009: How to Make Using Instagram for Business Fun

Welcome to another episode of the Free and Fearless podcast. Today we’re talking about using Instagram for business.

Many of you have asked me questions about Instagram, how I use it, how I create the graphics, how I grow my audience, how I feel good about showing up there often and how I decide what to post about.

There’s a lot going on for me there lately so I wanted to record a whole episode on that and talk about not just using Instagram for business, but actually having fun doing it.

Because if you’re just pushing yourself to be there, doing what others are doing, posting too much or too little, comparing yourself to others, sliding into people’s DMs and feeling salesy, well something is just not right.

Tune into the episode below:

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Show Notes:

[07:07] How I used Instagram before vs now & why I deleted my personal account
[08:52] How I set a clear intention for social media & why that matters
[11:49] The tools I use to create graphics
[13:38] When I post and how often
[16:28] How to decide what to post
[19:12] How I organize my feed & what matters more than aesthetics

Mentioned:

How to Use Instagram for Business

I’ve used Instagram for business a few years ago but then I was doing completely different things from now. I was posting motivational quotes and my content was related to personal development.

I wasn’t showing my face and got a certain amount of followers, but it just didn’t lead to anything. It was absolutely pointless.

So I left it behind and literally didn’t even log into my business Instagram account for around 1,5-2 years.

During that time I was using my personal Instagram account but not that much, and I was growing my blogging business.

But in 2020 I decided to finally get out of my comfort zone, focus on branding and marketing, and just get out there.

One of the decisions I took, other than re-branding my site and starting the podcast, was to also go back to using Instagram for business. I wasn’t sure how to go about. An I was also having a hard time managing my personal account and the business one, as I didn’t want people from my personal to know about my business one, and vice versa.

That was actually causing me stress so I had some final decisions to make as I didn’t wanna spend time switching between accounts and hiding from some people while engaging with others.

I knew I wanted to go all in on my business and didn’t really enjoy using my personal account, so I deleted it. I focused solely on the business one, only followed people I admire and wanna learn from and started connecting with like-minded women, people from my audience and just other business owners.

Setting a clear intention for Instagram

I came back to my business account with a fresh perspective and with new energy. I wasn’t gonna use it for money and didn’t wanna become any sort of influencer and work with brands on social media.

I had another intention, and setting your intention before you do anything is important. I wanted to use Instagram for branding and to connect with people. And that’s exactly what I got.

In the beginning I wasn’t sure what to post, what colors to use, how to share my content from the blog on my Instagram as there was only the bio link available. But I wasn’t in a rush to start posting often so I began observing, deciding who I don’t wanna be on that platform, and going with the flow.

I showed my face more often and created more graphics and quotes that inspire and educate, cause that’s the content I wanna be associated with.

I wasn’t even sure what exactly to write in my bio and most people just assumed I was starting a business now, or was a coach.

Later I did figure it out and I created my mission statement, added a sentence to my profile saying who I wanna help, and used the ‘Name’ field to add my first name and what I do. It now says ‘Lidiya, Blogger and Course Creator’, cause that’s what I am.

My nickname has always been @letsreachsuccess, so feel free to find me and connect if you’re active there. I didn’t rename that as my business is still about my content, not that much about me even though I’m showing more of myself now.

I also have many resources to share so it made sense to create the so-called link tree, but on my website.

What I mean is, to get all my most important links in one place, and share that URL in my bio link.

So I published a new page on my site. The web address is letsreachsuccess.com/ig. It was important to make it pretty and super simple, and it’s meant for Instagram users who click on it so the name says it all.

I created it with Elementor, which is a free WordPress website builder, and it’s simply a page that shows my picture and all the important links I have to share with people.

These can change over time, but usually it’s the blog, the podcast, the latest interviews, my About page, a page with all my courses in one place, and one or two freebies, usually the newest ones.

The tools I use to create graphics

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Many people reached out on Instagram to say they like my feed and the vibe and the content, and I love hearing that so thank you. It all came naturally, there was no actual strategy or plan, and that’s why I’m enjoying more than before.

I already had my main brand colors on the blog as well as the topics I cover, so it made sense to just keep sharing that but on Instagram and in a format that does well there.

I posted more pics of myself at first, but didn’t really enjoy that. Even though I can provide value and share tips in the caption, I also wanted the visual element to be educational or inspiring or both.

For the actual graphics, I use Canva. It’s absolutely free and it’s a big part of my business as I’ve used it for all other visual elements I have.

They have Instagram templates and you can create stories, quotes, reels , graphics or whatever comes to mind in a matter of minutes. Then you download it and post it on Instagram.

I also joined a stock photo membership and paid for lifetime access for it last year. It’s called Styled Stock Society.

Thanks to them I have access to many, many stock photos as well as Canva templates. And they add new ones weekly.

That definitely saves me time and helps me to stand out with graphics that I wouldn’t really create myself as I’m just not a graphic designer. But you don’t need to invest in that and Canva is more than enough.

If fact, you can create a few templates and simply use different text, pictures and colors on each, and have brand consistency on your feed.

When I post and how often

As for the time of posting and how often, I usually try to get 1 Instagram post out and publish it in the morning, between 8 and 11 am. As I’m in Europe, though, that means the afternoon for me.

Before you have an engaged audience, the time of posting won’t matter much. Once you do have p