This week on The Dare to Grow Show I’m answering YOUR Instagram questions!
It’s almost Q4 which means I just sent out my audience survey and received a bunch of Instagram questions, so that’s what we’re going through today.
I’ve got answers for:
✓ Getting more engagement
✓ What info to give away for free vs paid
✓ How to show up on Instagram as an introvert
✓ What to put in your bio link
✓ How to ask for a collab without being awkward
and more!
Thanks in advance if you sent me questions!
If you’ve got more Q’s leave a comment or send me a DM @xosarahmorgan because I might just answer your question next time!
Resources + links
Instagram Caption Guide: xosarah.com/igcaptions
Instagram Workflow Training: xosarah.com/igworkflow
The whole shebang – my Grow Your ‘Gram course
How many links in bio and should this be a page on my site?
Creating a page on your site gives you more control over the design and what what you’re adding, but linktr.ee is a good option for buttons and the Milkshake app creates cards/slides that are a little more fancy.
If you use an app for your link page, make sure to include a button that takes visitors to the full site.
I like to include 3-5 links including links I’ve recently mentioned, a link to my podcast, and links to my most recent blog posts. Since this is built on my site the blog posts auto-populate and I switch up the rest of the links a few times per month depending on what I’m promoting.
If I’m running open enrollment, I switch from my link page to the link for the coaching program while the cart is open. When it’s important, less clicks and less searching is better!
How do you make content that hasn’t changed in hundreds of years new and exciting?
One of my Dare to Grow students Jessica (@theuniquebead) is a fantastic example of this. She is teaching sewing and pattern making techniques from a historic guide – you don’t get more changeless than that!
She’s adding her own spin with fabric dying techniques and beading from her Native American heritage. And she’s a cool rocker chick with tattoos which helps her stand out from the crowd who often show up in period costumes.
Here’s how you can do the same:
- Share how you + your clients and customers do it
- Share your own personal take on it – you opinions, your experiences
- Remember – even if you and lots of other people have been doing something forever, for some people it is brand new. Your enthusiasm for it will make it new and exciting for them.
How do I increase my engagement?
The simple answer: Post more content, post more valuable content, engage with every single person that comments or DMs you, and comment on other people’s posts.
You need to show up consistently before your audience will. If you’re posting multiple times/week and not seeing much of a response look at your posts…
- Are they providing value, inspiration, entertainment?
- Are the images eye-catching?
- Are you including a headline?
- Are you asking your audience to comment with something specific?
Have you collaborated with others? How did you get to know them, grow the trust in the working relationship, and develop the end product together?
I don’t usually collaborate on projects and creating things with someone else, but I have connected with people to host workshops, speak at summits, and create joint promotions.
I also get a lot of really bad attempts at connecting. Usually it’s a question like, “How long have you been a business coach??” and then I tell them 6 years and they disappear. Or we connect on something more personal, maybe they comment on one of my stories, and we end up in a loop of weird small talk.
How to connect without being awkward…
Be clear about why you want to connect. Do you want to hire them? Do you want them to hire you? Do you want to collaborate on a project? Interview them on your podcast?
If you want to collaborate or do something where they will be promoting to their audience make sure your audiences are of similar size or go in with a great reason that will benefit THEM.
This doesn’t mean you can’t go for the big fish, but figure out what will benefit them, not just yourself.
Comment on their posts, respond to stories, share their posts, show up enough so they get to know you and remember who you are.
This will take a week or two, THEN you can DM them to talk about collaboration.
Have a specific idea in mind – don’t just say “Hey we should do something together” or ask unrelated questions about their business. Get to the point, ask for what you want, tell them why it would benefit them.
How do you figure out what content to give away for free without harming the value of your paid content?
One rule of thumb is to give away the what + why and sell the how.
Why you need to be using Instagram stories
Which types of content to share on IG
And then sell the how – how to write captions, how to take photos, how to create videos.
But I’ve found that giving my audience a bit of the how here and there gives them a win and helps to build a stronger connection.
You see this all the time in my Instagram posts and my podcast. I’m giving you lots of instruction in this episode, things that you’ll find in greater detail in my Grow Your ‘Gram Instagram course that would take 3 hours to explain on a podcast episode.
I also share the how because I know not everyone is in a position to invest yet and I want to offer a little leg up. If you get people started, teach them something simple, it builds the trust needed for them to invest.
The other thing to remember – most people are paying for a product to save time and money and you can connect those to any niche.
Even if you’ve shared all the pieces of the puzzle on your Instagram, podcast, videos, blog, people are still missing the instructions.
Your paid product takes all the pieces, puts them in order, and tells your audience how to assemble everything. Which saves them time and money.
This is why I recommend you teach, share, sell…
- Teach a little something to get them going
- Share why it’s important and why you are the person to listen to
- And then sell your product or service
Do it on repeat, every week.
How can I build an audience of potential buyers (as opposed to freebie seekers) using Instagram and email marketing?
Make your freebie very specific. Everyone wants a gift card for Target, but only some people want a gift card for Sephora.
I’m not going to create a freebie called “How to gain thousands of followers on Instagram” I’m going to create freebies around the things I know stop my audience from growing their instagram: writing captions, feeling confident on video, posting consistently. Those will attract the right people for my courses and people who are looking to solve a specific problem.
This way freebie seekers turn into buyers because they’ve gotten value from what you shared.
Don’t forget to add a product pitch somewhere in your freebie or your emails as well. If you just send the freebie and don’t follow up they’re definitely not going to buy!
How do I use Instagram effectively as an introvert?
If you didn’t already know, I’m a massive introvert. I have lots of boundaries to protect my energy especially around Instagram and going live.
To save your energy, schedule your posts in advance – pick one day a week to create content and set them to auto-post so you don’t have to do anything but show up and engage with your audience. (Watch my free training to see how I do this)
Be conscious of how you’re spending your time on Instagram. I try to not scroll during work hours and I check in to respond to comments and DMs once in the morning and once at the end of the day.
Do the same with video – plan it in advance, sit down to record once/day or once/week and then show up to engage, not to scroll.
Have more questions?? Send me a DM over on Instagram and I’ll them to my list for the next Q+A episode!
