Marketing Happy Hour - Instagram 101: Show Up Confidently | Instagram Strategist Natasha Samuel

Starting point is 00:00:00 Hey there, welcome to the Marketing Happy Hour podcast, where each week we're learning career-defining advice, powerful social media strategies, unique creative tips, groundbreaking influencer marketing tactics, and more from marketing experts that represent some of the world's leading brands. Let's dive in. Grab a drink and join your hosts, Cassie and Erica, for this week's episode. If you're like me, you are probably frustrated with the endless algorithm chasing on Instagram. You might feel like you have to say just the right thing and post just the right photo or video to feel like you're

Starting point is 00:00:49 succeeding on the platform. The good news is we're breaking up with that thought on this week's episode of Marketing Happy Hour. Instagram strategist Natasha Samuel is here to tell you that the secret to building trust and community with your followers is just showing up. And we're in luck because Natasha shares her top tips for showing up confidently and consistently as an individual or brand, how and when to post about your offers and the best ways to spark engagement on Instagram. I can't wait for you to hear her fresh perspective on this 12-year-old platform. So without further ado, grab your favorite beverage and listen in to this week's episode.

Starting point is 00:01:31 Cheers. Hey, Natasha, how are you? I'm doing good. How are you? I'm doing so well. Thank you so much for coming on the show. I have followed you on Instagram for quite some time. You are my go-to resource for all things, Instagram strategy and updates. And, um, so thank you for all the amazing content you put out. We'll get more to that here in a minute,

Starting point is 00:01:55 but I do have a very important question for you that we ask all of our guests on the show. Cause it is marketing happy hour, Natasha, what is in your glass this morning? Yes. So today I have a matcha and ice matcha. So if anyone's from my community, they will not be surprised at all. I brewed a fresh one just for this conversation had to have a match on hand. I love it. I love it. Very Carson S we were just talking about Carson, who is our mutual friend, and she is the matcha queen as well. And so love learning all the matcha tips from both of you guys as well. Love it.

Starting point is 00:02:32 So Natasha, just by popping onto your Instagram, we see that you are a video confidence coach, speaker, educator, and of course, Instagram queen. But what was that journey like for you to get there? What was kind of the start and how did you get to form Shine With Natasha? Yes, absolutely. So for a long story short, I started in journalism. I was writing for online publications, newspapers, and I really just loved being creative. I loved writing and I loved storytelling. And so when I was kind of deciding within mass communications, what I wanted my focus to be, everyone was like, journalism's a dying art, do public relations. And so public relations is

Starting point is 00:03:15 really where I got into the marketing world, started to understand social media and started to get some really awesome internships. One of which was with a woman who had her own digital marketing business, completely worked remote. And I had just never heard of that before. So she kind of introduced me to entrepreneurship. And when I kind of was going through some experiences and was an account manager and then was about to graduate, I kind of was going through that crisis. I think every college student does of like, what do I want to do for the rest of my life now? And I kept going back to this idea of wanting to do social media for small businesses. So I passed that idea to that mentor that I mentioned, and she was like, go for it. I'll actually give you your first client. And kind of the rest was history then. So I kind of started

Starting point is 00:04:00 with social media management for small businesses, physical products, service providers, other educators and coaches. And that kind of helped me fall in love with Instagram video and kind of develop my own unique frameworks and methodologies for going about video content, which then led me to shine with the Tasha, which is where I'm at now, where I kind of educate and empower people to show up confidently in their video content and strategically as well. That's amazing.

Starting point is 00:04:28 Yeah. It's so funny that you mentioned starting in PR and that kind of being your avenue into the world of marketing. I was the same way. I was always a writer growing up and I wanted to do something similar to journalism and people told me the same thing and it freaked me out about it. And so I was like, all right, PR seems kind of versatile. I can do a number of things and then slowly segued into social media from there. But I feel like PR was kind of a good door into that world just because you learn about so many

Starting point is 00:04:57 different things. But we tell people that all the time on the show, that that's, that's a good place to start if you're not sure where you want to go in the world of marketing, but what about PR do you feel like kind of led to or helped you in the world of social media today? Absolutely. And I think with public relations, it all comes down to the public perception of your brand. Storytelling's a big component of that. Like you're essentially telling your own story versus telling the story of others, which is kind of the big difference between journalism. And so social media was a big part of how that came to life. And so of course, like with PR, it was like a lot of Twitter, a little bit of LinkedIn, like people were barely on Instagram at that time.

Starting point is 00:05:45 But I think I really did learn how to craft a message and how to build that strong brand to really connect with the people you're trying to connect with. And I think even now in like the world that we've lived in over the past few years, when there was COVID, when there was politics, when there was all these things happening, especially when I was in social media management, but even for my own brand, I've had to learn how to quickly pivot and address issues and pause content and kind of have another layer that's kind of helped me be a more discerning marketer. So I feel like those are a few things that I kind of got from public relations that kind of evolved into how I do social media now.

Starting point is 00:06:27 Yeah, absolutely. And we mentioned too, that Instagram is kind of your sweet spot right now. And there is an elephant in the room. Instagram is not everyone's favorite platform right now. People are a little bit frustrated with it, especially with the increase of TikTok usage. You've created some really great content around addressing this issue that people are facing with social media.

Starting point is 00:06:49 But what do you have to say about that? Someone who's discouraged about the platform, how would you encourage them to just keep going and plugging away on the platform? Yes, absolutely. And I feel like there's so much layers and depth to this conversation, but I think it's important to have. I think the first thing is understanding that these are free

Starting point is 00:07:11 social media apps that we are using to grow our businesses. So I think like understanding that it is more of an opportunity and less of a burden, I think really shifts how I think about Instagram and social media. I also do think that the energy in which you show up can absolutely affect the results you're seeing from an app. So I know I've seen a lot of marketers and even just other small businesses continuing to kind of poo poo on Instagram on Instagram and our communities feel that right? And they sense that. So I think that's like the first element is just really addressing how you're thinking and going about the Instagram app could be essentially making it feel even worse. But I think the other element is really just embracing change on social media. I feel like over the past few years, we've kind of found that Instagram has

Starting point is 00:08:06 been the easiest platform to point a finger at of why everything's wrong in the world, right? But I actually think that Instagram is continuing to evolve and change just like other social media platforms, right? Like YouTube has shorts and shorts are kind of weird on YouTube, right? TikTok got stories and everyone hates stories on TikTok. So I think that all of these social media platforms are trying to find how they're unique from other apps, but are kind of mimicking features that have been successful for other platforms. So I think understanding that video is absolutely going to be a new component and that's not anything new, right? Reels wasn't the first iteration of this. We had stories, then we had IGTV, then we had the lives boom in 2020. So I think that comes down to embracing and understanding that as marketers, people that are on social media, we're using these free apps,

Starting point is 00:08:55 but like they are going to continue to evolve. That's the only thing that we can be certain of. So I think really leaning into those shifts has helped me feel confident, even as someone who works in Instagram and continues to use it as my top platform. But also the other perspective of it's okay to diversify, but we don't want to completely leave. Yeah, for sure. And with these evolution and changes in the platform, more and more aspects of the platform are being added. So obviously Instagram started very differently from how it is today.

Starting point is 00:09:25 Now we have stories and reels and guides, and there's so many different elements. And so a lot of times I hear social media managers express the overwhelm of the platform and how do I plan content that's intentional, but also is efficient with my time. So do you have any content planning tips for social media managers feeling that overwhelm? And what does your specific content planning process look like for your business? Yes. I love this question. I become a total social media management nerd because at one time, I remember, especially when I was doing account management, before I started my business, I had eight clients at one time doing completely part-time work, managing multiple platforms. So it was out of necessity that I had to develop the systems that I'm going to share.

Starting point is 00:10:09 I think the first thing is understanding how much content you actually need to create. And I think so many times we get on this create, create wheel, and we actually don't realize how many pieces of content do I need to create each week, each month, each day? Because that can actually give us a goal of what we're working towards when we're actually batching our content. And I'm going to give the very annoying follow-up. You're probably, I'm like, everyone's listening. They're like, so how much is that? I'm never going to give that answer. I never am. My clients hate me for it. But I think it's important to understand your bandwidth, your goals, what resources you have, because everyone's going to have a completely, your goals, what resources you have, because everyone's

Starting point is 00:10:45 going to have a completely different answer to those different questions. But you want to figure out how often do you want to post? And I like to break this up between stories, which is like expiring content, more posting day to day, and then anything else that's posted to the feed, which includes live replays, which includes reels, right? Feed posts. So kind of figure out how often can you, and do you want to post on those different platforms each week? And then figure out how you want to utilize those different services for the feed content. And keeping in mind that number each week can be, let's say it's three posts, right? That could be one reel and one live and one feed post. It could be all reels. So you can kind of figure out depending on your own strengths, your bandwidth, what your

Starting point is 00:11:30 ideal followers looking for, what type of surfaces you want to lean into. But with that, you're going to be at least diversifying to two platforms, which I feel like is definitely my recommendation for using Instagram. And now that we have that posting plan, that's when we get into the content creation kind of batching process. And I think when we hear batching, we think it has to be 30 days of content. And I find that that can work for some people, but I think for most people, it feels very overwhelming. It feels very rigid and there's not that flexibility and fluidity of like the world and day-to-day, week-to-week, our communities are constantly shifting and evolving and we need to be able to adapt to that. So kind of the first process is

Starting point is 00:12:10 having a place to store your content. This could be as simple as a Google Doc or a spreadsheet or a note. It could be as robust as a content calendar. I really enjoy Airtable, ClickUp. Those are really great tools for kind of organizing your content if you're using multiple services and multiple platforms. And what's really important is not always thinking when you sit down to create content, you're going to have a million and 10 great ideas, right? And I think that's where the overwhelm can come in as well as you're like, okay, I have this posting plan. And like, so what do I post now? And so that's where you want to use that system to constantly

Starting point is 00:12:45 be storing content ideas when you get them, right? When we're on walks, when we're in the shower, when we get off client calls, when we're scrolling and have an idea of a different way we can do something. So then we can then build on that and use that for actually creating the content. And kind of the last important step that I want to share that has really helped me is outlining. I think a lot of times we go from content idea to actually creating the content. So when we're sitting down to do a graphic or a video, we're literally looking at our phone and like thinking about what we need to be saying or filming or creating, which is definitely where the overwhelm

Starting point is 00:13:20 comes in. So the outline is kind of like your roadmap, right? So you can use that roadmap to guide exactly what you're saying, what clips you're getting. It can just be bullet points. It doesn't need to be a really long script, but this outline, I do it for every piece of content, even outside of Instagram content, even when I worked with clients so they can approve it and we can brainstorm on it. But I think those are a few elements that can help people kind of streamline their content process. So it's like slightly less overwhelming. That's amazing. Yeah. Such good tips. And I love how you mentioned outlining too, because I feel like sometimes we just get on the platform and want to just say the first thing that comes to mind and there's not

Starting point is 00:13:57 that clear intention behind things. So would you say to that content should kind of point back to the business goals or your marketing goals that you have and that content should kind of point back to the business goals or your marketing goals that you have and not just be kind of willy nilly on the platform all the time? Yes, absolutely. And I think there's definitely been a shift towards more in the moment, reactive type of content. And I think the more and more you kind of get your social media skills under wraps,

Starting point is 00:14:22 you can lean into those, which is a lot of what I do now. But I think that having your goals in mind, but also having your ideal follower. So who's seeing this content, who are you wanting to not only follow you, but to nurture that relationship and then eventually have them actually purchased from you. And also I really love to lean into content pillars. And I know there's a ton of different ways of approaching content pillars, but I like to think of them of the main buckets, topics, categories that you're creating content around. So not necessarily just a niche or not necessarily like 10 different pillars. I think that five is really the sweet spot. So you're having your areas of expertise in the mix, but you're also having connection points. You're also

Starting point is 00:15:04 having what differentiates you in the industry, where your areas of expertise in the mix, but you're also having connection points. You're also having what differentiates you in the industry, where your areas of expertise really lie. So that's kind of what guides my content strategy is those three elements. And I want to shift gears a little bit towards video. So transparency, making that human to human connection through social media has definitely been a pop, a popular trend in the last several years. And so what would you say is the benefit for business owners to actually get on the platform, show up, show their face via video and make that connection with their audience? Yes. So I think when we think of captions, when we think of photos, when we think of graphics,

Starting point is 00:15:41 they're all really powerful tools for conveying a message or telling a story. But what I think what makes videos so different is that it's so much more dynamic in how it connects with people. When you see me on video, you see my movements, you hear my voice, you see my expressions, you see movement. If you have physical products, you're seeing the product move. You're seeing it in real life. So there's this visual element. There's the element that you can add text and voiceovers and audios, which really can connect and tell a story even deeper. So I think when we come to really reading a great caption, right.

Starting point is 00:16:18 But actually watching that via video is a completely different experience, which is really where you can build trust with audience, but also that next level of building a lot of authority within your own industry. And I think when we think about why we love binging Netflix movies and shows, right? It's because that when we're sitting down and we're watching that video element, we're really engaged. We're really engulfed in that content experience. And so that's why I think it can be beneficial for literally anyone that's using content. Yes, there's the benefits of it's getting more reach now and more platforms are pushing it. But I think in general, it's definitely

Starting point is 00:16:57 something that should be in your content mix because it really helps people connect with you a lot deeper. And I think when we go to a client, we say, Hey, you need to be on video more. Let's work with you to create more video content for your brand. Sometimes it's easier, more said than done. A lot of clients I've seen are hesitant about showing their face and that they don't have the confidence to show up on video. And so do you have any confidence building tips for people who are a little bit hesitant about stepping into that world on Instagram? Yes, definitely. I think the first element is

Starting point is 00:17:30 actually the outline that I mentioned. Um, I actually have my outline with me whenever I'm filming content and I will look at it, right. I'll edit out when I'm looking away, I'll edit out any mistakes. So I think having that roadmap really will help you feel a lot more confident with what you're saying and creating with your video content. I think the other element, which is like the most annoying tip ever, but it is truly practice. Whenever I look at my first reel, I ever created my first story, my first IGTV, like it was shaky. It was like, I was nervous. I wasn't confident. Like my words didn't come out the right way, but I've now created hundreds of videos. So it helped me develop those skills of how to talk

Starting point is 00:18:11 on camera and how to kind of get over those nerves and how to go through things when maybe you lose your train of thought, right? Those are all skills that really just takes practice to develop. And I think we forget that people we see on video didn't just show up on video and all of a sudden they were good at it. Like it took years of practice. So I think practice is the other important element. And I think the other thing, which is a little bit more of a mindset shift is understanding that it's okay to feel all the feelings when it comes to showing up on video. I think we often go to show up on video where we're not, we're feeling maybe insecure. We're feeling imposter syndrome. We're feeling nervous. We're worried about if all these things happen or what will people say? And I think we can think about

Starting point is 00:18:53 those things, acknowledge that and be like, that's an okay feeling, right? It's an okay feeling to feel, but what's on the other side of that, which I feel like is always what keeps me showing up is, is it you building your business? Is it you landing a dream opportunity or client? What is on the other side of you showing up? Could it be just you impacting just one person? And so I think when we think about who's on the other side of that video content, it really can give you the push through all those thoughts and feelings we have. And so hopefully that can kind of encourage some people that are listening. And I think a little bonus

Starting point is 00:19:29 tip is if you're a social media manager and you're trying to get your clients to do the push, give them the outline, give them the to-do list. And that will be like their roadmap, which will really help them for actually creating the video content and not like overthinking it, you know? Yeah, absolutely. And I love how you mentioned thinking about the people on the other side, receiving that content. I've talked to people who get so hung up by the numbers and saying, Oh, only 300 people watch this. And my word of encouragement is always think about there could be five people who were heavily impacted by what you had to say. And they took value away from that. And even that there was purpose in that. And so numbers are kind of a tricky subject to on Instagram. Do you have any

Starting point is 00:20:11 tips or encouragement for clients who get hung up on those numbers and maybe see a big variant between how their content is performing on the platform? Absolutely. So I think that numbers can be really helpful for guiding us. So I always like to think of things as very much being an experiment. So if something performs well or bad, I ask a bunch of questions. Was it the visual? Was it the audio? Was the text that I did? Was it the caption? Was it just when I posted it? Was it that there was an update dropping on Instagram, which can make engagement a little bit lower. I really like to analyze everything before I completely nix it as something that performed really well or really poorly. I love repurposing things of whether it's

Starting point is 00:20:56 the topic or one piece of a graphic or things like that, and kind of testing and continuing to experiment. So I think that's one element of understanding like with algorithms and how social media happens, like everything, like something can turn off really well and some things just don't. Right. And I think when I always think about how TikTok works, we go into TikTok with the expectations that most of the things won't go well, but there might be the one thing that takes off. So I think if we can embrace that a little bit more on Instagram, we'll be a little less overwhelmed with metrics. But I also think the other thing is understanding the goal of your content. Is it conversion? Is it engagement? And are you clearly guiding them to how you want them to engage? Because I often feel like people have low engagement

Starting point is 00:21:45 because they're not asking for engagement and they're not giving a clear reason why they should engage. So if it's something that's a really robust piece of content, then maybe you're going to want to encourage them to save it. Or maybe you're giving an unpopular opinion or a hot take that's probably going to strike up a lot of conversations. You're going to want to encourage them to comment. Right. So I think having those calls to action are kind of an actionable way of like, if you're feeling like engagement slow of being a little bit more proactive, but I think to your point that it's not always about more people seeing your content, it's about connecting with the people that do see your content. And I will even be the first to admit my stories views consistently this

Starting point is 00:22:26 year have been the lowest in ratio to the amount of followers that I have still show up on stories. I still get sales on stories. I still get DMS on stories. So I think that like low engagement is kind of just a part of the process, but it's not necessarily a negative correlation with how you're showing up. For sure. For sure. And algorithm, that's a big hot topic on Instagram too. And as we mentioned earlier in the episode, the algorithm and the platform is always changing and evolving, but are there any timeless tips that you've seen just ring true over time for Instagram and just tips for showing up in general, no matter what happens on the platform? I love this question. And the first thing that comes to mind is actually not

Starting point is 00:23:11 necessarily our content, but it's actually our profile. So I often feel like when we're focusing on growth and wanting to get it, you know, get more people in front of our content. Um, we don't think about what journey they actually go through when they actually get to your profile. And this is where I kind of built out this three-part follower journey. So I think maybe this can guide people because this applies to the Instagram algorithm, no matter what is changing. And the first part of that follower journey is like people actually deciding to follow you. And so you want to make it super clear on like, they get to your page, right? Why should they follow you? Who are you? What type of content can they expect? If they discovered you from a piece of content,

Starting point is 00:23:55 can they continue to binge other similar pieces of content? Is their stories ready to binge? Are there highlights? Are there grid pins? Is there a really clear bio, a really clear call to action in your bio copy, right? I often find that maybe you're getting a lot of views with reels, right? But like, are they landing on your page and it's not resonating? They're not actually converting to a follower. So that's like one thing that I think people can easily implement and audit and optimize now. And then kind of that next phase for the three-part follower journey is just nurturing your community. How are you taking that new person or that older person that's been a part of your audience and how are you continuing to build that relationship? So that's where connecting with their mutual interests, where you're essentially problem

Starting point is 00:24:40 solving for them related to your expertise in industry and really sharing any types of value that you can offer, whether it's inspiration or entertainment or storytelling or a lot of education. And then of course, the last part of that three-part follower journey is actually conversion, which is where you could have literally 500, 100 followers in your audience. But if you don't know how to convert only a few hundred people, having more followers, more engagement, isn't necessarily going to actually convert into success for your brand. So this is where you want to make sure you're talking about your offers. You're building offer awareness. You're taking people off of Instagram to your email list, to your lead magnet, to your

Starting point is 00:25:20 freebies, to your webinars. And you're making sure that you're really serving your audience by actually selling them what that next step is. Cause I think people often either just sell and say, buy this thing, or they never sell. And we kind of want to meet in the middle of how can you just naturally be talking about your offers a little bit more. So I think that no matter how the algorithm will evolve and change over time, If we really focus on how we're bringing our ideal person through that three-part journey, we can create strategic content and really optimize our profile for every stage of that journey. Yeah. And a few minutes ago, you mentioned your stories and how over the last year you've seen an engagement drop on there, but you're not giving up on them. You're continuing to have a presence on stories,

Starting point is 00:26:09 but there's always a lot of question. What does the content look like between stories and on the feed? Do you have any recommendations for how people can show up differently? The same, what does that content planning process look like for stories versus the feed? Yes, definitely. I still think that stories are one of my top converting pieces of content. So I think it is kind of a non-negotiable and really, really important. And there's two types of content that I recommend specifically for Instagram stories. First are connection points. And these are the elements in your content pillars that aren't necessarily what you do, but they're a little bit more about who you are and what your brand values are. So for me, I talk a lot about my routines.

Starting point is 00:26:53 I share my matcha montage. Those are all ways for people to connect with me as a human. And it's what makes me different from other people in my industry. And it's what really makes a brand engaging and interesting. Because if I only talked about Instagram and video on my Instagram, like boring, I'm, I'm tired of it already as a creator. I can imagine my audience would be too. So I think having those more personal connection points and keeping in mind as a business and a brand, it doesn't mean to need to be sharing everything, but just selecting a few very intentional things that your ideal person

Starting point is 00:27:24 would relate to. So me sharing my matcha isn't completely random. It's because I know entrepreneurs are watching, they like caffeine, they like their morning beverages. So it's a really natural addition to my content flow. And then the other type of story content I like to create is strategic behind the scenes. So we always talk about stories, share behind the scenes, share behind the scenes, but we want to make sure that they're really strategic. So this could be showing you packing orders, showing you actually facilitating your offer, like maybe being on a coaching call. It could be me taking a behind the scenes of this podcast interview, all of those types of things

Starting point is 00:27:58 that you're doing day-to-day for your brand and business. It's essentially built in social proof, right? You're showing people I'm doing the things I'm working with my clients. I'm working on marketing. I'm doing all these things. And it really helps people feel connected with what you're doing and actually see it in action. Cause like people are very nosy, right? There's a reason why reality TV is super popular is because people want to connect with us. So that's kind of what you want to think about your stories as. And then when it comes to your more feed content, this is where I like to do a little bit more of the deeper dive of giving a little bit more value, a little bit more context

Starting point is 00:28:34 and kind of thinking more of like that follower journey really on that nurture phase. So that's kind of how I like to think of them a little bit differently. Yeah, for sure. And would you say too, that showing that personal content builds trust with your audience, right? And in order to be able to sell and convert people, they have to know and trust you before doing that. And so what would you say to that point that, um, just selling all the time doesn't typically work, especially on Instagram, getting people off the platform, any tips in that, uh, that realm as well? Yeah, absolutely. And yeah, I think it, it can, it creates more joy, more fun on the social media platforms because we can be a brand and not just a niche, not just an industry, not just

Starting point is 00:29:17 a product, not just an offer. Um, and it really does build that relationship. And often my clients say that they know me because of my match or they know me because of I care about mental wellness. I care about all these different things. And I talk about it in my content and it's what will make me different from another person. And it might also be the thing that repels the people that aren't a good fit. And that's absolutely okay too. when it comes to selling on the platforms, I think that we can be, we can naturally be selling and warming up our audience by not only sharing those connections, those behind the scenes, but by naturally just when we're talking about something related to our offers, naturally having that next step, that next call to action and infusing our, our sales content within our regular content. So it doesn't feel like I often see when people are launching, it's like their regular content. And then it's like their launch content and they feel like a completely different person, but it's like, why can't it all be infused in the same way? And I think that can often help us push against what we often feel of like selling is salesy and

Starting point is 00:30:20 it feels icky and people get bored with it. And I don't want to be overselling. And it's like, why can't we shift that and make it something that can actually be beneficial for everyone, right? Whether people buy from us or not, we can serve them by telling that next step, but also offering value in those connection points along the way. I love it. So helpful. And I could talk Instagram with you all day. We'll have to have you on for a whole nother discussion, but I do want to shift gears a little bit to another side of your business, which is the speaking and coaching side. And so do you have any tips for listeners who might be interested in getting into speaking? Maybe it's some of that confidence building, but any tips around building that side of a business? Yes, absolutely. The first tip is start using Instagram as your stage,

Starting point is 00:31:06 quite literally. Like I mentioned that building your video skills takes practice. The same thing with speaking skills. And when you're going live, when you're talking on stories, when you're doing a reel, all of that is developing your unique way of speaking and serving an audience. And that quite literally has been how I've landed a lot of podcast interviews, speaking opportunities is just the way I show up in my contents. That's like the first thing is like, start talking on video. You can't expect memes, trends, graphics, and photos to do the speaking for you. You have to show up and do the speaking. And I think the other side of it is really leaning

Starting point is 00:31:45 into your unique way of serving people and showing up, whether it's your frameworks, your methodologies, spicy hot takes, unpopular opinions. That is what people are looking to have on their stages in front of their audiences. So you want to lean into that for your content. And a real life example of this is I was doing a reel as I do when people are freaking out about things and I'm like, don't panic. Video is here, but photos aren't dying. Like something along the lines of that. And it really took off. And quite literally Jenna Kutcher from the gold digger podcast, reach out to me from that real said she loved what I was saying and asked me to have, have me on her podcast and to actually do a guest lesson in her

Starting point is 00:32:30 course. So all of that happened because not only was I showing up on video, but I wasn't afraid to like ruffle feathers and lean into my unique voice and way of thinking of things. So I feel like that's the biggest thing that I encourage my mastermind clients to do is like really lean into your unique way of thinking and digging a little bit deeper with your content. Like tips and hacks are great, but that's really where you're going to get the depth for actually landing those types of opportunities. So those are a few things that have really helped me. Oh my gosh. So cool. Yeah. I tell people all the time. I'm like, you never know until you try, just go ahead and test it, speak your mind.

Starting point is 00:33:09 And you never know what's going to come up that it's so funny to you mentioned Jenna Kutcher. I love her show so much. And I was scrolling one day on her podcast and I was going back a bit and I seen Natasha Samuel and I'm like, wait a minute. I click on it. I'm like, oh my gosh, how cool. So, um, that's minute. I click on it. I'm like, oh my gosh, how cool. So, um, that's amazing.

Starting point is 00:33:32 Congratulations on that opportunity. But I love that tip that you shared so much. And so you kind of touched on this a little bit too, but, um, once you start to speak and kind of develop your framework for what you're going to talk on, how do you go about landing those gigs? You know, you mentioned using social media to your advantage, but any other tips for getting paid speaking gigs? Yeah, definitely. I think that using social media as a networking platform has also been something that's been super, super beneficial for me. Um, I know that I'm always like brands that I want to work with stages that I want to be on. I'm replying to their stories. I'm starting conversations in the DMs. I'm commenting on their content. I'm engaging with them before they even follow me back before they even look at it before they even reply to it. And that might take years.

Starting point is 00:34:13 Like that literally took years for later, which was one of my favorite brands. I knew I wanted to speak in later con and partner with them eventually. And like, it literally took like two or three years for them, not only to like finally see my DM tags, like long line of tags, but to eventually follow me back and then start to bring up those opportunities, but also to network with other authorities for opportunities, them having opportunities I could be a part of. So I think that quite literally, it seems like such a small thing, but it quite literally has been so impactful for how I've been able to connect with brands and just kind of like shoot my shot and just like see what happens. And I think that's another thing that people can just start doing today. Like, don't think about how many followers you have or how much, how many stage experience you have, like just start doing those things now because you never know who's watching and where that might lead.

Starting point is 00:35:14 So good. So good. And in true marketing, happy hour fashion, I want to kind of round up this discussion with a talk on career here for a minute. And we have a question that we love to ask on this show. So Natasha, what do you know now that you wish you knew early on in your career? I feel like something that I've really been absorbing and realizing more and more now, as I go into year five of business is that like entrepreneurship is a journey without an endpoint.

Starting point is 00:35:44 Like we're not, you're never going to arrive at 10,000 followers or your first six figure year, all these big milestones that we put into our head as like reaching success. I feel like when we think of it more as a journey, we give ourselves more space and room to evolve and to change and to say yes, to say no, to pivot, to rest, to not be in so much of a rush. So I feel like it being more of a journey and less of a destination has been something that I wish I would have known a little bit earlier on. Oh, so good. So good. Well, thank you so incredibly much for all of your insights and your time to come on the show and just share so much value with our listeners. And I would love to give everyone the opportunity to stay up to date with

Starting point is 00:36:29 you and what's going on. So what is the best place, um, or places for people to connect with you online, Natasha? Yeah, absolutely. So over on social media, specifically Instagram shine with Natasha. I'm also on Tik TOK and YouTube is shine with Natasha too. If you want more in-depth tutorials and videos, I also have my podcast, a shine online podcast where I deep dive more into marketing and video content strategies. Um, and I also have a brand new five day video challenge. That's going to be coming out super soon. It's that shine with the Tasha.com slash video, where I'll show you my process for creating videos in five minutes or less a day.

Starting point is 00:37:10 So definitely check that out. Amazing. Thank you so much again for your time and just coming on the show today, Natasha. So appreciate it very much. Yes. Thanks for having me. and that is it for this week's episode of the marketing happy hour podcast i know i definitely fall into the category of being so overwhelmed with all the constant instagram changes that natasha and cassie were referencing so i'm definitely taking some of natasha's pointers from this episode and i hope you're walking away with actionable steps to improve your Instagram game too. Thank you so much again for listening. Cassie and I talk all the time about how we can't believe we're already on our sixth season of the podcast and how much we truly feel like this podcast was one of the best moves we've ever made because it's introduced us to a community of marketing professionals that we just adore connecting with. Okay. I'm done being really, really sappy, but you're the best. And if you want to connect

Starting point is 00:38:10 with other fantastic marketing humans, check out the link in our show notes to join our free LinkedIn group, the marketing happy hour insiders. See you there.

Marketing Happy Hour - Instagram 101: Show Up Confidently | Instagram Strategist Natasha Samuel

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