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My buddy and I are planning at least one trip per year and doing what we can to document the travels.  In 38 days we are leaving for Alaska for 6+ weeks.

 

I'm doing the instagram and he the FB page.  I would love input, suggestions, comments and more as well as followers DUH.

 

https://www.instagram.com/weexplore2/

 

Sam

 

And for the record I am very new to instagram so all help/suggestions are appreciated.

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My buddy and I are planning at least one trip per year and doing what we can to document the travels.  In 38 days we are leaving for Alaska for 6+ weeks.

 

I'm doing the instagram and he the FB page.  I would love input, suggestions, comments and more as well as followers DUH.

 

https://www.instagram.com/weexplore2/

 

Sam

 

And for the record I am very new to instagram so all help/suggestions are appreciated.

Tag us #xladv on IG and then give us a live ride report like AdventureHunter did via the Tapatalk app.  We'll share it out on FB and IG for you.

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Tag us #xladv on IG and then give us a live ride report like AdventureHunter did via the Tapatalk app.  We'll share it out on FB and IG for you.

Absolutely will do!!!  I've been following #xladv for a while now and really enjoy the content.  I haven't downloaded tapatalk but will look into that.  I've also got to look into the suggestions made on a couple of my photos...thank you by the way for that.

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Some random observations on Instagram...

 

Reposters

 

Some chatter recently on a reposter, @bmwgsfans, not only posting photos without attribution, but deleting comments and banning people for pointing it out.  This should earn them a one way ticket off Instagram, in my humble opinion.

 

XLADV reposts a lot of photos too but about 18% of our recent content (I counted back about 150 posts) is original and we often seek to inform and will point back here to our forum as well as showcase a story and not just the photo.  We've been successful at building relationships with riders around the world, helping out where we can, etc...  It's about a dialogue.

 

A lot of these reposters are just that and don't add a lot of value.  I can't tell you how many times I'll see another account re-post photo after photo of things I just got done posting.  Take a look at an account's ratio of followers/post.  We are at 12.9.

 

Hashtags

 

We really appreciate it when you use our two favorite hashtags: xladv and sizematters.  I've also seen xladvrider, which is awesome.  Our only attempt is to call attention to how big adventure bikes differ and how they are special (more range, more capacity).  It would be nice to be able to make a dime off this at some point but for just over a year and a half this has been simply our hobby (an expensive one).  We are about people riding big adventure bikes and sharing those experiences.  That's it!  There's a sticker but no associated lifestyle apparel line  :lol:

 

While I harbor no ill will or enmity to BMW (on the contrary, I love their bikes and had a GSA for 5 years), I've been quite annoyed by some of their social marketing.  Some of their well known and branded hashtags have been: unstoppable, madeforadventure, etc...  Another new one that I'm perfectly fine with is spiritofGS.   Great marketing.  But here's what annoys me is their attempt to own "makelifearide" and "rideandshare."  For one, people just aren't getting it.  I find all kinds of people are using those hashtags who don't even ride a BMW.  Rideandshare is a BMW thing how exactly?  Cut it out!  Any posts I share immediately have those two removed.  Oh and now I see "joyintensified."  Geez man!

 

I also am annoyed by "rideandwander."  It's a great tag but it happens to be someone's account!  Maybe they're happy to have it co-opted but my advice is fine, have a generic category tag like advrider, xladv, dualsport, adventurerider, advofinstagram or whatever but for something more specific, be original.  I'd use rideandwander if I were friends with them and wanted to give a shout out to what they (not I) are doing.

 

Be judicious with your tags as well.  It's annoying to see one line of text and then ten lines of tags.  Some are putting tags in the first comment, but that may make it harder to find certain posts.  When I search for something to repost I'm looking for #xladv.  If it's in the first comment then it's not showing up in search.

 

Simply using our hashtag is enough.  Please don't tag us in the photo.  It takes too long to go through all those and tells me you want me to repost your photo but we're not important enough to use our hashtag for others to see.  We also don't feel special when we see 67 others tagged in the same photo.  And no need to message me a photo, just use the hashtag.  I swear at least 80% of these people sending me photos have private accounts that can't be shared (duh)!

 

Have a story

 

Please!  I see so many posts that are just a photo.  No story?  No location?  Boring.  A few I've noticed are great with the stories are pikipiki_overland_blog, mytickettoride, feralcat2wheels and chickamotorunner.  I can't wait to see what kind of story they have to tell each day!  I'm guilty of not giving a good story too sometimes.

 

What types of photos work

 

Landscapes are great but unless you and your bike is in it, it's just a pretty landscape (and not moto-related).  If you're in the photo, smile!  Have your helmet off.  Lighting is really important!  The best light is in the morning and in the evening.  I see tons of photos at mid-day that are just completely washed out; maybe 2% of them are any good.  That means setting aside time in the morning and evening to work on your shots.  And don't forget this is a motorcycle themed thing; any shot of your bike is usually a good shot.  Look at huntca or rodeo.cowboy.  They are the kings of the "butt shot" (back of the bike).

 

Video

 

Instagram upped their video lengths from :15 to 1:00.  Give some thought to the "cover" image (in setup) for what you want seen because many are just a black screen (doesn't make me want to click on it).  Keep in mind Instagram is policing copyrighted music now so leave that out.   Chickamotorunner mentioned an app she uses but can't recall the name.

 

Sponsored Gear

 

No need to explicitly mention you are sponsored, just show the gear and mention their hashtag and that's usually great.  Do justice to the photo so the reader can actually see it on your bike or being used.

 

Be yourself & try showing your personality

 

I really love to see someone make fun at their own expense, relate a troubling story of loss or loneliness, talk about a hardship overcome, or the joys of meeting new people and seeing new places.  Some of these people are damn funny (GSA.007).  Just be yourself and you'd be surprised how much people like seeing that.  The quotes are okay sometimes but they can also seem cliche, pat advice, overdone.  Some people seem to have a random quote generator and just add that to each post.  Be real.  Don't google it.  If something inspires you then please share but there's no need to scrape for a quote.

 

This is a community

 

Try following someone!  I absolutely detest some of these celebrity riders who have tens of thousands of followers yet follow less than 50 themselves!  &%$#@! do you think you are?  You are really missing the boat if you're not exploring and finding other riders doing  AMAZING things.  My newest rider I'm in love with (her journey; not her) is adventurism.life.  Go find the person riding the Pamir highway or the Andes passes or camping on the Uyuuni flats or meeting tribes people of Botswana.  They don't have to have written a book (yet) either.

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Eric thanks for the post. You mention some really good points, thanks. 
 
:D Before I ramble on:
 
PikiPiki_Overland_Blog 
 
" Take a look at an account's ratio of followers/post.  We are at 12.9 "
 
" Try following someone!  I absolutely detest some of these celebrity riders who have tens of thousands of followers yet follow less than 50 themselves!  &%$#@! do you think you are? " 
 
This is one thing that is quite important to me and tells so much about people. Social media is exactly what it says, Social, and by that it means to me follow others and try and engage on their post and be social, be part of the community of people.  Why else are they posting? It's to tell the world a bit about themselves. The prima donna posters who only has a hand full of people they follow I rather pass on them, surely it's not to much to spend a bit of time to follow others and comment on their post or at least just like it? Same goes for the celebs, I rather avoid them. 

 

There are a few people who get products to use and gather a huge following but does not follow others or engage and it just end up leaving me with a bit of spammy taste in the mouth. Then the brands who has thousands of followers but never engage with their customers, tells em a bit about their business attitude and mentality. There are so many normal people with cool pages I would rather follow than waste time on the me, myself and I :D

Not everybody is as skilled with photography and video to make Steven Spielberg clips and have brand catalogue type photos to show, but it is still interesting to see what they are up to. And to go dig a bit and find the ones with the cool trips that does not have internet all day to post but their stories are really cool. 
Many of the cool people we have met so far travelling was due to social media. 
 
I see many people still don't really understand the etiquette behind sharing photos. They think by posting a photo the rights are given away and it's a free for all and businesses to use to make money from. Sharing a photo is just part of being courteous and showing respect to the person who took the photo. I don't think people want to make money from it but it's just the recognition. The copy and paste sites like DualSportDelinquents and the one you mentioned are either oblivious on what they do or they don't give a damn.  Sites as WhyWeRide actually makes money of their movie. But then use normal people's photos to gain exposure so that they can make money and they never add credits to the people for it. Surely that's not fair?

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Edited by michnus
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