Does Garyvee's $1.80 Strategy Work In 2023?

Gary's $1.80 Strategy is based on putting in your $0.02 on 90 posts per day. The strategy utilizes ten trending hashtags in a specific area to establish an Instagram community. He searches hashtags and comments on the top nine postings.

Gary first published the $1.80 strategy in a 2017 blog post titled “The $1.80 Instagram Strategy To Grow Your Business or Brand”. Since then, it has been a popular strategy for expanding your Instagram or Twitter following for up-and-coming brands.

How do you do the $1.80 strategy?

The idea of this social media strategy is to offer value or engage with people in a meaningful way, with the goal of eventually turning them into a customer or collaborators.

Here is how to do it:

  1. Identify your audience
    Who are you trying to reach with your marketing efforts? Determine the demographics and interests of your ideal customer or collaborator.
  2. Find trending hashtag
    Use Twitter or Instagram to identify trending hashtags your target audience would be active in using or engaging with. Click "Top" or "Latest" to see popular or new posts using the hashtag. Share your two cents in the comments section of the posts.
  3. Leave your $0.02
    Rather than posting a generic comment, take the time to personalize your responses. Mention something specific about the post. For example, explain what you like, don’t like, agree with, or don’t agree with.

The more value you add, the better. Garyvee often emphasizes to aim of writing comments that deliver value. By doing so, your engagements will spike, and when your number of engagements reaches a significant value, you will have genuine people following you in no time.

Does the follow/unfollow method still work?

The "follow/unfollow" method is an old social media strategy that involves following a large number of users in the hope that they will follow you back and then unfollow those who don't follow you within a certain time frame.

This method used to be a popular way to build a following on platforms like Instagram and Twitter. The strategy is not effective anymore because even if you do gain some followers, they are not coming from engaged followers. Some may stick around, but many will never engage with your content or even unfollow you if you post content they're not interested in.

Today, the follow/unfollow method is generally considered to be an ineffective and potentially spammy way to grow a following on social media. In addition, if you attempt to mass unfollow people on Twitter or Instagram, you risk setting warning bells off, and your account getting restricted or even banned.

It's better to focus on creating high-quality content, engaging with your audience, and building genuine relationships with other users, which in essence, is what Gary’s $1.80 strategy is all about.

In conclusion

It is important to remember that when you engage with people, they will engage with you, too. This is one of the vital foundations of the Garyvee $1.80 strategy.

Learn more by watching the clip below from our show Good Morning Marketers, as we talk about Garyvee’s $1.80 strategy.

Clips from Good Morning Marketers Episode 18