Week 8 Assignment, Part 1

For this week's assignment, I chose to use the existing Instagram account I already use to promote my blog. I use various social media platforms to help drive traffic to my blog site. One day my blog will be a central part of my business that I am promoting in the CSIT 155 course. Here is the link to my Instagram for you to check out while you read this post.

My Motorbike Obsessions Instagram

Some stats to give you an idea where my thoughts are coming from: For the last 20 posts, I average 7.7 likes per post. I also average 0.6 comments from those same last 20 posts. I used the last 20 posts for ease of doing the math. I post in a real time manner when I'm out doing some type of Motorbike related activity. I have 78 posts with 50 followers at the time of writing this blog entry. I follow 95 various people. All of the accounts I follow are motorcycle related. 

All in all I'd have to say that the Instagram account has been successful in connecting me to like minded people. When I have a particularly successful post, I always see some type of uptick in follows. Unfortunately, many of those new follows turn out to be accounts that just want me to "follow back" and then drop my page after a short period of time. I have become more discerning when following other accounts. This is good and bad. Bad because just when I think I'm growing my Instagram, I then suddenly see a big drop in follow numbers. It is good because the accounts I follow are most directly related to my interests. Since I am not promoting a business, I don't see any direct sales impact to using Instagram, but it does give me information for events that become blog articles.

My posting is a bit sporadic. I usually post to my own Instagram during my weekend motorcycle activities. I am conscious to look out for opportunities to put up a quick photo with a short description of what is going on. During the week I surf Instagram for posts that interest me and comment or like on things that I find compelling. Over the last few months, Instagram has been my "go to" social media site for updates and new information. I also just generally enjoy looking at cool pictures of motorcycles or people doing cool things with motorcycles as that is why I started my blog in the first place!

I look forward to any comments on this post or even better, on my Instagram if you could spare the time. Thanks for reading!