March 13, 2021 — Saturday
For those new to this website:
Tamara Rubin is a multiple-federal-award-winning independent advocate for childhood Lead poisoning prevention and consumer goods safety, and a documentary filmmaker. She is also a mother of Lead-poisoned children (two of her sons were acutely Lead-poisoned in 2005). Since 2009, Tamara has been using XRF technology (a scientific method used by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission) to test consumer goods for toxicants (specifically heavy metals — including Lead, Cadmium, Mercury, Antimony, and Arsenic). Tamara’s work was featured in Consumer Reports Magazine in February of 2023 (March 2023 print edition).
“Why are you doing #GiveAways @LeadSafeMama on Instagram?”
I’ve recently noticed that Facebook — which used to be my primary tool for reaching families with information and resources to protect their children from being exposed to Lead in their homes, schools and environment — has shifted to nearly 100% “pay-to-play”!
Even though Lead Safe Mama has (as of this moment) 38,491 Facebook “Followers” and 31,841 Facebook “Likes“, posts on Facebook only are typically served (on average) to about 1% of those people (about 380 people — and sometimes fewer — see example below), unless we pay for people to see those posts(!) So even though readers have chosen to “Follow” and “Like” the page, and have chosen to see what we write and share – they are not getting the information they subscribe to(!) [Continue reading below the images.]
Moving to Instagram to reach more parents
While we do occasionally pay to promote a post on Facebook (usually to share about a free public Lead Safe Mama event or to share about the geographically-narrower focused Lead Safe Mama groups, like “India Lead Safe Mamas” or “Colorado Lead Safe Mamas”), the cost of promoting posts does not pay for itself (as it is, we spend $1,000 – $2,000+ per year promoting posts on Facebook)!
And while I do understand that Instagram is (currently) owned by Facebook – we are not seeing the covert reach throttling there that we otherwise see on Facebook. Since we started posting more actively on Instagram we have been reaching countless new families – families contacting us with more e-mail and private message questions (as well as questions in the comments on posts) than I can keep track of every single day! [This is a good sign — as it demonstrates we are engaging new people in the conversation for childhood Lead-poisoning prevention. I also am holding out hope for an eventual split of Instagram and Facebook – so, while we wait for that to happen, it seemed like a worthwhile pursuit to work on building the Lead Safe Mama presence on Instagram, in spite of its current ownership by Facebook.
Teaching an old dog new tricks
At 51 years old, it is a bit of a stretch for me to be learning the ins and outs of this new-to-me social media platform of Instagram (especially given how comfortable I am at this point within the Facebook paradigm, which is quite different!). We’ve been doing pretty well though – with over 1,000 new followers joining us there each month for the past two months!
Short Term Goals
We have a short-term goal of reaching 10,000 Instagram followers. If things keep going at the current rate (about 1,000 a month) we would likely be at 15,000 followers by the end of the 2021 calendar year, but I am putting a “stretch goal” out there of getting to 20,000 Lead Safe Mama Instagram followers by the end of 2021.
The purpose of reaching this goal is not to achieve a measure of “popularity”, but rather to spread the word about childhood Lead-poisoning (and – as an introductory conversation starter – the prevalence of Lead in consumer goods). The overarching goal is to inspire more people to look at where Lead might be lurking in their homes — and to also hopefully inspire them to test themselves and test their children.
With the simplified nature of Instagram (compared to other platforms), it seems that people actually see more of the posts in their feed and that they engage more with them there — which means that they are more likely to see something we publish (along with the related XRF Lead test results) that resonates with them personally.
Long Term Goals
In order to engage more people in the cause, one of our Instagram goals is to get as many posts up as possible (in the spirit of the quote from a favorite Kevin Costner movie… “If you build it, they will come”). To this end, on March 6th I posted that a goal is for us to “Keep Up With The Kardashians” — by setting an ambitious target of having as many posts as Kim! Interestingly enough, as Kim Kardashian and her sisters are young mothers, they are exactly the target audience for the Lead Safe Mama message AND her followers are exactly who we reach on Instagram! [In fact, 95.6% of Lead Safe Mama Instagram followers are women between the ages of 25 and 44 — mostly young mothers!]
Since this post (on March 6th – now just a week later), there are now already 538 posts on Lead Safe Mama’s Instagram – so it is actually possible that we could meet this goal (of 5,434 Instagram posts, to “keep up” with Kim!) by the end of the 2021!
So, dude – what’s this Instagram #GiveAway you are doing?
While we have a bit of control over how many posts we share (and – for example – if we share 10 each day in a 365 day year we end up with 3,650 new posts!), we don’t have as much control over how many new followers we have (how many people we reach) through this account. One way to engage new people in the conversation via Instagram is to do #GiveAways! If you do #GiveAways for Lead-free products (emphasizing the nature of these products as being safer choices, from a toxicant perspective), the new Followers you get (because they are interested in these specific #Giveaways) are – by default – exactly who you want to reach with the message! So product #GiveAways are actually a sneaky way to get new people engaged in the Lead-poisoning prevention conversation!
When we reached 4,000 Instagram followers we gave away this set of four dishes to one Lead Safe Mama Instagram follower chosen at random:
When we reached 5,000 Instagram followers we gave away this set of 18 dishes (service for six) to one Lead Safe Mama Instagram follower chosen at random:
So this brings us to today!
Lead Safe Mama just reached 5,000 Instagram followers this past week, and decided it’s time to “up our game” and accelerate the engagement of our followers – with a short-term goal of reaching 10,000 followers ASAP. One benefit of reaching 10,000 followers on Instagram is that you can include links on Instagram stories – and links will direct people here to the Lead Safe Mama website, where they can learn more and “go down the rabbit hole” — exploring, and expanding their knowledge about Lead in our environment.
Since “Which pots & pans are the safest choice?” is one of the most common questions on my website, I had the idea to up our game on the Instagram #GiveAways — by giving away two premium pots and pans from one of my favorite companies manufacturing safer choices today (a stainless skillet and an iron skillet)! I asked the company if they would donate product for the next several #GiveAways (with one #GiveAway happening at each next thousand follower milestone) and they said “YES” — this is so exciting!
So.. here’s what you have to do to be entered for a chance to win and here’s what you could win…
To enter for a chance to win, all you have to do is Follow @LeadSafeMama on Instagram. One lucky Follower will be chosen at each announced milestone (6,000 Followers, 7,000 Followers and so on – up to 10,000 Followers) to win a set of heirloom-quality pans from SOLIDTEKNICS.
The prize is a SOLIDTEKNICS ’10” Duo Workhorse Pack’, consisting of one 10″ Quenched US-ION Skillet (value approx. $89.00) and one 10″ Nöni Stainless Steel Skillet (value approx. $149).
I have tested one of each of these style pans and reported them here on the site.
- Click here to see the XRF test results for the SOLIDTEKNICS stainless pan
- Click here to see the XRF test results for the SOLIDTEKNICS iron pan
Now all that’s left for you to do to be entered for a chance to win this set of pans as a prize is Follow @LeadSafeMama on Instagram! The next milestone that will mark when we choose the next winner will be 6,000 Followers. Invite your friends to Follow us there too! While SOLIDTEKNICS is donating the prizes for this #GiveAway it is not sponsored or backed in any other way.
If you win:
- You will be contacted by Instagram messenger to let you know that you have won.
- You will need to respond within 24 hours with your shipping address for the prize.
- If you are offered a choice of prizes for any #GiveAway you will have 24 hours (from the time you are notified that you won) to choose which prize you select and to provide us with your shipping address.
- If we don’t hear from you with your shipping address (and if relevant, your prize selection) within 24 hours will will choose another winner (at random) for that prize.
- The prize will be shipped directly to the address you specify. You may gift the prize to a friend or family member and have us ship it to them, but we would need that address within 24 hours of us notifying you that you have won, or another prize winner will be chosen.
- You may also opt to donate your prize to an organization or to individual in need (of your choosing) and – in that case – we would also need the shipping and contact information for that organization or individual within 24 hours – or another prize winner will be chosen.
- We will be sharing the winner’s names in an Instagram post after they have confirmed they want the prize / have gotten us their shipping address.
Thanks for joining us! And thank you so much to SOLIDTEKNICS for donating these prizes and helping us get more parents engaged in the Lead-poisoning prevention conversation. You can see more pictures of the pans “in action” below!
Tamara Rubin
#LeadSafeMama
Amazon links are affiliate links. If you purchase something after clicking on one of my links I may receive a small percentage of what you spend at no extra cost to you.
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