Episode 41: Small Business Tips - How to humanise your business and build connection and community on Instagram and other social media
It’s time to make more connections with the people you serve. Where? Well, in your DMs! In this quick tip episode, Fiona shares with us a very simple tip she uses on platforms like Instagram to make the connection with her audience more genuine and help strengthen relationships.
Topics discussed in this episode:
Introduction
On podcasts and the voice format
Instagram voice messages
Reasons why you need to try it now
How to add this into your communications
Conclusion
Resources mentioned in this episode:
Episode transcript:
Hello and welcome to Episode 41 of My Daily Business Coach podcast. Okay, we are not messing about today. We're getting straight into this quick tip episode. And today's tip is all about Instagram. Yey!
Actually, I should say it's not just about Instagram, but it's a it's. What would it call it? A tip tool or tactic? It is a tip and a tactic that you could use on the tool that is Instagram, but you can also use it elsewhere.
But if Instagram is a key marketing and connection channel for your small business, you'll want to stick around. Just before I get stuck in, though, two things. One, I wanted to say a massive thank you to every single person who has listened to this podcast, who has shared it with a small business friend or has posted about it on social media or left a review. Now it's this last one leaving a review that is just so helpful to allow this podcast to get found by other small business owners.
So if you have a few seconds, it literally takes like one second to tap the five stars on your podcast app. Or if you are on iTunes or wherever else you listen to your podcast, literally, you can just tap the stars. You can track five stars, please. Or if you have more time, I would love it if you could write a review. I read them all. It just powers me on when I'm sort of in a lull or anything else like that. So thank you, thank you, thank you.
The second thing, if you're not following me on Instagram, we're talking about Instagram today. Definitely go over and connect with me there. I'm at @mydailybusinesscoach. I share lots of tips and all sorts of things over on the gram. But anyway, let's get back to today's quick tip episode. It is a really useful one. So let's get stuck in.
Okay, so you are listening to this podcast right now. Thank you very much. You could be doing lots of different things. So thank you. And you're hearing my voice. You can't see me. I don't have one of those flash podcasts where there's visuals. It is just my voice you're listening to. And in many cases, this is forming the idea or the feeling that, you know me - you're somehow getting just from my voice alone all of these ideas about me. And, you know, voice is a really intimate thing. We can listen to someone be interviewed or we can listen to them seeing or, you know, read poetry or something else. And we can feel really connected to them in a way that perhaps we don't when we see a static image like a photograph or something posted on social or we read an interview. It's just not the same sort of level of connection.
And we all know people that have a really soothing voice or a funny voice or an interesting voice or a deep, serious voice or just a lovely voice. And we make assumptions from that - good and bad. We make assumptions based on a voice. And we all you know, even if we think we don't, we really do. But we all most of the time, like I said, we can feel this connection because of the way somebody sounds to us or the different intonations in their voice or the way they laugh or the way they say a certain word. Those are all really human connections. And this is a large part of the reason that podcasts have done so well, particularly in the last five to 10 years, in terms of being a marketing channel, they’re one of the best that's out there right now, which is why everybody's starting a podcast.
And I mean, the reached the absolute gigantic reach that this podcast has had already. And the downloads have been incredible. And I'm not saying that to boast. I'm saying it as purely somebody who was like, let's see if I get one hundred and fifty downloads and I've been able to get a crazy amount more than that. And it's been incredible, particularly because I only launched a few months ago. Voice marketing and that that is what podcasts are predominantly, you know. Yes, everybody's learning things, but people are putting them there as a marketing tool for their business or themselves in personal branding space. But voice marketing, it creates a sense of intimacy.
The other thing about listening, rather than, you know, having to watch a video webinar or reading a book is that we can do other things whilst we listen so we can be going for a walk or working out or driving or cooking or gardening or all sorts of things. And also getting this great information, whether it's, you know, entertainment or education.
Years ago, I worked at Audible in the UK and I consulted on their launch into Australia. And in both instances, more so in the UK, because it was earlier, it was about 2012. We were looking at various ways to market the brand so that at the time it could compete with e-readers and e-readers were the thing at the time. You know, I was living in London. And if you're on the tube, you literally would look around and every single person would be on an e-reader. Smartphones were nowhere near what they are today. And also social media, it was there for sure, but it definitely wasn't as dominant, I guess, as it is today.
And so it just seems laughable. But at the time, we were like, “OK, how can we get people on to reading and listening to books instead of reading them on their e-readers?” And it just it does seem laughable because right now, like we are all so used to listening, listening while we work, listening while we sweat, listening while we clean the house, listening while we travel. Let's hope to God we can get back to travelling.
But what I'm trying to say is that the iPod and the way that technology has changed and smartphones and all of that have just made listening so easy and so accessible, whether it's music or it's audio books or it's a podcast, whatever.
It's just such a natural part of our daily lives. So you might be thinking, well, yeah, great. I totally get that. But why are you even talking about this in a tip episode? And that's because today I want to discuss something I do all the time, literally daily, especially in the days and I'm working that has helped me build connection with my audience and in turn build my business.
Ready?
Well, it is Instagram voice messages.
Yes, sending voice messages rather than typing back to people in the DMs on Instagram is something I've been doing since this was first introduced on the platform. I think it was the tail end of 2018. Sending and receiving Instagram DMs alone has been a really great thing for my business, but particularly when I've shifted to voice messages in the DMs. It has just been super helpful for my business in terms of strengthening relationships, you know, building new connections and generally cultivating a community.
Now, for some of you listening, you might not even know that you can send a voice message on Instagram and you can also send these on text message. So, like, away from social media, just whatever app you're using to send your text messages, like whatever app comes with your phone, you can use a voice message rather than a text message. You can do it on WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, all of that. So I do this a lot in my business. And some of the reasons that I do it are - it creates an instant connection. It's not just some random person managing my social media or a V.A. or whatever. It's me. And I'm real and I'm human. And the minute I send that voice message, that is all apparent.
The other reasons could be it allows me to say a lot without having to type all the time and to say things interest in natural language, to make jokes or laugh or do whatever I'd naturally do that doesn't. That kind of tone doesn't always necessarily come across in a text format. Also, I don't have to type it perfectly or spell check or do things like that.
And also, it saves time. I have two young children and if a client messages me about something, sometimes it's easier and quicker to just pick it up and record my voice and my answer back that way. Then trying to type or trying to think, well, I'll get back to them when I go outside. I have an office outside our house. And so I'll, you know, think, oh, my laptop's there. I've got to go in there and type it all up. Whereas I can just get on the D.M. and record myself saying whatever I need to save back. So it saves a lot of time.
Now, there are some downsides to sending voice messages, particularly in Instagram DMs. Some of them on Instagram. It's a really stupid rule. I don't know why they have it, but they started in 2018 with this and they haven't actually updated it. And they really could shout out to anyone who works at Instagram, if you're listening. You can only record one minute at a time. So it cuts you off. So literally you'll be recording and you'll be like in your flow and then it'll just stop. So you can only record one minute at a time. So you have to then record another one and another one and another one.
On text message, so if you do this on text message or you're using it to like, what's up? It doesn't have a time limit, which is awesome.
The other things that are kind of annoying is you can't flick back and read a message. So if you've had all these dams with people on Instagram and you're like, oh, what was that person? You know, what was that thing that they sent me or what was the name of that person they recommended or what's their email address that I asked them for or whatever? And you're just scrolling back through your DM message, you know, back and forth, all your text messages or whatever. You can usually read that, but you obviously can't see that if you have had voice messages. So you have to play them again to listen to whatever the content is.
The other thing is it can look as if people have played them when they've just tapped it. So it's not the same as you know, which is every stock is like paradise. The fact that when you send a message on Instagram, you can instantly see if someone's seen it because it will say scene where as if you send a voice message on Instagram, if I just tap that and I only listen to like the first second and it's a one minute thing or 10 minutes and you've got ten different messages there, you will. It will show that they've seen it even if they haven't necessarily played the entire thing.
And also, it can get, you know, very, very occasionally it can get glitchy. So someone might send you three voice messages in a row and maybe the first to work on the other one doesn't. That rarely happens, but it has happened.
But overall, the reason that I'm sharing this as a tip is that I really do think voice messages, particularly on social media, can just be such a fantastic way to build connections and not just with your clients or customers or people who are contacting you. I've used these to reach out to people to be a guest on my podcast. And I think that the voice, again, makes it sort of real and almost like they want to get back to you versus a random email that might be sent. I've sent them to people who've downloaded a freebie from my website or bought one of my courses.
And I'll just literally look at, you know, who's bought a course. And I'll go in. I'll find them on Instagram and I'll send them voice mail and I'll say, “Hey, hey, you know, it's Fiona. I know that you bought my course recently. How are you going? I love what you're doing with your business.” And I know I might have looked at their Instagram and and said some other things that are relevant to them and the amount of people that are like, oh, my God. One, I didn't know you could do this in Instagram DMs. And two, this is so nice to hear from you. And three, this is how I'm going with your course.
So instantly I'm getting feedback, but I'm also building that connection. And of course, I know they're a great way to keep in touch with friends or family or business friends or whoever. It's just a really nice thing. I used to live in London and I had my first son over there, I was there in my early 20s and my late 20s. And I have a good friend over there. And it's just really funny. We haven't actually spoken for a long time, but we message quite a bit. And the other day I was like, you know what? I'm just going to send some voice messages because I was busy and I was just like, I'm just going to do it that way.
And then she instantly was like, oh, my God, I didn't know you could you know, she got her lovely London accent, but she said, “Oh, my God, I didn't know you could send these.” And then, you know, her beautiful voice, not my accent does not do justice. But, you know, she then was sending me voice messages and it was just lovely to hear her voice.
And it was lovely to hear, you know, the hustle bustle of London. And she was talking about what road she was walking down. And I used to live near there. And so it was just this instant kind of memory. And that was really lovely. And I wouldn't have got that through just a typed text message in the Instagram DMs.
So if you're someone who listens to podcast and you find yourself enjoying voice format, then think about or ask yourself why you're not doing this when it comes to communicating with your clients or customers or audiences on platforms like social media, which can tend to be sometimes quite distant, they can feel very attached or detached, or sometimes when you're messaging especially a larger company or even a larger company, but a company or a brand that seems to have a lot of followers, you can sometimes think, well, is that person the person who's actually checking the DMs or is it an assistant or somebody else? And I think this voice message really allows you to have those connections and have that humanity that comes into your business.
And I talk about that a lot, having humanity in your brand. And this is one way that you can do it very simply and for free
So you want to think, how might you add this into the mix of your communications? How might you start testing how it could work for your business? And if you're listening to this and you're thinking, well, that's all nice. Fiona, you're used to doing this. You're on podcasts. I'm not used to doing this. I don't even send that many DMs. I'd like to have a go, and I'm not really sure. Then send me a voice message like. Come on over. Come on over. Come on over to @mydailybusinesscoach. I'm on Instagram.
Send me a voice message and we can have a chat in the DMs and I can chat back to you and give you some advice. So it's not as scary as it seems, but it's just one step forward, two humanising a business and really building connection. So that is it for today's Quick Tip episode, if you want to read the show notes and the full transcript. You can, of course, do that over at mydailybusinesscoach.com/podcast/41. Thank you again for listening.
Like I said at the start, if you can be bothered, I would love it if you could leave a review. It just really, really helps. Thanks so much. See you next time.
Thanks for listening to the My Daily Business Coach podcast. If you want to get in touch, you can do that at mydailybusinesscoach.com or hit me up on Instagram at @mydailybusinesscoach.
If you have a few seconds, it literally takes like one second to tap the five stars on your podcast app. Or if you are on iTunes or wherever else you listen to your podcast, literally, you can just tap the stars. You can track five stars, please. Or if you have more time, I would love it if you could write a review.
