The Human Design for Marketing podcast™, with Yvette Mayer

Instagram isn't dead: episode #169

August 27, 2024 • Yvette Mayer • Season 3 • Episode 169

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Is Instagram truly dead, or are we witnessing a transformation in how brands connect with their audiences? 

In this episode of the Human Design for Marketing podcast, Yvette tackles this question head-on. You'll learn why the days of overly curated feeds are done, and how authenticity is the key to winning on the platform. She discusses why consistency is critical in building trust and recognition for your brand. 

Yvette then shares her own success story and then dives into the epic rise of comedian Celeste Barber, who masterfully harnessed Instagram to catapult her career. PLUS you will learn about Celeste's Human Design profile (no surprises, she's a Generator!).

And at the end of the episode you will be left with a specific tip to help you harness your human design by type (something to try this week!).

Get your custom Human Design reading here:  https://www.yvettemayer.co/report


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Speaker 1:

Hi, hi, welcome to the Human Design for Marketing podcast. I'm your host, yvette Mayer, and this show's for you if you're done with cookie cutter marketing and ready to build your personal brand in alignment with who you really are. I'm a marketing expert, human design nerd and intuitive business coach who's helped hundreds of women just like you to elevate their frequency and activate their most magnetic personal brand. Each week, we'll dive into practical tips, interviews, conversations and more to help you create an aligned business, a positive contribution and, of course, an abundant life. Let's dive in. Hi, I'm Yvette and you're listening to the Human Design for Marketing podcast, and this week we are going to be talking about the topic that Instagram is not dead. Now, in full transparency, I am responding to an email that landed in my inbox this week that posed the question is Instagram dead? And it got me thinking about all of the chatter, frustrations with the algorithm and just the general meh that I have sensed from some around Instagram of late, and so I am going to drop the curtain. Go behind the scenes on a few things Instagram related Specifically. I have a really fun episode. In this episode, we're going to talk about what is not working on Instagram right now, that's number one. Number two the proof that Instagram is actually working, and I've got quite a bit of that to share with you. Number three I am going to share a celebrity Instagram star as a case study, featuring her design. Get excited, that's going to be super fun. And then I'm going to finish up the episode with one thing for you to try in the next week on Instagram, based on your type. So, as I said, strap on in. You might want a paper and pen for this episode. You're definitely going to want to listen to the whole thing, because there's a lot of juice on offer. So first let's talk about what is not working on Instagram at the moment. Well, the heavily curated feed slash, over-engineered presence is just not cutting it like it used to, and this has been going on for a while. What we're seeing is that those that are in their own authority, their own power and being completely authentic less filtered, more rough, raw and passionate unfiltered, more rough, raw and passionate, that's that's depending on your type are having more success. Okay, so the the whole cookie cutter everything's beautiful and customized and all very matchy matchy, that is. That is no longer the most effective instagram strategy and, as I said, authenticity is actually where it's at. That's what is performing and fun fact, spoiler alert you need to know yourself very well and how you work energetically to have clarity on how to be in your authenticity, and that is why it is so very valuable to understand your design, how you're designed to succeed based on your energy, your blueprint, your human design and if you haven't already got your human design for marketing reading report, you can get that in the show notes. It's your first step to really understanding you at a deeper level and it can give you so much to work with around how to express yourself authentically in a way that people are going to respond to you.

Speaker 1:

What else isn't working on Instagram? It is not surprising to hear this one. It's feeling incredibly attached or having high expectations and then riding this energetic frequency. That is a roller coaster. So one minute you're like, oh, this is going really well and I'm vibing so high, and then the next maybe it's the following week something that you post doesn't work. And then you go into a shame spiral and you don't want to share anything and you feel all the blocks around showing up and therefore you lack consistency and you're not allowing your audience to really feel your energy and to build a level of trust in your brand. When you're inconsistent and I know you've got to take a break, you've got to have a holiday but overall, when you're inconsistent, you erode the trust in your brand. You also negate the effects of consistency compounding. So, just like finances compounding when it comes to interest, the same thing happens with our brand on social media. The more consistent we are, the more that we reach this tipping point where our brand becomes more known, more recognizable, more must-see, if you like.

Speaker 1:

So this is something you want to work towards. It's being less attached to any given post or story or result that you're having on Instagram and more about your overarching presence, your goals, your intentions and your strategy. What are you there to do, what is your long-term effect and how are you going to do that? Having some cohesiveness around your Instagram is imperative for you to have clients walking towards you. They need to know who you are, what you do, how you can help them, why you're the best person, as well as your methods. This is all part of your strategy and hugely, hugely important.

Speaker 1:

And look, when it comes to the actual tactics, like which formats you're using and how this can be so much simpler when you understand your design, because there are specific things that are going to work for other energies that are not going to work in quite the same way for you. So that's why, towards the end of this episode, I'm going to share with you one tip for your type, something to actually try this week, because we're not here to be passively listening to this podcast, but to actually take some action and to get results. I'm so driven by that and want that for you as well. What else isn't working on Instagram? Well, look, I'm going to poo-poo for most people, the faceless account on Instagram, because what I am seeing for that and I'm going to have an exception later, maybe I might share one with you but what I'm seeing with the faceless account is a very short-term strategy.

Speaker 1:

Short-term strategy is this is trending, this is something that people are having success with right now. I'm going to give it a go and, yes, maybe get some success, but it doesn't build your brand efficacy, your brand trust. So if you pivot, if you change offers, if you suddenly go in a different direction, then there is no attachment to you as a business. A different direction, then there is no attachment to you as a business. There's none. It's not distinctive or recognizable in the same way as you and your energy being front and center as the leader within your business. So it's really, really important that you're showing up and sharing your own energy for you to not just have this short-term success, but actually over the lifetime of your business, which we want to be around for a very long time to continually compound. There's that word again the brand resonance, the brand recognition that your audience are experiencing. Okay, so we don't want to face this account. We want you sharing yourself and it's going to depend, like, on your type and other parts of your design beyond that, but, yeah, we want to see you. You are the figure and the energy that creates the longevity of success in your business.

Speaker 1:

Another thing I would say for what's not working is being lazy and sticking to one type of content, like the thing that you enjoy the most, because it can all be fun with the right mindset and the right attitude, and what I would strongly encourage you to adopt is an experimentation mindset. Have fun with it, like actually detach from any one single post and what's happening with that post and get into this mindset of hmm, I wonder if I put that specific post a different way, whether I'm actually going to have more success. So I have a real-time success story from doing this myself in the last seven days In relation to this podcast. So a week ago, I posted a reel on a Monday for the last episode, which I think was 168, could have been 167, I think it was 168. And I used Manny Chat as a way of getting you to drop the number of the episode in the comments to get the link to listen. Now, this is something that works for me. That I get a lot of podcast listeners going straight from Instagram into my podcast, it's proven.

Speaker 1:

But last week when I did a reel, the reel completely flopped, and I'm talking about the reach was around 500, when my reels are usually 2,000 plus, and and the number of people that asked for the link was zero, zero, not one person asked for the link and it only had seven likes, which is very, very low for my account. And I did have a moment of what is wrong with me and what is wrong with Instagram, and then I actually decided to get back to experimentation mindset. So a couple of days later, I created a carousel. Now, the intention of the carousel was exactly the same to drive people from Instagram to this podcast and that episode but it was a completely different format and different content. And, yes, it took me a lot more time because it was gosh was it eight or nine, maybe? I think it was a nine-swipe carousel and, yes, that came with me going.

Speaker 1:

I'm going to try and sit down and do this in a more thoughtful way, and yet the return on my effort was huge, huge. I think it had 160 saves on this carousel. It had 38 comments and some of those would have been me, but I'm going to guess that it had at least 15 people, if not more, asking for the link. So listen to the podcast so you can see. I had two posts with the same objective within three days of each other with incredibly different outcomes. That wouldn't have happened if I had decided that it was about the podcast episode topic and therefore not going to be so relevant or not. It's just not working. I give up. No one's going to listen to this episode. Like none of that. Like, that is all very possible, but no, I kind of came back to myself and rethought it, put some more effort in and actually, after that Monday where I had that experience of the biggest thing that I did for the rest of the week was actually put more effort into my content to make it better.

Speaker 1:

Stop blaming no victim, not Instagram, it's not the algorithm, it's my content right. So this is what I suggest to you as well. Now here's why this is important. Instagram is not dead. It absolutely is working for my business better than it ever has. Better than it ever has. You know, the last 18 months, since I moved my or realigned my marketing to be amplifying my design as a generator, as a 5-1, as a gate 3, it's grown exponentially, like it's actually. I've done the numbers the trend is 20% up. So the speed of growth on my Instagram is 20% on the incline versus where it was and it was on a steady trajectory, but the last 18 months it's gone up exponentially. But more than that, it's not just the stats, it's actually the ability to bring new clients into my business that has exploded so well.

Speaker 1:

So many people are out there saying is instagram dead or you? You know the algorithm is screwed and like we need to go somewhere else, and I'm not against being diversified in your strategy, by the way. However, I just want to just like fiercely claim that it's not dead and I have the proof. Like I, that's passion for you, but I am making so many more sales on Instagram than I ever have ever. It's the number one lead generator for my business. You know that I've had offers in recent times that have literally gone crazy off the back of Instagram and Reels in particular, where I've sold like a hundred units of a hundred dollar product within a very short window of time. Right, so I can say hand on heart that Instagram isn't dead. And also I know Miss Aerie is always out there talking about how they're listening to us and they're trying to change things for the better. Let's remember that the platform is for the consumer. It's not actually for us. It's not for us.

Speaker 1:

Instagram's goal is to grow their own performance, but in the process, we are blessed that with Instagram growing, we have an even more lucrative opportunity in front of us to for free, for free grow our businesses. Like this is unheard of and we take it for granted. I'm older, right, I'm in my 50s. I can tell you categorically that 25 years ago, if you wanted to grow a small business before social media, you had to pay money for advertising or pay to go to networking events. We didn't have this, so we're so blessed. So don't forget that piece as well. And I really believe that Instagram aren't out to get us or to penalize us as creators or business owners. They're running their business as a business, as we do. So let go of any of that like angst around the platform or meta or whoever, and remember how blessed we actually are Now.

Speaker 1:

I said to you that next I would share a case study that's more from a celebrity. So truth, truth around this celebrity. I actually know her. She's somebody that we go back I don't know 10 years, something like that. She is now incredibly famous, but maybe six, eight years ago was just starting out and trying to make it. She actually came to New York when I lived there. Her and her husband came and stayed with me. At that time she was trying to grow her profile on the gram and it was a hard slog. Now she's a generator. Was a hard slog. Now she's a generator. She inherently has grown her business very much in alignment with her design. So she's a generator. She's a 2-4 profile. She's sacral. She has the 2 in her personality Sun Gate. Now let's see if you can work out who this is.

Speaker 1:

Her biggest claim to fame is that she is a hugely funny comedian. Her entire business is as of a result of growing on Instagram and she has millions and millions of followers. Today, she responds to others. Her content is 100% in response as a 2-4,. It's not that she wanted necessarily to go down this path, but she got pulled into it by her sister. So I know I'm talking around in circles, but she was already a comedian very, very funny and was sending her sister these messages, making her laugh, and her sister pulled her out of her line too and said you need to be sharing this. This is going to help you grow your profile and get more work.

Speaker 1:

Okay, let me reveal to you I am talking about none other than challenge accepted Celeste Barber. Now, as I said, today she has millions and millions of followers. She's huge. She's a really big deal. She flies around the world and does comedy shows. She's connected to the most hope, highest, most popular celebs on the global stage. And this all started from Instagram and, to this day, it is her lead in everything she does. Now she has just very successfully launched another business. This business is about skincare. It's about authentic skincare for the mature age woman. Keeping things very, very simple, she has done this in response, right. So you can see how much her design is playing out in her Instagram feed profile and, ultimately, in her success. This woman is incredible.

Speaker 1:

I also want to point out for all of you that are two fours, and I know I have a lot of two fours in my audience that, yes, the two four profile can be more difficult on social media, but when you get the strategy right, when you're really connected into your brilliance and you're projecting that line too, when you're projecting your gifts back out in service of others, then you can absolutely crush it with your 2-4 profile. Crush it with your 2-4 profile, right. So Celeste obviously needs time away. She's not like an everyday poster. She's got to be in her genius, she's got to be in her zone, and so there is a dance between being out and being in, but she does it beautifully and she is a huge, huge success story. So I wanted to share that with you as another piece of proof that Instagram is not dead.

Speaker 1:

Now, my last thing for today is to give you one thing to try on Instagram this week, and I'm going to start with my beautiful generators. Now you know that your strategy is to respond, okay. So I want you this week once to go through your feed I'm talking about as a consumer until you find something that you are like I have something to say on this. Let your sacral bubble up. It can be a strong positive or a strong negative, but the key here is that you are responding and then you're coming in to share content that agrees or disagrees with something that you've seen on social media, okay, or on Instagram. That's my generators For my ManiGen listeners.

Speaker 1:

I want you to think about two of your huge passions and bring them together and create some content around why these things go together. Now, I can't tell you what these subject matters are, because you are a diverse human with many things going on, but I want this to be a bit of fun, maybe even tongue in cheek. And look, I'm not a mani-gen, but I've done this a bit myself recently with realizing that fashion is something that completely lights me up. Now, it's not something that I've brought into my strategy intentionally in the past, but I was finding myself obsessively enjoying fashion so much behind the scenes that I'm like this is lighting me up and I know, when I'm in my light, that my audience feel my magnetism and it's very engaging for them, and so I then thought well, how do I connect fashion with human design? And I talked about the fact that I need to be lit up and in my authentic self-expression and made it relevant, right? So this is something I want you to do. I put fashion and human design together. You put two things together for your audience Projectors and your incredible wisdom and guidance.

Speaker 1:

This week, I want you to share with your audience one thing that they need to change direction on Now. This could even be a hook about direction. So here's one thing you need to do to change your direction could be the hook for your audience. So you know that they want to go faster, they want to get where they want to get. This is about you stepping into your role as a guide and helping them. Let's use the real line, but re-navigate into the right direction in your specific niche.

Speaker 1:

Okay, my manifesto, friends, one thing I want you to do this week is come on to Instagram and talk about something that is completely pissing you off. You are so good at activating others and pressing buttons. Provoking. This is some energy that I want you to experiment with this week. So have a think about within your field, within your specialty area, what you feel a strong urge for. Share something that's really grinding your gears, why it's grinding your gears, and get your audience to rally behind you with agreement. Beautiful content for you.

Speaker 1:

And then for my reflector friends, this one's a bit different. One thing I want you to try this week because you're all about tuning in is a poll in your stories to dive into an area that's relevant in your business and ask or poll your audience on what is their biggest challenge right now. This is going to give you some beautiful, beautiful content to develop that is so dialed in to your community. I hope you've or trust I actually trust that you've enjoyed this episode, because I know it's been really packed with incredible insights and some actionable stuff for you in here as well. To finish up, instagram is not dead, but I do believe that better understanding your design and amplifying that into Instagram is your secret supercharge strategy for growth. So make sure that you're following along as I explore this topic more in the coming weeks and I look forward to being back in your ears sometime soon. Bye for now.

Speaker 1:

Thanks for tuning into the Human Design for Marketing podcast. Make sure you hit that subscribe button. Tell your friends and extra brownie points Go. Leave me a review. I would so appreciate it. There are heaps more resources in the show notes. I can't wait to be back in your ears again soon. Bye for now.