because you never know what you're going to get. Fall has never looked or tasted this good. Sweetgreen's fall harvest menu is back with seasonal favorites dressed to impress and made to be devoured. Warm roasted sweet potatoes, crisp apples, maple glazed Brussels, and crave worthy flavors in the autumn harvest bowl, maple glazed salmon plate, and roasted bacon Brussels side. The season's most desirable menu has returned to Sweetgreen. featuring Fall's best dressed. Make your move. Order on the Sweetgreen app.