Hey rockstar boss lady, we need to have a talk.
I don’t know about you but I’m like, super fed up with all this talk about how hard it is to be a business on Instagram.
If I see one more “only 7% of you will actually see this” posts- I might have a fucking fit.
I am absolutely sick of people talking about how oversaturated social media is with small businesses and how it’s “impossible” to ever get noticed.
What. A. Crock. Of. Shit.
If Instagram seems oversaturated, it’s because there are a TON of badass babes like yourself who have started a business and are taking the same leap of faith that you did. How fucking cool is that?
And if you are finding it hard to stand out amongst the competition, then you need to take a long, hard look at your business, your customers and yourself because, lady, there is definitely room for everyone.
If you are one of the people who feel trapped, overwhelmed and unnoticed on Instagram- then you need to read this to the end.
I have been working with small businesses for over 8 years, helping them use social media to stand out to their dream clients, get noticed and get paid. And I have seen a lot in my time.
Right now, because of the global pandemic, more people are using social media to connect, stay informed and yeah… shop online.
This means that Instagram is even more saturated, busy & competitive. But that doesn’t have to be a bad thing!
The truth is that most small business owners have small budgets (I mean, this is why we use Instagram as a marketing tool in the first place) and sometimes that means that they spend so much time trying to appeal to the widest possible audience in hopes of making the most sales, that their content is boring, beige & vanilla. And then their ideal client’s eyes just scroll right past that post they just spent hours agonizing over….
Sound familiar?
But what if instead of appealing to everyone, you appeal to the right people. You know, those dreamy clients that just get you, love your business and make things easy on you. The ones that see your product and don’t think twice about buying it. The ones that just have to have what you are offering.
If you knew that your posts could reach those people, would it change how you speak to them?
Instead of appealing to everyone, you could speak to the ones that get it. The ones that get you and your quirky sense of humour. The ones that don’t just turn into lifelong clients but friends as well.
How much easier would it be to create content if you knew you could speak to them?
Well, babe… you can.
You can organically target those dreamy ideal clients on Instagram without having to spend a dime on ads.
Enter hashtags.
I know. I know. Hashtags aren’t something new. They have been around since the dawn of Twitter.
BUT- I’m going to go ahead and guess that you’re using them wrong (because 98% of small business that I talk to are)
Don’t stress. Don’t feel bad. Don’t feel dumb.
There is no guidebook to this Instagram thing (I would be the first to buy it). A lot of what I have learned over the last 8 years has been trial and error. And error and error again. And it changes every 30 seconds (this is why you should never trust anyone who calls themselves an Instagram expert- there is literally no such thing)
But I have tested multiple strategies and finally found something that has helped my clients double their accounts in as little as 2 weeks, sell out products & launches, and book out their calendars.
Because they have created content that speaks straight to the heart of their dreamy clients & what they want and have so specifically targeted them that it feels like they cherry-picked them out of a line-up.
Ok, Laura this is great for them and all but how do I do it?
Well, I’m glad you asked.
First and foremost, stop winging it. You need to have a PLAN. Don’t just throw random hashtags on your post and expect them to work. DO YOUR RESEARCH. Your ideal customer isn’t using the same industry jargon that you use. Think from their perspective and consider what they are searching for on Instagram.
Take these search terms and create a master list of hashtags for topics that you speak about often. If you can’t see your audience searching the hashtag, then it is a waste of your time.
Next, get to know your audience. I mean like, really get to know them. Be genuinely curious about THEM. Not you, not what makes them buy from you, not what they think of your business. But who are they? What keeps them up at night? Which real housewives franchise do they watch? Who do they think should get the final rose on the Bachelor?
You have to know them better than they know themselves. You need to know what makes them tick, what problems they are having and who they want to be in 5 years.
All of this information helps you target them using hashtags. You can pinpoint exactly who you want to see your posts if you know who your audience is, who they want to be and what they are searching for on Instagram.
Lastly, pay attention to the sizes of the hashtag. When you look up a hashtag, there is a number that sits underneath it. That is the number of posts that have used the hashtag. The higher the number, the more competitive it is. Don’t use hashtags that have an insanely high number when you are a small business.
Think of it like a crowd at the mall. Do you have a better chance of getting noticed in a crowd of millions or a crowd of hundreds?
On the other side, if the hashtag pool is too small, there aren’t enough people searching for that term to make it worth your while. You only get 30 hashtags, you don’t want to waste a single one on something that doesn’t have a chance of working.
To get the exact sizes of your search pool that you should be aiming for, check out my hashtag strategy course.
This course will walk you through the step-by-step process of researching hashtags, creating a master list and putting them together strategically in your posts so that those easy, dreamy clients can see that awesome content you worked so hard on.
It will allow you to get a FLOOD of new, targeted eyes on your account and introduce them to your business.
I use a tested strategy to help you research the specific hashtags that will generate interest in your business and grow your account. You will see how this strategy can help scale your following & your business to new heights. Just see what it did for my clients:
WHAT’S INCLUDED
- 35-minute video lesson that will show you how hashtags work on Instagram and how you can leverage your content & audience to find the hashtags that will grow your account. It will dive into exactly how to research your hashtags, & group them to make the biggest impact as well as give you tools to make posting easy!
- Hashtag strategy workbook that will break down the principles of the video & give you the space to document the hashtags that will grow your audience.
Social media is supposed to be fun, but what if it could also make you money? Isn’t that the whole point of owning a business?
Stop playing the insta-guessing game with your hashtags and start building an intentional strategy that works. Instagram isn’t as mysterious as everyone thinks it is. There are real, practical ways of getting it to work for you and bring in new clients, customers & profits.
And for a limited time, I am offering you 50% off to make it even easier on your budget.
Stop making things harder for yourself. It’s time to start playing in the big leagues.
