➡️ Show your face as a business owner
➡️ Use a mixture of different styles of stories, grid posts and reels
➡️ Test your content to see what works best
In the last episode of Season 3, Jenny French, Instagram Trainer and Social Media Strategist shares her advice and actionable tips to make an impact with your podcast on Instagram.
Learn how to make a Story Sandwich using the powerhouse combo of grid and story posts and how to optimise your profile for maximum impact.
About Jenny
Jenny is a qualified Instagram trainer and social media strategist who works with small business owners to help them to tap into the power of Instagram for business to get more clients and customers. Her practical training and support will take the mystery out of Instagram and teach you how to effectively use it to grow your business.
Come follow me on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/jennyfrenchsocial/
Browse my Instagram online training services https://jennyfrenchsocial.co.uk/
If you have any questions or would like some help with your podcast, book a podcast enquiry call.
Can I ask a favour?
If you enjoyed the episode, I'd love it if you could leave me a review.
You can leave one here
Thanks so much!
I'd love to connect with you on social!
You can find me on:
Want to start a podcast, but not sure where to start? Download my free Podcast Playbook Get clear on your ideas!
Need some extra support? Book a 90-minute Podcast Strategy Session
Struggling with your podcast promotion? Grab my Easy-Peasy Podcast Promotion Checklist here!
Hi, and welcome to podcasting one on one with Rachel.
Rachael Botfield:This podcast is for busy female entrepreneurs who run their own
Rachael Botfield:businesses and want to start a podcast or who may already have a podcast.
Rachael Botfield:I want to share practical information and tips on how you can get your podcast
Rachael Botfield:started and managing it along the way.
Rachael Botfield:I'll also be interviewing other female podcast hosts to give you real insight.
Rachael Botfield:Hi, and welcome to the episode today, we're going to be talking about
Rachael Botfield:how to make an impact on Instagram.
Rachael Botfield:I'm joined by Jenny French, Instagram trainer and self confessed Insta geek.
Rachael Botfield:We are going to cover the first steps you can take and what
Rachael Botfield:type of content works well.
Rachael Botfield:Welcome Jenny.
Rachael Botfield:Hi, Rachel.
Rachael Botfield:Thank you very much for having me.
Rachael Botfield:I'm really excited to dive into all things Instagram today.
Rachael Botfield:So first question, I just wanted to know a little bit more, let everybody
Rachael Botfield:know a little bit more about you.
Rachael Botfield:So why Instagram?
Rachael Botfield:What made you decide to niche into Instagram?
Rachael Botfield:Oh, great question.
Jenny French:So yeah, I qualified as a social media strategist.
Jenny French:A few years ago now, so my business is five years old and I was doing
Jenny French:four platforms, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram, and I just
Jenny French:decided that I needed to niche down.
Jenny French:Um, I did an exercise actually.
Jenny French:Um, on profitability and it showed that I wasn't making enough profit
Jenny French:and that my time was my biggest suck.
Jenny French:So how could I reduce my time was by reducing the amount of bespoke
Jenny French:resources that I was producing.
Jenny French:So to niche down into one.
Jenny French:Saved loads of time.
Jenny French:So I had a discussion and I decided to pick my favorite baby
Jenny French:and pick my favorite platform.
Jenny French:And it was where the most creative as businesses were, uh, they were
Jenny French:the clients that I was enjoying working with the most were, Instagram
Jenny French:was their majority platform.
Jenny French:So I decided to just go for it, but I was terrified, Rachel.
Jenny French:Uh, I thought I was going to lose all my clients cause I was training on multiple
Jenny French:platforms with my clients at the time, which I did continue to do for some time.
Jenny French:But all the new clients were Instagram only.
Jenny French:And I thought I wasn't getting any new clients, but it was the exact opposite.
Jenny French:The moment that I actually announced I was going Instagram only, I had an
Jenny French:influx of requests and bookings, which was fantastic because I think when
Jenny French:you become known for something, um, it becomes easier for people to decide
Jenny French:to work with you on that one thing.
Jenny French:I mean, I used to say to the clients, like, They were my followers and
Jenny French:things like, you could have had just Instagram only on its own.
Jenny French:They were like, Oh, we thought you'd make us do others, you
Jenny French:know, do other platforms, which obviously wasn't the case, but
Jenny French:yeah, that's why I chose Instagram.
Jenny French:It was my favorite platform.
Jenny French:Um, and it was where the businesses I enjoyed working
Rachael Botfield:with, um, were hanging out.
Rachael Botfield:I love that you have niched, uh, down into just Instagram.
Rachael Botfield:And like you said, it makes it so much easier for people to, to find
Rachael Botfield:you and know exactly what you are known for and picking the one that
Rachael Botfield:you got the most joy out of and where you knew that people were creative.
Rachael Botfield:Cause I definitely think that Instagram is that.
Rachael Botfield:creative platform.
Rachael Botfield:That's always what it was pioneered for originally, especially with
Rachael Botfield:all the pictures, the lovely pictures of food and all those
Rachael Botfield:kinds of things where it started.
Jenny French:Well, it did start as a photo sharing app, you know,
Jenny French:and then only recently has the explosion of video happened on here.
Jenny French:But you don't have to be a creative business to be on Instagram.
Jenny French:You can be a more traditional professional services on Instagram.
Jenny French:You just need to use it creatively and you need a visual to go
Jenny French:with what your messaging is.
Jenny French:So if you can find a way to do that, then Instagram could be a platform for
Jenny French:you if your ideal audience is here.
Jenny French:And that's the key.
Jenny French:Your audience has to be here.
Jenny French:In order for you to put the time, effort
Rachael Botfield:and energy into it.
Rachael Botfield:Absolutely.
Rachael Botfield:That's one thing when considering where you're going to be promoting
Rachael Botfield:your business and your podcast, whether you are multiple platforms or whether
Rachael Botfield:you have picked one, picking the one where your ideal clients hang out.
Rachael Botfield:Um, for me personally, I, um, focus on LinkedIn, but I know lots of people focus
Rachael Botfield:their efforts into Instagram as well.
Rachael Botfield:And that is.
Rachael Botfield:The primary reason why I wanted to get you on here to share your expertise.
Rachael Botfield:And for those of you that are listening, that your ideal listeners, your ideal
Rachael Botfield:clients are hanging out on Instagram, and you want to know how you can make
Rachael Botfield:more of an impact with your marketing.
Rachael Botfield:So firstly, um, like we mentioned earlier, I'd love for you to tell us
Rachael Botfield:the first steps you can take to kind of getting going with Instagram or
Rachael Botfield:refreshing your profile, if you've been there for a while already.
Jenny French:Yeah, I think you've hit the nail on the head there.
Jenny French:This comes down to your profile.
Jenny French:When somebody visits your profile, you've got seven seconds to make
Jenny French:an impact, and they will decide either to follow you or not.
Jenny French:Don't be scared about the knot.
Jenny French:Yeah, that's true.
Jenny French:But the only time I would say be scared of the knot if, is if your profile and
Jenny French:your content looks like a dog's dinner.
Jenny French:You probably need a little bit of work.
Jenny French:But if they're following you because They don't like what you do or what
Jenny French:you sell, or they don't like the type of content you're producing.
Jenny French:They're not your ideal audience, so it's okay for them to bounce out.
Jenny French:People often say to me, oh, but I want everybody who visits to follow me.
Jenny French:You actually don't.
Jenny French:You actually just want the people who are interested in you, your
Jenny French:services, what you sell, to follow you.
Jenny French:They're your ideals.
Jenny French:That's what we're after.
Jenny French:We're not after the tire kickers who may give you a follow but
Jenny French:never engage with anything.
Jenny French:You want people who are going to be genuinely interested in what you do.
Jenny French:So how do you do that?
Jenny French:Well, so you've only got this seven seconds to grab us.
Jenny French:So you need to be super clear in this profile section exactly what
Jenny French:you do and how you can help people.
Jenny French:So you need to have a clear profile image.
Jenny French:And if you are a.
Jenny French:business owner.
Jenny French:You are a one man or a one lady band.
Jenny French:Then have a photograph of you because it helps us to connect
Jenny French:with you, the business owner.
Jenny French:I love to see a name in the name field.
Jenny French:So obviously Jenny or Rachel, and then What you do, because that
Jenny French:name field is keyword searchable.
Jenny French:So if you want to be discovered and somebody is looking for a dog trainer
Jenny French:in Manchester, if you have dog trainer Manchester in your name field, that is
Jenny French:the bold section on your name field.
Jenny French:Um, Instagram profiles.
Jenny French:So when you're looking at your Instagram profiles, look at the bold bit.
Jenny French:So for me, I've got Jenny French.
Jenny French:I've got Instagram trainer and reels coach.
Jenny French:Have what you do in that name field to make you more discoverable,
Jenny French:um, and be found more likely.
Jenny French:So we've got a clear profile image.
Jenny French:We've got a really clear name field of what you do, and then in the bio, that's
Jenny French:the section of writing underneath the name field, you want to make sure in
Jenny French:that 150 characters that you're telling us what you do or sell, who you are,
Jenny French:and show us a little bit of personality.
Jenny French:That would help Make you want to follow you.
Jenny French:Keep your sentences short rather than, you know, really long paragraph.
Jenny French:Well, you can't do it too long.
Jenny French:It's only 150 characters, but you know, you don't, we are skimmers
Jenny French:here on Instagram and you want to make sure that it's easily skimmable.
Jenny French:So very short sentences.
Jenny French:And I suggest putting bullet points for these.
Jenny French:You've got four lines that are visible on the mobile.
Jenny French:App, you've got five on the desktop version before it truncates.
Jenny French:So you get these dot, dot, dots, and then you can tap on that
Jenny French:to open up to see more lines.
Jenny French:But ideally, try and keep it to the top four lines about everything
Jenny French:that you are, you do, how you help people, how you can buy from you.
Jenny French:Keep it.
Jenny French:In that full top four lines and it helps by using emojis down the side
Jenny French:to relevant emojis to your business or maybe they are a color that your
Jenny French:brand is, you know, represented by.
Jenny French:And it just makes it much more easily skimmable.
Jenny French:There's actually a whole entire science of emojis, would you believe?
Jenny French:Oh wow, that's interesting.
Jenny French:Yeah, yeah, about how in text they help to anchor your eye, help it skim more.
Jenny French:And without even knowing it, those images, are subconscious references
Jenny French:about what you might be talking about.
Jenny French:So they're useful to, to use if relevant, or if not, just use
Jenny French:sort of a bullet point type.
Rachael Botfield:Yeah, little arrow or finger
Jenny French:point
Rachael Botfield:or something
Jenny French:like that.
Jenny French:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Jenny French:So if there's not, you know, like if you're a landscape
Jenny French:gardener, you could have different plants down the side, you know.
Jenny French:You know, you can use them relative to your, um, industry.
Jenny French:And then you've got, now this doesn't really make an impact as such, but if
Jenny French:somebody likes what they see, they want to check you out more probably after
Jenny French:they've followed you, you know, you've got this seven seconds, they've decided that.
Jenny French:Yeah, they're interested.
Jenny French:They've looked at your profile and they've scrolled up and down
Jenny French:the first section of your content.
Jenny French:They may even have clicked into some of that top content.
Jenny French:For example, the top three.
Jenny French:are often highly clickable posts.
Jenny French:So on those top three, you actually want to include some
Jenny French:really good content at the top.
Jenny French:There are ways that people can work with you, perhaps maybe ways to sign up for
Jenny French:your newsletter, what you're going to get in your newsletter, any free lead magnets.
Jenny French:That you've got at the top, maybe a, a personality post about you so we can get
Jenny French:to know you, but you want to, if they're interested, have a, a suitable link that
Jenny French:they can go and check more information.
Jenny French:So we now have the option to have five clickable links
Jenny French:in that link in bio section.
Jenny French:It only ever used to be one.
Jenny French:Um, so this is a brilliant addition.
Jenny French:So things that you want to put in there.
Jenny French:On your website, your podcast link, you could even link to the latest episode
Jenny French:If people, 'cause people are truly lazy here, like on all social media platforms,
Jenny French:we want it handed to us on a plate.
Jenny French:If we have to go and click in and then search for something, we're gone.
Jenny French:Yeah, absolutely.
Jenny French:We are lazy toads, so we need to.
Jenny French:Give them everything that, you know, at hand.
Jenny French:So if you want to put your latest podcast episode, um, there that you're, you know,
Jenny French:you're trying to promote, then put that there along with the general podcast link.
Jenny French:Cause they might want to go binge more.
Jenny French:Your freebie, your lead magnets, your latest blog, maybe
Jenny French:sign up to your newsletter.
Jenny French:So ways that they can.
Jenny French:Delve deeper if they really liked what they saw.
Jenny French:So those five links in your bio, although it's not impactful, it
Jenny French:makes a big difference to you.
Jenny French:If you're getting web traffic from those links in your bio.
Jenny French:And as I mentioned, the.
Jenny French:Top three posts are most clicked upon when you've got just seven seconds to,
Jenny French:you know, have a quick look at something.
Jenny French:So make them really good posts at the top and there's this pin function.
Jenny French:I was
Rachael Botfield:just going to ask that about, um, pinning those
Rachael Botfield:posts to the top of your grid.
Rachael Botfield:So you've got those, those ones there, those will be the
Rachael Botfield:ones that people click on.
Jenny French:Yeah.
Jenny French:Yeah.
Jenny French:And by the act of pinning them, keeps them there.
Jenny French:So as you produce new content, it just sits below those top up to three.
Jenny French:You don't have to have three.
Jenny French:You've got the option to pin up to three on the top of your
Jenny French:grid, on the top of your profile.
Jenny French:And, and maybe we should talk about whether you should have your own
Jenny French:account for your podcast, or should it be part of your business podcast?
Jenny French:So for me.
Jenny French:If your podcast is about your business, then it should be a
Jenny French:part of your overall offering.
Jenny French:However, if you are a VA that has a passion for fishing and your
Jenny French:podcast is about fishing, yeah, then you would have a problem.
Jenny French:Your own, you know, separate accounts about your fishing podcast, which you may
Jenny French:talk about your obsession in, uh, maybe an about me post, um, and, you know,
Jenny French:you could then mention that they can go and listen to a podcast about fishing.
Jenny French:I don't know why I picked fishing.
Jenny French:But there you go.
Jenny French:No,
Rachael Botfield:but it's a good, it's a good point though,
Rachael Botfield:because it was one that I'd.
Rachael Botfield:Cause when I first started, um, my first podcast was about virtual assistants and
Rachael Botfield:I was a VA and I actually had a separate, I had my profile and then I had a separate
Rachael Botfield:one for the Virtually Inspiring podcast.
Rachael Botfield:And I found it very difficult to kind of keep up with, obviously I wanted
Rachael Botfield:to post on the Virtually Inspiring, but I had more people following me.
Rachael Botfield:On my pro and so it was like, Oh, I'm transferring all these and it's like,
Rachael Botfield:am I doubling up on content then and then possibly share the same thing?
Rachael Botfield:And if the same people are following the podcast as you, they're then getting
Rachael Botfield:double the amount of same content.
Rachael Botfield:So, um, I think that's a really good, um, point to make is actually make it,
Rachael Botfield:you know, and, and here we are talking about podcasts for your business,
Rachael Botfield:having it all on the one profile.
Rachael Botfield:It, it doesn't make a lot more sense to do it that way.
Rachael Botfield:Thank you.
Rachael Botfield:Yeah,
Jenny French:absolutely.
Jenny French:And I think I like to think of it as it's like a service, you know, it's
Jenny French:one of your services that you offer.
Jenny French:It's a way for people to connect with you more.
Jenny French:So you promote it like you would promote a service.
Jenny French:So, you know, Pick a, like for me, I've got like an Instagram audit, for example.
Jenny French:I promote that service.
Jenny French:I also need to promote my podcast.
Jenny French:Treat it like a service where you talk about it often in lots of different
Jenny French:places across Instagram, because there's lots of different placement areas.
Jenny French:Because some people don't always just come to the grid.
Jenny French:Some people just watch Instagram stories now.
Jenny French:So you need to be talking about your podcast.
Jenny French:In all the different placement areas.
Jenny French:Um, so yeah, promote it like you would promote it as a service of your business.
Rachael Botfield:Yeah, it's, um, I think sometimes we get caught up
Rachael Botfield:in how much should I promote it?
Rachael Botfield:Like how many posts should I be doing?
Rachael Botfield:How many, I'm obviously like you said, there's different ways.
Rachael Botfield:There's a grid, there's reels, there's stories.
Rachael Botfield:So in what ways and how many ways should I be promoting them?
Rachael Botfield:I mean, there is that stat, and I've said this, I think I said this a lot,
Rachael Botfield:but, um, That, uh, only something like 4 percent of your audience sees
Rachael Botfield:your posts, you know, at one time.
Rachael Botfield:So you'll think, or something, quite a low percentage.
Rachael Botfield:So actually Yeah, a small percentage.
Rachael Botfield:When you think that you're being too repetitive and too many posts about
Rachael Botfield:it, actually, perhaps it's not enough because you've done the one post and
Rachael Botfield:actually Not many people have seen it.
Rachael Botfield:So therefore you can use it again or repost it and things like that.
Rachael Botfield:So I'd love to know then like what type of content works well and where like you
Rachael Botfield:said, because it's the three different.
Rachael Botfield:I want the DMs, I suppose that could be, you know, if you're having
Rachael Botfield:conversation, would that be clusters?
Rachael Botfield:I suppose that's, yeah, that's a conversation really, isn't it?
Rachael Botfield:Rather than a, Promote the content there.
Jenny French:It's not a place to put content.
Jenny French:No.
Jenny French:Publish content to, but it's a vital part.
Jenny French:It's, that's where the magic happens.
Jenny French:Yeah.
Jenny French:. Yeah.
Jenny French:Because if someone has engaged in your, so the dms usually happen
Jenny French:from stories, so Instagram stories.
Jenny French:are when you open your app, they're the circles that sit at the top and
Jenny French:they are short pieces of content up to 60 seconds long and they
Jenny French:disappear after, after 24 hours.
Jenny French:So if someone has liked something that you've put in your, in your stories
Jenny French:content, they may DM you because directly below the story, you've got a comment box.
Jenny French:So, you know, if you put up a story about something you did that was
Jenny French:really interesting over the weekend.
Jenny French:I, I put up, we went to a.
Jenny French:National trust property at the weekend.
Jenny French:And it was gloriously sunny with amazing bluebells in the woods.
Jenny French:And I had lots of people DM me saying, Oh my God, that was gorgeous.
Jenny French:Like, and it's not, and it's about connection.
Jenny French:You know, I don't work for the national trust, but it's about me, my personal
Jenny French:life, what's going on behind the scenes.
Jenny French:And it helps to connect on a human level.
Jenny French:So DMs are great.
Jenny French:And those people who replied and said, Oh my God, that looks beautiful.
Jenny French:What a gorgeous afternoon.
Jenny French:You know, little chats.
Jenny French:I was like, Oh, what did you do at the weekend?
Jenny French:It's a back and forth conversation in your DMs.
Jenny French:But let's go back to the placement areas.
Jenny French:So you've got many.
Jenny French:Let me, let me list them first.
Jenny French:I'm not going to cover them all because some of them are So you've
Jenny French:got the grid content, you've got stories content, you've got live
Jenny French:content, which does end up then sitting on your grid as a saved video.
Jenny French:But you've also got something called broadcast channels, where you can
Jenny French:put Um, written, um, messages.
Jenny French:You can create videos in there.
Jenny French:Um, people have to sign up to it and then they get that information and
Jenny French:it's actually delivered via your DM.
Jenny French:Um, so that's called a broadcast channel.
Jenny French:So you might want to be telling people about, I don't know, your latest
Jenny French:workshop or if you're going to an event, you know, there's lots of things that
Jenny French:you can use broadcast channels for.
Jenny French:There's also something new.
Jenny French:Well, new ish.
Jenny French:It was new, but not loads of people had it and they are rolling it out.
Jenny French:It's called notes and they're like little speech bubbles above
Jenny French:your user profile and in your DMs.
Jenny French:Yes, I have spotted that.
Jenny French:I wondered what they were.
Jenny French:Yeah, I have spotted that.
Jenny French:I thought, Oh, why am I?
Jenny French:Yeah, use those for sort of, think of them like a WhatsApp message.
Jenny French:You know, if it's things like, final day to sign up for my, uh, workshop on X.
Jenny French:Um, think of them like that type of thing.
Jenny French:They're short, they're text only, I think at the moment.
Jenny French:And, yeah.
Jenny French:They, that's where they sit, but when something new comes
Jenny French:out, they get used loads, but they're not Massively well used.
Jenny French:You've got to think about your time and energy with this, you know Where
Jenny French:do you want to place your energy for maximum effect and maximum impact?
Jenny French:So I don't have the notes functionality yet.
Jenny French:I will use it Occasionally when I get it I also don't have the broadcast channels.
Jenny French:I'm not entirely sure I'm going to set one up, but other social media
Jenny French:professionals do use them for updates for things, but I, I'm going to use my
Jenny French:stories for that, I think that's why I use one part of my content on stories
Jenny French:is about updating what's changing on the Instagram platform on there.
Jenny French:So I'm going to cover.
Jenny French:Live stories and grid.
Jenny French:So what type of content works well?
Jenny French:So for live, this is you going live a bit like this podcast.
Jenny French:You're, you know, talking around, uh, one thing I would suggest that you would pick.
Jenny French:Some people hate that talking out into the mass, like feeling
Jenny French:like there's nobody there.
Jenny French:So if that's you, and you don't really want to talk on your own, Invite a guest
Jenny French:and have a chat like this around a theme.
Jenny French:Say for example that guest has a certain skill set, you might
Jenny French:want to ask them about that that could then benefit your audience.
Jenny French:So for example, in the past I've done lives with website experts, uh,
Jenny French:video experts, copywriters, where my audience can learn something from them.
Jenny French:We usually cover maybe two or three things in that live.
Jenny French:You don't want to have it too long.
Jenny French:Um, and it's a nice chat back and forth.
Jenny French:Your audience can learn something.
Jenny French:And it's the only content where you are notified about it.
Jenny French:So if somebody is going live and you're on your phone, You'll get a notification that
Jenny French:says Rachel Botfield is now going live.
Jenny French:And then it's encouraging you.
Jenny French:Like, I can't tell you the amount of times I'm like, Ooh, really?
Jenny French:And I've tapped into that notification and I watch a couple of minutes of that
Jenny French:person's life and then I'll pop out.
Jenny French:Sometimes they're really good that I've popped into and I'll then think to myself.
Jenny French:I'll go back and watch that because when you've done a live, it then
Jenny French:saves to your grid as a video.
Jenny French:So you can go back to watch the rest of it if you wanted to.
Jenny French:So live is really good, but I appreciate it's super scary.
Jenny French:Like, there's probably the scariest content you're going to create, really.
Jenny French:Then you've got your grid content.
Jenny French:So this can be made up of three different types of posts.
Jenny French:You've got single image.
Jenny French:You've got reels, which are videos, and you've got carousel posts.
Jenny French:So these are the multiple image or video posts that you swipe across.
Jenny French:They're a bit like a PowerPoint, you know, that you can sort of swipe across.
Jenny French:I affectionately call them swipey posts, but they're called carousel.
Jenny French:Um.
Jenny French:So, those three different types, three formats, use them all.
Jenny French:So, what makes an impact is trying things out.
Jenny French:You know, try reels, try a carousel post, use single image.
Jenny French:Having a variety keeps your audience interested.
Jenny French:If you only ever.
Jenny French:Produced single image graphic content that, you know, your, your audience
Jenny French:would know you, they would know your type of content and if they love it, great.
Jenny French:But if it's not 100 percent their cup of tea, you know, they're not necessarily
Jenny French:going to stay around and engaged with you.
Jenny French:So, my advice is, the idea that you had for that single image,
Jenny French:maybe it can be done differently.
Jenny French:You can take the same message and perhaps expand it into a multiple
Jenny French:image carousel, or you can even include videos in that carousel.
Jenny French:Or, could you turn that into a reel?
Jenny French:A talking head reel, for example, of you talking about that one
Jenny French:thing that the post was about.
Jenny French:So, there are lots of different ways that you can take your ideas but
Jenny French:produce the content in differing ways.
Jenny French:Variety is the spice of life,
Rachael Botfield:really.
Rachael Botfield:Yeah.
Rachael Botfield:That's what I was just going to say, it's important to get that variety because
Rachael Botfield:I think as well, it kind of shows your creativity as well, and I think that
Rachael Botfield:there are equal benefits to each of those types of posts, like for your podcast,
Rachael Botfield:a carousel post would work really well for the key takeaways, and then you
Rachael Botfield:could include a little short Video or you could put an audiogram in there.
Rachael Botfield:I think Reels work really well for audiograms as well.
Rachael Botfield:Whether that's a video clip or whether it's a static image, which then you can
Rachael Botfield:put little things on, um, for the Reels.
Rachael Botfield:I say things, you know, like the actual, make them look pretty and have those.
Rachael Botfield:And then also grid posts, you know, are, are have their place as well with the
Rachael Botfield:static image saying maybe coming soon.
Rachael Botfield:So I think that.
Rachael Botfield:That shows a great variety and, and ways that you can put your content
Rachael Botfield:into different ways to have that.
Rachael Botfield:I, I like, I, I really love the Carousel place.
Rachael Botfield:I remember when they first came out, I really enjoyed.
Rachael Botfield:And, and I love that you can now incorporate video into them because
Rachael Botfield:you couldn't to start with, could you, but now you can do video.
Rachael Botfield:Yeah,
Jenny French:yeah, yeah.
Jenny French:And, and I, I think it makes it interesting.
Jenny French:And, uh, I, I love a carousel.
Jenny French:I love a good carousel that teaches me something that I'm
Jenny French:going to learn something from.
Jenny French:Maybe a how to step by step guide or an educational one that's going to, you
Jenny French:know, tell me about something that, you know, like your key takeaways from that.
Jenny French:And, and I'm going to be hooked then.
Jenny French:I want, I'm going to then want to go and have a listen to that podcast
Jenny French:to get more information about it.
Jenny French:Yeah.
Jenny French:It could be used like a teaser, isn't it?
Jenny French:It could be, or, you know, you can literally tell us everything in
Jenny French:that carousel if you wanted to.
Jenny French:Reels dominated for quite some time on Instagram because they
Jenny French:made it an algorithmic preference.
Jenny French:So they came in August, 2020.
Jenny French:And at that time, that idea was stolen from TikTok.
Jenny French:They wanted short form video over here.
Jenny French:And it was a case of all other content received less distribution.
Jenny French:Than reels.
Jenny French:They prioritized reels distribution over other content to encourage it
Jenny French:as a content format on Instagram.
Jenny French:So if you were producing it, I mean, some of the first reels that I was
Jenny French:making was get, were getting huge amounts of reach, not so much now.
Jenny French:So they came to a point where they had to balance it back out a little bit better.
Jenny French:There is still a slight preference.
Jenny French:Reels in terms of the algorithmic distribution, but it is nowhere
Jenny French:near what it was back then.
Jenny French:So for me and my clients that I work with, Reels still outperform other
Jenny French:types of content, but not all of them.
Jenny French:100 percent across the board.
Jenny French:So carousels, uh, as we were talking about, can be absolutely brilliant for
Jenny French:that because when you swipe across, you're spending more time on that post.
Jenny French:If you are reading everything on those, um, slides that acts as an engagement
Jenny French:trigger, so the longer you linger, um, And get to the end, the key is
Jenny French:getting to the end of the carousel.
Jenny French:So when you get to the end, that also acts as a bit of a trigger.
Jenny French:The, this post is entirely engaging and what you'd like people to do is then like
Jenny French:it perhaps or leave a comment about it.
Jenny French:And that increased engagement does help.
Jenny French:So, some carousel posts can perform really well.
Jenny French:I've had carousel posts as well as some reels, but on the whole,
Jenny French:I would say reels perform better.
Jenny French:Storytelling works brilliantly.
Jenny French:On single image, carousels, break it down into sections and reels.
Jenny French:So if you can incorporate any sort of story, your journey, you
Jenny French:know, or the process that you go through with a client telling that
Jenny French:story, that works really well.
Jenny French:And then let's talk about stories content as a placement option.
Jenny French:Area on Instagram.
Jenny French:So stories, as I said, are these circles at the top of your feed when you open
Jenny French:the app and they only last for 24 hours.
Jenny French:They're very much more informal type content.
Jenny French:Show us behind the scenes content.
Jenny French:Is that B-roll?
Jenny French:Like B-roll con?
Jenny French:Is it what they, is that the new?
Jenny French:I've heard a lot of people talk about B roll.
Jenny French:It's . Okay, so B roll.
Jenny French:It's slightly different.
Jenny French:That really would go in your real content.
Jenny French:So B, B roll is video.
Jenny French:The, the message, the point of your post, it isn't really showing you that.
Jenny French:So for example, you could have a post of a maker creating the product.
Jenny French:That post is about that, you know, that process, that
Jenny French:product, but you can have B roll.
Jenny French:With you sitting, scrolling on your phone, a video of you sitting, scrolling on
Jenny French:your phone with a message of, you know, don't forget to book in for You know,
Jenny French:next week's nail appointment or, you know, it can be, it can be promotional
Jenny French:content with a different message.
Jenny French:It's not really about what you're seeing, that person scrolling on their phone.
Jenny French:It's, it's called incidental video.
Rachael Botfield:Oh, okay.
Rachael Botfield:So it, Like a random video, but what has a specific message on top.
Rachael Botfield:Oh, I see.
Rachael Botfield:Whereas stories, you're really showing what it's like behind the scenes with you,
Rachael Botfield:either personally or in your business.
Rachael Botfield:Okay.
Rachael Botfield:Yeah.
Rachael Botfield:So B roll video sits
Jenny French:very much in the reels camp.
Jenny French:Right.
Jenny French:Stories.
Jenny French:So it can be photographs of what's going on.
Jenny French:It can be you doing a talk to camera about something.
Jenny French:So, yes, Jay.
Jenny French:I was talking about writing a proposal on my stories.
Jenny French:Um, the day before I was talking about preparing this podcast.
Jenny French:Um, so it can be photograph, it can be a video and it's much more informal.
Jenny French:Don't think it's polished content.
Jenny French:Like it really doesn't have to be.
Jenny French:It's just a way to really super connect with that business owner.
Jenny French:So I have.
Jenny French:See, marketers are great to be marketed to.
Jenny French:Like we are a sucker.
Jenny French:Like I have bought things based on people's stories because I love the person
Jenny French:I, the brand is okay, the product is okay, but I've bought a sweatshirt from someone.
Jenny French:The sweatshirt's fine, but I love this business owner.
Jenny French:Like I want to support her, you know, so, and she does that
Jenny French:by sharing her everyday life.
Jenny French:What's going on for her, her family, if you're happy to share that, you
Jenny French:know, what's going on, you know, the latest designs, the shoot,
Jenny French:maybe behind the scenes of the shoot and things that's going on.
Jenny French:So I have definitely bought more than one occasion.
Jenny French:Things from people because I've built relationships with them in stories,
Jenny French:not just because of their grid content.
Jenny French:But the absolute powerhouse is a combination of grid and stories.
Jenny French:And when you use those two to sell Stories can be amazing.
Jenny French:So, you can add more information to your grid posts.
Jenny French:So, your grid post goes out, tells you what you're getting
Jenny French:for this particular service.
Jenny French:Then you can come on and explain in more detail, either through written
Jenny French:text, you know, explaining in a little bit more detail, giving a case study.
Jenny French:Even of, um, you know, people who've had this service before.
Jenny French:You can even share links in your stories.
Jenny French:Yeah, I love that feature when they brought that out.
Jenny French:Yeah, to click through to find out more.
Jenny French:But I find it really fantastic for Adding that extra meat to the bones
Jenny French:of what your service can be about.
Jenny French:And I'm going to give a shout out to a particular client of
Jenny French:mine who does this brilliantly.
Jenny French:So if she's got a particular program coming up, she'll do the grid post and
Jenny French:she'll do some stories first saying, you know, I've got this service coming up.
Jenny French:And, uh, you know, if you're interested, if you.
Jenny French:This would be ideal for, and then shout out those types of people,
Jenny French:like who your service is ideal for.
Jenny French:And then she'll post, share her post to her stories that gives
Jenny French:that summary of information.
Jenny French:And then she'll come on afterwards and talk about, you know, other
Jenny French:people who've done this service, who've got great results from it.
Jenny French:And it's a really powerful mix when you are selling from
Jenny French:your grid to your stories.
Jenny French:And she has signups from her stories a lot because she uses the combination of both.
Jenny French:Um, so it can be a mix of the behind the scenes and connecting with that
Jenny French:business owner, but you can also
Rachael Botfield:use it to sell.
Rachael Botfield:I'm just, I think that that could work really well for your
Rachael Botfield:podcast in the way that you have.
Rachael Botfield:Your grid, you could come on talking about the episode that's coming up.
Rachael Botfield:Some of your favorite bits, or maybe an anecdote about the episode, then
Rachael Botfield:have a static graphic, perhaps in your grid with all the information on there.
Rachael Botfield:And then go back in your stories and talk about, you know, actually,
Rachael Botfield:maybe pull out something to maybe talk about in more detail.
Rachael Botfield:So I can see how that could be really powerful.
Jenny French:Yeah.
Jenny French:So you do a teaser.
Jenny French:So in that, I call these story sandwiches.
Jenny French:So the filling in the middle is your post that you're sharing, either the
Jenny French:post, single image post, carousel, or reel, whatever that is, that's the
Jenny French:middle bit you're filling, and you've got two bits of bread either side.
Jenny French:So your first story in that story's set is a teaser.
Jenny French:To that particular guest or point that you were talking about, you can put on
Jenny French:something called an engagement sticker.
Jenny French:So these are like the sliders where Oh yes, we want to
Jenny French:get an opinion from someone.
Jenny French:You can put a poll up where you can put, you know, do you want to find out about
Jenny French:how to, we know, um, you did another, um, podcast about LinkedIn, for example.
Jenny French:So it was how to make.
Jenny French:In an impact on LinkedIn with Elaine, wasn't it?
Jenny French:So you could put this, I'm giving you an example for your stories here, Rachel.
Jenny French:You could put in story one, if you enjoyed Elaine's podcast about how to
Jenny French:make an impact on LinkedIn, you may like my latest podcast with Jenny about how
Jenny French:to make an impact with, on Instagram.
Jenny French:And then you can put a poll up that says, Would you be interested in this?
Jenny French:And you can put, yeah, heck yes, as a lot option.
Jenny French:And the second option is, I'm not, Instagram's not for me, you know,
Jenny French:or something like a, you know, another option for them to click.
Jenny French:Then you know, who's, you can actually go and check on your Instagram stories,
Jenny French:who has voted what, which is wonderful.
Jenny French:Then your filling.
Jenny French:So that was your top slice of bread.
Jenny French:Then you've got your filling, which is sharing the, this, this, this, Post that's
Jenny French:about how to make an impact on Instagram.
Jenny French:And then the second, the third one, the bottom part of your bread
Jenny French:is Will you go and watch this or will you go and listen to this?
Jenny French:And you can put a slider engagement sticker on with like a thumb emoji that
Jenny French:you can slide all the way up to the end.
Jenny French:Yeah, not if you're not interested.
Jenny French:So you can have what I call a story sandwich to get more engagement because
Jenny French:these engagement stickers, you have to, you don't have to do something, but
Jenny French:if your audience wants to engage with them, it all adds towards engagement.
Jenny French:So yeah, definitely do try out a story sandwich where you, not just, because
Jenny French:you see so many people's stories where they're just like, New post, you're like,
Jenny French:tell me something about it, like, why do I need to go in and see this, like,
Rachael Botfield:Why do I want to go look at the new post?
Rachael Botfield:Yeah, why do I need to go?
Rachael Botfield:Would you post it, so would you do the story, like, Do the story post
Rachael Botfield:the thing and then do the story like immediately after or is it like does
Rachael Botfield:it have to be, I might just think of attitude literally in time wise.
Jenny French:No, no, no, I like literally, that's fine.
Jenny French:So I would create a grid post.
Jenny French:Yeah.
Jenny French:So create a grid post, whatever that, whatever format that is, then
Jenny French:go into your stories, do story one.
Jenny French:Right.
Jenny French:The, you know, the teaser, then share your post because it's just been posted.
Jenny French:Ah, okay.
Jenny French:So it's ready.
Jenny French:It's ready.
Jenny French:And then you share the third story.
Jenny French:Okay.
Jenny French:All in one go, in one time frame.
Jenny French:Right.
Jenny French:So you do.
Jenny French:So, you know.
Jenny French:Yeah.
Jenny French:Upload them one after the other.
Jenny French:Back to back.
Jenny French:Back to back.
Jenny French:Yeah, you're not doing teaser on day one and like 18 hours
Jenny French:later then you share the post.
Jenny French:You want them all to appear up in the same way.
Jenny French:They do all
Rachael Botfield:three.
Rachael Botfield:Bye.
Jenny French:Yeah.
Jenny French:Yeah.
Jenny French:Yeah.
Jenny French:In that same time frame.
Jenny French:There's some ways that you can make an impact with your content on Instagram.
Jenny French:Rachael Botfield: Hopefully that was useful.
Jenny French:Yes.
Jenny French:There was lots of information there.
Jenny French:I love going into the detail because sometimes it is really
Jenny French:difficult to know exactly what works and you know, what doesn't work.
Jenny French:Especially like for me, I don't use Instagram as much anymore.
Jenny French:Um, I have been speaking to, um, another podcast manager that she uses,
Jenny French:um, her stories like that and her DMs.
Jenny French:She has a lot of conversations.
Jenny French:So she's actually now focused solely on Instagram because she has such
Jenny French:great conversation with people.
Jenny French:She has like, um, her grid posts and then she has her stories to connect with
Jenny French:people and that works brilliantly for her.
Jenny French:So I think that if that is something that you're interested in with
Jenny French:Instagram, And if you like Instagram and that's where your people are, I
Jenny French:would definitely experiment with those types of posts and see what works.
Jenny French:And I do, I've always thought, um, for when I did use it, that
Jenny French:stories did work quite well.
Jenny French:I did used to get some engagement from those.
Jenny French:Um, and I love the stickers and you can put the links on there and stuff.
Jenny French:Those are great features.
Jenny French:So, um, would definitely, if everybody, um, is using it.
Jenny French:If you're listening, give those a try.
Jenny French:And also we'd love to hear about how you get on.
Jenny French:If you've given some a try and love you to either DM me or email me or
Jenny French:something, just to let me know what you thought and how it's worked for you.
Jenny French:And also, can I,
Jenny French:can I offer that if anybody is like, okay, I listened to
Jenny French:the podcast, but I really don't fully understand what you were talking about
Jenny French:with a story sandwich, for example, in that example, I will happily give you
Jenny French:a direct example that you could use.
Jenny French:So feel free to DM me.
Jenny French:I'm on at jennyfrenchsocial on Instagram.
Jenny French:So come and give me a follow and ask questions.
Jenny French:I am more than happy to answer questions if anything's come up of
Jenny French:like, Oh, I don't quite understand this.
Jenny French:Yeah.
Rachael Botfield:Just message me and I'll explain more.
Rachael Botfield:Oh, wonderful.
Rachael Botfield:We'll pop Jenny's, we'll put all of Jenny's links anyway into the show notes.
Rachael Botfield:I'd love to end the episode on, I mean, you've already given us so much great
Rachael Botfield:advice and tips here, but do you have a top takeaway, um, for everyone today?
Rachael Botfield:I would
Jenny French:say if you want to make an impact on Instagram,
Jenny French:you need to show your face.
Jenny French:So showing your face on Instagram, whether that's a photograph.
Jenny French:Or a video in a reel, or in stories which will disappear after 24 hours.
Jenny French:It helps to connect your audience to you, otherwise your account
Jenny French:becomes, well it is faceless.
Jenny French:Um, we don't know you the business owner.
Jenny French:We don't connect with you as much.
Jenny French:So there's so much science about the power of showing your face.
Jenny French:It creates much deeper, faster connections.
Jenny French:And in terms of your engagement on your content, you, if you show your
Jenny French:face, you can get up to 38 percent more likes and 32 percent more comments.
Jenny French:I mean, that's a whole third extra engagement because you're
Jenny French:choosing to show your face.
Jenny French:And often this can be the difference between someone choosing you and
Jenny French:someone choosing someone else.
Jenny French:Like I explained about this woman's sweatshirt, it's a
Jenny French:perfectly decent sweatshirt.
Jenny French:It's not going to rock my world, but I adore her.
Jenny French:Because I have got to know her, the person, and that all
Jenny French:started from showing her face.
Jenny French:So, definitely show your face and connect with your audience.
Jenny French:And you can do that through photos and videos.
Jenny French:I've actually got an extra one I've just thought of.
Jenny French:You know, you're talking about top takeaways.
Jenny French:Can I have two?
Jenny French:Yeah, of course, of course.
Jenny French:The other one is, I'm telling you lots of things you can try.
Jenny French:But what works for one account doesn't work for every account.
Jenny French:So my next top piece of advice is actually test, test, test.
Jenny French:So test the different format types.
Jenny French:Test posts, reels, carousels.
Jenny French:What works better?
Jenny French:You know, maybe you could test posting at different times of day.
Jenny French:Are your audience online more in the morning or at lunchtime or in the evening?
Jenny French:So don't be scared.
Jenny French:to test and try things and don't be afraid to experiment with your content and mix
Jenny French:it up because you may just discover a way to connect with your audience that brings
Jenny French:a whole new, you know, connection level.
Jenny French:It can be very scary mixing things up and giving things a try.
Jenny French:But, some things, I am not gonna lie, will flop, okay?
Jenny French:And others will outperform things that you think.
Jenny French:The ones that I always think, oh, I'm gonna try this.
Jenny French:I've been in the shower, I've thought of this content idea and it's taken
Jenny French:me 10 minutes to make, okay, and it's flown and you're like, Oh wow, this is,
Jenny French:you know, a fantastic piece of content.
Jenny French:And the one I've spent two and a half hours crafting,
Jenny French:I just, that amount of time.
Jenny French:But you know what I mean?
Jenny French:The one that I've literally given blood, sweat and tears to.
Jenny French:And it may not flop, but it may not perform how I hoped it would.
Jenny French:So just test it.
Jenny French:Test, test, test is my, one of
Rachael Botfield:my big
Jenny French:mantras.
Jenny French:That
Rachael Botfield:is great advice, Jenny.
Rachael Botfield:Definitely testing, getting curious about what works and what doesn't
Rachael Botfield:work and what has, I mean, sometimes.
Rachael Botfield:There's no explanation why some posts on a certain day might do really well and what
Rachael Botfield:resonates with that person on that day.
Rachael Botfield:And then also showing your face, you know, podcasting itself is a way for
Rachael Botfield:you to get that deeper connection with your audience and to go that extra mile
Rachael Botfield:in terms of sharing your knowledge and your expertise, but also giving them, um,
Rachael Botfield:it also I find helps especially coaches that, um, Connect between wanting to work
Rachael Botfield:with them and maybe someone else, but also then you can, you can capitalize
Rachael Botfield:on that with your Instagram in that way.
Rachael Botfield:Can't you?
Rachael Botfield:And then show your face.
Rachael Botfield:even more on Instagram to help increase that connection between them getting
Rachael Botfield:to know you and you're offering them an extra way to come off platform of
Rachael Botfield:Instagram and join you on the podcast.
Rachael Botfield:Yeah, but they will only, you know, compliment each other, getting your
Rachael Botfield:face out there and getting people.
Rachael Botfield:And that's so interesting that it's quite a big difference that 32 or 33 percent
Rachael Botfield:you said about if you see your face, extra engagement, that's, it's quite a big,
Jenny French:Yeah.
Rachael Botfield:Big, um, yeah, yeah.
Rachael Botfield:Yeah.
Jenny French:It's a big increase, isn't it?
Jenny French:And I think it needs to be part of your content strategy.
Jenny French:It needs to be part of your content plan to make sure you are showing your
Jenny French:face, that you are visible, you are the face of your brand, if you are a brand.
Jenny French:A solopreneur, it's vitally important, especially if you're someone that we
Jenny French:need to trust in order to buy from you.
Jenny French:So if you are a coach, for example, like we need to trust you.
Jenny French:We need to know you are the person for us.
Jenny French:And one way you can do that is by showing your face and revealing
Jenny French:more information about yourself.
Jenny French:You know, it helps to make those, we're all human.
Jenny French:And we're after this human to human connection and our brains
Jenny French:are hardwired to seek out faces.
Jenny French:So yeah, my two takeaways, show your face,
Rachael Botfield:test, test, test.
Rachael Botfield:Brilliant.
Rachael Botfield:Thank you so much, Jenny, for sharing all of your knowledge
Rachael Botfield:and expertise with us today.
Rachael Botfield:I would encourage everybody to go and follow Jenny on Instagram.
Rachael Botfield:I will leave the links in the show notes for you to easily do that.
Rachael Botfield:And I would also love to hear from you.
Rachael Botfield:If you enjoyed this episode, pop us a little review or a comment on Spotify.
Rachael Botfield:Um, and I'd love to know, we both love to know how you get on with
Rachael Botfield:your testing and experimenting.
Rachael Botfield:So thank you so much, Jenny.
Rachael Botfield:You're very welcome.
Rachael Botfield:Thank you for having me.
Rachael Botfield:It's been lovely chatting with you as always and take care everybody
Rachael Botfield:and we'll see you next time.
Rachael Botfield:Thanks for listening to the show.
Rachael Botfield:If you'd like to connect with me or get in touch then head on over to my website.
Rachael Botfield:If you liked the episode then I'd love it if you could leave me a
Rachael Botfield:review in your chosen podcast app.
Rachael Botfield:Your feedback is much appreciated.
Rachael Botfield:See you next time.