I was interviewed on Progresif Radio (Brunei) recently on my course Instagram Feed that Converts. This episode is power packed with knowledge you'll need to gain the most out of your Instagram account. If you want to convert your followers into raving customers, this episode is for you.

Listen to the Episode below:

In this episode, you'll hear about:

Set up and optimize Instagram tools for business
Identify and target your audience on instagram
Create and automate your Instagram content schedule effectively and efficiently
Generate more sales through Instagram-centric content

Links Mentioned:

Key Takeaways

[01:53] I shared why I chose my niche. I talked about my thoughts, experiences, and how I saw so much potential in digital marketing. How it's a growing industry and how you can tap into the resources to improve our businesses.

[03:42] How to set-up Instagram for your business. I talked about the types of Instagram accounts and their differences. I discussed the amazing tools you can take advantage of to greatly improve our social media presence.

[06:48] Why it's important to identify who you are creating your content for. In order for you to be able to come up with the appropriate strategies for them. I also talks about the most common types of people you can find on Instagram.

[08:33] Scheduling posts, and why it's very important for your Instagram page. I shared with you some tips on how to schedule posts and some useful tools that she recommends we use to be able to fully automate your process.

[10:21] What kind of content should you be creating? I shared how you can understand your audience and how you can create content that will greatly resonate with them.

4 Key Things You Should Do On Instagram.png

Recently, I was interviewed on Progresif Radio which is a digital radio channel in Brunei. In this episode, I want to share with you the interview that was done. By the end of this episode, I will also be sharing with you the 4 key things that you should do on Instagram. So stay tuned until the end, for you to get all those really interesting nuggets of wisdom. And for you to optimize your Instagram for your business.

Interviewer: Welcome to Progresif Radio. I have with me Huda Hamid who’s a Singapore-based entrepreneur and brand strategy trainer. So Huda, what is it that you actually do?

Huda: Alright, that’s a great question. Thank you for having me on your show, first of all.

Interviewer: Thank you for coming!

Huda: I think the definition of brand strategist needs to be clearly defined. What I do is that I actually have a digital marketing agency based in Singapore. And we help businesses—bigger organizations to really craft up their content and make it right and ripe before they publish it online. So our largest clients are like Prudential, UOB Bank — that’s like a bank in Singapore and Money2020 is one of the largest conferences that we’ve covered as well.

Interviewer: And what made you decide again to do the Digital Marketing industry?

Huda: You know, I’ve been asking myself this question a lot of times. So why did I choose this industry?

I think first of all, because of my age. So it was a natural transition for me to be interested in social media. So Instagram started in 2010, and I was one of the earlier adopters, played with it, tried it, used it and I had friends who actually discussed what kind of filters you want to use, and things like that.

So I guess it’s a natural transition because of the age that I am. How and why I started to dive to digital marketing is because I see so much potential for businesses. I see that a lot of businesses can definitely benefit from understanding what digital marketing is.

Basically digital marketing is like a whole universe on its own. And content marketing on, and social media marketing are actually two separate arms of it. Social media marketing, we have Instagram, Facebook, and so many other new social media coming up, like TikTok, and all that. So Instagram is what I teach here in Brunei.

Interviewer: I think people see Instagram as such an easy tool to use to advertise. But there’s a lot that goes behind it, it’s not a matter of taking a photo, putting a filter, making it look nice. What would be your number one tip?

Huda: I would say, stay consistent and authentic. No matter what you share, you have to be consistent. If you’re thinking of sharing once a day, do it once a day. Don’t miss a day at all. And the authenticity comes in place when you understand who you’re actually writing for, who you’re creating the content for. So that’s my biggest tip for people who are starting out on Instagram, and even business as well.

Interviewer: Oh so this is a personal thing as well?

Huda: Yes, personal branding also can be shown through Instagram.

Step 1. Set Up & Optimize Instagram for Business

3 things for you to know on how to set-up and optimize Instagram tools for your business

So the first thing that you should do, is to set up and optimize Instagram for business. Basically if you want to set up Instagram for your business, you must clearly first understand that there are multiple different types of Instagram accounts.

3 Types of Instagram Accounts

There’s 3 actually. The first one is personal—and most of us are using the personal account. Now we have the second one which is called professional account and underneath professional account we have two other accounts; which is business and creator.

So what is the difference between a business account and creator account?

So for a business account, get the account set up with your contact details, your location where you are based, and you can add additional call-to-action buttons. Such as if you are a restaurant you can recommend people to book or reserve a table with you. Or if you are a consultant you can also connect your account with a scheduling tool that allows you to log-in appointments. That is for a business account.

Now how about creator account? A creator account is highly recommended if you are an influencer. In my opinion, an influencer is someone who has more than 10,000 followers on Instagram. Creator accounts allows you to clearly identify when the best time is for you to post — down to the minute — because you are a creator, meaning you create a lot of content. If you produce lots of content, you want to know when people start to drop off of your content.

Creator account is very suitable for you if you have a lot of content that you are producing, especially if you are producing video content. Instagram wants to celebrate people who switch over to business or creator account. And they want to make sure that you get the right tools and the right resources for you to progress and grow in your business.

We go in-depth on how to setup your Instagram account in Instagram Feed That Converts Course

Features To Optimise Your Instagram Account

If you are switching over to business, there’s a lot of call-to-action buttons.

You also have data analytics (insights) for you to look at, for you to know when’s the best time for you to post, you’ll also be able to know what are the demographics of your followers, gender, where they are from.

At the same time you’ll also be able to know what type of posts are performing better, what are the reach, what are the impression, what are the engagement.

Then if you were to open up a creator account, you will be able to access the creator studio, which you can access on Facebook. In the creator studio, you will be able to see a lot more statistics and data. You get also to see, if you submit a video—one of your posts is a video, when the people start to drop off from your video. Is it 3 seconds, is it 10 seconds, or do people watch all the way to the full 60 seconds of your video. We go in-depth on optimising your account in Instagram Feed That Converts Course

Update: Facebook Creator Studio is now available for ALL professional Instagram accounts i.e. both Business and Creator accounts.

Those are the 3 things for you to know on how to set-up and optimize Instagram tools for your business.

How to Create a Beautiful IG Feed.png — Want to learn more strategies?

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Step 2. Identify and Target Your Audience

The second thing you should do on Instagram is to identify and target your audience.

First of all you need to clearly identify your target audience. You need to know who you are writing for and who you are creating content for. For you to know that there might be some data that you can utilize if you are a business. You might have existing information about your customers, existing information about who intend to create content for.

But if you are building your personal brand, you might need to define it even—who do I want to create content for? And if I want to create content for these people, will they be the ones who will be hanging out on Instagram?

Because there’s no point in creating content if your audience is not on Instagram.

So who are hanging out on Instagram?

51% of users are women and the age range is between 18 to 44. If your target audience are mostly women, or predominantly women and they are between the ages of 18 and 44, then they would be the right audience for you. If you want to go down to the specifics, you have to figure out what you really want to do and what content you want to produce, and for who efficiently.

This is covered more strategically in our course, Instagram Feed that Converts.

Step 3. Create & Automate Your Instagram Content

Now the third thing you should do on Instagram is to create and automate your Instagram content schedule effectively.

A lot of us who are producing content on Instagram—we know we want to push a lot of content out. But we are just bogged down by time.

The beautiful thing about Instagram is it allows you to schedule your posts.

In order for you to schedule your posts, you need to have a professional account (which are either business or a creator account as covered in Step 1).

This is the first requirement.

The second requirement is you need to have a Facebook page. And the Facebook page must be connected to your professional account. So how to create the content then?

Creating the content can be really fun and easy for you to do. So there are some tools that I recommend: Canva and Crello. Make the decision on which you prefer.

Now how can you schedule posts?

After you’ve connected your Instagram account—your business or creator Instagram account to your Facebook page, the next step is for you to decide whether you want to go for the free platform or if you want to go for the paid platform.

So paid platform are third-party tools. There’s lots of third-party tools out there. But be sure to only connect your accounts with Instagram-approved partners, okay? So some of the partners that I recommend are: Later and Planoly. So these are some of the familiar tools that I have tried, and I have implemented with my clients as well.

So there you have it: how to create and also schedule your posts. So at the end of all of this, you will be able to automate your whole process. We go deep into scheduling and automating your posts on Instagram in Instagram Feed that Converts course.

Step 4. Generate More Sales with Instagram-Centric Content

The fourth thing that you should do on Instagram, is to generate more sales with Instagram-centric content.

First of all, you want to make sure that your content is consistent, and authentic. And when you are speaking to your target audience, you want to make sure that they understand what you are saying.

Speak in a language that they speak. So what do I mean by this? If you are targeting school students who are between the ages of 13 to 18 years old, perhaps. You’ve got to go down to the level that they understand. Maybe you have to even send someone to actually hang out with them and pick out the words they actually use. So those words will go into your post.

It becomes more enticing and more exciting for your target audience to really consume your content. And when you are on Instagram, please do not always sell. Every single day you cannot be selling. You have to alternate — so perhaps in one week, you are only selling maybe three times, every other day.

The rest of the time, you will be producing content that creates awareness—about your brand values, about what you stand for, and you can also share fun things. Like do office tours, or do customer testimonials, or even to share exciting things that’s happening behind the scenes.

Because we have to face it, that actually people are excited and curious to know what goes behind your business. The more you share this content, the more they will feel connected to you. They feel like you are a human being speaking to them, rather than an organization that’s trying to sell them things.

So the more you share content that really resonates to them as a human, the more you’ll be able to generate sales. But in the end of the day, to generate more sales through Instagram-centric content, you have to be authentic, and consistent.

Want to learn more on maximizing Instagram for e-commerce businesses? Join us on Instagram Feed That Converts.

In this course you’ll learn how to set up an Instagram account that attracts audience, convert to sales, and build a community of people you can really trust and build a community that will always return back to you.

Through Instagram Feed That Converts, you will be able to learn how to set up and optimize Facebook advertisements so it will work well for your e-commerce business. We will be sharing with you practical, as well as real-life examples as well as tips and tricks that can make your e-commerce business a success on Instagram. So what are you waiting for? Gain access to Instagram Feed That Converts now.

What do you think?

I'd love to know what you think of this episode. Do you plan on leaving your full-time job soon to start your business? If so, where are you now in that plan? Share with me in the comments below!

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