45. An Instagram influencer who knows how to build a community (f. Bronte Huskinson)
What does it take to make a living from Instagram? 📱 In this episode, hosts Phil and Lauren made it their mission to find out. Special guest Bronte (@frombeewithlove, formerly @bookishbronte) rapidly grew from 0 followers to 50k+ and she’s figured out the secrets to meaningfully growing online. If you’re set on making Instagram your full-time job (or simply want to use it for your business), this is the episode for you.
Episode transcription
Phil:
Well hello there and welcome to another episode of Brand Therapy ASMR. Just kidding. Can you just imagine if we did?
Lauren:
I started getting nervous. I was like how am I going to follow this?
Phil:
I know I stopped it just in time before you heard me smacking my lips or making all kinds of weird sounds and for the people who don't know what we are talking about, well, by the way, I'm Phil in Columbia.
Lauren:
And Lauren in LA. Yeah, as always.
Phil:
We know I have this new found obsession with ASMR. You know when an adult finds out about a child trend way too late, that's me. That's me thinking I'm cool, but these videos like I just can't, I just can't with it.
Lauren:
They're so funny.
Phil:
They're so funny. And apparently people actually listen to them to go to sleep.
Lauren:
Yeah. There are some people like younger generations are actually addicted to ASMR. I'm completely serious and they can't fall asleep without the sounds of soft clicking and into a microphone. Look it up!
Phil:
Or you go to youtube and it's completely mind blowing. Speaking of the younger generation, how about this for a segue? We have a member of the younger generation on the podcast today. Her name is Bronte. That's her name. Don't wear it out. But in fact she recently changed alert alerts recently changed her Instagram handle, which is crazy at the time of recording this episode. Right. She was bookish Bronte and now it's changed. Yeah, it has changed. So her new handle is from B with love. Wait, let me let actually look that up just to make sure.
Lauren:
Yeah, cause I know it's B e from Bee with love.
Phil:
Yup. That's right. From B with love where B is Bee and it's very interesting. You know I just had a call a few hours ago with one of our past clients that was exploring the way her brand is going to evolve in the near future. And this is another example of how your brands evolve. So even from the time of recording this where she was booked as Bronte. So every time we say that, just sub it in with, from Bee with love. Um,
Bronte's young, she's one of the most successful people I know on Instagram and that's why we call her another expert episode for us. And we talk about community. We talked about building an audience, being consistent, all these kinds of things, specifically on Instagram. It's a good chat. It is. And she's a true expert with Instagram and I think people will be inspired, but they also might be a little disheartened from this episode because to make it on Instagram, it requires a lot of work.
And Bronte doesn't shy away from going through the details of it. So it's a very realistic look at what it takes to succeed on Instagram.
Phil:
Which I think is necessary and important. I think we should do it. Here we go. Here's our chat with Bronte.
Phil:
When someone is saying, well, how do I get more Instagram followers? Or how do I do what you do? Where do you even begin to answer that question to make people understand that there is more than meets the eye?
Bronte:
That's the question that’s really hard to answer because the way that people grow on Instagram, it's going to be different for absolutely everybody. The way that I grew on Instagram, you're not going to be able to grow that way anymore. It's just not going to happen. You just have to find a way that you can grow yourself and it’s just a lot of trial and error. You've got to see what works for you.
My feed is really, really creative and shows I take a lot of time and effort that might not necessarily work for you. And so I never say to people we've got to do really crazy photos cause that's not possible for everyone to do. You've just got to find a way that you can grow authentically yourself. Like I've seen stories worked for a lot of people. Um, recently. Like some people have got a massive amount of followers just from using stories. So that's always a good way to start I think.
Lauren:
I have so many questions for you personally, but also I'm thinking of questions that we get from clients and from potential clients. And one I'm thinking about, from yesterday, even, is we had an intro call with someone and their careers going really, really well. They've got their own private practice, they're really excited about Instagram and posting consistently all that jazz. And they had about 30,000 followers and they said they wanted to reach 100,000 followers by the end of the year. So what would your response be to sell a goal like that?
Bronte:
I don't want to say I'm high because why not? Like this time I would have had about maybe 20k last year. Now I'm nearly on 60k. Anything is possible, but you just sort of got to accept that it might not happen. But it's honestly with Instagram it's either going to go one way, or the other. And you’ve just got to sort of find something and just keep them going. And just keep on, you know, finding different ways that you could potentially grow. That could be just taking a lot of time in your feed.
Obviously posting consistently and being in your story a lot. And that always really helps because you know you're following the activities from that way. And one thing that I always say is to really be part of the community because it's important because Instagram will reward you if they think that you are an active member of its community. So that's kind of, you know, like it's one thing to comment on other people's sites. Obviously liking photos and following people's stories.
You’ve got to be so friendly and then other people will, you know, if they said they, you've commented on that photo the likelihood is they’re going to go back and comment on yours, so then your photo then gets pushed up in the algorithm.
Lauren:
I always forget that everyone starts off with zero followers. That's the nature of Instagram, especially with someone who has like your size of following. It's, I need to remember, you know, we all put on pants one leg at a time or whatever the saying is.
Phil:
Pants in the UK means underwear doesn’t it? What, what do you say? Trousers?
Bronte:
Yeah.
Lauren:
Oh Great. They say trousers, Laurens international blunders. So my question for you is when was the moment where you realized you were on to something? How did you know when you found your thing? What clicked and how did you take that even further?
Bronte:
There were so many different moments where I've thought, oh, this is it, this is it. And then I got bored of that, ‘this is it’, and then I've gone to a different ‘this is it’. And I think that you shouldn't limit yourself to thinking, okay, this is it, this is what I found. Because you know, you're always changing and you're always growing as a person. And my feed is completely different from what it was like in October from what it was like last year and the year before.
I am constantly changing because I'm constantly developing my style and changing, you know, what I want to talk about and what is important for me. So I think your feed should never be ‘this is it’ because it's always going to be changing. And when I lose the love for my feed, that's when I know that I've got to change something up. So yeah, I've had many, ‘this is it’ moments probably all the way back in September, 2017 and I just got back from about six weeks in America and I didn't really prepare any photos for my time there I just all made up as I went along.
And then I've got back and I had a bit of a crisis and was like, oh my God, I don't know what to be doing and blah, blah, blah, blah. And then I actually saw a photo that was meant to be from my mom's account and then I posted it on my account with a new different style of editing, the following then, which is about 3000 as such, I got nearly 2000 likes. And for me that was like, Oh wow, I can actually take this really seriously moments. I guess that's sort of the ‘this is it’ moment for me.
Lauren:
How fascinating. It was like an accident almost.
Bronte:
Yeah.
Phil:
You do something specifically extremely well and that specific thing is the balance between your own tastes and aesthetic, that is you that we can see a photo, we could cover up your name and I could still know it's from you. So you're following your intuition there to create a certain style and a certain way that you do things. Your brand. You balance that Bronte you balance that with what you know your audience is going to like and appreciate and respond to.
And I mean by audience, I don't just mean the people that are following you now, but the people that discover you and decide to follow you and that's how you grow. All too often people are focused on broadcasting what they're doing and assuming that everyone's going to care and they're not thinking strategically about how every post can actually be key in your discovery. So can you talk to that and how you balance those connections in a way? It's like, you know, it's, they both pull you in different directions. How do you balance it?
Bronte:
I think I'm kind of at the point now where I can sort of, I've gone through everything. I've always been like, oh my gosh, what will my followers want, or I think this is what my followers would want, etc. Or the churches have done really, really well, so I'm going to keep on posting stuff like this. And I've gone through all of that and it's exhausting just to try to please them and not please yourself at the same time. And I am kind of at a point now I just post what I want and I'm really passionate about and what I really like doing and sometimes people respond really, really well to it.
And my other series where I'm any middle class do really well in a place of questioning about family, then they will do really, really well as well. But sometimes they're not received all that well by my followers but I know that I really liked the photo. So I always think that it's more important that you're posting what you love because that's going to translate into engaging in the post more. I know basically when I am more excited about it and more likely to be on Instagram replying to comments. Whereas if I'm not in love with a photo, then I'm more likely to not check the comments as much.
So I think it's really important that you've got to love what you do first and then just hope that your followers will love it too.
Lauren:
That's such good advice.
Phil:
Yeah it is good advice. But there is, I think earlier on though, because you're at the point where we would say you figured Instagram out and you've got that loyal following, where you've got a little bit more flexibility to post what you want and not post what you don't want. What about earlier on? So for people who aren't at that level, do you have any insight for maybe a year ago when you were really focused on growth? Any advice from those days of figuring out what it is that people want and will respond to and will want to follow you? What makes people want to follow you? I think people don't think about that enough.
Bronte:
People respond really well to ongoing series photos and by that I mean photos, that kind of repeat themselves. So I had this theory that I don't do so much anymore, but a year ago I was doing it so much and it was called my better book series where I'm just sort of, there's loads of ocean books lying on the floor and then I'm lying on them basically with flowers around me and stuff and they always did really well and they would sometimes gave me about 200 followers sometimes.
Then it was just the photos that would do really well at the time because of lots of accounts and doing them as well. So it's sometimes good to jump on a trend if it works for you. If it doesn't work for you just don’t go near it. But you know, if it's a hashtag or something or a photo that seems to be doing well on Instagram, recreating them in your own way can be really beneficial if you’re trying to grow but obviously don't completely copy, then you've got to make them your own as well.
Phil:
Where would someone find those trends that are happening, like those hashtags that are popular? Do you just kind of need to be paying attention and aware of what people are doing? Do you find that on the discover page? Where can you know, kind of know what's up, you know? I know it's a weird question.
Bronte:
Yeah, it's difficult but they'll just be appearing more in your home feed. A lot for me, obviously I follow Instagram so I can see trending really, really quickly popping up and I can choose whether I want to sort of jump on the trend or it will work for me and obviously it's a lot easier if you like different accounts and they still see the kind of change to them and I don't really understand what's going on with the database. It's changing to that. If they try and get people out of the probate a bit more.
About a year ago, my first associates were getting in the explore feed a lot and now they're not so much anymore. So Instagram is always changing so you can't ever follow a set direction go that's going to make it, you will see, you just see them pop up. Like you just start by seeing a couple of posts that kind of look similar with day and then maybe seeing them more and more.
Lauren:
Do you think it's important for the person whose feed it is to be involved with the creative process instead of outsourcing it?
Bronte:
I don't think if you're not a creative, like a creative person imagery, so creating Instagram photos, then don't push yourself because you're going to hate that basically. And you've got to find the one thing that works for you. There's so many different styles on Instagram. Yeah, like proper photography. There's creative photography, there’s flat lay, but it's endless. And the styles that you’ve just got to find one that works for you and one that you really love doing.
I mean creative photography works for me, but I know that it doesn't work for everyone. Everyone in an Instagram community doesn't do it and you know, that's why everyone's original. So you just go find the one thing that works for you and just enjoy it at the same time.
Phil:
You talk a lot about community on Instagram and that's, you know, you've kind of positioned community really as your secret weapon on this platform. And I think you're proof of that. I don't know that I've actually, I don't even identify with a community. And I think if I did, I would grow quicker.
What are some of the vibrant communities that exist on Instagram? I think a lot of times people don't even know about this. Maybe I should be thinking more about the digital nomad or the travel stuff because I've got great photos from all my trips. You know, you've got the book community. What are some of those vibrant communities that exist so people can kind of know,
Bronte:
Well, obviously there's Booksagram, which I'm part of as well, but I follow travel accounts because then they're done really, really well. And those, that also, um, the mom community on Instagram, it's absolutely huge. So, so many accounts, they're just posting on motherhood and people's children. And I absolutely love watching them. I think they’re you know, really, really fun. And there's also digital artists. So every one of their images is photoshopped really, really well. There's also the proper community, which I call them. Yeah. Stunning, stunning images. And often their job is actually photography so they end up looking really, really gorgeous. You've just got, you know, to start digging through hashtags and see if you can find the ones that you could be a part of.
Lauren:
And Bronte I'm an INTJ so when it comes to people, there’s something missing in my brain. Phil's gonna laugh, but I'm super introverted and so when I hear the word community, it's really actually petrifying. And I guess my question for you is how does someone get into a community? What does that mean in terms of actions? Like do you send someone a DM and start liking someone's photos until they become a friend? How do you get in?
Bronte:
It’s actually kind of like that. I’m massively introverted as well but I don't mind talking to people online. I'm probably fine with that. Um, so initially just finding people but whose aesthetic you like and then just following them and letting them know you're there by liking a few things every so often and then um, start commenting on their photos when they post new ones and you just don't go do it kind of a bit gradually. So it doesn't seem a bit so in your face I've always, you know, just added comments and then reply to their stories as well. And then a lot of the time you can create a really, really great friendship replying to some of their stories when they put something up or you know, just commenting on the photos that they post.
Lauren:
That makes more sense to me. Thank you. And I guess I guess the benefits too of commenting on other people's feeds, like kind of becoming someone else's fan in the community is that their followers will see you come up in the feed. Right. Interesting.
Bronte:
Yeah. If someone else is commenting on someone's photo then they might also see your comment as well and you know that can some time work. I sometimes look for comments to see what other people are doing but not so much anymore. Um, that can always work really well if you want to get someone's attention, especially if they've got quite a large following that are less likely to pay attention to who you are in the comments if you messaged them.
Because I'm following massive, massive accounts I would be trying to keep track of who's commenting , it can be very, very difficult. But I'm more likely to respond to you if I have another private conversation with someone and it says supplies my story. If they just sent me a message, that's probably the best way to make friends with someone really.
Phil:
And people forget the very basic concepts. I think just in the fluster of trying to grow and juggle all of these things, well, if someone's not replying to you or acknowledging you flip it. Right. If that person was trying to get in touch with you, what would be, what would increase the likelihood that you would, A- notice and B- respond? Not necessarily on Instagram, but when someone sends me two emails, you know, an email and then a follow up, sometimes a third follow up is required by the time I reply and by the third one and I'm like, I've ignored two of their emails. I better get back to them even with a single sentence. So sometimes you just have to be persistent and it's not a matter of being annoying. It's just knowing that when trying to get someone's attention, they're busy.
So do it in a way that you would want to be, you know, contacted. And what would actually solicit a response. I had someone yesterday message me on LinkedIn saying, Hey, I'm graduating in a few months. Let me know if you need help with anything.
Go away. I don't even know who you are. No, I don't want anything from you if you don't even have the decency to make it easy for me to understand what you do and why you're great. I'd rather someone say, I noticed you've only posted once on Instagram in the last week. I feel like I could really help you, or something like that. If someone noticed where there's an area where I needed help, I'd pay attention. You know? It's just simple.
This conversation is going to be really exciting for a lot of people to listen to. A lot of past guests have asked. I can't even pinpoint a single episode. There's been at least probably 10 at least where Instagram comes up, probably 20 wouldn't you say Lauren? So many.
Lauren:
Everyone cares about their Instagram and it's, what's fascinating is that people don't necessarily care about their feed. They just care about the followers and likes, but you've got to put out good work in the first place in order to get those. It's kind of like, I don't know. People only care about that end result.
Bronte:
Yeah.
Phil:
Yeah. I think some people are gonna be really excited about this, but I think some people are also going to be stressed out because it's hard to take the leap and it's hard to keep leaping after your initial leap. What's your advice to someone who's overthinking it? Striving for perfection and as a result not taking any action at all? What's your advice to someone like that who's afraid to make a mistake and just doesn't do anything?
Bronte:
Don’t strive for perfection because you’re never ever going to get it. You're always probably going to be comparing yourself to other people. Especially when you start out that you just got to know that it's sort of your own journey and you've got to take it at your own pace. And most of the people that you are following have been doing it for years. I'm so I've only been doing it for about two and a bit years now and I'm still constantly learning. I'm still constantly growing and changing what style.
And so, you know, even if you, if you went back to the very start of my feed back in 2017, my style was completely. I didn't really know who I was or what my style was. You’ve just got to not be scared to post because you've got to do it eventually. And um, just accept that it's not going to be perfect straight away because it definitely wasn't for me and it definitely wasn't for anyone else who first started on Instagram either.
Phil:
That’s great advice to hear from someone whose feed literally looks perfect. You know, it does. And, and it's just a classic case of everything looks prim and proper and perfect on the outside, but if people only knew the chaos on the inside, right, Bronte? Lauren and I feel that way.
Bronte:
You’re your own worst critic on what's going on. Constantly I’d say I should have done that differently. Oh, I don't like how that's turned out, but you just have to get over that because it's just unnecessary stress really. Phil: Thank you for such a productive conversation. Lauren, did you have any last looming questions while we have this superstar on the phone?
Lauren:
Oh No. I'm stressing out that it's wrapping up. I should've written down a list of questions. Well, Hey Bronte, you might be getting some DMs from me later using some of the tactics you recommended. Bronte: Good, good. Send them away. Yeah.
Phil:
Thank you so much for taking valuable minutes from your day and spending them with us and I know our listeners are really grateful for that and actually unlike our guest episodes, we get to reveal your identity. Where can people find you on Instagram?
Bronte:
People can find me on Instagram at #frombeewithlove. Instagram is my little nice little home.
Phil:
I love it. And people should go and see what you're doing and learn, you know, not just the pictures and the continuity and the aesthetic of the feed, but captions, engagement. I couldn't even imagine how many hours a day you spend on Instagram, but this is your job. This is your job and welcome to 2019 where this can be a career.
Bronte:
Yeah. I had to turn off the thing that says how many hours you've been on Instagram.
Phil:
Yeah. But it's okay. You should be proud of how many hours you're on it. Cause this is your job. This is your job.
Bronte:
So yeah, very, very true.
Phil:
It just means you're working hard. Well, thank you again. Have a wonderful day. We really appreciate you hanging out with us on Brand Therapy and we look forward to catching up with you soon.
Bronte:
Great. Thank you very much.
Lauren:
What I love about that conversation, is that Bronte's proof that you can't just aspire to have a certain number of followers and think that once you choose that number in your head, you're going to get it. You know what I mean?
Phil:
I do. People are always looking for a shortcut because they feel the pressure, of their competitors and their like brands or brand heroes that have more followers than them and they're just trying to get a shortcut and thank you Bronte it doesn't exist. You literally have to put the work in. And you know what I'll even say to you, I sometimes feel guilt if I spend an hour and a half making an Instagram story instead of an hour and a half doing something else for my business or for a client. But you know what, my Instagram kicks ass! It doesn't kick as much ass as Bronte's, but I've worked really hard over the last year and that's because I've literally put the time in myself to do it.
So I still have to get out of those moments of guilt. It's like, no, this is important if it's part of your digital strategy and it's a platform that you prioritize, not for the purpose of, Ooh, look at me, I'm fancy, I have followers, but if you actually use this as a business tool, then you need to prioritize it. And you need to put the time in to do it properly and to learn yourself the little nuances, the little style choices and captions and all of this that you'll do, you know, so that you too will be one of those people who can post on the platform and others will see you and know it's you without even seeing your name. That's your brand.
Lauren:
Yes, yes, yes, yes. I agree. And do you know what? I'm going to go on a little rant because I am tired of hearing people say that their 2019 goal is to get more social media followers. We've been having these like intro calls listener with different people talking about their 2019 goals. And I think like the conversation needs to change. It shouldn't be that I want to get 500,000 followers this year because that's not right. You can't aspire for a certain volume of followers. Instead your goal should be, I want to get my message out in a creative way that teaches people something. That's the goal, not the number of followers.
And Bronte worked so freaking hard. I was looking through her feed and she had like, she sometimes spends nine hours a day on a single photo. Like that's dedication and I just, I just think that there's this big misconception with Instagram stars out there that you just snap your fingers and all of a sudden you're popular and that's just not the case.
Phil:
So take this advice, think about what community you could join, participate in, no, become involved. I think that was a big takeaway for me. You know, find that community and not just contribute to it, broadcast within it, but interact with in it. Actually comment out of genuine interest and curiosity on other people's pictures and that will be returned to you if it's genuine.
Lauren:
Yeah, definitely. Lots of ideas. I'm sure. Phew,I'm not angry anymore.
Phil:
Oh my God, I bet you feel better after that little rant.
Lauren:
Do you agree though?
Phil:
I do. I agree 100% lots of ideas and hopefully a few seeds planted in this conversation with Bronte. Thank you. To remind people, um, follow #frombeewithlove on Instagram. Go look her up. She's amazing as you can tell from that conversation. And by the way, while you were over there, look us up too. I'm @philpallen
Lauren:
I'm @thelaurenmoore, but I'm not as good as her at all, not even close.
Phil
So no, but your Instagram, your Instagram is good. You have your own little brand going on and hopefully I do to remember how much I used to hate Instagram and I'd be like, tell me what to do. Tell me what to post, tell me what to write. Admit that I've become less of a child, more of an adult on this platform.
Lauren:
Yeah, you're completely independent because you found something that works for you, not because of what someone else thinks is good for you. You've got to start, start with yourself first.
Phil:
Exactly. And you have to make mistakes. And the more you do it, the better you get. I mean it’s all the classic stuff, but it's true. So hopefully this has inspired you to take some action. Don't strive for perfection, just do it and keep doing it and it will get better. Thanks for hanging out with us today. If you like this episode, leave a review on iTunes. That's just helpful so other people can find this. What else?
Lauren:
Five stars.
Phil:
Five stars would be great. We can't force you to do it, but it would be amazing. Yeah, keep the conversation going #brandtherapy we're watching that. Tag us, let us know you listened. We’d really love that. We put a lot of time and effort into recording this so that it helps you. So if you've taken the time to listen, we want to hear, we love the brownie points and then we'll be back again next week with a brand new episode, a brand new case. summary. We will see you then. It's going to be awesome. Thanks for hanging out with us.
Lauren:
Thanks. Bye.
