AMY PORTERFIELD: Hey there, Amy Porterfield here and welcome to another episode of the Online Marketing Made Easy Podcast.
I am thrilled that you are here so thanks, so much, for showing up.
Now, today we’re talking about Instagram. And I don’t know if I’ve shared this with you yet but I’m a little bit obsessed with Instagram. I love it. I love that you get to see a glimpse of someone’s life through pictures. And, it’s just so interesting to see what people choose to share and how much of their lives they share in pictures. And, if you haven’t yet connected, please do connect with me on Instagram. I’m at instagram.com/amyporterfield.
Now, I like to mix things up. I share a little bit of business, a little bit of family, a lot of my travels. That’s how I’ve used Instagram up until today. But after I interviewed my guest that I’m going to introduce to you in just a moment, I started to look at Instagram differently. And that’s what might happen with you too after you hear about some of these strategies and how you can use Instagram for business.
Once you get a strategy behind anything we do online we can take things to an entirely new level that we probably never thought was even possible and that’s what this woman has done with her Instagram account. I should say accounts.
I think you’re going to find the way she uses Instagram extremely interesting. The strategy behind it kind of blew my mind. So, I love this interview and I can’t wait to share it with you.
So, my guest today is Chalene Johnson. And, to say the least, this amazing woman is a multi-passionate entrepreneur with some pretty amazing successes under her belt. She has build and sold several multi-million dollar fitness and lifestyle companies and
is currently the CEO of a business and lifestyle coaching company called Team Johnson where she has taught her personal and business development systems to hundreds of thousands of people.
In the interview I mention one of her own podcast episodes where she shares the journey of her success. And, if you know me, you know I love a good business-building story. So, if you’re like me and you want to hear how she’s built her empire, I will definitely link to that episode from her own podcast so you can listen to that. Believe me, it is definitely worth checking out.
Now I won’t make you wait a minute longer. Let’s go ahead and jump into the interview.
Chalene, are you there?
Chalene: I’m here.
Amy: How are you today?
Chalene: I’m doing awesome, Amy. Thank you, Amy. Thanks for having me.
Amy: Thank you for being here. I’m really excited because I was recently on your show and ever since then I’ve been obsessed with all of your content out there. So, I’m on the treadmill and I’m walking down the road with Gus and I’m listening to all of your podcasts and just like taking in as much as I can. So, I feel like maybe I’ve been a stalker. But it’s in a good way.
Chalene: Well, only for the last couple of days? I’ve been stalking you for years, so payback.
Amy: Oh well, thank you so much. And I truly am such a huge fan of everything you’ve done. I’ve been hearing about you for years. And people have been singing your praises. So, just know that now I know why. Like I totally get it.
And, I have to say, before I jump in because obviously we’re going to talk all about Instagram today. But, before we jump in I have to say you have one of the coolest episodes I’ve ever heard and that is the episode you did all about you and your story. You made it so interesting. What made you actually do a show like that?
Chalene: I just think so many people don’t know your whole story. They kind of know whatever you did that was the biggest or the way they were introduced to you. I just left a doctor’s appointment and he’s like, he made me feel so bad. He was like, “Oh, I don’t see you on TV anymore. Is your business suffering.” I’m like, no.
And then you don’t’ want to go into your resume and tell him what I’m doing because then I was behind the closed door and I could hear him tell his office aid. He was like, “yeah, she used to do aerobic videos and now I don’t think she’s doing anything.”
Amy: I would have been dying inside.
Chalene: I know. I almost like opened up the door and, you know, said, “here listen to this show.”
Amy: Exactly. I mean, you have done some huge things ever since you made the whole switch. Now, for those of you who don’t know what the heck I’m talking about in terms of what you used to do and what you do now, you’ve got to check out the show. So, I promised to link to it in my show notes because, again, it’s one of my favorite shows. It just made me feel like I get you. I know you and I love to hear about the path. You know, we always want to hear about the wins and the struggles and you really dove into all of that.
Chalene: Well thanks, that’s awesome.
Amy: So, really great show. Awesome podcast. I just think that every single time you do anything I feel like you have such purpose and intention. Would you agree?
Chalene: I do now. Yeah. I’ve got a lot more purpose that’s for sure.
Amy: Well, it comes out in everything you do. I could gush and gush but I’ll definitely get to the point here. Today I wanted to bring you on and talk to you all about Instagram and also kind of add a layer to that, Instagram and list building. And, I didn’t really even know if it could be done. You know, I’ve dabbled with it a little bit. I have to say I love Instagram but I love it because I’m just getting started in it and I’m learning a lot. But, you’ve mastered it.
So, let’s first talk about just Instagram, why you use it for your business, what you’ve done with it. Just kind of give me an overview, if you don’t mind.
Chalene: Yeah. Well, I got interested in Instagram when I stopped having any type of reach on Facebook. So, about two years ago I was just kind of annoyed and I didn’t take the time to figure out how to get my content back in the newsfeed. I just kind of picked up my toys and stomped off the playground and was like, well, I’ll go figure out what’s going to be hot next. And so I still was there on Facebook but, as I like to say, I wasn’t spending my time there. I decided to take a season to investigate, to learn, to immerse myself in everything Instagram because I knew it was up and coming. And, you hear about people being an early settler. And I was like, I’m going to settle early.
Amy: Gotcha. And I’m so glad you did because you have gone from zero to over 300, I think you are closer to 400,000 followers on Instagram today on your…you have multiple, you call them channels or accounts.
Chalene: I guess they are called accounts.
Amy: Okay, so you have multiple accounts. We’ll get to that in a moment. But, your main account is what? Tell us that one.
Chalene: My main account, I started with just providing kind of fitness and life motivation in general. And that’s the only one that I continue to manage myself. And I have other Instagram accounts that drive traffic to my website that I outsource and I control the direction of the content but I don’t have to live in them daily.
Amy: Okay, so the one you live in is what?
Chalene: Yes, that’s instagram.com/chalenejohnson. And that’s where…I’m doing stuff there at least every other day if not every day.
Amy: Okay, got it. And, when you post there, the first question I have for you and this is truly something I’m interested in. How do you balance, or what’s your philosophy behind personal and business types of posts? Or, do you even see the difference between each of those?
Chalene: Oh yeah, absolutely. Here’s I think the number one thing people have to wrap their head around when it comes to Instagram is it’s not Facebook and it’s not Twitter. And, it’s really more along the lines of Pintrest or like looking at an online magazine. So, if we know that people have very limited resources in terms of their time and time that they want to spend looking at something and we’re trying to attract strangers or trying to attract people who don’t know us, well then to share a piece of your life and I’m a stranger and I land on your Instagram page and I’m like, and I should care why? You know, people are looking for value. It’s like this interests me because…
Here’s a great example. I started following, now I can’t think of her name, Rachel… Rachel Zoe because she has a show on Bravo and it’s all about fashion and I like her but I really like her fashion sense. So, I started following her and I really was like, oh, I’m just getting like a slice of her life and I want fashion tips. So, I unfollowed.
Amy: Interesting.
Chalene: Yeah, so my recommendation is number one, first and foremost, you’ve got to make your account public. I know that seems so basic but I can’t tell you, I would say over half of the people who are trying to interact with me on Instagram I’m like, your account is private.
Amy: You mean, you see that lock when you try and go connect with them.
Chalene: Yeah. Okay, so many business owners don’t realize when they first set up their account they set it up to private.
Amy: Oh yeah, you don’t want to do that.
Chalene: No. And then, the second thing is to understand, really focus in on what your goal is. And, if your goal is to attract new customers and perhaps serve those that have already been attracted to you for a particular reason, then give them that. They don’t care what my dog looks like. They want to know what it is that they originally followed me for. And, I’ve got to make that something of great value so if I have 15 seconds of their time I can deliver.
Amy: Okay, so is that the reason why you’ve actually created multiple Instagram accounts?
Chalene: Yes.
Amy: Okay. So tell me about the other accounts you have out there.
Chalene: Well, two reasons. First of all, my big account now, my name. You’ll see me do some personal stuff from time to time but those things I didn’t do at all for the first year and a half. I only provided what you came for and I was providing daily 15-second workouts that people could do at home, a little bit of nutrition, a little bit of motivation. But, mainly, it’s fitness.
And then, after I had my account grow to a certain size, I could post, on occasion, something personal. What I wanted to do was create it just exactly as you would like a board on Pintrest. So, I found that when I posted something fashion related, you know, I would lose a huge number of subscribers because they were like, I don’t know who you are, I really don’t care about your fashion. I’m following you for fitness tips, why is this here.
Amy: Okay.
Chalene: So I started creating a separate account for fashion and then a separate account just for business owners and then another account just for personal trainers and all of these separate accounts are individual niches that I can use to drive traffic to my website.
Amy: Okay, I’m going to link to all of these accounts because I think they’re fascinating. You’re the only person that I know that’s actually doing it this way. But, one thing that I’ve learned through social media is that when I post something personal, let’s say on my Facebook page, that it tends to get more likes, more clicks. You know, all I know is really Facebook well. So, more likes, clicks, comments, all that good stuff. So if I post one day about Gus, something silly, my cocker spaniel and then the next day I post something about Facebook it’s fascinating to me that people want to comment on Gus sometimes more than they want to post about the Facebook thing.
So, with you, are you saying that you actually try to stay away from the personal?
Chalene: Well, you know you mention Facebook and I find the exact same to be true on Facebook. There are people who are coming to my page for content and they tend to want a little bit more of, okay prove to me you’re real.
Amy: Oh, okay.
Chalene: And on Instagram, there too, sometimes if I do something personal it will resonate with people who are already my fans.
Amy: This is the distinction.
Chalene: Yeah. But, we have to remember, I’m trying to attract a stranger…
Amy: Yes!
Chalene: …who’s looking for content and I want to be the person who they go, this was really good information.
Amy: Okay, this is a huge lesson for me because I have really not used Instagram for business much, just a tiny bit. You know, I love what you’re saying. They’re coming to you for a reason so deliver it.
Chalene: Yeah.
Amy: Show up in that way.
Chalene: I’ve found so many social media marketers who I’m like, gosh really all that I get from their Instagram page is kind of knowing who’s who in social media marketing because they’re taking pictures at events, etc. But, I’m like, I came to you for LinkedIn advice or I thought I would look this person up on Instagram because I’d get some great tips but I’m getting like behind the scenes pictures which I’m like, okay, this is interesting but not helpful.
Amy: Okay, so let’s talk about this. This is one of my favorite conversations because with Instagram it’s new to a lot of people, especially a lot of people in my audience. They’re just venturing out on Instagram. And, with that they’re thinking that they are supposed to be taking pictures on a trip, with their family, with their friends, whatever it is. How do you use Instagram for business?
Chalene: Well, you have to decide what it is that you want to attract people to you for.
Amy: Well, what if you do give marketing advice like you do on one of your channels? Like, how do you use it for business in that way?
Chalene: Well so, what I do, like for example with the account I have called Instagram Impact. So, it’s instagram.com/instagramimpact. And, every day I post a tip on how to use Instagram for your business. And that has over, I think, over 10,000 or maybe 20,000 followers, I’m not sure which.
Amy: That’s awesome.
Chalene: And, I post something each day where I provide great content. I’m going to update them on what’s the latest, what’s the greatest thing you need to know about hashtags or photo clarity or changes in Instagram. And then, what I’m going to do is, by doing that, I’m going to attract people who are on Instagram, not for fashion, but for business.
And those are the people who, by using this great content, they are going to go, who’s behind this site? And eventually, hopefully, they’ll click on my bio which takes them directly to an opt in.
I will also use it, from time to time I’ll post, hey, if you’d like my free report on how to build your Instagram brand online for free click here and it takes them. You know, you can’t put an actual clickable link yet and it’s a bummer. But, you can put it in your bio and that’s really easy to do.
So, when you do that the best way to do it is to say, click here on my name, and you actually type your own Instagram account name into the comment. And, when they click on your name it actually takes them back to your bio and then in your bio that’s a clickable link that can take them directly to a lead magnet, an opt-in page, a video, your Facebook wall, wherever you want to take them.
Amy: Okay great. So in your bio that link that you can use, it doesn’t always have to just be directly to your website. I think it sounds like a smarter way to do it is send them to, let’s say, an opt-in page.
Chalene: Whatever promotion I’m in I change out the clickable link on every one of my accounts so that all of the traffic from all of the tens of thousands of people I have on Instagram are all going to one source.
Amy: Brilliant. I love that, changing out the link. So, that leads us into the perfect conversation now about list building with Instagram. So, you kind of hinted a little bit about promoting on an Instagram channel. But, really truly, what are some of the best tips you have out there about driving Instagram traffic to, I guess you are probably sending them to a lead capture page to opt in, is that right?
Chalene: Yeah. In fact, I often use all of my accounts when I’m doing a launch. And because we know video is a great way to connect with people I’ll just do a 15-second direct-to-camera hey, guys, if you want to know more about my upcoming marketing impact academy please be sure to click on the link in my bio and there you’ll be able to watch a series of three videos that will teach you everything you need to know.
And, I’m then using video on all of those accounts to drive traffic to my launch.
Amy: Okay, great. So you actually use videos. So, those of you who don’t know, you could do video on Instagram. It’s 15 seconds, right? Fifteen seconds of video. Then, of course, you can do images as well. And you’re telling them exactly where to go to opt in.
Chalene: Yes. Now, here’s the thing people need to understand about video. We know it’s super powerful. We know it’s the best way to captivate, to let people connect with us. We know we love video. It tells, you know, the whole story in 15 seconds. What’s deceiving about video on Instagram is your likes will almost always be lower and that’s because of a just basically human behavior. You have to click the photo or the icon in order for the video to play and you like it and you think, well that’s interesting, and you move on. So, it takes going back to the video and then clicking “like” in order to get a like on a video.
So, a lot of times people will say, oh my videos don’t do as well. Because, as of yet, and it’s coming. Instagram, if you are following any of their marketing blogs, they keep teasing to the general population that they’re creating these tools for business owners so we will soon be able to see reach and what type of interaction we’re getting and we’ll be able to know a lot more about what’s happening.
Right now it is trial and error but it’s on the horizon and that’s why I encourage everyone, if you already understand how powerful Facebook is and you know that Facebook is, you know, the Mom and Pop of Instagram, it’s coming. And, advertising is coming and all of the tools that we love as social media marketers. Those tools are coming so establish deep roots now.
Amy: I love that. It’s so true. You know, go where you feel like your audience is going to gravitate toward and really master it now. Get really good at how you want to use Instagram and then when your audience does start flocking there you’re ready for them. So, I love that advice and I want to bring up one of your students. She’s at instagram.com/melissamade and she’s one of your students and I listened to one of
your episodes where you interviewed her and I want you to talk a little bit about her and how she uses Facebook. But, two things I want to point out. One, she uses video more than she uses images which is the first account I have ever seen that where basically she’s using video all the time and she mentioned, I think the first 15-second video she created took like four hours or something.
Chalene: I love her honesty there.
Amy: And the second thing is she mentions something about she actually deletes promotions sometimes.
Chalene: Yes.
Amy: Okay, so talk to me about her in general. It’s fascinating to me.
Chalene: Yeah, well Melissa is a great example of someone who was, you know, really interested in attracting the right type of customer to her business and using Instagram to do that and looking at all of these tutorial videos and saying, you know, I think what’s special about me is I’ve got a kind heart, I love to take care of people, and so I want to show exercises but I also want the person who is watching these to get a sense of who I am so that they will feel comfortable coming to me as their business coach, because she’s a health and wellness coach.
And so she created these split-screen videos using an App called PicPlayPost that allows you to drag in two videos. So, on one side of the video you are seeing her demonstrate the exercise and on the other side of the square video it’s Melissa speaking directly to camera. You connect with her face, her lovely smile, her vocal inflection, and even if she’s doing an abs workout or gluts you go, “she’s just so nice. I like her, I trust her.” And she’s built her account over, I think over 200,000.
Amy: Insane. It’s insane.
Chalene: Yeah.
Amy: Okay, so when I saw that I thought the split screen was really cool and she just found her groove with that. It was something that she loved to do. She was natural at it even though she said she didn’t always feel comfortable on video.
Chalene: Right.
Amy: It’s 15 seconds so it’s way less intimidating in my book, if you’re new at video. Talk to me about, and this is not for everybody, but she had mentioned that she actually deletes some promotional posts. What was that all about?
Chalene: Yeah, I do to. Because, you remember, you want this to look like a magazine. So, I want to always have my page be such that when somebody lands on it they don’t go, oh, this is a bunch of ads. Or, oh, this is a bunch of stuff on their vacation to Disneyland.
I want them to go, this would be of value, I will follow this account. And so, myself included, when there is a promotional piece that’s a great value to me to get in front of thousands and thousands of eyeballs. But, I also want to remove it once it’s no longer relevant so that when people are scanning my page and trying to decide if, in fact, they want to follow they understand clearly what they’re getting.
Let me give you an amazing, amazing example for this.
Amy: Bring it on, okay.
Chalene: Okay, you’re going to love this page. It’s instagram.com/videomeals. Get ready to die. It’s so awesome. He’s doing 15-second videos and the account is ginormous. I think he has almost a million followers now. And, what he’s doing is placing his logo over the videos. You can do that by using an App called StackMotion. That would allow you to pull in your transparent, if you want, logo or a watermark or you can actually type across the screen like “click my bio for the full recipe.” And these are 15-second tantalizing, amazing recipes that he plays on hyper warp speed and it’s just a simple way to show you how you can use great content kind of like a magazine.
Amy: And does he promote?
Chalene: Oh, oh yeah. So he’s always sending you to his website where there are a lot of different things he sells and offers but the main thing is that he’s really driving traffic by providing very branded content so that when I go to this page it’s like, yes, this is why I followed you.
Amy: And that’s such a great point, bringing it back to list building. One of the things I’ve learned is that first of all you do need to have something that people sign up for,
of course. And a lot of our students, both of our students, know the value of a free giveaway. You have a fun word for it, freemium.
Chalene: Freemium.
Amy: Freemium. I love that. So, having something of great value for free. But, you don’t always have to be telling everybody to sign up for it at every minute. Your content can speak for itself. Do you agree?
Chalene: I do. However, Instagram is one of the few places where you can have a call to action in every single post in the comment. Not in the video and in a photo but in the comment section. You can put a call to action in every single comment. Now, a call to action can be as simple as, let me know what you think of these. And then you are getting people to interact. Or, if you know someone who would find this of value, please tag three of your entrepreneurial friends.
Amy: Oh that’s a good one.
Chalene: I’m asking my own fan base, who is already a fan of let’s say Push Me Daily, I’m saying, listen, you love this content and you know better than anybody else who else would love it. So, I’m asking them to do the targeting and refer my page to their friends. And that’s the quickest way to get an account to grow.
Amy: Gotcha. And so once your account starts to grow you have this audience that are paying attention so when you do promote or you do have a new free giveaway and you’re talking about it that’s when you can start driving more traffic to your website or to your opt-in page.
Chalene: Correct. Absolutely.
Amy: Okay, so tell me a little bit about some of the tools that you’ve used to build up your Instagram channel as well as build up your email list with Instagram.
Chalene: Well, I would say the first, and most important, thing that people need to understand is that there are pieces of this that can be outsourced but only once you really understand the direction of the particular account that you’re creating. So, for example, Amy I think it’s great that you have your own personal account. I would recommend that you create another Instagram account that is just geared towards Facebook advertising.
Amy: I’m starting to think that that could be something very valuable after hearing from you.
Chalene: Yeah. And then once you really understand, okay what do people like? And, what hashtags are entrepreneurs who are advertising on Facebook, what are they using? How do I get people to follow this page. Once you’ve got it down then it’s just a matter of outsourcing, you know, the theme that you’ve created to somebody on Elance who can manage that for you because that type of account doesn’t need the same type of community interaction that a personal account does.
Amy: Gotcha. Now I’m starting to see the distinction between your different accounts and how you’re using them.
Chalene: Yeah. Then the next thing you want to do in terms of list building is you want to provide a link to something that’s relative. So, for example, I have an account called homeworkouts_foryou, and of course you know, we can give people the links to this. Now, that’s an account that’s really geared towards people who are exercising at home. It doesn’t make sense for me to drive them to, let’s say, a marketing impact or an Instagram impact course, although I can. But it makes a lot more sense for me to drive them to a freemium or lead page that offers a diet plan or an exercise routine for free. So, especially for those who are listening who have, you know, maybe a variety of different opt ins, you can choose an opt in that kind of relates to the content that you’re featuring on your Instagram account.
Amy: Okay.
Chalene: Let me tell you another really quick way to build what I call a feature account. Now, let me create the distinction that a feature account is featured content. It’s not necessarily you. So, I call my Instagram account, Instagram Impact, I call that a featured account where I’m featuring content that relates to Instagram. Home Workouts For You, that’s an account where I feature other people, not myself, exercising. Now the reason why I do that is because, number one people love to be shared. They’re like, oh my gosh, I got on this huge page, this is so exciting. And they tag all of their friends which makes the account grow. And then we will say things like, if you want to be featured, which everybody does because they want exposure for free, if you want to be featured be sure to follow us, tag a few friends and then use the hashtag #homeworkouts_foryou in your next fitness post to be considered.
Amy: Oh that’s great. Way to build a tribe. I mean, that’s what you’re all about. But, that’s an awesome way to do it.
Chalene: Yeah, there are so many cool things you can do on Instagram and I really do believe it is going to be huge soon. Like people have…they have wrapped their head around the fact that we get to advertise on Facebook and I believe that Instagram is on the cusp of doing some really great things for entrepreneurs.
Amy: I totally agree. And so basically what you’ve taught us here is that you can have your personal account and then you’ve got these featured accounts.
Chalene: Yes.
Amy: These featured accounts are very deliberate. They can be definitely outsourced once you really get the flow of how things work and how to build an account. And, so it doesn’t have to be all you.
Chalene: Correct. So, if you go to, for example, the last one I mentioned, homeworkouts_foryou. What I want to say is that in the bio I say this page is being managed by Team Johnson so that no one thinks they are actually speaking to me. I want to be transparent. This page was founded by Chalene Johnson, and then there is a clickable link in the bio. But people get really excited about having their content featured on this page and now we’ve got over 100,000 followers and I, you know to be honest, this is the first time I’ve looked at this page in probably a month.
Amy: Oh my gosh. Where’s that clickable link going to?
Chalene: That clickable link is going to my website right now but we change it out depending on what type of promotion is relevant to this content.
Amy: I love that. Okay, that’s great stuff. So Elance is a tool that you use regularly to help you build up the content for these different channels. And then, of course, you have people on your team helping you manage them.
Chalene: Yeah. And for the most part any solo entrepreneur can use incredible resources on Elance which oDesk and Elance recently combined forces and, for just a very small fee, have somebody collecting the content, writing your posts, managing your account for you once you really know what you want it to look like.
Amy: Okay, I love that. I’m a huge fan of outsourcing so that’s a great tip there. And then you have one other tool you told me about.
Chalene: Yes, that’s Iconosquare.
Amy: Okay, and we’re going to link to it in the show notes but it’s Iconsquare, correct?
Chalene: I-c-o-n-O.
Amy: O, I’m glad you, oh (laughter). O for Iconosquare.
Chalene: So, Iconosquare is a free resource. It’s unbelievably revealing. What you can do is you just enter your Instagram account name and by clicking on, for example, at the top your statistics. Your statistics can show you how your engagement has grown over the course of the last seven days, last year. It can show you how you can optimize your posts because it will tell you, and it’s really cool, because it shows you this little graph and it will say, okay, here’s the time of day you’re posting and here’s where most of the people who follow you are actually online. So it allows you to kind of line that up. Because, as you know, you take your thumb and you scroll down only so far.
Amy: Yes.
Chalene: You know, Instagram is a little different from other accounts. You know, let’s say, well it’s probably more similar in terms of the feed on Facebook where you scroll through and then you’re like, okay, I’ve seen enough.
Amy: Exactly.
Chalene: In order for people to actually be looking for your stuff and actually go to your account you need to provide the type of content that everyday gives people a valuable nugget.
Amy: It’s so true. And one thing I love about Facebook is you don’t even have to write that much. Would you agree that, you know, sometimes the pictures speak for themselves?
Chalene: On Instagram?
Amy: Yes.
Chalene: I would say that. But I think that, you know, and again I would suggest that people look not at my personal account, but my feature accounts because what I do on my personal account isn’t as, quite frankly, as impactful for a business owner as what I’m doing on my feature accounts. On my feature accounts I take advantage of every single inch of that comment space.
Amy: Oh. Okay.
Chalene: I’m going to tell you why this tip is relevant. I’m going to share with you on some other places you can look, and I’m usually going to put in there some type of a call to action. So, I might say, if you’re looking for more great tips on how to build your own Instagram account please be sure to click on the link in my bio. Or, please be sure to…And I never post to one of those accounts without a call to action.
Amy: Okay, that’s good to know. I mean that’s list-building 101. It’s so important. You’ve got to ask for it in order to get people to go there. Okay, so great. So you’re saying great examples of list building and how to use Instagram to really attract the right audience and lead them to, let’s say, a free giveaway, is great examples of that are all of your featured accounts which I’m going to link to in the show notes so people can really pour over them and find out what you are doing because I think there are so many great nuggets in there.
Chalene: There are so many people now who are advertising on Instagram. There are giant accounts that you might not even realize that there is advertising going on. It is very subliminal. I mean, the largest advertisers are now reaching out to accounts that have over 100,000 followers and saying, hey, if you just hold this Jamba Juice cup or if you’ll just, you know. And that’s fine. It’s a great way to make extra income. But, if you’re the person who wants the advertising why not build these accounts yourself and have control over the content and create those individual niche accounts and then outsource them so that you don’t have to spend your entire day on your phone or on your computer.
Amy: I was going to wrap it up before…I have my final question for you, but, I was going to wrap it up by saying, can you give somebody that’s just starting out some advice as to how to get started with Instagram on the right foot with the idea of I’m going to use this account to build a community but also build my email list. And it sounds like the featured accounts are the way to go.
Chalene: My advice would be to create and honor a theme. So, if you yourself would go on Instagram and you’re like, I would follow an account if…fill in the blank. And I would actually look at it everyday if…fill in the blank. Whatever that is, that’s what you need to create.
Amy: Oh, I love that. That’s even a great question you can ask your existing tribe. Like what do they want? What do they want to follow? And you think, some of you think you know and you are going to be surprised with some of those responses that you get from them.
Chalene: That’s great. I would love for you to have a Facebook ads feature account. I swear I would shout it out because people feel like, oh no, is this information outdated. You know, I just read this but is that from a month ago. If they see it on your Instagram account they would know it’s the latest, most updated information. It’s a great way to promote, you know, your upcoming marketing programs that teach people how to use Facebook ads.
Amy: You’re so right. I think you are definitely giving me that Instagram vibe, like I’ve got to figure this out for sure. So, I appreciate that. Now, what’s cool is you actually have an Instagram program. Tell us about that.
Chalene: Yeah, it’s called Instagram Impact and that’s what I teach is just the nuts and bolts like, okay, how do I open an account? What type of name should I choose? What type of photos are acceptable? How do I create videos? I actually do a screen flow for all of my favorite Apps.
Amy: Oh cool.
Chalene: I show you how to use, not popular hashtags, but the hashtags that the people who you want on your list are using and then how to interact with them. I teach just some of the techniques that will quickly build your account because, let’s face it, great content doesn’t build anything. You have to make sure people know about it. So, even if you’ve got great content you’ve got to interact with people and teach people how to outsource some of that so, again, you’re not stuck on your phone or on your desktop. But, just lesson by lesson by lesson walking you through the stages so that by the end of this, like many of my students, you can have over 100,000 or 200,000 followers on Instagram. But, more importantly, you know how to drive that traffic to your website.
Amy: For sure. And you definitely have some pretty impressive success stories from that program. So I’ll definitely link to it in my show notes and if people want to just find out more about you and start following all of your great tips where would you send them?
Chalene: I would say I would love to have you follow me on Facebook.com/Chalene. And then, of course, my website, CheleneJohnson.com.
Amy: Awesome. Thank you so much for being on the show. These are such great tips. I can’t wait for people to really dive in and start seeing an impact with their own Instagram channels. So, thank you so much.
Chalene: You’ve got it Amy. It’s been a pleasure to be on your show.
Amy: Take care.
So, there you have it. I hope you found this episode on Instagram as valuable as I have. That Chalene, she’s a firecracker isn’t she? I just absolutely love her. You can find all of the links and the examples that we discussed here in this episode on my show notes at amyporterfield.com/40.
Also, if you’re looking for more tools and strategies to optimize your online marketing make sure to check out my new online tools guide that spotlights every single online tool I use to run my business. I’m often asked how I do things and what tools I use to get things done so I took some time to compile all of the tools and how I use them in one big guide. You can get your hands on that guide if you go to amyporterfield.com/tools.
Until we talk again I hope you have a wonderful week and take care.