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Be authentic with Sue B Zimmerman instagram expert and business coach
Sue B. Zimmerman is the marketing industry go-to Instagram marketing educator. Her high-energy and passion for teaching social media is evident from the moment she takes the stage through her closing comments.
She thrives off interacting with audience members, event attendees, and fellow speakers often making herself available post-presentation to continue to the conversation.
Sue is a popular CreativeLive instructor and has been a featured speaker at the largest social media conference Social Media Marketing World.
She has also taken the stage at:
Social Media Camp, ONTRApalooza, and Social Media Day San Diego, as well as specialty industry events such as GIFTE, UWColorado, and Romance Travel Forum.
Free Resource: "Soul Why: Soul Rich Woman Blueprint" and "How to Delegate 80% of your to-do list" ---> https://be.soulrichwoman.com
Money & Me: Get anything you desire this year 5 Day Audio Program: https://www.soulrichwoman.com/money
The podcast features business leaders, celebrities and inspirational figures with guests including Gary Vaynerchuk, Sheryl Sandberg, Elena Cardone, Mary Buffett, Neil Patel, Kim Kiyosaki, Pia Wurtzbac, Gerry Roberts, Grant Cardone, Denise Duffield Thomas, Sue B Zimmerman, Jay Abraham, Robert Kiyosaki, Anik Singal, Blair Singer, Nas Daily, Dame Wendy Tan, Jacy Wee, Freda Liu, Carrie Lee, Success Resources Veronica Tan & Richard Tan and many more.
Hear more about amazing role models from around the world share their inspirational stories and practical tools for personal and professional success. In each episode, creator and host Genecia Alluora draws out the stories and deconstructs the strategies of remarkable figures making an impact. To Own & Love The F-Word: Being Fabulous, Having Freedom, Financial Independence and family.
Genecia Alluora is a former Miss Singapore, Cafe Retail Chain Owner and Southeast Asia Woman of Excellence 2010, 𝑰𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝑷𝒓𝒐𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝑾𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒏 2019. She is the Founder of Soul Rich Woman, the #1 female entrepreneur network in Southeast Asia that connects more than 200,000 women across the region in the ‘Soul F’ membership program. For the past 17 years, Genecia coached celebrities, CEOs and politicians to be seen as a leader on stage. Today, with the Soul Rich Woman Blueprint and online academy, she mentors hundreds of thousands of women to bring their business and leadership brand online. With her coaching products, academy and membership, her vision is to support 1 million women to own and love the F-Word.
[00:00:00]
Sue B Zimmerman: And you rock your personality and you don't hold back You are 100% authentically who you are meant to be. And you just don't give a shit what anyone else thinks about you if they don't like you that's what I believe.
[00:00:16]
Genecia Alluora: A strong and independent woman is something to behold. She pays her own bills, buys her own things, and she doesn't let a man affect her stability or self-confidence. She is a Soul Rich Woman. Are you ready to be rich, doing what you love? Be on purpose and in control of your life again. And For Women Who Love the F-word Podcast, we will be openly talking about getting more clients online, getting recognition as the leader and female entrepreneur, and also the F word. Being fabulous, having freedom and financial independence. It's time to own and love the F word. Welcome to the show.
[00:01:05]
Genecia Alluora: Today we have really a very special guest all the way from Boston. She is none other than Sue B Zimmerman. Now Sue B is an insightful social media educator, energetic speaker, in-demand business coach. Her blog is ranked as one of the top 10 social media blogs in 2017 by Social Media Examiner. She is also one of the most popular creative life instructors and has been named by Huffington Post Top 50 must-follow women entrepreneurs in 2017. Whether she is taking the stage at an industry conference like Social Media Marketing World or working one-to-one with her clients. Sue B is driven to help business owners leverage the power of Instagram to meet and exceed their business goals. As a lifelong entrepreneur, Sue B has over 30 years of business experience. With her extensive knowledge of social media it's Sue B's mission to teach, mentor and empower others. Hello Sue.
[00:02:11]
Sue B Zimmerman: Hello, it's morning there.
[00:01:13]
Genecia Alluora: Yes, morning.
[00:02:14]
Sue B Zimmerman: It's 7.30pm here. It's dark here.
[00:02:18]
Genecia Alluora: Good. It's getting bright over here. Good morning. Well, Sue, thank you so much for joining us today. We just want to get to know you and share with our audience of course about the Instagram tips and stuff. So, first question, when do you first know the power of influence?
[00:02:39]
Sue B Zimmerman: Of influence. I think the power of influence is when other people talk about you. So you don't have to talk about yourself and it's the amplification and broadcast from other people sharing your knowledge.
[00:02:57]
Genecia Alluora: And for, when we talk about this when we discuss about the influence. You know, when you discover Instagram. How does it correlate in developing a person's influence?
[00:03:09]
Sue B Zimmerman: Well, if you're authentic and you share content on Instagram that really is valuable, meaning you educate, empower, or inspire in some way. Where someone you know, scrolls through their feed and stops their thumbs from you know, scrolling and it's a thumb stopping content. And they look at it and they, and it changes something in their mind I think that that's influential. I think that, that is opportunistic. I think that, that is a way to attract other people that you're meant to be serving and to your point growing your business, growing your leads and growing your sphere of influence.
[00:04:00]
Genecia Alluora: And what are some of the common myths that people have about the power of influence?
[00:04:06]
Sue B Zimmerman: Myths that what you're looking at on Instagram is always true because often it's not. There's a lot of people that can fake their Instagram post. Anyone can make a picture look enticing, appealing and manipulative. So I say don't believe everything that you're looking at but because Instagram stories in my opinion are where the real authentic energy can exist on Instagram. If the person who you are actually watching in the story matches up to the feed of their Instagram account, I think that, that gives you an opportunity to influence in a really big way.
[00:04:56]
Genecia Alluora: And what is the most typical reason why people fail at being influential on Instagram?
[00:05:04]
Sue B Zimmerman: Well, when people get other businesses or brands to want to get them to showcase their product or service because they have an audience that is ultimately the same. You can be influential. I'll give you an example. So my 21-year-old daughter and I'll drop the link in the chat for you. Lila, Fresh Fit and Fearless. She is an influencer. She is a vegan. She lives every day as a vegan, traveling and studying and right now she's in Australia. And because she walks the talk authentically. Businesses and brands send her products or pay her to post on Instagram because Lila's following is often the same following that these other brands want to be doing business with. So Lila will get paid or get free products and often the brands will give her a coupon code and a way to attract them to their business. As an influencer Does that make sense?
[00:06:21]
Genecia Alluora: Yes. But usually when people want to attract people to Instagram but there's some obstacles. So what are some of the specific obstacles to gaining influence that you've observed?
[00:06:36]
Sue B Zimmerman: Being 100% authentic. I mean when you say obstacles what are you referring to?
[00:06:45]
Genecia Alluora: Like when they're putting together wheir Instagram account and they're looking at attaining their influence. And usually one of the roadblocks that is.
[00:06:54]
Sue B Zimmerman: Yeah. So I like that question. So honestly it takes time and it takes you know, a lot of time to get to the level that someone like Lila has gotten to. It's been over two years of posting in a way that is educational and inspirational. And looks, it's beautiful to look at the feed is inspiring. And so you've got to be showing up consistently over time in the space that you want to influence. I know that there's many people that want to make money on Instagram. Like I want to gain, I want 100,000 followers so I can get paid to be an influencer. Well, number one is do not ever ever, ever buy follower period or you know, people can tell right away if your followers are not real followers.
[00:07:59]
Sue B Zimmerman: Number two is not every follower is equal. It's more important to be attracting the perfect follower who will ultimately buy your product or service or believe you when you endorse another product or service because they like you. They like your brand. They like your business and they trust you. Right?
[00:08:25]
Genecia Alluora: Yes. Building the know, like, trust score is really important.
[00:08:31]
Sue B Zimmerman: Yeah. It is.
[00:08:33]
Genecia Alluora: But when you're setting up your Instagram feed should they be posting everything into one Instagram account or should they be separating their accounts? Like for example being personal, and your cats, and your dogs.
[00:08:50]
Sue B Zimmerman: Yeah. This is a great question and I'm going to find my blog post where I explain to people the difference between these accounts. And why having a business profile is so important if you are here for business. You absolutely need to have a business account and having a business account means that you keep most of your, most if not all of your personal content off your business account. So if you look at my account. Sue B Zimmerman is my personal account.
[00:09:21]
Genecia Alluora: I follow you.
[00:09:24]
Sue B Zimmerman: I know you follow me and my business account is the Instagram expert. They're very, very different accounts. On my Sue B Zimmerman account it's really getting to know who I am, my core values, kind of my comings and goings. And what I'm doing in my life and that's not necessarily interesting to everybody. So I do have a following there because I influence and I'm a speaker, and I'm a thought leader but the real value goes down on my business account where I teach. I teach Instagram tips. I teach strategies. I talk about new updates. And if you're here following me because you want to know more about Instagram, following the Instagram expert account is more beneficial of your time if you know, if you're not interested in like more information more of me personally.
[00:10:26]
Sue B Zimmerman: So with Instagram's changes specifically with Instagram stories from August 2016 and the growth of Instagram in that the last 100 million Monthly active users occurred in just 4 short months, things have really changed on Instagram. Meaning there are now three different layers. There's three different layers in that you have your beautiful Instagram feed. You have Instagram stories which I love. And I always want to have a rainbow avatar around my face. And you have Instagram live. You have opportunities to really amplify on Instagram. And so I believe that doing more Instagram stories that are valuable, that align with your business is more beneficial than posting frequently on Instagram.
[00:11:32]
Sue B Zimmerman: So for example I kind of called you out today I don't know if you saw it but you had posted a picture of me and you talking about this broadcast which was great. But then you posted something else in your feed after that and this didn't even occur yet. So the content that you're posting I think would have been more beneficial in a story until this is over. You didn't really ride. You didn't really ride the reach of your post. Because you posted on top of this event. So when there is an event and I'll give another example. So I hosted an event here on Cape Cod in Massachusetts for Marie Forleo and we had almost 30 women here. And every single post that I did on my personal account for the past three posts was in the spirit of this event I created a FOMO. A fear of missing out. If you didn't sign up. I let people know what it felt like to be here.
[00:12:46]
Sue B Zimmerman: I showed delicious lobster roll and I hardly ever show food on Instagram. But lobster roll is indicative representative of Cape Cod. So now that, that event is over I posted a photo this morning of me at the beach with a poem all about just the meaning of being grateful. And so Instagram really is a place to personify your stories and Instagram stories can be the real raw authentic real of the posts that you're doing. So for someone like you who does a fabulous job at promoting and broadcasting, and sharing who you are in Asia and globally. Now because you go live we're live here on Facebook. You told me we're live on Twitter. We're live on Periscope. We're live on LinkedIn. OMG! That's a shit ton of places that we're live right now.
[00:13:57]
Sue B Zimmerman: And so you just didn't waited out in my opinion. So now there's people with us live. We've got Michelle B. We've got Allison, Deshawn, Wendy and Che. And it's so great that we've got people in the room. Right? And now what would be really cool is to direct them to your your post on Instagram. And say, Hey I'm here with you and you get to connect to all these people after this broadcast on Instagram. And that's what we're talking about. So that's pretty cool. Are you following my logic here?
[00:14:38]
Genecia Alluora: Yes. Writing on stories. What I'm hearing right now is that I didn't leverage on writing on the stories because it gets buried into newsfeed with the singular Instagram post. So when we leverage on stories it gets it stays there. Right?
[00:14:53]
Sue B Zimmerman: No, no. Stories don't stay there. Stories go away for hours.
[00:14:59]
Genecia Alluora: But it gets seen because it's on the top of our.
[00:15:01]
Sue B Zimmerman: Yeah. Stories. Okay. Let me. Let's back it up. So that all the listeners can benefit because I love Instagram stories and I used to love Snapchat. I'm not on Snapchat anymore. Because of Instagram stories. So Instagram stories can help promote or amplify whatever you have going on that is in your Instagram feed. So when I was doing my event here on Cape Cod. The whole weekend my stories made people feel like they were with me. I took people with me on my walks. I showed people yoga. I showed people what we were eating. I showed people the other guests. And there's like, Oh my gosh I'm so happy to be here today. I feel like I'm with Sue. And all these awesome people on the Cape.
[00:15:57]
Sue B Zimmerman: So Stories allow you to do just that, broadcast and amplify. Yeah. And so in my stories before you and I got on live I did a story telling people we were going to be live on Facebook and I shared our link or your link in Instagram direct messages to a lot of people who I knew would be interested. And as you can see by the people who are in the room with us right now. These are all people that I invited except for NO NNO13. I have no idea who that is because that's not a name. Right?
[00:16:40]
Genecia Alluora: And how often? Because just now you said the frequency of posting. So what do you recommend is the frequency that people are posting on Instagram?
[00:16:52]
Sue B Zimmerman: Great question and I believe that you should post less not more. If you are posting correctly. If you are giving value. If you are educating inspiring or informing in a way that is awesome. An awesome photo you are literally. You know, getting people to stop in their scrolling track and say, Oh my God. That is so cool. And I want to know more I want to read the description. I want to check out who this is. I want to give them a follow. I want to connect with them. If you are not doing that in your Instagram account. You're missing out.
[00:17:45]
Genecia Alluora: What are some of the support or resources have you used in order to gain influence on Instagram?
[00:17:51]
Sue B Zimmerman: Say that again and I love it. I want you to look at the comments right here. And see that Deshawn is here in the room. Because I sent him an Instagram direct message invite.
[00:18:03]
Genecia Alluora: Yeah. So Deshawn says, that's how I'm here by the DM. And Michelle B. says great to hear these great tips. We also have comments on Facebook as well and YouTube and Periscope. So People on Facebook are saying that. Wow this is awesome sharing. And there are people also saying that appealing too is called Alpha Alpha. Thank you for your comments. And Mimi says and engage with you. Yeah, they want to learn how to engage more. In fact.
[00:18:29]
Sue B Zimmerman: Awesome. So they want to learn how to engage more. Where's the best place for me to be dropping links? Is it on Facebook or here in the chat?
[00:18:36]
Genecia Alluora: You can drop the link here because after that I will put it into the show notes on the website.
[00:18:42]
Sue B Zimmerman: All right. So let me just for one second let me just give your listeners a little bit of more information. I'm so glad you guys are enjoying this. And really appreciate you being here. I do have a free Instagram results for business. Facebook page, where everyone can join if they're interested. I also. In that page, I want you to know that there are three training videos. And also a color blocking tutorial for Instagram stories. Like how I create awesome graphics for Instagram stories. So just request to join that group. Wendy, who is here with us helps me kind of with allowing people into that group. Because there's such an influx of interest. A huge shout out to Wendy.
[00:19:30]
Sue B Zimmerman: Also your listeners I want you to know if you are interested and love Instagram for business. My Facebook page is a great place where I share tips, tools, strategies on Facebook. So if you're living on Facebook more than Instagram, know that my Facebook page is amazing. Now you mentioned engagement. So I want you to know our most recent blog post was all about engagement. And how to engage authentically. The operative word here is authentically without any automation on Instagram to really build and grow real relationships.
[00:20:14]
Sue B Zimmerman: And for anyone who is kind of new to Instagram for business. I say like are you seven years late to the Instagram party? And I'm like I've got a post for you right here. And I'm going to give you two more links. One is our free Instagram strategy guide that everyone should be downloading that's listening today. Listening tomorrow. Listening next year. Five years. Like this guide is the gold, Bible. Twenty free pages of content to get you going. Yeah. To get you going and then the last link I'll share is if you're interested. Anyone has Oh, let me be fun about this hold on for one second. I have all the props.
[00:20:59]
Genecia Alluora: You have all the props. Okay. So for anyone who are listening in right now I have all the links that will be posted on Soul Rich Woman website. So don't worry about that. And for those of you who are on Facebook. I've posted some of the links within comments section. So do check those links out in the comments section under the video.
[00:21:19]
Sue B Zimmerman: Yeah, so If you have a hashtag headache. I got a cure for you. And that link will take you to my handbook. My hashtag handbook, the golden handbook that really is amazing and it really. It gives you tips for using hashtags the right way. There's a list of 20 to 40 hashtags for different industries. And we have bonus tips for generating more specific hashtags for your business niche. So many people have asked me I have no idea how to do hashtags. And they get a headache.
[00:22:06]
Genecia Alluora: That's so cute. And you have all the props all prepared.
[00:22:11]
Sue B Zimmerman: Oh yeah, I got all the props.
[00:22:06]
Genecia Alluora: But honestly I mean, despite having all this knowledge. I mean, when you first started, what are some of the hurdles that you personally face on the road to gaining your influence on Instagram? Now that you are such an expert. But before that, how do you? What are some of the hurdles that you personally face?
[00:22:32]
Sue B Zimmerman: Yeah, I really never had any hurdles because I was always 100% authentic. So I started. You guys might be able to see behind me a pie there. I started with my store that's my logo Subidu. I know it's backwards but I had a retail store here on Cape Cod. And I used Instagram as a tool. A tool to bring more traffic into my store. And my retail store grew 40% in one summer. And all the light bulbs went off for me knowing that I needed to help other business owners have more success. And use Instagram in a way that would attract the right buyer. The right customer. I had people coming into my store and saying, Oh my God. I want that. I want that hat. I'm like which one do you want? I got a lot of them.
[00:23:34]
Genecia Alluora: That's a lot.
[00:23:36]
Sue B Zimmerman: Oh, I got more of them over here. But I'm just saying, I sell a lot of hats.
[00:23:46]
Genecia Alluora: And then what compelled you to keep trying? And then attempting to realize I mean do you realize that you actually had to niche in Instagram?
[00:23:56]
Sue B Zimmerman: Yeah, so what I realized. I like this question. So I thought Oh my God. I know Instagram. I'm going to teach everybody in the world how to use Instagram because everyone needs Instagram. And that's not true. And I realized that my sweet spot and my niche is people who are new to Instagram. People who have under a thousand followers. People who are not making money yet. And so I'm not really teaching Big brands like Nike And Starbucks and Lexus how to use Instagram. That's not my wheelhouse. My wheelhouse is passionate business owners who want to make a difference in the world. Who are heart centered and really want to leave a legacy. And so
the more you know about who you want to attract, the more you can create that kind of content.
[00:24:55]
Sue B Zimmerman: And if you look at my Instagram post those are my personal and on my business you really get a sense of my true personality. Right? And so there's not a disconnect and I think often there is a disconnect with the way people think that they need to do Instagram. The way they copy people like Gary Vaynerchuk or other influencers because if they're doing it that way then I should do it that way. And I'm like no you need to do it your way. Your way and you know there's aspects of what makes for a great Instagram account. And in my free Facebook group, I actually have three training videos explaining what you need to do with your photos. Like the commitment to having an Instagram mindset. And the right kind of photos to share on Instagram. That really emotionally pull people in and make them feel like they're with you. Right? So you know I'll give you some I'll give you some quick examples.
[00:26:03]
Genecia Alluora: Yeah, sure.
[00:26:05]
Sue B Zimmerman: I'm going to just hold some of these up for you. So you know I don't know if you can see these. I mean you guys can be scrolling through. These are business cards. But I mean whether it's an object that aligns with your business like a certain mug or whether it is your energy or personality. You know, that people can feel or you know here's my hat again and my Instagram sign. Like you know these are actual Instagram posts. And it makes people feel connected to you or your business, or your brand emotionally. Right? That is the essence of Instagram. It's like here I am on a yacht with my Instagram cookie. And I'm just showing you the water. So it's really in my opinion a strong emotional pull. And makes people feel like they're literally experiencing what you're posting.
[00:27:10]
Genecia Alluora: And how important is it to engage emotions? I mean this is a very important point I feel. Because people are just posting for the sake of posting like what you said. Yeah.
[00:27:22]
Sue B Zimmerman: Yeah. So I say don't post if you you know. Don't just check it off your to-do list done and done Instagram posted. If your Instagram post is not of high value then don't post. Spend more time engaging and maybe doing Instagram stories. You've got to wait to have the perfect post and the perfect caption and understand who are you talking to. Who are you trying to attract? Because most people Are attracting their competition. Most people are attracting their competition and attracting people in their industry not their customers.
[00:28:00]
Genecia Alluora: Oh, wow. This is a very great point. So tell me something about this that few people ever realize.
[00:28:07]
Sue B Zimmerman: Yeah, I mean people use the wrong hashtags. So people marketers are the perfect example. Marketers tend to attract marketers and all the marketers are basically competing a lot for the same kind of customer. And they're just all posting the same stuff with the same quotes or the same look or the same feel. And it's all the same old, same old. And they're just all kind of in a circle of marketer likes marketer and it's just I see it every day. And I'm more, I am more. I am most concerned and most happy when I grow my email list. And so we do that every week. We get about 200 and 250 new email opt-ins from Instagram. That's a lot.
[00:29:03]
Genecia Alluora: Wow! That's a lot.
[00:28:05]
Sue B Zimmerman: That's a free platform. And when you opt in like I shared with you all my link to my strategy guide. When you opt in and download my free strategy guide we're not selling you anything. We are nurturing that relationship over a period of time with emails that we've crafted so that you can you get to know me better and I get to know you better. So that when we do have something that we're offering and selling you will feel more comfortable purchasing it.
[00:29:38]
Genecia Alluora: But what do you think is holding women? Let's talk about women. What do you think is holding women back in really putting themselves out there and shining in the position of influence?
[00:28:51]
Sue B Zimmerman: I don't know. Most of the women I hang out with and mentor and teach don't get held back. I don't know. Maybe confidence. Maybe they don't like their hair, or their smile, or they have wrinkles, or they're not comfortable on camera. There's all kinds of issues. I think the number one trait that at least I hear over and over again about my sphere of influence is my confidence. I have a lot of confidence to do well because I've been teaching so long. And I've had so many businesses. But if you don't have confidence in what you do no one's going to really want to be purchasing from you. You've got to be able to say I charge $500 an hour for a strategy session. And I will not get off the phone unless you get the value for that investment.
[00:30:41]
Sue B Zimmerman: You've got to say that with conviction. And not like well I kind of charge $500 an hour but I know it's a lot of money and maybe I'll give you a discount. I don't do that.
[00:29:59]
Genecia Alluora: That would be terrible. Okay, Wendy is saying, Wow you're amazing.
[00:31:05]
Sue B Zimmerman: When do I say what?
[00:29:07]
Genecia Alluora: Wendy is saying on the comment section. Wow, you're so amazing.
[00:31:11]
Sue B Zimmerman: I love her. She's one of my coaching clients.
[00:31:15]
Genecia Alluora: When you mention about, Sue. When you mention about the Instagram mindset. Could you please share a little bit more about this?
[00:31:22]
Sue B Zimmerman: Sure anyone that was with me over the weekend knows exactly what I'm talking about. I always look at life as I see the world visually. I see photos and opportunities. I see flowers and the ocean, and the lighting, and the beauty, and little vignettes. Everyone in my house was like, Oh my god your whole house is like an Instagram museum because everything looks like this.
[00:31:55]
Genecia Alluora: Wow.
[00:31:56]
Sue B Zimmerman: For the most part, I don't know if you can see over there on my shelf. On my mantle but I like beauty and I see beauty in everything. And I know how important good lighting, and I know angles. And I know what pulls people at their emotional core. People love looking at beautiful nature. People love being love, laughing and seeing things that are entertaining. People love learning and so I am able to step outside and I live in beautiful places. Whether it's in the city of Boston or here on the Cape. So I know that I have the opportunity to always have either a gorgeous skyscraper, or a beautiful yacht, or you know ocean view. And I know that's not true for everybody. But an Instagram mindset is literally looking at life through the lens of beauty and attraction to Visuals That you can tell stories with.
[00:33:18]
Genecia Alluora: But does it include videos? Because on Instagram you can post one minute videos as well.
[00:33:22]
Sue B Zimmerman: Oh, yeah. I love videos.
[00:33:25]
Genecia Alluora: How would you use you know, stories versus an image versus a video.
[00:33:32]
Sue B Zimmerman: I've been doing more videos lately because videos get a lot more views for me than a post or a photo especially a boomerang. I have a lot of fun with boomerangs. It's my favorite, favorite app. And so that kind of counts as a video. And you can get a lot of views. I've been doing a lot of videos. Here's a video of me doing a lot of videos of me rollerblading on the Cape. Taking people with me looking at the beauty around me. And you know I am rollerblading. So people feel like they're with me skating. And I'm showing them Cape Cod. The houses, the flags, the fences. This is where I live in the summer and people that have never been on the Cape feel like they're with me.
[00:34:21]
Sue B Zimmerman: So this is a stop and go video that you can do right in Instagram. And you can get a minute do it on Instagram and you get a minute to do the video which is awesome. And that's the ocean right up the street from me. And I'm having a really good time just hanging out rollerblading which is my favorite exercise to do on the Cape. And it was during the daylight so I saw my shadow and I'm waving my hand with my shadow as I'm skating. And I'm just having a great time and that is a video in Instagram. Really fun, right?
[00:34:54]
Genecia Alluora: Yeah. It's really fun. It's really very fun. In fact, when you earlier mentioned that, you know, when you said people are looking at Gary Vaynerchuk because he is one of the key opinion leaders, now people are looking at him and people say, Oh, I want to follow him. So how do we actually create our own style and find our own, you know area of influence? I mean, not even niche but like the style of the post like you mentioned. You know, photos, the strategy and posting. You know, engaging.
[00:35:24]
Sue B Zimmerman: Yeah, great question. Yeah, you have to spend time thinking about your brand and your core values and iconic things about you that make people think of you. So for me I have a nautical Cape Cod, New England overtone with the style of how I dress. And the imagery around me and that's all weaved into my messaging and the way my website looks, and my communication, and it's consistent. The problem I see is there's the problem I see over and over and over again. Is the lack of consistency. And I'm so confused. I have no idea what you do. You might be a podcaster but I'm looking at yoga. You might be a coach but I'm looking at your baby. Like I don't know I have no idea what you do. Like I get on calls three times a week, fifteen minute calls.
[00:36:30]
Sue B Zimmerman: They're discovery calls and often people end up purchasing my course. Ready, set, gram from the calls but often I am so confused at what I'm looking at. I'm like I don't know what you do. I have no idea what you do. I see a quote same one Gary Vaynerchuk had, or maybe it's Oprah, or maybe it's Steve Jobs but is that your brand? Yeah, quotes get a lot of likes. So what? Are they the right quotes for your business? So I don't care about the likes. I don't care about the followers. I care about the conversions.
[00:37:08]
Genecia Alluora: Let's talk a little bit more about engagement leading to conversions. I love that you said that, is it a quote from Oprah? Is it a quote from Steve Jobs, or Gary? And people are just copying outright. So when you talk about that conversion and that engagement you transit or move that engagement across to having 250 leads a week to your email list.
[00:37:35]
Sue B Zimmerman: Because I authentically engage with any and everyone who actually leaves me an intelligent comment.
[00:37:47]
Genecia Alluora: An intelligent comment?
[00:37:50]
Sue B Zimmerman: Yeah.
[00:37:51]
Genecia Alluora: How do you define intelligent comment?
[00:37:55]
Sue B Zimmerman: When someone says, nice pic. And I'm like, yeah, but it's a video. Sorry, but not sorry. You're a bot.
[00:38:05]
Genecia Alluora: Ahh...
[00:38:06]
Sue B Zimmerman: I can spot people who are leaving comments that are just trying to sell me something or to get me to follow them. Often people say, love your energy, or I know you'll want to follow me. Come on over and check out. I'm like, how do you know I want to follow you? Like? So I notice real comments. And if you look at my account and you look at my comments, you will see that real people are leaving real comments that have profound meaning with intention. So there's a lot of people with thousands of likes on their posts. You can pay people in India and China to like photos. You can use third party apps to like your photos. You can join all kinds of pods to get people to like your photos.
[00:39:01]
Sue B Zimmerman: So I don't care about likes for the sake of likes. I care about likes for the sake of engagement and comments. Because obviously with the algorithm more eyeballs see your post when you get the most engagement as soon as you post. But I really care about the relationships and the people who choose to opt in to my strategy guide and become a part of my community. Whether it's my free community, Instagram results for business or it's my paid community Ready, Set, Gram. I nurture those people who are attracted to me, and my business, and my services.
[00:39:43]
Genecia Alluora: And how do you encourage people to get started? I mean to move from just posting and getting the followers to really building a relationship? Because when they're new, like you said, people under 1,000 followers they are trying to understand what is Instagram. How do you? How do they even get started to build that relationship?
[00:40:07]
Sue B Zimmerman: It's just comment on other people's content that you like. That's the start. It's like really taking the time, scheduling time in your calendar, in your day to engage and comment more than posting if you are just getting posted started. You can just watch, observe, like. See what you like.
[00:40:35]
Genecia Alluora: And earlier you did mention, Sue that automation. You know, how people are using scheduling tools. Can you probably just share a little bit about your opinion on that? I think that would be.
[00:40:46]
Sue B Zimmerman: Yeah. So there's many scheduling tools. My friends over at later media have a great tool Hootsuite has a great tool. I personally love and use Planoly when I'm in the middle of the day and I travel. So if I go to Singapore to speak at your conference next year I will use Planoly to schedule some posts because it takes so friggin' long to get there. And chances are I'm not going to have Wi-Fi. And I'm going to want to post. So Planoly is my go-to app for that at Planoly I'll drop the link here so you know what it is. And really great tool. Yeah.
[00:41:26]
Genecia Alluora: And when you talk about scheduling because we want to talk about automation. I think this is a great great one. For the part you said don't just keep relying on that automation. But when you say still using some form of automation, how do you find a balance between full automation with bots versus you know, still having some life authenticity in that you know, scheduling?
[00:41:52]
Sue B Zimmerman: I don't. The only scheduling I use is to schedule you know, my post. I don't use any scheduling tool for anything outside of that.
[00:42:05]
Genecia Alluora: Wow. That's really cool. And what books are you reading? Are you reading any books?
[00:42:13]
Sue B Zimmerman: I mostly listen to books on Podcasts but a couple books that I like are The Obstacle Is the Way By Ryan Holiday. The Lead Machine By Rich Brooks. I like that one a lot. And which one have I been reading. Let me. My brain's a little fried. I'm a little tired right now. Let me. Oh. You know, I always go back. I always go back to Book Yourself Solid by Michael Port's book. I listen to that. I listen to that frequently. He was my first business coach.
[00:43:00]
Genecia Alluora: What do you like about that book?
[00:43:03]
Sue B Zimmerman: I love that book because that is the book that made me, that gave me the mindset to only work with people that are my Red Velvet Rope policy clients. That make me feel good and don't make me feel like I'm working. So I fired all my clients that I didn't like. And I only work with awesome people like Allison, like Deshawn, like Wendy. Like, yeah. Like Marla, like the people that are showing up here. That's Book Yourself Solid for people that want to see it. Yeah
[00:43:41]
Genecia Alluora: Yeah. And how long have you really been on Instagram, Sue?
[00:43:45]
Sue B Zimmerman: Five years. Almost five years.
[00:43:47]
Genecia Alluora: Wow. And it took you five years to get from where you were to where you are now. And would you want to like to share with our viewers you know, where they can develop their potential with you? Is it through the link on the website?
[00:44:05]
Sue B Zimmerman: I think that. Yeah. Well I think the best way for people to...
[00:43:12]
Genecia Alluora: Contact you.
[00:44:13]
Sue B Zimmerman: Connect, well to contact. To go to my website but I'm dropping a link right now is to download this guide.
[00:44:18]
Genecia Alluora: Yeah. Yep. Okay, I will share the link in the show notes.
[00:44:25]
Sue B Zimmerman: Yeah, that's my strategy guide. That is the best way to contact me. You can go to my website. My website SueBZimmerman.com. You can be there for days. If you want to read a lot of you know information about Instagram. If you're someone looking to fast track and grab my course I can put the link there. If you want me to grab my course. I also have an amazing YouTube channel that you could be watching me for days and days and days. That I'll drop that link here as well. I also do a free 15 minute call as Allison just mentioned. It's on my website SueBZimmerman.com as well. So for anyone that wants to do that I would love to give your listeners a challenge. Is that okay?
[00:45:14]
Genecia Alluora: Yeah, sure.
[00:45:17]
Sue B Zimmerman: Okay. So I invite all of you to head on over to Instagram and look at my last post which is me sharing the new writing tool with the heart on my cloud post. Right here. And I will be. I would love for you guys to come over to at the Instagram expert and comment and say double tap, comment and say, #SueBLive so that I know that you guys tuned into me Live. That's my hashtag. Because when this broadcast is over I spend most of my time on Instagram. And if you guys want to get my attention. Come on over and say SueBLive on that post and I'll see you next time. And I'll know that you were tuning in and listening to me here on this awesome interview.
[00:46:13]
Genecia Alluora: Yay. Okay, Sue. Just a couple of rounds of quick fire questions.
[00:46:19]
Sue B Zimmerman: Yeah, go for it.
[00:46:20]
Genecia Alluora: Before we hit there. Last part I think one common question that people are always asking. Where do we find out what hashtags do they use to get started?
[00:46:31]
Sue B Zimmerman: Yeah. I gave you my hashtag handbook. And it's really important not to use the popular hashtags that everyone else uses. Because you'll never get any visibility in those hashtags. It's more important to use the niche hashtags and the guide that I'm talking about is SueBZimmerman.com/hh. I dropped the link here. For you. A little bit. Yeah. I mean. That really is for anyone who is struggling with hashtags.
[00:47:03]
Genecia Alluora: Okay. So Guys and girls if you're listening to me, to this right now. I will be dropping up the links on the website Soulrichwoman.com. In the show notes on Sue B's interview. So don't worry about that. You can go there and grab them. So Sue, when people ask you what do you do? How do you answer that?
[00:47:21]
Sue B Zimmerman: I teach business owners how to get more visibility online by teaching visual storytelling through Instagram.
[00:47:33]
Genecia Alluora: What's the first word that comes to mind when I say work?
[00:47:39]
Sue B Zimmerman: Fun.
[00:47:40]
Genecia Alluora: Family?
[00:47:41]
Sue B Zimmerman: Love.
[00:47:43]
Genecia Alluora: Entrepreneurship?
[00:47:45]
Sue B Zimmerman: Fucking hustle.
[00:47:47]
Genecia Alluora: Technology?
[00:47:50]
Sue B Zimmerman: I know you. Technology? Empowerment.
[00:47:55]
Genecia Alluora: Influence?
[00:47:57]
Sue B Zimmerman: Power.
[00:47:59]
Genecia Alluora: Food?
[00:48:01]
Sue B Zimmerman: Health.
[00:47:01]
Genecia Alluora: Tell us which application or service you're using for travel.
[00:48:08]
Sue B Zimmerman: Oh, my goodness. I just discovered this great app Called Google Trips.
[00:47:14]
Genecia Alluora: Oh. What does it do?
[00:48:16]
Sue B Zimmerman: You're gonna have to Follow my YouTube video. It's gonna be in my next release. You'll learn all about it. I talk about my top seven apps.
[00:48:25]
Genecia Alluora: Wow. Okay cool. Meeting scheduling?
[00:48:29]
Sue B Zimmerman: Calendly.
[00:48:30]
Genecia Alluora: What piece of tech you can't live without?
[00:48:34]
Sue B Zimmerman: My iPhone.
[00:48:36]
Genecia Alluora: What do you excel at that people might not realize?
[00:48:40]
Sue B Zimmerman: Well. That they might not realize. I think I excel at connecting people together. Like connecting relationships so that other people can have success through my network.
[00:49:02]
Genecia Alluora: What is something you believe that other people think is insane?
[00:48:40]
Sue B Zimmerman: I believe that #shitton is a great word.
[00:49:12]
Genecia Alluora: What's your favorite city?
[00:49:15]
Sue B Zimmerman: Favorite city is Boston. Where I live.
[00:49:18]
Genecia Alluora: Awesome. What is the one last thought or piece of advice that you may have missed. That you want to share with my audience today?
[00:49:26]
Sue B Zimmerman: Yeah. I think patience is a virtue. And nothing happens overnight. I have been hustling with heart for over 25 years as an entrepreneur. I've had 18 different businesses. My first million dollar business was when I was 22. And I've been on QVC. I've had a lot of great success and experiences in my life but the true measurement of living your life full on I believe is when you are at peace with your stories. Your own stories. Your character. Like who you are and your core values and your ethics. And you rock your personality. And you don't hold back. You are 100% authentically who you are meant to be. And you just don't give a shit what anyone else thinks about you. If they don't like you that's what I believe.
[00:50:29]
Genecia Alluora: Wow. That's an awesome piece of advice. Thank you so much, Sue.
[00:50:34]
Genecia Alluora: Thank you so much for joining me today. I'm so honored that we are connected and I hope that I can continue to serve you as you build your dreams. And if you love this episode, and I hope that you did, please share it with your friends and family. This has been a Rated Five star show. Give us that glowing review because it will helping more women around the world finding the Soul Rich Woman podcast. Alone you are strong, together we are unstoppable. Now share this with every woman who needs it because this is how we are changing the world one woman at a time. As always, get out of your comfort zone and go towards the dreams you always wanted to achieve. For women who love the F word, being fabulous, having freedom and financial independence. My dear soul rich woman, sending you my love and I'll speak to you soon. Bye for now.