Sometimes you just want five questions with someone. Five questions to delve into a topic they’re an expert on, to go deeper into something you’ve been wondering about, to learn more about a certain facet of a person that intrigues you. Five questions as a portal into another world, learning through five question osmosis. Or at least, I’m someone who wants that.

It all started with my beautiful friend Aliya who we’re going to be talking to today. She is somewhat of an Instagram guru. She’s built a career out of Instagram and influencer marketing with her company Hello, Digital! and her personal page, @favegreysweatshirt. What with Instagram being a large part of our social lives these days and with a blog I’d like to learn how to promote better, I thought I’d get her take on the platform — from how to best take advantage of it to where she thinks it’s headed in the future. And that’s exactly what I did, so without further ado, let’s dive into Aliya’s Instagram world..

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My Instagram philosophy says – notice the beauty, be honest, be individual, be yourself, and also Instagram for me is a photo album of my travels and visions of life during a certain period of time.

Every year it becomes increasingly difficult to increase the number of followers on Instagram. My advice is to choose the purpose of your page, learn how to create beautiful and cool content that broadcasts your personality, and of course, there is magic targeted advertising! Instagram does everything to make money with ads, and in the future, it will be harder to promote yourself. So if you want to do it, you should start now.

It seems to me that now there is no separation between virtual and real life, and Instagram became a continuation of our reality. Of course, we want to show the good sides of our life and focus on the positive, because there is a lot of negative energy in the world! So I think why not send positive energy out into social networks? This is also sincerity! I also try not to envy other people because everyone has their own difficulties. And of course, from time to time, everyone needs a digital detox. If you need to stay quiet for several days, you have to allow yourself to do it, and then usually after this period, a wave of inspiration comes. I always allow myself to stay silent if I feel the need to do it. As with everything, finding the balance is important.

I think that in the next five years the influence of Instagram will only grow. The main upcoming trend is video content. I think that Instagram will gradually become an analog of Youtube.

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Thanks, Aliya!

Tell me what you think — do you like this new series? What topic do you want five questions on?

*All photos are from Aliya’s Instagram page: @favegreysweatshirt.