Stop Seeing Instagram as a Hinderance, and Start Seeing it as an Opportunity

I accidentally built my business backwards—I waited until my business was 2 years old before I paid for my first educational course.

I know better now that education is one of the best investments you can make in your business and in yourself.

But before I figured that out, I created a 2 year long unnecessary headache for myself because I never really had a solid strategy or plan for what I was doing.

Once I realized my mistake, I became like a Hungry Hungry Hippo, consuming whatever content I could get my hands on. I invested thousands of dollars in several really great courses and tried to learn everything I could about Etsy and e-commerce and what other successful sellers have done to help their shops make serious sales. 

In all of the classes, courses, or trainings I’ve watched though, there is 1 common theme through every single one of them that I strongly disagree with. And while I can understand the reasoning behind it, I know from experience that there's a better way to do things.

This is what they’re saying:

“You don’t need to have an Instagram feed to have a wildly successful Etsy shop, so just skip it.” 

The first time I heard this said in a course that I paid $600 for, it actually made me hit pause for a minute. I had just spent 2 years of daily effort to build our Instagram following, and I couldn’t (and still can’t) believe that they were discouraging sellers from getting their products on Instagram.

I can see where this thinking comes from--Etsy is a unique platform because you have access to millions of warm customers who can find you in the search results if you have good SEO. But I think this idea of avoiding Instagram has been passed around because sellers are busy and they know Instagram takes time and dedication. They feel overwhelmed by it, so they just ditch it altogether.

Here's the thing though.

80% of Instagram users say they use the platform to discover new products, research them, and decide whether or not to buy those products.

As a product business owner, you need to be on Instagram.

Even if your business Instagram doesn’t bring in *mind-blowing* sales for the first little while, there are SO many other reasons why it’s worth investing a few minutes a day to build an Instagram following for your product business.

1. It helps you get return customers. Getting return customers is especially difficult on Etsy, but if you can get your customers to come follow you on Insta, you’ll have much better chances of getting them to purchase again.
   
   
2. Instagram allows you to get fast and easy feedback from your followers about your current and future products.
   
   
3. Having an established Instagram presence builds trust with customers. People may try to search for your brand name on Instagram, and they’ll want to see that you have an active account with up-to-date posts and a following (even if it’s just in its seedling stage 😊)
   
   
4. It’s easy to expand your reach on Instagram for a very low cost through collaborations and giveaways.
   
   
5. If you ever decide to add your own website one day, you won’t have to start from square 1 with Instagram. When you have your own site, you can use Insta to push traffic directly to your site so they can purchase or join your email list, and it also makes running Instagram ads a sinch.

And in my opinion—the best reason of them all:

1. Instagram makes it so that your customers can see YOU—the actual beating human heart behind the brand. It gives them an opportunity to connect with your passion, your product, and your story or cause in a way that they never could on Etsy alone.

My two cents?

It’s time to stop seeing Instagram as a hinderance and start seeing it as an opportunity.

• They’ll tell you:
  “Running an Instagram feed will take up valuable time.”
• I’ll tell you:
  “Yes it takes time, but I can help you set up systems and processes for posting so that it doesn’t take long at all.”
  
  
• They’ll tell you:
  “Not doing social media marketing won’t break your Etsy business. Just focus on SEO and people will find you organically.”
• I’ll tell you:
  “Etsy will reward you by boosting your listings higher in the search results for driving your own traffic to Etsy. A strong SEO strategy is extremely important, but this is such a simple way to make your listings rank higher and stand out.”

If you feel like you’re ready to up your Instagram Game, you’re not going to want to miss my live masterclass where I’m going to teach you the 3 keys to having a killer Instagram account. We'll cover:

What to post – how to get tons of high-quality photos to post, how to caption them, and how to show off your *AMAZING* products without feeling like you're in an infomercial.

How to post – how to build posting systems that make posting fast, easy, and fun.

How to get more eyeballs – my tried-and-true strategies for landing dream influencer collaborations and hosting killer giveaways.

Wednesday October 21, 2020

8pm MST | A Zoom class link will be emailed to all registrants

If you aren't able to attend the live class, registrants will also have access to watch the recorded masterclass online at any time.

Click here get your ticket to the live class!