Gary Vaynerchuk is one of the world’s biggest social media experts, and he’s called his $1.80 Instagram strategy one of the most practical pieces of content he’s ever produced. It’s a low-cost method to achieve consistent, measurable results on Instagram. You can read his full story of how it came to be here if you want, so let’s just get straight to the details in this short post.

What Is the $1.80 Instagram Strategy?

The best part about this strategy is that you don’t even have to spend any actual money on it– the $1.80 Instagram strategy is all about leaving your personal two cents in several different places. That means you can do this every day, or even multiple times a day, with no budget required.

Here’s how you get to a $1.80 by putting your two cents in:

1. Identify 10 hashtags that are relevant to your brand.
2. Go to each of those hashtags one at a time, and identify the top 9 posts for each hashtag.
3. Put your two cents in on each of those posts to add to the conversation.

That’s it. 10 hashtags times 9 posts times $.02 on each equals $1.80.

Tips for the $1.80 Instagram Strategy

Just leaving 90 random comments all over Instagram isn’t going to do it. There are key things to consider at every step. When you choose the initial hashtags, make sure they meet the following criteria:

• They’re popular– people will actually follow these hashtags and see the posts on which you comment.
• The subject is relevant to your brand and what you want to be known for. People who look at #vegan on Instagram aren’t super likely to care about your new steakhouse.
• The hashtags are related to a field you know about, and you’re likely to be able to add value.

Once you decide which hashtags to target, look for posts that are likely to get a lot of engagement. They should be pretty recent, offer quality content, and come from people with a lot of followers. If you comment on a post that doesn’t get any other likes or comments, that means no one is going to read what you write.

Finally, make sure you’re leaving comments that truly add something to the conversation. Just saying, “nice post,” or leaving the fire emoji isn’t going to inspire anyone. The whole goal is for people to see your comment and want more, so it’s critical to think for a second and type something meaningful.

If people appreciate your comment, they’ll click through to your profile. Profile views lead to new followers.

If you’d like to connect further to discuss Instagram strategies, just reach out.

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