Speaking with Confidence on Instagram Stories
You have a free marketing tool at your disposal that lives in your back pocket, is available 24/7 and that has the potential to escalate your business - it’s YOUR PHONE.
You can use it to connect with your audience via your social media channels.
It’s a little like your first handshake - it helps build that relationship with your customer/client and has the potential to add value, inspire and educate them.
Yes, it can feel scary to show up - a bit like public speaking. Especially when you know that some old school friends or an ex partner may be lurking in the views.
But the truth behind how to become confident talking on camera and connect with your audience authentically - is that it takes time, persistence and trial and error.
Which is why we’re sharing our top tips for speaking with confidence on Instagram Stories so you can utilise this powerful tool for your business.
Things You’ll Learn in This Episode of Hustle With Heart:
Why connecting with your audience on Instagram stories is so important
How knowing your content pillars can make all the difference when it comes to connecting with confidence
How to get started with speaking to camera
Our top tips to make speaking on Instagram stories easeful and fun
Why it’s important…
You’re the face of your business - and people buy from people so they want to see you and they want to connect with you. So it is really important that you are connecting with them on Instagram stories.
In this day and age, we lack so much connection - we're continuously looking at our devices seeking it. So your people are seeking that touch point with people that are showing up and speaking authentically.
Polished content is no longer ALL that people want to see. They want to feel you, they want to feel your business, they want to see you and they want to know you.
Your community is continuously being sold to on social media. This means that they may experience sales fatigue. Consumers are more savvy and you can’t continue to do what you’ve always done. This means you need to add value for them - you can't just be saying to them “buy my product, it's really great” - regardless if it is. They hear this kind of messaging day in and day out, so you need to have a lot of micro interactions with them before they know, like and trust you. Instagram stories are a great way for you to do this.
We know that it feels scary. So we're going to break it down for you so you too can speak with confidence on Instagram stories.
Lean into your content pillars
Your content pillars are themes of content that you talk about. Pick topics you GENUINELY care about and like to speak about.
When you know your niche well, you’ll know what they want from you in terms of your content.
Listen to our Nailing Your Niche episode here
For example: If you're a beauty business that’s interested in eco products because you value sustainability and the planet…
Your content pillars may look like:
DIY at home tips and tricks for skincare
Information about sustainability and how to be more natural at home
Clients before and after
Flesh out these pillars and rotate them through your content throughout your week. Knowing these pillars will help you show up confidently when you don't know what to share. Consider this your reference point.
Get started
Like anything you need to pull off the bandaid!
Start by filming something without you being on camera - for example your product with music overlay.
Then progress to you talking about the product while filming it - you’re practicing using your voice without you being on camera just yet.
Then film yourself with music overlay.
Then finally TALK TO THE CAMERA!
This is a staged approach to building your confidence so you can show up and talk directly to your community.
Connect with confidence
Now that you’ve worked your way up to speaking to camera here are our top tips for speaking to camera with confidence:
Look at the camera directly, not at yourself - imagine you’re speaking with a friend or directly to your ideal client.
When you’re filming yourself make sure the source of lighting is in front of you, not behind you.
If it's your first time talking to camera - introduce yourself to your audience and talk about WHY you started your business.
After this point - get straight to the point. People have short attention spans so share the juicy stuff
Relate EVERYTHING you’re saying to your audience and give them the LESSON or VALUABLE KEY POINT. Remember you want to position yourself as the GO TO resource.
Don’t waffle on (keep it to 2 - 3 stories) - time is precious so make it count.
Play & Have Fun
Above all else - play with it and have fun!
Be yourself and be authentic.
Try, fail, reassess, learn on the job, eventually it’ll stick and you’ll become more confident with it.
When you show up and share authentically your audience can really feel who you are, who your brand is and then they get to know what to expect when they walk into your business or they purchase from you.
And there you have it!
Our top tips for speaking with confidence on Instagram Stories.
And one final parting note…
It takes BRAVERY to put yourself out there…
To feel the fear and do it anyway.
Be Brave - we believe in you.
And before you go - if you’re enjoying our podcast then please let us know by leaving us a five star written review. We LOVE reading all of your comments.
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