Gary Vaynerchuk's $1.80 Instagram Strategy

Here’s another great Gary Vee tactic called the $1.80 Instagram strategy.

The gist is simple: leave your .02 cents on the top 9 trending Instagram posts for 10 different hashtags that are relevant to your business.

By the end of this, you haven’t just left your .02 cents–you’ve left a full $1.80 of thoughts in the specific category, niche, or industry you want to become a part of.

Why does this work?

“The truth is,” Gary says, “the way to win on social media is to actually be social. The number of Instagram followers you have means nothing if you can’t build a community of like-minded people who care and engage. The only real way to do this from scratch is to become part of the conversation.”

Search for keywords related to your business.

For example, if you own a yoga studio, search “meditation” and see what pops up. Instagram will also recommend related hashtags to follow.

Spend 20 seconds scrolling through the top posts of each hashtag and identify people who have active accounts. Active = posts that get engagement, even if it isn’t a lot.

Once you find accounts you want to engage with, click on them to see what they’re about. The more personalized your interaction—and the more you can cater to their likes and dislikes—the more effective this tactic will be.

Now it’s time to leave your two cents.

Engage in an authentic way. No generic marketing messages!

If someone asked a question, respond with a thoughtful answer. If you like something about the post, say so. If their post reminded you of another content creator, tag them.

“Realistically,” Gary says, “this shouldn’t take any more than 2 minutes per post. You don’t have to write a book or say something profound, you just have to engage and interact. That is what it means to be social.”