Let’s talk about IG.
Now before you tune out and think to yourself that you spend hours on the platform and know everything there is to know – listen in.
I consider myself pretty Insta savvy – but I’d never used the platform the way I did for our latest launch. And it really blew my mind. So I want to share it with you.
Recently we launched our new and improved Marketing Mentor Program.
What used to be an intimate mastermind style membership, is now an action packed 5 day per week program that gives you access to me and my marketing agency team 5 days a week. And it’s a rolling enrollment instead of having a start and end date with a set group of people.
The reason we expanded is that we had an overwhelming response when people heard about it, but the exclusive nature meant that not everyone was able to join.
So when we decided to open it up – we did so via IG.
Now the MMP is a 12 month program that helps you confidently DIY your own marketing. You get direct video call access to my team via screen shares for whatever element of your marketing that you need.
So Facebook ads, Google ads, SEO, web development … you’ve got support. Practical, real time support.
Now to launch – we decided to run a FREE 5 day DIY Ads workshop.
Our agency is super transparent. We started as a super small team with just myself, my hubby and a VA and have grown to a team of 8. We remember the early days when the budget was super tight (or non-existent) and we LOVE helping people with practical, affordable strategies that WORK.
When we work with clients, we tell them exactly what we’re doing and why. A lot of agencies keep their secrets and that’s fine, but it never felt right to us, so we’re open with our clients.
So when we decided to run the ads workshop – it was exactly that. A no holes barred 5 day intensive, digging into the psychology and nitty gritty behind running a successful ad campaign.
Now To INSTAGRAM.
IG is a great platform that is super visual. It’s my fav platform by far to play on – and I’ve tried a lot of different things in terms of efficiency and productivity and results.
Your IG profile starts with your bio.
Your bio needs to be short and sweet and tell the people you want in your audience, exactly why they should follow you. It needs to be juicy and speak to the people you most want to speak to. So think about how you can do this. What do you want to tell them in just a few lines? What are the most important bits?
TIP – create this in the notes on your phone then copy and pasts so the formatting looks good!
OK now let’s talk about how to use the GRAM.
Before you can determine HOW to use it you need to figure out WHY you’re using it.
Remember the buyer journey I keep banging on about? Well – your content – all of it – not just on IG. Needs to lead people down the path to want to work with you. Now I say ‘needs’ and it doesn’t NEED to. Unless you want to have a business and make money. Then YES it NEEDS to lead people down the pathway.
So again – think back to what people need to know and think and believe about you in order to purchase your products or engage your services.
You don’t just need to mindlessly post – you shouldn’t be mindlessly posting. It’s only going to add to the noise of the internet.
We need to be strategic in our thinking and give our audience what they need in order to KNOW and LIKE and TRUST us.
That doesn’t mean you have to dish the dirt and tell people all about your private life. In fact, you can be SUPER private and still connect in a deep way with your audience.
It’s all about being transparent in the areas you CHOOSE to be transparent in.
Once you’ve decided, link it to the things people need to know and think and believe about you in order to buy.
For example – clients thinking about joining the Marketing Mentor Program need to know that I run a successful marketing agency that gets our clients awesome results. They need to know they’ll get a step by step practical guide. They also need to know that I’m honest and invested in helping them. They need to know I understand where they’re coming from. They need to think they can work with me – so they need to see a bit about who I am and how I work.
So this is what comes through in my content.
Info about who I’m working with and the results we’re getting. Info about life behind the scenes. Info about me doing the small business and family juggle. All things that walk people down the path to put them in a place where they know enough about me and what I do to decide if it’s something that would benefit them, or not.
And either way is fine. We can’t be afraid of people not wanting to work with us. I’m telling you right now – not everyone is going to want to work with you. Not everyone is going to want what you’re selling. Not everyone is going to like you. And that’s OK. I’ve said this before. It’s actually perfect. Because you’re not going to want to work with everyone either.
And we’re coming at it from a place of abundance. There are more people in the world right now that want what you have than you could possibly service. So let’s put ourselves out there strategically and methodically and authentically and consistently. And let everything else take care of itself.
OK so now let’s dig into what we’re doing at the moment on IG.
For daily use, we run stories, message people who follow us to get to know them, and then post feed posts 4 times per week. We also use hashtags that will get people who don’t know about what we do over on our profile.
For our launch – we also ran daily stories explaining the WHAT, WHY and RESULTS of joining. This was in photo format, in slideshow AND face to camera. A bit of everything to mix it up.
We also used the SOCIAL part of social media. And we personally invited as many of our followers to join our free 5 day event as possible, in the week leading up to the event. I think we messaged somewhere between 500 and 1000 of our followers. This led to some incredible connections.
The conversations we had after this invite were one of the best parts about the entire launch.
It deepened our connection with our audience, we got to understand where everyone was feeling in relation to the pandemic and their businesses.
People were so grateful for us offering the free workshop in a time when it was obviously so needed.
So I encourage you. Get social on social media. So many of us use it as a tool, and then mindlessly scroll. It’s not going to cut it.
If you want engagement – guess what – you need to engage! If you want likes and followers, then like and follow.
Now I’ve spoken about this before. We’re NOT just doing this as a numbers game. We want to build our business authentically and sustainably. We’re not just liking every account we see to get our follower account up. We’re thinking about who our ideal target market is YES, we’re thinking about who we want to work with YES. But we’re still selective, and authentic and real. We’re only connecting and engaging with accounts that align with what we’re doing, accounts we genuinely want to see more of, accounts we would love to work with.
Again – the abundance mindset allows us room to be selective. And this is your business, your baby. So be selective. The right people will come. You need to reach out, but they’ll reach back and you’ll see the fruit of the work if you’re authentic.
It comes back to the fact that building a sustainable business doesn;t happen overnight. If you’re serious about creating a business and a life you love – if you’re serious about your business supporting and flowing with your family and life, not the other way around – we don’t need to rush. We need to work, consistently, diligently, and it’s hard. But we don’t need to push and hustle and make compromises.
So think about IG – and all your content as a tool. As a method of attracting and engaging and connecting with the people you want connected to your business. Then think about what content they’d love – and would lead them to WANT to be working with you – and produce that.
Then get social. Connect. Actually talk to your audience. Yes it takes time, but it’s the best time investment you can make in your business, to understand who you;re servicing, and connect with them and build a loyal following – not just an ego booksting number on a screen.
A xx