How to start a weight loss instagram
How to Start a Bomb Fitness Instagram Account (With Examples)
If you’ve been thinking about starting a fitness Instagram account, there are a lot of factors that can contribute to your success and failure.
Famous fitness influencers like Sjana Elise Earp and Simeon Panda have worked hard to perfect their brand, photography skills, and physiques, allowing them to gain millions of Instagram followers over the years.
But even if you’re starting from zero, there’s no time like the present to start building your fitness Instagram account!
Today I’ll be showing you step by step how to start a bomb fitness Instagram account (with examples).
1. What are Your Instagram Goals and Objectives?
Before you start creating content, you’ll need to decide what you want to accomplish with your Instagram account. Go beyond the follower count, and determine the type of impact or incentives you want in the long run.
Think of your Instagram goals like your fitness goals, once you know where you’re going, you’ll be able to find the activities to get you there over time.
Here are some goals you should consider for your fitness Instagram account:
Mission or Purpose: Sharing your fitness journey to inspire and help others can be your main goal. Maybe at one point, weight loss seemed impossible for you, but you started working out and planning your meals. Who knows how many people your story can inspire. Fitness Insta-Mom Christy Gomez’s main goal is to help moms like herself gain confidence back after childbirth through quick and healthy meal plans and workouts.
Endorsement & Sponsorship If you’re an athlete looking for endorsement, you can use your Instagram page to get noticed by top brands. Nike sponsors Ji So-Yun, a female footballer with only 13,000 followers. Imagine what you can do once you start growing your fitness Instagram following.
Clients: As a personal trainer Instagram is a great platform to gain credibility and attract new clients. Fitness influencer Sara Vowell uses her Instagram profile to endorse her meal plans and online training program.
Ecommerce:With Instagram shopping features you can sell fitness products like supplements and athleisure wear with your fitness account.
2. Fill Out Your Instagram Account
Once you’ve created your Instagram profile, it’s time to switch to a business account. This gives you access to features your personal account will lack, like analytics, Instagram ads, and insights to help you to reach your Instagram goals.
Three Things Every Instagram Business Account Should Have
Profile picture: Use a professional logo or head shot for your profile. The ideal Instagram profile picture size is 180 x 180 pixels. But Instagram profile photos must be at least a minimum size of 110 x 110 pixels. Try to avoid making your photo look too filtered.
Bio: Your Instagram bio is like a mini trailer, showing people who you are and what kind of content they can expect from you. Choose your words wisely.
For tips on how to create the perfect Instagram bio, check out 10 Tips to Create the Perfect Instagram Bio to Attract a Bigger Audience.
Link: If you have a website or blog, let your followers know by adding it to your profile. If you don’t, you can share content, ebooks, or Youtube videos.
3.Define Your Ideal Followers & Fitness Niche
Think about the type of person you want following you. That’s who were creating content for on a daily basis.
Defining your ideal follower is also known as creating a buyer persona. Not to get too technical, but when you know exactly who you want to attract to your Instagram page, you’ll be able to create specific content that they’ll be sure to love.
For example, if you’re a fitness influencer who wants to help people lose weight from dancing, then your ideal follower is someone who loves dancing and music. Create fitness videos using dance moves to the latest songs.
Once you know who your ideal follower is then you have to decide what your niche in fitness should zone in on Instagram.
Stick to your niche, whether it be yoga, kickboxing, weight training, or even martial arts.
A niche is what brands use to decide if an influencer is perfect for them. For example, Aria Crescendo is a yoga teacher, and mom and her content say it all. It’s no surprise that most of her audience are mom’s who love yoga and her brand sponsor is a yoga clothing line.
4. Use High-Quality Images & Videos
Instagram is a highly visual social media platform. You’ll need to post high-quality fitness images or videos on your page. This could be with a camera or your phone.
Be sure to have your face in the photo, photos with faces get 38% more likes according to Sprout Social, so smile for the camera and increase your engagement.
The key to good photos is quality lighting. At times it can be hard to find good light in the gym but try and find a spot that does you justice. You can also invest in lightboxes, GoPros or a phone ring light, to help you capture images better single-handedly.
5. Master Your Instagram Caption
When it comes to captions, they can either be short and concise or long and detailed, and with Instagram’s word limit of 2,200, you can have a lot to say.
Some people keep captions short and snappy so that people can skim through and quickly enjoy the message. Other fitness influencers opt for longer, ‘mini blog posts’ with more detail broken up by space and a few emojis.
The choice is yours, but be sure to add a clear call to action (CTA), a call to action is a phrase that guides the reader to complete an action. Your CTA can be “click the link in the bio,” or as simple as “comment below.”
CTA’s help to encourage engagement, and the more engagement your post gets, the more people will follow your account.
Here are 25 Proven Call-to-Action Words to Maximize Conversions.
6. Show Off Your Workout Routine on Instagram
One of the biggest mistakes some fitness accounts make: posting more about being fit rather than showing followers how to get fit.
Share your workout routines on Instagram for followers to try. People aren’t just following because of your looks, they want to see the work that goes on behind your success.
Fitness Instagrammer Kayla Itsines has one million followers and she always makes time to post her workout routines and videos. You should be able to find the time as well.
7. Engage With Your Followers
Whether it’s 100 or 10,000 followers, engagement means much more to you than it does for them.
When you engage with followers, it helps to show that you’re active, and you care about what your followers have to say. Plus 44% of people think that a brand’s conversations (including direct messaging or in response to a comment posted) is more persuasive than what the brand has to say in ads.
Guess, what? You never know when you might respond to the right person who will reach out for a partnership. Even if you can’t respond to all the comments, you can like the comments so followers know that you see them.
8. Share Easy to Follow Meal Plans & Prep
Naturally, you should add a few meal plans, protein products, and meal prep to encourage your followers to keep a healthy diet along with your fitness tips.
If you don’t want to create the content yourself, you can repost from meal prep or health food pages like:
- @damn_delicious
- @fitfoodiefinds
- @caligirlgetsfit
9. Share Fun Day-to-Day Activities
Give followers a peek of what you do when you’re not working out or at the gym. It adds a human element to your brand and makes you look relatable.
Fitness Influencer Katerina Kountouris shares her day to day as a host a local tv show, going to her favorite food spots, and events she attends as an influencer. This type of content shows that you’re marketable, and you can manage your life outside of fitness.
Try to keep a healthy balance with fitness and personal content. You’ll have to decide at your discretion, but I usually find that a 30:70 ratio (personal to fitness) works well.
10. Go Live on Instagram
Going live on Instagram will make your account stand out. Every time you go on Live, there’s a notification that’s sent to your followers that you’re broadcasting, making them feel FOMO (the fear of missing out) to go check out your account.
Fitness Influencer Taylor Hill goes live during her workouts to show her fans how it’s done.
At the end of your Instagram live, save it to your story and add fitness hashtags, stickers so that Instagram users that follow these hashtags can discover your content.
11. Network With Other Fitness Influencers
Reach out to fitness influencers in your niche and collaborate on content. With your combined audience, you’ll increase the chance of getting more followers for each other.
You can collaborate and post pictures or videos on:
- Fun workout routines
- A giveaway
- Behind the scenes
- Having fun and trying new things together
Check out calisthenics influencer Gina Marie is known to collaborate with other influencers every week, building a network of calisthenics Instagrammers like Hanna Presence
Here are some things you should keep in mind before reaching out to collaborate:
-
You should look for someone who has great content or a massive following.
Likewise, your account should be up to par with the influencer you want to collaborate with on Instagram. -
Choose someone who compliments your niche, don’t choose someone solely because of their follower count. Ask yourself, does this person’s message align with my own?
-
Don’t put all your eggs in one basket, reach out to multiple fitness influencers, you can never have too many collaborations.
Want to run marketing campaigns that boost your social followers and engagement, but don’t have the time or expertise to make it happen? At Wishpond, we offer a team of marketing experts who can create powerful campaigns for you. Book a demo to learn more.
12. Host a Video Series on IGTV
Each Instagram account can create their own IGTV “channel,” which is where all your IGTV videos will live (separate from your regular Instagram bio + Instagram story highlights).
Treat your IGTV channel like a YouTube channel, because it is, Instagram made IGTV to compete against the video giant.
The tips that can help to grow your Youtube channels can be used for your IGTV channel.
Fitness IGTV Example: Morgan Rose and Steve Cook
Here are 18 Powerful Ways to Grow Your YouTube Channel.
13. Host a Contest or Giveaway
Hosting a social media giveaway is a quick way to grow your Instagram followers and brand awareness.
Anyone can host a giveaway, no experience, or 10k followers needed. Once you find a giveaway formula that suits your audience, you can host a giveaway as often as you’d like. Rinse + repeat = grow.
Here are four things you need to host a successful Instagram giveaway:
-
Choose a prize that fits your niche. The prize you choose should be something your followers are interested in winning. For example, if you’re a yoga fitness instructor, then your prize should reflect that; yoga mats, incense, or a yoga retreat!
-
Have a start and end date for your giveaway. This gives you time to monitor or promote your giveaway and lets your contestants know how much time they have to enter.
-
Follow Instagram Giveaway Rules when you’re hosting your giveaway. This protects you from any legal complications down the road.
-
Write clear guidelines on how to enter. You want to make sure your instructions are foolproof to help increase your giveaway entries.
Need some inspiration for your Instagram Contest. Here are 10 Amazing Instagram Contest Examples (Critiqued)
14. Always Share Your Story
Your fitness journey and personal story speaks volumes about who you are and why your fitness Instagram account differs from the rest. Instagram was initially made to connect with people around the world, so connect.
If you take a look at the most popular fitness influencers on Instagram, there’s always a post dedicated to sharing their fitness story; who they are, and how far they’ve come. It allows you to connect with followers on a deeper level. That’s apart of your brand.
Health Coach Shannon Eng shares her fitness journey in a blog form caption to motivate her followers and clients.
15. Use the Best Fitness Hashtags In Your Post
Hashtags help to make your post more discoverable to people who don’t follow your Instagram account.
You can place hashtags in your Instagram post:
You can place hashtags in your profile bio:
You can place hashtags in your Instagram Story:
You’ll have to pick the most popular fitness hashtags to improve the visibility of your post, here’s a list of the best fitness hashtags for your niche to use for your next post.
Motivation Hashtags:
FitnessGoals, FitnessMotivation, Fitspo, YouCanDoIt GoalSetting, NoExcuses, BodyGoals, GymMotivation WeightLossMotivation, JustDoIt, FindYourStrong, GetFit
Workout and Gym Hashtags:
GymLife, Workout, LegDay, ChestDay, TrainHard, Gains, Toning, Squats, AbWorkout, Cardio, GirlsWhoLift, WeightTraining
Healthy Eating and Weight Loss Hashtags:
Health, EatClean, HealthyFood, HealthyEating, HealthyLifestyle, Nutrition, CleanEating, MealPrep, FitFood, Vegan, MuscleFood
Running Hashtags:
Running, RunnersOfInstagram, RunningMotivation, MarathonTraining, SeenOnMyRun, TrailRunning, CrossCountry, InstaRunners, Cardio, RunnerLife, RunningTips
Bodybuilding Hashtags:
bodybuilding, bodybuilder, gains, muscle, shredded, BodybuildingMotivation, BodyTransformation, FitFreak, BodybuilderLifestyle, PowerLifting, SwoleLife, CleanBulk
Yoga Hashtags:
YogaLife, Yogi, Balance, BeginnerYoga, DailyPractice, Namaste, Flexibility, InstaYoga, YogaLifestyle, Asana, Vinyasa
Crossfit Hashtags:
crossfit, crossfitter, CrossfitGames, CrossfitCommunity, CrossTrain, CrossFitFamily, CrossFitLife, HIIT
Sports Hashtags:
Sports, Sportsmanship, Soccer, Basketball, Baseball, Lacrosse, Football, Volleyball, Softball, FieldHockey, Hockey, Team, TeamPlayer, GetInTheGame, JustDoIt
16.
Reach Out Brands For Collaborations There are thousands of influencers on Instagram who want to be noticed by fitness brands, so you’ll have to take a more active approach.
A rookie mistake is waiting for a brand to reach out to you when expert influencers do quite the opposite. They reach out to brands!
Make a list of your favorite fitness brands (clothing line, equipment, health supplements, locations, or events) and buy their products and create content around them (don’t forget to tag the brand). The more engagement and content you post, the more likely you’ll get recognized by the social media manager of that brand or another.
Check out Hubspot’s guide on How to Get Sponsored on Instagram (Even if You Currently Have 0 Followers).
17. Offer a Discount or Sale
Everyone loves discounts, especially when it’s for a brand that their favorite fitness influencer swears by. Create a buzz with an exclusive discount from your eCommerce store or a brand you’re collaborating with as a fitness influencer.
In your post talk a bit about why you love the brand and slip your discount code at the end, take a look at fitness influencer Ryan Tremaine Klarenbach’s post with his collab with Feel OKI beverages.
18. Network at a Fitness or Challenge Event
Get out of the house or the gym and attend local fitness events or challenges. This will help you to do three things:
- You can network with your local fitness community, and with find influencers you can work with in the future.
- Get fresh new content to post on Instagram from the event
- Connect with gym or brand owners at events for possible sponsorships or to become a brand ambassador.
Abhish Desai posted about himself as well as the group he met at a bear crawl challenge.
Follow the Best Instagram Fitness Accounts
1.Dylan Werner
Handle: @dylanwerneryoga
2.Janis Blums
Handle: @janis_blums
3.Lottie
Handle: @pilateswithlottie
4.
Anna Victoria Handle:@annavictoria
5.Jeff Cavaliere
Handle: @athleanx
6. Don Saladino
Handle: @donsaladino
7. Emily Skye
Handle: @emilyskyefit
8.Sarahs Day
Handle: @sarahs_day
9. Massy Arias
Handle: @massy.arias
Summary
Here are 18 ways to start a bomb fitness Instagram account:
- What are Your Instagram Goals and Objectives
- Fill Out Your Instagram Account
- Define Your Ideal Followers & Fitness Niche
- Use High-Quality Images & Videos
- Master Your Caption
- Show Off Your Workout Routine
- Engage With Your Followers
- Share Easy to Follow Meal Plans & Prep
- Share Fun Day-to-Day Activities
- Go Live on IG
- Network With Other Fitness Influencers
- Host a Video Series on IGTV
- Host a Contest or Giveaway
- Always Share Your Story
- Use the Best Fitness Hashtags In Your Post
- Reach Out Brands For Collaborations
- Offer a Discount or Sale
- Network at a Fitness or Challenge Event
Bonus: Follow the Best Instagram Fitness Accounts
Related Articles
- 16 Proven Gym Marketing Ideas to Get More Clients Today
- 20 Best Local Marketing Strategies and Tips
- How To Get More Members For Your Gym
- 13 Fitness Landing Page Examples Critiqued
- 25 Awesome Instagram Reels Ideas For Small Businesses
- 33 Instagram Story Hacks You Wish You Knew Sooner
- The Best Time to Post Reels On Instagram for Better Engagement
victoria-taylor
How to Build a Fitness Journey Instagram (And Build Your Following)
In the digital age, creating a fitness journey Instagram is a great way to keep yourself motivated, track your progress, and interact with other people in the fitness community.
Instagram has long been a channel for people trying to increase strength, lose weight, alter their diet, and feel inspired while doing so.
If you’ve been thinking about starting a personal fitness journey Instagram, we’ve got some tips on how to get started, what to think about, and how to build your following.
Step 1: Create a new account for your journeyIf you don’t have Instagram yet, you’ll need to create an account. Some people choose to have two Instagram accounts: One for their everyday life, and one for their online fitness journey. To achieve maximum engagement, we recommend having a dedicated account just for your fitness progress.
The community of Instagrammers looking to support and follow other fitness-lovers may be more inclined to follow a dedicated-fitness account. However, that doesn’t mean your account can’t have personal flair. Many famous Instagrammers share posts about working out with their families, and sharing healthy meals with friends.
Some even include their pets!
First impressions are important, so you’ll want to spend some time optimizing your account with:
- A clear profile picture: Fitness instagramming is all about connecting with other people, so make sure your Instagram profile picture is clear. You may also consider using a free website like canva.com to design a catchy “logo” for yourself.
- Profile description: The description of your account is important. What journey are you taking? What are your goals? Where are you located? Including personal details in your profile will help you connect with a larger audience.
- Make your account public: To connect with the larger fitness community, you need to make sure your account is public. This will allow you to be found in search results and hashtag groups.
Gone are the days where you will be judged for taking selfies or videos of yourself at the gym.
(Just make sure you’re focusing on your safety first. Don’t sacrifice your health for a good photo!) Ask your gym buddy to take pictures and videos of you from several angles. You’ll be able to use these images in before-and-after photos. Short videos of you working out, or trying new machines will also help you track your progress. You can also photograph your meals, favorite protein powder, or sessions with your personal trainer.
Before you start building your following, we recommend spending some time adding quality photos to your account. How many is a good start? Twelve photos and videos will give you four rows of imagery – but the more the merrier. You want people to find content when you begin to build your following. Aim for 16-24 photos for a solid collection.
When posting pictures or videos of you working out, invite people to make suggestions on your form, available variations, or pro tips. Asking for feedback invites other Instagrammers to comment on your posts.
Thank people for giving you advice and make sure you @tag people when you reply to them.
Before you dive into the fitness community, start with your family and friends. Post your new fitness handle to your personal Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. Ask your family and friends to follow you along your fitness journey. The support you receive from them will help you stay on track.
Step 5: Build a hashtag strategyThe fitness Instagram world is OBSESSED with hashtags. Spend some time exploring popular fitness accounts that you admire. Then, make a list of all the hashtags those people use. Begin to tag your photo captions with these hashtags where they make sense. (Pro Tip: Don’t tag a photo with #healthyrecipe if it has nothing to do with food.) Focus on using your hashtags strategically. Have you already posted pictures to your account? No problem.
You can comment on your own picture with the hashtags you’d like to use.
This account is ALL ABOUT YOU. And that means you should follow people that motivate and inspire you. Don’t just follow a whole bunch of people in the hopes of getting more likes. The goal here is to connect with people who are on the same journey as you. Click on hashtags, look at pictures, read other stories, and follow people who inspire you. Now, you can also follow #hastags that inspire you as well. This will ensure you see relevant and new accounts in your feed all day.
Step 7: Comment and like when you feel inspiredIs there someone whose fitness journey is closely related to yours? Comment on their pictures to share your own story or words of encouragement. This is how you start to build your following. By having honest, thoughtful engagement with people in the community.
Be yourself!
The best way to build your community following is to post regularly. You should aim to post something at least twice a week (but once a day is ideal). Posting often means you show up in more hashtag searches and more timelines.
Try to post during times when your engagement is highest. Instead of posting multiple times in one day, consider saving a second photo for a future #ThrowbackThursday or #FlashbackFriday. Don’t forget that meal prep and snacks are a great opportunity to post. Instagram Stories are becoming a more powerful medium to foster engagement. Use #hashtags in your stories. The best part about stories is that you’ll never overwhelm your followers with “feed spam”. You can post 5+ images and videos to your story in a single day. Save the best stories in your “featured stories” section.
But most importantly, remember that this fitness journey is about YOU. Any steps you take toward building a happier, healthier you are good steps.
Getting more followers is not a reflection of your success or failure. Enjoy your journey and celebrate yourself!
Do you need guidance on your personal fitness journey? Our team of professional personal trainers will give you the tools and advice you need to reach your fitness goals. (We can also hold the camera for you.)
+8000 subscribers at 19₽ for a weight loss marathon through targeting on Instagram — Marketing on vc.ru
Case study on targeted advertising on Facebook/Instagram.
3902 hits
Hello, my name is Alexander, I deal with traffic in social networks and bring large volumes of registrations and purchases to online projects.
I want to share an interesting case of launching a 5-day online weight loss marathon directly on the basis of Instagram itself. Worked with a really cool team from the Free Business Alliance.
Advertising budget: 200,000 ₽.
Geo: Russia.
Kpi: Subscriber up to 45 ₽.
Results with all indicators at the end of the case.
I put my photo, personal brand, everything :)
What were the difficulties?
1. The account is absolutely new, the deadlines are on, you need to start and collect at least 4000 subscribers in a week.
2. Nutrition is a niche in which the ban of an advertising account and a business manager is several times easier to catch than in others. Therefore, the guys, turning to me, immediately indicated that they needed an expert in working with FB accounts.
🙃 And just in the last month I talked to technical support almost every other day and I probably already know everything ...
3. High competition in the auction. Overheated, but always relevant niche :)
And you know what? We launched with almost no problems with moderation and did not receive a single block of the Republic of Kazakhstan 🤙🏻🤙🏻
Preparation for launch:
The guys listened to my recommendations, did everything according to the instructions, and we got a business manager with a good level of trust from FB.
Which, by the way, now directly affects the effectiveness of advertising.
The niche of health and weight loss is familiar to me, but I need to delve into the coach's approach in more detail. Understand what it focuses on and what is its unique positioning. And only after that proceed to creativity.
As I already wrote, the niche is rather overheated. Therefore, it was necessary to get confused and think over communication that would hook people in the face of an abundance of advertising.
For this, according to the script, videos were shot with the coach himself. We, in turn, prepared more than 20 creatives of different formats for quick testing.
🔥 Top creatives:
Provocative creativity. Made in the style of Instagram design, it looks native. We send to read the post in order to immediately increase the level of trust in the coach.
The secret is that creative is not like advertising.
It brings obvious benefits in a useful post. At the end there is a call to subscribe to an account.
Advertising launch:
Under the conditions of such a launch, I had to apply the methods of quick testing of bundles and quickly find the most catchy creatives, then hook the target audience with a settings test.
And yet, I asked the guys to start driving traffic 2 days before the planned start, so that by the time it would be possible to bring subscribers cheaply on the volume.
Someday in a post I’ll tell you how to effectively and quickly test bundles without wasting extra budget 😂
Which audiences I used:
- The widest audiences with age and geo restrictions within the Russian Federation. They took large cities in order to get more solvent audience.
- Direct interests. I noticed that they work well with traffic on Instagram.
- Two Look-a-like audiences by active subscriber base in another fitness trainer profile.
First results:
Immediately everything went wrong, which is quite normal in the work of a targetologist. After the experience of working with millions of advertising budgets, you calmly react to this. I always say that in such situations, the main thing is to analyze the indicators with a cool head.
And as you can see, in the dynamics it turned out to equalize the cost of a click to 8.7 rubles. The subscriber came out 2 times cheaper than the set KPI. (19 ₽ instead of 45 ₽)
Screenshots from the subscriber growth metric at the end of the article.
Campaign to recruit subscribers
Retargeting campaign:
Retargeting was thought out for each stage of the funnel.
- At first we raised posts in the account among new subscribers
- Then they announced the start of the marathon with the date in the announcement.
- On the day of each day of the marathon, an additional reminder announcement + a reminder with the previous day's homework was launched.
- Raising a useful post in the feed for subscribers.
- Several posts about the start of the training.
All this helped to warm up the audience for a purchase.
Retargeting campaigns
But it still seems to me that it was possible to spend 20 thousand less on retargeting. Usually they get slaughtered on it, but here we overdo it with the budget and showed ads to people several times.
Totals:
Implemented budget: 200,000 ₽. Of which 150,000 ₽ for a cold audience to attract subscribers and 50,000 ₽ for retargeting.
CPC: 8.11 ₽.
Price for a new subscriber: 19 ₽.
On the day the marathon started, there were 8239 subscribers in the account. On a record day, he brought 2500 subscribers per day.
Below are screenshots with statistics on the growth of subscribers and their activity.
Engagement rate 5.7%
+8239 new subscribers
2500 subscribers signed up on a record day
The audience is active and lively
This was the first launch of this project for the guys, and after it we were all left with a clear understanding of how to proceed further and recoup traffic even better. Therefore, we plan to repeat the marathon in June. ⚡
Review:
And if you don’t need traffic yet, subscribe to my Instagram or VK, I’ll be glad to meet you)
Instagram and Facebook will ban plastic and weight loss advertising
Two social networks owned by the same owners heeded the months-long exhortations of doctors and body-positive activists. Instagram and Facebook have begun implementing a new policy on ads for diet teas, dietary supplements, laxatives and slimming shakes, and cosmetic surgery. They will be especially tough on “miracle products”, like “hair growth gum” (it happens).
Now any posts that promote such products with clear incentives to buy will be forcibly hidden from users under the age of 18 . Incentives can be: indicating the price, publishing a discount code, calls like “follow the link and buy 2 times cheaper”, etc. will be considered by the moderators of social networks and, if “miraculous”, will be deleted.
The market expects the innovation to hurt both makers of dubious smoothie-tea-lollipop-add-ons like Flat Tummy Co and those who earn good margins from them in the digital world.
At risk: SMMs and bloggers-influencers, especially in the "beauty sphere", manufacturers of dietary supplements, cosmetologists and plastic surgery clinics.
Instagram public policy manager Emma Collins told reporters: “We want Instagram to be a positive place for everyone who uses it. And the new policy is part of our ongoing work to reduce the pressure people can sometimes feel on social media.”
The once infamous Flat Tummy Co, the poster child for the world of social media magic teas, was a small garage business from Australia.
The company's founders, Beck and Tim Polmear, actually brewed "tea for bloating" in their own garage. And the ingredients were purchased from a local herbalist.
In 2013, this modest business was brought to the top by an influencer. The company's founders paid for a social media post from a popular food blogger in New Zealand. Ted Polmir once said that after that publication, the company began to receive 17 orders per hour: "... We thought we had stumbled upon a goldmine."
Realizing what was happening, the manufacturers of slimming teas began to actively pay Instagram bloggers for advertising. And even, according to them, they developed a certain “algorithm for predicting” the success of a new product. By November 2015, Flat Tummy Co's Instagram page had amassed half a million followers.
The company showed growth of 700% per year. Not surprisingly, Beck and Tim Polmear soon received an offer they couldn't refuse - Canadian corporation Synergy CHC Corp bought the fledgling brand for $10 million in cash and stock.
The Flat Tummy Co example shows how powerful social media and influencers are, especially in the sensitive area of beauty and health. It is clear that products with, to put it mildly, unproven effectiveness, which top bloggers began to advertise, aroused interest not only among buyers, but also among doctors and public figures.
In Russian Instagram, the situation is no better. Stories of blue acne serum and other products from unverified brands come up one after another.
One of the people who inspired Instagram and Facebook to change their weight loss advertising policy was British-American actress and radio host Jameela Jameel. She lashed out in rage at celebrities promoting "wonderful teas" and stuff like that.
As a teenager, Jamil suffered from an eating disorder. She herself took a lot of dietary supplements for weight loss and listened to the wild advice of "influential people." The actress founded the network movement “I weigh” (i_weigh) and managed to draw attention to the problem of doctors, the press and representatives of social networks.
Body positivity activists and journalists have collected testimonies from doctors that products from the category of "easy to lose weight" and "suppress appetite" either contain laxatives or some "active substances", the effectiveness of which has not been proven by authoritative scientific studies.
As a result of a months-long public campaign, Facebook and Instagram agreed to start regulating advertising not only for weight loss products, but also for so-called “detox” products, and at the same time for plastic surgery.
The social media diet marketing market expects the under-18 audience to be completely “shut down” from the influence of specific brands. And, on reflection, this is to be welcomed. Analysts also say that the decision of Facebook and Instagram deals a serious reputational blow to the “weight loss” and “beauty” business.
Now we have a separate VK newsletter for news from the digital world. We collect the most interesting and share - honestly and without cheap hype.
