Transcripts
1. Introduction : Hi, everyone. My name is Crystal Rashard, and I am a multi passionate, award winning entrepreneur. I'm the owner and president of Crystal Rashard and Co. A global digital PR biz that helps brands small businesses and entrepreneurs attract a wave of raving fans. I also own a coastal apparel line called Fanny Toe Shop and a travel brand called East Coast Mermaid. All of my companies and my brands are true reflection of myself. They're all of the things that I love, and I really think that the key to creating an award winning company or brand is to be authentic and be true to yourself from the things that you love. So I'm really excited today to be here, teaching you this culture class on exactly that topic. How to create authentic content on Instagram that will make people really, really like you. This class is a fun yet powerful exploration into the importance of creating authentic content for your brand. In it, I will share my best practices, my experiences and my insights into how I have leveraged authenticity to build amazing relationships with fans and customers built upon trust the translate into sales. Together we'll dive into how to get personal on instagram, but not too personal. Now, if you have a background in marketing or branding or you're completely new to social media , this classes for you, I think that there's an opportunity for everyone. No matter how experienced, you aren't add a little more authenticity to your friend. So I welcome you. I am very excited to have you join me on this educational adventure. Let's get started, Uh.
2. What IS Being Authentic: all right, Welcome to less than one. What is being authentic now? Some of you can probably relate, but I spent a lot of my life trying to fit in and find my groove. In high school, I was a social butterfly, but I never really quite fit into any particular click. And then when I went to university, I was following the typical path of Go to university. Find future husband, get degree graduate, get corner offense, have a baby. It just That's what I felt like I had to do. But all this while it didn't feel right to me, and it didn't feel authentic. Eso. It's no surprise that after I graduated from university, I boarded a plane with my cat and a couple suitcases, and I moved to Los Vegas for a summer, too. In some ways find myself but to also explore something that at the time I thought I was interested in casino marketing. After an amazing summer that I had the most incredible experience, I came back to Canada and I still was no further ahead. But a couple months later, I found my stride, and I stumbled into freelancing and learning a little bit more about PR. Fast forward to Less than two years later, I was working for an agency working with clients all over the world, and I loved it until I didn't. Towards the end, I was finding myself incredibly exhausted. I was eating lunch at my desk every day. I was waking up in the middle of the night, panicked about making sure I was getting media wins for these clients that I just wasn't crazy about. And so it's no surprise that towards the end I realized I needed something more and I wasn't being true to myself. So in the summer of June 2016 I created something just for me. East Coast Mermaid was a blawg. In its early days, it was a place for me to write about all of the things I loved. Living in Atlantic Canada, island hopping on the weekends, eating seafood, going for fried clams. I wrote about everything that I wanted to, and I didn't care if it wasn't what other people thought I should write about. It wasn't someone paying me to write for East Coast Mermaid. This was all me, and I actually invested $400 which at the time was a lot of money for me into a logo, which several months later we put on a tank top, started selling them on the Internet. And next thing I knew, Sandy Toes was slowly starting to be born. It took a little while longer after that, but that summer was amazing for me because I started to feel in my element. I was writing and talking about stuff that got me excited and things that I was passionate about so fast. Board. Eight months. It's January 1st, 2017. I'm writing in my journal of all of the things that I want to happen that year, and I write words I never thought I would put down in one year. I want to work for myself. I want to be a full time entrepreneur. That wish came true three months later when I found myself incorporating my first business Crystal, Rashard Inco and taking on clients. It was a dream come true for me, and not long after, I was incorporating a second business sandy toe shop. The coastal apparel line, which all started thanks to selling a couple tank talks with that $400 logo that at the time seemed so crazy but actually sparked a company that I love and continue to love. To this day, the amazing thing about creating my own brands in my own company was that I was doing it my way. I was creating something that reflected all of the things that I loved. So if you go to my company website, you'll notice I used pineapples. There's waves, there's ocean puns, There's nautical references. And for all of two minutes, I thought to myself, Is this professional? Are people going to want to hire me? I'm making jokes about pirates and mermaids, but I soon realized the clients were actually gravitating towards me because they loved how genuine and fresh that I was being. I wasn't following the status quo for what a PR website should look like. I was doing my own thing, and as a result I also got to work with people. I wanted to work with, people that I believed in, and I knew I could do amazing work for, and that feeling was incredible. So next thing I knew here I was growing these two companies and doing all of things that I loved just for me. The dictionary defines authentic as the quality of being true or riel. I live that definition every single day and in everything that I do, and I invite my fans and my followers and my customers toe live it and be a part of it, too. So what's changed? I'm happier than I've ever been. I'm or energetic. I'm landing my dream clients and a manifesting most incredible opportunities just by being myself by being true to what I love and what makes me happy on online everywhere. But a lot of that is happening on Instagram. I used to think that being authentic and being professional didn't belong in the same sentence. But now I've realised that they can. Being authentic has not only made me a happier person and allowed me to live my best life, but it's helped me grow a six figure business with happy clients around the world. It's helped me grow a coastal apparel line born from ideas and dreams from my childhood that's worn all over the globe. My hope is that at the end of this class, you too will feel the confidence to be more authentic on Instagram, share what's in your heart and create an audience of fans who love you for being you around the world.
3. Demystifying the Idea of Authenticity: all right, welcome to lessen to demystifying the idea of authenticity. Remember when I said that I was starting my branding for my new company, and I was afraid that by using pineapples and nautical puns, people weren't going to want to hire me, that I was too unprofessional. These were the little lies I was telling myself that were holding me back. These little lies also happen to be cousins and extended family members of the little lies that stop us from being ourself there the lies that forces in two boxes that we don't even feel like we belong in. But we feel like we're supposed to be there because that's what's expected of us. These little lives are really, really sneaky. So here's where I want to talk about demystifying authenticity. Ah, lot of people think that in order to be authentic, they have to be a certain way they have to go all in. So I'm talking. You're doing an instagram story, and you're you know you can't possibly have your hair done and make up. You've gotta have the top, not the dry shampoo, last night's makeup on, And that's the only way that you can do it. Some people think these little eyes, they tell themselves, You know, if I'm gonna be authentic, then I've got to share everything the good, the bad, the ugly. If I don't share how awful my day was or how hard this month has been for me, then I'm only sharing the highlight reel. We've all heard about the highlight reel. And I think so many of us get worried about being authentic because we think Okay, if I don't get too sad on Instagram, then you know, militia and highly it. Really. But how much of my life do I really need to show to be authentic to convince people that I'm being authentic? Do you hear this thes air? The dialogues a lot of people have in their heads before they post one instagram post. I've personally experienced it, but I'm here to tell you that authenticity is different for everyone. You control what you share and what you don't share. And the beautiful thing about authenticity is there is absolutely no rulebook defining what you have to do and what you don't have to dio it is really up to you the trick toe authenticity is to be true to yourself. You do you and I promise you people will see the real you. So you're probably thinking, Why do all this? Why put myself out there? Why show people what I look like after sweaty run or withdraw shampoo in my hair or perfectly made up? Because that's OK to Amy Porterfield Love her set on stage of social media marketing world this year that it doesn't matter how famous she is now. She will not do a live video without having her hair and makeup done, and that is OK. That is what she feels most comfortable doing, and it's what's true to her. So girls do not feel like you have to be perfectly made up for that. But okay, back to why this is important. I get sidetracked when I talk about how much I love Amy Porterfield. This is important because people resonate with, and ultimately by from people that they feel a connection to people that they feel like they know. So my favorite example to use when talking about authenticity is Kristin Cavallari now. I grew up in the era of the Hills and Laguna Beach, and I thought that Kristin Cavallari was not a nice person and was ultimately the bad guy. She was portrayed to be on the show, but fast forward to last year when her reality show Very Cavalleri came out. I started watching it and you know it's showing her life with her husband. It's showing her raising a family and having all these cute animals living on a firm and ultimately running her company, Uncommon James I. I was instantly hooked. I loved seeing how she ran her company. I love watching the dynamics of a relationship with her husband, who reminded me so much of mine. There was just something about Kristen on this whole new platform that I was like Girl were best friends and you don't even know it. So I use this example because I've actually shared this story with clients who have been opposed to putting themselves online or on camera and sharing little bits and pieces of their lives, because here's what happened after I started to become Kristin Cavallari is best friend that she doesn't even know I started buying from her heart, So I'm in L. A. On vacation. I go one hour out of my way in L. A traffic, I might add to go visit her pop up shop at the Grove and by a bunch of stuff I get back to Canada for my trip realized I have serious regret that I didn't actually buy more. So next thing you know, I'm online buying more. Several days later, we're looking for a new recipe to try. Honey, Kristin Cavallari has a cookbook. We need to go by her cookbook. So we're at the bookstore, were buying her cookbook, and three days later, we're cooking her beef tenderloin recipe for our friends at a couple's weekend to see how this works. You see where I'm going with this just by getting to know her and seeing this whole side of her world, I wanted to buy all the things. Okay, So by getting show your audience and really letting them get to know you, you're increasing the likelihood that they are going to jump, and by anything that you sell them new services, new products, challenges, whatever you're doing on Instagram, they're gonna want in on that. And if you stay loyal to them and you stayed true and you continue to be authentic. I guarantee you, they're going to continue to buy from you for a very long time, and they're gonna stay loyal. They're gonna continue to trust you, and they're really gonna be your biggest cheerleader.
4. Be Authentic? How Do I Know What to Talk About? : all right, so we've talked about the importance of why you should be authentic. People buy from people who like they buy from people they trust. So by being authentic with your brand and with yourself on instagram, your customers, your fans, your audience, whatever they may be, they're going to feel like they know you a little more and they're going to want to keep following. But you may be thinking, Okay, I get it. I have to be more authentic. But how do I do that? Where do I start? And that's completely normal. I know for so many people who just post a photo and post a caption and don't think anything else about it. It's a beautiful world they're living in where they don't have to stress about these things . But those people aren't necessarily getting to know their audience or letting their audience get to know them. So it's very simple. Start with letting your audience get to know you. That is the most important part of all of this thing about being authentic. So how do you do this? Pretty easy. Tell people about yourself, so I'm going to share a couple of different examples on ways you can do this and thes air ones that have worked really well for me and getting to know my audience, getting toe my followers and ultimately being able to connect with people on a whole new level. Step one. Tell people who you are at least once a month. I will do an instagram post basically introducing myself. Now you may be thinking all of your followers already know who you are, but that's where your wrong. Just recently, I had someone who's been following me for a really long time, message me and say, What do you do for a living? And I thought to myself, This is so weird because I would have totally thought that she knew what I do for a living . Always talking about sandy toes. I talk about my PR clients, but she didn't exactly know what it was I did. So don't be afraid, Teoh. Reiterate who you are because first of all, if you're doing this instagram strategy right, you're going to always be having new people following new people, finding new, you new people wanting to be a part of your magic. So once these people start following you. It's okay every month or so to do a post. That's like, Hey, welcome to my new followers. My name's Crystal and here are a few fun facts about me Every time. It doesn't have to be. Here's where I work. Here's what my company does. You can share phone fax. I've done little things like I have a super gnarly oyster scar because I love oysters. I live in Atlantic Canada, and I spent my summers on the beach. My favorite song in the world is Hotel California. People love little fun tidbits about you, so don't be afraid to share those. Step two. In getting to know your audience, you can share behind the scenes. Look at your life. So one of the great ways you could do this is by posting things about your job, your company. So, for example, I get a lot of people who are really interested in how I manage my time. How do you run to companies and stay on top of everything? I might talk about calendar blocking. I might show them a behind the scenes look at what goes into running a coastal apparel line . It's not just printing T shirts and putting the model website. There's a lot of behind the scenes stuff like late night, you know, trips to go meet our screen printer and pick up new inventory. Getting it added to the website Wednesday night trips to the beach because we need to get the product product shot. So there, so much that goes on behind the scenes that people don't know about. You can show that kind of stuff. Share them what goes on in your life, share with them, what hobbies and things make you tick. And thirdly, my last step that you can do that's a great way to get to know your fans and your audience is to just have constant communication with them in a way that they can come to rely on. So one of my golden rules of instagram that I do every day Monday through Friday is I do a good morning instagram post. I'll just go on Instagram. I'll do a quick video. It's not alive. It's just in my stories. Maybe four or five slides sharing with everyone. Ah, quick, Hello? What's going on in my life? What's happening that day? What's on the agenda. What's coming up that week where my traveling Teoh. And when I started doing this, I just did it out of fun. I didn't actually think it was going to have the impact it did. But the next thing I knew, people were literally messaging me. If I didn't do it and saying, Are you OK? Is everything all right? Are you not feeling well? Did you fall off the earth? And I realized I had struck a little Instagram goldmine because people wanted to know what I was doing every day and it seemed so funny to me. And it's probably going to seem funny to you, too. But I promise you just go with it, enjoy it and get to know your audience because these videos have been such a great way for me to get to know my audience, to have them ask questions and to engage. And it's definitely been one of my best tricks to growing my brand. So the last thing I want to touch upon in this lesson is for some of you. You're probably listening to this and thinking, OK, Krystle, we get it. But you own two companies. You have a travel brand, your jetting off to cool places and visiting lighthouses and beaches every weekend. And I don't have that kind of stuff to talk about. Who wants to hear from me? I'm boring. First of all, you are not boring. You're super cool and you're super off. Um, and your audience definitely wants to hear from you. You just need to figure out what to talk about. And we're going to dive into that later in our first exercise, so stay tuned.
5. How Personal is TOO Personal? : how personal is too personal. Now you're probably thinking crystal. I get it. I have to put myself out there. I have to be mawr riel on instagram. And if you're thinking that I'm very happy because this class is going swimmingly now, one of the biggest questions I get about being authentic and being your real self on Instagram is Is there a line you can cross? Is there such a thing as being too personal in its graham? And of course, there is. There's a reason why you hear about people having posts taken down or, you know, being that thing when no one ever wants to be Shadow Band. But for the purpose of this class, we're going to talk about, you know, sharing hardships and how much of that to really share. So you might be tempted to stick to the highlight reel. But my hope is that after you watch this class and you participate, you'll feel a little more comfortable sharing some of the things that you've gone through in your life with your followers. I've seen so many incredible entrepreneurs share their story of how they were fired or they relate off and they rose from the ashes and created something. It was so spectacular because it was true to what they were, who they were and what they loved, what they wanted to do in this world. So don't be afraid to share those little hard times in your life, too, because people really connect with that. Now. Someone who has done this incredibly well is Jenna culture. I'm sure so of you have heard of her. If you are on Instagram or are familiar with podcasting and online marketing. Probably definitely heard about her. But Jenna Culture is a photographer. She's an online marketer and podcaster, and she happens to have over 800,000 loyal, dedicated fans. Now what I love about Jenna is that she does not let the haters get her down. Last year, Jenna was targeted online in an article basically body shaming her and saying that someone that looked like her did not deserve a husband with a six pack. Really, that is a thing that happened. But did Jenna let that stop her? Of course not. Jenna still continue to post gorgeous photos of her rocking bikinis. She landed an airy model deal to be a really model because she's gorgeous, and she has channeled all of this into raising awareness about body shaming online. And she's really stuck up to those haters in a way that many of us would have probably deleted, are social media and never gone on instagram ever again. So kudos to you, Jenna. But one other thing that Jenna does really, really well is she shared the struggles with getting pregnant. So Jenna had several miscarriages, which she shared on social media. She talked about them. She posted vote Mont Instagram, and then eventually she posted her story about finally getting pregnant. But she also shared the guilt that she felt about building this audience of people who were able to connect with her because they, too, had experienced miscarriages and trouble getting pregnant and how she felt guilty now sharing the happy parts about being pregnant and how excited they were to welcome their new daughter. Some heavy heavy stuff. But she did it so well, and here's what happened. People connected with her in so many ways. Whether you have ever dabbled in photography or online marketing or not, you were able to suddenly connect with Jenna if you've ever been body shamed, if you've ever felt self conscious about your body or the way you look, if you've ever struggled with infertility or miscarriages, all of these women around the world were able to connect with Jenna regardless of what their background or job. Waas. Jenna did this in a way that was so authentic and in a way that she never would have been able to connect with these people had she only been talking about marketing and photography . It's crazy. So all of this to say, sharing those little hardships in your life will help you connect with your fans and your audience on a whole new level, completely unrelated toe what you're trying to sell them or what you're trying to offer them.
6. Want to Be More Authentic But Not Sure Where to Start? : want to be more authentic in your content, that unsure where to start. I totally get it. So far in this class, we have covered why it's so important to be authentic. We've covered how to do it without being too personal, but personal enough that people can really, really connect with you. But you may be thinking how absolutely no idea where to start in doing this. And that's totally okay for some of you. You know, you may up until now have posted a photo on Friday with the caption Happy Friday and people like it and they have absolutely no idea what Happy Friday really means to you. Does it mean who? Happy Friday? Thank God it's Friday. T g I F. I hate my job. I hate my coworkers. I'm miserable and living for the weekend Or is it heavy? Friday? I'm living my best life and every day feels like Friday because I'm doing what I love and I'm not living for the weekend. People have no idea when you put a super short caption like that. But what if you could start actually writing this amazing little micro post on Instagram that shares really how you're feeling about Friday and what it means to you, and as a result, connecting with your followers and your audience. So how do you go from a caption of just a few words to writing this amazing little pose that people can't like fast enough that brings us to exercise one? All right, I want you to grab your first worksheet. I want you to grab whatever your favorite pen is. Colored markers, colored pencils, whatever you need to be creative. I want you to grab it and we're gonna get started on worksheet one. So, in column number one, I want you to write down what you think your followers and your audience on Instagram wants you to talk about, what you think they want you to write about and what photos and videos you think they want you to share. Now take as much time as you need for this. I want to stress that there is no wrong answer here. I just want you to do a deep dive into your soul and into your heart and into your mind and write down what you think people expect you to talk about. I'll be here waiting for you. Alright. How did that activity make you feel? Good, bad. A little bit of both. There's no right or wrong answer. This is a chance for you to look at those little lies and those little expectations that we all feel myself included that we have to fulfill on social media on instagram on a platform that we ultimately control. So I hope that you got some great thoughts down in that column. But now we're going to jump over to call them number two, which happens to be my favorite column in this column. I want you to write what you are so, so excited to write about. What you can't wait to talk about, what kinds of photos and videos that you want to share with your followers. Put those in that column, and as you do this, I want you to notice how your body reacts. Are you smiling a little bit more? Is your heart beating a little faster? Is your pulse racing good? Keep listening to your body and your heart as you are writing these things down and again, I want you to take absolutely as much time as you need to complete this activity. This one is really important. And it's something that I personally like to keep a list like this handy at all times because I'm always adding to it. And I want you to do the same if you find yourself out for a drive and you're thinking about something that you can't wait to talk about with your followers added to that list.
7. Turning Passions Into Content: So I want you to take a moment to think about how that last exercise made you feel. What did you discover about yourself? Did you notice that you were possibly holding yourself back from talking about what you really want to talk about on instagram and holding yourself back from sharing what you really want to share? Maybe for some of you you're lists were completely identical and that it's so awesome. But either way, whatever you felt, you are in the right place. And I'm so excited to have you here, uh, as we go into our next exercise, which is going to help you turn all of those things You're really excited to talk about into content. And that first column, the stuff that you think you're supposed to talk about because people want That's what they want to hear. Don't worry about that. It's job here is done. You can put that call him away. All right. I want you to grab your second worksheet. This is gonna be the worksheet where we are going to identify the themes or buckets to help you plan your content. So when you look at your column of things that you were very excited to talk about the things that light you up in life. What are the commonalities that you're noticing between all of these different things that you've written down? Maybe you love to travels. You love talking about all things travel, planning, trips, hiking the adventures you're going to take while you travel. Maybe you're really into yoga or running or CrossFit. And so you know there's a fitness theme for you. Whatever those themes are, you'll notice that they'll be those little things that tie those things. You're excited to talk about together, and that's what your theme is. So personally, my themes are entrepreneurship. Travel, uh, lifestyle in Atlantic, Canada and seafood. So on any given weekend, I'm probably at a beach somewheres or on a trip to see a lighthouse, and I'll share the stories behind those trips. I love seafood, and I'm often found having lobster dinners or shucking oysters. I haven't have a pretty gnarly oyster shucking sky air to prove how much I love oysters doesn't get much more authentic than that. And I talk about those different passions and, of course, entrepreneurship. I run to companies, and in one of the most commonly asked questions I get is how do I manage to do that and still have a life and time for my family and friends? And so I'll often talk about behind the scenes tips and tricks on how I do all of that. These are my themes. And whenever I am struggling to come up with content for Instagram, I'll often think about okay, what are my themes and what are some topics that perhaps I haven't talked about lately? So once you start to tie, all of these seems together, this will help you figure out the direction for what you're going to posting on Instagram. All right, so it's obvious for me what I love talking about for some of you, your face probably lights up when you think about your themes. But for some of you, you may be struggling to figure out what it is you want to write about or what stories you have to share. So I wanted to take a quick moment to offer a few pointers that have really helped me identify some of the stories and the narratives that I share. So one is journaling. I'm a huge, huge follower of all things Daniel report. And she has an amazing desire about planner with prompts and different questions to make you think about stuff and your answers. So I do desire mapping every single day. And it's an opportunity for me to write down reflections of things that have happened lately and things that I want to happen, things that stress me out or that excite me. And each week I had take a moment to look back on the past week and identify things that happened that week. And there's oftentimes stories that will come out of those all right down, perhaps struggles that I'm facing and think You know what? By sharing my experience with that hardship, I might actually be ableto a help someone else on my instagram and be inspire someone to, you know, go after the life that they want and follow their dreams, too. And so I often will get ideas based on that practice. But I also in really big into practice and gratitude. So every night before bed, no matter how tired I am, I will write down at least one thing that I'm grateful for. That day. It could be something simple, like a client, win or kind words from a client. It can be something as simple as you know. We went out for a really great date night and got a sense of quality time together. But I think practicing gratitude really helps us realize what we have to be grateful for. And some of those stories are great things to share with your fans in your audience. And thirdly, if you can't think of anything else and you're really not into journaling and gratitude seems like too much work, you can also just try daily minutes. And that's just a practice of writing stuff down every day, just kind of having word vomit of what are things going through your mind? What do you want to write about and starting to notice? What you write down each day might help you identify some things you could be talking about on Instagram, too
8. Shine Bright on Instagram: it is now Time to shine bright on Instagram You've done the inner work you've identified what you can't wait to put out there. You turned them into themes And now it's time to bring that content of life on Instagram. So for some of you, you may be new to Instagram for others. You may know that with all of the recent changes with Facebook and the algorithm, instagram is kind of the new place to be, especially for visual storytelling, which you guessed it is a great way to share your authenticity with the world. So I wanted to go through just a few things to know about Instagram, especially in case any of you are first time users of Instagram or you're still kind of trying to figure out what Instagram is all about. So, first of all, Instagram is an amazing visual storytelling platform. Whether you're sharing, you know, professional photographer grade photos or ones taken from your iPhone, whether you're sharing video or just sticking to photos, it is an incredible place for you to share beautiful whatever photos or videos with a story that you care about, all right. Second of all, it offers us a chance to both be posting stuff that's well thought out that's planned. It's written in advance via photos and our grid or videos and our grid. Or if you want to be a little more spontaneous, you can also jump onto Instagram live from wherever you are to share the experience that you're having thoughts around it and basically have your audience feel like they're They're experiencing that with you. And lastly, you can leverage my favorite instagram stories, which are is really an opportunity to add snippets of a behind the scenes look at your life throughout your day. It's very similar to Snapchat in the sense that everything disappears within 24 hours, but you can curate your stories and add them to beautifully designed highlight rials. Hate sin would highlight reel, but I did highlights in your instagram profile so that people can see the long after you posted them and after the 24 hours has passed. So there are so many options for you to choose from, and the beautiful thing about Instagram, it's totally what you make up it. Some people will Onley post DSLR photos that are, you know, edited in light room and made toe look exactly like all the other photos and their grid. That's totally a okay wanted. Just post up from your iPhone or your sand sun. Also, totally a okay. Don't really feel like posting video, but you love posting photos. Supercool to the great thing is, there is no rules toe what you have to do on instagram when it comes to posting the visual component of your storytelling. And then when it comes to writing your post, that's also on you, and we'll get into a little bit more about that shortly. But I do want to point out to really big things about Instagram that I think are important to undress two things. One, I need you to know that the number of likes to get on each photo does not necessarily equal lots of sales or engagement. Okay, if you have all a whole bunch of likes from people that air super engaged and loving, what you're doing that is so much more important than hundreds or thousands of fake likes from bots or people that haven't had the chance to get to know you. So stop stressing about how many likes your photos. Guess if you're being truly authentic and true to yourself, you're gonna post the photo anyway. Second of all, followers, stop stressing about how many followers you have. The number of followers you have does not define you or your content. Ah, great example of this was just a few weeks ago causing Polident published an article about an influencer that had over two million followers. Yet she couldn't sell 10 T shirts when she launched her own T shirt brand. Now I don't know all of the logistics, and I don't know all of the behind the scenes numbers and secret details and what not? But it really started a conversation on the importance of having an engaged audience and how sometimes having a smaller, more engaged, true to you audience is way better than having millions of people who haven't really taken the chance to get to know you. So once you were able to let the pressure of how many likes you're getting, how many followers you have off your shoulders, the fund really starts on Instagram. Are you ready to get started? I want you to pick ah, photo that you cannot wait to share. And I need you to promise me two things. One that you are really excited to share this photo, that you're not just selecting this because you think it's what people want to see and to I want you to. Obviously, you have not over analyzed this and that you haven't spent the last 10 15 20 minutes week wondering if people are actually going to like this photo and how many likes you are going to get. That does not matter. If you followed everything I've told you so far in this class, I promise you, the right people will like it. Now you're not just posting this photo. You're also going to share a story with it. The days of leaving just a short caption are long gone. I want you to tell a riel story, write down words and put lots of them. I want this post to be the turning point where your followers who've been following you to date notice that shift that today you'd switch things up on your instagram and you made it about you and your true self. All right, so you made your first post as the new you. I'm really excited, and I'm very proud of you. Next, I want you to really get to know your audience by leveraging either instance stories or instagram live. So one of the amazing things that I love about instant stories or instagram stories in this class we're gonna call it insta stories is that it gives you a chance to really get to know who's following you. Why? Because it gives people the opportunity to move a conversation into a direct message. It gives them a chance to interact with you one on one and have a genuine conversation. It is not visible to everyone on Instagram. Well, comments air Great. That's public platforms of I leave a comment on someone's post. Everyone's going to see it, But for the people that might be a little shy. To do that, they can leverage direct message to really get to know you'd ask questions to comment on different things. And it's such an amazing special way to get to know your followers and your fans and I One of the ways that I loved Leverage, insta stories or Instagram live is to ask people to ask me questions or I can ask them questions. There's so many cool bells and whistles with instagram now and features that you can use to ask questions or get questions. One of things I love to do is all schedule on Instagram live on, say, Friday morning, where I'll pour myself a cup of coffee and I'll go online and I'll answer a bunch of questions that my followers have sent in so that it gives them a chance to get to know me a little bit more. It's such a great platform. I love it for that on. Lastly, I really want you to really take the opportunity to get to know your followers in your audience. Don't be afraid, Teoh Message new followers. I like to send new followers a quick GM that just welcomes them and ask them how they stumbled upon my account, where they're from, what their favorite light houses, whatever it might be, it's a chance to really get to know them, feel, make them feel special and make them feel like they're really part off your instagram
9. Bringing Your Authentic Content to Life: all right, Now that you have done your first post, you're doing insta stories. You're doing instagram live. You're really getting to know your followers and your fans over direct message. You're weeding out the thoughts because they're out there. And let me tell you, getting to know your fans, your followers on Instagram and through direct messages is a great way to know who's riel and who is true and just to be able to make friends for life. So now that you're doing all of that, I know what you're thinking. How am I going to continue to bring this authentic content toe life? I've pushed you to make this change. How are you going to sustain it? And it's actually really easy. And this is where we're gonna put everything we've talked about today. Together, it's time for exercise three. Now, I want you to grab your last worksheet, and this is your instagram editorial calendar, if you will, or a instagram schedule. So you're going to take this calendar and I want you to start plugging the different themes and topics that you've identified is something you're excited about into this calendar. Try not to put everything you know don't necessarily do. Travel, travel, travel, life, life, life. Try to break things up so that one day you might be talking about one thing that you love, and the next day you're talking about something completely different. So for me, I'll always try and balance a travel post with Let's say something about entrepreneurship or something about seafood or something else going on in my life, just kind of make sure that everything is well balanced. And then you'll take the topics that you are really excited to talk about, that you've identified in these themes and then plug them into each day where there's a theme. I know it sounds easy, and it really is actually that easy. But by having this system and knowing what you're going to talk about, as well as what themes you want to talk about, it makes it so much easier. When the time comes to post on Instagram, you're not sitting there thinking well, I should probably pull something on Instagram, but I have no idea what to talk boat now, you dio because Crystal made to do a little deep dive and now you've identified exactly what you want to talk about, so I want you to take this work. She take those favorite pens favorite markers and start to plug some of these ideas and themes into that calendar. And if you can do this for at least two weeks and then continue to add to it as more ideas come to life, I promise you you'll actually have an INSTAGRAM schedule that works in your favor. Makes it super easy and fun for you and you'll never have another day of I don't always talk about ever again. Now, if you're kind of having one of those days where you're like, I have so many ideas going through my head, which is a story of my life and you're thinking there's no way I could possibly put all of this into one calendar. That's OK, too. I have a document, a note document on my phone that I put ideas and they're Some people will use notebooks. Some people use a Google Docker spreadsheet. Whatever works for you. Having a spot designated for really cool. Antaeus, for Instagram is another great way to keep the ball rolling. If you have a spot that you can drop ideas into of the moment they hit you, That's why, for me personally, having a note on my phone is the best thing because I always have my phone on me, put the idea and done, Um, that will really help you keep the momentum ist well, So it's really that easy, folks. All you need to do is take those themes and put those topics on a calendar and start posting on Instagram on a regular basis.
10. It's Time to Make People Really, Really Like You!: all right. You've done the work. You have the editorial calendar ready to go with lots of cool themes and topics to talk about. And I know that your fans and your audience both ones that you currently have and the ones that are going to stumble upon you very soon are so excited to hear from you Toe end this cause I wanted Teoh share a few things to get you started and, you know, help people really, really like you on Instagram. So point number one social media An instagram in general is an incredible platform. Use it. I wouldn't be where I am today without the power of Instagram and other social media platforms. Help me share my story My purpose, My why and all of the things that I'm absolutely just nuts about with my followers. So don't take this class and ignore Instagram. Get on their share stories make yourself a little uncomfortable in shares and stuff with your followers. I promise you you will notice the ripple effect of doing so. Point number two authenticity It's not rocket science. The kino It is just sharing. What makes you excited? What do you love? What would you call your best friend to talk to her about thes air? The things that make you the really you on instagram. So don't be afraid to talk about within your heart and to talk about what's in your soul. Point number three authenticity is going to be different for everyone. You may be looking at your biggest competitors er and thinking about every single thing that they're doing. What are they talking about on instagram? What? The hunt you look at their life are they showing and you may be thinking to yourself, Okay, I need to replicate that I need to do with back with that. But this case is probably not going to work the same for you as it does for them because authenticity varies based on the person who is sharing their life. So you do. You share what you want to share show it makes you comfortable and grow from there. And my last point and arguably probably the most important point number four people buy from people like it, buy from people they trust. And if you can remember this every day when you go online, when you go on social media When you go on instagram and you're connecting with your audience, you've already won because it's such a privilege to be in the situation and in the position that you're in to talk to your customers, to talk to your audience and to share your life with them. So never take that for granted. Remember people by people they like, And that brings us to the end of the class. How to create offended content on instagram to make people really, really like you. And are you ready? Are you ready for people to really get to know you? I'm so excited for you Doing this on Instagram has been such a game changer for myself and for my companies and I just love getting to know fan. And on that note, I would love to get to know all of you. So please make sure to give me a follow on social media so that I can keep an eye on all of the cool things you're doing on Instagram going forward. And, of course, leave comments. Ask questions in this in this class, I'm just so excited to see what you do next, and I would be happy to dive in and answer some of your questions, so I'll definitely be checking back. Follow my profile here on still share and let's please stay in touch. I can't wait to really, really like all of the content you put out there after taking this class.