Recent interview of Luba Fateeva, social media and communications expert for Global Connection Expat Partner Support Network.

1. Copyright Global Connection | June 2018
Own Business
Social media studies
“When I was living as an
expat partner in Gabon,
West Africa, I discovered
that I had the time for a
lot of self-development
and study,” says Luba,
who worked in corporate
communications and
marketing management
for many years.
“That’s when I first started to get into Instagram. As a
communications professional, I am always interested in
better ways to engage with people and in expanding my
network for both personal and professional purposes. I
experimented with a lot of social media from Facebook and
Twitter to YouTube and Pinterest.”
More engaging
It didn’t take long for Luba to discover that Instagram
surpassed other platforms in terms of the engagement it
generated. “I never got the same amount of interactions on
Facebook, Twitter, etc, and research supports this finding.
Instagrammers are more responsive than users of other social
media platforms,” says Luba, who adds that there are many
misunderstandings regarding Instagram. “Talking to friends,
I realised many people didn’t really know what Instagram was
let alone how it can be utilised as a networking or marketing
tool. The most common understanding about Instagram is
that it’s something for kids.”
Workshop for beginners
“I was curious about these misunderstandings so I
organised a workshop. I had 15 people attend and they
all had a lot of questions,” says Luba, who recently spoke
to a women’s business group on how Instagram can be
used specifically as a business tool by entrepreneurs.
“Even photographers have to ‘learn’ how to use Instagram.
You can have all the amazing content in the world but if
you don’t know how to connect with your audience and
generate engagement, it’s all for nought.”
For business owners
“Of course it depends what you want to do, but,
in my point of view, for
entrepreneurs, Instagram is
an excellent visual, brand
representation platform. If your
posts are not getting much
traction, you can simply adjust
until you get some engagement
and recognise what people enjoy
seeing and respond to,” says
Luba. “What’s great for expat
partners who are entrepreneurs
is you can reach a global
audience wherever you might be
– even somewhere very remote,
like Gabon! With Instagram,
you are not restricted by
location or language.” 
A business with no
borders
17/08/2017
Articles, Own Business
In terms of personnel, Sanne
Meijboom’s online travel company
straddles four continents.
Meanwhile, the concept …
Through her expatriation and
subsequent repatriation, Luba
Fateeva has been exploring how
Instagram can be used as an
effective tool for networking and
marketing. Expat entrepreneurs
take note. TEXT CONNLA STOKES
Instagrammers
without borders
MORE ONLINE
GCM_02-2018_DEF.indd 30 21-05-18 20:51