Episodes

I’m seeing a lot of randomness across business pages on social media. In this episode of The Hayley Osborne Show I’m sharing the quickest way to optimise your Instagram account so you can start to move the needle and reach all those north star goals.

There is so much same same boring across social media right now and to be honest, I am so tired of it. I don’t want you to be left in a sea of sameness, so I am trying my hardest to upskill you with the tips and tricks you need to make a difference.

It starts with optimising your social media. I share with you exactly what you need to do straight away to make it count, from the top of your account to the bottom. There is no need to reinvent the wheel, simply optimising it can make a world of difference.

While you’re here, I have a new key marketing tool for you over on my website which you can access here: www.hayleyosborne.com titled: 3 essential posts your biz needs to get more people through the door – with templates & swipe copy!

This is a must for you implement into your business to optimise your social media and make the most of the platforms.

SUMMARY

0:00:01 Introduction to the Hayley Osborne show and the topic of optimizing Instagram accounts for business growth

0:03:14 Importance of having a clear profile and bio on Instagram

• Who you are and what you do in the bold section

• Transformation message in the bio

• Including a strong call-to-action

0:07:15 Optimizing Instagram highlights

• Use highlights to showcase your services, client wins, and content pillars

• Avoid random behind-the-scenes content

0:08:30 Pinning strategic posts to the top of your Instagram feed

• “How to Work with Me” carousel post

• Introduction video/image sharing your story 

• Free resource to capture email leads

0:13:30 Importance of consistent, strategic content and understanding your content pillars

• Using your content to tell a cohesive brand story

0:14:45 Closing thoughts and call to action to start optimizing your Instagram account

Hayley Osborne

Hello, my beautiful friend, and welcome to another episode of The Hayley Osborne show, I’m really glad that you are here, because today I wanted to talk about Instagram. 

And you know, this is a platform that is like shit hot on everyone’s marketing radar, and so often, almost every day, when I go and have a little stalk of people’s Instagram accounts, I see that they are not optimized in the way that they definitely could be, which is such a shame, because everyone that has a business, and more than likely you’re listening to this podcast, you do have a business, you really should be maximizing the output to your input, right? 

Because you spend so much time creating content, so why not make it worth your while? And so I often see a lot of mistakes that people make that you know you could be doing better to optimize your Instagram account. 

Now, it’s not rocket science, but a lot of us don’t know how. You may not know how or why, or you may be just so close to your business and your socials, and you’re just plowing through the motions because you’re so busy that you can’t see it anymore. 

And that’s usually a pretty definitive factor, too. So, I want to share with you the quickest ways for you to be able to optimize your Instagram account right now that will help you in the future. And this is a part of getting your marketing foundations really aligned and in a really great place to set you up for success, because there’s no point in doing any outward facing marketing at all if you do not have your foundation set up properly. 

So, this is one element to the foundation mix, and it is probably it’s a little bit difficult, but, you know, if this was easy, then everybody would do it, and that is why they don’t, because it isn’t okay. So, there’s a few critical steps to being able to optimize your Instagram account. 

And you know it’s important, okay, that you don’t miss any of these because if you’re going to go to the trouble of doing it in the first place, you may as well do it properly. So, first things first, is there, let’s talk about your Instagram feed. 

So, whenever a new potential client or anyone is looking at your account, they expect to see a couple of things. So firstly, no, let’s firstly, let’s talk about your profile and your bio, because that’s the first thing that people see when they land on your account, and that should consist of a couple of things. So, it should say who you are and what you do. 

The bold section in your bio can house more characters than you think. Okay, so it can house your name and it can house what you do. So, for me, I’ve got my name, Hayley Osborne, and then I’ve got marketing and business tips. And then, if you have a little look, right now, if you’re able to, you’ll see, if you go into your direct messages, you’ll be able to see that that’s what I’m described as, not necessarily me, but anyone that you’re talking to. 

Okay? So it could be, you know, bookkeeping without the bullshit, or it could be like, whatever it is you do. The bold section needs to describe what it is you do. So, it needs to say that clearly, so that when someone’s scrolling through their messages, they can find you easily, and it clearly identifies what it is that you do. 

The next thing that I want you to make sure you’ve got right is your bio. Okay, so, yes, there’s a character limit, but yes, it is there for you to maximize your profile, all right. So, it should say, essentially your transformation message. So, it should say what you do, who you help, the problem that you solve, and the transfer. Information that you provide, okay? 

So, for me, mine says supporting superhero business owners grows, and that is really true. Okay? What it does is it shows that I am a marketing business coach with the word supporting. It shows that I look after small business owners, okay, by helping them to grow and the superhero element is included too obviously, because that’s an extension of my brand through my membership. 

Then it says that I’m the host to the Hayley Osborne show, which I am. It says that I have membership and courses, and I’m the founder of superhero marketing. And then it has a call to action. So first we need to see your transformation message and what you’re doing, right? There’s no value. 

I believe in putting mom, you know, dog, like, lover, like whatever those extracurricular things are. You don’t need them because there’s only a certain amount of characters that Instagram will let you have in your bio. 

So, you want to make the most of it by really showcasing everything that you do and how you can help people. Essentially, we’re not here for a haircut, right? We are here to help people by selling them something to increase their education, knowledge, whatever it is, but also for you to make a profit. So, you want to maximize this space as much as you possibly can. 

Then the next part I want you to add into your bio is a serious call to action. So, what do you want your audience to do when they’ve landed on your Instagram profile with what it is that you’ve given them above. Okay, so start here. Download my free whatever, whatever that looks like with an arrow to your link, because that’s where they need to start. 

Okay, so you need to have a solid call to action in your bio. As we work down the Instagram account, I want you to have your highlights clearly articulated. Gone are the days of having things in your Instagram stories right, which expire after 24 hours and printing them to your highlights, those days are kind of gone. 

Your highlights need to showcase what it is that you actually do. Okay, so the client wins when you start. Here is another good one. I’ve got one on my membership. I’ve got another one on health, because that is a pillar of mine. So, you often see me posting pictures of me exercising or in the gym or whatever it is, health is a content pillar of mine, and it will stay a content pillar of mine, because that essentially is another foundation to helping me become a really great business owner and then podcast. 

Okay, so they’re the things, and people can then scroll through very easily to have a look at each of those things. And this is a sales tactic. This is a marketing tactic. Your Instagram highlights exist only to showcase you, your business, who you are, what you do, and how you can help people, people through working with you, that’s it. 

We don’t need to see 1000 different behind the scenes stories, things that have you’ve decided to pin to your highlight. That is not what it’s about, okay, especially if you’re a service-based business, you need to use that like a micro website. Okay, that is how it works, the absolute best. The next thing that I want you to do is look at your Instagram feed. 

So, I want you to pin three posts to the top of your feed. Okay, because you can pin posts to the top of your feed. Now, if you don’t know what I’m talking about, go to a post that you want to pin. As example, I’m going to tell you the three that you need to have to optimize your Instagram account shortly. But go to the post. 

You go to a post that you want to pin, tap on the three dots in the right-hand corner, and then have a look at the options. It brings up, and then selects the pin to profile. Okay, so then I want you to be able to do this in a particular order, though, with the three posts that I’m going to suggest. So, the first thing that I want you to do is to work with me. 

Okay, so this has to be a carousel post. You can have videos in the carousel, but essentially a carousel post because people want to work with you. They’ve come to your account for a particular reason, and they want to work with you. So, you need to know how to work with me. Post, whether you add the year or not is relevant, how to work with me. 

And so, for me, it is, you know, social media strategy, marketing strategy, one on one, coaching. It is superhero marketing. It is superhero storytelling. In it is VIP days, so there’s already six tiles on how to work with me, and so you need to run through that of what that looks like for you, your services or products, and how people can work with you, because then they can flick through and see all the ways that they can work with you. 

So again, this is supplementary to your highlights, and it kind of acts as a bit of a microsite. So, this is a selling point, okay? And you need to be able to clearly articulate to your audience how to be able to work with you, and then the last slide of the carousel needs to be a call to action. Okay? Now everything that you’ve posted on each of the tiles also needs to be articulated in words in your caption, so just duplicate that. Here’s how you can work with me. The second post that I want you to do and pin to the top of your Instagram feed is about you and why you started your business. 

So, this could be in the form of a video, okay, you talking to the camera about you and why you started your business, or it could be just a static image of you, like a professional image of you, and then the caption is how to work with you. Or you could do a series of carousel posts, but either way, we need to see a picture of you, because you know you need to come across as friendly and accessible to your audience. 

And if you have a friendly face, then more people can relate to it. So, pin a picture of you or a video of you to talk about you and why you started your business, because those things are important. Humans buy from humans. And I’m seeing this more and more across the marketing mix if you know your audience wants to be talked with, not to Okay, so people buy from people. So, if you can have a second post that is about you, that would be beautiful. 

And I am not saying, you know you need to divulge all the things about you, but just a few things about you that might be relevant to your business and why you started is so, so valuable. The third thing that I want you to have pinned to the top of your Instagram profile is how to work with you for free. Okay, so this can be Oh, yeah, but I don’t have any ways that people can work with me for free. Yes, you do. You absolutely do, because people are not going to buy from you straight away. 

You cannot sell to a cold audience, so you need to warm them up by giving them a taste of who you are and what you do for free, which is really important. So, you could have things like a free masterclass, which I know a lot of us do. You could have a free download. Okay, so I’ve got the 10 essentials every small business marketing plan needs as a checklist. 

I also have a free masterclass on how to plan, elevate and optimize your content that you can watch. So now you’ve got me visually, and you also have me in written format via a downloadable PDF. And what this does is adds you to my database. Okay, so this is how I can help you for free. Another way that I can help you for free is through my podcast. 

Okay, that is free, that is accessible. It just requires your time to listen. And then I’ve got a couple of other free downloads. I’ve got, you know, learned how to maximize your brand photo shoot with my brand photo shoot checklist. And there’s the 10 essentials every small business marketing plan needs, which is a checklist so you will like ADD and evolve to this as you go, how you know you start is never how you end. 

And I never envisaged myself having a podcast, but here we are over, you know, almost 150 episodes later, which is so beautiful, but they’re the elements that you need. So, you need to give people access that don’t know you, a reason for them to want to learn from you for free, or buy from you, or whatever that looks like. 

If you’ve got a product, it might be a 10% discount code if you sign up to our database. But essentially, all of your freebies need to be in exchange for someone’s email address and name, because then you can really nurture them in your world. And the idea is to take them off of the platform, okay? 

So, they’re essentially the three things that you need to have on your Instagram feed, pinned to the top of your profile. So just to recap how to work with me, post, and that can be in the form of a carousel about you, and that can be. In the form of a video, why you started your business or just a picture of you, and then how to be able to work with you for free. 

And you have to have those free elements, because you have to give people a taste of how they can work with you if they want to. Because before anyone commits to doing anything with you, you need to give them a reason to know, like and trust you. Okay? So that is how you do it. You give away lots of different things for free in the hope that you will resonate with your ideal client, and you will, there is no doubt about that. So, they’re the couple of things to optimize in your feed. 

And then if you really want to optimize the bejesus out of your Instagram account, you need to be consistent, and you need to have your content pillars down pat, which will help you to create consistency, and also to be able to story tell, to sell. Okay, because if you don’t have any content pillars, you’re always going to be reverting to selling, and that can be icky, alright? 

And we don’t want that. I don’t want that for you. So, I think it’s really important to be able to articulate different ways to tell your story in different means, whether that be through sports, through the podcast, through family, through networking events, through like, whatever your content pillars are, you need to be able to continuously mix it up and give people a taste in your world and really story tell well. 

So, I actually have a new freebie that I have put together, and I’m going to share it with you. So as this podcast airs, there will be this will go nicely, and it’s 10 posts, your business needs to have more people walk through the door. Okay? So that will lead on to building out what that looks like across your Instagram, specifically to add to this podcast episodes. 

So how to optimize your Instagram account, and then the tempos you really need to supplement from that, and that’s kind of like an ongoing thing, right? So, that’s the basis of your social media strategy. So I hope this episode has been really helpful for you to now know how to optimize your Instagram account and really make the most of when people are landing on your profile, you are capturing them straight away by them knowing who you are, what you do and how you can help them, because there’s nothing like not capitalizing on an audience that actually want what you have To offer, but you can’t articulate yourself, right? 

So, there is beauty in understanding how your messaging works to attract your ideal client, what that looks like and how it’s written, to be able to showcase you in your best possible form, to you, know, create more business for you. So, I hope you’ve loved this episode of the podcast. If you have any questions, I always hang out on Instagram. Feel free to DM me, and I would love to chat with you. Alright, guys, have an awesome rest of the day. 

I gotta go, and I will see you next week for another episode of The Hayley Osborne show. I hope you’ve enjoyed listening to this episode, if you have hit subscribe, so you don’t miss any new episodes released every Tuesday, and while you’re there, leave me a review. I would absolutely love to read it. Also, don’t forget to tag me at @hayleykosborne over on Instagram and share this post with your audience so they can get learning too. Sharing is caring. 

If you want more, head over to https://hayleyosborne.com/category/podcast/ for today’s show notes and links. Catch you next week for another episode of The Hayley Osborne show.