How to make an Impact with your Podcast on Instagram with Jenny French
➡️ 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.
Follow Jenny on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/jennyfrenchsocial/
Browse Jenny’s Instagram online training services https://jennyfrenchsocial.co.uk/
Transcript
Rachael Botfield: [00:00:00] Hi, and welcome to Podcasting 101 with Rachael. This podcast is for busy female entrepreneurs who run their own businesses and want to start a podcast or who may already have a podcast. I want to share practical information and tips on how you can get your podcast started and managing it along the way.
I'll also be interviewing other female podcast hosts to give you real insight.
Hi, and welcome to the episode today, we're going to be talking about how to make an impact on Instagram. I'm joined by Jenny French, Instagram trainer and self confessed Insta geek. We are going to cover the first steps you can take and what type of content works [00:01:00] well. Welcome Jenny. Hi, Rachel. Thank you very much for having me.
I'm really excited to dive into all things Instagram today. So first question, I just wanted to know a little bit more, let everybody know a little bit more about you. So why Instagram? What made you decide to niche into Instagram? Oh, great question.
Jenny French: So yeah, I qualified as a social media strategist. A few years ago now, so my business is five years old and I was doing four platforms, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram, and I just decided that I needed to niche down.
Um, I did an exercise actually. Um, on profitability and it showed that I wasn't making enough profit and that my time was my biggest suck. So how could I reduce my time was by reducing the amount of bespoke resources that I was producing. So to niche down into one. Saved loads of [00:02:00] time. So I had a discussion and I decided to pick my favorite baby and pick my favorite platform.
And it was where the most creative as businesses were, uh, they were the clients that I was enjoying working with the most were, Instagram was their majority platform. So I decided to just go for it, but I was terrified, Rachel. Uh, I thought I was going to lose all my clients cause I was training on multiple platforms with my clients at the time, which I did continue to do for some time.
But all the new clients were Instagram only. And I thought I wasn't getting any new clients, but it was the exact opposite. The moment that I actually announced I was going Instagram only, I had an influx of requests and bookings, which was fantastic because I think when you become known for something, um, it becomes easier for people to decide to work with you on that one [00:03:00] thing.
I mean, I used to say to the clients, like, They were my followers and things like, you could have had just Instagram only on its own. They were like, Oh, we thought you'd make us do others, you know, do other platforms, which obviously wasn't the case, but yeah, that's why I chose Instagram. It was my favourite platform.
Um, and it was where the businesses I enjoyed working
Rachael Botfield: with, um, were hanging out. I love that you have niched, uh, down into just Instagram. And like you said, it makes it so much easier for people to, to find you and know exactly what you are known for and picking the one that you got the most joy out of and where you knew that people were creative.
Cause I definitely think that Instagram is that. creative platform. That's always what it was pioneered for originally, especially with all the pictures, the lovely pictures of food and all those kinds of things where it started.
Jenny French: Well, it did start as a photo sharing app, you know, and then only recently has the explosion of [00:04:00] video happened on here.
But you don't have to be a creative business to be on Instagram. You can be a more traditional professional services on Instagram. You just need to use it creatively and you need a visual to go with what your messaging is. So if you can find a way to do that, then Instagram could be a platform for you if your ideal audience is here.
And that's the key. Your audience has to be here. In order for you to put the time, effort
Rachael Botfield: and energy into it. Absolutely. That's one thing when considering where you're going to be promoting your business and your podcast, whether you are multiple platforms or whether you have picked one, picking the one where your ideal clients hang out.
Um, for me personally, I, um, focus on LinkedIn, but I know lots of people focus their efforts into Instagram as well. And that is. The primary reason why I wanted to get you on here to share your [00:05:00] expertise. And for those of you that are listening, that your ideal listeners, your ideal clients are hanging out on Instagram, and you want to know how you can make more of an impact with your marketing.
So firstly we mentioned earlier, I'd love for you to tell us the first steps you can take to kind of getting going with Instagram or 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. This comes down to your profile. When somebody visits your profile, you've got seven seconds to make an impact, and they will decide either to follow you or not.
Don't be scared about the knot. Yeah, that's true. But the only time I would say be scared of the knot if, is if your profile and your content looks like a dog's dinner. You probably need a little bit of work. But if they're following you because They don't like what you do or what you sell, [00:06:00] or they don't like the type of content you're producing.
They're not your ideal audience, so it's okay for them to bounce out. People often say to me, oh, but I want everybody who visits to follow me. You actually don't. You actually just want the people who are interested in you, your services, what you sell, to follow you. They're your ideals. That's what we're after.
We're not after the tyre kickers who may give you a follow but never engage with anything. You want people who are going to be genuinely interested in what you do. So how do you do that? Well, so you've only got this seven seconds to grab us. So you need to be super clear in this profile section exactly what you do and how you can help people.
So you need to have a clear profile image. And if you are a. business owner. You are a one man or a one lady band. Then have a photograph of you because it helps us to connect with you, the business owner. I love to see [00:07:00] a name in the name field. So obviously Jenny or Rachel, and then What you do, because that name field is keyword searchable.
So if you want to be discovered and somebody is looking for a dog trainer in Manchester, if you have dog trainer Manchester in your name field, that is the bold section on your name field. Um, Instagram profiles. So when you're looking at your Instagram profiles, look at the bold bit. So for me, I've got Jenny French.
I've got Instagram trainer and reels coach. Have what you do in that name field to make you more discoverable, um, and be found more likely. So we've got a clear profile image. We've got a really clear name field of what you do, and then in the bio, that's the section of writing underneath the name field, you want to make sure in that 150 characters that you're telling us what you do or [00:08:00] sell, who you are, and show us a little bit of personality.
That would help Make you want to follow you. Keep your sentences short rather than, you know, really long paragraph. Well, you can't do it too long. It's only 150 characters, but you know, you don't, we are skimmers here on Instagram and you want to make sure that it's easily skimmable. So very short sentences.
And I suggest putting bullet points for these. You've got four lines that are visible on the mobile. App, you've got five on the desktop version before it truncates. So you get these dot, dot, dots, and then you can tap on that to open up to see more lines. But ideally, try and keep it to the top four lines about everything that you do, how you help people, how you can buy from you.
Keep it. In that full top four lines and it [00:09:00] helps by using emojis down the side to relevant emojis to your business or maybe they are a color that your brand is, you know, represented by. And it just makes it much more easily skimmable. There's actually a whole entire science of emojis, would you believe?
Oh wow, that's interesting. Yeah, yeah, about how in text they help to anchor your eye, help it skim more. And without even knowing it, those images, are subconscious references about what you might be talking about. So they're useful to, to use if relevant, or if not, just use sort of a bullet point type.
Rachael Botfield: Yeah, little arrow or finger
Jenny French: point
Rachael Botfield: or something
Jenny French: like that.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So if there's not, you know, like if you're a landscape gardener, you could have different plants down the side, you know. You know, you can use them relative to your, um, industry. [00:10:00] And then you've got, now this doesn't really make an impact as such, but if somebody likes what they see, they want to check you out more probably after they've followed you, you know, you've got this seven seconds, they've decided that.
Yeah, they're interested. They've looked at your profile and they've scrolled up and down the first section of your content. They may even have clicked into some of that top content. For example, the top three. are often highly clickable posts. So on those top three, you actually want to include some really good content at the top.
There are ways that people can work with you, perhaps maybe ways to sign up for your newsletter, what you're going to get in your newsletter, any free lead magnets. That you've got at the top, maybe a, a personality post about you so we can get to know you, but you want to, if they're interested, have a, a suitable link that they [00:11:00] can go and check more information.
So we now have the option to have five clickable links in that link in bio section. It only ever used to be one. Um, so this is a brilliant addition. So things that you want to put in there. On your website, your podcast link, you could even link to the latest episode If people, 'cause people are truly lazy here, like on all social media platforms, we want it handed to us on a plate.
If we have to go and click in and then search for something, we're gone. Yeah, absolutely. We are lazy toads, so we need to. Give them everything that, you know, at hand. So if you want to put your latest podcast episode, um, there that you're, you know, you're trying to promote, then put that there along with the general podcast link.
Cause they might want to go binge more. [00:12:00] Your freebie, your lead magnets, your latest blog, maybe sign up to your newsletter. So ways that they can. Delve deeper if they really liked what they saw. So those five links in your bio, although it's not impactful, it makes a big difference to you. If you're getting web traffic from those links in your bio.
And as I mentioned, the. Top three posts are most clicked upon when you've got just seven seconds to, you know, have a quick look at something. So make them really good posts at the top and there's this pin function. I was
Rachael Botfield: just going to ask that about, um, pinning those posts to the top of your grid. So you've got those, those ones there, those will be the ones that people click on.
Jenny French: Yeah. Yeah. And by the act of pinning them, keeps them there. So as you produce new content, it just sits below those top up to three. You don't have to have three. You've got the option to pin up to three on the top of your grid, [00:13:00] on the top of your profile. And, and maybe we should talk about whether you should have your own account for your podcast, or should it be part of your business podcast?
So for me. If your podcast is about your business, then it should be a part of your overall offering. However, if you are a VA that has a passion for fishing and your podcast is about fishing, yeah, then you would have a problem. Your own, you know, separate accounts about your fishing podcast, which you may talk about your obsession in, uh, maybe an about me post, um, and, you know, you could then mention that they can go and listen to a podcast about fishing.
I don't know why I picked fishing. But there you go. No,
Rachael Botfield: but it's a good, it's a good point though, because it was one that I'd. Cause when I [00:14:00] first started, um, my first podcast was about virtual assistants and I was a VA and I actually had a separate, I had my profile and then I had a separate one for the Virtually Inspiring podcast.
And I found it very difficult to kind of keep up with, obviously I wanted to post on the Virtually Inspiring, but I had more people following me. On my pro and so it was like, Oh, I'm transferring all these and it's like, am I doubling up on content then and then possibly share the same thing? And if the same people are following the podcast as you, they're then getting double the amount of same content.
So, um, I think that's a really good, um, point to make is actually make it, you know, and, and here we are talking about podcasts for your business, having it all on the one profile. It, it doesn't make a lot more sense to do it that way. Thank you. Yeah,
Jenny French: absolutely. And I think I like to think of it as it's like a service, you know, it's one of your services that you offer.
It's a way for [00:15:00] people to connect with you more. So you promote it like you would promote a service. So, you know, Pick a, like for me, I've got like an Instagram audit, for example. I promote that service. I also need to promote my podcast. Treat it like a service where you talk about it often in lots of different places across Instagram, because there's lots of different placement areas.
Because some people don't always just come to the grid. Some people just watch Instagram stories now. So you need to be talking about your podcast. In all the different placement areas. 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 in how much should I promote it?
Like how many posts should I be doing? How many, I'm obviously like you said, there's different ways. There's a grid, there's reels, there's stories. So in what ways and how many ways should [00:16:00] I be promoting them? I mean, there is that stat, and I've said this, I think I said this a lot, but, um, That, uh, only something like 4 percent of your audience sees your posts, you know, at one time.
So you'll think, or something, quite a low percentage. So actually Yeah, a small percentage. When you think that you're being too repetitive and too many posts about it, actually, perhaps it's not enough because you've done the one post and actually Not many people have seen it. So therefore you can use it again or repost it and things like that.
So I'd love to know then like what type of content works well and where like you said, because it's the three different. I want the DMs, I suppose that could be, you know, if you're having conversation, would that be clusters? I suppose that's, yeah, that's a conversation really, isn't it? Rather than a, Promote the content there.
Jenny French: It's not a place to put content. No. Publish content to, but it's a vital part. It's, that's where the magic happens. Yeah. . [00:17:00] Yeah. Because if someone has engaged in your, so the dms usually happen from stories, so Instagram stories. are when you open your app, they're the circles that sit at the top and they are short pieces of content up to 60 seconds long and they disappear after, after 24 hours.
So if someone has liked something that you've put in your, in your stories content, they may DM you because directly below the story, you've got a comment box. So, you know, if you put up a story about something you did that was really interesting over the weekend. I, I put up, we went to a. National trust property at the weekend.
And it was gloriously sunny with amazing bluebells in the woods. And I had lots of people DM me saying, Oh my God, that was gorgeous. Like, and it's not, and it's about connection. You know, I don't work for the national trust, but it's about me, [00:18:00] my personal life, what's going on behind the scenes. And it helps to connect on a human level.
So DMs are great. And those people who replied and said, Oh my God, that looks beautiful. What a gorgeous afternoon. You know, little chats. I was like, Oh, what did you do at the weekend? It's a back and forth conversation in your DMs. But let's go back to the placement areas. So you've got many. Let me, let me list them first.
I'm not going to cover them all because some of them are So you've got the grid content, you've got stories content, you've got live content, which does end up then sitting on your grid as a saved video. But you've also got something called broadcast channels, where you can put Um, written, um, messages.
You can create videos in there. Um, people have to sign up to it and then they get that information and it's actually [00:19:00] delivered via your DM. Um, so that's called a broadcast channel. So you might want to be telling people about, I don't know, your latest workshop or if you're going to an event, you know, there's lots of things that you can use broadcast channels for.
There's also something new. Well, new ish. It was new, but not loads of people had it and they are rolling it out. It's called notes and they're like little speech bubbles above your user profile and in your DMs. Yes, I have spotted that. I wondered what they were. Yeah, I have spotted that. I thought, Oh, why am I?
Yeah, use those for sort of, think of them like a WhatsApp message. You know, if it's things like, final day to sign up for my, uh, workshop on X. Um, think of them like that type of thing. They're short, they're text only, I think at the moment. And, yeah. They, that's where they sit, but when something new comes out, they get used [00:20:00] loads, but they're not Massively well used.
You've got to think about your time and energy with this, you know Where do you want to place your energy for maximum effect and maximum impact? So I don't have the notes functionality yet. I will use it Occasionally when I get it I also don't have the broadcast channels. I'm not entirely sure I'm going to set one up, but other social media professionals do use them for updates for things, but I, I'm going to use my stories for that, I think that's why I use one part of my content on stories is about updating what's changing on the Instagram platform on there.
So I'm going to cover. Live stories and grid. So what type of content works well? So for live, this is you going live a bit like this podcast. You're, you know, talking around, uh, [00:21:00] one thing I would suggest that you would pick. Some people hate that talking out into the mass, like feeling like there's nobody there.
So if that's you, and you don't really want to talk on your own, Invite a guest and have a chat like this around a theme. Say for example that guest has a certain skill set, you might want to ask them about that that could then benefit your audience. So for example, in the past I've done lives with website experts, uh, video experts, copywriters, where my audience can learn something from them.
We usually cover maybe two or three things in that live. You don't want to have it too long. Um, and it's a nice chat back and forth. Your audience can learn something. And it's the only content where you are notified about it. So if somebody is going live and [00:22:00] you're on your phone, You'll get a notification that says Rachel Botfield is now going live.
And then it's encouraging you. Like, I can't tell you the amount of times I'm like, Ooh, really? And I've tapped into that notification and I watch a couple of minutes of that person's life and then I'll pop out. Sometimes they're really good that I've popped into and I'll then think to myself. I'll go back and watch that because when you've done a live, it then saves to your grid as a video.
So you can go back to watch the rest of it if you wanted to. So live is really good, but I appreciate it's super scary. Like, there's probably the scariest content you're going to create, really. Then you've got your grid content. So this can be made up of three different types of posts. You've got single image.
You've got reels, which are videos, and you've got carousel posts. So these are the multiple image or video posts that you swipe across. They're a bit [00:23:00] like a PowerPoint, you know, that you can sort of swipe across. I affectionately call them swipey posts, but they're called carousel. Um. So, those three different types, three formats, use them all.
So, what makes an impact is trying things out. You know, try reels, try a carousel post, use single image. Having a variety keeps your audience interested. If you only ever. Produced single image graphic content that your audience would know you, they would know your type of content and if they love it, great.
But if it's not 100 percent their cup of tea, you know, they're not necessarily going to stay around and engaged with you. So, my advice is, the idea [00:24:00] that you had for that single image, maybe it can be done differently. You can take the same message and perhaps expand it into a multiple image carousel, or you can even include videos in that carousel.
Or, could you turn that into a reel? A talking head reel, for example, of you talking about that one thing that the post was about. So, there are lots of different ways that you can take your ideas but produce the content in differing ways. Variety is the spice of life,
Rachael Botfield: really. Yeah. That's what I was just going to say, it's important to get that variety because I think as well, it kind of shows your creativity as well, and I think that there are equal benefits to each of those types of posts, like for your podcast, a carousel post would work really well for the key takeaways, and then you could include a little short Video or you could put an [00:25:00] audiogram in there.
I think Reels work really well for audiograms as well. Whether that's a video clip or whether it's a static image, which then you can put little things on, um, for the Reels. I say things, you know, like the actual, make them look pretty and have those. And then also grid posts, you know, are, are have their place as well with the static image saying maybe coming soon.
So I think that. That shows a great variety and, and ways that you can put your content into different ways. I really love the Carousel place. I remember when they first came out, I really enjoyed. And, and I love that you can now incorporate video into them because you couldn't to start with, could you, but now you can do video.
Yeah,
Jenny French: yeah, yeah. And, and I, I think it makes it interesting. And, uh, I, I love a carousel. I love a good carousel that teaches me something that I'm going to learn something from. Maybe a how to step by step guide or an educational one that's going to, you know, tell me about something that, you know, like your key takeaways [00:26:00] from that.
And, and I'm going to be hooked then. I want, I'm going to then want to go and have a listen to that podcast to get more information about it. Yeah. It could be used like a teaser, isn't it? It could be, or, you know, you can literally tell us everything in that carousel if you wanted to. Reels dominated for quite some time on Instagram because they made it an algorithmic preference.
So they came in August, 2020. And at that time, that idea was stolen from TikTok. They wanted short form video over here. And it was a case of all other content received less distribution. Than reels. They prioritized reels distribution over other content to encourage it as a [00:27:00] content format on Instagram.
So if you were producing it, I mean, some of the first reels that I was making was get, were getting huge amounts of reach, not so much now. So they came to a point where they had to balance it back out a little bit better. There is still a slight preference. Reels in terms of the algorithmic distribution, but it is nowhere near what it was back then.
So for me and my clients that I work with, Reels still outperform other types of content, but not all of them. 100 percent across the board. So carousels, uh, as we were talking about, can be absolutely brilliant for that because when you swipe across, you're spending more time on that post. If you are reading everything on those, um, slides that acts as an [00:28:00] engagement trigger, so the longer you linger, um, And get to the end, the key is getting to the end of the carousel.
So when you get to the end, that also acts as a bit of a trigger. The, this post is entirely engaging and what you'd like people to do is then like it perhaps or leave a comment about it. And that increased engagement does help. So, some carousel posts can perform really well. I've had carousel posts as well as some reels, but on the whole, I would say reels perform better.
Storytelling works brilliantly. On single image, carousels, break it down into sections and reels. So if you can incorporate any sort of story, your journey, you know, or the process that you go through with a client telling that [00:29:00] story, that works really well. And then let's talk about stories content as a placement option.
Area on Instagram. So stories, as I said, are these circles at the top of your feed when you open the app and they only last for 24 hours. They're very much more informal type content. Show us behind the scenes content. Is that B-roll? Like B-roll con? Is it what they, is that the new? I've heard a lot of people talk about B roll.
It's slightly different. That really would go in your real content. So B, B roll is video. The, the message, the point of your post, it isn't really showing you that. So for example, you could have a post of a maker creating the product. That post is about that, you know, that process, that product, but you can have B roll.
[00:30:00] With you sitting, scrolling on your phone, a video of you sitting, scrolling on your phone with a message of, you know, don't forget to book in for You know, next week's nail appointment or, you know, it can be, it can be promotional content with a different message. It's not really about what you're seeing, that person scrolling on their phone.
It's, it's called incidental video.
Rachael Botfield: Oh, okay. So it, Like a random video, but what has a specific message on top. Oh, I see. Whereas stories, you're really showing what it's like behind the scenes with you, either personally or in your business. Okay. Yeah. So B roll video sits
Jenny French: very much in the reels camp. Right.
Stories. So it can be photographs of what's going on. It can be you doing a talk to camera about something. So, yes, Jay. I was talking about writing a proposal on my stories. Um, the day before I was talking about preparing this [00:31:00] podcast. Um, so it can be photograph, it can be a video and it's much more informal.
Don't think it's polished content. Like it really doesn't have to be. It's just a way to really super connect with that business owner. So I have. See, marketers are great to be marketed to. Like we are a sucker. Like I have bought things based on people's stories because I love the person I, the brand is okay, the product is okay, but I've bought a sweatshirt from someone.
The sweatshirt's fine, but I love this business owner. Like I want to support her, you know, so, and she does that by sharing her everyday life. What's going on for her, her family, if you're happy to share that, you know, what's going on, you know, the latest designs, the shoot, maybe behind the scenes of the shoot and things that's going on.[00:32:00]
So I have definitely bought more than one occasion. Things from people because I've built relationships with them in stories, not just because of their grid content. But the absolute powerhouse is a combination of grid and stories. And when you use those two to sell Stories can be amazing. So, you can add more information to your grid posts.
So, your grid post goes out, tells you what you're getting for this particular service. Then you can come on and explain in more detail, either through written text, you know, explaining in a little bit more detail, giving a case study. Even of, um, you know, people who've had this service before. You can even share links in your stories.
Yeah, I love that feature when they brought that out. Yeah, to click through to find out more. But I find it really fantastic [00:33:00] for Adding that extra meat to the bones of what your service can be about. And I'm going to give a shout out to a particular client of mine who does this brilliantly. So if she's got a particular program coming up, she'll do the grid post and she'll do some stories first saying, you know, I've got this service coming up.
And, uh, you know, if you're interested, if you. This would be ideal for, and then shout out those types of people, like who your service is ideal for. And then she'll post, share her post to her stories that gives that summary of information. And then she'll come on afterwards and talk about, you know, other people who've done this service, who've got great results from it.
And it's a really powerful mix when you are selling from your grid to your stories. And she has signups from her stories a lot because she uses the [00:34:00] combination of both. Um, so it can be a mix of the behind the scenes and connecting with that business owner, but you can also
Rachael Botfield: use it to sell. I'm just, I think that that could work really well for your podcast in the way that you have.
Your grid, you could come on talking about the episode that's coming up. Some of your favorite bits, or maybe an anecdote about the episode, then have a static graphic, perhaps in your grid with all the information on there. And then go back in your stories and talk about, you know, actually, maybe pull out something to maybe talk about in more detail.
So I can see how that could be really powerful.
Jenny French: Yeah. So you do a teaser. So in that, I call these story sandwiches. So the filling in the middle is your post that you're sharing, either the post, single image post, carousel, or reel, whatever that is, that's the middle bit you're filling, and you've got two bits of bread either [00:35:00] side.
So your first story in that story's set is a teaser. To that particular guest or point that you were talking about, you can put on something called an engagement sticker. So these are like the sliders where Oh yes, we want to get an opinion from someone. You can put a poll up where you can put, you know, do you want to find out about how to, we know, um, you did another, um, podcast about LinkedIn, for example.
So it was how to make. In an impact on LinkedIn with Elaine, wasn't it? So you could put this, I'm giving you an example for your stories here, Rachel. You could put in story one, if you enjoyed Elaine's podcast about how to make an impact on LinkedIn, you may like my latest podcast with Jenny about how to make an impact with, on Instagram.
And then you can put a poll up that says, Would you be [00:36:00] interested in this? And you can put, yeah, heck yes, as a lot option. And the second option is, I'm not, Instagram's not for me, you know, or something like a, you know, another option for them to click. Then you know, who's, you can actually go and check on your Instagram stories, who has voted what, which is wonderful.
Then your filling. So that was your top slice of bread. Then you've got your filling, which is sharing the, this, this, this, Post that's about how to make an impact on Instagram. And then the second, the third one, the bottom part of your bread is Will you go and watch this or will you go and listen to this?
And you can put a slider engagement sticker on with like a thumb emoji that you can slide all the way up to the end. Yeah, not if you're not interested. So you can have what I call a story sandwich to get more engagement because these engagement stickers, you have to, you don't have to do something, but if your audience wants to engage [00:37:00] with them, it all adds towards engagement.
So yeah, definitely do try out a story sandwich where you, not just, because you see so many people's stories where they're just like, New post, you're like, 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? Yeah, why do I need to go? Would you post it, so would you do the story, like, Do the story post the thing and then do the story like immediately after or is it like does 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. So I would create a grid post. Yeah. So create a grid post, whatever that, whatever format that is, then go into your stories, do story one. Right. The, you know, the teaser, then share your post because it's just been posted. Ah, okay. So it's ready. It's [00:38:00] ready. And then you share the third story.
Okay. All in one go, in one time frame. Right. So you do. So, you know. Yeah. Upload them one after the other. Back to back. Back to back. Yeah, you're not doing teaser on day one and like 18 hours later then you share the post. You want them all to appear up in the same way. They do all
Rachael Botfield: three. Bye.
Jenny French: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
In that same time frame. There's some ways that you can make an impact with your content on Instagram.
Rachael Botfield: Hopefully that was useful. Yes. There was lots of information there. I love going into the detail because sometimes it is really difficult to know exactly what works and you know, what doesn't work.
Especially like for me, I don't use Instagram as much anymore. Um, I have been speaking to, um, another podcast manager that she uses, um, her stories like that and her DMs. She has a lot of conversations. So she's actually now focused solely on Instagram because she has such great conversation with people.
She has like, um, her grid posts and then she has her stories to connect with people and that [00:39:00] works brilliantly for her. So I think that if that is something that you're interested in with Instagram, And if you like Instagram and that's where your people are, I would definitely experiment with those types of posts and see what works.
And I do, I've always thought, um, for when I did use it, that stories did work quite well. I did used to get some engagement from those. Um, and I love the stickers and you can put the links on there and stuff. Those are great features. So, um, would definitely, if everybody, um, is using it. If you're listening, give those a try.
And also we'd love to hear about how you get on. If you've given some a try and love you to either DM me or email me or something, just to let me know what you thought and how it's worked for you. And also, can I,
Jenny French: can I offer that if anybody is like, okay, I listened to the podcast, but I really don't fully understand what you were talking about with a story sandwich, for example, in that example, I will happily give you a direct example that you could use.
So feel free to DM [00:40:00] me. I'm on at jennyfrenchsocial on Instagram. So come and give me a follow and ask questions. I am more than happy to answer questions if anything's come up of like, Oh, I don't quite understand this. Yeah.
Rachael Botfield: Just message me and I'll explain more. Oh, wonderful. We'll pop Jenny's, we'll put all of Jenny's links anyway into the show notes.
I'd love to end the episode on, I mean, you've already given us so much great advice and tips here, but do you have a top takeaway, um, for everyone today? I would
Jenny French: say if you want to make an impact on Instagram, you need to show your face. So showing your face on Instagram, whether that's a photograph. Or a video in a reel, or in stories which will disappear after 24 hours.
It helps to connect your audience to you, otherwise your account [00:41:00] becomes, well it is faceless. Um, we don't know you the business owner. We don't connect with you as much. So there's so much science about the power of showing your face. It creates much deeper, faster connections. And in terms of your engagement on your content, you, if you show your face, you can get up to 38 percent more likes and 32 percent more comments.
I mean, that's a whole third extra engagement because you're choosing to show your face. And often this can be the difference between someone choosing you and someone choosing someone else. Like I explained about this woman's sweatshirt, it's a perfectly decent sweatshirt. It's not going to rock my world, but I adore her.
Because I have got to know her, the person, and that all started from showing her face. [00:42:00] So, definitely show your face and connect with your audience. And you can do that through photos and videos. I've actually got an extra one I've just thought of. You know, you're talking about top takeaways. Can I have two?
Yeah, of course, of course. The other one is, I'm telling you lots of things you can try. But what works for one account doesn't work for every account. So my next top piece of advice is actually test, test, test. So test the different format types. Test posts, reels, carousels. What works better? You know, maybe you could test posting at different times of day.
Are your audience online more in the morning or at lunchtime or in the evening? So don't be scared. to test and try things and don't be afraid to experiment with your content and mix it up because you may just discover a [00:43:00] way to connect with your audience that brings a whole new, you know, connection level.
It can be very scary mixing things up and giving things a try. But, some things, I am not gonna lie, will flop, okay? And others will outperform things that you think. The ones that I always think, oh, I'm gonna try this. I've been in the shower, I've thought of this content idea and it's taken me 10 minutes to make, okay, and it's flown and you're like, Oh wow, this is, you know, a fantastic piece of content.
And the one I've spent two and a half hours crafting, I just, that amount of time. But you know what I mean? The one that I've literally given blood, sweat and tears to. And it may not flop, but it may not perform how I hoped it would. So just test it. Test, test, test is my, one [00:44:00] of
Rachael Botfield: my big
Jenny French: mantras. That
Rachael Botfield: is great advice, Jenny.
Definitely testing, getting curious about what works and what doesn't work and what has, I mean, sometimes. There's no explanation why some posts on a certain day might do really well and what resonates with that person on that day. And then also showing your face, you know, podcasting itself is a way for you to get that deeper connection with your audience and to go that extra mile in terms of sharing your knowledge and your expertise, but also giving them, um, it also I find helps especially coaches that, um, Connect between wanting to work with them and maybe someone else, but also then you can, you can capitalize on that with your Instagram in that way.
Can't you? And then show your face. even more on Instagram to help increase that connection between them getting to know you and you're offering them an extra way to come off platform of Instagram and join you on the podcast. [00:45:00] Yeah, but they will only, you know, compliment each other, getting your face out there and getting people.
And that's so interesting that it's quite a big difference that 32 or 33 percent you said about if you see your face, extra engagement, that's, it's quite a big,
enny French: It's a big increase, isn't it? And I think it needs to be part of your content strategy. It needs to be part of your content plan to make sure you are showing your face, that you are visible, you are the face of your brand, if you are a brand.
A solopreneur, it's vitally important, especially if you're someone that we need to trust in order to buy from you. So if you are a coach, for example, like we need to trust you. We need to know you are the person for us. And one way you can do that is by showing your face and revealing more information about yourself.
You know, it helps to make those, we're all human. [00:46:00] And we're after this human to human connection and our brains are hardwired to seek out faces. So yeah, my two takeaways, show your face,
Rachael Botfield: test, test, test. Brilliant. Thank you so much, Jenny, for sharing all of your knowledge and expertise with us today. I would encourage everybody to go and follow Jenny on Instagram.
I will leave the links in the show notes for you to easily do that. And I would also love to hear from you. If you enjoyed this episode, pop us a little review or a comment on Spotify. Um, and I'd love to know, we both love to know how you get on with your testing and experimenting. So thank you so much, Jenny.
You're very welcome. Thank you for having me. It's been lovely chatting with you as always and take care everybody and we'll see you next time. Thanks for listening to the show. If you'd like to connect with me or get in touch then head on over to my website. If you liked the episode [00:47:00] then I'd love it if you could leave me a review in your chosen podcast app.
Your feedback is much appreciated. See you next time.