Ep.36 Grow Your Practice with Instagram Featuring TLP Advisor Chris Emmer

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Feeling overwhelmed and unsure on how to use Instagram to connect with your audience? Or how to promote your online health program without feeling pushy?

When it comes to social media, my advice to my clients is to do everything strategically. Let’s not do anything for vanity numbers, but let’s be really smart about the actions we take in our business so that we can be effective with what we put into our work.

Today we have an incredible guest, Social Media Strategist and Educator Chris Emmer from Sweaty Wisdom. She does an amazing job teaching not just about Instagram, but how we use social media to connect with real people – and then convert them into joining our online program and working with us.

Here’s what we talked about:

How health professionals can balance between being authentic AND staying professional when posting on social media (Chris’ tip: Keep it simple and connect online in the same way you do with your clients in person!)
What numbers we need to aim for on social media (it’s really about your engagement rate!)
How to know what to post (It comes down to two main types of content: valuable & promotional!)
The types of valuable content we can include in our strategy (Chris breaks down four categories!)
Helpful tips on using Instagram Stories and DMs to connect with more people (nowadays people are spending more time in Stories!)

Your social media strategy will be as unique as yourself. If you think about how you connect in person, you already know how to do it online. It’s just a little bit of fine-tuning and creating your strategy – and you’ll be on your way to building stronger connections with your audience!

About Chris

Chris Emmer is the social media strategist and educator behind Sweaty Wisdom and the founder of Biz Babysitters – a one-stop-shop supporting female business owners on their maternity leave and into their postpartum journeys.

You can find her online here: sweatywisdom.com or on Instagram: @sweatywisdom

If you enjoyed this podcast, you may enjoy these 3 other podcast episodes about steps to take to market your online program:

Prefer reading? Here’s the transcript below

Stephanie: Hey, welcome back to another episode of The Leveraged Practice podcast, and this is the one you’ve been waiting for. I have a guest with me here today, Chris Emmer, who’s going to introduce herself in just a second. Chris is in a Mastermind with me. We are buds, and also, I am so excited to share with you her wisdom, her sweaty wisdom, actually. She is a trusted resource of our company, The Leveraged Practice, and we think that she does an incredible job teaching about Instagram, not just Instagram but how we use social media to connect with real people and then convert them into joining our online program and working with us.

So, Chris is actually one of a team of advisors I have recruited for The Leveraged Practice, who helps our current members and clients by providing ongoing workshops in our community. Chris is one of a team of these amazing advisors, who give ongoing support for our members. This is something that we want to do, because The Leveraged Practice is a workshop, a 6-week immersion program where you actually get to create and launch your online program for your practice, and this is whether you have a private practice or you work for a company or a clinic.

But after that, what the heck do you do? And so we actually have a team of incredible experts who provide ongoing workshops to our members on a monthly basis. So, if you’re thinking about joining us and being a part of the crew, send me a message on Instagram, or you can email me, find me on TheLeveragedPractice.com.

We can chat more about this, but just know that we don’t just let you go and leave you hanging with this new online program you created. We actually keep supporting you in growing your audience, connecting with people, and continuing to enroll in your programs as you move forward.

Chris, thanks for being here.

Chris: Hi, thank for having me.

Stephanie: Hi, can you tell us a little bit about who you are?

Chris: Yeah, I certainly can, and it’s probably going to be a relief to people that you weren’t just calling me sweaty for no reason in your intro. So, hi, everyone, I’m Chris. My business is called Sweaty Wisdom, which is why Steph said Sweaty Wisdom. With wisdom, I am a social media strategist and educator.

I also have another business, which is called Biz Babysitters, and I’m the founder of that business. What we do there is babysit your social media while you go on maternity leave. I, moreover, on all of this, am just a total nerd for Instagram. I really love it so much and spend so much time there learning everything I can, soaking up all I can so that I can break it down in a way that is digestible and makes sense to people who don’t love it a much as I do.

Stephanie: And you guys can find Chris at either of those handles on Instagram, @sweatywisdom or @bizbabysitters. Chris and I met early when she birthed the Biz Babysitter idea. If you just heard that quick summary of what it is, you have to check it out. So many of us in health are women and do not plan for any kind of mat leave, so Biz Babysitters is just the coolest idea to help you a little bit with your business as you are off caring for another human being.

You have to check this out after you listen to this podcast, or if you can multi-task, at the same time, but don’t get distracted because we are going to dig in. Chris and I are going to chat a little bit about us specifically as health professionals and answer some of the biggest questions that my clients and you, the podcast audience, have about what the heck we do with Instagram.

I’m not an Instagram expert at all. That’s why Chris is here, but mostly my advice to my clients is let’s do everything strategically. Let’s not do anything for vanity numbers or to inflate our egos, but let’s be really smart about the actions we take in our business so that we can be effective with any energy we put into work.

Then take that extra energy and hangout with our kids or go on a vacation or walk your dog, or whatever it is because the last thing you need to do is to spend hours and hours and hours trying to figure out how you’re commenting on different Instagram posts and feeds and all that kind of stuff. I know that we can feel overwhelmed, so just know that when you’re listening to me and my experts and my guests on all this stuff, I really have your best life in mind to help you be effective. So that’s what we’re going to dig into.

How Can Health Professionals Balance Being Authentic AND Professional on Social Media?

Stephanie: I think the first question that I hear a lot, Chris, from a lot of my members and my students and my community is really this – we’re looking for this balance between being authentic on the internet, being our true selves, but also, as health professionals, being professional still. I know some people don’t want to post a lot of selfies, or they don’t want to share pictures with their kids. They don’t want to bring it to that intimate level, but we know we have to show up in a real way. So, can you give us any advice on how to show up on Instagram that would maybe help us understand how to balance those things?

Chris: Yes. This is such a good question because the word authentic on social media lately has kind of been a hot word. Triggering for people. Either people are over the top, like sharing every single moment of their lives, or people absolutely hate that vibe, and they think it’s an overstep.

So the biggest thing here is that it’s going to be completely different for everyone. Any program that just says, “Do X, Y, and Z, and you’ll be successful on social media,” is a load of BS. Run as far as you can in other direction from that because your social media strategy will be as unique as yourself.

We’re all different people. We all have different ways that we connect with our clients and our friends and family in real life, so social media, it’s not so complicated. It’s very, very simple. The way that you connect with people in your office, the way you connect with people in a yoga class, the way that you network with people at a happy hour in your town, these are the ways that you want to show up online. If it doesn’t feel right for you to show a picture of your newborn baby on your Instagram, that post is going to tank.

Stephanie: Yeah, I love that because I’m just thinking I love how you said how you show up in your office, and I’m thinking like, okay, step back and look at your office right now as you’re listening to this. Do you have a picture of your baby on there, or do you not? Do you have pictures of families or not? Sometimes you don’t. It depends who you are.

I was just thinking, Chris, so people are in your office, those are customers, but what about, as Chris was just saying, how you talk to people before they become your customer, so whether that’s at a networking event, a yoga class. Or do people call you and you have a chat with them on the phone? How do you present yourself before they’re clients? What are the conversations you have? I love that. I love thinking about who you are with people in real life and put that on internet real life.

Chris: Yeah, and I think that that’s such a good grounding point, like an anchor, to come back to when you start to get too overwhelmed social media platform because, first of all, it’s just Instagram. It’s just Facebook, whatever. In the grand scheme of things, not that huge of a deal. So I think that that’s a good first step, to just kind of keep coming back to when you feel the overwhelm.

And then I think another one is to remember that you are a thriving, magical person who connects with other people, who connects with clients in real life. If you know how to do it in real life, you already innately know how to do it online. It’s just a little bit of fine-tuning and finessing to make it feel seamless.

Stephanie: Yeah, totally. I love that. And I just want everyone to think as you’re listening to this. Remember the very first client, or if you call them a patient, you saw after you graduated? So you graduated. Someone gave you a license and permission to help people, whether you’re a physiotherapist or a nurse or a dietitian or a psychologist or a social worker, or whoever you are, someone gave you permission.

If you can think back, do you remember that first time you sat in a chair and someone came in, and you were like, “Whew, I have permission to help this person?” It felt weird in the beginning. It felt uncomfortable. We forget these things.

I mean, I think that when you’re trying to translate who you are into posting pictures on the internet and writing a cute caption or whatever, all the things that overwhelm you, you’ve been in this place before. You’ve been here a million times when you’re doing something new, and it feels weird, but you’re allowed to do it, and you’re going to get better at it.

So, I just remember that. I remember that thought I had where I was like, “Oh, my gosh, I’m allowed to see someone with diabetes? Is that okay? Did you guys approve this? All right.” And then you just do it, and you figure it out as you go, and you’re fine. You’re fine.

Chris: Yeah, so in the beginning, it’s not going to feel as natural, and there’s nothing wrong with that. That doesn’t mean you suck at it. It doesn’t mean that you’re like not meant to be on social media because the truth of the matter is literally everybody is on social media now. I mean, raise your hand if your parents are on Facebook more than you.

Stephanie: My mom actually is on Instagram now, so she likes my photos, and I’m like, “Oh, good. Thanks, Mom.” Like Mom’s the only one who commented on my story. Super cool. Keep going. Keep going, guys, even if your mom’s the only one.

Chris: Well, to go back to your point, I remember when I first started doing Facebook Lives for my business. For a while, the person who would show up on the Live would be my dad.

Stephanie: Yes. Oh, dad.

Chris: And I’d be, “Cool, cool, cool, cool. Cool.”

Stephanie: You’re like, “Please don’t comment. Please don’t comment.” It’s fine. Okay, cool.

What Social Media Numbers Do We Aim For?

Stephanie:So let’s move on to another hot topic that I think a lot of us get anxiety over, which is those numbers. The 10K for the swipe up or even if you’re someone that has a lot of followers, maybe you don’t have 10K, maybe you have 5,000, 6,000, or maybe you are at 10. What’s the deal with the number? What should we be shooting for? And also, is there anything that we should know about those numbers?

Again, I’m not an Instagram strategist. I have one here with you all, but the numbers for me, I get caught up because I want a bigger audience. And I think the bigger audience I have, the more people I can talk to, and the more people I can work with. That’s the truth. We need to grow our audience, but there’s other things that are important as well. So, maybe you could help us understand a little bit of audience growth and what we’re shooting for there. What kind of numbers are we looking for? How should we approach the number situation?

Chris: The first thing is that vanity metrics are just that, vanity, but that doesn’t mean that you’re a bad person for wanting it. Like you just said, Steph, you want a bigger audience so that you can reach and help more people. If you are really wanting to grow your account, that doesn’t mean hop into a shame spiral about wanting your number to go up. That’s a natural thing to want, but at the same time, there is a big truth about this, and that is that your actual number of followers does not matter as much as your engagement percentage.

So, if you have, for example, I’ll use myself for example. I have two accounts. I have Sweaty Wisdom, which I’ve been posting on for, I don’t know, a bajillion years, and then I have Biz Babysitters that I just started in January. I’ve been posting not that frequently with it, to be honest, just kind of here and there when it works out.

One of my accounts has about 11K followers. The other one has not even 500, like 450ish. On my larger account where I have 11K followers, if I’m getting 100 likes, cool. 100 is a big number, but the ratio of likes to the amount of followers that I have is much lower than on my smaller account if I get 20 likes. You know what I mean?

Stephanie: Yeah.

Chris: So if you’re taking that percentage, dividing your engagement levels by the amount of followers that you have, that’s going to be the best way to determine how well it’s going for you.

Stephanie: Yeah, that’s cool. That’s cool to look at. And you know what, Chris? Some of my listeners are working with clients, and all should be thinking about online programs for your practice, but I know that a lot of health practitioners have this kind of balance where they want to see some clients, and then they also want an online program to help them scale and work with people in a different way. And then some of them want to do sponsorship kind of work and work with brands and work with food companies and work with equipment.

There’s all kinds of things in the health space where you can leverage your position on Instagram to get some sponsorship deals, which is great. I know some of my listeners do think about that and want that. So the numbers are important for that, I would imagine. Is the ratio important for sponsors to look at as well? What are they looking at?

Chris: That is such a good question. Engagement rate is 100% what they’re looking at, so before people could skirt by on just a huge number of followers. Then everyone got savvy to the fact that you can go online and really, for like 10 bucks, buy 10K followers. You know what I mean? You can very easily make that number go up with robots, spam, whatever, and now people are savvy to that.

What they want to see is really engaged following, and this is more so the age of the micro-influencers. A lot of companies even see it as a better thing to have a little bit of a smaller, more dedicated, more of a niche following than a bajillion people who are all over the world and not necessarily focused on one single aspect.

Stephanie: Yeah, cool. I like that. So that’s something for you, the listener, to think about. Make sure you think about your business and what you’re doing now and where you’re going and then how this fits into that, and know that the engagement part is important.

What Content Do We Post on Social Media?

Stephanie: So let’s talk more about engagement. My next question is really about the content. We get so freaked out about content, don’t we? Like what do I post? What do I not post? What do I put in the caption? I just saw something that someone posted on Instagram today, like this really cute picture. She was like, “I have anxiety about the caption for this photo.” That was the first thing she posted, and I was like, “That’s brilliant. What a good caption.” Like it’s so good, and that’s the truth, though, is these captions.

So one of the things that we ask, the big question is obviously what do I post? What is that? But I want to up-level that to say, what do I post that maybe, one, gets that engagement part of it, but two, also leads to my business. So it’s not just like I’m posting hours and hours all the time, but what should we be doing on Instagram that’s actually going to help us connect with those potential customers and clients that are going to lead to someone who would participate in our practice and potentially buy our online program?

Chris: Totally. The amount of followers that you have is never going to pay your bills, so it’s very important for you to be converting those people from your Instagram into your program, into your practice, into your email or email list. To begin to get people to convert from your social media to wherever it is you’re trying to take them to, you have to have a strategy to get there. It’s not just going to magically happen, although that would be fabulous.

So, when it comes to posting on social, there are really two main type of content, and that is valuable content, something that offers something to your audience. It’s like an energetic give, so it’s external. And then there’s promotional, so that is more of an ask of your followers, more internal energy. I like to tell people, and this varies from person to person, practice to practice, but I like to tell people that around a ratio of 80:20 works really well on Instagram. It would be like 80% providing value, 20% asking or promoting a program.

For some people, they might feel a little bit nervous about making that promotion, so they might feel more comfortable posting valuable content all day, providing things for free, and then never getting that conversion. And then there’s the other side of the coin, where some people want to just promote all day long, and looking at their Instagram feels like looking at a coupon flyer in the Sunday newspaper. And then no one’s going to want to follow them, and no one’s going to want to engage the content. So, I like to tell people about 80:20 split of valuable to promotional content.

The 4 Types of Valuable Content

Now, within the valuable content, it can break down into about four different categories, and that’s where you begin to find that balance, Steph, like you were just talking about. How do you get people engaged so that they’re having fun hanging out on your page, but then there’s still sticking around for when you do make that promotional offer?

So, within valuable content, there are four main types of content, so within that bucket, it breaks down into educational. So, can you teach them something? This is a no-brainer for health professionals. Like you guys, who come on and share some of that educational info.

Stephanie: Yeah, we’ve got lots to teach.

Chris: Yeah, I know lots of people who really need it. So we’ve got educational. We’ve got inspirational. People go to Instagram a lot of the time as a form of escapism, so if you think about I’m waiting in line at the DMV, what am I going to do? Whip out my cellphone. I’m going to open up Instagram, and I’m going to scroll, scroll, scroll.

Stephanie: Yeah, or if you’re having a bad day or maybe you’re in the bathroom, and you locked the door away from your kids for five minutes just to get a break. Or I just feel like we’re looking on there for the answers, but we’re also just looking for confirmation we can make it through this moment.

So I love that you call it inspirational because when we tie that back to health, sometimes we forget that not only should we educate with our blogs and with our content and everything, but we also, I think, have a responsibility to give people some hope that they can get through this. And, yes guys, I know that we can’t guarantee anything, and that can make us feel uncomfortable in advertising our services. But saying, “I can’t guarantee that you’re going to overcome your diabetes. I can’t guarantee you’re going to lose weight. I can’t guarantee you’re going to find relief from IBS.” I get it, but people still need hope.

Before they make any kind of change, they still need that inspiration, that motivation, that like, “Wow, maybe I can do this.” So I love this category talking about it specifically for us in health, because we do need to approach it in a way that still feels comfortable and authentic for us, but an important one that we do hit on, on our profiles and on our feed posts.

Chris: And, Steph, I think that you touched on something so important. Your health is a really personal thing, and to change things up, whether it’s your diet or whatever lifestyle thing, that’s scary, vulnerable territory to be in. So, inspirational, yes, and that leads me to my next one within the valuable content, which is humanizing.

So, what does it feel like when someone walks into your office? Do you greet them really friendly and bubbly? Are you maybe a little bit more serious and calm and feel really grounding for them? Humanizing content is going to give people that connection to you that, in conjunction with the inspiring, with the educational content, is going to help you stand out from the rest of the crowd, the rest of the health professionals that are offering exactly what it is that you offer. That will make them slide into your DMs and start a one-on-one convo that will lead to a sale or conversion.

Stephanie: I hope you guys are taking notes. You can pause this. You can pause this and take some notes. Go get a pen if you don’t have one.

Chris: Go get a pen. Run quick. So the fourth one is entertaining. So entertaining is more of that escapism. It’s something kind of fun. If you get inside the head of your ideal customer, the person who you can help the absolutely most, who you would love to see walk through your door, what do they want to see on Instagram? Are they a new mom? Are they someone who’s freshly postpartum who thinks that a meme about a, I don’t know, leaky boob is really funny? What is it that this person loves to see? Inside their head connect with them emotionally, and that’s going to be the entertaining content.

Stephanie: Yeah, and there’s a lot of really funny food jokes and fitness jokes and the memes in the meme world, and I think, a side note, as we’re thinking about being funny because maybe you don’t feel like a comedian. I mean, I think maybe I’m funny on the inside, but I’m nervous about my jokes or something. So, let’s say you’re nervous about your jokes. Chris, I hear that people repost. Can we find funny accounts to follow and then repost memes and jokes about eating avocados and whatever on our feed or in our stories? How do we do that kind of thing where we can still entertain but share other people’s content?

Chris: Yes. So if you are not a natural-born comedian, you do not have to fake and pretend like you are one. A really great way to save yourself a bunch of time is to repost. The great thing about that is that people generally love to be reposted. We’re all searching for more visibility. So just be sure that if you are doing that reposting give proper credit to the person who created the image or it’s going to feel a little bit slimy. But no problem if you just give credit. That’s going to be really great.

And then just a quick ninja tip for you. If you’re scrolling your Instagram feed, say that maybe you are hiding in the bathroom from your kids scrolling your Instagram, and you find something that would be a great repost for your business account, there’s a little bookmark feature right underneath the photo in the bottom right corner. You can tap that, and it’s going to say post to your saved section on your account. So you can start creating a bank of things that you want to repost in there. That’s a really, easy, quick way to put together a nice chunk of content.

Stephanie: So, you’re hiding in the bathroom. You’re scrolling Instagram. Your kids start banging on the door. Just bookmark it, bookmark it because you got to go. They’ve figured out how to crack the lock. You got to get out of the bathroom. That’s your five minutes. Save it for later. That is a sweet ninja tip.

How to Use Instagram Stories to Connect with Your Audience

Okay, so I think that’s it for market questions. Is there anything else that we need to know? What else do I want to ask you? How about can we just speak to how Stories fit into all of this? I was just thinking when we were talking about reposting, and so that’s a post in our feed. Then I see a lot of people either sharing that, sharing the post on their stories, but also kind of calling out other people in their stories. And then if you call out people, they’ll call you back.

So, here’s a little side note. Spanx had a cool little survey. On their stories Spanx had this, “Fill out these five questions,” which is such a cool little thing, and I fill out the five questions. I put it on my stories, and then I tag Spanx in it. Then Spanx reposted on their stories my thing and called me out, and I was like, “Oh, Spanx, you loved me.” And they’re so big.

It was cool. I probably got no followers from it, but it was glorious and fun. So what do we need to know about the stories that can help us either grow our audience, like get in front of more people who can get to know us or just connect with people? Because those are the things we’re trying to do, grow and get in front of more people, and then connect with more people.

Chris: Yeah, Stories are where it’s at. There has been so much talk about changes to the algorithm and my engagement is lower, and people hemming and hawing about their feed engagement. And, yeah, feed engagement has gone down. A few years ago, Instagram was a completely different landscape than it is right now, but people have not gone away. In fact, more and more people are coming to Instagram. There’s so many people on IG. They just aren’t necessarily spending as much time in the feed as they are in Stories. So engagement did not stop. It simply moved from the feed to the Stories.

For that reason, Stories are an awesome, awesome place to be showing up for your clients and customers and potential clients and customers. So the feed is more like a varnish, like glossy image of yourself, or it can be, more like a magazine.

Your stories, on the other hand, are like your diary. So this is where you can be a hot mess because, you know what, it’s going to go away in 24 hours anyways. The Stories are a great place to show up and be authentic, even if maybe you feel nervous doing that in your feed. You can always show up in your stories and really connect with people in that way.

A lot of people think that they have to spend their entire day on Stories, like it’s an all-or-nothing thing, either I document every single bulletproof coffee that I make and every step I take or I’m not on Stories at all. And that’s just not the case. I love to tell people with their Stories to anchor it to a daily activity. So maybe every morning when you sit down in your office, you look down at your calendar. Here are the clients I’m meeting with today, and then you do two stories saying, “This is what I’m up to today,” and then asking them a question. So starting a conversation with the people who are watching your stories.

Stephanie: Yeah.

Chris: The really great thing you can do with Stories is start a one-on-one conversation. So replying to a story, they will be going into your direct messages, which is where you’re going to really connect, and that’s the greatest place to make conversions, in my opinion.

Stephanie: Yeah. Oh, my gosh. I just was listening to someone talk about Instagram and she was saying about how every day she tried to do five to 10 DMs. Because when she does a DM, it affects the algorithm, and then those people end up seeing her in their scroll, right? And so she was saying out of all the new likes she gets every day, she makes a message to five or 10 people. I was like, “Oh, that’s crazy.”

But here’s the thing. I notice. I notice it in action. I messaged someone. I think I messaged someone who I had just followed, and I was like, “Hey, really loved your podcast episode.” or something, and then immediately saw them in my feed or whatever. I realized that them DMing me and I actually implemented it but on the other side of it, and then saw them in my feed. I was like, “Oh, magical.”

So what’s the deal with the DMs? I feel like we’re all probably not in the DMs enough, but we’re also saying, “Oh no, but if I start this, how do I not spend hours just texting people on Instagram back and forth?” Is there any rules or guidelines around the DMs and how we go about doing that and approaching that?

Chris: Right, because you truly could spend your entire day just spiraling out in your direct messages if you wanted to. And to be honest, if you don’t set boundaries and guidelines surrounding it, you probably will because it’s a really fun, slippery slope to go down. So I think that a great way to make sure that that doesn’t happen is to have an overall strategy, like what do you want to do with these people beyond saying like, “Hey, I love that romper you’re wearing in your Instagram story.”

Whatever it is that your DM starts as, where do you want that conversation to end up? Do you want to end up on a 15-minute phone call with them, like a consult call, and then from there sell them on your product or service? Have an overall strategy of here you’re trying to get them to go and keep that in mind when you’re having these conversations.

That being said, you don’t want to come out of the gates and just sell, sell, sell. You want to hold that rapport, that relationship. It really is like dating almost. You wouldn’t walk up to someone at the bar and be like, “So, married tomorrow? How about that?” You want to court each other for a little bit and show up as friends.

Stephanie: Yeah, so I love that you said … I’ll just touch back on what Chris just said about our stories. She didn’t say do 45 stories all day long, but you gave us an example of two and one of them was a question. So that’s in Stories where we can open up conversations.

We can tell people to DM us to chat about it. We can ask them questions. We can get started on it. You can use those questions to do market research to find out what topics you should do more content out. What are the biggest struggles people are having around the health topic that you help them with?

And then I also think for me, we’ve had some traction on running little series, doing little education things, but then asking people more about it and challenging them to think about different things, where then they respond, and we can follow up with, “What have you done so far? And how far have you come? And what have you tried? And what is your biggest struggle?”

Those kinds of conversations can lead into chatting about what they should be doing next, where you can send them to. Chris, can you send people to different posts or a blog post or things like that to continue that conversation for you? Like, “Hey, have you thought about my program?”

Because I’ve literally said to people when they’re struggling. I’m like, “Hey, have you thought about my program? You’re on my Instagram. You’re still dealing with this. Have you thought about it?” And then we open up a conversation about my program without it being uncomfortable, but I do think about like, “Okay, we’re still dating. I don’t want to send them directly into, ‘Hey, buy my program.'” Do we send them to just conversations and DMs or blog posts or podcasts or more content that we think would be helpful? Or what do you think about that?

Chris: Truly whatever you think will provide the most value to them. So if you’ve already got a blog post put together that is banging about FODMAPs, then send them that link. I wouldn’t just send a link with nothing else with that. I would send a link and then say something like, “Hey, thought this might help you out. Check it out and let me know what you think. If you have any questions, I’m here to chat.”

Stephanie: Personally, I’m such a voicemail person that when Instagram got voicemail, I was like, “Yeah, this is the best.” And so kind of being like, “Hey, that’s a great question. We actually wrote a whole post on supplements that are good or can be irritating of the gut. I’m going to post the link right here.” Like that kind of a thing.

The voicemails are such a high touch point. Like when someone sends me a voicemail, I’m like, “Yeah.” But I also love it because I’m not a typer. So that’s another feature you could use. I love that. I think it’s important that you don’t just send a link. I see that all the time, and I’m like “That’s so cold. It’s like you just want to get me off your list.” Almost like if you just send a link, it turns the person around. You know what I mean?

Chris: Yes.

Stephanie: That’s how it feels personally to me anyways, but I love that because I think so much in regards to content and how we can recycle it. We can reuse it, and it’s still genuine and helpful. And so for us in the health space, it’s creating those blog posts or those pieces of content on those most frequently asked questions. I’ve been in IBS for nine years and I get those same questions. So if someone DMs me, and they’re like, “Hey, can you recommend a probiotic?” Oh, my gosh. That’s a long topic, and, no, I can’t.

So when we get into health, also people ask us for recommendations, and it’s not professional for us to be like, “Yeah, go buy this probiotic.” It’s not always. It depends on you. You should talk to your doctor. You should work with your pharmacist. There’s lots of options, and so, for example, a topic like that that I get, it’s very useful for me to send them a quick voicemail that’s like, “Hey, great question. Oh, my gosh, it’s such a great question, and actually, it depends, so I’m going to send you a link to an article I wrote so you can really get all the information you need. Then let me know if you have any questions.”

Then we have that article, and it walks them through everything they need to know, like talk to your doctor. Make sure you have a diagnosis and think about everything else beyond the probiotic that you need, which then would help you understand you need more of a program than just a probiotic.

And so I think thinking strategically, and if you’re new to all of this, capturing those frequently asked questions and then maybe doing it that way so that you can bring that content in. I don’t know whether it’s posts or blogs or whatever it is. I just feel like we get a lot of the same questions, so that can be really useful for us.

Chris: And one way, even if you don’t have a blog that you’re consistently posting to, if you still want to put together some sort of resource that people can continue going back to, you could think of your five most frequently asked questions, answer them in Instagram Stories, and then highlight those. Those are going to show up in those little circles right above your feed posts, and you could title them FODMAPs basics. I keep talking about FODMAPs tonight.

Stephanie: Yep. Okay. Here’s a not so secret. I have no highlights because I have no idea how to do them, and I’m overwhelmed by the Instagram. But that’s a great idea for this particular thing, are these particular questions and answering them. You could probably do a highlight for different topics. We could have one for probiotics and one for the FODMAP and one for something else, and so that’s a really good idea. Then you could kind of send people there. So would we want to keep people on Instagram and not send them over to our website? Or it doesn’t really matter? Just depends on what you feel comfortable doing?

Chris: I mean, honestly, it’s what you feel the most comfortable with. I will be 1,000% honest with you, though, and say that people want to hang out on Instagram as long as they can.

Stephanie: Totally.

Chris: We’re really like mother-bear protective of our attention because it feels like everything is trying to pull us away. And so we’re really hesitant to click on anything that’s going to take us outside of the app, which is why things like IGTV and highlights and Stories are so delicious for us because we can still provide information.

Stephanie: Yeah, I love that. I love that so much, and I was just thinking of that because that would be my instant reaction. But what you’re doing on Instagram, which is watching a video and looking at images and reading very short posts and then having to DM, it’s all kind of personal and visual. So then send someone to a blog post that might just be text and be super long might feel very different, so that’s what I was thinking about when I asked that question.

Okay, cool, so I think overall we’re seeing, hey, there’s not one magical wand and then everyone’s Instagram is successful. There’s a lot of different things that you need to think about, and overall, you need a strategy. You need to map out what the final result is you want from people, where you’re going, and then starting from the beginning of finding out what people need and showing up consistently and making it fun in entertaining. I think that’s been great.

More Instagram Tips For Health Professionals

Stephanie: Do you have any other tips for health professionals that you want to leave us with? Or do we want to quickly go through the tips that we did here and summarize? What else do we need to know?

Chris: Oh my gosh. I could truly talk for the rest of the day and also tomorrow for Instagram tips for health professionals, but I know I’m going to get cut off. So my final tip, just to sum everything up, would be to have a clear strategy, know what you’re posting, know why you’re posting it. It’s always a great idea to batch your content. We can talk more about that within the program. Engagement is super important, so you want to be having conversations with people.

And then my final thing, the biggest freaking thing is to not take it too, too seriously. So don’t let it stress you out. If you feel like this day is a day that showing up on Instagram Stories is going to feel like garbage, you just don’t want to do it, then don’t do it. The world’s not going to end if you don’t show up on Instagram for a day or two days or even three or four days, to be honest. The energy that you bring to the way that you show up is going to come through.

So if you feel good and you feel excited about what you’re sharing, people are going to pick up on that, and they’re going to love hanging out on your page. But if you’re feeling like, “Oh, I don’t want to be here. I hate this.” People are going to pick up on that, too, and it’s not going to go so well. So don’t force yourself through anything. And I think getting clear on your strategy and why you’re there will get you to a place where you do feel excited and you can share in a way that’s really authentic and feels really great for you and your audience as well.

Stephanie: Yeah. Do you think anxiety around something new and how to do it right stops people from doing it at all?

Chris: Oh, my God, yes.

Stephanie: Because when you’re saying, “Hey, it’s fine. It’s fine if you don’t want to do it. It’s fine if you don’t feel good today,” I just see so many people not start, like not create their online program because it’s, “Oh, I’m scared. I’m scared of the technology.” Listen, we can simplify that. It’s going to be fine. But like not show up consistently on Instagram or not start their blog and put anything out in the universe because they want it to be absolutely perfect and right, and they don’t want to mess it up.

And so, yes, Chris, I feel that Chris is saying to us all, “Hey, if you are not having the best day, you don’t have to do anything. No one’s forcing you,” but if you’re putting that added pressure on yourself consistently on a daily basis, and you notice that it’s preventing you from starting, step back and take a moment with that.

Just know that I think in this episode, we’re really capturing that. There’s no one right way to do things. You’re already doing what you’re doing in real life. What you do on Instagram is, just talk to people, connect with them, show up and be helpful and maybe take a little bit of that pressure away from doing everything perfectly to a certain formula that you read somewhere.

I just think in the health professional space, a lot of us are A-type. A lot of us want to do it right. Also, not our fault because we were bred that way through our undergrads and our graduate degrees and our internships, so it’s okay. But let’s do a little healing on this and know that you are perfect just the way you are. You have everything that you need right now to connect with people, and Instagram just gives you another way to reach more people with your incredible message that you can help with your health practice or your program or whatever you’re doing in this space.

Chris: Yeah, and you know what? Perfect is super, super boring. Like, Steph, you like following Sara Blakely, as we talked about Spanx.

Stephanie: Love her.

Chris: What do you love most about her Instagram stories? Is it her with a perfect blowout and a wind fan?

Stephanie: She never has a perfect blowout. Her hair is wild. She’s crazy. She’s the best. I love that things are going a little less perfect. Remember once I asked you like, “Do I still have to have that perfect pattern with the quote and then the image?” And you’re like, “No, that’s so 2018.”

Chris: That is so 2018. It’s great to be free. Be free.

Stephanie: I don’t know how to do that anymore, but, yeah, you’re right. The people that I love are the not perfect people. The perfect people, I don’t want to follow. They make me feel uncomfortable, but Sara Blakely is a billionaire, a self-made billionaire. If you don’t know who she is, who created Spanx, she’s amazing.

She is a funny Instagram to follow, and when she doesn’t do stories, I cry my eyes out. I’m like, “What did you do today, Sara Blakely? What’d you do?” So, yeah, think about the things that the people that you love to follow the most, and know that it’s messy and it’s real and it’s interesting. Yeah, that’s a good last thing to finish on.

All right, well, thank you so much for being here and sharing some of your wisdom with my wonderful audience.

Chris: Thank you for having me. And anyone listening, if you want to nerd out about Instagram or if you have any questions, slide into my DMs. You know I’m hanging out there, so you can find me @sweatywisdom on Instagram.

Stephanie: Yeah, and honestly, if you want more helpful little tips from Chris, then definitely follow her account. I was just following her stories. It was last week or something, and then I messaged her, and I was like, “That little story you just provided was like a workshop, and your story of those top tips, they were so useful.”

If you’re like me, where you’re new to Instagram, and you just want to chat and connect with more people, or if you’ve been doing it for a while, I think that you’ll find the Sweaty Wisdom of Chris, that’s @sweatywisdom on Instagram, has just so much useful stuff to help you.

I think it’s really creative and different, and I think Chris, you show up on your account the way you’re showing up with us today, which is there’s no one right way to do it. There’s lots of cool little ninja tricks that you know that you share. And so, yeah, I love that.

So thanks again for being here with us, and for all of you listening, if you want to get more from Chris, again, you know where to follow her on her accounts. And just know that if you are thinking of doing a workshop with us, learning how to create that online program for your practice, that we do not just leave you hanging after you launch the first time.

We get you there, and then we help you with these trusted resources to provide you with ongoing workshops, so you can continue to grow the audience, reach more people, and get more people enrolled in your program. If you have any questions, you know where to find me @TheLeveragedPractice, and you can hit me up in my DMs. I’m there too. Mostly just texting back and forth with Chris about how amazing her stories are, but you can find me there and chat with me more.

I hope that you found a lot of value in this podcast and you found it helpful. It’s always a pleasure to be here with you, and Chris, thanks for being here again. And, guys, I’ll meet you all back here next time.

Chris: Thanks, Steph.