Social media marketing pioneer Gary Vaynerchuk (aka Gary Vee) teaches the $1.80 framework for growing your Instagram following. It works like this: you comment (i.e. leave your $0.02) on the 9 top posts for 10 different hashtags every day – that’s 9 x 10 x $0.02 = $1.80 for those keeping score.
It’s a great strategy for growing your following, particularly if you’re new to the platform or trying to expand inside of a new niche, but I’d like to invert it and extend it beyond Instagram for political candidates and organizations.
Instead of going to other accounts and ‘spending’ your $0.02, ‘refund’ this money to social media followers by replying and interacting with them.
Rather than going out and finding new followers, interact with those you already have.
For each platform you’re active on (ideally Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram) respond to 10 comments every day. It’s a $0.20 social media refund.
What About Trolls?
You should only respond to comments made in good faith, even if they’re critical. Trolls, on the other hand, aren’t interested in dialog and ought to be ignored. If someone asks a question related to an attack you’re facing on the campaign trail, social media is a great place to set the record straight because chances are others have the same concern.
If You Don’t Have Enough Comments
To generate comments to reply to, try asking open ended questions in your social media posts. Or, you can seek out content in local Facebook Groups to reply to.
The Benefits Of Engagement
Interaction via comments, likes, and shares with your social media posts is a key signal for getting your content into more news feeds. Too many campaigns treat social platforms as an extension of their press list and simply broadcast information.
By following the social media refund strategy, you’ll return value to your followers through interaction.
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