Instagram 2024: Strategies to Boost Your Presence | Ep. 05

It’s your time to stand out & show up on Instagram! In this episode, Mimi Langley and Jonathan Howard discuss various strategies for accomplishing just that. They emphasize the importance of storytelling & the power of connecting with your audience on an emotional level. They also highlight the opportunities provided by private social media and broadcast channels. Additionally, they discuss the role of stories in the Instagram funnel & how they can be used to build trust and engage with your audience. Overall, this particular episode provides valuable insights and tips for leveraging Instagram to grow your business.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS
: It’s important to experiment & find what works best for your audience.
: Storytelling is a powerful tool for connecting & standing out on Instagram.
: Don’t skip out on direct messaging & broadcast channels. 
: Stories play a crucial role in the Instagram funnel. Jonathan breaks it down.

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ADDITIONAL BUSINESS RESOURCES
Jonathan’s Instagram Signature Reels Membership 
(Doors Close March 5th)

Mimi’s Action over Perfection Community for Aspiring & New Female Entrepreneurs (Doors Close March 5th)

Adam Mosseri (born January 23, 1983) is an American businessman and the head of Instagram. He formerly served as an executive at Facebook, which owns Instagram.

* Podcast Disclaimer: This podcast is for informational and entertainment purposes only and should not be considered legal advice. We are not responsible for any losses, damages, or liabilities that may arise from the use of this podcast.

Keywords:
instagram strategies 2024, how to stand out on instagram 2024, building trust on instagram, leverage instagram for business, ways to grow business on instagram, connect with audience emotionally, valuable instagram insights, direct messaging impact, engaging instagram posts for businesses, broadcast channels opportunities, private social media insights

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Who is on my shirt, which is confusing to hell out of me, because it's Brittany, but you're a huge Justin Timberlake fan, so are you going to team Brittany? Are you going to team Justin?

Speaker 2: 0:09

But here's my question Can't we love them both?

Speaker 1: 0:13

No, he did it wrong. He did it wrong.

Speaker 2: 0:17

And she did him wrong. They both did each other wrong. Have you read the book? I read the book. It was a whole lot of mess.

Speaker 1: 0:24

It's Corphy Social, the podcast, all about social media and business. And now here are your hosts, Jonathan Howard and Mimi Langley.

Speaker 2: 0:37

Hi Jonathan.

Speaker 1: 0:37

Howard. Hello, Mimi Langley.

Speaker 2: 0:40

That sounds really creepy. Please don't exit out of this podcast. Hello, Mimi Langley. Oh my gosh, that's even creepier, Jonathan who is on my shirt?

Speaker 1: 0:48

Brittany. But you're a huge Justin Timberlake fan, so are you going to team Brittany. Are you going to team Justin?

Speaker 2: 0:54

But here's my question Can't we love them both? No, I'm just saying back to you boys Can't? I just love them both. They both did each other wrong. Have you read the book? I read the book. It was a whole lot of mess.

Speaker 1: 1:05

I know I haven't read the book and they were kids, so we got to let them you know, I don't want to get in trouble for anything I said. So I'm just saying I didn't read the book. I have no idea, I'm just, you know, I'm commenting on her shirt.

Speaker 2: 1:17

Yeah Well, I love both of them. So cheers to Brittany, cheers to Justin, cheers to you guys listening and watching in, cheers to you, jonathan Howard.

Speaker 1: 1:24

Thank you, Mimi Langley.

Speaker 2: 1:25

That was a lot of cheers. Oh my gosh.

Speaker 1: 1:27

And, yes, still a wine glass.

Speaker 2: 1:30

Still my pink target mug with the red sticker at the bottom. There we go. Oh my gosh, you guys. So I'm really excited, as always, mimi excited about an episode Never. We're really excited about this episode because it's about Jonathan's favorite thing he loves to teach about, and that is Instagram.

Speaker 1: 1:50

Bringing the questions. Bring the questions.

Speaker 2: 1:52

I told Jonathan. I said listen, I'm going to be the student this time around. I mean, I barely have any notes because I can tell you a little bit about Instagram because I'm on there, but Jonathan is my go-to person whenever I have a question. So we're going to be focusing, you know, about showing up this year 2024. We're going to be talking about standing out, right, and there's some really cool, I would say, newish features that Instagram has that we're going to talk about. So, jonathan, oh, real quick, should I introduce myself?

Speaker 1: 2:19

Yes, you should probably introduce yourself, because you know like hey, you are.

Speaker 2: 2:24

Oh yeah.

Speaker 1: 2:26

Hey everyone.

Speaker 2: 2:28

I'm Mimi Langley. I teach women in business how to host rooms on social audio, how to host live rooms and moderate on social audio like LinkedIn audio, like Clubhouse. That's what I teach and preach about. It's a great way to grow your business. So I had to put that in there, since this is an Instagram episode. That's right, that's right.

Speaker 1: 2:47

Yes, my name is Jonathan Howard and I'm the owner of Success on Social, and I show successful female coaches how to show up uniquely with their own signature style on social media so they can reach their ideal clients. Make some money. Stand out from all the noise that is out on Instagram.

Speaker 2: 3:04

I love that. Jonathan, I want to throw you into your first like way of doing this, way of standing out and showing up, and that is now. You wrote this down, sir. So look at me calling you sir. So you tell us what it means. You wrote down nothing is ever fail proof. What does that mean?

Speaker 1: 3:24

Nothing's ever fail proof. I mean that, when it comes down to Instagram in general, nothing that I say will absolutely work for anybody else, because my audience is different than everybody else's audience. Just like anything any other expert says about Instagram, they're basing it on what they've experienced with themselves and their clients. It works for them. However, it may not work for you. You may not connect with it. Your audience may not like it. So nothing is ever fail proof. But when you boil it down to who we're dealing with, we're dealing with people.

Speaker 2: 3:59

Bingo.

Speaker 1: 4:00

Yep, right. So we're dealing with people, and people buy based on emotion, and the best way to get emotion into your, into what you're doing and what you're selling, is through storytelling. So we have an episode coming up that's about all about storytelling. I'm not going to dive too deeply into it. But if you want a foolproof plan for 2024, start telling stories. Start telling the stories of your clients, your stories, things that are happening in your business. When you tell those stories, people are going to connect with them. They're going to connect with you and it's going to be a much stronger than just throwing out here here's all the facts that you need. And people are like oh my God, I'm buried by the facts. It feels like me throwing my hands at this and that's a lot for people. So tell them stories. They remember stories. They're more powerful. They're going to connect you with the right people.

Speaker 2: 4:52

You know I love that, jonathan, because, like one of my things that's, I think, always really helped in my business and growing it is telling stories because of the remembering part. There's so many people talking and giving a lot of the same tips, but if you can tie in something that's memorable, people will remember you, it's true. So I love that.

Speaker 1: 5:14

Absolutely, absolutely. People will remember you and if you really want to be that person, that go-to person that you know, that business of one, you own your niche. You have to own your niche. You have to tell stories. You have to. You know, show people why you're different.

Speaker 2: 5:30

I love that so much, oh, my goodness. Okay, and if you are stuck and you're like, well, what the heck kind of story can I tell about my business? Definitely come and listen to that episode, you guys. It will be on the podcast page, it will be on the YouTube channel. So that episode's going to be dedicated to storytelling and so we'll give you guys some examples of what we mean when we say storytelling. Okay, so can we talk about I can't even say his last name, jonathan Adam Massiri. Wait, let me try. I'm going to read it. I have my notes here. Adam Massiri. Yes, ooh, that's a good name. Hi, adam Adam Massiri. Okay, so he is now. What does he do for Instagram?

Speaker 1: 6:09

Because I know he's on threads a lot. He's the head of Instagram.

Speaker 2: 6:12

Oh my gosh, he's the.

Speaker 1: 6:12

CEO. Well, he's in charge of Instagram.

Speaker 2: 6:15

Yeah, you know, because Instagram falls under Facebook, but yes, Wow, how long has he been doing that, do you know?

Speaker 1: 6:21

I don't know, I should know what are his credentials.

Speaker 2: 6:24

I'm just kidding.

Speaker 1: 6:26

We'll check. We'll put them in the podcast notes for you. So I'll have to go get them for you and give you his resume, his CV, all the stuff that we need. Okay, I'll get it for you, but you should follow him Okay, so tell us Okay so tell us you should follow him on Instagram. Maseri is his screen name on Instagram.

Speaker 2: 6:41

I was going to ask like do you? Because I do this for like, when I'm on like clubhouse, I obviously follow the founders of clubhouse, right? So you would definitely recommend following anybody who's top notch at Instagram, right?

Speaker 1: 6:53

Yeah, I mean, I follow Adam Maseri, I follow the creators page, I follow the Instagram business page, because they make separate announcements on those pages. They give you information, they give you top tips, they talk about the algorithm, like all sorts of things. That's how you get the best information. Yeah.

Speaker 2: 7:11

I love that. Ok, so tell us what are some things that he's mentioned that you feel like, oh, this is a good opportunity.

Speaker 1: 7:18

So I think one of the biggest opportunities is and he's mentioned this a few times, a lot of times, and this is also they have what's up, they have all this stuff, but Instagram, facebook, everybody across the board people are focusing on private social media, and by private social media, what they mean is messaging the opportunity to message one to one or one to many. So you're looking at the opportunity to send messages to a whole bunch of people, which is like your email, which they now have broadcast channels I'll talk about that in a second and then your one to one messaging, which is your DMs, which they now have notes, and inside of notes, there's a whole lot of options for you to include. You know, like a music, include a quick tip, include whatever you might want to do. So and your notes are like they're kind of like stories that disappear in 24 hours. They're there and they're gone. So you put up a new note every day, maybe connecting with your people that you DM directly. So wait.

Speaker 2: 8:23

Ok, so the notes, just so I can get this clearly. I've noticed not, I don't think every. I think you mentioned this before, but not everybody has it yet yeah, OK, so for me I have notes, and where they're located, they're in the DMs and they're at the very top. It almost looks like stories for your DMs. But it's just, it's just text message. It's not, you know, video. I don't think it's, think, it's just not video yet.

Speaker 1: 8:48

They are. There's talk about it being a whole bunch of different things. You can add music to it, like what's your favorite song and put at at your favorite song, and stuff like that. So there is definitely some talk about expanding it because it's one to one communication.

Speaker 2: 9:02

So oh wait, so people can reply to it.

Speaker 1: 9:05

Yeah, they can send you a DM with their reply, which gets them into your DMs. So much like stories. It's a great way to start building those relationships with your people that follow you. Once they get to the point of DMing you, they're much closer to making that purchase.

Speaker 2: 9:20

I love that. I know you're. You're so into the DMs. I love that. That's like a you know, don't just stop at stories right Like this is another way to hit them.

Speaker 1: 9:29

Yeah, and stories are important because stories again also have the opportunity to get them into the DMs, but you want to make sure that you're including other ways, because they might not watch stories. Some people don't like stories.

Speaker 2: 9:42

It's crazy because there's. So I mean, you know, stories has been part of Instagram for a long time now, and so so many people are using them with notes, it's it's it's called notes, right. Yeah, with notes, not everybody has the feature, so it's not so flooded. Right, you're giving you the chance to stand out, so yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 1: 10:01

And if you use it differently, if you make, if you find a unique way to use it in your business, just like your broadcast channel, which I'll talk a little bit more about but, yeah, there's lots of opportunities for you to stand out, because not everybody has it, not everybody's doing it, just like when reels came out, you know, if you were on reels early, you got millions of views because you were one of the few people doing it.

Speaker 2: 10:24

So, since you keep bringing up broadcast channels, what the heck is a broadcast channel, and do we have to leave the platform to use this?

Speaker 1: 10:31

No. So what's amazing about the broadcast channel is like email. It allows you to send a message, one. You are the one to many who are the people who joined your broadcast channel. I'm wondering if you like a or B, or you can send a message out saying, hey, this is a trending sound you should try using, or hey, here's something really cool about whatever it may be, and it's an opportunity for you to message a whole lot of people. So you set up your broadcast channel on your, on your profile, and there's actually now a button where you can do that and it'll ask you do you want to set up a broadcast channel? I'd ask you to set it up with the, the, however many things there are there, and then you can start inviting people to your broadcast channel.

Speaker 2: 11:13

I love that because you're right, though, like, the people that are in the broadcast channel want to be there, like they're the ones who are saying, hey, they're accepting the invitation pretty much. So you're not just right, you know reaching randoms, right, so that's a, that's a pro, that's a bonus, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1: 11:31

It's. It's a huge bonus because there's a lot of people. You know, we all have fake followers on our accounts, period, whether we like it or not. We all have fake followers on our accounts and Instagram does an okay job clearing them out, but there's still people that don't engage with us. My only thing I would say is don't use it as an opportunity to just push the things that you're already posting. Give extra information, give more value.

Speaker 2: 11:54

That's the only thing, that kind of, and I think maybe for a lot of people, it's kind of like, okay, I'm on all these platforms. I feel like I'm saying the same thing. How can I make this different? Which I feel like we just need a whole episode on how to make broadcast, your broadcast channel, different from your regular. You know Instagram feed, you know what I mean. Like, I feel like I feel like you can come up with a lot. I like the idea of having polls because, again, it's a great way to get feedback from your people, but I feel like you know I actually, now that I'm saying this out loud one of the best ways really to see what's happening in a broadcast channel is by joining broadcast channels Join, and I would recommend joining Adam Massari's broadcast channel because it is a fantastic channel where he's puts out like hey, here's some new features, here's some new things that are coming out, here's some things that we're doing, here's some things Would you use this?

Speaker 1: 12:46

Like, if we gave you the opportunity to do this, would you use it? And it'll give you some insight as to how you can use it, because it's not general information he's putting out on his profile.

Speaker 2: 12:56

Yeah, I like that a lot, that's I mean, that's a good idea. Um, I want to ask you about so we talked about broadcast channels. We talked about notes on Instagram. What about? We mentioned the word stories earlier. So of course, we have regular posts on Instagram, then we have reels. You know, we have Instagram lives that we can do to stand out as well, but what about stories? Cause I still think stories is my opinion they're very much relevant.

Speaker 2: 13:26

What is like you have this beautiful funnel that you like to teach about for Instagram, and stories is part of that funnel. Can you just tell us real quick what that is, what the funnel is?

Speaker 1: 13:37

Absolutely, absolutely. So I'll talk really quick about my funnel. The top of the funnel is going to be your reel. If you want to get people into your ecosystem, you need to be doing reels, cause that's one of the only ways that you're getting discovered. Unless your content is getting to the explore page, your reels are where you're getting discovered. So creating really good reels will get you discovered, which means that your reels content needs to be, you know, a little bit broader. A little bit.

Speaker 1: 14:03

Hey, here's a basic idea. And then you build that trust on your feed. You show them. Hey, as I grew, as you get to know me, you're seeing more information here. Here's how you can do this. You can even include things where you go deeper based on a reel that you did. You can have a carousel post where you go deeper on that topic. So you're building that trust in the in the middle of your funnel. Alongside that is your DM. So you're building trust in your DMs and your live.

Speaker 1: 14:32

Now, how do you get people into your DMs to actually sell to them? Then that's by doing things like having your stories. People that are follow you all the way down to stories. They're people that have been following you for a while. They're people that have built trust with you. They're people that want to know what else you do, because on your feed you're showing the curated version of yourself. This is what I'm teaching you. Although we tell you you don't have to be as curated, you don't have to be as clean you don't you're still showing the curated version of yourself. When you get to stories, you show a different side of you. You show the things that are happening in your life. You show also should be selling in your stories on a fairly regular basis, like daily. You should be selling, because that's those are the people that are willing to buy. They're waiting for that moment where you offer them something. If you don't offer your people and your story stuff, they're going to get tired and move on, so that's a great way.

Speaker 1: 15:33

At the very least, if you're not selling anything, get them onto your email list.

Speaker 2: 15:38

Yeah, I love that, Jonathan, and like when I think about stories, because I feel like I show up on stories more than anything, like because for me stories is number one, really super, duper easy to show up on, for me, Anyways, I can literally. I just love being able to just turn on my phone and just go and I know, obviously we can.

Speaker 2: 15:59

You know reels, you make reels very easy to do, but like when it comes to stories, I just love I don't know, just it's easy, just to show up and in some ways stand out, depending on what you're talking about, and if you can make it really fun and entertaining and interesting for people that will want to keep coming back to you because, like doing a series or something right, like that's a great way to stand out. People want to follow your journey. You know, and again we're talking to human beings, like you started off this conversation with is. You know we're talking to people.

Speaker 1: 16:32

You talk to people.

Speaker 2: 16:32

Build that like no one trusts. You know and share your stories, be vulnerable, you know, like all these things, emotion, you know that's what it is. So, anyways, I feel like stories can really help with that. It's I don't know. It's almost like your reels, it's almost like you're an acquaintance, but in the stories you become friends. So absolutely.

Speaker 1: 16:59

You have built that trust with them. You've gone down the funnel, you are, you get them, they get you, you're oh my God, that's so me. They're connecting on that level. So when they're in your stories, the worst thing you can do is just keep sharing stuff that you've already posted to your stories. You want to post real things, real stories, things that are happening, things that are important. You can go deeper on some things even there. Yeah, I talk a little bit about who I am, what I do, the dogs, that sort of thing. But I also provide some deeper content like hey, here's, there's new text options on Instagram reels. By the way, there's new text options on Instagram reels, you know. Like, here's the story about it. Stuff like that that I'm not posting on my feed. They have to go a little bit deeper to get.

Speaker 2: 17:48

I love that. Wow, okay, you guys. I mean I know we're going to wrap up. We like to keep these episodes digestible. I mean there's probably going to be a part two, three, four, 20.

Speaker 1: 17:57

We always say that, right With every 25, 40, I mean I could go on for Instagram forever, infinity and beyond and beyond Great conversation.

Speaker 2: 18:08

Jonathan Howard, I feel like with these, you know, with these ways, like we could all seriously show up and I love I mean you drop so many gems Again. If you guys are want to dive deeper into Instagram, of course keep sticking with the podcast, but definitely tune into Jonathan. We'll have all of our socials in the description for you and connect with him. If you really want to up your game with Instagram for your business, all right, we have to wrap it up, jonathan.

Speaker 2: 18:34

I don't want to but we have to because you won't let me do a three and a half hour podcast.

Speaker 1: 18:38

I hope so. No, no, although the three and a half hour podcast could be, I mean, I've got, I've taught a five hour class on this. So yeah, why not Okay?

Speaker 2: 18:46

Well, tell the people where we are what to do, where we are, what to do.

Speaker 1: 18:50

Well, you can follow us on Instagram, coffee social podcast. Also on YouTube, like, follow, subscribe, enjoy, listen, whatever all those things you need to do. Also, give us five stars wherever you listen to your local podcast, because Mimi loves her stars and she wants all five of them. So make sure you give Mimi her stars and remember this very, very important question Wait, wait, wait, hold on.

Speaker 2: 19:13

We have to give a shout out to Brittany again. I mean, you're not just giving me five stars, you're giving Brittany five stars because I'm wearing the Brittany T-shirt. Okay, go ahead, jonathan. Yes, wait, you're going to ask the important question.

Speaker 1: 19:22

No, I was going to throw it to you but okay, but we're going to ask, but remember the most important question, Mimi what is the most important question?

Speaker 2: 19:33

The most important question to ask yourself is are you team Mimi or team Jonathan?

Speaker 1: 19:40

Team Jonathan.

Speaker 2: 19:42

I don't even like asking that question anymore, because it's all team Mimi, so why would it?

Speaker 1: 19:46

all be team, mimi. What would make you think I'm drinking my coffee out of a wine glass?

Speaker 2: 19:52

I'm wearing a Brittany shirt. I've already won everything. Everyone over with this, okay.

Speaker 1: 19:57

Wine glass.

Speaker 2: 19:59

Well, thank you everyone for listening in. I'm going to go ahead and argue with Jonathan off of the screen, off of the podcast.

Speaker 1: 20:05

That's right.

Speaker 2: 20:06

Appreciate all of you.

Speaker 1: 20:07

Bye Jonathan Howard, Bye Mimi Langley, Bye guys. It was much nicer than the beginning, where I went bye Mimi Langley, Bye Jonathan Howard.