Instagram stories are still a thing, and maybe for you sister girl, they never were. And if that's you, I hate to break it to you, but I'm actually glad you're here listening to this podcast and this episode specifically. But you are leaving massive amounts of cash. Major, major loads of money. On the table, you're just leaving it.
If you're not utilizing stories, you are not increasing your business and your bank account, and we don't want that. So, Let's get into today's episode because we are gonna talk about Instagram stories, and I am gonna give you the four types of content you should be creating and sharing when it comes to Instagram stories.
I love stories, so this episode is gonna be fun. All right, let's get into it.
Hey. Hey, it's your girl, Emmy Cornwell, Instagram biz coach and social selling expert. Welcome to the Hey, hey, Emmy show. This is a podcast where we talk about all things that will be helpful for you and your business. Everything from Instagram tips and tricks to health hacks to relationships. And definitely some Jesus.
Basically everything in between Proverbs 31 and Tupac. I am so excited to party with you in each and every episode because ain't no party like a Hey, hey Emmy party. Can I get an amen? All right, let's get into it. Sister. Hey, hey. What's going on? Sister, sister, sister, girl, girlfriend, how are you? Hi. What is going on?
I'm so glad you're here. My name is Emmy Cornwell and I am the host of the Hey, hey, Emmy show, all things. Proverbs 31 to Tupac. And today we are gonna talk about Instagram stories. I love. Love, love, love stories. It is no secret. If it is a secret to you, that means we are new. So welcome to the show. Uh, make sure, because we are speaking about Instagram and one of the best ways to learn, especially if you're a visual learner, is by watching someone who's an expert in it, watching someone who's really good at it.
Watching what they do. So make sure that you head over right now to, or you can swipe up as well to make it quick and easy for you. Connect with me on Instagram, follow me. It's the Hey, hey Emmy, and you will see everything that I'm sharing with you today. I do myself. So not only do I teach this to my clients and my students and I do, you know, people hire me to train.
Their teams. They hire me to train their memberships. They hire me to speak to their groups about this very thing is because I'm gonna toot my own horn. I'm really good at it, but it's because I love it. And I also, I've studied it. I have studied Instagram as a whole for years and years and years now, but I've also studied, and I geek out on Instagram stories because it's my creative outlet.
It's like my mini. Movie that I get to make. I try and make it very cinema cinematic, if you will, but it's also the closest thing that I will ever get to have my own reality show as of right now. But I'm still dreaming. The dream is still alive and it is like a Netflix reality show. Instagram stories are like a Netflix reality show.
I love the Kardashians. Their new season is out. I'm not sure if you're a fan, but I am. I think they're smart, smart business women. But I studied that show in addition as well as other reality shows. But in addition to like just loving and watching and enjoying it for entertainment, they do on tv, what you can do on stories so that you can sell more, so that you can increase your bank account so that you can, um, you know, Get where you wanna go get that money, honey.
And really the only difference between you and the Kardashians is, and me and the Kardashians too, I'm right there with you, is the size of our bute and the amount of Botox we've had and work done, but also the number of zeros in our check, right? The number of commas and zeros. They are definitely they got more of that going and they also have their own camera crew.
And that's gonna be important as we talk about the four different types of content you want to be sharing in Instagram Stories to increase your bank account. But in IT stories are important for you as a business owner. They are offering you in a unique and effective way to. Because like if it's not effective, you're not making money.
But what I teach you is effective, which means you're gonna make money and it's gonna have you engaging with your audience. You're not going to have the problem. Like no one's answering my polls. You're not gonna have the problem. Like, no one's sending me dms. I'm not having conversations with people.
You're not gonna have the problem of like, what do I actually post? Okay, you're gonna know what to post to build brand awareness to drive business, to, to drive that bank account in the direction you want to go. You know, and, and here's some of the reasons just off the bat before we get into the four types of content of why Instagram stories are valuable for you as a business owner, is that increased visibility, okay?
Stories are not there on the platform. That part of the platform on Instagram is not there to actually grow or expand your reach cuz stories. Are shown to people who are already following you. So reels are what you wanna utilize on the platform if you're wanting to increase your follower account in regards to, um, just people locating you that you wouldn't, right?
Like processing, growing your leads, growing that reach is going to be done through reels. But once they find you through reels and they go to your, your profile, they look at your bio, they have less than four seconds. To decide if they're gonna follow you, because if they can figure out quickly who you are, what you do, and how you can help them, they hit follow.
Okay, great. How are you gonna, they're, they're staying, but how are you gonna keep 'em? Well, you're gonna keep 'em through stories. And so stories aren't gonna say grow your follower account, but they are gonna increase your visibility with the people who already follow you. Because by the way, only 4% of people who follow you see your stuff on a daily basis on a good day.
So we need to increase that visibility with the people who. Said digitally, yes, I wanna follow you. And the reason why stories do that is because they appear at the top of your feed. So when you pull up the Instagram app, you have your iPhone. If you have an Android first step in business, go get an iPhone.
And um, your stories are gonna appear right away at the top when you open up the app. Okay? So that makes them very highly visible. That's prime real estate. That's going to allow you as a business owner to grab the attention of your followers, grab the attention of the potential customers, of your ideal client in a really, really easy way.
Okay? Another reason why stories are important to you as a business owner is they're authentic. They should be at least. And you're gonna see a lot of behind the scenes. So they're like the bloopers, they're like the, um, You know, they, they are the behind the scenes content, right? They provide a more casual, I guess, and spontaneous format you could say, of sharing your content.
It's not as curated as maybe what is on your feed. Okay? They're, you are showing your human side cuz you're a human. And you're offering that behind the scenes, look into your business, into your operations, showcasing your products and services, like the ideas of them, how they're made all the different facets and benefits and features.
Not in like a salesy, spammy, Tammy kind of way, but in like a really organic way by sharing snippets of your daily work. It it, money hits. You can actually use quotes as a really good transition piece in your stories, cuz your stories think of it are from day to night.
The 4 types of Content you can share in your Instagram Stories to Grow your Business
first type of content you should be sharing in your Instagram stories, and I kind of touched on it a little bit. Already in the episode, but it's lifestyle content and behind the scenes.
the second type of content to share in your stories. It's educational content. You should be doing mini trainings. You should be teaching people and training people and adding value around whatever you're trying to sell. Cuz you can't sell 24 7, you can't be screaming Tammy. You will need to sell and we're gonna talk about that. But how are you teaching people?
The third type of content you need to share in your stories is entertaining and encouraging. Remember if you're boring or broke, so you can't, and and also you can't just share quotes cuz that's also boring. So how can you be, show some inspiration, show, show some motivation, show some encouragement, show some entertainment. Be funny. You gotta do it. Okay? And if you're not like outgoing like me, I Because you don't have to like dance around or you don't have to tell a joke, but maybe you like memes. I love sharing memes even though I am outgoing.
Which leads us to the fourth type of content and stories that you need to share. Okay. You need to sell, you need to do at least one soft sale a week and one hard sell a week. A soft sell is basically you doing things like product placement and showing yourself using the product or services without a C T A. Whereas a hard sale a is you having a direct c t a using something like a pull or a link to funnel them into, you know, invite them into a purchase to, to, you have to ask if you don't ask the answer's, always no. And if you're not selling, you're not open for business and people aren't buying.
It's like the modern day vlog, if you will, in shorter increments. And more accessible for you as a business owner to create. Because if you were vlog, when vlogging came out with the whole YouTube craze and vlogging is still really.
Really important, especially as we continue to focus even more and more on video content because video content is clean. Blogging, you had to have like a certain camera, you had to have a blogger camera and then you had to like upload once you like shot it on that camera and then you'd upload it. And now uploading is a lot easier with the technology that they have on these cameras.
But before it was long. Okay, this is way more accessible for the everyday business owner to do. The third reason why Instagram stories are so important for you as a business owner is it's providing you storytelling opportunities, facts tell, stories sell. There's no coincidence, and maybe you've heard me say this before, there's absolutely no coincidence why Instagram calls them stories.
Because of that, you are going to, as a business owner, be able to engage like with your audience by sharing engaging stories. You're gonna use a combination of photos, videos, texts, stickers. Interactive features that Instagram gives you, like the polls or the quizzes, you're going to use your creativity.
And this is why I love stories because you have all these different tools and resources and facets and assets and things that you can use to create a final product to help capture your audience's attention and do it in effective way. Cuz listen, honestly, if you're boring, you're broke and you don't have to be, haha.
Funny, funny to be not boring, but. I don't go to accounts that only share quotes in their stories. Uh, bababa boring. Okay. We do not like that. I don't like to consume content that way. I know my ideal client doesn't, so why would I put that out and expect differently? Now, I don't do that, but I do use quotes as a really great, this is a money hit, which means this is something you can put into practice right now in your business.
Some people call 'em pro tips. I call 'em money hits. You can actually use quotes as a really good transition piece in your stories, cuz your stories think of it are from day to night. Okay? It's not random. They may look random, but they're strategy and you wanna document your day from morning till night and you wanna have a thread like of commonality.
I don't know if you were ever taught this in school, but in English class, like when you're going from one paragraph to the next, you write an essay, the last sentence in the paragraph that you're in currently. Has a word that you wanna use in the next paragraphs, first sentence to just make it flow. And that's the same thing with stories.
So a lot of times you'll see if I am talking about something, I may be in the caption of the next story slide, mention that as well. Really the best way to see this is, is to see visual, visual examples. So, for instance, when I do 60 minute strategy sessions, which by the way, I am opening up my calendar for those very soon, and I am just really excited about those, those are my, one of my favorite ways to work with people.
We get a lot done and 60 minutes if you need more. Information about that, or you're like, oh, okay, Emmy, what would you do in a 60 minute strategy session instead of taking up time on this podcast To do that, why don't you head over to my Instagram, the Hey, hey Emmy, and look for the highlight tab and that says Six minute strategy session.
And you can see what type of things we accomplish, what types of things I help co-create and plan and partner and strategize with other business owners for their business. During those six minute strategy sessions, you want to do a strategy session, whether you're new to business or you're already established, whether you've had one with me previously, I actually do multiples because your business is ever changing and ever growing and so is Instagram.
So it's this app. So visually, with the whole storytelling I could give you some examples verbally about how to have that thread go through it creatively. But honestly, the best way is for you to go follow me, watch how I do my stories, and then do a six minute strategy session with me cuz it's gonna take out all the guesswork.
Yes, this episode's gonna be great. You're getting the reasons why it's important for you to do stories. I'm gonna share with you exactly the types of content you need to be sharing, but if you wanna customize approach to know exactly what you in your everyday life. Should be showing you need to do a six minute strategy session.
Okay, sister, here is another reason why Instagram stories are important, is they offer interactive features, right? It's not a monologue, it's a dialogue. Most people think Instagram stories are just like show random stuff about your life. That's why I get the main questions like, why do I need to show my dog on a walk?
Like, how does that make me money Emmy? Well, indirectly it does it, and we talk about this in our six minute strategy sessions that we do together, but. It, it, it's, your stories are not about you. It's not creating me content. Look at how wonderful my life is. Although you are providing an example to your ideal client of the life that they want, because you have a life to some aspect, whether you believe it or not, or parts of it that they want.
Cuz they're your ideal client. They're looking to you as the expert in the authority, um, to help them solve their problem. And you have a solution to do that. But you do that through dialogue and you absolutely can have a dialogue, a two-way conversation through stories by using interactive features that Instagram does.
You like the polls, like the questions of yours, like the quizzes and countdowns. All those different things honestly lead you into connection, which will lead you into conversation and ultimately lead you into getting that cash. Okay. There are other things like highlights that are important for long-term visibility.
I direct you already to un highlight that. Lets, your story stories are only available for 24 hours, right? So why not work smarter, um, and not harder, and have that content live on longer? You took time to create it. It's important. It adds value to your ideal client. So let's give them a way to access it.
That's done through highlights, and you can save that and see that on your profile. It's amazing. You can categorize things. You can curate specific things for launch, for products, for service based businesses, all the different things. Client testimonials that is gonna be accessible for users even after that 24 hour timeframe.
Okay, so let's hop into, because overall Instagram stories are dynamic. They're engaging. You should be using 'em. You're connecting with your audience. You're showcasing product service. Like I said, you're driving meaningful engagement. This is all done with, with a unique and creative spin and approach. Um, that shows your brand, present, increases your customer, all these things, right?
You got the why, right? Ultimately, you're growing your business and your bank account, but what exactly are you gonna share in the stories? Okay? I'm gonna give it you, give it to you right now. Okay? You might have to listen to this episode again. I've already given you a lot of amazing. Gold nuggets and money hits and, and things that you, if you're a note taker, should be taking notes.
If not, just maybe listen to it again, but you're gonna get more. You go and get more. Are you hungry because I'm about to feed you. So here's the first type of content you should be sharing in your Instagram stories, and I kind of touched on it a little bit. Already in the episode, but it's lifestyle content and behind the scenes.
So it's not just behind the scenes of like your work and what it looks like to do what you do and produce what you produce and help who you help. But also like a behind the scenes into like how do you live your life? What are the routines you have? What are the habits you have? Who do you hang out with?
What are you reading? What are you wearing? What are you eating? Like, what do you do for fun? If I were with you in real life, would I feel like that through stories too, that cuz that's what people say about me, which is absolutely true. And you can portray that through stories. You can have people feel that people buy based off of feelings and emotions, right?
They don't buy based off of logic. That's why you as a business owner need to be doing stories cuz it's the best way to do it. I know I sound like a robot, but it's. Honestly, like I'm baffled at how many people are still not utilizing stories to get what they want in their business. And that's the cash money.
More clients, more cash. So it's not just behind the scenes of your business things, right? You're not just taking a TimeLapse of you recording your podcast. You're not just taking a video or a boomerang of you working with a client or a client testimonial that maybe they sent you a text message or, you.
Showcasing something that you're gonna launching soon. No. It's also behind the scenes of your life. What are you doing? Who are you hanging out with? What are you eating? What are you eating? What do you do for fun? What are your habits? What are your routines? Do your make your bed, all the things, because again, you're building a personal brand, a business based off a personal brand.
And who you are I wanna know when I'm giving someone my money, who they are. I don't wanna give someone who doesn't align with my values, who, um, is a bad person or things like that. I don't wanna give them my dollars. I wanna, you know, give my money and ex have that energetic exchange. In the universe or someone who I like. People buy from people you don't like and trust. Right? Okay. Here's the second type of content to share in your stories. It's educational content. You should be doing mini trainings. You should be teaching people and training people and adding value around whatever you're trying to sell. Cuz you can't sell 24 7, you can't be screaming Tammy.
You will need to sell and we're gonna talk about that. But how are you teaching people? Um, for my wellness business, my wellness business that I do affiliate marketing for, you can't just, I can't just put up a graphic, cambi graphic of a bottle of collagen and expect you to pre with a link and expect you to purchase it.
I need to share with you. You know, what are the ace disease of the collagen? What is collagen 1 0 1? Why should you even take collagen? What are the differences between the different collagens? Cause there's so many different out there. what about vegan col? Is there such thing as a vegan collagen?
Why, you know, why is this the best collagen? What does collagen do in your body? All these different things, right? I need to share that because that adds. Supplemental information to you as the follower and viewer if you're an ideal client. And I mean, by the way, if you're over 25 and you are human and you wore the Payless Black stretchy slides, it's time for some collagen, okay?
Cuz we start to lose it at age 25. I've actually done a whole collagen series on the podcast that you can go back and listen to. It's a mini series. It's three episodes going over. Basically all the different like questions you would have that I just shared about collagen. Um, I need to educate, otherwise I can't expect to sell because people aren't gonna understand and people don't purchase something that they don't value.
And if they're not understanding it, they're not valuing it. And so they purchase, you know, they, they afford. Cuz sometimes people think things like coaching too are too expensive. I've had people not work with me because of finances. And that's not my place to, to judge whether that is a true thing or not.
Um, but what I can tell you is I some level maybe did not do a good enough job of. Connecting their pain points to their pleasure points and where they were on to go and, and pro improving, um, you know, positioning myself as the problem to their, or solution to their problem. Because at the end of the day, people will afford what they value.
Like they'll find money. You will find money, whether it's for college or afford coaching, you'll find money. So in your stories, you need to do things like many trainings. You need to offer educational value. Okay, you can do it. The third type of content you need to share in your stories is entertaining and encouraging.
Remember if you're boring or broke, so you can't, and and also you can't just share quotes cuz that's also boring. So how can you be, show some inspiration, show, show some motivation, show some encouragement, show some entertainment. Be funny. You gotta do it. Okay? And if you're not like outgoing like me, I.
Because you don't have to like dance around or you don't have to tell a joke, but maybe you like memes. I love sharing memes even though I am outgoing. And so that is a way that I am able to infuse entertainment into my stories. Cuz people aren't gonna come back and binge your stories, which is what you want.
Cause that's how they become the raving fans. And, and when it is the right time for them to buy because they know, like, and trust you through what you've done in your stories. They will, um, But if again, you're not gonna, I was just watching actually a new show on Netflix with Arnold. It's called fubar. It uh, maybe it was the timing that I watched at, I don't know it.
I was hoping it was gonna be better than it was. Like, I'm not sure I watched the whole first episode, but I'm not sure if I'm gonna go back cuz I thought it was kind of slow and boring. Are your stories like that? Are they slow and boring? Well, if they are, people may not come back and that means you're not making sales.
Which leads us to the fourth type of content and stories that you need to share. Okay. You need to sell, you need to do at least one soft sale a week and one hard sell a week. A soft sell is basically you doing things like product placement and showing yourself using the product or services without a C T A.
Whereas a hard sale a is you having a direct c t a using something like a pull or a link to funnel them into, you know, invite them into a purchase to, to, you have to ask if you don't ask the answer's, always no. And if you're not selling, you're not open for business and people aren't buying. Okay? So those are the four types of content that you need to share in stories.
If you are still lost or you want a customized, like I said, blueprint and strategy, and plan for you to know exactly from your day, customized to your life and your business. You wanna do a six minute strategy session. So, You know who's gonna hear first about when those calendar dates are open? The Instagram insider scoop, which is my free community, swipe up, join that.
That is my weekly dose of Instagram tips, hacks, tricks, DM scripts, all the different things that you need to utilize this app in your business as a business owner to be successful and bring in that cash money. Yes, please. Okay. This is fast and furious cuz I gotta go check on my son Cam. We are just so appreciative us, our family, our little family.
We love you guys. We're so glad that you're here. And make sure you take a screenshot of this episode. Tag me the, Hey. Hey, Emmy. You can also see more selfless, shameless bug stuff of Cam because honestly, I know I'm biased, but he is pretty dang cute and I can't get enough. I'm guessing you can't either.
Okay, so. Yeah, I'm using Cam for you to come hang out with me, but I'm pretty cool too. Okay, so take a screenshot, tell me what your biggest takeaway was. Utilize this by putting it in your Instagram stories. That's content. Hello, I just helped you. Another money. Hit right there and then we will see you on the next episode.