I met Julia from www.yogaandjuliet.com digitally a few years ago. Julia advertised her yoga retreat on my blog www.happyyogatravels.com and I’ve done a review of her (super beautiful) website.
When we finally met in person in Bali I felt I’ve already known her for a long time! Do you know this feeling, when you just click with someone? I’m such a huge fan of Julia! She’s super nice, her blog and her Instagram feed are inspiring and simply beautiful and she’s also REALLY successful with over 15,000 followers on Instagram!
I knew I wanted to learn more from her and asked her to share her strategies and tips how she grew her Instagram following and how she uses social media in her business.
How does Instagram affect your business? Can you share an example, like does it help you fill your classes or retreats?
Instagram is my most important marketing channel, together with Facebook. Especially when it comes to promoting my yoga retreats, Instagram is super helpful. With Instagram people can get to know me and build a connection before even meeting me face-to-face.
What’s your mission on Instagram? What do you hope to achieve?
On the one hand, I see Instagram as a way to live my purpose and show as many people as possible how yoga can help them on their personal path. I firmly believe that the world would be a better place if more people were doing what they are passionate about and that’s why I aim to share a lot of inspiring content on Instagram together with my stories, my experiences and my tips to live your dream. On the other hand, Instagram is of course an important marketing channel for my own products and services.
How long have you been active on Instagram and how long did it take you to grow your follower numbers to over 10,000?
I’ve been using Instagram for a long time but have only been using it professionally for about 2.5 years for my business. So, I can’t really say how long it’s been before I had my first 10,000 followers. But the truth is, nothing happens on Instagram overnight. It takes a lot of grit, discipline and a long breath.
How much time do you spend each week to create content for Instagram?
It always depends. I always try to shoot lots of photos in advance, so I don’t have to think about creating new content each week. That takes up the most time, so batching and preparing content in advance is a big time-saver. Then it takes me 30 to 45 minutes to edit a photo and write a caption, so in total to create 6 posts per week I’d say I work 4 to 5 hours per week.
What’s your best tip for a yoga teacher just getting started on Instagram?
Get inspiration from others but do not copy them. Be yourself and authentic, that’s the most important thing, and try not only to share your yoga offerings but also private stories.
Thank you, Julia, for sharing your wisdom and inspiring us all!
Click here to learn more about Julia, visit her blog and check out her Instagram account.