Update: I don’t do network marketing at all anymore. Leaving this up per request as a reference. You can find me in my new blog home, Run With Suzy.
You can work your party plan business on social media outside of Facebook. Let’s review how to do Instagram Parties in 2 different ways!
Side note: I’m longer formally associated with the brand I originally wrote this article for. Here’s why.
It wasn’t a bad breakup but I also can’t erase my association overnight, so here we are.
Strategy 1: close friends
You can hold Instagram parties using the close friends feature. You will manually add your hostess’ friends and delete them when the next group is booked.
A green circle around your Instagram profile picture will let your group know you’ve posted something. You’ll structure just like a party on any other platform- engage, make it fun, offer purposeful information alongside your product offerings.
This will feel much more natural and organic to those who “hang out” on Instagram- both for you, the rep, and the audience!
As a bonus, you are able to keep your normal account going with no interruption. Your regular audience won’t see the party content at all. It will be business as usual for the public!
IG Stories for the win
You can utilize stories throughout to collect information about the audience, hold games and giveaways, highlight their relationship with the hostess, survey what they want to see.
Stories are also ideal to show off products, progress or process still images for consumable items, and/or related customer testimonials.
If you have more than 10,000 connections or product tagging ability on Instagram, holding through the close friends feature is a great choice because it reduces the number of clicks one would take to shop with you.
That’s the goal for everyone, regardless of follower count. You need to simplify the experience and make it easy for people to get what they want during Instagram parties.
If you have a robust account with a lot of IGTV videos, this is a great option because of the ability to use clickable links in IGTV descriptions, explained more thoroughly in the video below.
Anyone with any number of followers can use swipe up for IGTV (and create a clickable link in the description!) so you can use past evergreen content for those who want to go deep on the products you’re presenting.
Now, all that great content from the past is serving you again!
Who is the close friends strategy best for?
This is a great option if you or your hostess primarily hang out on Instagram. It’s also great for a hostess who has a split network- some of her friends are on Facebook but many have migrated to Instagram.
You can hold your traditional Facebook party and highlight things in close friends for the Instagrammers without the time commitment of a separate Instagram account.
When you select this option, you may even consider putting a few product posts out there in the feed- just let your general network know you are hosting a party for someone (“hey guys- I’m hosting a party on close friends in stories for Jane but you’ll see some things on my regular feed, too. Heads up & don’t worry- my account isn’t becoming a commercial!”).
They can skip over it but sometimes it intrigues them to want to host!
Final tips for Close Friends Instagram parties
1. Involve the hostess! If she is willing to record videos for you (reviews, personal journey with brand, etc), let her.
2. Use a third party tool to create an easy on the eye, one stop shop for the specific products you’ll be featuring
3. Integrate a good theme when possible
4. Reuse content as much as possible (ie, copy from previous feed posts, IGTV reviews for swipe up) to make duplicatable.
5. Confirm the participants understand what is happening.
While everyone knows the drill on Facebook parties, the Instagram format will be new to many. Explain what they should expect, where to find information, and how to use the features of the platform as a participant (poll or question stickers, IGTV, etc)
Strategy 2: dedicated IG account
Create a second private Instagram account, which offers intimacy to the hostess and her network. This also gives you the ability to run promotions since many policies and procedures do not allow advertising public discounts.
Select a name that won’t be confusing when people tag your main account but is obvious enough to make the connection (ie, “party.runlift.mom” not “runlift.mom.party”).
Descriptions to consider instead of party if you go this route: workshop, pop-up, trunk show. Like it or not, “party” has a bad connotation in certain circles because of spammy direct sellers.
From there, think of the party account as a room. You’ll bring a specific group of people “in” to party using all 4 neighborhoods of Instagram:
Feed: use carousel photos (up to 10 in a single post) to showcase lines with multiple colors, styles, or scents
IGTV: this is great for product reviews, as video increases the know/like/trust factor. Note anything over :60 will show in both your feed and IGTV channel
Stories: most Instagram users engage more in stories, so use features like polls, questions, or quizzes to involve the hostess and do games or giveaways. You can also use the swipe up feature for your IGTV reviews with no minimum followers
Live: this is a great way to answer in the moment questions or show a united front with your hostess- schedule beforehand, then bring her into your live, split screen style
Beyond the party, you will delete the participants and funnel them to your main Instagram account which is easy to do with the sticker function in stories or tagging feature in the feed.
Delete each time- this is an exclusive account for small private audiences over a specific time period. You should not be concerned with follower count here- change your mindset. The intimacy is the benefit.
If you have a down week where nothing is booked, you can invite your regular audience in for exclusive flash sales or sample sales.
Who is the dedicated account strategy for?
This is a great option for someone who has the bandwidth for two accounts, prefers the structure of a traditional online party, is handicapped in public posts by a strenuous policies and procedures, or has an overarching personal brand that doesn’t go deep with their direct sales brand.
Final tips for dedicated account Instagram parties
1. Involve the hostess! If she is willing to record videos for you (reviews, personal journey with brand, etc), let her.
2. Use a third party tool like Milkshaek, Link in Bio, or Linktree to create an easy on the eye, one stop shop for the specific products you’ll be featuring as the link in your bio
3. Integrate a good theme when possible
4. Reuse content as much as possible (ie, copy from previous feed posts, IGTV reviews for swipe up) to make duplicatable.
Confirm the participants understand what is happening. Similar to the close friends strategy, the Instagram parties for ZYIA Active format will be new to many.
Explain what they should expect, where to find information, and how to use the features of the platform as a participant (poll or question stickers, IGTV, etc).
Don’t forget to tell them from the beginning you’ll be emptying out the account at the end- this is a nice opportunity to book future hostesses. Make sure you ask participants to follow you to your main account by tagging it in as many places as possible.
Let’s Chat!
I’d love to connect with you on my podcast or over on Instagram. Let’s hang out!
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