Lessons

Lesson Info

Class Introduction

I am like all of you on the other end of this camera over here, and you in the audience, I started, before teaching Instagram I was a small business owner. I had a shop on Cape Cod, I had a passion for producing clothing, and jewelry, and accessories, and really trying to make money doing what I love. And when I discovered Instagram and the power of Instagram, I realized that I could use it as a marketing tool. And then I discovered that I love teaching more than anything. And so for the past five years I have been all in, every day, in the app, and really trying to help other people have success doing what they love. And my goal for all of you today, here in the audience, and all of you out there, is to really understand the commitment and process that you need to make, to really launch that thing that you love. And I looked at all of your profiles before I got on stage, and we have bloggers in the audience, and we have DIYers, and photographers, and people trying to make a movement i...

n Oregon, you know, like for the homeless people. And everything that I'm going to talk about today, in terms of how to launch what you're passionate about, will apply to each and every one of you. And as long as you are present, and current, and really following along in the presentation, I know that you guys will have a lot to take away. So this is why you wanna be here all day with me. If you've never used social media to launch a product in your life, and by the way, is Instagram like your favorite social media platform? Can I just get hands up on that? Is it your favorite? Right? And so using Instagram to help you with your campaign is absolutely a place where you can start. And then if you're ready to launch something, you know, a new product or a new service, and you're not quite sure how, you're in the right place. And here's what I'm gonna be covering today, the first thing that you need to do to build that hype here on Instagram, and it is, this is all the prelaunch. I'm talking about before you even start posting in the feed, that's coming later, this is what you need be before you do that. You need to build hype around your brand, and how to get ahead to avoid overwhelm. Because honestly, most people, everyday they're living in overwhelm, and they don't know what to do next. So if you have a process and you understand what you need to do first, second, and third, you can absolutely have success. And today I'm gonna teach you the seven steps that you need to take in order to have that success. I want you to know that you're gonna really be able to plan and execute the launch of your course here today, and why you're building this hype and excitement. And I know that the biggest thing you have to do for this to happen, is you have to be totally committed to Instagram. And either you're going all in on Instagram or you're going all in on Twitter and Pinterest. But you can't be going all in on every social app at the same time. And so if you go all in, you will have success. So do it, by going through the whole day with me today, you're gonna come out saying, now I get it, now I know what I need to do. Okay, so I wanna make that clear. For those of you that are on Instagram, this photo is on The Instagram Expert, and it's the one that we've been using for the promo, I've had it up for four days, and I wanna know that you're here with me, and I want you to use the hashtag for social media week, #SMW18, and I want you to check in, so that after I'm done speaking today, I can come and say hi to all of you. So double tap the photo on The Instagram Expert, and say hello, let me know where you're tuning in from, and I just might send you an Instagram direct message video later as well. Like I mentioned, I had a shop, but before I started teaching Instagram I've been an entrepreneur my whole life. I didn't just start, wake up one day and say, I wanna become the Instagram expert. It has been an evolution of my life for the past 25 years, of understanding what it takes to be an entrepreneur, and more importantly, how to market what I'm passionate about. And so from the success that I've had from my store, I've been able to really dive in deep into the app, and take all the organic processes on Instagram, and the ever evolving app, and really put those tactics to use, and really help grow our business today, which is where I teach business owners, marketers, I teach workshops, I speak all over the world, I have online courses. And as I'm telling you guys to go all in in your business, I have literally gone all in on Instagram so that I can show up and teach people how to make money doing what they love. And so even if you're not quite sure if Instagram's the place to be, and I'm assuming it is, because all of you guys are here and you're excited, I want you to understand why Instagram is so great, okay. So first and foremost, it's real time. And people really love the authenticity, the real, the raw. There's minimal production on Instagram, even if you're not a videographer, you can pick up your phone and start doing a video right away. You can delete things if you don't like them, and you can start again. We just did it in the green room when we were doing Instagram stories. You can really encourage your community to participate in the conversation, to have that engagement. And it keeps you top of mind. And I wanna stop here for one second. So even if you're not actively using Instagram, or strategically using Instagram, if you are showing up consistently, saying who you are, and what you do, you are staying top of mind. And even though that person that sees it might not be your ideal customer, when they are at a party or at an event, they might talk about you when someone says, do you know a photographer in Boston who can do a photo shoot in a minute? Well by the way, I do, she shows up in my feed every day, and her name is X. So staying top of mind is so important. And the reason that I absolutely love Instagram is because of the intimate connection that you can have instantly within a conversation. Whether it's in a feed or it's in the Instagram direct message. Also, I have built so many different communities, one from speaking here at Creative Live, within my courses I have a community for Ready Set Gram, and you can follow hashtags and become part of a community, or you can build your own community. And then this is where we all want things to happen, is driving traffic to where we want people to take business. And you can do that using Instagram, in the feed, and in the Instagram direct message, and in Instagram stories, and we're gonna go over all of that today. Okay, I'm gonna show you a couple stats that I think will get your attention. For those of you tuning in out there, if you wanna take any pictures and share (laughs) these are good stats. And my twitter handle is @SueBZimmerman. So 79% of US businesses are on Instagram. And what I found really interesting this summer, when I'd been wanting and waiting for Apple to come on Instagram, it's like, why aren't they on Instagram? I remember distinctly, it was in August, I'm like, oh my gosh, Apple's on Instagram, it's their first post, I'm taking a screenshot, they had 485 followers that day, their first post, and today when I checked yesterday there was 4.5 million users. Okay? Hello Apple, like, finally you came to the Instagram party here. And what I love about their account is that it's been built off of a hashtag. It's all user generated content from people that use the hashtag shot on the iPhone. So that is amazing that you can build a community around a hashtag, and more importantly, you can have your community become the content that you're sharing. 'Cause a lot of people struggle with what to post. So I'm gonna go into this is more detail, but I found that very fascinating. Also, there are over 25 million business profiles here. And so the fact is, even if you're not, most likely your competitors are. So it's a really great place to do market research, even if you're hesitating on launching that product or service. It's like, how can I use Instagram strategically to see what everyone else is doing. Right? I got a lot of nodding heads in the audience, that's what I like. Okay. And then, 30%, and who is guilty of this? I can't wait to tell you some of my favorites. Instagram users have purchased a product that they first discovered on Instagram. Anybody in the audience? So we have more than half up. So I'm gonna quickly talk to you about five products that have come in my stream, that I bought from being on Instagram. The first one is Quip. (audience laughs) Toothbrush. Love this. Okay, I'm on the go, I travel a lot, who has time to go buy a new head for their toothbrush? This toothbrush, every three months I get a new toothbrush head sent to me. I don't have to go to CVS or Walgreens to get it, 'cause who has time for that? And it looks pretty, it comes in all different colors, I like the teal, obviously I like color. And it's an automatic toothbrush, and it automatically charges when I put it in the little thing. No actually, I'm sorry, this is a battery, so you just press it and it runs. Okay, so for anyone that travels a lot. What I love about this is that I was targeted for this, okay? So this came to me from an ad, that's number one. Number two is my favorite Instagramer to follow is Sara Blakely, the founder of Spanx, love you. And I have been following her account, her Spanx account, because who doesn't love Spanx? Sorry guys, females in the room, we love Spanx. And she had a campaign launch for a new product called arm tights. And I followed this campaign, which I'm gonna talk about more in a little bit, but I saw if first on Instagram and I ended up purchasing every color arm tights. So I'm gonna go through that story in a little bit. The other item that I wanna share with you all, 'cause I know that we have some creatives, well, a lot of creatives in the room, is Teal Art, she is an artist, and I saw her account, actually Rachel on my team shared her profile with me. So it's so easy, if you discover something that you love, it's so easy to share that with someone else. And so she shared her art with me, and I have her art hanging in my house. Another example is Real Pet Food. So all these accounts that I'm mentioning, write them down if you're not seeing me say the at mention, Real Pet Food, this is a pet subscription business for Real Pet Food. Okay and then finally, Health Warrior bars. Chia bars that you all got here in the audience, to fuel up on later. I love their account, and they just launched for International Women's Day, beauty from within. A bar specifically for inc girls for their foundation, and 100% of the proceeds go to that foundation. So these are all things that I discovered from being on Instagram. So whether it's a stand alone image, or part of a larger campaign, every post should inspire your followers to sign up, learn more, and ultimately become a paying client. I mean, that is your goal. Okay, so let's get in, what does it actually mean to launch a product? A lot of people are like, Sue, what does it mean to launch a product? To launch a product it means to promote... Or to actually announce, promote, or release something publicly to an existing audience that actually is warmed to, that knows what you do, and it's in an organized way that encourages participation from your community. Okay? So I'm going to say this one more time, to announce, promote, or release something publicly to an existing audience in an organized way that encourages participation. Because it's a participation from your audience that helps you have success with that campaign. Okay? So here's what you can launch. You can launch products, or services, or registrations to an event, which I'm gonna show you in a little bit as well. You can launch software, maybe a new app. You can launch a movement, I've seen movements be launched on Instagram. And you can launch an event. So actually this event going on right now, yesterday you guys heard Ryan and Marcus, and they were awesome, right? This is all week, this is an event that Creative Live did a prelaunch for, before we are standing here physically in front of you. And this is an event where it's been months and months of preparing, and they've been teasing this event. And now, if you look at their Instagram account, you look at their Instagram story, you look at their feed, you now see the even come to life. And it's you all, in the audience, and you all (laughs) across the world watching, that have become members and participants of this event, and you're sharing this with other people that you know, that might wanna be tuning in as well. Right? So events can absolutely become very successful here on Instagram.