Building Trust with Your Instagram Tribe
Pink. Orange. Yellow. All blending into each other with fiery tones and tenacity.
The sunsets are amazing. Stunning, really. I remember the first time I saw one, I was dumbfounded for a moment.
The view from my husband’s family’s cabin on the U.S. side of Lake Ontario is magnificent to any of us lucky enough to visit there. The somewhat rustic structure that is his cabin isn’t what’s valuable, though. It is the place where it is located. If his family had built the same cabin on rented land, then the generations who have come to enjoy this place might never have had the chance.
Long ago the landlord would have called in their property to sell it for millions, uprooting the life and moments built there.
Never. The land must be owned, cherished, and cared for. For many generations to come. (You can almost see an American flag rising in the background, can’t you? Funny, because one time my cousin-in-law painted one on the cabin’s roof, but that’s a story for another day.)
The concept of building on rented land is one that too many companies forget when it comes to building their business. If you are reliant on Google traffic, Facebook ads, your Instagram audience, or any one media channel to reach your audience, then you are playing a daily game of Russian roulette.
If you aren’t diversifying your traffic sources and capturing contact information quickly, you are risking losing your business every single day. At any moment the social media channel may shut down, may kick you off, or may change format. If you rely on one traffic source, at any one moment your whole business could be demolished.
When speaking of the one-source traffic issue, Dan Kennedy says it best, “One is the loneliest number.” (Yes, Three Dog Night said it first, but Dan made it about marketing, which is my jam.)
First, resolve to use more than just one media source for traffic. Just using Google AdWords? Expand to Facebook ads, guest blogging, networking, and/or public speaking, for example. Make sure there is more than one way for you to acquire new customers so if any of them disappear tomorrow, you haven’t disappeared as well.
Second, quickly obtain your prospects’ contact information and move the conversation outside of your lead source. Once you know who they are and how to reach them (mailing address, email address, and/or phone) you own the contact, you no longer have to pay to access them, and you aren’t at risk each time your lead source changes.
Third, use more than one media source for communication. Don’t rely on just Instagram posts, emails, or a monthly newsletter. Effective marketing is multichanneled for saturation of your market and protects you if there is ever a drastic change to your marketing platform (such as being locked out of your email provider; it can happen easier than you think).
You have the link in your bio as step one, but where should it go?
Reinforcing what Billson shared at the end of Chapter 6, the next step after your Instagram page is to give value to your prospects through ungated content. Send your audience to an article that is useful. Share a piece of content that is relevant and congruent with what you will be selling down the line.
One of our private clients, sales coach Stephanie Chung, blogs about selling when you aren’t the cheapest option. Her blog posts alone have resulted in high-end clients from around the world and even a column in Inc. Sharing relevant content with your audience is a profitable way to grow your business.
BLOGGING TO CONVERT INSTAGRAM FOLLOWERS TO CUSTOMERS
If you don’t yet have a blog, make sure to create this asset immediately. It doesn’t have to be complicated. In fact, I put together a ten-minute blog plan below so you can get started fast. No excuses.
No longer do you need to get on Oprah to get your message out. No longer do you need to get a spot on The Today Show or win a big award to dominate your market. Now, you can reach people around your neighborhood, country, and world with your messaging. You can take them seamlessly from Instagram to your blog and effectively build a tribe of loyal followers.
Stephanie Chung shared with me what has organically come to her because of her blog. “A company recently hired me to do a few coaching sessions for their U.S. sales team due to the blog [post] that you had written for me [“How to Close More Sales Even When You’re Not the Cheapest”]. That same [post] also caused a gentleman from Slovenia to reach out to me to inquire about my training services. Slovenia! Wha, wha??
I only share this story because I know how committed you are to results, so I wanted to make you aware of the “results” my blog has produced. Bravo!”
With a blog, you are able to position yourself as the authority and expert in your market. This allows you to increase the attraction to your perfect prospect, decrease the time needed to close a sale, and increase the amount of money you receive from each customer.
According to HubSpot’s “The Science of Blogging,” over 409 million people view more than 22.2 billion pages each month. In fact, 46 percent of people read blogs more than once a day.
As I wrote in the Introduction, over the past six years, my business went from bankrupt to booming and one of the biggest factors was writing my weekly blog posts. Without fail, I post at least once each week. Not only has it helped build our email list, I receive client inquiries each month and comments and messages reinforcing the power of this medium.
Ready to Begin Your Blog?
Here’s how to get started quickly:
1. Open up a Leadpages account. While you will eventually want to build out a full site, gives you the chance to get started in a matter of minutes so you can post right away. Use this special link and receive a lot of special bonuses, including a free giveaway you can use to build up your email list: https://my.leadpages.net/wl/elite-bonuses/
2. Choose “Use Template” and choose the “Native Ad Landing Page” from Charles Kirkland.
3. Now it’s time to update the page.
a. Change the “Your Logo” to your logo if you have one. If not, you can hide that spot.
b. In the upper-right-hand corner, describe who your blog is for.
c. Change the title to the name of your first article.
d. Change the date to today’s date.
e. Write your article or post in the space where there is text.
f. For the image, I love using Word Swag. It is a $4 app for your iPhone or Android and is full of stock photos for no extra charge. Make one with your title on it, again to make the page look even more professional (see Figure 7–1).
g. Add a link at the bottom for where to go next. If you have a Contact Us page or giveaway to get opt-ins, that works great. If not, you can simply send them to your Facebook page or LinkedIn profile. Just make sure you always give them a place to go next because if they get all the way to the bottom, that means they are interested, and you want to be sure to leverage that. See Figure 7–2, page 125.
h. Then save, and publish.
i. When you do, you will get a URL (see Figure 7–3, page 125). This is where your blog post now lives.
FIGURE 7–1. Here’s an Example of a Post Created Using Word Swag.
You can share the link with friends and family to start gathering readers, or you can even publish right to Facebook using the Facebook button—a fantastic option if you are just starting out. Eventually, if you open a WordPress site, you can repost this article to that page. See Figure 7–4, page 126, for a completed Leadpages project.
FIGURE 7–2. Here’s a Post with a Link to Facebook.
FIGURE 7–3. Once You Get a URL Similar to This One, You Can Begin Using It Right Away.
What to Write About
Not sure how to structure your blog? Here’s my formula for successful blog writing:
Establish the Problem. In this step you need to establish the problem your target market has. This is where you want to reference those pain points so your reader understands that your article pertains specifically to them and solves their problems.
Teaser. This step is crucial and one that most people miss when they are writing their blog post. Here you want to hint at “the better way.” This is where you give a hint at the problem’s solution but not give it away.
FIGURE 7–4. This Is an Example of a Piece Completed with Leadpages.
Reveal the Solution and Why They Should Care. After you have given a teaser of how to solve the problem, you want to lay out the solution and why they should care.
Social Proof/Case Study Story. This is another one of those components that most people leave out of their posts, but it’s one of the most important to include because it’s where you build credibility and position yourself (or the author) as an expert. This is where you want to include an example, story, or case study you’re involved in. This builds trust because it’s social proof.
Call to Action. This is the most important part of the whole shebang! At the end of your post, you want to give the reader a call to action. This is where you tell them exactly what to do. This should relate to the overall sales goal you listed. For example, if your overall sales goal is to have someone claim membership, at the end of the post you should prompt them to claim their membership (see Figure 7–5).
FIGURE 7–5. Offering Value-Driven Content.
On average, your prospects see 3,000 messages a day. Cutting through that clutter can be tough, especially when your prospects are prone not to believe you. Research shows that only 14 percent of your audience believes the messaging you put out. In good news, however, is 78 percent believes anonymous peer reviews. (Think Hotwire user reviews on a hotel’s website.) And in even better news, you can use this statistic to your advantage.
One of the best pieces of content you can put out is content about your clients. I don’t mean sappy testimonials that just tout how awesome-sauce you are (you and I both know this is true, but your audience doesn’t believe it). Instead, post editorial-style Q&As with your clients and then showcase these in:
1. Your printed newsletter each month (see Figure 7–6).
FIGURE 7–6. We Publish an Interview with One of Our Marketing Insiders Elite Members Each Month in Our Newsletter.
2. Facebook Live Video. Talk-show style, interview some of your best clients in quick segments on Facebook (see Figure 7–7).
FIGURE 7–7. Whenever We Are at a Trade Show and One of My Clients Is There, We Pull Them in for a Facebook Live Video.
3. A social media post (see Figure 7–8).
FIGURE 7–8. Highlight Partnerships with Your Clients in Posts That Celebrate Their Success.
4. A premium opt-in giveaway. Feature your success in your content giveaways (see Figure 7–9).
FIGURE 7–9. One of Our Best Lead Magnets, “7 Winning Facebook Ad Templates,” Is a Showcase of Our Successful Client Campaign Work.
5. Last step—get started! You have all the tools you need, so set a timer for ten minutes, and write your first blog post!
Please don’t skip this step, OK? When you have launched your blog, Tweet, Instagram, or Facebook a link to your post and hashtag it #InstagramforBusiness. I will re-share your link with my audience and enter you to win one of over 100 prizes we will give out to readers. So get writing and posting—I’ll be watching for your blog and rooting you along. You’ve got this!
In the next chapter, discover how to take all of that traffic and your opt-ins and drive them to successful email campaigns.
THE DOS AND DON’TS OF EMAILING YOUR LIST
Cheap, quick, trackable, and easily measured: These are just a few of the reasons why email is the number-one marketing channel for most businesses. When it comes to making your Instagram marketing turn a profit, becoming more effective at email marketing is what lies between you and success.
The reality is you cannot copy what other people are doing. Not ever, because most of them are doing it wrong. And a duplicate of something that isn’t working isn’t going to magically start providing success.
Instead, apply effective direct-response marketing tactics to your email strategies to realize the highest ROI possible.
Effective email marketing starts with getting the voice, tone, and topic on-point. If you miss the mark there, you ruin your chances of turning your prospect into a customer for life. I like to start the process of creating an email campaign by thinking of my personal relationships. (Don’t worry, this isn’t another crazy dating story.)
I am blessed to have a few best friends for whom I would totally jump in the car for at any time of day or night with whatever supplies they asked me to bring, even if it included rubber gloves and a garbage bag, and would not ask any questions but would be sure to bring wine with me.
One of these friends is my girl Brittney. She and I were first introduced by someone else one night in Palm Beach, Florida. (This is when I actually used to go out past 7 P.M. and frequented places that don’t give out paper menus and crayons.) When we were first introduced we didn’t take a warm shine to one another. We totally didn’t click.
But then after running into each other a few times and having more conversations—letting each other into our lives, seeing that we were on the same page for most things (except football—she follows it, I only watch it for the commercials), we became friends. We became closer over the months that followed, so much so that later that year when I met Ian and he went from a date to fiancé, I asked Brittney to be one of my bridesmaids. She is now an auntie to my girls and one of my dearest friends. We both know where the bodies are buried and nothing—no matter how gorgeous or delicious the bribes may be—will ever get us to uncover them.
Our friendship is probably very similar to yours in that the more we shared with each other and the more value we gave to one another, the more our relationship grew.
The same is true of the members of your tribe. Giving them value and opening yourself up to them over time will help you build a strong relationship of trust. It is through building this trustful relationship that you can move to the next step of making the sale.
So when you begin to create your email content, I want you to think of one of your best friends. If they had a need you could help them solve, how would you do it? What would you tell him or her? What might they ask that you could answer?
Begin to write your content as if you are helping that best friend with a problem. The draft should make sense if you sent it directly to him or her instead of to your entire list. Write with genuine authenticity and your messaging and its sincerity will come through to resonate with your target market.
Start by simply following these steps:
1. If (insert friend’s name) has a need for (my product, program, or service), what questions would she ask me? How I would I answer them? Make a two-column list, one column for questions and the other for answers, of ten such questions.
2. Flesh out each of your answers into emails.
3. Pull out quotes from your blog posts and turn them into Instagram posts.
4. Use www. to have someone create the images for you, or use the Word Swag app to create them yourself.
Now you are ready to put out authentic and valuable content that is congruent from your Instagram account to email. You have authentic, engaging, and meaningful content for your target market to begin to nurture them and build trust. I even bet you will find this process easy because when you can just be yourself, help out with the thing you know well, and have a sense of purpose, things are just easier.
That being said, there are a few additional things to keep in mind when it comes to your email.
Personalize
The more personal your email can appear, the more effective you will be. Use personalization tactics, such as including the person’s name in the subject line and a couple of times in the email. You can also mention the name of their town or company or spouse. Depending on the customer database and the email marketing program you use, personalizing an email is as simple as putting a few merge fields in before you send it out.
Recently I received an email from DigitalMarketer that was so clever (see Figure 7–10).
FIGURE 7–10. An Email from DigitalMarketer.
FIGURE 7–11. This Is a Screen Shot of a Subscriber’s Complimentary Post that I Incorporated into an Email.
Check out how they personalized the subject line and the message. I mean, they probably should have had Ryan Deiss’s name in the email, too, as a signature, but the short and sweet nature of this email and the personal touches certainly got my attention.
Are you getting complimentary posts from your subscribers? Snag screenshots of what they are saying and sprinkle them throughout your emails as social proof of the good work you do (see Figure 7–11). Nobody wants to be the first to work with you. They all want to know that other people like them have chosen to do so.
Incentivize posting and sharing of your email content on your email subscribers’ social network accounts. Encourage them to use a hashtag or certain phrases and to share your emails with others. I give away free reports, ebooks, and other goodies to those who share emails, and you can do the same to create a team of ambassadors on behalf of your business.
Test Different Times and Days of the Week to Send Messages
Most email programs come with analytics to show you which day is the best day of the week and time of the day to send emails to your specific audience. Once you’ve sent enough to collect data, that is. For my business, Tuesdays and Thursdays work best, but that isn’t always true even. (Confusing?!) One of my best-performing emails was sent on a Friday at 5 P.M. There is a data point going around that the best time to send is 4:30 A.M. CST, and a fast-track to deletion is from 1 to 2 P.M. CST. The truth of the matter is, there is no absolute. Check out your own numbers and go with what works best for you.
Formatting Hacks
We have tested this a bunch and a bunch more. The best performing emails are ones with images to a video with a play button on it. Second best are text-only emails. Also, a letter format versus a designed newsletter tends to do better. Really, anything that seems more personal generally outperforms a super fancy-schmancy corporate-looking newsletter.
Subject Lines
I think an entire book could be written about subject lines. There is incredibly fascinating psychology behind why some words move us to open an email and others don’t. A few subject line ideas:
Numbers. Try using unusual numbers, which seem more specific and come across as more authentic. For example, 743 pairs of shoes are better than 1.
– 8,213 vs. 8,000
– $3,218 for my first customer
– How I paid 17 cents for my new car
Question marks. Test ending your subject line in a question mark. Good idea? Yes, yes, it is. Curiosity and intrigue entice your reader to click open the email. In addition, it interrupts the pattern of other emails that aren’t ending their subject lines with punctuation.
– Black or blue?
– Will this work?
– Did you get your investor’s funding kit yet?
– Seriously?
Percentages. Percentages versus absolutes help to make a fact more believable, 95 percent of the time. (Get what I just did there?!) Test putting a percent into your subject line.
– Only 14 percent of your readers believe you.
– 99 percent of people dieting need to do this.
– 87 percent of business owners are doing this wrong.
Video. Include a video image in your email and allow the reader to know that it awaits them inside your email. Placing “[VIDEO]” in your subject line is a great way to add interest and a visual interrupt to other emails on the page. Let’s face it, we’re all a bit lazy and most would rather watch a video than read a book. Even a book as awesome-sauce as this one.
– 7 Blog Ideas [Video]
– A 10-Minute Ab Workout That Is Actually Fun [New Video]
Incentive. Let your audience know something amazing is waiting inside the email for them. Drive their click by enticing them with value. (This is why I always get sucked into buying the foundation AND the eyeliner at the beauty counter. I covet the free lipstick. Never mind that I just spent $300. The free part and gift situation are what drive me forward.)
– 7 Deadly SEO Mistakes (Free Report)
– Facebook Live Video Template (Free Template)
RE. Use the Re: when you are following up with someone. This one is super successful, but should only be used sparingly or else your audience will catch on. (Kind of like my threats to my children that I will tell Santa not to come. Kind of.) This does tend to increase conversions when you send it, so pick your best time and fire away!
Personal Pronouns. As I shared above, the more personal you can make it, the better. Using “You,” “Your,” etc., creates a unique sense of speaking directly to the reader.
– Why YOU need to update your profile
– The mistake you are probably making with your budget
– Did you know this?
Confusing, shocking, or just plain weird subject lines. It is why the Enquirer or the even weirder World News still exist. I get some of my weird titles from. Current titles on this page include:
– The Perfect Hoodie for Anyone Who Just Can’t Bear to Leave Their Cat
– Man Bitten on Penis by Spider for the Second Time This Year
– Woman Pays Through the Nose to Punch Martin Shkreli in Face
– Steve the Cat Has Achieved His Lifelong Goal of Becoming an Honorary Lamb
– This Piano-Playing Chicken Will Knock You Over with a Feather
When all else fails, go negative. This is why when there is a car crash on the highway, everyone slows down. We can’t help but stare at the tragedy. This is not a statement on us as a population or culture. Just a reality of who we are.
– Things are bad—(maybe)
– Don’t take it personally but—
– I hate technology
– I’m sorry
Borrow credibility from another source. Utilize something other people might know in your email subject line.
– What Mark Zuckerberg Knows
– The McDonald’s Way
– Steve Jobs WAS WRONG and You WERE RIGHT
Celebrities are killer for open rates. My best-performing email open rate of all time came from, “What Oprah got wrong and Ashton Kutcher got right.” My second best was, “How Obama did it.” We as a population cannot get enough of celebrity pop culture. Use it to your advantage.
– Be the Taylor Swift of Your Newsfeed
– What Justin Bieber Just Bought
– Kristen Bell Wants to Partner with YOU
In the next chapter, we will dive into how to get our audience to the next step of the customer lifecycle—one I have lovingly come to know as my favorite—the sale.
#INSTAGRAMFORBUSINESS POSTABLES
Make sure there is more than one way for you to acquire new customers—so if any of them disappear tomorrow, you haven’t disappeared as well. #InstagramforBusiness
With a blog, you are able to position yourself as the authority and expert in your market. #InstagramforBusiness
Formula for effective blog posts: Establish the problem, tease that there is a better way, reveal the solution and why they should care about it, offer a social proof/case study, and finish with a call to action. #InstagramforBusiness
Research shows that only 14 percent of your audience believes the messaging you put out. The good news, however, is that 78 percent believe anonymous peer reviews. #InstagramforBusiness
Begin to write your content as if you are helping your best friend with a problem. #InstagramforBusiness
Resource spotlight: Visit www.UGIGBook.com to see a training video with Dave Dee, sales and marketing legend, about the three headlines you need to use to get more opens, click-throughs, and sales from your marketing.