“It goes down in the DM”

Legendary saying that started by rapper Yo Gotti, now used by people like Gary Vee to show the power of Direct Messages online 🙂

Entrepreneur, and business coach Gary Vee breaks down the secrets of Direct Messaging on IG (Instagram) and shows a clear cut approach to getting TONS of leads for your business.

Step 1: Find New Instagram Accounts To Target

In short, search for a hashtag or search by location and find prospective people to reach out to who may be interested in what you have to offer. The example service he uses is a haircut and he discusses targeting people who have hashtagged the keyword “#haircut” or targeting people who have made posts close to the address of the business.

Step 2: Look At The Account and Analyze Engagement

Are there a lot of likes and comments or not much action? This is more important if you are looking for someone to be a brand ambassador or promote something of yours down the road, but its always good to see if their posts are getting action, even if its a small amount. It’s all relative. IF an account has 100k followers, but only gets 10 likes per post, you know there’s no engagement. On the other hand, an account with 100 followers, but getting 60 likes and 20 comments per post has a very high level of engagement. Watch for the quality of comments too as there are tons of fake/auto comments out there.

Step 3: Bring Them Value

Offer them something for free or that has a low barrier to entry. The example Gary gives is a video designer offering 5-10 videos for free:

Pro Tip: Craft Your Message and Test Different messages over time and different audiences to see which gets the best response rate

Hey Gary – I Love Your Work… I do social media and marketing. I would love to make 5-10 videos for you for free? Look at my account and lmk. -Much Love, DRock

Example Direct Message providing Instant Value

Step 4: Direct Message

Click the 3 dots in the corner of the profile and send your message!

Step 5: Rinse and Repeat!

Gary recommends doing this at least 10 – 100 – 500 times a day. I would be mindful of Instagrams Direct Message limits and personally would only send a maximum of 5 DM’s per hour and only do this for a couple hours a day.

Last Word of Advice: Take Action!

“Search hashtags, click them, look at the account, see how you can bring them value, DM them, go in soft, bring more value, rinse and repeat. Two, three, four, five thousand times.”

Gary Vee’s whole article summed up in a nutshell

That’s the entire process. Let us know how it works for you and what strategies you use to bring more business and drive traffic with Instagram.

Full article from Gary Vaynerchuk here: