012: Social media series – Instagram with Preeti Pooja
Social media series: Instagram.
With guest Preeti Pooja
Is the ‘gram your perfect-fit social platform for your brand?
We all know that visibility plays a huge part in creating a brand and getting it out there. But with all the social media channels out there, how do you know which to focus on? Being on every single channel is a surefire way to spread yourself too thin, and that’s why I’ve invited a series of guest experts to let you in on allllll the secrets – so you can make an educated decision about where to show up for your audience!
In this episode, we dive into the world of Instagram, and Preeti Pooja is here to tell you about the pros and cons of this powerful platform and what it can do for your brand!
Preeti is an Instagram strategist and the founder of YourSocially, an Instagram creative studio based in Amsterdam. Preeti helps hidden gem entrepreneurs start showing up on Instagram and gain the visibility and recognition they deserve. She is passionate about building a culture of conscious social media marketing that feels good and is healthy. Preeti also runs a community of marketers and entrepreneurs where she leads discussions about social media marketing and inclusivity in entrepreneurship.
You can still be the person that you are in your life and have the same personality shine... and use that to attract your ideal community and customers.
— Preeti Pooja
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Disclaimer: The following transcript has been auto-generated and then cleaned up by my wonderful VA – and while the general flow of the conversation is there, it’s probably not 100% accurate.
Petchy: Welcome, Preeti! Thank you so much for joining me today.
Preeti: Thank you so much for having me.
Petchy: I’ve been really looking forward to this conversation because I love Instagram. I’m extra excited about this episode in the series because Instagram is my absolute favourite social media channel, and that’s where you’ll always find me hanging out. That’s where I’ve met and connected with so many awesome people, so I’m eager for my listeners to discover the ins and outs of Instagram – and I’ll probably pick up some useful tips along the way as well.
So we’ll just dive straight in. For those who are tuning into today’s episode, what are they going to be able to take away from it?
Preeti: Okay, today’s episode is going to be really valuable for multi passionate entrepreneurs like you and me, who are often, you know, working on exciting things outside our business. And like you say, Instagram is such a fascinating and interesting platform. But most entrepreneurs do not use Instagram intentionally, but there is a way that you can have fun while creating content on Instagram and be intentional about it so you’re attracting the right kind of audience. So in today’s conversation we’re going to talk about how do you develop the right content pillars and connection points in your content strategy, that helps you with thought leadership, marketing and positions you as a leader in the line off work that you’re in, and we’re also going to talk about how you can practise social media marketing in a conscious way. I know I’m saying this as a marketer myself, but I practise conscious social media marketing myself, and I choose to work with clients who want and love that balance in their life – and we’re gonna talk about that as well, which is one of the interesting things that I’m looking forward to talking about.
And also we’re going to talk about why it is important for entrepreneurs to really come out of hiding and show up on videos and make themselves visible because I feel that so many people, really bright and smart, but really they’re just hiding and they’re just not letting their community know how brilliant they are – because obviously most of us are so into our business and family, there’s no time to come out in the open and be the thought leaders that we truly are. We’re going to talk about why it is important for you all to really come out and be visible on Instagram.
Petchy: Fantastic.
Preeti: And one of the things which I often hear from entrepreneurs and the clients that I work with is that most of these people who are multi passionate, who are founders of incredible businesses use their introverted, shy personality as an excuse to not really be present on social media, which I think is shocking to me because these are the kind of people who are the smartest intellectuals that I know. They are very smart, and they have a really incredible personality. But somehow Instagram always seems like a platform meant for the loud, the… you know, extroverted.
But that’s not true. A lot of leaders who have these reserved personalities have still been successful on Instagram – and they’re exactly the kind of clients I choose to work with… who are confident but introverted, because it’s more fun to work with them. So I just want to say that today’s conversation is gonna help you understand that no matter who you are, what your personality is like; you deserve and you are worthy to build a personal brand on Instagram. And that is exactly what we’re going to chat about today.
Petchy: That’s really cool, because I am one of those people that you talk about, you know. I’m introvert, but I’m kind of extroverted on Instagram, which is kind of funny.
Preeti: That is strange, but I really identify with what you just said, because people behave differently on social. That’s okay. I mean, people have their own boundaries, their own ways of style. But what I am trying to say that it is possible to be your true self, you know, when you are on Instagram or any other social media platform, for that matter. You can still be the person that you are in your life and have the same personality shine… and use that to attract your ideal community and customers.
Petchy: Yeah, I just want to chip in and say that, like for branding as well, that one of the pillars of my framework is that I teach my clients that you really need to inject some of your personality into your brand. You’re allowed to do that. I encourage you to do that, because it’s going to make you stand out. So I’m kind of guessing that’s the same then, with what you post on Instagram as well – and just to carry that brand personality all the way through.
Preeti: Exactly. And one should not shy away. I mean, there’s no rule book, right? You have to be, you know, questioning yourself in a sort of way. Personal branding is personal. You must not forget that. You know, if you are a comedian and an entrepreneur, you have to bring that aspect into your personality because in the long run you will exhaust yourself if you’re trying to be someone else, you know. And we’re all entrepreneurs at heart today, Petchy. You are running your own brand agency, but maybe five years down the line, you would be starting something else. You never know. So what will keep your community rooting for you is your personality, and who you are. They should follow you because of who you are in person and not because of how amazing your business is, right? So you cannot really take out the personality from your content because that’s not going to be something that people forget.
Petchy: Yeah, I totally agree. And I think that that’s when it kind of clicked for me in my own branding is when I realised I didn’t have to worry so much about what other people were telling me that I should. Some people were telling me to hide my personality and, so I did to start off with, because that’s what you’ve been conditioned to do. And then when I decided to just disregard all of that and start showing up as me, that’s when I started to attract more of that right kind of client and the right kind of followers because I connected with them on a personal level.
Preeti: Yes. And I like the fact that I’ve been following you for a while and we’re connected on Instagram. We know that. And I’ve seen that stuff on your page, your main feed. You share a lot about your work and your process and everything, which is amazing. But when I look at your content on stories, I see that person behind the scenes. This person who has a family, who bakes a cake, who does all these amazing things – this is the connection point. This is making you approachable and making me as a follower take that one step and be like “Hello. I love that cake!” And that’s when you start a conversation, right? You cannot start conversations by just dropping content related to your business all the time. When you walk into a room full of people and you want to have business conversations, you don’t start with. “Hey, I’m this person and this is how we can work with you.” You always start with “Is that a glass of wine? What are you drinking?” you know… things like this. And often entrepreneurs forget that this personal contact is something that is going to make your customers or clients relate to you.
And if you are taking that off the table, you are leaving room for that connection to happen, you know?
Petchy: Yeah, I think a lot of people are scared to mess up the feed, you know. With all of this personal stuff.
Preeti: So many people are obsessed with aesthetics. And I’m sorry you are a designer, and I’m saying that to you. *laughs*
Petchy: Yeah, I am a designer, and I am to a certain extent, obsessed with the way my feed looks. But that’s why I use stories to bring my personality out. And also the captions and what I write, and the tone of voice, when I do post things to my feed. I want the people who are reading the caption too to hear me in what I’m writing.
Preeti: Of course. And we must not forget that branding essentially is not just the visuals. You are the brand. How you walk, talk… your voice… stuff that you talk about… your value system… all of that together, aligned with the compelling visual aesthetic… colours… tone of voice… All of this is branding, and you cannot take your personality off your branding because that’s nothing, right?
So branding is how people perceive you. And if you don’t put your pictures or if you do not talk about your personal story. But you have a really solid brand on point, very visually appealing grid. It’s incomplete.
Petchy: Yeah, I totally agree. There has to be that element there of… personality that people can connect with. Otherwise they could just be talking to a robot.
Preeti: Exactly. And it has to be a mix of all of these things. You know, your personal brand has to have equal amounts of everything: your tone of voice, your belief system, and also an intentional content plan, which is aligned to what you are doing in your business and a little bit of personality, the right colours, the right logo… all of it together. And that’s essentially what personal branding is. And you have to be very cautious about, you know, showing your true personality. Because if a follower in future meets you in person, they should be able to say that okay, this is you. This is how you truly are on your Instagram and it’s exactly the same person outside of your social media handle.
Petchy: So I’m guessing that some of the people who are listening now are kind of thinking “Yeah, this sounds great. But how do I actually do this? Like, what’s the secret to showing up professionally and authentically as yourself and as your brand on instagram?” How would you advise people to get started with that?
Preeti: Unfortunately, the word authentic is so overused. But it’s true. I mean, the power of authenticity will always remain forever anywhere. And I feel every person… you, me, all of us… who are listening to this podcast are unique. And your first step to being your authentic self on Instagram is to accept and embrace your true story, your personal journey, where you come from. For example, Petchy, you are the owner of the brand agency but your story is different from that of so many thousands or millions of designers who started off their agencies right. So you need to first start from the place “How did Petchy really start? What is her story?” Because it’s your personal story that is going to be a differentiator and serve as a unique value proposition of your brand. “I am Preeti, I’m an Indian, I moved to the Netherlands. I have worked in tech companies for eight years, and then I’m doing this.” So I continuously talk about my personal journey, who I am, my cultural identity. Why I moved to the Netherlands, why I’m doing what I’m doing today. All these interesting things that happen in my life, because these are the things that make me different from the rest of the world.
So when you ask me that question, about how people are going to get started, start with your storey. Start journaling because it will make you take notice of those key elements that happened in your life. Which of them are worth writing a book about? And plug those stories, those events in your life, into your content strategy. So I always tell my clients that if you were to write a book tomorrow, what are the things that will go in it if it’s your autobiography? And if you pick those events that happened to you, which means they really mean a lot to you, why would you not make it a part of your content strategy?
Even if you’re a designer, even if you are a baker, or if you are a tech entrepreneur… don’t take your story away from your personal brand, because those are the things that make you who you are. If I am the CEO of a tech startup and I just keep talking about my product all the time, that is not going to make me interesting. People do business with people, they don’t do business with, you know, a product or a website, right? It’s because they saw a spark in you, and I think usually entrepreneurs forget that aspect. A lot. So for you to become authentic; start journaling, identify what are those exciting things that happen in your life? That is what we’re talking about. And make sure that you use them as a connection point in your content strategy. That will make it so much easier because that’s when Instagram will seem like a fun activity, you know, and you look forward to documenting your journey online.
Petchy: I think if someone’s tuning in now, and they’re a little bit like me… before I used to think “Who wants to hear about me?” you know… “Who wants to hear my story? They’re probably here to learn about branding, and they’re probably here because they want a logo designed or something. I’m not interesting. What have I got to say? You know, my life’s not interesting to anybody.” And then you realise that… you’re wrong. It is interesting. And the way I realised this is that when I started to follow other people, I started to realise that the people I enjoyed following the most were the people who were showing up as themselves and giving me a little glimpse into who they are as a person – not just professionally, but also in their private life. I’m not saying that you should share everything, like… I don’t share a lot of content with my kids because I think that their privacy is really important, and I don’t share on Instagram if I had an argument with my other half… there is a limit to what you should share, but definitely don’t be afraid I would say, to share a little glimpse into your everyday life as well. Because that’s who you are, at the end of the day.
Preeti: Exactly. And I think people seem to overthink about it. Honestly, I think all of us are great personal brands. It’s just that we set so many boundaries and we put so many rules that you need to show up as a certain kind of person. And you’re not seeing that person for yourself, you know, and I always do this exercise with people I work with, I go through this exact same emotion that my life is boring. Who am I to become a personal brand or show up online? This one statement has been said to me so many times… that “I’m boring.” And then when we dive deep into this, I do this voice discovery session where I’m like “Tell me all about you” – and then they tell such exciting, interesting storeys. I’m like “Write that down. We need to talk about that.” It’s just that you don’t see certain things in life as exciting, but an outsider will actually look at it and be like, omg, that happened to me. You know, so find those stories and find those interesting pieces in your life, not just in your personal life. It could be professional. So something that happened to you, which you think will resonate with your ideal customer, things like “I got fired” or… people are two wary about talking about negative things.
But there are some sensitive things that you feel deeply about. When you speak up, you will have your community rooting for you and be like “I’m so glad you said that, that you brought that up, because no one talks about it. This happened to me.” And don’t pressurise yourself too much into thinking “Am I qualified enough to talk about that?” You are. If this happened to you and if you have an opinion about it, you must talk about it and kind of, you know, choose your topics.
Make sure that they’re aligned to who you want to show up as. For example, if you are an entrepreneur in the design space or in the coaching space, see to it that the things that matter to you… that there’s some alignment with your ideal customers. And then you make a match of those content pieces and see that “Okay, Is this something that they will be interested in?” Unless you start opening this conversation you will not know what is working for you.
So if you are shutting yourself down thinking that I’m not gonna talk about that, then you’re basically not experimenting and you’re not having fun with it.
Petchy: And I guess if someone’s scared to start experimenting with it, stories are like the perfect place to start because they just go away after a while. So, if you want to experiment, I guess that would be a really good place to start?
Preeti: That’s a great tactic. I have worked with and consulted for tech startups before, and this is what every big company does before testing out our content like a long form piece of content online on a blog or on a YouTube video. It’s called ephemeral content, which means content that disappears once you put it out. If it did bad, no one knows about it. So you try it out and you test it out on stuff like stories, and you see how the audience is responding. Because it doesn’t take a lot of time to test content on stories, do a poll, ask questions and kind of take a note of what is working, what kind of stories are people responding to on Instagram? And if you see people, you know when you’re in a conversation and people are nodding their head to something, that means they’re really agreeing with you, that something is resonating with them. So watch out for what kind of content gives you more DMs, more replies, more… you know those little flying hearts – and once you know that’s working it means people are responding to it. So do more of that. Maybe invest in a long form IGTV. Do like a proper caption about it and have fun with it. And stories? I would say it is something that 90% of people are not leveraging enough. And it’s really sad because stories are where I am making all my business decisions, meeting partners… I think we also connected on stories. Your feed… I feel our feeds are essentially like our homepage, and stories are behind the scenes, you know?
Petchy: Yeah, you’re inviting someone into your living room
Preeti: Exactly, and you get to decide what’s in your living room. You get to decide what conversations need to happen in your living room. If you’re not going into the living room and having this conversation, you’re not letting people in, right?
Petchy: Yeah, absolutely. I know when we started out, you mentioned something about developing the right content pillars. I was intrigued by that and the connection points into your content strategy. Could you elaborate a little bit more on that? For the people who are wondering what on earth that is.
Preeti: I love content pillars. Content pillars are essentially like, you know, in branding there are brand foundations, right? So, content pillars essentially are those foundational content topics that are closely aligned to your business goals.
OK, so you are an entrepreneur. You want to show up on Instagram intentionally for your business. What are those things that you need to be talking about from time to time? So you have to identify those four pillows or verticals. It could be four or five. But you need to know for yourself: what are those four content topics that are the foundation of your business? What are those things that you need to talk about? And in an ideal case scenario, you need to have at least two primary content pillars which are closely aligned with your business.
They should be related to who you are. What your business does. The products that you sell. What your offer is. So in your primary content pillars you can have one content pillar which is talking about your business and another which is talking about thought leadership, content around the industry you’re in. OK, for example, you’re in design, so you need to have a content pillar where you’re creating thought leadership content about what is happening in the design industry. What are the predictions that you have as a leader for 2021? Unless you’re creating that content, people are not trusting you enough. So this kind of content will put you on the map. You know, you are on top of things. You know what is happening in your industry, and you are positioning yourself as an expert. So I think one of the primary content pillars needs to be thought leadership.
I think your podcast itself is essentially a pillar in itself because you are having these amazing conversations which are loosely related to marketing and design, which is amazing. So you’re already doing that job, positioning yourself as a thought leader, because a designer cannot be successful without marketing… without, you know, other things in business. So you’re already doing that. So maybe you could have these conversations going on your Instagram as well. Why did you even start this podcast, what’s the future looking like for you? And what would you propose to other designers?
Petchy: Yeah, so, like bringing it from my podcast and more into my Instagram so the two sort of speak together. That’s a really, really, really good point. Thank you for that.
Preeti: Yeah, and then in secondary pillars, what I ask my clients to do is to identify a personal content pillar. So I always ask this question to entrepreneurs: “What are the value systems, what are things you deeply care about?” And when I throw that question to them, they get off guard and are like “omg, I don’t know that about myself.” But it’s just that you know who you are. You know your value systems. But if someone asked that question, you don’t talk about it because you’ve never consciously thought about yourself as “Okay, I am this person, these are the things that I really believe in, this is my belief system. These are my values.” Everyone has values. It’s just that we don’t speak about them as much unless you’re writing a book or giving an interview. So when you’re making your personal brand content strategy on Instagram you need to make a list of all the values that you have as an entrepreneur. And it doesn’t necessarily have to align with your business, you know doesn’t mean that if you’re a designer then you only talk about colours… or, you know, the industry. No, you could be as interested in, you know, motherhood. Or you could be very passionate about social entrepreneurship. You could be passionate about music. You could be passionate about writing, nature, the climate crisis… it could be anything as long as you really feel for it.
And then you add that as a pillar to your content strategy, because that is going to make your brand very fascinating. Okay, so one of my clients is an online business manager and she loves systems, and she also loves gardening. Now, that is an amazing combination, right? This woman who loves systems as much as she loves her plants. And you can’t take that away from you, if that is what you love. And she loves spirituality as well, she loves wellness. And then she’s like “But I don’t want to confuse my audience. I don’t want to talk about…” Why not? You should talk about who you are. And this is what is gonna make people remember you. Oh, my God. She is a systems queen. But she also loves spiritual stuff. That is going to make people remember, that’s your recall value here.
Petchy: You’re the system’s queen, but also you’re human that I can connect with.
Preeti: Exactly. So you need to make the list of value systems that you have and identify what was the thing that you feel passionate about – and even if you’re not paid for it, you would really create content about that one thing, you know?
And I’ve seen people saying that “Oh, my God, I love baking. Oh, my God. I love this. I love that…” so many things. Identify, make a list of that thing, and have that one content pillar which is just random, but so unique because that is what you’re passionate about, and put it in your content so that people know that “She is this person. But she also is this person” you know. And I want to give you an example. Jenna Kutcher, who has this podcast called Goal Digger. She’s a world renowned marketing guru. Her podcast is all about marketing, but she talks so much about motherhood because it’s just her truth, right? And early on in her career she had a miscarriage. She lost the baby, and then she had that conversation. And even today, after seven years, she still keeps talking about miscarriages and motherhood. Why? Because that is her truth. She’s a marketing guru who talks about motherhood as much as she talks about marketing.
It’s become a plug, but it works for her, and it comes naturally…
Petchy: Yeah, because it makes her relatable.
Preeti: You know, there will be an audience and followers coming in just because of that human factor that is in your content. And then that is going to help them convert at a later point because they have related to you. They have started a conversation with you, and then they’re like “Okay, now there’s two business.”
Petchy: You know what I like to say to my clients as well is that yes, if you put some of you out there and you’re not ashamed of it, and you’re just, like, really proud of who you are, you put it out there. Yeah, you’re going to get some people who don’t like it. You’re going to get some people who think “Ah, what is she she doing? This is stupid. I’m not gonna follow her anymore.” Yeah, and when that happens, I’m like “Good, because I didn’t really want you to follow me in the first place, because you’re not the kind of person I want to reach.”
Preeti: You’re helping yourself by weeding out people you don’t want to do business with. So being your true self, being your authentic self… It’s helping you attract the right kind of people who have similar values. Because as entrepreneurs, we are in 2020. We don’t want to do business with people who are not in sync with our value system. It’s fair, right? So unless you bring that truth out, how are you letting people understand you better and seeing if there’s a match, you know. And how you do relationship marketing outside your social media is exactly how you should be doing it on social.
And, if you’re not being yourself, you shouldn’t be on social media in the first place
Petchy: Yeah, so up until now, we’ve spoken a lot about, you know, owning your quirks and showing up as yourself and being authentic and like, almost inviting people into your virtual living room. But if we start to think a little bit more about the practical side of things, a lot of people feel a bit overwhelmed. And I know I’m guilty myself of the sort of stop/start cycle of posting. Like I’ll be really good for a couple of weeks with consistent posting… and then I kind of lose traction and I go a little bit quiet because I’m so busy with client work. How do you advise people to be able to post regularly and consistently on Instagram, but within a schedule that doesn’t lead to burnout or resentment or yeah… just makes them hate the entire platform.
Preeti: Yeah. Firstly, there is no rule for choosing a frequency. Choose a frequency that works for you. Okay, so this might not be true for product based businesses, right? Because if you’re selling a product, that means you have to be in front of your audience and customer all the time. But if you’re a personal brand, you can set your own workflow, which is brilliant. And also, I’m a big advocate of balancing your social media marketing with relationship marketing. You cannot do without it. So if you have a balance, the same number of conversations outside your Instagram, then you don’t have to be on the app all the time, right? Your idea is to bring people from Instagram, make connections, get on a Zoom call. Let’s be practical about it. So, when I work with entrepreneurs, I help them create a content batching routine, which doesn’t disrupt their business flow. You know, creating content is very overwhelming. “Oh, my God. I have to sit down today, create a video, and show up on stories.” It’s hard work, right? Especially now that everyone’s working from home with kids around. How do you do that? So start creating a practice of content batching. So what content batching is, is you take an hour of your time every alternate day. Just sit down with an intention of creating content. Okay, So start with creating a routine for yourself. Like we all have morning routines. Create a content batching routine, essentially where you create a calendar. And, you know, think about what are the things that you want to talk about in the coming week? And you sit down, write down all your captions together, just sit down for one hour, have your hot cup of coffee on your table and just get into your writing mode.
And before that, you have a list of all these random content ideas that I want to talk about. You know, we have those moments… you know, while cooking or in the shower that “I want to create content about that.” Make a list of all these amazing ideas that you have and then in your content batching routine, start with that list and start elaborating those captions. Once you have the captions ready now you can make your graphic.
But make sure that you’re creating a content creation routine. A lot of people create content on the go. I would never advise that because you’re basically making it into a very stressful process. So have your one hour routine. Be present, show up on stories once every day. I would try and do that. I show up on stories at least a couple of times every day, but make sure that on one particular day of the week, you are showing up with value. You know, like your audience should know that “OK, on Wednesdays she shows up with some amazing design tips” and that becomes like your signature.
That’s not a lot, like just one day with value content in your stories is going to bring people in like crazy. On your feed you can have content going in three times a week. That’s a great place to start. It’s not a lot, honestly, it shouldn’t take you long to create three posts on your feed. No more than an hour a week. So just leave a system for that.
Petchy: Yeah, I guess if you’ve already got your content pillars that you were talking about earlier, if you’ve already got those… then that will make the batching process a lot easier.
Preeti: Exactly. So you have your five content pillars. Then you have three content topics for each pillar, and then you create a balance. “OK, now I want to create a video about this. I want to create a graphic about this. I want to create a story about this.” So it makes it all the more easier. Because if you’re bored, you can pick just a random content format. A random content topic. “Today I want to talk about this,” you know? So when you have this process, when you know what your content strategy is it gives you room to think. But if you start on a blank slate, you are stressing yourself out over what to say every day on Instagram.
So if you are intentional on Instagram, make sure you have one week of content calendar filled so that you’re ahead of the game. And also videos are really important. Instagram is like a system. Okay, it’s incomplete without videos. So reels, IGTV, stories… These are everything that makes Instagram complete. You can’t just rely on IGTV or you can’t just keep relying on feed content. To be successful on Instagram, you have to embrace instagram with all its features and make the best use of it.
Petchy: See… what you’ve just said there has just pushed me into trying reels. I have to try reels. I haven’t done that yet. It’s annoying me that I don’t I don’t have music on my business account.
Preeti: Yeah, but you know if you’re watching someone else’s reel with music on it, you can actually use that. When you say “use that audio” it pulls that track. And it brings that track into your reel so you can create content.
Petchy: That’s brilliant. So for our listeners, how do they know if Instagram is the right platform for them?
Preeti: Great question. I think Instagram is for you if your ideal customers or clients are on Instagram. Okay, so if you have a business, you have to create that customer persona… What is that customer looking like? Does that person wear heels? Are they going to college? Is she a mother? Is she very young? So you have to understand who that ideal customer is and where they are hanging out. If your exact customer is not hanging out on Instagram, that could mean Instagram is not for you, unless you want to be on Instagram just to find a way to connect with and keep up with friends. And if you love visuals and you love storytelling and knowing people in person, I think Instagram is for you. Even if you’re not active on instagram for your own business, but you really want to reach out and connect to some exciting people to do a podcast or do an interview.
So, yeah, Instagram is for you if you love visuals and also, if you want to build your own community of creative like minded people. Exactly how you’re doing it, Petchy. You have started this podcast because you want to build a community of incredible entrepreneurs who think like you. And if you are an entrepreneur who wants to meet exciting, interesting people who are like minded and as passionate as you are, then I think Instagram is a great place provided that those people are on the app.
Petchy: That’s brilliant. So if you could give our listeners your top three tips if they want to level up their Instagram game… something that’s really actionable and something they could implement today, what would those be?
Preeti: Yeah, so I would like to reiterate what I said to you in this conversation.
First and foremost: own your personal story and your background, your cultural identity and your larger purpose of what you do in your business. Embrace that truth first. Your personal brand is you, and you cannot really shy away from your truth. So that is the first thing. And I would really, you know, advise our listeners today to start journaling and making a note of all the exciting events that happened in their life. So that you can use this in your content strategy.
Second is speak to your ICA. When you’re creating content, keep in mind who your ideal customers are. Who are the people that you’re talking to. And have those avatars in your head. Pick a picture of your ideal customer, put it on your wall and speak to them in your content. You know, when you’re writing, you should visualise that person so that you’re being super duper intentional. Otherwise, what happens is you want to talk like others. But no, you’re here for a reason. So you need to speak to exactly that person who is going to come and do business with you. So speak your ICA in your content, and instead of creating content that just you do just to boost your self esteem (you know… I went shopping or had coffee or I went on a holiday) you have to be a little more intentional. Understand what your ideal clients or customers’ core challenges are, and how your content can solve them. Or how your content can make them nod their head and be like I’m in this with you.
Yeah. So have a care imagery. You can’t be pleasing everyone. Your content should be just for one or two types of personas.
Third point I have is to amplify your video content strategy. If you’re not diving into video, I’m telling you, you’re missing out on a lot because 2020 has been the year where even the most introverted and shy people have come out – including Petchy who started her podcast. So if Petchy can do this, so can you.
Petchy: Come out of your shell!
Preeti: I think that’s what my pitch is, you know. I help entrepreneurs come out of hiding. That’s how I explain my job. And, yeah, amplify your video content strategy or dive into stories. Stories are where you can really begin to embrace yourself and be comfortable with talking into a camera. And Instagram is a structure, it has four key pillars: story, feed, IGTV, reels. The secret to being successful on Instagram is in leveraging and balancing all these features, not just one.
Petchy: Yeah, that’s fantastic. I’ve picked up so many useful tips during our conversation. I’m definitely going to take them with me and go away and start implementing some of them myself. Thank you so much for sharing your Instagram genius with us. And before you go, I just want to obviously thank you so much for being here again. But for anyone who’s now thinking, I need to connect with this woman. I need to know more of her zone of genius. Where can they find you online? I’m guessing Instagram.
Preeti: Yeah, of course. That’s where I am. I talk about instagram, but I spend a lot of time outside of Instagram too. And I don’t want to create a culture where you need to be on an app all the time. But if you use it intentionally, you can master it, you know, so you can find me on Instagram. My handle is @yoursocially. You can look me up on Linkedin, I’m very active on Linkedin. And shoot me an email. I would love to chat and help you all. If you are, you know, really struggling to find your ways and understand what are those things that you need to talk about so that you can position yourself as a thought leader in your industry.
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