1. Embrace Bold Visibility and Leverage Your Instagram for Business Success
It might have been a minute since the end of season 2, but Strut It is back and better than ever! This season, we’re going to be niching down with a focus on social media marketing as I share the exact Instagram monetization strategies that grew my business revenue by 84% and inspired me to launch my fearless Instagram marketing coaching business.
In this episode, I cover why having a strong, organic social media strategy is essential for business success. From generating leads, to showing up with bold visibility online, to leveraging Instagram to its fullest potential, establishing a solid social presence will take you to the next level in 2024. If you’re ready to monetize your Instagram without spending one dime on paid ads, then this episode is for you!
Plus, hear why it can feel so hard to get started and my challenge to help you take action today!
In this episode, you’ll learn...
[2:38] Business updates and progress from the past 12 months
[4:05] How a strong social media strategy can generate leads
[6:54] What it means to show up with bold visibility online
[9:41] Why you’re missing out by not leveraging Instagram
This season is all about how you can win the game of Instagram. If you’re looking to have Instagram work for your business, be sure to tune into this episode.
Links mentioned in this episode…
Free guide to Monetize Your IG: Seven Simple and Proven Ways to Finally Make Money on Instagram
TRANSCRIPT
S3 EP01 Embrace Bold Visibility and Leverage Your Instagram for Business Success
[00:00:00] Elizabeth Marberry: When I first got started on Instagram, I had no idea the impact it would have on my business and life. This platform has provided me with a portal to show up in a way I never thought possible. I show up as myself and I show up boldly, growing my following, attracting more dreamboat clients, and increasing my brand visibility so I can achieve the income and impact I desire. And I want that for you too. It's completely possible. And they gets to be fun, I promise. It's the work we will do here together. Welcome to Strut It. [00:00:36][36.1]
[00:00:39] Elizabeth Marberry: Welcome to Strut It, a podcast about creating bold visibility on social media with zero apologies. I'm Elizabeth Marberry, your host, an Instagram marketing coach. I help small business owners get seen on Instagram and monetize their offers so they can make more money doing their solid work. If you're tired of spinning your wheels on Instagram and you're seeking simple, proven Instagram marketing strategies that actually work, you're in the right place. Let's dive in. [00:01:09][29.9]
[00:01:09] Elizabeth Marberry: Welcome to season three of Strut It. I am so thrilled to be back here recording a podcast for you, my beloved listener. It's been, a minute or rather 12 months. Oh my gosh. I did not intend on taking a year hiatus from this podcast, with the exception of a little three part mini series I released in the fall. I have been MIA on this podcast. It's funny when I look back. I recorded my last episode of season two in January of 2023, and at that time, I thought I was going to take just a couple months off to regroup and focus on some other things. And two months turned into 12 months, and this podcast has been on my heart. It is absolutely a part of my sole purpose on this planet is to serve you in this way. I love podcasting because we can get to know each other on such a deeper level versus a seven second reel on my Instagram. So I am so excited that you are here, and I'm going to share with you a little bit of what I've been up to and what you can expect as you join me on season three of Strut It. [00:02:37][88.1]
[00:02:38] Elizabeth Marberry: This past year has been really huge for me, for both of my businesses, so I own a brick and mortar dance studio in Denver, Colorado called Wedding Dance Coach. And I've had that business now for we're starting our 14th year, if you can believe it. And this last year, I focused on expanding my team. I hired my first ever salaried employee. I converted all my contractors over to employees, which, if you've done that before, you know, it's quite a big transition and shift and milestone in business when you're able to do that. So I've been really working on all the processes and systems to get that business just running as smoothly and seamlessly as possible, of course, while also really leveraging our social media marketing to attract even more aligned clients for us. And I'm so thrilled to report that in the past, we used to get most of our leads from Google. We have really awesome SEO being in business for so long. I really have that brand authority locked in. But in this last year of really blowing up on social media, leveraging social media and our organic marketing strategy, I am so thrilled to report that now almost 30% of all of our clients that booked with us last year, so 30% of all of our revenue came directly from Instagram, which is bananas. [00:04:04][85.5]
[00:04:05] Elizabeth Marberry: I'm telling you, we used to get zero leads from Instagram, so 30% is quite a bit. And that doesn't even include the leads we get from TikTok or Facebook or the other social platforms that we play on. And that really highlights the power of social media marketing. For so long, my business was stuck at six figures. I could not get past that point, and once I really went all in on our organic social media marketing strategy, I hit that multi six figure mark. We've hit it now multiple years in a row. Now in my second business, I am coaching other owners to do exactly what I've done with social media. I have grown my company's social following to over 120,000 combined account followers on Instagram and TikTok. We've packed our email list with over 4000 hot prospects who are ready to buy. And after going all in on Instagram, we increase our revenue by 84%. So it only made sense for me to launch my fearless Instagram marketing coaching business because I really wanted to help other small business owners and entrepreneurs get seen. Get found on Instagram so they can do more of their sole lead work and work with more dreamboat clients that light them up so they can build the business and life of their desires. So, moving into season three of this podcast, I wanted to be really focused. I'm always teaching my clients about niching down and really becoming an expert in one thing, because so many of us kind of spread ourselves too thin. We're trying to do too much at once, and then we are frustrated and resentful and exhausted because we are not moving forward at the pace that we'd like, or we're not as successful as we'd like. [00:05:58][113.5]
[00:05:59] Elizabeth Marberry: And one of the things I have learned is that the more you can focus, the deeper your impact and the more income you will receive. And so for this podcast, we are going to focus in on social media marketing. Most of the content that I'm going to be. Giving you is going to be for Instagram, but know that all of the strategies and tips that I share with you can be applied to other platforms, and it's really just marketing at the end of the day, but it's different from the marketing that you learned in business school or ten years ago. It is the marketing of today. It is social media marketing. And if you are new to this space, welcome. I've got you and I'm going to teach you how to win that game of Instagram so you can really have Instagram work for your business. So that is going to be our focus for season three of Strut It. And I am so excited. [00:06:58][59.4]
[00:06:59] Elizabeth Marberry: Let's talk about bold visibility because that is a major component of what I teach. And that is what I encourage my clients to step into. So what does it mean to show up with bold visibility online? To me, what that means is that you finally allow yourself to be seen being on social media. It can feel so vulnerable. It can bring up all of your muck and all of your limiting beliefs around self-doubt and imposter syndrome and perfectionism and people pleasing. And what are other people going to think? And allowing yourself to take up space online is very vulnerable. So when I say bold visibility, what I mean is that you are finally giving yourself permission to show up. You are allowing yourself to take up space and be seen. And that takes a lot of courage. And it requires a certain level of boldness, a certain level of inner confidence. And if you're not there yet, don't worry, I've got you. You are not going to go it alone. I've got your back, and I'm going to be sharing some really tangible tips and strategies on this podcast to help you feel more confident in showing up. And part of what I have found is that if you're lacking confidence, it usually comes from a few places one, you probably just haven't practice enough. I will be honest with you guys. I have not recorded a podcast in quite a while, and it was hard for me to sit my butt in the chair and record this podcast. Do I want to do it? Yes I do. Do I have something to say? Do I think what I have to say is important and it can help at least one other person? Absolutely, yes. And it was still hard for me to get started. So what I want to invite you to do today is get started, whatever that means for you. So I invite you to be with yourself. If you're feeling nervous about getting on camera or recording the reel or whatever it is, I invite you to just get started and put it out there. Even if it's imperfect, even if you know it could be better, even if you don't have the perfect strategy all planned out, that's okay. You will go further, faster, and it will be a heck of a lot more fun if you can just fail forward, fail forward and quickly learn as you go and listen to this podcast so you will be able to pick up tips and hopefully shortcut the learning curve. So that way you can feel totally confident showing up on Instagram and all your social media platforms so you can grow your business. [00:09:45][166.7]
[00:09:46] Elizabeth Marberry: It's estimated that by the end of Q1 of 2024, Instagram will have over 2.5 billion active users on its platform. This is a major opportunity for you and your brand to take up space, get seen, and achieve your big, bold goals. And I know some of us especially I'm in my mid-forties and those of us who didn't grow up being on social media can be really, how do I say this? Resistant to social media? And here's what I say to you. Okay, so I grew up in the 80s. Do you remember how we used to have to get these, like giant phonebooks, the Yellow Pages delivered to your front porch and think about if you were a business and you were trying to get your name out there, you were trying to let everyone in your community know that you had this service or this product. So what did you have to do? You had to pay for an advertisement in the Yellow Pages, which was maybe one line, or maybe you splurged and you upgraded and got like a half a page or something, right? You had one thing, you had one line, you're on a page with hundreds of other providers, and then you had to wait for that Yellow pages to be published, and then you had to wait for the Yellow Pages to be delivered to the potential customers in their neighborhood, to their. Homes. And then here's what happened. You had to just say a prayer that someone in that house would need your service, and they would flip to that page in the Yellow Pages and look through hundreds of other people who provide the exact same service as you. And you would just hope that somehow they would call you out of the blue and you would get a new lead. [00:11:37][111.2]
[00:11:38] Elizabeth Marberry: You guys, I cannot get over the fact that social media and Instagram in particular is such a goldmine of opportunity. Okay. There are billions of people on this app. Every demographic. Instagram is how people are finding information. That is where they're looking for their service providers. That's where they're looking and finding new products. So if you are not taking advantage of this world wide audience that you can play on, that you have access to in the palm of your hand on your phone. You are missing out, my friend. So let's go. Let's leverage Instagram to grow our businesses. And hey, this gets to be the most fun part of your marketing strategy, and we're going to do it all without spending one dime on paid ads. So if you're feeling pumped like I am and you're ready to get started today, then you're going to want to grab my free guide. Monetize Your IG: Seven Simple and Proven Ways to Finally Make Money on Instagram. In this guide, I break down the exact strategies I use to grow my account over 120,000 combined account followers and increase our revenue. I can't wait for you to grab it. You can get it for free by going to ElizabethMarberry.com/freebies. That's ElizabethMarberry.com/freebies to get your Monetize Your IG Guide. And if you're not already following me on Instagram, what are you waiting for? Hop on over there and go to Elizabeth Marberry. I show lots of daily tips and strategies that you can jump on today, and I am just so grateful for your time today. Thank you for doing this thing with me. Thank you for going all in on your vision for your business, and I can't wait to start it with you next week. [00:13:33][114.5]
[00:13:34] Elizabeth Marberry: Thank you for listening to Strut It. If you're ready to start leveraging Instagram to grow your business, then you're going to want to grab my free Monetize Your IG guide, where you'll learn seven simple and proven ways to finally make money on Instagram. You can grab your guide at ElizabethMarberry.com/freebies. That's ElizabethMarberry.com/freebies to get my Monetize Your IG guide. If you got some incredible value from today's episode, be sure to leave a review and subscribe on your favorite podcast platforms, and I cannot wait to strut it with you again next week. [00:13:34]