Today we reached 100,000 followers on Instagram.
One hundred thousand.
Firstly of all: I know.
I know that the level of attention and concentration on Instagram is below zero. I know that Instagram sometimes provokes antagonism. I know people tend to be cynical about the content shown, treating it as a filter for reality. I know that with likes you don’t go to the grocery store (although I don’t necessarily agree with that statement).
Having put all that aside, I’d rather focus on the positive, because there’s a lot. With all due respect to the Skeptics, and with all modesty, Instagram is the platform, it’s not the main thing here, it’s secondary. Treating the content on Instagram as one homogenous unit is a sin that contradicts reality. While there are endless amounts of pointless nonsense on the platform, it’s not indicative of all the content.
A lot of hours are invested into the content that I choose to upload. I know that a small percentage of followers rarely invest the necessary time into reading the texts completely, or even watching the full videos. This is content from which a great deal of value can be derived as a bartender, as evidence there are those who do so. Similar to the lead funnel principle, in the end it’s a matter of statistics. Let’s say that only 5% of the followers consume the content on the page closely and get value from it, that means 5,000 people, the vast majority of them professionals, scattered around the world and actually maintaining the style of work that we develop and distribute, learning our language.
When I write, photograph, edit and upload, I think about these 5,000 people, and not about the other 95,000. The 5,000 are actually important for the idea and the community created around it. Of course the numbers keep growing.
So what are we actually doing here?
We’re using a free tool to market our merchandise, with the help of patient, comprehensive and smart work, we create a community of like people, who learn with our help, and with the help of our content a language they like, and would like to learn. During this process more and more interest and work is added through the language. As I wrote before, a language needs to be spoken, this is a long-term process that requires a patient approach. The best way to examine reality is to go up high and look at the process from the widest possible point of view, only then can we get the proper perspective. Four years ago the vision existed only in my imagination, today it exists in the minds of thousands of people, conceptualized in different ways, but it exists. That’s why this digital asset is so significant, because it serves as a unique tool for spreading the idea, for spreading the language, and at the same time serves as a cross-border marketing engine.
Not everyone is on Instagram, and we don’t reach all the eyes in the world. Of course there are other problems that Instagram is not effective in solving, especially in regards to the complexity of content. But as a business showcase, even if partial, it is an excellent tool for an idea and a business that speaks visually, therefore; the possibility of conveying messages and ideas to an audience of 100,000 people is nothing less than amazing! All this fun was impossible until not too long ago. After all, how was it possible to reach such a level of exposure and interest without advertising on channels with commercials?
Post, story, reels, direct messages, tags, locations, collaborations, highlights, surveys.. all these are certainly not the goal, not with 100k, nor with 1M followers, but they represent a vehicle for achieving the goal, a definite yes.
