K atie c ouric

Don’t Have a Hidden Agenda
Chan feels that one reason Instagram, and social media in general, can be
hard for some people to master is because they approach it with a hidden
agenda. The common thread of the top accounts on Instagram is that their
content is really engaging. They don’t ask you to do anything outside the
normal habit of a user that browses Instagram.
One of the top accounts, for example, is National Geographic. It’s
successful because obviously it’s very visual, and also because its content is
its end goal. It doesn’t ask anyone to go out and buy or watch something
else. People go to the page to see beautiful photos and watch great videos.
Viewers might want to buy the magazine and watch the shows as a result,
but this is never pushed on the platform.
Great content is what makes people want to follow a page, not your
desire as a creator to get someone to follow you. You have to do what’s best
for the followers, not what’s best for your agenda. Create the highest-
quality content and the best experience for the people you’re trying to
reach. Through that, you’ll foster stronger connections and build a more
solid community.
At the core, Chan thinks people want to be surprised and to feel happier
after seeing content. Understand the fundamentals of storytelling; be a great
storyteller and figure out the real psychological principles behind great
storytelling. Then make sure that you’re leveraging those strategies in the
content you create. Make sure people understand what you’re telling them
and test the formats that are most effective for your content.
Instant Consumption

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Although the content rules you learned in 
chapter five
apply to all the
platforms, there are some differences when it comes to the format in which
you present content on Instagram. First of all, Brownstein says that one way
to think of Instagram is as the fifty-nine-second version of the content you
create. Wade agrees and advises using Instagram to drive people to other
platforms to see the content in its longer format.
Chan contributes that the time spent on Instagram for each piece of
content is very short. Most people who browse Instagram are looking for
very instant consumption. They don’t want to spend as much time with the
content as they do on other platforms. They just have a look at it, notice that
it’s pretty or funny, like it, and move on to the next picture or video. This
requires your content on Instagram to be more colorful. It needs to be
different and catch people’s attention.