7 Killer Instagram

Case Studies

56x Your Profits in a Year, Crash Your Website

with 20,000 Unique Visitors, Make $4,000 in

One Day, Quit Your Job and Get Paid to Travel

the World and more, All Inside.

2The Instagram Scheduling Tool.

Contents

Build a $3,000,000 Business in 10 Months

Gain 55,300 Followers with $0 Marketing Budget

Leverage Instagram Influencers to Grow a 77,400 Following in Two Years

How to Crash Your Website with 20,000 Unique Visitors

How to Quit Your Job and Get Paid to Travel the World

Make $4,000 in One Day Selling Neckties

Leverage a Cause You Believe in to Turbo Charge Promotion

Key Lessons

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5

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11

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16

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3The Instagram Scheduling Tool.

@shredzarmy, a sports supplement brand have managed to create a truly phenomenal business

by leveraging the power of Instagram and the influencers on it. In its first year of operation,

Shredz generated a revenue of $90,000, the next year, after it had started pushing into Instagram

it had earned $5,000,000 in sales, that's 5,600% annual growth (with zero outside investment)! So

what points can we take from this to try and get a slice of this success?

The success of Shredz is multifaceted, essentially it was achieved because of these few actions:

Influencer partnership – Shredz partnered with the fitness model Paige Hathaway

(@paigehathaway) as she was starting to find success with Instagram. At the time she only had

8,000 followers (she now has 3.2 million)! The main difference between Shredz and other sports

brands on Instagram is that they didn't just sponsor Paige by sending her some branded gear

and supplements, they actually partnered with her to help her succeed.

Build a $3,000,000 Business in 10 Months

4The Instagram Scheduling Tool.

This meant that they facilitated photo and video shoots and other types of publicity, knowing that

Paige's success was closely linked to theirs.

Create a tribe – Shredz understand that Instagram is a lifestyle platform where brand and

following come way before selling anything. To create an emotional connection with their

audience they really push the message that they are dedicated to changing lives, not

supplements, creating the “Shredz Army” movement. A movement that their followers would

want to be a part of. To encourage their users to post success stories using Shredz supplements,

of social proof that their product works. Combining this with the prize for the best transformation,

it encourages people to try as hard as they can to lose weight in the 30 days, making their results

even better.

The takeaways are that finding someone on the verge of becoming an influencer and helping

them become successful is a great move. The second is that getting your followers involved in

your business creates strong brand loyalty at the same time as proving your product works – a

huge bonus when selling anything.

(source)

they offer a $10,000 prize to the best before and

after transformation achieved using their products

(which may seem like a difficult prize to offer if you're

just beginning, but they charge ~$250-500 for a full

30 day program and supplements). By offering this

incentive they ensure that they get a large amount

5The Instagram Scheduling Tool.

@breakfastcriminals founder Ksenia Avdulova started her Instagram account in 2013, and now

has 55,000 followers, a wellness business, two products and is asked to speak at events around

the globe. All of this stemmed from her Instagram account and was achieved without spending a

penny on marketing. Here are the tips she has picked up over the last couple of years:

Be friendly – Instagram is a community platform, so make sure you always respond to comments

and questions. Make sure you say thank you and connect with people that take the time to

interact on your page. You need to appreciate the time of everyone that stops on your profile and

make sure you listen to them (this is how she came up with her two products, her heart shaped

ceramic bowl and recipe ebook.

Create a community – You should follow accounts that align with your philosophy and vision and

engage with them. You need to leave comments on their most recent posts as anyone with over a

few thousand followers will not see any likes you leave them.

Gain 55,300 Followers with $0 Marketing Budget

6The Instagram Scheduling Tool.

Find Your Niche – You should select one thing you want to be known for and concentrate on

that. You can expand later when you are established. Make sure what you select is not a

chore for you to post every day. Asking your friends can be a good option here, sometimes

they'll have a better idea than you do. You should streamline everything you post around this

niche – picture your ideal follower as a person and think whether they would like your post.

Be Authentic – This shows in your posts and your followers will know it. You should share

your personal values and let your followers be a part of your world. Do not just jump onto a

trend because it is in the popular feed. Fads come and go, authentic passion does not!

Use Lots of Hashtags – You should select 10-15 hashtags that related to your content that you

use consistently. Post these as a comment to your post and not in the caption (which looks

desperate). You should also create your own hashtags and encourage your community to

use them. This should relate to your values, so does not necessarily need to be your

Instagram name.

Be Consistent – Your posts, the subject of those posts, the feelings your images create,

colour, filters, captions, these all should be consistent for your account. Your followers want

to know what to expect and this will keep them coming back for more. @deliciouslyella and

@gypsetgoddess are good examples of accounts that have great consistency.

Stay Active – You should post at least once a day, to at most three times a day. You should

test different posting times to find out when your followers are most active.

Be Available – If your goal is to connect with others for work opportunities or collaborations

you should put that out there. Include your email in your bio and think through what types of

sponsorship and collaboration you can offer. Offering a shoutout post for a shoutout post is

the most popular way to get followers, where as sponsored posts are the best for money.

(source)

7The Instagram Scheduling Tool.

@bocobaby founder Chandler Sykes started making baby clothes on Etsy in 2010, before starting

full time a year later. Due to fear that moving from Etsy to her own site would stop all of her sales,

Chandler remained on Etsy for over a year longer and only joined Instagram with a personal

account in 2013. A chance message revealed a massive business opportunity to Chandler, though

she did not know it at the time. A designer she followed announced she was pregnant on her

Instagram profile and as Chandler was a fan, she offered to send her some custom clothes. In a

few months time when the baby was born she was tagged in a photo of the baby wearing the

clothes and she got a huge follower jump. This was the kick Chandler needed to move to her own

site, creating Boco Baby which offers one of a kind pieces with the name of your child as the

pattern.

Leverage Instagram Influencers to Grow a 77,400

Following in Two Years

8The Instagram Scheduling Tool.

This method of sending out custom free products has been extremely successful for Chandler

(especially when targeting influencers that also have large mother audiences) despite the

difficulties of having to wait sometimes months for a baby to be born, and having to find out the

babies name to make the clothes.

One of the ways that @bocobaby has continued to grow so strongly is that Chandler remains

immersed in Instagram, using it both personally and to stay on top of trends. This allows her to

find the right people at the right time (when they are pregnant or have small children).

When she finds a potential customer she comments on their photo asking if she could send them

some products and if she could contact them by email, or she tries to direct message them. If

these are unsuccessful she will usually find a contact email through their website.

Each outfit takes two to three weeks to make once she knows the name of the baby. Even though

not all of the influencers tag her in the outfit photos of their baby, Chandler still finds a positive

result from all of the followers gained from those that do mention her account, and also from

word of mouth from mothers asking about where the influencers got the outfits.

The main point of this story is to illustrate just how powerful it can be to get a mention from an

influencer who has an audience that is relevant to you and your product or business. Spending

two to three weeks making an outfit that you give away for free without certainty of getting

anything in return still gives massive value to Chandler and has allowed her to build a 77,400

Instagram following that gives Boco Baby a massive amount of customers.

(source)

9The Instagram Scheduling Tool.

@bachelr curates products for men and by working with Instagram influencers they had one of

the best business problems possible, having so many visitors to your site that your servers crash!

Here's how they did it and what they found.

Bachelr started by browsing the explore / popular section and searching for keywords that

matched their target audience (fashion, sport etc.). They then made a list of all of the accounts

they found with over 100,000 followers. From this list they looked at the bios of each and

contacted the ones that had an email address in them. By targeting accounts that were run by

people that would be interested in the items that Bachelr was selling, or that had audiences that

would be interested, Bachelr managed to get deals that either offered store credit to the account

owner in

How to Crash Your Website with 20,000 Unique

Visitors

10The Instagram Scheduling Tool.

exchange for promotion or that rewarded the account manager with credit depending on how

many sales their audience made for Bachelr. They did pay some accounts for promotion, but the

benefit of offering credit is that it has more value for the Instagrammer than it does for Bachelr.

This is because giving someone $50 to spend on their products may only cost them $25, as they

charge more for their products than they pay for them.

They encouraged all of these accounts to post

various banners (right) and product images on

their launch day, and as the title suggests,

managed to crash their website with 20,000

unique viewers. This traffic surge provided a great

return on investment for them, as well as giving

them a large Instagram following (currently

15,000) to help drive extra business in the future.

There are some lessons they learned from this promotion though, lets cover them.

Firstly, make sure that your pictures look appealing and not like an advert. One of their most

successful pictures was of a model holding one of their products in a natural setting with no

Bachelr logo. This got 10,000 likes and 100+ comments, many of which were asking where to buy

the product. Second, make sure your companies username is in the caption so that people can

follow your account, this is really important for building extra value out of these promotions.

Finally, make sure your website is mobile friendly and responsive. This is massively important for a

mobile platform like Instagram!

(source)

11The Instagram Scheduling Tool.

@laurenepbath was able to quit her job and travel the world, getting paid as a photographer just

two years after starting Instagram. She currently has 448,000 followers, here is the story of how

she managed it.

Lauren joined Instagram in 2011, quickly becoming enchanted with photography, downloading

the app Hipstamatic to edit her photos and traveling on mini outdoor adventures just to take

photographs. Shortly after starting she upgraded to a DSLR camera and started learning how to

use it for fun. After posting three to five images a day to Instagram for a year she started to get

some work offers to pay per expenses to travel to certain locations and take pictures (no payment

at the moment). By late 2013 Lauren was able to quit her job as a chef and start charging to go

on photography trips.

How to Quit Your Job and Get Paid to Travel the World

12The Instagram Scheduling Tool.

Here are some of the tips she has picked up doing so:

Stop worrying about getting followers - Just start using Instagram as a social media platform.

Look at photos, like pictures, meet people through it, get advice from other beginners in your

niche. Some of the best advice she has had was found near the start of her time on Instagram; be

social, do not ask for shoutouts and good pictures help.

Recommended Hashtags – Some she uses are: #nikon #dslr #instacanvas #ic #photooftheday

#igersgoldcoast #igersbrisbane #instagramhub #jj #instafamous #instamood #gmy #all_shots

#gang_family #igersoftheday #statigram #seeaustralia #australia #nature #beach #water #sand

#shell #flower #skyporn #sunrise #beautiful #rainforest

Select Your Sponsors Carefully – It is difficult to balance making money and staying true to your

followers. Lauren never endorses brands or posts photos she did not take. These could make

more money but would jeopardize the closer relationship she has with her followers. When

working she has total creative control over what photos she takes and can post whatever images

she likes on to her Instagram, her client just gets the rights to use any of the images she takes on

the trip. She does not actively seek sponsorship, though does have partnerships with companies

she has been using before. Nikon loans her top of the range cameras, and she has also received

free filters and waterproof housings for her cameras. In return for getting this world class

equipment she just lets people know what gear she uses when asked.

Photography Tips - When taking photographs she recommends shooting often and not being

afraid to take 200 shots of the same thing to find the perfect one. You should research technique

and talk to other photographers – getting immersed in something is a great way to learn. Also,

you should get good equipment as soon as you have the means to.

(source)

13The Instagram Scheduling Tool.

@qpcollections launched a couple of years ago selling high end neckties. In their two week

prelaunch period they focused entirely on building an Instagram following and managed to clear

$4,000 on launch day, turning a hobby into a business. Here is how they went about doing so.

The initial task they worked to accomplish was identifying their target market and everything

about it. Here is an abbreviated version of their target audience identification process:

“OK, so we have a bunch of neckties that are a little bit crazy. They are not really my style.

Who wants to wear a necktie that has been made out of fabric someone pulled off a couch?

Johnny P. would wear this — that is who. Johnny is kind of odd, but he also dresses really well.

Sometimes it is over the top, but that kid must put a ton of time and effort into the way he

looks. Probably drops a ton of cash too. Yeah, he is the perfect person for something like this.”

Make $4,000 in One Day Selling Neckties

14The Instagram Scheduling Tool.

“What is his day like? Who does he hang out with? I know he is really into international film –

he is kind of a designy hipster — big beard, cardigan, top-hats and all. And most of his friends

are the same way; I guess they all like the same stuff. Johnny is really into creating things; things

being “authentic” and “real”. Craftsmanship. Artisan. Those are the words I would choose

to describe Johnny. To him things are not just to be used; objects have a heart and soul.

Everything is art. Indie music, TV shows that most people would not care to watch, that type of

thing. When I think Johnny I think wood grain and thick wool. I think rustic, cabin. Very

Thoreau, yet in a weird way very inner-city. New York or San Francisco. Very GQ. He is what

would happen if you mixed Into the Wild and GQ. Is Americana a word for that?

So assuming that Johnny is on Instagram, he probably has a bunch of friends that are too.

How could I find them? I could just look at the people that Johnny follows. Who are the big

hipster Instagram accounts? Not like Humans of New York hipster – that is too “mainstream”

Alright, time to find his account. Who does he follow? What words does he use, what kind of

photos does he post? Here is a picture with him in it. Oh wow, he is cobbling his own shoes.

Uses the #artisan hashtag.

Eh, this looks mediocre at best. The first few photos are someone making chainmail,

remodelling their house, etc. Not as targeted as I would have thought. Back to Johnny. Oh very

interesting. He has got on a suit from goodwill – that fits him really well. Hashtag #dapper.

#Dapper – that is very interesting. Very GQ. Wow. These guys are all obsessed with clothes.

Weird clothes. This dude made a coat out of hair extensions. That might be too crazy for

Johnny. And 13,000 likes? We need to check this dude out. Alright, this is the person we want.

He is using the keyword #dapper. And there are millions of Johnnys using that keyword. These

people we want to reach.”

15The Instagram Scheduling Tool.

While that might have seemed a bit over the top, this real in depth thought process and research

into your target market can really help focus your content. You need to know what type of person

you are targeting, who are they and where do they go? You can test the assumptions you make

later down the line, but assumptions can get you a long way if they are well founded. Ideally you

will be able to talk in person to some people in your target market.

Find groups and accounts that your target market have and see what they talk about. Find a

keyword or hashtag that belongs to them and investigate it in detail. This is what reveals what

they are really in to. This allows you to understand what your marketing should look like, what

feel, words, colours, filters etc. work for this market. This will make your content creation much

more natural so it is well worth doing.

To contact “Johnny” there are four main methods; tagging them in photos (spammy, do not do

this unless you know the person), commenting on his photos (can be good if you do it well, does

take a lot of time though), liking photos (no one hates getting photo likes, these tend to get

buried quickly though), following (works if it is very targeted and you do not over do it, do you

like their feed? Would you if you were Johnny?)

They finished on the method of “Follow, Like, Like, Like”. This meant that they would go to the

most recent section for the hashtags they had identified and select the top picture, follow that

account and like their most recent three photos. They found this got a 25% follow back rate. This

was the method they concentrated on for two weeks solidly before their launch. They continues

this until their photos were getting over 100 likes and people were tagging their friends in the

posts. They spent all day every day doing this, but upon launching it paid off as they sold $4,000

worth of ties, getting the business off to a great start.

(source)

16The Instagram Scheduling Tool.

@boxedwater, a company that sells water in sustainable packaging, launched their #ReTree

campaign in mid 2015 and has already managed to rally 37,000 people to use their hashtag. In

exchange for this they plant two seedlings every time the hashtag is used. How did they get this

explosive growth?

Their mission is to plant one million trees over five years to help increase forest diversity, provide

habitats for wildlife and help the forest become more resilient to climate change. This type of

large goal is excellent for building a passionate following that believes in what you are trying to

accomplish. They pushed this on Instagram targeting three influencers Jaime King, Megan

DeAngelis and Aidan Alexander (who have a combined 2.9 million followers) who believed in

their cause. The large benefit of this cause based marketing is that influencers will often be happy

to promote it for free as it puts both parties in a positive light.

Leverage a Cause You Believe in to Turbo Charge

Promotion

17The Instagram Scheduling Tool.

Recruiting influencers is a great way to help your campaign go viral. It is also a great source of

content as influencers can have fun creating engaging posts surrounding the social impact, so it is

easy for them to get involved and add their own personal brand into it.

Many influencers will be delighted to help support your cause, but you need to make sure you do

the research to find influencers that are doing this actively or a cause related to yours before you

reach out. Instagram influencers are often successful because they project their values and build

an audience of people that share those values. Its these shared values that often leads to the

largest value from the influencers, as a good portion of their audience are likely to be bought in

to the cause if the influencers follows it enough to be vocal about it (they should be if you are

targeting them).

The cause is a win – win for Boxed water. As well as the great press they get from the campaign,

they are also investing in renewable resources as their cartons are made from these trees.

(source)

18The Instagram Scheduling Tool.

To conclude, lets just run over the key learning points that each example bought up:

@shredzarmy - Try to find people on the verge of becoming Instagram influencers in your niche.

Look to build partnerships and help people help you. Building a following that validates your

business is extremely powerful.

@breakfastcriminals - Be friendly to those engaging with you, create a community by reaching

out to others in your niche, find your one initial niche, be authentic to your selected niche, use

lots of relevant hashtags, be consistent and active with your content, be available for

collaboration.

@bocobaby - Immerse yourself in Instagram to find influencers in your niche. Send them free,

custom products in the hope of future promotion in return.

@bachelr - Target influencers in your niche that would be interested in your product. Try to offer

them a freebie or credit, something that has more value to them than you. Letting them decide

what type of promotion to run can be best, they know their audience. Make sure you have your

Instagram username in the caption. Make sure your website is mobile friendly.

@laurenepbath - Immerse yourself into Instagram instead of worrying about followers. Keep true

to your followers by being very selective in what you post. Obsess over the quality of the

photographs you post, it helps to create a really passionate following.

@qpcollections - Create a really detailed understanding of your target audience, personifying

them to understand everything about their lives. This helps you understand in depth what

content to post before you even start. Spending a lot of time interacting with your target market

in order to get them following you pays off in the long term.

@boxedwater - leveraging a cause that both yourself and some relevant, powerful influencers

believe in can be an excellent way of getting free, viral promotion.

Key Lessons

19The Instagram Scheduling Tool.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read through this product, we do hope it was helpful

and has given you some insight and ideas for growing your Instagram following.

Finally, one more thing can help boost your Instagram presence: Hopper; the Instagram

scheduling tool. Hopper allows you to schedule your posts ahead of time, sharing them straight

to Instagram automatically. You can bulk upload images from your computer or mobile and

schedule them to post at a time and date best suited for your followers. This enables you to

effortlessly increase your followers and engagement whilst saving time and increasing the quality

of your posts.

We've been working with lots of brands, agencies and individuals who find that one of their

favourite things about Hopper is the freedom and flexibility that scheduling and automatic

posting gives them. They simply queue up their main content once every one or two weeks and

then use Instagram for the fun, spontaneous posts they love whilst automatically sharing high

quality content regularly.

Hopper provides a huge amount of value to Instagram accounts of all shapes and sizes. Each

account comes with a 14 day free trail so you can see if Hopper can work for you 100% risk free.

All the best,

Connor – the Hopper Team