The success of any partnership lies in finding the right person to partner with. Whether you’re looking for a love match or hiring someone to help grow your business, you need to make sure you’re both on the same page with the same goals!
As Instagram becomes a bigger platform for businesses, Instagram growth agencies are popping up like crazy—and they all want you pick them as your match made in heaven. Their profiles look ideal, with fabulous service offerings at the right price and claims that the growth they will produce is just what you need.
So, how will you know when to swipe right? Use this list of seven questions you should ask an IG growth agency to find your perfect match.
When we talk growth on Instagram, we’re typically talking two things — increased followers and increased engagement.
Increasing follower counts is typically considered the key metric. After all, the more eyes on your page, the more likely you are to be able to engage with or sell to people.
So, it’s really important that your IG growth agency is using techniques which attracts actual accounts to your page. Bots or empty, farmed accounts are completely useless to you.
If your IG growth agency is simply paying for people to hit a follow button, then you’re wasting your money.
That said, it’s unlikely the agency will admit to using bots, given their bad reputation. So, pay close attention to what answer they give, and do your due diligence in reading reviews written by customers.
Not all audiences are made equal.
Different specialties and interests on Instagram attract different audiences. A company that has a lot of experience selling kids shoes, for example, may not be the best suited to selling haute-couture to upmarket, middle-aged women.
Ask your IG growth agency if they have experience in your particular niche. If you have a particularly narrow focus, it can make all the difference to work with someone who knows your specific focus well, versus someone who has only dipped their toe into an adjacent field.
This is so important to ask upfront, for two key reasons:
Firstly, it sets your expectations. This makes your progress easier and more realistic to track.
Secondly, it gives the agency the opportunity to be honest. Any IG growth agency that promises you 10,000 followers in the first 30 days is most likely lying. At the very least, they are doing an incredibly poor job of managing expectations, which is a huge red flag.
Every agency will have at least one story of someone who rocketed to success almost overnight — but if that’s what they’re presenting as the standard, they’re desperate for your money.
Realistically, you should expect to hear that the first 30 days will show progress, but not necessarily incredible results. Those take time, and any reputable agency will be honest about this.
Now you know what to expect in 30 days. Great.
So then, when will you start to see results?
Again, you’re looking to both set your own expectations and gauge the honesty of the IG growth agency. What they should tell you is that it all depends—it depends on your business, it depends on the package you buy, it depends on how much content you post, it depends on how much you work with the agency to hone your tactics. They should be able to tell you some averages of results they’ve produced, but there are so many factors not one business is the same.
As a business owner or influencer, you probably have a clear idea of what you would consider successful growth of your Instagram account. You need to communicate these and see if the agency can give you what you’re looking for.
How does this line up with the IG growth agency’s idea of success? Are you both going to be looking at the same things? Will they be trying to tell you they’ve done a good job when they haven’t hit your targets?
Being upfront—and realistic—about what you want will ensure you’re all on the same page and making that partnership work.
You want to know how often you can expect to hear from your point of contact — and also how much you can contact them within the scope of the work you’re paying for.
Monthly reporting is really a minimum. More expensive packages should give you more frequent reporting. And, you should be able to reach a real person when you have questions.
Flexibility is really important in growing social media of any kind. If something happens and you need to discuss something between reports, will they be available? Or will you be stuck missing out on snap opportunities because it wasn’t your turn to speak?
This will, as we’ve said before, depend on what level of service you pay for — but you want to know exactly what you’re paying for.
When asking this question it’s also a good idea to ask how they show hours. It’s all well and good for them to say they’re working six hours a month on your account — but are they really? How do they prove it?
While you’re ultimately paying for results, if you notice you aren’t getting the results advertised, you’ll certainly be checking the hours worked to make sure they aren’t neglecting you.
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These are just some of the questions you can ask an IG growth agency before hiring their services. Armed with this knowledge, you can now start to ask around and find exactly the right fit for your account.
Need a point in the right direction? Try starting with FollowFox. They’ll happily answer your questions and walk you through the process to find out if they’re the right fit for you. Contact them today and see if they can help you grow your Instagram account to new heights.