I share practical strategies for tutors to leverage Instagram effectively, focusing on content creation, platform analysis, audience engagement, and staying current with platform trends.

Takeaways

Balance learning and doing to avoid paralysis

• Focus on content formats you can sustain

• Use data to refine your strategy

• Leverage tutor networks for growth

• Stay early on new features for free reach

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👋🏽 Hello! I'm Sumantha McMahon, and I've supported over 100 tutors and education business owners.

As a teacher 'dropout' turned professional tutor, combined with my 20+ years as a business owner, I'm in it with you! Yes, I'm qualified too :-)

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© 2024 Sumantha McMahon

I'm dedicating this whole episode to using Instagram as a tutor, which is quite unlike me because normally I like to talk about things from different angles so that you can really mold them to suit your needs. I'll still do a bit of that today, but this episode is probably a little more tactical than my episodes normally are. And that's because every now and again I think there's room for it. So many tutors are using Instagram that I would love to help you use it more effectively so that it really moves your business along.

Using Instagram quite innovatively from the perspective of a tutor specifically. So if you're watching on YouTube, I'll link that at the end of this video. If we're meeting for the first time, then welcome to the podcast. And I'm Samantha. And I really help tutors earn more sustainably and build options for their future. And I do that by helping them design a business on purpose rather than letting it grow by accident. And Instagram sits inside that because how you use a platform.

Is a design decision just like every other decision in your business. So let me tell you what I'm going to be covering today. I'm going to start by how much you actually need to learn before you start. And I don't necessarily mean start using the platform, it could be starting using a new feature like trying out reels or looking at the stories, for instance, that kind of thing. Also, I'll then talk about whether Instagram is even the right platform for you and how to decide.

I'll also talk about how to decide what to focus on and what you can realistically keep doing. I'll then move on to what I've learned from running things like trial reels this year. I'll talk about the three content formats to pay attention to and what each one is actually for. And then I'll finish on how to stay on the pulse of what's actually working so that you're not relying on episodes like this one, for instance. Now, right at the end, I'll talk about this thing that's sitting in almost every tutor's follower list.

that hardly anyone has decided what to do with. We're not making the most of it. So let's get started.

Right, I'm diving straight in. And the first point I want to talk about is about learning enough and then going and doing it. Now, this is a really important concept where you are learning enough and then you're taking action. And I'm starting here because it's going to actually make the difference between you actually moving forward or freezing. Learning how to do things definitely matters. If you go in completely blind, then of course you risk wasting your effort.

Because you know, there are always going to be a handful of things about any platform that you really need to know to get a return on the effort that you're putting in. However, we often end up on the other side of this balance where we get stuck in the learning phase. The more we learn, the more we realize we don't know. So we keep learning. And before you know it, you've stood still because all you're doing is consuming. That actually happened to me really recently. That's why it sprung to mind.

I wanted to record more Talking Head videos specifically for Instagram. Right now, most of the reels I published are snippets from this podcast. So I really wanted some recorded specifically for the platform. Now at first I came across a few advice reels. I went out looking for them that really helped me with tips and I thought, this is great. I I'm going to use that. I was feeling really inspired and I actually just recorded a couple of videos. It was great. It was, you know, I felt really confident.

But then something happened. More of these advice videos kept showing up in my feed, and I kept watching them. And I kept thinking, this is great. This is going to make my videos even better. I'm going to feel even more confident. But it actually went the other way. Every time I then went to record, I was so worried about forgetting one of the many things I'd absorbed that I just froze. I ended up recording about two Talking Head videos in total, and the rest are in my ideas list.

Now, I have since committed to recording them and I'm getting through them. And you know, they'll be out soon, but the point is that the learning actually paralyzed me instead of inspiring me. So finding the balance between learning enough to get started and learning so much that it stops you is really important. Now there are two costs to overlearning. The first one is that you will spend more time consuming than doing, and you'll actually learn more from doing.

The less obvious one is that the more you absorb, the more ways you can find reasons why you're doing it wrong. And that's what can often stop people from taking action as well. So here's the thing to really hold on to. And this is one of those evergreen principles that won't date, regardless of when you're listening or watching. You'll learn more from your own data and your own experience and insights than from anyone else's advice, including mine.

And it's not because the advice you might be hearing is wrong, it's purely because the advice is general. It's designed to get you started or to refine what you're already doing. But your audience, your niche, your subject, your voice, and the data and insights that you actually get from the platform from actually doing the action, that will actually be the most powerful thing to steer your next decision. So learn enough to avoid the obvious mistakes.

And then just go and try things out. Then look at what's happening with an analytical eye. What did people respond to? What did people save? What got shared? What got you a message? What got you a sale? What got you a new follower? Do more of those things and less of the other things. And depending on where you are in your journey, you know, just to manage your expectations, it might be that you do have to wait a little longer to get some of those kinds of results. And then that learning.

And experimenting phase just needs to last a little longer. The main thing is that you give it a go and you pay attention to what information it's telling you.

Now, just to very quickly interrupt the episode, if you're finding this useful, then please do subscribe if you're watching on YouTube or follow along if you're listening so you don't miss any of my future episodes.

Now, the second point is is Instagram actually the right platform for you? And I want to cover this because

We don't always make decisions about platforms for the right reasons. So before we go anywhere near any tactics, this question is worth asking. Most tutors decide whether a platform is right for them by asking whether it's possible to get students from it. And the answer is almost always yes. If you've heard me talk about marketing and sales, you'll know that my North Star principle is that everything works and nothing works. It's all about how you approach something.

And what your strategy actually is. So the answer to is it possible to get students from Instagram is yes, it is possible. But it's also possible to get students from LinkedIn or from Facebook groups or from Facebook pages or a leaflet in a library. So asking whether something is possible is a very low bar and it doesn't give you anything very valuable. The better question is about the effort to result ratio. How much time?

Energy and thinking is this platform going to take from you versus what it's going to give you back. It's not about what it gives back to someone else with a different business and a different audience or a different style. What does it give back to you? And that means sometimes you just have to go through that learning phase. You have to try it. I've done this kind of analysis over the last 10 years or so of running my business full-time.

And now I'm really clear on the platforms that I use as well as the methods and the ones that really harness what I'm good at and what I enjoy. Because I'll repeat that North Star principle. Everything works and nothing works. So I could sit here running challenges. I could really try using Instagram, but I don't put much effort into things like that. In fact, I've never run a challenge because I don't need to. I'm just focusing on doing a small number of things to the best of my ability.

And that's such an important concept in business as a whole. It's the driving force behind how I work with all of the tutors I support, regardless of if they're in the tutor's mastermind, which is my membership, or if they work with me one-to-one. Do a small number of things and do them really well, rather than loads of things kind of badly because you're stretched too thin. But just coming back to Instagram, you want to analyze that effort-to-result ratio. And if you've already been using Instagram for a while,

You may want to analyze whether the results you're getting are worth the effort that you've been putting in and compare that perhaps to another platform you might be using. That's where your first designed and strategic decision starts. If, however, you haven't really used Instagram properly, then you might need to use it for a bit longer. But regardless of which camp you're in, make sure you keep listening because you also want to make sure that you're doing some of the key things to get better results.

Otherwise, your decision about whether Instagram is working for you or not may not be accurate.

It may even dictate which platform is right for you, but more than anything, it should really influence who you're targeting with your messaging and who it is you're trying to get engaged. So keep listening or watching if you're on YouTube and see whether you're doing the different things that I that can give you stronger results that I'm going to talk about. And by the end of it, if you already are using Instagram, do a bit of that analysis as to whether you want to carry on, focusing on that as a main platform.

Or whether you want to spend time refining your strategy, or whether it's worth paying more attention perhaps to a different platform.

Okay, now I want to talk about the one format that you can sustain. So the first decision is about whether Instagram is right for you. The second decision is about what you can keep doing. There's always going to be an ideal, perfect strategy on Instagram or any platform. All the things that you should be doing.

Ideally, the ideal formats, the things that will accelerate your results. For example, right now, reels are really powerful if you want your account to grow fast. Talking head videos are a pretty good way of building relationships with your audience. But if you can't record Talking Head videos regularly or you dread it so much that you avoid it, then that ideal strategy doesn't really accelerate anything for you because you won't be doing it in six weeks' time, even if you manage to force yourself.

Do some of it now. I'd much rather you get results slowly than you didn't get them at all. So if speaking on camera is just not going to happen, then look at the types of reels that don't need you to speak if you still wanted to use that as a way to grow your audience faster. Think about text on a screen over some b-roll, or your hands demonstrating something while you're teaching, or maybe a screen recording.

If however you find carousels easier to produce than videos, then lean into carousels and just accept that growth will still happen. It'll just be a bit slower. Carousels are great at engaging people on Instagram because once they start flicking through them, they'll be shown it a couple more times until they reach the end of that carousel. The point here is that slower growth still beats going fast for a while and then abandoning it because you can't keep up with it.

And that's another evergreen one, and it applies well beyond Instagram. So the question here isn't which format performs the best. We can find out which format performs the best. It's about which format performs best for you and your audience that you will still be making in six months' time with the consideration of what's working on the platform best at any given time, because that will also help you decide how to use different features.

So the next thing.

that we touched on was audience growth. Let's talk about that in a bit more detail.

Now I touched on it very briefly just now when I talked about reels, so we'll go into it properly. Growth is the thing that most people want. We all we're all looking at that follow account, but it's also the thing that has a lot of noise and fluff around it. So I'm going to try and distill this into what tends to work for tutors. Over the years that I've been using Instagram, I've made well over 150 reels for my own account.

Separately from those, I've been running a batch of trial reels this year that I've made deliberately to test what actually pulls in the right people. Now, if you're not familiar with what a trial reel is, it's a reel that you can publish to non-followers specifically. So your existing followers won't actually see it. It won't show up on your grid unless you enable the option to do that, which is generally not advised. So these reels go out to non-followers, which means

You can really experiment with different formats and styles and messages to see what brings people in and what and to see what people engage with. It's a really good way of growing your audience because it's going to non-followers. So your content is intentionally reaching new people and it gives you valuable data. It also means that you can show up more confidently if you do feel a bit nervous about trying different things in front of your own audience.

It's definitely grown my following with the right kind of follower. They haven't been kind of random people, they've been tutors. And it's given me a good idea of what kinds of formats and topics tend to do well. I tried talking head ones, text over image, B-roll style ones, and I managed to see which ones engaged the most. Now I'm intentionally not sharing my results because I don't want to influence you. You need to experiment and see what works.

For your audience, for your niche, and for your style. Now, a little note on testing. Testing is is pretty important. It's part of it's an important part of figuring out what works on Instagram and social media in general. You know, marketing is one big experiment. And it's better than right than just trying different things without really knowing why one thing in particular worked and why something else didn't. However, a clean test can be really difficult on Instagram. None of us know the exact algorithm, but

Certain trends that people have noticed are things like getting penalized if you keep posting the exact same thing with only a slight variation. Now that would be the ideal test, wouldn't it? So it is difficult to do a very clean test. So let me explain and I'll try and summarize what I've been doing that has actually worked really well as a test. Those trial reels that I talked about, well, I categorised them. And you can do this for your content even if you choose not to do reels.

I basically categorize them into different styles first. So style one might be, you know, a talking head video and so on. And that's the first layer. So it could be a talking head, a B roll with text over it, that kind of thing. So layer one is style of content. And as I mentioned, you don't have to do that with reels. You can do it with different formats like carousels as well. Then with each style of content, so let's say I've

Got my talking head videos, I've tried different content that goes into different categories as well. So within the talking head kind of category, I had problem led hooks, conversational pieces, client wins, that kind of thing. So layer one are the different types of content, like the formats, and then inside that I've got different categories of content that I use for each style. Now that really helped me test what was working because

I could then break down my results by which style of video performed and the best and which kind of topic or style or style of hook performed the best. Now, what emerged for me was that problem-led hooks were outperforming the other styles. And when I say hooks, I'm talking about that opening line. It might be the first screen of a carousel, it might be the opening line of a caption, it might be the first piece of text.

That lays on top of a Talking Head video. It's the first thing people see, and it helps them decide whether they're going to carry on engaging with that one piece of content. So for me, the problem-led hooks outperformed everything else. And it's the kind of hook that kind of names something that the viewer is experiencing, and it performed best regardless of format. So I know that it would work well with reels as well as things like carousels for my account.

Now, when I talk about problem-led hooks, tutors often assume that I mean value content. So, you know, here are three ways to improve your creative writing. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about identifying one problem, one feeling that my ideal client is experiencing. And if you think about it, it kind of makes sense because you may not stop for general tips, but you would stop if someone has immediately captured how you're feeling right now.

So, when you are working out what works on Instagram for you, it's much better to work from your own data rather than generic rules, like here are the best time of the day to post, or here's how many times a day or week you should post. Those can give you a really great starting point if you don't have any data to go by. But you really want to see what works for your audience. At what points are your audience generally more active? You can see that data with a couple of clicks on the platform.

You can also see in Meta Business Suite. Now, the data is is super easy to see. So let's say they are most active at seven o'clock in the evening, Monday to Thursday. You want your content to go out around half six so that it's fresh on their feed when they actually go on the platform. So you can use data like that to steer what time of day you post rather than generic advice. And then you can use that data to keep refining what you're doing.

And how you know how you do that over time.

So I'm going to pause for a second to do a really quick summary because I've covered quite a lot. You need to choose things like your schedule and the style of content that you want to focus on based on something that harnesses your strengths and something that you can really sustain. You may not love every part of it, but it needs to be something that you can keep doing. Now, if you're in the tutor's mastermind,

And you want something that's a bit more action focused to complement this, then head over to the social media section of the training portal. There's a very hands-on training video in there. If you're not in the Mastermind and you want to join, then just go to tutorsmastermind.com. The doors will either be open and you can join straight away, or you'll get the opportunity to join the waiting list. And I'll let you know as soon as the doors next open.

So we have talked about things like

How to decide if the platform is right for you, how to make sure it's sustainable, how to go by your data and how to use learning wisely, not to kind of overlearn and be stuck in that loop. Now let's talk about the quality of your audience. When you are thinking about growth, you really want to focus on quality because it really, really matters. Most of us, most of you who are watching and listening, you know, we're very niche. So you might see a really big influencer, let's say a general business coach.

Getting thousands and thousands of followers. Now I'm never going to get to that number. Not really, because I'm not a generalist. I work specifically with tutors who have already started their businesses and who want to make things more lucrative in a sustainable way. So I'm not only focused on tutors, which immediately reduces the pool of people I'm going to connect with. I'm also focused on tutors who have already got going rather than tutors who are thinking about tutoring and haven't started yet.

So focus on the quality of your audience rather than the following number. Otherwise, it will skew your data. For example, let's say you wrote a post and it reached a certain number of people, then you compared that to your follow account. It can be very demoralizing. You'd be wondering why such a small percentage of your audience are seeing that piece of content or engaging with it. But if you think about it, that's going to happen if the content that you're posting isn't relevant to a large part of your followers.

So, quality and who's following you, that really, really matters.

So, the next thing I want to talk about are the formats, the three formats and why stories actually really matter the most. Now, let's talk about three formats to start with. What should you focus on when it comes to content? So, as you know, reels, which are just short videos, they are your growth engine right now. At the time of me recording this, they are what reaches people who don't follow you.

And remember, at the end of this episode, I will give you a couple of tips so you can stay on top of what works right now as well. Carousels, they're the ones where you've got multiple images and you can combine them with videos as well. You've got these multiple kind of slides, if you like, that people flick through. Carousels are your engagement format. They do less for reach and they do more for depth, and they really suit the kind of content that breaks something down.

They're really good way of drip feeding your message and breaking it down in a way that's really easy to consume fast. Stories, so you know where your profile picture is, and you tend to see like lots of circles with other people's faces. That's where the stories are. And stories are for nurturing your existing audience. Every now and again, I have noticed that non-followers see my stories, but generally speaking, they are there for your existing audience.

And this is the part that I want you to spend some time on if you really want to get the most out of Instagram because it's the most underused thing on the platform by tutors. It's actually where my own client conversations usually start. Stories work best as a blend of three things. You've got behind the scenes stuff, so people see how you work and what you're up to. Personality, so they get a taste of who you are, and selling, which does belong there more often than most tutors are comfortable with.

But the single most important thing about stories is interaction, not views, but interaction. A reply, a poll answer, a question, a message. That's the signal that really matters. And it's the thing that turns a follower into a conversation and a relationship. So build for it deliberately. Use the stickers, the polls, the questions, the sliders, the quizzes, because they lower the effort for the person who's watching. And beyond the stickers, choose topics that naturally pull a response.

It could be a mild opinion, a question that you really want an answer to, something that you're deciding between, or a story with a gap in it that people want to fill. And think about the name of these. They are stories, so tell stories. If you've got a number of stories going, see if you can interlink them so that they tell a slightly larger story. You don't have to overcomplicate or overthink this. This is your place to get really creative and just be free. So the test I would use is this.

After you've posted a story, ask yourself, what's the obvious thing to do in response to this particular story? If you can't answer that, then it's a broadcast. And you know, a broadcast can be useful at times, but without any interaction, you're not really using the stories feature as powerfully as you could.

Okay, I've covered quite a lot. So I'm going to take a really quick moment to say that if you want to carry on this conversation and you want more tips from me and the things that I generally observe, that then come and join my free VIP club. It's my email list and it's where I share things that I don't really put anywhere else. It's the best place to keep in touch with me. I also give you a little reminder of any podcast episodes that you've missed. So you don't even have to worry about keeping up with that.

I've popped the link in the description and it's totally free. Come and join my VIP club. I'd love to see you there.

All right, let's talk about the thing that is the thing that people don't really know what to do with, and it's the part that you could actually use quite powerfully. So we're going to carry on thinking about how to best use Instagram for tuition businesses. And the thing that nobody plans for, and I bet it's happening in your account right now, is that you've built a following on Instagram, doesn't matter about the number.

But a decent chunk of that list are other tutors. Most tutors treat that as a problem. They think that it's the wrong audience and that it's filled with people who'll never book a session or a call or, you know, they're not interested in what you teach. But think about this creatively. Think about what a tutor following you can actually do for you. They could refer the students who aren't right for them. It could be a different subject, a different age group, the wrong time slot, a full diary, whatever.

If they're getting a flavor of who you are and they're connecting and they're interacting with you, then they're going to feel more comfortable to recommend you to one of their parents. It also gives you opportunities for collaboration or even opportunities in general, like stuff that I can't even think of. So it could be a joint live, a shared workshop, a swap where you show up for each other's audience. Just you could go to town with this.

That's the kind of reach that can really accelerate your growth because you're both potentially aiming for the same kind of audience. So it's a really nice collaborative way to grow and to get in front of new people. And these tutors who follow you can also become the people you actually talk to about the work you're doing. That matter so much when you work alone. So rather than wishing them away, build relationships on purpose, reply to their stories, have actual conversations and DMs.

Without an agenda and notice who keeps showing up. It costs almost nothing and it compounds over time. It's a much better use of that part of your audience than being mildly disappointed that they're not parents.

Right, the last thing I'm going to talk about is how to stay on the pulse. I mentioned to you earlier that I would tell you how to stay on top of what's happening on the platform and what the latest feature is, so you're not reliant.

on episodes like this one to understand what's going on. Of course, it's really useful to know how to use the different parts of the platform and how to tailor it for our niche, the education niche, but as I mentioned earlier, right now reels are working, but by the time you watch this, you might be watching a year after, let's say, and maybe reels aren't the hot thing anymore. So here's what to do: watch what Instagram is pushing. The rule of thumb with any platform

Is that whenever it launches a new feature, it gives that feature extra reach because they want people to use it. So being early, being an early adopter for a new format or a new tool, or even sometimes a new trend, is one of the few reliable free wins available on the platform. Also, watch your own numbers. Look at your own insights in the professional dashboard before following someone else's tactical advice or a trend because saves, shares, and messages will tell you more than likes.

If something gets saved, it was useful. If something got shared, it was relatable. Also, watch what happens to your reach when you change something and change just one thing at a time. Otherwise, you'll never know what caused what. Watch your colleagues. Look at other teachers who are doing this well, or even other creators on the platform, and pay attention to what they're doing structurally rather than copying their content. Think about what you can learn from it.

And how you can adapt it to suit you. And finally, this is a really important one actually, is follow the CEO of Instagram. At the moment, he produces quite a lot of content and he talks about what's working and he answers questions. I actually get most of my information from there, and it's probably most more useful than social media people and companies that I get emails from who give me reports because he's telling you specifically this is what's happening on the platform.

So that's Instagram as it stands right now for tutors, and the parts of it that I don't expect to change too vastly. If you take just one thing, you know, only one thing from this episode, then make it that analysis of the effort to result ratio. Does this platform earn its place in your marketing ecosystem based on the effort that you're putting in and the results that you're getting? Because everything else will follow from that answer. Thank you as always for staying until the end.

This is the last episode of the season, so I'll be taking a week's break very soon. But before that, if you're listening, you'll be hearing from me on Wednesday for my short PS episode.