10. Content That Converts: 3 Instagram Post Types to Boost Your Bottomline
To effectively leverage Instagram for your business, it's crucial to create three key types of content: content to attract new followers, lead magnet content to build your email list, and content to promote your offers.
I break down each type of content and provide actionable tips on implementing them in your Instagram marketing strategy.
If you've ever felt stuck on what to post on Instagram or unsure about your content strategy, this episode is for you.
In this episode, you’ll learn about:
[00:05:04] Content that converts on Instagram.
[00:09:08] Lead magnet content.
[00:13:44] Promoting lead magnets.
[00:16:36] Building your email list with ease.
[00:20:29] Creating impactful lead magnets.
[00:22:48] How to drive sales on Instagram.
[00:26:28] The power of ONE goal and focus.
[00:30:33] How Instagram can work FOR business.
Links mentioned in this episode…
Insta-Growth: The 30 Day Private Instagram Mentorship (SAVE $200 WITH CODE "PODCAST") - https://www.elizabethmarberry.com/insta-growth
Free guide to Monetize Your IG: Seven Simple and Proven Ways to Finally Make Money on Instagram
Apply for your FREE Instagram Breakthrough Call with Elizabeth
ManyChat for Instagram Messaging Automation
Quotes
[17:13] “Customers come from conversations.”
[28:06] "You just need to have one offer to begin."
TRANSCRIPT
S3 Ep10 Content That Converts: 3 Instagram Post Types to Boost Your Bottomline
**Elizabeth Marberry 0:00**
If you've ever opened up your Instagram app ready to post content for your business, and then you kind of hit that freeze mode of, wait a second, what should I be posting and when? And just feeling like you have no clear strategy, like you're not really sure. how this effort and time and energy that you're putting into creating content is going to work for your business, today's episode is just for you.
I'm gonna be sharing with you three different types of content you absolutely must be leveraging on Instagram that will actually impact the bottom line of your business so you can boost the ROI on your time, your energy, your resources, and really start to allow Instagram to work for your business so you can make sales in your sleep. Let's do it.
Welcome to Strut It, a podcast about creating bold visibility on social media with zero apologies. I'm Elizabeth Marberry, your host and Instagram marketing coach. I help small business owners get seen on Instagram and monetize their offers so they can make more money doing their soul-led 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! Super excited to talk to you all about Instagram content. I have been an Instagram content creator consistently every day for the past three years.
I've learned a thing or two about what content works, what content doesn't work, and more importantly, what content is actually going to impact the bottom line of your business, what content is going to help you grow your audience so you can convert more of those followers into paying clients. I'm so excited to get into this. And before I do, I wanna share one quick win with you, which is that today I met with a YouTube coach. She is a YouTube expert and she teaches people how to use YouTube in their sales funnel to attract more clients, nurture them through educational content, and then funnel them into their offers.
So if you are a coach or if you're a person who's really wanting to leverage more educational content, I'm super excited to tell you that I'm going to be bringing Nancy, her name is Nancy, and she is a YouTube expert. I'm going to be bringing her on the podcast in a few weeks. And I can't wait because while this podcast is focused on Instagram marketing, I want to make sure I bring in lots of different experts from other social media channels because my goal is for you to not only be on one platform, but maybe you have a platform for short form content like Instagram, and then you have a long form content platform.
So your long form content platform could be a blog post on your website, or maybe you have a podcast like me, or maybe you decide to do long form video on YouTube. So it's super important to diversify your marketing strategy as you build your business. And don't get overwhelmed. Remember, you should always focus on one platform at a time. And if you're here listening to this podcast, I'm guessing that your focus right now is on Instagram, which is fantastic.
You are in the right spot today. But I'm so excited to just be exposing you to these other social networks because so many of them have commonalities with Instagram. Because here's the thing about marketing. Social media marketing is the same everywhere. While some of the strategies are different, the basics of marketing never change. So once you really master those basics, you can apply them to every platform. So just know that all of the time and energy you're investing right now in learning how to use Instagram to grow your business, you will absolutely be able to apply that to other channels like LinkedIn, YouTube, TikTok, Pinterest, wherever you're choosing to show up for your brand and your business.
And I just love it. So I'm excited to bring on some other experts so I can get you in front of more people and different brains. And I'm just super pumped to connect with Nancy. I mean, that is honestly one of my favorite parts of having a podcast is I get to sit down and talk to other incredible people who inspire me, who have built incredible things, six and seven figure businesses. And I get to sit down and ask them whatever questions I want.
I mean, that's definitely one of my favorite parts about being a podcaster. So that interview should be coming out in the next couple of weeks. So keep an eye out for it. And if you are wanting to learn more about how to use YouTube, you're definitely gonna wanna catch that episode. Okay, so today I'm gonna be sharing with you three types of content you absolutely must be leveraging on Instagram to grow your business. Now, why is this so important? Here's the thing. Many of us are not born content creators. We're not born marketers. You have this idea for your business, you're really passionate about it, you launch it, but you probably don't know all the facets of marketing or content creation, right?
Like we all have our different strengths. And so what I see so often with business owners who are trying to market themselves on Instagram is they struggle a lot with knowing what to post. And they often feel unsure about what type of content is going to resonate with their ideal audience. and help them stand out in the crowded marketplace of Instagram. And this also includes people kind of sharing their concerns about how do I promote my offers while also sharing educational or entertaining content.
Just trying to find a balance between all that can feel really confusing and overwhelming. The other struggle a lot of people share with me is just that struggle to be consistent and really understanding like how often they need to be posting and we often overthink it and then we just end up not posting at all or we tell ourselves what we are posting is not good enough. So consistency and frequency of posting is a common struggle for many business owners on Instagram. as well as time management, really trying to find time to plan and create and curate and schedule and do all the things that they need to do, as well as just the content planning.
How do you know what you're going to talk about and when you should post it and what your call to action should be? So I'm hoping to kind of break through some of those barriers for you today. and share with you three simple types of content that you can be creating every week. And each of these pieces of content will have a different goal in mind. And as I get into it, it'll make more sense as to how this is going to really positively impact the growth of your business. Now I want to preface this by saying for this strategy to work, you need to be crystal clear on who is your target market, who is your ideal client avatar.
If you're unclear on who you are serving, how you are gonna help them and what offers you have so that way that person who wants your help can take the next step with you, then you absolutely need to check out my 30-day private Instagram mentorship called InstaGrowth. In that 30-day private container, you and I will work on your business And I will help you to get really clear on your audience. We do an audience deep dive, I do a whole audit of your feed, give you that Reels strategy so you know how to be leveraging short form video to attract those people. We optimize your bio so your Instagram profile can start working and magnetizing those people to your feed.
And you'll walk out of that 30 days just feeling absolutely clear on who you serve, how you help them, and your exact next steps to get more people in your paid offers. So if you're curious about my InstaGrowth 30-day private Instagram mentorship, then DM me the word grow on Instagram and I will send you more information. The three types of content that you need to be posting are one, pieces of content that are going to attract new followers.
So content that is going to build your audience. And I don't mean any follower, like your neighbor or your friend. I mean your prospective client, your ideal client. consumer of your product or service. The second type is a lead magnet or a freebie. So that way you can build your email list and that's where the sales really happen. Where you can nurture your relationship with these cold prospects so they can really get to know you because Customers come from conversations.
Customers come from connection, real connection. And that's hard to have in a seven-second reel. So it's important that we have next steps where you can deepen your relationship with your prospective customers. So the second form of content that you have to be creating is lead magnet content. We'll get into what that means.
The third type of content is your offers. So inviting people to apply to work with you or buy something. So before I dive into the intricacies of these three, I want you to have this one overarching takeaway and that is For every single piece of content that you post on social media, you should have a clear goal and intention. So before you post something, I want you to think about how do you want that one piece of content to work for your business.
That will really help you in clarifying what kind of content you're gonna create. So for example, if I'm gonna create a piece of content with the intention of I just want to get in front of more people, I'm not trying to sell them anything, I'm not trying to get them to take action and join my email list, I'm literally just trying to get more eyeballs on my feed so the right people can find me and give me that follow, that's a very different piece of content than for someone who I know is consuming my content regularly and then I'm gonna be sharing with them a way that they can take a next step forward with me. So those are different client avatars within your audience, right? There's the people who haven't even found you yet and you're trying to call those in.
There's the people who are already in your audience that you need to nurture. And then there's those people who have been in your audience for a while and you've been nurturing them, and now they're ready to convert into a paying customer. So when you think about your content planning for the week, what I want you to think about is each week, you need to have posts around attracting new followers.
Now, if you've been listening to this podcast, you should know the type of content that you need to be posting on Instagram to grow your audience, and that is Reels. Reels, the short form video, is the absolute best way to grow your following and attract more ideal clients into your audience. So Reels needs to be in your strategy for sure on that day or days in which you're deciding, okay, today is a day that I'm gonna work on building my audience. The content that I see performs best for attracting new followers is that super value-driven content. For me, that usually shows up in one of two ways.
The first way is teaching someone something new, so educating them about something new, something they don't yet understand. And if you can teach them one thing new, right then they will click on your profile. And assuming, again, that you've done your homework, that your bio is all optimized, that all of your recent content delivers on the promise of your bio, and it's crystal clear who you help and how you help them, they're gonna give you that follow. So value-driven content is a fantastic way to attract more followers. Another type of content that is fantastic, and I use this quite a bit in my strategy to attract new followers, is content that is entertaining and relatable.
So a lot of times I bring up the pain points of my audience on Instagram and that is the pain point of, oh my gosh, you're running your business and now you have to find time to post on Instagram. How exhausting is that? How overwhelming is that? or every reel that you've posted in the last month has gotten like two likes and 30 views and yet you keep showing up. And so I will call out those pain points. Like the struggle is real, I get it.
And we've all been there, right? Like every piece of content that I share like that, I have days where I feel that way. where I'm just like, oh my gosh, this feels like too much. And so that relatable content does really well. If you really strike a chord with someone and it's really relatable, they're gonna see themselves in you and they're gonna give you the follow. The second type of content is promoting your lead magnet. So what is your lead magnet? A lead magnet is a way to grow your email list.
Essentially what it is, is it's a freebie that you create that gives your ideal client avatar actual value. So this is not fluff, this is not like clickbait. You are actually helping them to solve a small problem. So this could be a free checklist, a free workbook, an ebook. This could be an audio guide. It could be any kind of download. For me, I have a freebie. I'm sure you've grabbed it by now because it's so full of value called Monetize Your IG, Seven Simple and Proven Ways to Finally Make Money on Instagram. That is my lead magnet and it's full of so much value. It will really help the people who download it. And what people do is when they grab my guide in exchange for that free guide, they give me their name and email and then I can continue to speak to them and market to them in my emails and of course put my paid offers in front of them if they want to go deeper and work with me. So the content that I find that works well on Instagram for this is kind of twofold. One is you can create like Canva graphics or carousels.
You can make them super informative and then lead people into essentially you know you're teasing your lead magnet. You're giving them some value and then you say hey if you want 50 other hooks or 50 other ideas for X, Y, and Z, then comment this word below and I'll send you my free guide of 50 tips to grow your real estate business or something like that. So carousels images can work great to get people to take action and want to grab your lead magnet. Another fantastic way is to create one of those value-based pieces of content, but then the call to action, the transition, is to download your lead magnet.
So again, for me, if my lead magnet is all about helping you monetize your IG guide, I might share something in my post about how to monetize your Instagram. And then I would say, and that's just one strategy. If you want seven strategies, then you're going to want to grab my free guide, comment guide below, and I'll DM it to you. And if you're wondering about how I actually send and deliver that guide to people, I use ManyChat, which is a DM automation. It is fabulous.
It is a little bit of a good learning curve, but not too bad. And they do have a free version. I have the paid version, but you can test it out for free. And it is a great way to get those leads in your sleep, where it sends it, they comment the word, the bot sends them the DM with your guide, they grab it, and look, you're building your email list in your sleep. It's pretty fun. The third type of content that you need to be posting every week is inviting people into your paid offers. So don't skip this step.
I know that a lot of times it doesn't perform as well on Instagram, I will tell you that, but it's still something you need to be doing because those people, even if it doesn't get as many likes or as many views, the people who are stalking your feed and they're watching you, maybe they're not even liking your stuff or commenting on it, this happens to me all the time, but they are watching you. They are eating up everything you're dishing out. So you absolutely need to be putting out offers because Otherwise, it's a disservice to people.
People want to know how they can work with you, how they can go deeper with you, how they can get your product, how they can sign up for your service. So you need to be crystal clear about it though. And that is a problem that I see many people that come to work with me is they're unclear on their offers. And here's what I want to tell you. You just need to have one offer to begin. So if you're feeling overwhelmed, just decide on one simple offer to begin. That's all you need to kickstart your business. And what you want to do is in your posts, you're gonna invite people to take the next step with you. So you're gonna invite people to apply. So if you are building a coaching brand, for me, my coaching is more high ticket.
And so for me to work with someone, I need to meet with them on Zoom. I wanna make sure that we jive, that I can for sure help them. If I'm not the right mentor for them, I wanna know. And I don't work with everybody. So people do have to fill out an application to get a complimentary Instagram breakthrough call with me. Which by the way, if you are wanting to work with me one-on-one in one of my coaching containers and you want that application, just DM me the word apply on Instagram and my happy little robot will send you the application. You could even test it out right now. Just DM me the word apply, A-P-P-L-Y, and I will send you the application. Again, the formula is very much the same. You don't create a piece of content that's just like me, me, me. You don't say, for example, I wouldn't create a piece of content that says InstaGrowth, the 30 day private mentorship. Here's six things we're going to do together. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. That doesn't really work. I wish it did, but it just doesn't.
That actual list of here's all the things you're gonna get, here's the thing, more of that content-heavy stuff, that performs well on Facebook. You can write that all out and put a picture on Facebook and you can post it over there. On Instagram, what I have found works better is you are, I'm gonna use myself as an example, I might do a hook of seven simple and proven ways to make money on Instagram and then I might have the call to action on the video say, read the caption, and then in the top line of my caption, I might say, here they are, and maybe I even list them out, like one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, and then I say, if you want me to go into depth on these and the strategy behind each of these, then comment the word guide and I will send you my guide where I do the complete breakdown so you really understand how to leverage these strategies for your business. Do you see how that works?
So I'm still giving them a piece of it, or maybe I give them like one or two points. It's not clickbait. I am giving them something, but if they want to go deeper, they're going to have to take action. So that's one example. In my dance studio business, Wedding Dance Coach, we have a free first dance checklist, which is phenomenal. It tells the couples everything they need to do in those final months leading up to their wedding, how to best prepare for their first dance. when they should start taking dance lessons, how to pick a song, what do they need to bring to their lesson, how their dress impacts their dance, like so many things, an important day of tips. So it's a really, really actionable guide, and we have had such an incredible conversion rate on this guide.
We got over 4,000 people on our email list from this one lead magnet. So I just want to tell you right there, you don't have to stress yourself out with creating like 20 different lead magnets. Just create one that is killer, that is so impactful that your ideal dreamboat client will just be dying to get their hands on.
And if you can do that, you only need to have one, two, three freebies in your back pocket. So don't stress out too much about this. If you can create one freebie that is just like, Ooh, amazing, it can go very far for your business. when we want people to grab that lead magnet, what we'll do is we'll give them a piece of value, like maybe it's a relatable piece of content about how wedding planning is so stressful, but it's gonna be worth it, and read the caption, and then in the caption we say, you know, take the guesswork out of your first dance if you're really nervous for this moment, in the spotlight we got you, we have this free guide, you know, comment checklist, and we'll send it to you. So that works really well for us.
The other way that we sell, because I know I went back to the whole lead magnet here, but the way that we sell with Wedding Dance Coach oftentimes is in our story. We will share about our packages and we'll do polls like, are you interested in dance lessons? And then if they say yes, we say, if you said yes, how many lessons are you thinking of taking? And we'll do another poll. And then on the next slide, we might talk about the different packages we offer. Stories are a really great way to sell.
And I used that same strategy when I was marketing a Hot Prospects Masterclass that I did recently. And I talked about it a lot. I talked about the rate. And of course I put, you know, the rate goes up on Friday, but DM me the word hot and I will send you the link. And again, people registered for my class, and that was a paid masterclass. So remember that a lot of sales on Instagram take place in the direct messages, so you want to get into conversation with people in the DM. So that's why I like the idea of creating a value-based reel, having a caption that gives them that piece of value, and then a transition statement into your paid offer. Ideally, they're commenting below and then you can get into conversation with them in the DMs and potentially make a sale.
Now, in terms of making sales and really making money on Instagram, what I have found is that you have to be willing to play the long game. Well, there's some people who for sure will find you and you'll send them the link and they'll send you the money. More times than not, you really have to nurture them and that's where that email list comes in handy. And yes, you can absolutely continue to nurture them and you should nurture them through your Instagram content. But again, you need to have multiple channels to ensure that you have that brand authority and that know, like and trust factor on multiple levels.
And like I talked about last week in the pod, if your Instagram goes down, if you lost access to your Instagram, it is so important that you have that email list so you can continue to reach out to your people and you still have your business, right? You don't want all of your business eggs in that one Instagram basket. So the three types of content, attract new followers, lead magnet, and invite people to work with you, apply, buy your products and services. And how you can kind of map this out in your week is you can decide very simply. Like on Mondays, I'm going to do a post for a lead magnet. On Tuesday, I'm gonna talk about my paid offer. I'm gonna invite people to take a next step with me. On Wednesday, I'm gonna create content to intentionally attract new followers and really just say follow for more. That's my call to action.
On Thursday, I'm gonna do my lead magnet again, a list builder. On Friday, I'm gonna do two posts, one to attract new followers and one to talk about my paid offers. So I know in the past I've told you that you need to be posting at least three reels a week. Really, ideally, you're posting five days a week if you can. Now, if that sends you into a spiral and you're just like, oh my gosh, no, Elizabeth, maybe it's just one, you know, three times a week when people are like, what is the best schedule for me?
The best schedule for you is whatever you're gonna be able to do consistently. So I don't want you to go out, leave this podcast and say, okay, Elizabeth said I have to post like five, six times a week. I'm gonna go do it. And then you do it for a week and you burn out and you don't post for six months. That would not be productive for your business. So maybe you walk away from this podcast and you say, okay, I hear what Elizabeth's saying. I'm gonna try to do those three types of posts. I'm gonna do them once a week, so three times a week, and I'm gonna do that consistently for the next month, and then I'll check in with myself, right? So it's very important that you set yourself up for success, and you create a sustainable plan for yourself. That is so, so key. The last note I wanna leave you with is a question you may be asking yourself.
One of my private clients asked me this the other day, and that is, can one piece of content do more than one thing? The answer is yes, yes, it totally can. But if you take this approach of focusing on one goal per post, it will greatly clarify your messaging and streamline your content creation process so you feel more confident and easeful. And the reason why I like this in my brain having one goal is it helps me to feel crystal clear on my call to action. So as you all know, for every single post, you need to have some sort of call to action to let your audience know what you want them to do with that piece of content.
Do you want them to follow you for more? Do you want them to save it? Do you want them to share it with a friend? Do you want them to comment a certain word? Do you want them to like it because it was relatable? So every piece of content has to have a clear call to action. And when you have that one goal in mind, you will know exactly what your call to action is. So again, content creation becomes easier. The more you can simplify it within your brain, the better, and yes, you'll create a piece of content that's gonna attract new followers, and it's gonna nurture your current audience, and that's awesome, but it can be really helpful if you just focus your brain on one goal for each single piece of content. I hope today's episode was helpful for you.
If you are feeling like, gosh, okay, I totally get this, but I'm still unsure on who exactly my audience is, I'm not sure if my bio is totally optimized, my engagement is down, I don't know if people really understand what I do or how I can help them, and I'm unclear as to really how to take all the thoughts in my brain and streamline them so they can work for my business on Instagram, Then I want you to join my InstaGrowth 30-day private Instagram marketing mentorship. In these 30 days together, I will totally help you to crystallize your goals, your vision, and really understand how to start attracting more of those dreamboat clients.
You definitely have to be in it for the long game. You have to do this consistently, month after month. but I will set you up for success in that first month. And one of my favorite parts is not only do we get two private calls during the month where you will get coaching and of course a customized strategy for your business, but throughout the month you get unlimited Instagram audio coaching during my work hours. And what that means is when you go to implement all of this strategy that I'm teaching you, You send me your reels in the DMs and I give you my real-time feedback as you're implementing this.
And that is a total game changer because as I'm sure you can feel from all of this information, it's one thing to get it all, it's another thing to implement it. And this 30 day program is so fun because I get to be with you every step of the way as you implement these steps. And as you post things and you forget to do things, it's totally okay. You learn by doing and I remind you and I coach you as you go. So by the end of those 30 days, you feel so much more confident and clear about exactly what type of content you should be posting and when and what kind of content is really gonna help propel your business forward.
I would love to work with you. So DM me the word grow on Instagram and I will send you that information. You can also go to my website, elizabethmarberry, M-A-R-B-E-R-R-Y.com slash insta, I-N-S-T-A dash growth, G-R-O-W-T-H, and you'll see the full rundown of the program, everything you get, and the investment. And for podcast listeners, you save $200 at checkout with the code podcast. That is exclusive to you. I want to serve my podcast community and reward you for this time that you are investing in yourself and your business. So go to Elizabeth Marberry dot com slash insta dash growth today.
And I cannot wait to support you as you dominate Instagram and attract more of those dreamboat clients so you can do your soul-led work. I cannot wait to see you back here next week. Thank you for listening to Struttin'. If you're ready to start leveraging Instagram to grow your business, then you're gonna wanna 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 slash freebies. That's elizabethmarberry.com slash 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 platform. And I cannot wait to start it with you again next week.