Last fall, a few weeks after I had moved to Austin, I went to pick up a smoothie at shop down the road from my house. And while I waited for them to finish blending my drink, I looked over my shoulder and saw my friend Mica.
In any normal situation, with any other friend, I would have said hello and asked about her kids, her business, and her recent vacation.
But I didn’t.
Because here’s the deal: I don’t actually know her.
Mica is an Instagram influencer (and super successful business owner here in Austin)—and our friendship has been curated entirely from tiny squares and Stories.
In the moment, I felt so weird. I know so much about this woman! I have been following her for years, and I honestly feel like we have a relationship with each other.
But after my initial shock of seeing a “celebrity” in the wild, here was my second thought:
This is what a successful social media strategy looks like in action.
The goal of Instagram (or Facebook, or email, or any of your marketing communications, really) is to build relationships with people. To cultivate friendships through digital channels. To create allegiances and affinities that (hopefully) lead to gifts.
The best social media influencers and organizations—the people like Mica—have this down to a science.
My favorite Instagram follows aren’t the perfect, polished ones whose feeds are curated within an inch of their lives (though these accounts are certainly impressive!).
My favorites—and the ones who get the majority of my scroll time—are the ones who let me into their daily lives. The ones who make their storytelling extremely personal. The ones that show me the mundane, everyday activities that make me feel like I’m a part of something—that I’m an insider, a friend.
Your organization can steal a page right out of this playbook.
Show me your team members. Introduce me to the beneficiaries of your work. Go behind the scenes, talk directly into the camera, and don’t be afraid to be a little messy.
Let me into your life and I’ll love you (and support you) forever…and next time I see you at the smoothie shop, I’ll try not to be too starstruck to say hello.
