I am a tiny bit embarrassed to admit that I have purchased not one, not two, but over ten Instagram courses! You may have considered buying some of them, so I thought you would enjoy getting my opinion on them. If you are a business owner, buying a course on Instagram makes sense since Instagram is still an excellent platform to promote your work.
Instagram has changed and engagement is decreasing, but it is still the best social media platform for most businesses. On Instagram, you can create an active community and meet like-minded people from all over the world.
Top 5 Courses on Instagram
These courses on Instagram are all paid. You can take free online Instagram courses and if that’s what you would like to do to get started, I recommend you check out this exhaustive list. However, I have taken many free courses, many paid courses, and many cheap courses (like Udemy courses). As a general rule, I find I benefit way more from the higher-end courses.
This doesn’t mean you have to pay over $500 for a course. Many $1,000 courses that I purchased were inferior to $200 courses (read my Blogging Course RoundUp to get a better idea of other courses I have purchased). However, I do find that courses under $50 (including Udemy courses) are much less valuable than courses above $200.
Hilary Rushford’s Instagram with Intention
To enroll in Hilary’s course on Instagram, you need to sign up for her free training here. Instagram with Intention was my first Instagram course ever. I think the price point is $197, but you can sign up for the training to find out for sure. As for me, I ended up asking for my money back. Although Hilary Rushford seems to know her stuff, I didn’t think the course was helpful in any practical way.
Keep in mind it’s been more than two years, so I don’t remember clearly. I do remember that I felt the whole course was mostly about looking at successful accounts and what made them successful. After binge-watching the whole course, I still felt at a loss about how to grow my business on Instagram. I decided to get a refund, which I rarely do.
Kat Coroy’s Instagram Makeover
Kat Coroy’s Instagram Makeover was my number one favorite course on Instagram. The course is beautifully done, and Kat is generous with the information she shares. You can read Honest Kat Coroy Instagram Class Review: Is It Worth Your Money? for the full review. Here’s the course breakdown:
- Week 1: Brand Soul Essence
- Week 2: Graphic Design Secrets
- Week 3: Photography Masterclass
- Week 4: Transformation Time
- Week 5: The Power of Video
- Week 6: Flourish and Grow
Instagram Mastery by Gary Miller
I don’t think you can still purchase Instagram Mastery, but this is the first course I took that helped me understand the importance of an effective sales funnel. That’s what I share in my Instagram Workshop:
Conveniently, Gary Miller and his wife Crystal had created a few resources with network marketers in mind. I don’t know what they have been doing these days. It seems like they are no longer growing an online business.
Jenna Kutcher’s Instagram Lab
Jenna Kutcher is a well-known digital course creator. Chances are you have heard of The Instagram Lab. Here’s what she covers in the course:
- What to post: The quintessential question. Everyone is asking what to post on social media! In this module, Jenna helps you define your brand and your ideal customer.
- What to say: Write amazing captions and learn to deliver your message.
- How to Plan Your Posts: Why let social media take over your life? Instead, plan ahead so you can stay consistent without having to worry about what to post all the time.
- Convert Followers to Clients: Because, in the end, you don’t want to do all this work for without it making a difference in your business.
Jenna’s course on Instagram is very useful and it ranks high amount my favorites.
Sarah Morgan’s Grow Your Gram
Sarah is one of my favorite online teachers. I have purchased most of her digital products. In her course Grow Your Gram, she does not disappoint. Here’s what you will discover:
- Your ideal audience: Set up your profile in a way to attract your ideal customer.
- Content and captions: Know what to post for maximum engagement.
- Photo and video editing: Everything you need to know to create beautiful looking pictures and engaging videos.
- Growth and engagement hacks: How to boost your engagement and attract new followers.
- Stories and IGTV: Creating content the right content.
- Ads and analytics: Creating effective ads and understanding your analytics.
Other Courses on Instagram
I have purchased a few more courses on Instagram, but they were not my favorite. Some were part of digital course bundles other were on Udemy. In the end, I decided to create my own Instagram course to complement my free training: My 5-Step Formula to Master Instagram for Your Online Business In Just 14 Days. In it, I combine all the best strategies I learned from taking the other courses I mentioned above. Moreover, it’s a steal at $97.
Top 10 Tips to Grow Your Business on Instagram
Let me leave you with some tips you can start implementing today to grow your business on Instagram:
- Speak the language of your ideal customer: Once you decide to use Instagram for business, your account is no longer about you, it’s about your ideal customer. For more help discerning who your ideal customer is, read How to Pick a Profitable Niche for Your Online Business.
- Create a bio that converts: Make sure your bio states who you are serving and how you can help. Include a link where your followers can sign up to receive a freebie in exchange for their email address.
- Post what your audience wants to learn from you: As you gain more experience on Instagram, you will start discovering what your audience needs and want. Serve your audience and help your followers solve their problems. Learn more about what to post in What to Post on Instagram to Get the Most Engagement and Grow Your Account.
- Learn to use the right hashtags: Hashtags are critical to growing your Instagram account. The only way to get seen by those who don’t follow your account is through hashtags. I have learned how to use hashtags effectively and I share my strategy in my post How to Pick the Right Instagram Hashtags to Grow Your Account.
- Be social on social media: Too many Instagrammers don’t respond to comments on their posts, don’t interact with people who react to their stories and don’t check out the profiles of their followers who spend time commenting on their posts. Social media is a two-way street, don’t expect people to engage with your posts if you never return the favor.
- Plan ahead: Posting consistently is an important factor in ensuring you grow your account and keep your followers engaged. Use a planning tool to plan your posts and post on your feed at least 5 times a week. Try to post on your Stories a few times a day. I like to plan weekly or bi-weekly using Planoly.
- You don’t need to be perfect: Instagram being a visual platform, many people become paralyzed because they can’t get their feed to look the way they want it. Your feed and your bio will change over and over. You don’t need to be perfect to help people.
- Keep learning: You will never have arrived, and there is always more to learn. Keep investing in yourself and your business. Buy courses, get coaching, do what you need to do to learn what will help you grow your business.
- Take action: If you keep learning and never implement what you learn, your business will not grow.
- Don’t focus only on Instagram: Although I love Instagram to grow my community and stay in touch with my audience, let me say that I don’t think you should spend too much time on Instagram. The platform is not what it used to be, there is much more competition, and the engagement is plummeting. Fostering relationships is important to any business, but most of the traffic to your offer will come from your Website. Make sure you are present on other platforms. It doesn’t need to be time-consuming, you can post similar posts across the platforms.
For more great Instagram tips, don’t forget to sign up for my Instagram Workshop: