My 3 lazy Instagram strategies (and why they work) | Ep 38

My 3 lazy Instagram strategies (and why they work) | Ep 38

From Behind the Stems by Ash Wheelhouse

March 7, 2026 · 20 min

About this episode

In this episode, Ash Wheelhouse shares three effective Instagram strategies that have helped him manage his time on social media more efficiently.

Okay, confession: I started a third Instagram account. I'm not proud of it. But it forced me to get really ruthless about how I'm spending my time on social media, and the three strategies I landed on are working well enough that I wanted to share them. In this episode I'm sharing exactly what I'm doing on Instagram in 2026. Trial reels — Instagram's tool for getting your content in front of people who don't already follow you. No ads required. I'm batching simple 7-second clips, slapping on a trending sound and a hook, and letting Instagram do the heavy lifting. It's a numbers game and it's working. Welcome messages — When someone hits follow, I send them a warm automated DM via ManyChat. Not salesy, not spammy, just a genuine hi. The unexpected perk? It reminds me there are real humans behind every follow and some of the conversations that spark from it are genuinely lovely. Turning your Instagram into a TV show — This is the big one. The creators growing fastest right now aren't treating Instagram like a content dump or a portfolio. They're running it like a series. There's even research showing people need to consume around 75 minutes of your content before they buy…

People in this episode

Host: Ash Wheelhouse

Topics covered

  • Instagram strategies
  • social media
  • content creation
  • entrepreneurship
  • automation

Keywords

  • Instagram
  • social media strategies
  • trial reels
  • automated DMs
  • content series

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: ManyChat

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