You’ve worked out your audience spends a lot of time on Instagram and that’s the space (or one of them) in which you need to be marketing your business. But what happens if you don’t have the confidence to get yourself out there?
What if it all totally clashes with your personal being. Feels totally alien. Maybe it takes you way out of your comfort zone and often you just don’t have the confidence to know what to say, or even how to use the app, which appears to have added yet another ‘surface’ to add content to.
I worked with a client who was pretty much feeling all these feels. Let’s call her Amelia, an individual who believed whole heartedly in every aspect of her product and the way she was running her business. Amelia had an amazing opportunity to market a beautiful business, but imposter and a lack of confidence were holding her back.
We started a series of coaching sessions, but I wanted something more than my words alone to help build a new mindset necessary for Amelia to confidently shout about her business.
And so I asked my community for help. If you responded, thank you. I’m very grateful for your kind words. This blog is about me sharing the powerful responses I received in the hope that together we can help inspire another business owner to be brave and just to have a go.
What can you do to build your confidence in marketing your business on Instagram?
Follow these helpful tips…
- Just help. First up let’s take the emphasis away from you and look at the person you might be helping. You’re giving them a solution, filling their day with happiness, making life easier, simpler. I’ve heard so many times that if you know 10% more than your audience about a topic then you are in a position to help. 10% – that’s not that much. And very likely you know a whole lot more than 10% more than your audience about your thing.
2. Ask for support. If you are struggling to work it all out for yourself, ask for help. There are so many people who will love to chat to you and share their journey and give you ideas of ways to get you going. Or seek support from a professional, about confidence building, business planning, public speaking. Whatever you need to start feeling a little more confident. Ask for assistance.
3. Take baby steps. If it’s showing up on Instagram and getting your face on camera that’s troubling you, there’s plenty of small steps you can take to feeling confident. Because practise actually does make it possible. There was a time when I didn’t want to talk to camera and for my side business, it took me a very long time to put my face on the account – why? – because I felt like I was an imposter and that I shouldn’t really be doing it. Says who! Only me.
Steps to showing up
- ONE – Appear in photos or videos in the distance. A indication that you are there busily doing your thing but the focus is not on you.
- TWO – Include your hands in photos and videos. You are showing that there is a human behind the brand. This could be images of your hands writing, typing, baking, making pottery, creating a moodboard, designing, packing. The list goes on.
- THREE – Use your voice. You could be staring at a view or your work and you use your voice to create a voiceover. So your audience meets your voice before they meet the whole of you.
How to find the confidence to market your business on Instagram
4. Know that everyone feels like this. Whether that’s at the beginning of their journey or something that sits with them for much longer, at some point, 95% of people running their own business feel uncomfortable marketing themselves, their products or their services.
Find the confidence to market your business on Instagram
Other confidence boosting words of support included:
- “People are interested in people (aka nosy) so would genuinely like to see you” – @aliceswonderslist
- “Don’t overthink it and just post it like Helen says” – @sociallyoxford
- “Have a go. What’s the worst that could happen?” – @thisisbecreative
- “Stop looking at other accounts and comparing. Just being there is good.” – @phillys.edit
- “Just do it. Done is better than perfect.” @canugess
- “Anybody’s face & especially smile is the best thing on Insta.” – @marina.tavener
So next time you hold yourself back from posting on social or marketing your business to your audience, think of this group of small business owners who are right behind you cheering you on.
Need a confidence boost?
1-1 coaching. A series of bespoke coaching sessions will help you with every aspect of showing up online for your business. Work on your content strategy or your Instagram confidence and know how. Find out more>
OR Join The Content Collective. A space for you to join a small group of business owners each month to get ahead with your content. Brainstorming ideas, writing your content plan and making a start or prepping your month’s content. All with the support and guidance of Sarah and a group of like minded business owners. Find out more >