KEY TAKEAWAYS COVERED IN THE PODCAST

• There are 500,000,000 people per day watching Instagram Stories. It keeps you visible and it shows the authentic, human side of your business. Ultimately, it builds a sense of community.
• You need to be using Instagram Stories to be tell stories – the clue is in the name!
• You need to ask yourself who are your audience and what do they get out of your content?
• Instagram Stories is a great place to get personal, showing your personality and your personal side. Whilst you don’t have to share everything, showing a bit of your personal side is great. Remember, people buy from people.
• Don’t just sell your products, show behind the scenes too. Show what goes into it and how you created your product and service. This means you’re not necessarily selling your products, but you are regularly reminding people that they’re there.
• Instagram is a great place to educate your followers and show them that you are an expert in your field. Whether it’s a blog post or an interesting podcast you have listening to, people need to see why you are the expert in your industry.
• Takeovers are a great way to promote your product and service without personally talking about your product yourself.
• Using apps that have layouts and designs, you can create beautiful curated images to share on your Instagram Stories. Great apps to use include Story Art, Unfold, Story Luxe and Story Lab.
• Instagram Story Polls are a great way to get people engaged, even if it is as simple as asking ‘do you prefer cats or dogs?’
• Using the Instagram Stories Question sticker is a great way to get people’s opinions on your business, your products and your services. You can ask people for inspiration or get them to ask you questions about your business.
• Using Instagram Stories to be creative is a great way to stand out from everyone else.

THE ONE THING YOU NEED TO REMEMBER ABOVE ALL ELSE…

If you’re wondering why you should be using Instagram, it is the second largest platform when it comes to social media. There are over 1 billion users, it is owned by Facebook and it is one of the best platforms for engagement.

HIGHLIGHTS YOU SIMPLY CAN'T MISS

• Why Use Instagram Stories – 03:27
• Three Mistakes Businesses Make When Posting Instagram Stories – 04:53
• Tip #1: Get Personal – 06:00
• Tip #2: Create Product Stories – 09:07
• Tip #3: Educate Your Followers - 11:06
• Tip #4: Story Takeovers – 12:02
• Tip #5: Use Instagram Quizzes – 13:32
• Tip #6: Use Curated Images - 15:20
• Tip #7: Instagram Polls - 16:34
• Tip #8: Instagram Questions - 18:00
• Tip #9: Go Live – 20:10
• Tip #10: Get Creative - 21:58

LINKS TO RESOURCES MENTIONED IN TODAY'S EPISODE

• Download ‘5 Easy Ways to Get People On Your Email List’
• Download ‘Your Webinar Blueprint’
• Download ‘How To Create A Highly Converting Sales Page’
• Episode 77 with Mary Hyatt
• Episode 73 with Dill Takes Photos
• Story Art Apple
• Story Art Android
• Unfold Apple
• Unfold Android
• StoryLab Apple
• StoryLab Android
• StoryLuxe Apple
• StoryLuxe Android

Transcript below

Speaker 1: (00:32)

Hello and welcome to this week's episode of the podcast and thank you so much for joining me here. Again, I hope you're having a great week. So this week I've got lots to fill you in on in terms of Instagram stories. I did a talk recently over in Cyprus and I did it all about Instagram stories and I thought I would share some of the content with you because if you follow me and you know me, you know I love Instagram and I love Instagram stories. Not only do I like doing Instagram stories, but also I watch a lot of other people's Instagram stories. I can find myself losing several hours in a day, which is not good, but it's a great resource. I've got some great tips for you coming up. Before we jump into that, I want to remind you that I've got some really, really good things that you can download.

Speaker 1: (01:19)

If you head over to my website to teresaheathwareing.com and on that home page I've got three different things that are really going to help you grow your business. The first one is all about how to get more people on your email list, five easy ways that lots of people miss. The second one is if you're doing webinars and you want a really good webinar blueprint on how to present a Webinar and then sell, so that one's going to be really good for you. And then finally, sales pages. So obviously when we're trying to communicate our product or service online, you might not think you're doing it via sales page, but it is the same principle as doing a sales page. So that download really is a great one. It gives you the key things I make sure I include in a sales page so that you can have a really effective page that hopefully converts people.

Speaker 1: (02:10)

So do make sure you go download those. I've got some other exciting stuff coming up soon in terms of another live masterclass. You know how I loved doing a masterclass? That's going to be in the coming weeks. Obviously if you get one of those downloads and you're going to be told about the master class as well when it comes out, so you'll be the first to know. Okay, let's talk about Instagram. Like I said, if you follow me, you know I am a massive fan of Instagram. I think it's a great platform and I particularly love stories just because they are so easy to do and they're just sort of the most authentic way of showing yourself on social media or one of the most authentic ways. So today I want to take you through 10 creative and unique ways in which you can use Instagram stories to connect and engage with your audience.

Speaker 1: (02:57)

Now just in you didn't know. Let me remind you why Instagram's good. Because if you'll set that thinking, Instagram's not for me, or you know, why should I even consider it that? I want to remind you that there's over 1 billion users that is the second largest platform out there. It's owned by Facebook. It both wanted the best platforms for engagement.

Why Use Instagram Stories

But Instagram stories in particular, why are they so good? So did, there are 500 million people per day watching stories. It keeps you really visible. So on your Instagram app, at the top of your feed is the stories. So basically it's your face or your logo, whatever, with a ring around it. Say, look, she's done a story. So it really is visible cause you're right at the top of the page and it shows the real you. It's so good at showing the human side of you because it's much more authentic because it tends to be much more real.

Speaker 1: (03:54)

It allows users to connect with you, which is great. And it does build a sense of community. So if you like following someone and you'd like their content, then what you're gonna do is you're gonna make sure you see their stories and you're going to feel part of their community and it has a higher engagement than in the feed. So you'll find that I don't post every single day on Instagram. I'd like to, I just don't necessarily get the time. However, I do do stories pretty much most days because the engagement now is way higher and a story than is on the feed and it hasn't been on production. You don't need the fanciest things to create an Instagram story. You can literally just do it with your phone. So I'm going to give you 10 creative and unique ways that you're going to be able to use it so you can connect with your audience.

Three Mistakes Businesses Make When Posting Instagram Stories

Speaker 1: (04:41)

However, before we get started, I wanted to tell you about three mistakes that lots of businesses make when they're doing Instagram stories. Mistake number one, they're caring more about perfection than value. Now I'd like to say that there is times I might fall into this mistake. So I might be sat there thinking where has that rhyme and mega is a bit funny. A background needs to be improved a bit. And I'm worried more about that than necessarily what I'm going to say when I get on there. And lots of businesses do this, lots of people do this with their own social media. They are literally concentrating on looking great and then not thinking about, well what am I actually going to go on and say when I'm on it and is it going to add value? Mistake number two, they're sharing without a strategy. So they're literally sharing anything and everything or sharing really sporadically and then not necessarily thinking about the strategy behind the thing that they're sharing.

Tip #1: Get Personal

Speaker 1: (05:38)

So that's the other thing, cause obviously the whole point in any of these things is to have a strategy because obviously otherwise what's the point in doing it? So then onto mistake number three, they are not telling stories and they, the clue is in the title, it's an Instagram story or a Facebook story. So the whole idea is that you should be telling stories. These shouldn't be random stories that you're putting up that aren't going anywhere or meaning anything or doing anything. So try and imagine about how you tell stories. You want a middle, um, not a medal that was ridiculous. You want a beginning, a middle and an end. So you want those three in order. So are you telling a story when you're going on there or are you literally just putting up a post? So like I said, I just wanted to kind of cover off those things.

Speaker 1: (06:27)

And also one final thing before we get started, I want you to ask yourself, who is your content for it? Who is your audience and what are they getting out of your content? So if they're not getting anything value wise for them, then they're not going to come back and keep watching and listening. So you've got to be thinking, what am I giving my audience by showing them this or sharing the story with them? Okay, now we're ready. So number one, get personal. Now, like I said, one of the greatest things about Instagram stories is the fact that you can come across so authentically. And one of the things that you can do on there is show your personal side. Now how much of that you want to show is entirely down to you because some people will be more comfortable showing not much and others will be happy to share everything.

Speaker 1: (07:17)

And there's no hard and fast rule. It's not like I'm sitting here saying, you must put your children on there and your pets. I'm just saying if you can show a bit of your personal side, then great. So for instance, you might want to share, you know, doing things at the weekend with your family or your dog or going out for dinner or just a hobby of something that you'd like to do. And the reason that this is so good is people like to see the personal stuff. They remember the personal stuff. And it's not just for personal brands or people. So even big businesses can create a much more personal side of their instastories by maybe putting their team on their or their staff or showing behind the scenes. So don't think just because you're a big brand or are you work for a big brand that they can't do that.

Speaker 1: (08:02)

So some of the reasons why getting personally so good or showing some of your personal side is people buy from people. So people like you or don't like you and never a more likely to engage and wants to buy or not buy from you. So, and if they can't see you, then how can they make that judgement ? It obviously makes you more human. So there's an element of trust when I can see that you're turning off on Instagram stories every day or I can physically see you and he you and see your office or whatever, then there's a whole lot more trust there because it does make you more human. It helps to tell the story. So people and faces and speaking is a much easier story to tell. It shows your culture and your ethos. So if you are in a bigger business, it gets that across the, you can see kind of what it's like behind the business and it creates a conversation starter.

Tip #2: Create Product Stories

Speaker 1: (08:52)

So again, sometimes stories really easy to react to and respond to. So it's a really good conversation starter. Okay, number two. Now you tend to be the been good at number one or number two, but not many people are good at both. So number two is product stories. So sometimes I find that some instastories are literally sales sales, sales are sale and some are all personal stuff. And you need a mix of both. But what I want you to think about with your product stuff is I don't necessarily want you to just be selling your product stuff. I want you to maybe be showing behind the scenes showing the details, what goes into it, what's good about it, you know, kind of In-situ depending on what obviously your product or services. So you're trying to show your product or your service in a way that doesn't feel like you're literally going buy my stuff today.

Speaker 1: (09:42)

So try and mix it up a little bit. And again, otherwise you're not telling people what you're doing so you're not actually selling or they're never actually going to buy because they don't see that. They just see the personal stuff. So you do need to tell people what it is you do. Obviously it gives a product insight, which is great. So if you're doing behind the scenes stuff or demonstrating it, then that's great. Behind the scenes of the creation. It's also a great place to address objections. So for instance, you know how, let's take one of my products. So I've obviously of course as an academy online, and someone might say to me, you know, Teresa, I don't have time to do your academy. I want to do it, but I just don't have enough time in the day. So that's an objection as to why they might buy.

Speaker 1: (10:26)

So for instance, if I didn't insta story saying and talking about, you know what the beauty of my product is, it's that you can pick it up and put it down whenever it's that you can go at your own pace. It's that it's always available for you. It's Dah, Dah, Dah, Dah, Dah. So you're able to address some of those objections before they've even really got into it. So that is definitely a really good one to do. Also, if it's a physical product, they can see what they get and you can film it and you can share around and it can be really interactive. Okay. So like I said, the first two tend to be the ones that everybody, you either do one or the other and not many people necessarily do them both. So I want you to think about them. The next one, number three is I want you to educate your followers through your instastories.

Tip #3: Educate Your Followers

Speaker 1: (11:09)

This is a great place to show people that you're an expert at what you do. So for instance, you might put up a blog post. You, I obviously promote my podcast through my instastories. So I will create specific videos that are insta story shape and I'll put that in if you're doing a masterclass. Again, I've done that many times. Um, if you are doing a challenge, so put those things across to say, look, I know what I'm talking about. Also, it doesn't even have to just be your stuff. So if I've been listening to a podcast or a book and it's amazing, I might insert a story about that saying, if you like what I do, you might like this too. So those are really, really good ones too to have a look at as well.

Tip #4: Story Takeovers

Number four, story takeover. Now I don't know if you've ever thought about doing this, but story takeovers are really, really good.

Speaker 1: (12:00)

So this is where you get someone else to take over your Instagram story for the day. Normally it's a day, and you could use either an influence that if you were working with influencers, you could use an employee, you could use a sort of member of the team or someone a bit different. And what this tends to happen is, especially if you're using an influencer or someone who uses your product, the chances are they're going to tag themselves in these posts and you're going to be doubling up in terms of your reach. Well, hopefully doubling up and if they've got a bigger audience than you, than even better. So the idea is they will go