AvGasandJetA Case Study
Do what you love? That was the idea. Filling a need, wasn’t answered.
I did fully intend on it becoming an income stream, but when it came to the “How can I help?” question, I couldn’t come up with an answer I could live with.
Yes, I could have sold t-shirts, labels, and other swag, but that doesn’t solve a real problem.
In the end, it was a lot of hours, constant upkeep, and diminishing returns on organic reach that I finally decided to stop the effort entirely.
The short version –
As in anything else, it starts with research. What works, what doesn’t, who has already done it?
Starting out with Jarvis and trying to bot “follow – unfollow”. The software worked, but that whole scheme was very spammy. (And against TOS). That was $150.00 or so.
Next, moved on to a couple of post schedulers. I like the ones that added the tags into the first comment. That limited the options quite a bit. I ended up going with Later. It was easier to cross post to FB than anything else.
Between Later and Flick, that’s really all the research and tools needed. Learning curves for these aren’t too steep for the simple things I was doing. Later can get really complex if you have a team and want to max it out.
Burn out – No viable “How can I help?” answer.
Quick Stats –
Dates – roughly August 2020 – August 2021.
Outcome – 0 to 35k followers in a very small, tight knit community.
(numbers would be far greater in most categories)
Pros-
Done correctly, your following can consistently grow.
Demographics are very tightly bound.
Cons –
Huge time sink. 1-3 hours a day. Everyday, 365. Some days, 3-5+ hours.
Market fit needed to create any success above hawking swag.
Inequality of Reach. Bigger accounts could simply squash reach in an instant. No rhyme or reason.
This is Very frustrating!
Additionally, after about 25k, organic reach plateaus. In theory, you boost posts to reach your already reached audience.
Great gig for Instagram, but not if you have to pay to reach them.
Software used:
Ad Spend – up to 100 a month. Instagram story ads only. Results are extremely difficult to track.
Canva for initial ideas and design
Flick for keyword research. 50.00 or so a month.
Later for posting schedule. 50.00 or so a month.
In total, about 1,500 to 2K spent. 0 actual payback. Lessons learned was worth way more than the 2k.
In the end, it’s a whole lot of time commitment.
Would I do it again?
Unsure. IF I had a product that truly fit the bill, and Instagram had a good portion of my target audience, then possibly, the time commitment is huge.
But as of now, going with paid ads is far more dependable.
