0:08

Rachael Botfield: Hi, and welcome to podcasting one on one with Rachel.

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This podcast is for busy female entrepreneurs who run their own

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businesses and want to start a podcast or who may already have a podcast.

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I want to share practical information and tips on how you can get your podcast

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started and managing it along the way.

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I'll also be interviewing other female podcast hosts to give you real insight.

0:43

Hi, and welcome to the episode today, we're going to be talking about

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how to make an impact on Instagram.

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I'm joined by Jenny French, Instagram trainer and self confessed Insta geek.

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We are going to cover the first steps you can take and what

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type of content works well. Welcome Jenny.

1:01

Hi, Rachel. Thank you very much for having me.

1:04

I'm really excited to dive into all things Instagram today.

1:08

So first question, I just wanted to know a little bit more, let everybody

1:12

know a little bit more about you. So why Instagram?

1:15

What made you decide to niche into Instagram?

1:21

Oh, great question. Jenny French: So yeah, I qualified as a social media strategist.

1:26

A few years ago now, so my business is five years old and I was doing

1:29

four platforms, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram, and I just

1:36

decided that I needed to niche down.

1:39

Um, I did an exercise actually. Um, on profitability and it showed that I wasn't making enough profit

1:46

and that my time was my biggest suck.

1:50

So how could I reduce my time was by reducing the amount of bespoke

1:54

resources that I was producing. So to niche down into one.

1:58

Saved loads of time. So I had a discussion and I decided to pick my favorite baby

2:05

and pick my favorite platform. And it was where the most creative as businesses were, uh, they were

2:13

the clients that I was enjoying working with the most were, Instagram

2:18

was their majority platform. So I decided to just go for it, but I was terrified, Rachel.

2:24

Uh, I thought I was going to lose all my clients cause I was training on multiple

2:28

platforms with my clients at the time, which I did continue to do for some time.

2:33

But all the new clients were Instagram only.

2:36

And I thought I wasn't getting any new clients, but it was the exact opposite.

2:40

The moment that I actually announced I was going Instagram only, I had an

2:46

influx of requests and bookings, which was fantastic because I think when

2:53

you become known for something, um, it becomes easier for people to decide

2:57

to work with you on that one thing.

3:00

I mean, I used to say to the clients, like, They were my followers and

3:03

things like, you could have had just Instagram only on its own.

3:06

They were like, Oh, we thought you'd make us do others, you

3:10

know, do other platforms, which obviously wasn't the case, but

3:14

yeah, that's why I chose Instagram. It was my favorite platform.

3:17

Um, and it was where the businesses I enjoyed working

3:22

Rachael Botfield: with, um, were hanging out. I love that you have niched, uh, down into just Instagram.

3:28

And like you said, it makes it so much easier for people to, to find

3:31

you and know exactly what you are known for and picking the one that

3:36

you got the most joy out of and where you knew that people were creative.

3:40

Cause I definitely think that Instagram is that. creative platform.

3:43

That's always what it was pioneered for originally, especially with

3:47

all the pictures, the lovely pictures of food and all those

3:50

kinds of things where it started. Jenny French: Well, it did start as a photo sharing app, you know,

3:55

and then only recently has the explosion of video happened on here.

4:02

But you don't have to be a creative business to be on Instagram.

4:07

You can be a more traditional professional services on Instagram.

4:12

You just need to use it creatively and you need a visual to go

4:17

with what your messaging is. So if you can find a way to do that, then Instagram could be a platform for

4:24

you if your ideal audience is here.

4:27

And that's the key. Your audience has to be here.

4:31

In order for you to put the time, effort Rachael Botfield: and energy into it.

4:34

Absolutely. That's one thing when considering where you're going to be promoting

4:40

your business and your podcast, whether you are multiple platforms or whether

4:44

you have picked one, picking the one where your ideal clients hang out.

4:48

Um, for me personally, I, um, focus on LinkedIn, but I know lots of people focus

4:53

their efforts into Instagram as well.

4:56

And that is. The primary reason why I wanted to get you on here to share your expertise.

5:00

And for those of you that are listening, that your ideal listeners, your ideal

5:04

clients are hanging out on Instagram, and you want to know how you can make

5:08

more of an impact with your marketing.

5:11

So firstly, um, like we mentioned earlier, I'd love for you to tell us

5:16

the first steps you can take to kind of getting going with Instagram or

5:21

refreshing your profile, if you've been there for a while already.

5:25

Jenny French: Yeah, I think you've hit the nail on the head there. This comes down to your profile.

5:30

When somebody visits your profile, you've got seven seconds to make

5:35

an impact, and they will decide either to follow you or not.

5:41

Don't be scared about the knot. Yeah, that's true.

5:45

But the only time I would say be scared of the knot if, is if your profile and

5:49

your content looks like a dog's dinner. You probably need a little bit of work.

5:54

But if they're following you because They don't like what you do or what

5:59

you sell, or they don't like the type of content you're producing.

6:03

They're not your ideal audience, so it's okay for them to bounce out.

6:07

People often say to me, oh, but I want everybody who visits to follow me.

6:11

You actually don't. You actually just want the people who are interested in you, your

6:16

services, what you sell, to follow you. They're your ideals.

6:20

That's what we're after. We're not after the tire kickers who may give you a follow but

6:24

never engage with anything. You want people who are going to be genuinely interested in what you do.

6:30

So how do you do that?

6:32

Well, so you've only got this seven seconds to grab us.

6:36

So you need to be super clear in this profile section exactly what

6:41

you do and how you can help people.

6:44

So you need to have a clear profile image.

6:46

And if you are a. business owner. You are a one man or a one lady band.

6:51

Then have a photograph of you because it helps us to connect

6:56

with you, the business owner. I love to see a name in the name field.

7:02

So obviously Jenny or Rachel, and then What you do, because that

7:08

name field is keyword searchable.

7:12

So if you want to be discovered and somebody is looking for a dog trainer

7:15

in Manchester, if you have dog trainer Manchester in your name field, that is

7:23

the bold section on your name field.

7:26

Um, Instagram profiles. So when you're looking at your Instagram profiles, look at the bold bit.

7:30

So for me, I've got Jenny French.

7:33

I've got Instagram trainer and reels coach.

7:36

Have what you do in that name field to make you more discoverable,

7:40

um, and be found more likely.

7:43

So we've got a clear profile image. We've got a really clear name field of what you do, and then in the bio, that's

7:50

the section of writing underneath the name field, you want to make sure in

7:55

that 150 characters that you're telling us what you do or sell, who you are,

8:01

and show us a little bit of personality.

8:04

That would help Make you want to follow you.

8:08

Keep your sentences short rather than, you know, really long paragraph.

8:16

Well, you can't do it too long. It's only 150 characters, but you know, you don't, we are skimmers

8:22

here on Instagram and you want to make sure that it's easily skimmable.

8:28

So very short sentences. And I suggest putting bullet points for these.

8:32

You've got four lines that are visible on the mobile.

8:36

App, you've got five on the desktop version before it truncates.

8:41

So you get these dot, dot, dots, and then you can tap on that

8:44

to open up to see more lines. But ideally, try and keep it to the top four lines about everything

8:50

that you are, you do, how you help people, how you can buy from you.

8:56

Keep it. In that full top four lines and it helps by using emojis down the side

9:03

to relevant emojis to your business or maybe they are a color that your

9:09

brand is, you know, represented by.

9:13

And it just makes it much more easily skimmable.

9:15

There's actually a whole entire science of emojis, would you believe?

9:20

Oh wow, that's interesting. Yeah, yeah, about how in text they help to anchor your eye, help it skim more.

9:28

And without even knowing it, those images, are subconscious references

9:34

about what you might be talking about. So they're useful to, to use if relevant, or if not, just use

9:41

sort of a bullet point type. Rachael Botfield: Yeah, little arrow or finger

9:45

Jenny French: point Rachael Botfield: or something Jenny French: like that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

9:48

So if there's not, you know, like if you're a landscape gardener, you could have different plants down the side, you know.

9:54

You know, you can use them relative to your, um, industry.

10:00

And then you've got, now this doesn't really make an impact as such, but if

10:06

somebody likes what they see, they want to check you out more probably after

10:11

they've followed you, you know, you've got this seven seconds, they've decided that.

10:15

Yeah, they're interested. They've looked at your profile and they've scrolled up and down

10:19

the first section of your content.

10:22

They may even have clicked into some of that top content.

10:25

For example, the top three. are often highly clickable posts.

10:31

So on those top three, you actually want to include some

10:36

really good content at the top. There are ways that people can work with you, perhaps maybe ways to sign up for

10:43

your newsletter, what you're going to get in your newsletter, any free lead magnets.

10:47

That you've got at the top, maybe a, a personality post about you so we can get

10:53

to know you, but you want to, if they're interested, have a, a suitable link that

10:59

they can go and check more information.

11:03

So we now have the option to have five clickable links

11:08

in that link in bio section.

11:11

It only ever used to be one. Um, so this is a brilliant addition.

11:16

So things that you want to put in there. On your website, your podcast link, you could even link to the latest episode

11:25

If people, 'cause people are truly lazy here, like on all social media platforms,

11:30

we want it handed to us on a plate.

11:33

If we have to go and click in and then search for something, we're gone.

11:37

Yeah, absolutely. We are lazy toads, so we need to.

11:43

Give them everything that, you know, at hand.

11:47

So if you want to put your latest podcast episode, um, there that you're, you know,

11:52

you're trying to promote, then put that there along with the general podcast link.

11:57

Cause they might want to go binge more. Your freebie, your lead magnets, your latest blog, maybe

12:03

sign up to your newsletter. So ways that they can.

12:07

Delve deeper if they really liked what they saw.

12:10

So those five links in your bio, although it's not impactful, it

12:14

makes a big difference to you. If you're getting web traffic from those links in your bio.

12:21

And as I mentioned, the. Top three posts are most clicked upon when you've got just seven seconds to,

12:30

you know, have a quick look at something.

12:32

So make them really good posts at the top and there's this pin function.

12:36

I was Rachael Botfield: just going to ask that about, um, pinning those

12:39

posts to the top of your grid. So you've got those, those ones there, those will be the

12:44

ones that people click on. Jenny French: Yeah.

12:46

Yeah. And by the act of pinning them, keeps them there.

12:49

So as you produce new content, it just sits below those top up to three.

12:54

You don't have to have three. You've got the option to pin up to three on the top of your

12:59

grid, on the top of your profile.

13:02

And, and maybe we should talk about whether you should have your own

13:08

account for your podcast, or should it be part of your business podcast?

13:14

So for me. If your podcast is about your business, then it should be a

13:21

part of your overall offering.

13:24

However, if you are a VA that has a passion for fishing and your

13:29

podcast is about fishing, yeah, then you would have a problem.

13:34

Your own, you know, separate accounts about your fishing podcast, which you may

13:39

talk about your obsession in, uh, maybe an about me post, um, and, you know,

13:47

you could then mention that they can go and listen to a podcast about fishing.

13:50

I don't know why I picked fishing. But there you go.

13:53

No, Rachael Botfield: but it's a good, it's a good point though,

13:56

because it was one that I'd. Cause when I first started, um, my first podcast was about virtual assistants and

14:03

I was a VA and I actually had a separate, I had my profile and then I had a separate

14:08

one for the Virtually Inspiring podcast. And I found it very difficult to kind of keep up with, obviously I wanted

14:15

to post on the Virtually Inspiring, but I had more people following me.

14:20

On my pro and so it was like, Oh, I'm transferring all these and it's like,

14:24

am I doubling up on content then and then possibly share the same thing?

14:28

And if the same people are following the podcast as you, they're then getting

14:32

double the amount of same content.

14:34

So, um, I think that's a really good, um, point to make is actually make it,

14:40

you know, and, and here we are talking about podcasts for your business,

14:44

having it all on the one profile. It, it doesn't make a lot more sense to do it that way.

14:48

Thank you. Yeah, Jenny French: absolutely.

14:51

And I think I like to think of it as it's like a service, you know, it's

14:56

one of your services that you offer.

14:59

It's a way for people to connect with you more.

15:02

So you promote it like you would promote a service.

15:06

So, you know, Pick a, like for me, I've got like an Instagram audit, for example.

15:11

I promote that service. I also need to promote my podcast.

15:16

Treat it like a service where you talk about it often in lots of different

15:22

places across Instagram, because there's lots of different placement areas.

15:25

Because some people don't always just come to the grid.

15:28

Some people just watch Instagram stories now.

15:31

So you need to be talking about your podcast.

15:34

In all the different placement areas.

15:37

Um, so yeah, promote it like you would promote it as a service of your business.

15:44

Rachael Botfield: Yeah, it's, um, I think sometimes we get caught up

15:48

in how much should I promote it?

15:50

Like how many posts should I be doing? How many, I'm obviously like you said, there's different ways.

15:55

There's a grid, there's reels, there's stories. So in what ways and how many ways should I be promoting them?

16:01

I mean, there is that stat, and I've said this, I think I said this a lot,

16:04

but, um, That, uh, only something like 4 percent of your audience sees

16:09

your posts, you know, at one time.

16:12

So you'll think, or something, quite a low percentage.

16:15

So actually Yeah, a small percentage.

16:17

When you think that you're being too repetitive and too many posts about

16:21

it, actually, perhaps it's not enough because you've done the one post and

16:25

actually Not many people have seen it.

16:27

So therefore you can use it again or repost it and things like that.

16:31

So I'd love to know then like what type of content works well and where like you

16:38

said, because it's the three different. I want the DMs, I suppose that could be, you know, if you're having

16:42

conversation, would that be clusters? I suppose that's, yeah, that's a conversation really, isn't it?

16:48

Rather than a, Promote the content there. Jenny French: It's not a place to put content.

16:51

No. Publish content to, but it's a vital part.

16:56

It's, that's where the magic happens.

16:59

Yeah. . Yeah. Because if someone has engaged in your, so the dms usually happen

17:05

from stories, so Instagram stories.

17:09

are when you open your app, they're the circles that sit at the top and

17:14

they are short pieces of content up to 60 seconds long and they

17:20

disappear after, after 24 hours. So if someone has liked something that you've put in your, in your stories

17:27

content, they may DM you because directly below the story, you've got a comment box.

17:33

So, you know, if you put up a story about something you did that was

17:37

really interesting over the weekend. I, I put up, we went to a.

17:42

National trust property at the weekend. And it was gloriously sunny with amazing bluebells in the woods.

17:47

And I had lots of people DM me saying, Oh my God, that was gorgeous.

17:52

Like, and it's not, and it's about connection.

17:55

You know, I don't work for the national trust, but it's about me, my personal

18:00

life, what's going on behind the scenes.

18:02

And it helps to connect on a human level.

18:05

So DMs are great. And those people who replied and said, Oh my God, that looks beautiful.

18:10

What a gorgeous afternoon. You know, little chats.

18:13

I was like, Oh, what did you do at the weekend? It's a back and forth conversation in your DMs.

18:20

But let's go back to the placement areas.

18:23

So you've got many. Let me, let me list them first.

18:27

I'm not going to cover them all because some of them are So you've

18:33

got the grid content, you've got stories content, you've got live

18:38

content, which does end up then sitting on your grid as a saved video.

18:45

But you've also got something called broadcast channels, where you can

18:49

put Um, written, um, messages.

18:52

You can create videos in there. Um, people have to sign up to it and then they get that information and

18:59

it's actually delivered via your DM.

19:02

Um, so that's called a broadcast channel. So you might want to be telling people about, I don't know, your latest

19:07

workshop or if you're going to an event, you know, there's lots of things that

19:11

you can use broadcast channels for. There's also something new.

19:15

Well, new ish. It was new, but not loads of people had it and they are rolling it out.

19:20

It's called notes and they're like little speech bubbles above

19:25

your user profile and in your DMs.

19:29

Yes, I have spotted that. I wondered what they were.

19:32

Yeah, I have spotted that. I thought, Oh, why am I?

19:35

Yeah, use those for sort of, think of them like a WhatsApp message.

19:39

You know, if it's things like, final day to sign up for my, uh, workshop on X.

19:47

Um, think of them like that type of thing.

19:49

They're short, they're text only, I think at the moment.

19:54

And, yeah. They, that's where they sit, but when something new comes

19:59

out, they get used loads, but they're not Massively well used.

20:03

You've got to think about your time and energy with this, you know Where

20:08

do you want to place your energy for maximum effect and maximum impact?

20:14

So I don't have the notes functionality yet.

20:17

I will use it Occasionally when I get it I also don't have the broadcast channels.

20:23

I'm not entirely sure I'm going to set one up, but other social media

20:27

professionals do use them for updates for things, but I, I'm going to use my

20:32

stories for that, I think that's why I use one part of my content on stories

20:37

is about updating what's changing on the Instagram platform on there.

20:43

So I'm going to cover. Live stories and grid.

20:48

So what type of content works well?

20:51

So for live, this is you going live a bit like this podcast.

20:55

You're, you know, talking around, uh, one thing I would suggest that you would pick.

21:03

Some people hate that talking out into the mass, like feeling

21:08

like there's nobody there. So if that's you, and you don't really want to talk on your own, Invite a guest

21:16

and have a chat like this around a theme.

21:20

Say for example that guest has a certain skill set, you might

21:24

want to ask them about that that could then benefit your audience.

21:28

So for example, in the past I've done lives with website experts, uh,

21:34

video experts, copywriters, where my audience can learn something from them.

21:42

We usually cover maybe two or three things in that live.

21:45

You don't want to have it too long. Um, and it's a nice chat back and forth.

21:50

Your audience can learn something. And it's the only content where you are notified about it.

21:57

So if somebody is going live and you're on your phone, You'll get a notification that

22:02

says Rachel Botfield is now going live.

22:05

And then it's encouraging you. Like, I can't tell you the amount of times I'm like, Ooh, really?

22:10

And I've tapped into that notification and I watch a couple of minutes of that

22:13

person's life and then I'll pop out. Sometimes they're really good that I've popped into and I'll then think to myself.

22:21

I'll go back and watch that because when you've done a live, it then

22:24

saves to your grid as a video. So you can go back to watch the rest of it if you wanted to.

22:31

So live is really good, but I appreciate it's super scary.

22:36

Like, there's probably the scariest content you're going to create, really.

22:41

Then you've got your grid content.

22:45

So this can be made up of three different types of posts.

22:48

You've got single image. You've got reels, which are videos, and you've got carousel posts.

22:54

So these are the multiple image or video posts that you swipe across.

22:59

They're a bit like a PowerPoint, you know, that you can sort of swipe across.

23:04

I affectionately call them swipey posts, but they're called carousel.

23:08

Um. So, those three different types, three formats, use them all.

23:17

So, what makes an impact is trying things out.

23:23

You know, try reels, try a carousel post, use single image.

23:29

Having a variety keeps your audience interested.

23:34

If you only ever. Produced single image graphic content that, you know, your, your audience

23:42

would know you, they would know your type of content and if they love it, great.

23:48

But if it's not 100 percent their cup of tea, you know, they're not necessarily

23:54

going to stay around and engaged with you.

23:57

So, my advice is, the idea that you had for that single image,

24:01

maybe it can be done differently.

24:03

You can take the same message and perhaps expand it into a multiple

24:08

image carousel, or you can even include videos in that carousel.

24:14

Or, could you turn that into a reel?

24:17

A talking head reel, for example, of you talking about that one

24:22

thing that the post was about. So, there are lots of different ways that you can take your ideas but

24:29

produce the content in differing ways.

24:33

Variety is the spice of life, Rachael Botfield: really.

24:35

Yeah. That's what I was just going to say, it's important to get that variety because

24:40

I think as well, it kind of shows your creativity as well, and I think that

24:45

there are equal benefits to each of those types of posts, like for your podcast,

24:50

a carousel post would work really well for the key takeaways, and then you

24:54

could include a little short Video or you could put an audiogram in there.

25:00

I think Reels work really well for audiograms as well.

25:03

Whether that's a video clip or whether it's a static image, which then you can

25:06

put little things on, um, for the Reels.

25:09

I say things, you know, like the actual, make them look pretty and have those.

25:14

And then also grid posts, you know, are, are have their place as well with the

25:18

static image saying maybe coming soon. So I think that.

25:21

That shows a great variety and, and ways that you can put your content

25:26

into different ways to have that. I, I like, I, I really love the Carousel place.

25:30

I remember when they first came out, I really enjoyed.

25:33

And, and I love that you can now incorporate video into them because

25:36

you couldn't to start with, could you, but now you can do video.

25:38

Yeah, Jenny French: yeah, yeah. And, and I, I think it makes it interesting.

25:42

And, uh, I, I love a carousel.

25:44

I love a good carousel that teaches me something that I'm

25:47

going to learn something from. Maybe a how to step by step guide or an educational one that's going to, you

25:55

know, tell me about something that, you know, like your key takeaways from that.

26:01

And, and I'm going to be hooked then. I want, I'm going to then want to go and have a listen to that podcast

26:08

to get more information about it.

26:10

Yeah. It could be used like a teaser, isn't it?

26:14

It could be, or, you know, you can literally tell us everything in

26:18

that carousel if you wanted to.

26:21

Reels dominated for quite some time on Instagram because they

26:27

made it an algorithmic preference.

26:31

So they came in August, 2020.

26:34

And at that time, that idea was stolen from TikTok.

26:39

They wanted short form video over here.

26:43

And it was a case of all other content received less distribution.

26:51

Than reels. They prioritized reels distribution over other content to encourage it

26:59

as a content format on Instagram.

27:02

So if you were producing it, I mean, some of the first reels that I was

27:05

making was get, were getting huge amounts of reach, not so much now.

27:11

So they came to a point where they had to balance it back out a little bit better.

27:17

There is still a slight preference.

27:20

Reels in terms of the algorithmic distribution, but it is nowhere

27:25

near what it was back then.

27:28

So for me and my clients that I work with, Reels still outperform other

27:35

types of content, but not all of them.

27:37

100 percent across the board. So carousels, uh, as we were talking about, can be absolutely brilliant for

27:45

that because when you swipe across, you're spending more time on that post.

27:53

If you are reading everything on those, um, slides that acts as an engagement

28:00

trigger, so the longer you linger, um, And get to the end, the key is

28:07

getting to the end of the carousel.

28:09

So when you get to the end, that also acts as a bit of a trigger.

28:14

The, this post is entirely engaging and what you'd like people to do is then like

28:20

it perhaps or leave a comment about it.

28:24

And that increased engagement does help.

28:27

So, some carousel posts can perform really well.

28:31

I've had carousel posts as well as some reels, but on the whole,

28:36

I would say reels perform better.

28:39

Storytelling works brilliantly.

28:43

On single image, carousels, break it down into sections and reels.

28:50

So if you can incorporate any sort of story, your journey, you

28:54

know, or the process that you go through with a client telling that

28:59

story, that works really well.

29:03

And then let's talk about stories content as a placement option.

29:07

Area on Instagram. So stories, as I said, are these circles at the top of your feed when you open

29:13

the app and they only last for 24 hours.

29:16

They're very much more informal type content.

29:21

Show us behind the scenes content.

29:23

Is that B-roll? Like B-roll con?

29:26

Is it what they, is that the new? I've heard a lot of people talk about B roll.

29:30

It's . Okay, so B roll.

29:32

It's slightly different. That really would go in your real content.

29:37

So B, B roll is video.

29:40

The, the message, the point of your post, it isn't really showing you that.

29:45

So for example, you could have a post of a maker creating the product.

29:51

That post is about that, you know, that process, that

29:56

product, but you can have B roll.

29:59

With you sitting, scrolling on your phone, a video of you sitting, scrolling on

30:04

your phone with a message of, you know, don't forget to book in for You know,

30:09

next week's nail appointment or, you know, it can be, it can be promotional

30:15

content with a different message.

30:17

It's not really about what you're seeing, that person scrolling on their phone.

30:21

It's, it's called incidental video. Rachael Botfield: Oh, okay.

30:25

So it, Like a random video, but what has a specific message on top.

30:30

Oh, I see. Whereas stories, you're really showing what it's like behind the scenes with you,

30:35

either personally or in your business. Okay.

30:38

Yeah. So B roll video sits Jenny French: very much in the reels camp.

30:42

Right. Stories.

30:45

So it can be photographs of what's going on. It can be you doing a talk to camera about something.

30:52

So, yes, Jay. I was talking about writing a proposal on my stories.

30:57

Um, the day before I was talking about preparing this podcast.

31:00

Um, so it can be photograph, it can be a video and it's much more informal.

31:06

Don't think it's polished content.

31:09

Like it really doesn't have to be. It's just a way to really super connect with that business owner.

31:16

So I have. See, marketers are great to be marketed to.

31:21

Like we are a sucker. Like I have bought things based on people's stories because I love the person

31:28

I, the brand is okay, the product is okay, but I've bought a sweatshirt from someone.

31:35

The sweatshirt's fine, but I love this business owner.

31:39

Like I want to support her, you know, so, and she does that

31:44

by sharing her everyday life.

31:48

What's going on for her, her family, if you're happy to share that, you

31:52

know, what's going on, you know, the latest designs, the shoot,

31:56

maybe behind the scenes of the shoot and things that's going on.

32:00

So I have definitely bought more than one occasion.

32:05

Things from people because I've built relationships with them in stories,

32:09

not just because of their grid content.

32:12

But the absolute powerhouse is a combination of grid and stories.

32:18

And when you use those two to sell Stories can be amazing.

32:25

So, you can add more information to your grid posts.

32:29

So, your grid post goes out, tells you what you're getting

32:32

for this particular service. Then you can come on and explain in more detail, either through written

32:38

text, you know, explaining in a little bit more detail, giving a case study.

32:43

Even of, um, you know, people who've had this service before.

32:48

You can even share links in your stories.

32:51

Yeah, I love that feature when they brought that out. Yeah, to click through to find out more.

32:56

But I find it really fantastic for Adding that extra meat to the bones

33:03

of what your service can be about.

33:05

And I'm going to give a shout out to a particular client of

33:07

mine who does this brilliantly. So if she's got a particular program coming up, she'll do the grid post and

33:14

she'll do some stories first saying, you know, I've got this service coming up.

33:19

And, uh, you know, if you're interested, if you.

33:23

This would be ideal for, and then shout out those types of people,

33:27

like who your service is ideal for.

33:30

And then she'll post, share her post to her stories that gives

33:35

that summary of information. And then she'll come on afterwards and talk about, you know, other

33:41

people who've done this service, who've got great results from it.

33:45

And it's a really powerful mix when you are selling from

33:51

your grid to your stories.

33:54

And she has signups from her stories a lot because she uses the combination of both.

34:01

Um, so it can be a mix of the behind the scenes and connecting with that

34:07

business owner, but you can also Rachael Botfield: use it to sell.

34:10

I'm just, I think that that could work really well for your

34:13

podcast in the way that you have.

34:15

Your grid, you could come on talking about the episode that's coming up.

34:19

Some of your favorite bits, or maybe an anecdote about the episode, then

34:24

have a static graphic, perhaps in your grid with all the information on there.

34:30

And then go back in your stories and talk about, you know, actually,

34:34

maybe pull out something to maybe talk about in more detail.

34:38

So I can see how that could be really powerful.

34:40

Jenny French: Yeah. So you do a teaser. So in that, I call these story sandwiches.

34:44

So the filling in the middle is your post that you're sharing, either the

34:51

post, single image post, carousel, or reel, whatever that is, that's the

34:56

middle bit you're filling, and you've got two bits of bread either side.

35:00

So your first story in that story's set is a teaser.

35:07

To that particular guest or point that you were talking about, you can put on

35:12

something called an engagement sticker. So these are like the sliders where Oh yes, we want to

35:17

get an opinion from someone. You can put a poll up where you can put, you know, do you want to find out about

35:25

how to, we know, um, you did another, um, podcast about LinkedIn, for example.

35:30

So it was how to make. In an impact on LinkedIn with Elaine, wasn't it?

35:35

So you could put this, I'm giving you an example for your stories here, Rachel.

35:40

You could put in story one, if you enjoyed Elaine's podcast about how to

35:46

make an impact on LinkedIn, you may like my latest podcast with Jenny about how

35:53

to make an impact with, on Instagram.

35:56

And then you can put a poll up that says, Would you be interested in this?

36:00

And you can put, yeah, heck yes, as a lot option.

36:04

And the second option is, I'm not, Instagram's not for me, you know,

36:08

or something like a, you know, another option for them to click.

36:12

Then you know, who's, you can actually go and check on your Instagram stories,

36:16

who has voted what, which is wonderful.

36:19

Then your filling. So that was your top slice of bread.

36:23

Then you've got your filling, which is sharing the, this, this, this, Post that's

36:28

about how to make an impact on Instagram.

36:31

And then the second, the third one, the bottom part of your bread

36:35

is Will you go and watch this or will you go and listen to this?

36:40

And you can put a slider engagement sticker on with like a thumb emoji that

36:45

you can slide all the way up to the end.

36:47

Yeah, not if you're not interested. So you can have what I call a story sandwich to get more engagement because

36:54

these engagement stickers, you have to, you don't have to do something, but

36:58

if your audience wants to engage with them, it all adds towards engagement.

37:03

So yeah, definitely do try out a story sandwich where you, not just, because

37:09

you see so many people's stories where they're just like, New post, you're like,

37:15

tell me something about it, like, why do I need to go in and see this, like,

37:22

Rachael Botfield: Why do I want to go look at the new post? Yeah, why do I need to go?

37:27

Would you post it, so would you do the story, like, Do the story post

37:31

the thing and then do the story like immediately after or is it like does

37:36

it have to be, I might just think of attitude literally in time wise.

37:39

Jenny French: No, no, no, I like literally, that's fine.

37:42

So I would create a grid post.

37:44

Yeah. So create a grid post, whatever that, whatever format that is, then

37:49

go into your stories, do story one.

37:52

Right. The, you know, the teaser, then share your post because it's just been posted.

37:57

Ah, okay. So it's ready. It's ready.

38:00

And then you share the third story.

38:02

Okay. All in one go, in one time frame.

38:05

Right. So you do. So, you know. Yeah. Upload them one after the other.

38:08

Back to back. Back to back.

38:10

Yeah, you're not doing teaser on day one and like 18 hours

38:13

later then you share the post. You want them all to appear up in the same way.

38:16

They do all Rachael Botfield: three. Bye. Jenny French: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

38:19

In that same time frame. There's some ways that you can make an impact with your content on Instagram.

38:26

Rachael Botfield: Hopefully that was useful. Yes. There was lots of information there.

38:29

I love going into the detail because sometimes it is really

38:32

difficult to know exactly what works and you know, what doesn't work.

38:37

Especially like for me, I don't use Instagram as much anymore.

38:41

Um, I have been speaking to, um, another podcast manager that she uses,

38:45

um, her stories like that and her DMs. She has a lot of conversations.

38:49

So she's actually now focused solely on Instagram because she has such

38:53

great conversation with people. She has like, um, her grid posts and then she has her stories to connect with

38:59

people and that works brilliantly for her.

39:01

So I think that if that is something that you're interested in with

39:04

Instagram, And if you like Instagram and that's where your people are, I

39:08

would definitely experiment with those types of posts and see what works.

39:12

And I do, I've always thought, um, for when I did use it, that

39:16

stories did work quite well. I did used to get some engagement from those.

39:19

Um, and I love the stickers and you can put the links on there and stuff.

39:23

Those are great features. So, um, would definitely, if everybody, um, is using it.

39:28

If you're listening, give those a try.

39:30

And also we'd love to hear about how you get on.

39:33

If you've given some a try and love you to either DM me or email me or

39:38

something, just to let me know what you thought and how it's worked for you.

39:42

And also, can I, Jenny French: can I offer that if anybody is like, okay, I listened to

39:47

the podcast, but I really don't fully understand what you were talking about

39:50

with a story sandwich, for example, in that example, I will happily give you

39:55

a direct example that you could use.

39:58

So feel free to DM me. I'm on at jennyfrenchsocial on Instagram.

40:03

So come and give me a follow and ask questions.

40:06

I am more than happy to answer questions if anything's come up of

40:10

like, Oh, I don't quite understand this. Yeah.

40:12

Rachael Botfield: Just message me and I'll explain more. Oh, wonderful.

40:15

We'll pop Jenny's, we'll put all of Jenny's links anyway into the show notes.

40:18

I'd love to end the episode on, I mean, you've already given us so much great

40:25

advice and tips here, but do you have a top takeaway, um, for everyone today?

40:33

I would Jenny French: say if you want to make an impact on Instagram,

40:38

you need to show your face.

40:43

So showing your face on Instagram, whether that's a photograph.

40:47

Or a video in a reel, or in stories which will disappear after 24 hours.

40:54

It helps to connect your audience to you, otherwise your account

40:59

becomes, well it is faceless. Um, we don't know you the business owner.

41:05

We don't connect with you as much. So there's so much science about the power of showing your face.

41:13

It creates much deeper, faster connections.

41:16

And in terms of your engagement on your content, you, if you show your

41:22

face, you can get up to 38 percent more likes and 32 percent more comments.

41:29

I mean, that's a whole third extra engagement because you're

41:33

choosing to show your face. And often this can be the difference between someone choosing you and

41:42

someone choosing someone else. Like I explained about this woman's sweatshirt, it's a

41:47

perfectly decent sweatshirt.

41:49

It's not going to rock my world, but I adore her.

41:53

Because I have got to know her, the person, and that all

41:57

started from showing her face. So, definitely show your face and connect with your audience.

42:06

And you can do that through photos and videos.

42:11

I've actually got an extra one I've just thought of.

42:13

You know, you're talking about top takeaways. Can I have two?

42:16

Yeah, of course, of course. The other one is, I'm telling you lots of things you can try.

42:21

But what works for one account doesn't work for every account.

42:24

So my next top piece of advice is actually test, test, test.

42:30

So test the different format types.

42:32

Test posts, reels, carousels.

42:35

What works better? You know, maybe you could test posting at different times of day.

42:40

Are your audience online more in the morning or at lunchtime or in the evening?

42:48

So don't be scared. to test and try things and don't be afraid to experiment with your content and mix

42:56

it up because you may just discover a way to connect with your audience that brings

43:03

a whole new, you know, connection level.

43:07

It can be very scary mixing things up and giving things a try.

43:12

But, some things, I am not gonna lie, will flop, okay?

43:18

And others will outperform things that you think.

43:22

The ones that I always think, oh, I'm gonna try this.

43:25

I've been in the shower, I've thought of this content idea and it's taken

43:30

me 10 minutes to make, okay, and it's flown and you're like, Oh wow, this is,

43:37

you know, a fantastic piece of content. And the one I've spent two and a half hours crafting,

43:43

I just, that amount of time. But you know what I mean?

43:45

The one that I've literally given blood, sweat and tears to.

43:49

And it may not flop, but it may not perform how I hoped it would.

43:55

So just test it. Test, test, test is my, one of

44:00

Rachael Botfield: my big Jenny French: mantras. That Rachael Botfield: is great advice, Jenny.

44:04

Definitely testing, getting curious about what works and what doesn't

44:09

work and what has, I mean, sometimes.

44:11

There's no explanation why some posts on a certain day might do really well and what

44:15

resonates with that person on that day.

44:18

And then also showing your face, you know, podcasting itself is a way for

44:24

you to get that deeper connection with your audience and to go that extra mile

44:30

in terms of sharing your knowledge and your expertise, but also giving them, um,

44:35

it also I find helps especially coaches that, um, Connect between wanting to work

44:41

with them and maybe someone else, but also then you can, you can capitalize

44:45

on that with your Instagram in that way. Can't you?

44:48

And then show your face. even more on Instagram to help increase that connection between them getting

44:54

to know you and you're offering them an extra way to come off platform of

44:58

Instagram and join you on the podcast. Yeah, but they will only, you know, compliment each other, getting your

45:03

face out there and getting people. And that's so interesting that it's quite a big difference that 32 or 33 percent

45:09

you said about if you see your face, extra engagement, that's, it's quite a big,

45:14

Jenny French: Yeah. Rachael Botfield: Big, um, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Jenny French: It's a big increase, isn't it?

45:17

And I think it needs to be part of your content strategy.

45:21

It needs to be part of your content plan to make sure you are showing your

45:25

face, that you are visible, you are the face of your brand, if you are a brand.

45:31

A solopreneur, it's vitally important, especially if you're someone that we

45:36

need to trust in order to buy from you.

45:39

So if you are a coach, for example, like we need to trust you.

45:44

We need to know you are the person for us.

45:47

And one way you can do that is by showing your face and revealing

45:54

more information about yourself.

45:56

You know, it helps to make those, we're all human.

46:00

And we're after this human to human connection and our brains

46:04

are hardwired to seek out faces.

46:08

So yeah, my two takeaways, show your face,

46:12

Rachael Botfield: test, test, test. Brilliant.

46:14

Thank you so much, Jenny, for sharing all of your knowledge

46:18

and expertise with us today. I would encourage everybody to go and follow Jenny on Instagram.

46:24

I will leave the links in the show notes for you to easily do that.

46:28

And I would also love to hear from you.

46:30

If you enjoyed this episode, pop us a little review or a comment on Spotify.

46:35

Um, and I'd love to know, we both love to know how you get on with

46:39

your testing and experimenting. So thank you so much, Jenny.

46:43

You're very welcome. Thank you for having me. It's been lovely chatting with you as always and take care everybody

46:49

and we'll see you next time. Thanks for listening to the show.

46:54

If you'd like to connect with me or get in touch then head on over to my website.

46:58

If you liked the episode then I'd love it if you could leave me a

47:01

review in your chosen podcast app. Your feedback is much appreciated.

47:05

See you next time.