38. Your Holiday Sales Guide: Instagram Strategies That Work
Struggling to turn your holiday promotions into actual sales on Instagram? If Black Friday, Cyber Monday, or Small Business Saturday feels like a scramble every year, this episode will help you set up an effective, stress-free strategy that drives real results. I’ll show you how to engage your audience, leverage Instagram’s latest tools, and automate for sales success—all without overwhelming yourself. Ready to make this holiday season your best one yet? Let’s dive in!
What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
(05:04) The Power of DM Automation : Why “link in bio” prompts aren’t enough in 2024 and how to set up keyword-triggered messages to direct followers instantly to your offers, like a little sales assistant on autopilot.
(08:49) Setting Up Your Black Friday Strategy: From using countdowns in Stories to building urgency and driving engagement with carousels and Reels, I’ll share a strategy to make your offers pop in a crowded holiday feed.
(14:02) Crafting Irresistible CTAs: I’ll guide you on creating memorable and clear calls-to-action that your followers can easily act on without hunting through your profile.
(18:35) Using Lead Magnets as Holiday Gifts: Not offering a sale? Discover how to use Black Friday to build your email list with irresistible freebies that position you as an expert, nurture your audience, and set the stage for future conversions.
Key Takeaways:
Simplify the Buying Process: With DM automation, make it as easy as possible for followers to engage and convert with your promo offers.
Lean into Carousels & Stories for Engagement: Use carousel posts, music, and countdowns to create anticipation and urgency.
Elevate Your CTA Game: Bold, specific, and easy-to-use CTAs make all the difference in capturing attention and encouraging action.
Think Long-Term with Lead Magnets: Even if you’re not selling this holiday season, freebies can be a powerful way to build your list and grow engagement.
Quick Tip:
DM me the word "chat" on Instagram to see DM automation in action and grab a free trial of MiniChat, the tool I rely on for automated responses that convert!
Links mentioned in this episode:
Try ManyChat for FREE with my LINK
Apply for a complimentary IG breakthrough call! - or DM me the word APPLY on Instagram and you’ll get the link.
Want to dive deeper into using AI for marketing? Check out my four-part mini-series and my interview with AI coach Juan Galan, one of the most popular episodes to date!
JOIN HOT REELS: The 12-Month Instagram Content Lab
An intimate, strategy-packed mentorship for established business owners ready to create killer content that stops the scroll, grows your following and attracts your dreamboat clients (even if you have no idea what to post and feel like you’re always throwing spaghetti at the wall!)
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
Quote
"Stop playing small and start showing up for yourself and your business. When you make it easy for your audience to take action, you'll be amazed at the results."
S3 Ep38 Transcript: Your Holiday Sales Guide: Instagram Strategies That Work
00:00
If you're planning any Black Friday deals, small business Saturday promos, or Cyber Monday sales, or really any time you're looking to sell more of your products or services on Instagram, you've got to design your content strategy strategically so you can drive more leads and sales. Well, you're in luck because today I'm walking you through the exact strategy I teach my clients to get their offers in front of more people.
00:27
and turn those followers and lurkers into buyers. Ready to learn the moves to boost your holiday revenue and beyond? Let's do it. Welcome to Strut It, a podcast about creating bold visibility on social media with zero apologies.
00:47
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 sole-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.
01:16
Welcome back to the show. I'm Elizabeth Marberry, your hostess with the Mostest, bringing you a super juicy episode today to help you sell more this holiday season and beyond. I'm super thrilled to get into the details and share the strategy with you that you can go and implement right away. Before I dive in, I wanna share that I'm so excited when this episode airs, I will be going to Vegas to speak at the Las Vegas Convention Center for...
01:44
the wedding MBA, which is a giant convention that attracts wedding pros from all over the world. There's, I believe, four or 5,000 attendees. And honestly, it's the biggest speaking gig I've ever landed. I'm so nervous, I am so excited, and I want you to wish me luck. So send me a DM on Instagram right now and say, oh my gosh, Elizabeth, you're in Vegas.
02:10
You're gonna rock it, don't be nervous, just give me all the love, okay? I love pushing myself out of my comfort zone. To me, life is lived outside your comfort zone, so this is gonna push me to my edges. I know I'm totally prepared, I'm pumped, and I'm ready to do this, and I can't wait to report back on how it all goes. I also wanna highlight one thing that I do very strategically and often.
02:38
And it's so simple. And I see a lot of business owners like not do this. And that is tell people what you do. Tell people what you do. Talk about what you do. I've noticed that there's this weird factor of people get like kind of, I don't know, shy about their business or their products or services. But just last night, I did a speaking gig for the Estes Park Wedding Association. It was a small group of about 50 people and it was so fun. They were such a great group.
03:08
And I did a whole keynote on Reals to Revenue, how to turn your content into cash. It was super fun. And how did I get that gig? I got it because at another networking event, I was sitting at the table with Sean.
03:24
who is a fabulous wedding photographer, and I was telling him about what I do. And I was telling him I'm a keynote speaker, I'm really passionate about talking about Instagram organic marketing, and he said, Oh my gosh, Elizabeth, I'm looking for someone for this gig in November. So I share that with you because so often we keep our desires hidden. And then we wonder.
03:49
why nothing's happening for us. You have to ask for it. You need to be direct and it's not pushy at all. It's just a conversation. It's a back and forth, what do you do? Oh my gosh, that's incredible. Here's what I do. And don't be afraid to ask. I cannot tell you how many incredible opportunities I have landed because I had the balls. Oh yes, oh my God, I just said balls. I had the balls to ask for what I wanted, okay?
04:19
So stop playing small and start asking for what you want and tell people what you do, what you sell because they might want your product or service or they might know someone else who would love your product or service. So stop being shy and start showing up for yourself and your business.
04:39
Okay, I'm going to get off my soapbox now and we're going to dive into this quick tip as to how you can leverage your Instagram content to drive more sales this holiday season. Okay, so if you're planning on launching, let's just say a Black Friday offer. Here's the truth. People are more likely to buy your stuff if the process feels seamless. Okay.
05:04
That is so crucial and this is something that takes a little bit of effort in the back end to get set up. But once you get it set up, it's so worth it and you will see a boost in revenue. It's totally worth your time to get your systems in place. We want to remove as much friction as possible and make it easy for the people already following you on Instagram right now, your biggest
05:34
buy your product or service. If you're still saying click the link in my bio, you are using a strategy that is outdated. It won't work and convert as well in 2024. And I know this is frustrating, believe me. It's frustrating for me sometimes because just a couple years ago, I would say in my reels, click the link in my bio and it would work and people would do it. Now that's just not converting on Instagram right now. In fact, posts with link in bio,
06:03
receive on average a 50% lower engagement rate. So what should you do instead? Okay, so this is where DM automation comes in. DM automation is a way to set up keyword triggered messages. So whenever someone comments a specific word,
06:25
or DMs you with that word, they will get an instant reply with a link or promo details that you have already inputted into your DM automation. So you can think of direct message automation as your own little sales assistant robot that keeps working while you focus on other things in your business, or here's a bright idea, take the day off. DM automation ultimately makes it easier for your biggest fans and followers
06:55
to take action on your offer and really get what you are scooping up. And believe me when I say your conversion in terms of clicks will go sky high. So if you are used to seeing the click through rate for an email is usually good at two to 3%, my DM automation click through rate is like 90%. I mean, it is just insane the difference because
07:23
It's kind of like sending someone a text message. It's just exactly where they're at, they're hanging out there and they can take advantage of your offer in that moment. The thing I love about DM automation is it's super easy to use. There's a tiny, tiny bit of a learning curve, but they have incredible tutorials on how to set it up. But really, ultimately, it's a very simple intuitive tool. And the tool that I use and I recommend all my clients use and I recommend you use is called
07:53
ManyChat. So I want you to pause this episode for a moment and I want you to direct message me right now on Instagram the word chat, C-H-A-T, to see how it works. So when you message me the word chat, you are going to get a reply from my sexy little robot assistant with the link to try out the pro version of ManyChat totally for free with my link.
08:22
So DM me the word chat and you can see this tool, MiniChat that I'm talking about and you can try it out totally for free. I wanna highlight that MiniChat is very affordable as a business marketing expense. It starts at $15 a month. So it's not wildly expensive and the conversion that you will get, the boost in revenue you will get, you won't even blink an eye at spending $15 a month. Believe me.
08:49
Okay, so let's talk about how to get your Instagram ready for your Black Friday deals or whenever you are planning on doing a promo. So here's what you need to do. You'll wanna set up your many chat account. So you're gonna DM me the word chat. You're going to create a login. It's very easy. Next, you are gonna choose your magic keyword. So this is the word that your followers will type in as either a comment, you can set it up where,
09:18
It's a comment on a reel or a post, or you can set it up as a story reply or a direct message, or even if they comment on a live stream that you're doing, if you're doing an IG live. But you pick a magic keyword. So for example, maybe you pick the word deal, D-E-A-L, or maybe you pick the word Black Friday, but make it all one word, or maybe you pick the word sale, S-A-L-E.
09:45
It really doesn't matter, but you do want to pick something that's super easy for your audience to remember and a word that they probably will not misspell. Next, you need to set up a landing page or a link. So this is where DM automation gets really fun because you'll set up a link that leads your ideal client prospect directly to your offer page.
10:14
or directly to the place where they can grab a discount code. Or if you have an exclusive landing page for your Black Friday deal, great. Maybe for some of my clients, they don't have a landing page, so we just send them to a specific spot on their website. Now, one of my clients a couple of weeks ago is kind of feeling confused about this, so I wanna answer this question here in case you're wondering, okay Elizabeth, what is the difference between a landing page and a website page?
10:44
They are both web pages, okay, but a landing page has no other buttons on the page. So, you know, when you go to a website, you see the menu at the top, and there's like 10 other options and dropdown menus. There's a lot of different places that your customers can go. On a landing page, it's a single web page with one intention, and that is to capture people's name and emails.
11:10
So how I use my landing pages typically is to capture emails with lead magnets. So I have a couple different lead magnets I work with right now in my coaching business. One is my free monetize your IG guide. So for example, if you wanted to grab that, you would DM me the word money on Instagram, you'll get that link in your DMs. And then if you click it, you can open it up and see what my landing page looks like. So you can kind of use that.
11:40
as an example. And by the way, if you want that guide, definitely grab it. I teach you the exact seven steps that I implemented to grow my following over 120K while increasing revenue by 84% within 12 months. So if you haven't grabbed that guide, you should totally do it. But at the minimum, you can go do that just to see how I have the landing page set up. And you'll see that it's just a really easy way for the consumer to just do the thing.
12:08
as quickly as possible without all the distractions of a website. The other issue with just sending people, let's say to a page on your website is you have no way of capturing their information. So let's say they go to your website, they're looking at all your products and then they leave, they're not going to come back or remember to come back or maybe they will, but who knows? And you have no way of capturing their information to follow up with them or nurture them in the future. So it's good strategically to always think about how am I going to be able to capture
12:38
capture people's information so that way I can help them remember to come back to this page in the future. Okay, so you have your keyword, you have your landing page or your link. Next, your third step is you're gonna create a call to action or a CTA. So for your posts, your reels, your stories, your carousels, leading up to Black Friday or whenever your sale is,
13:06
you're gonna be teasing your offer, okay? And how do you do that? We're not gonna go deep into the exact type of content. If you're unsure, I want you to go back and listen to the episode I did on promotional content versus attraction content. I still want you to focus on that attraction content that really helps your ideal client, that educates them, that inspires them.
13:33
that makes them laugh, entertains them. But the difference is you're gonna strategically ask people to comment a certain keyword. And the most important thing is that the content of the video or the carousel directly relates to what it is that you're selling. So you have to really think through how those pieces connect together. So go back and listen to that episode if you're feeling kind of confused about like, but what kind of content do I make? So you need to have a clear call to action for your posts.
14:02
So for example, in your caption, you could say something like, comment deal and I'll send you the exclusive sneak peek of our Black Friday offer. And ideally, that's a very general kind of statement. I don't know your business, I don't know what you're selling. So the more specific you can be, the better. Or maybe you would say something like, want early access to our Black Friday offer, comment Black Friday below and we will send you the place to grab it or something like that.
14:31
This way your followers know exactly what to do and how to unlock the deal. Now make sure you do not bury this call to action at the bottom of your caption. Remember most people on Instagram will not read your caption, okay? So it needs to be at the top line of your caption or somewhere on screen in your video, in your carousel. Don't make me go hunting for your keyword. I will never see it. I will never comment that. And I will not buy your product or service if you make me do that, okay?
14:58
The fourth step is test the flow. So DM yourself the keyword or comment on one of your posts, have a friend do it, and just make sure that everything flows really smoothly. And it's always good to just check that your followers have a seamless experience from start to finish. I've made this mistake before where I was just kind of working quickly. I set up the DM automation and I didn't test it. And then people were getting the wrong message, okay? So...
15:26
Definitely learn from my failed experience and go test your DM automation before you turn it on live. So you have it all set up and now you are ready to rock. A few tips for driving engagement on Black Friday and beyond. So one of the best parts of using the strategy of DM automation is it helps to boost engagement.
15:52
So when people do comment a keyword on your post, it signals to the algorithm that your content is actually worth showing to more people, which is huge on a busy shopping day like Black Friday, right, because so many people are shopping and promoting their stuff. So it's really a powerful way to really drive engagement and the more engagement your post gets,
16:17
the more the algorithm will show your content to more people. So that's why engagement is so important. So a few fun ideas for you to kind of play with this holiday season and beyond. In your story, you can kind of start the hype of your sale a few days early. And what you can play with is you can post a countdown. So if you go into your story right now and you tap that little like smiley face sticker thing at the top.
16:45
you'll see all the different options and that's where you can add a poll or you can add questions. There is a little countdown option. If you click that countdown, it'll come up with like a countdown sticker where you can type in, you know, what day and time this offer goes live. And then there'll be an actual countdown timer in the story. And that kind of drives that urgency and gets people to pay attention and say like, oh my gosh, wow, look, time's running out. I better grab this.
17:11
Of course, you are going to be using stories, reels, and carousels. If you listened last week, I told you using carousels with music is such a smart idea right now because Instagram is showing your carousels on the reels tab, which means that carousels can now be shown to more of your non-follower, so people who don't already follow you. But use whatever medium you feel most confident with. And
17:40
Drop some content that really shows maybe like a sneak peek of your offer or what you're working on. And or if you don't have that ready to go and you're just ready to, you know, tell everyone about it, be explicit about the results they're going to get or exactly why it's so important, like why they should care about it. Is there a limited amount of these? Are you running a sale that goes away within a certain amount of time? So just be really clear as to why
18:08
there's that urgency for them to take action or why it's such a fantastic deal for them. I also wanna highlight just for a second that you don't have to always offer savings on Black Friday. You can also use Black Friday, Cyber Monday, all of these things as a fantastic way to give free gifts, AKA lead magnets on Instagram. So if your goal is to build your email list this year,
18:35
That is a fantastic way to say, oh, I don't have any Black Friday deals, but I do have a free gift for you. I did that last year and it worked really well to help me build my list. Lastly, go live for some extra engagement. So if you're up for it, go live, maybe collaborate with someone else who is in your niche or you do work with, or maybe one of your past customers or another person who can like geek out on the same things you can geek out on.
19:04
But Instagram lives are a great way to really nurture the people who already follow you. You can talk about the deal, why you're so excited about it and even have people comment on your live video, that keyword, so they can have early access to your deal. So that's a quick and simple way to set up DM automation for Black Friday and beyond. This is seriously a game changer and a fantastic way to drive sales without you having to be glued to your phone every second. This system is...
19:33
working for you, engaging followers, and sending them right to your deal while you're focusing on your day and hopefully taking some time off to be with your family and friends. Before I go, just a reminder that if you want a free trial on MiniChat, which is definitely the platform I recommend, DM me the word chat, C-H-A-T, and I will send you that special link to try it out totally for free and
20:02
I am sending you so much love this holiday season as you prep. I know this time of year can feel stressful, so I invite you to really just honor yourself. Remember, there's always another day to show up and sell. You don't have to force yourself into this holiday box of Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday, if you don't want to. It's your business. You get to do what feels most aligned for you. So no hustle, more alignment, listening to yourself.
20:32
And whether you're doing a holiday sale or not, I hope that you will use this strategy in the future to drive more soulmate clients to your business. If you love today's episode, do me a favor. Share it with another business owner who's considering doing a holiday sale or another business owner who is struggling on Instagram and really wants to use this tool to grow their business. That really helps our show to continue to grow. And so I can deliver
21:01
this high value content to you every week. Thank you so much for being here and I can't wait to strut it with you next week. Thank you for listening to strut it. 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 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.