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Do you want to grow your business using Instagram?
Are you wondering how to build a loyal following?
I interview Chalene Johnson for this episode of the Social Media Marketing podcast and explore how she amassed a following of 365,000 on Instagram.
More About This Show
The Social Media Marketing podcast is a show from Social Media Examiner.
It's designed to help busy marketers and business owners discover what works with social media marketing.
The show format is on-demand talk radio (also known as podcasting).
In this episode, I interview Chalene Johnson. Chalene is author of the fitness book Push, a motivational speaker and her infomercials on fitness have sold millions of DVDs. She's found great success with Instagram and now teaches other small businesses how to do the same with her Instagram Impact course, and has a new podcast called Build Your Tribe.
Chalene shares how she creatively used Instagram to grow her business.
You'll discover how to take your Instagram marketing to the next level.
Share your feedback, read the show notes and get the links mentioned in this episode below!
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Where to subscribe: Apple Podcast | Google Podcasts | Spotify | RSS
Here are some of the things you'll discover in this show:
Instagram Success
How and why Chalene started on social media
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Chalene says she started with YouTube in 2006 and Twitter in 2007 or 2008.
In 2009, she got the idea for writing Push. When she told her agent she wanted to pitch a book about goal-setting and focus instead of a fitness book, he told her she didn't have the social media following or the credibility to write that type of book.Â
She got to work and spent a year using social media to build a platform with the intention of writing the book she wanted to pitch to publishers in New York.
Listen to the show to hear how Chalene used social media when she first started.
What Chalene built to support her book pitch
Chalene shares that she had a ton of followers on YouTube and had just started a Facebook page when she decided to write Push. Even though she had millions of DVD customers, her agent had to remind her that publishers don't care who you know; publishers want to know if you have the ability to reach those people.
To build her email list, Chalene created a 30-Day Challenge for her Facebook audience.
She started with three quick videos to show how she uses her phone to organize her daily to-do list and included a simple email opt-in. Every day she delivered a 2-minute video to her email subscribers.
The list grew to 100,000 in 9 months.
Listen to the show to find out how Chalene collected emails from her subscribers.
How Chalene got started with Instagram
After successfully using Facebook to build her email list, Chalene says she was able to land the publishing deal she wanted and the book was released in December 2011. Then she noticed she wasn't getting any love on Facebook.
She didn't want to learn about Facebook ads and shares that she kind of picked up her toys and stomped off the playground. That's when she began to realize her kids were all over Instagram but businesses weren't.
In winter 2012, Chalene decided to become an early settler on Instagram. She started with life-casting, sharing personal images to show where she was and what she was doing during the day.
Listen to the show to find out how following a favorite fashion icon drastically changed Chalene's Instagram strategy.
How Instagram has changed Chalene's business
Chalene shares that as a business owner and someone with a family, Instagram saves her time. She says instead of spending hours creating content, she can now spend literally 15 seconds and produce content to drive traffic to an opt-in for current or future offers.
Unlike Facebook, Instagram allows her to put a call to action (CTA) in every post without affecting her engagement.
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Listen to the show to discover what Chalene tracks to gauge the performance of her Instagram content.
How Chalene's basic Instagram content strategy has evolved
Initially, Chalene posted twice a dayâonce at 7am and once at 7pm. Each post was a single image or photo collage demonstrating an exercise sequence. She included instructions for the sequence in the image description and ended each one with a CTA prompting viewers to tag others who might find the post useful.
Next, she added video posts to her content mix.
Now that she's grown her account, she has the latitude to share a few personal posts about her family or her faith. Chalene cautions that she loses followers each time she does this. She explains she's okay with the drops because she most wants to connect with people who like that part of her.
Chalene also shares two helpful Instagram tips anyone can use.
Listen to the show to learn how photos and videos affect engagement and account growth.
Discovery of the Week
When you put a link for your own site or for another site into a Facebook update, you've probably noticed you often have a default image that comes up or an option to shuttle between the images to decide how you want the update to look. But what happens when the site doesn't have a nice, optimized image for Facebook?
I recently discovered how to upload a custom image to show with any link I post to a Facebook page.
When I paste a link into the update box, I simply click on the Upload Image box to load a custom image I've created with Canva or PicMonkey.
That's all there is to it.
Experiment with uploading your own images to Facebook.
Listen to the show to learn more about how Social Media Examiner uses this feature and let us know how this works for you.
Other Show Mentions
Today's show is sponsored by Social Media Success Summit 2014.
This is our largest online event. It's completely online, so no travel involved. There will be three sessions each day spread over an entire month. Each day has a theme.
If you're considering starting a podcast, we've got some of the best experts in the world talking specifically about podcasting.
First, Cliff Ravenscraft shares 6 Reasons Why Podcasting Is the Best Investment for Building Your Platform.
Next, John Lee Dumas presents How to Grow Your Podcasting Audience: 5 Proven Methods.
Then, Pat Flynn and Lewis Howes join me for How to Build a Successful Podcast by Interviewing Others.
We have handpicked the best experts in the world to teach you all about podcasting and how to market on all of the various channels.
If you want to learn more, visit here where you can check out all of the speakers and the agenda. Make sure you grab your ticket before the price goes up. We've got a significant earlybird discount for you right now.
Key takeaways mentioned in this episode:
- Visit InstagramYourBrand.com for a free copy of 5 Rules Every Instagram Account Must Follow.
- Follow InstagramImpact on Instagram.
- Check out Chalene's Instagram Impact Course.
- Read Chalene's book, Push.
- Tune in to Build Your Tribe.
- Discover more about Iconosquare.
- Use the Upload Image feature on Facebook.
- Learn more about Social Media Success Summit 2014.
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What do you think? Do you believe Instagram can grow your business? What are your thoughts on Instagram tactics? Please leave your comments below.
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