How to Optimize Your Instagram Profile for Freelance Business Growth

Friends, want to turn your Instagram into a lead magnet for booking clients for your freelance business? Well dust off your diary ladies, because we're breaking down exactly how to optimize your profile for cooking up business! 📝

In this ep, we'll share our best tips for:

☕ Crafting attention-grabbing (but honest!) bios
☕ Putting IG's newest features to work FOR you
☕ Configuring your username, name + pins for ideal visibility
☕ Attracting great prospects through value-driven content

The strategies we'll reveal are not what the Instagram ‘Experts’ preach - no thirst traps here! Just authentic tactics for making your Insta enticing to ideal prospects amidst the sea of spam.

Consider this your crash course on transforming Instagram from time-suck into lead generation powerhouse! We did it, and we'll show you how step-by-step. 😎

Go grab a fresh Matcha! Let's figure out this IG puzzle together...

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💾 Check out our favorite Project Management and daily digital planner - Sunsuma! Sign up for a 30 Day Free Trial and make work-life balance a reality so you can feel calm and stay focused. 

If you are loving this episode, share it on your Instagram stories and tag us (links below) 📲

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Transcript

latara_1_12-05-2023_123444: [00:00:00] Hello everybody. Welcome back to the Burnout freelancer. Molly and I are here today to talk to you about a really fun topic little bit different than we've talked about in the past. But don't worry, it's still related to your freelance journey and it's about how to get more qualified leads on Instagram. And we're gonna talk about a step that is kind of a big step and can sometimes feel a bit overwhelming because there's So many moving pieces. There's so much information coming in and out about what you should do, about what you should do from all those IG gurus and experts as they like to call themselves. So we're here to tell you the basic things that you need to make sure you have optimized and taken care of to help you be found on Instagram. Because being found on Instagram is a really great way to grow. Your client base when you are getting yourself out there, or to continuously have leads coming in, get calls booked, people [00:01:00] to learn more about you. It's just a really great way to be found. And the reason why is because Instagram is now like, well, has been for quite some time, but a lot of people are finally understanding it. You can use Instagram like SEO and that is really helpful because if you don't have a website, it's just a fun way to be found for free. Okay, so what we're gonna do today is Molly is going to ask me some questions, and I'm going to share my strategies on how to optimize, how to tackle these hurdles and how to go about, make sure that you have everything covered inside of your feed in regards to your name, your handle, your profile picture, your pinned post, your bio, your links, all that stuff.

latara_1_12-05-2023_123444: So. We're pretty pumped. We hope you like it. And make sure to send us an email and let us know which thing you're gonna work on this week to help optimize your Instagram at. I'm tired@theburnoutfreelancer.com. All right, let's get [00:02:00] into the show.

Molly Block: All right. I'm gonna be asking her some questions today, and I do wanna be candid with everyone. The reason I'm asking LaTara, most of the questions is I. I don't use my Instagram the correct way, so I'm learning just along with you guys. I have got most of my clientele from referrals, so I haven't utilized my own Instagram to its fullest potential.

Molly Block: That's why most of these questions are gonna be asked to LaTara. She has been doing this for quite some time. And, you know, I'm excited again to just learn along with you guys and get some fantastic tips and tricks and support. So let's just begin with question one. Question number one is how to get more qualified leads on Instagram.

LaTara Dunn: Okay. So there's a lot of ways to go about doing that, and the base of it is the foundation of this episode, and it's to make sure that your Instagram is fully optimized [00:03:00] to, its fullest capacity and your, uh, ability and skillset. And so there's a few key components on how to do that, and you wanna make sure that your account is set up. aS a business account, you're, you have a clear profile picture and you have a link, and we're going to talk more about that as this episode goes on. So, the first place I'm gonna start at is if you have not created an Instagram account, you wanna go ahead and create one right away, and maybe you're like, Nope. I'm not Instagram, I'm only Facebook. I'm not gonna do it. That's fine. , maybe you only do LinkedIn, that TikTok, whatever. A lot of these things I'm gonna say apply to those platforms as well. So please pay attention. So you're gonna make sure that your Instagram account is set up as a business account instead of a personal account.

LaTara Dunn: And the reason you're gonna do that is because you want to be able to have access to your [00:04:00] professional dashboard, which is going to show you your metrics of your account, how many people are finding you, how many people were watch certain reels, how many posts were saved. And all of these things are extremely. Important, which we're not gonna talk about those details, but we can talk about that another day. But just make sure that it's set up as a business account. So the biggest question that people say is, well, I only have one Instagram account. Should I create a second account?

LaTara Dunn: Should I turn my personal account into my business account? And I personally turned my personal account into my business account. And now I I pretty much only post business related content on my Instagram and in my stories is where I post personal stuff. What about you, Molly?

Molly Block: Yeah, so at one point had two and one, it just became too much for me. Like I track and so I converted. I got rid of my personal account and I [00:05:00] converted. The other one to a business account. And again, just gonna be candid with everybody on my business account. I don't use it to its full potential.

Molly Block: I post a lot of mismatch content. You know, I'll post some DIY stuff, I'll post some podcast stuff. But again, I don't really utilize it in the complete capacity that I should to capture those leads in my stories is more like funny, personal. And then on my page is just, 

Molly Block: been posting stuff that to me would get a lot of views. So then once I gain the following, then I would be able to slowly transition my account. So I'm posting the correct content, you know, I'm promoting my offerings little motivational quotes, podcast information. So my goal is to eventually be[00:06:00] 

Molly Block: All about the business on that account, but I'm trying to grow it first and actually get a following that's engaging with me. 

Molly Block: So I am really trying to be more professional on that page.

LaTara Dunn: Nice. And some people say that, sometimes it makes sense to just start a brand new

LaTara Dunn: account, if you like. Right now I would not start a brand new account for. My freelance business, maybe I'll start another account for something else

LaTara Dunn: just to test it, but at this point, I'm not gonna start it over.

LaTara Dunn: For my freelance business, I have acquired quite a decent, amount of followers, followers that are strictly following me for my business, so I don't wanna lose them,

LaTara Dunn: but it has been said and proven. Starting a fresh account sometimes can work really well to your benefit, but to do that you need to understand these steps that we're going over today.

LaTara Dunn: Because if you're just starting from scratch and you still have no [00:07:00] idea what you're doing, you're still gonna have a dead account. And a lot of times people wanna start the accounts over because , their account's been dead for so long. It's really hard to get that growth

LaTara Dunn: going. If growth is your goal, right? Growth isn't necessarily my goal. My goal is, capturing le leads and keeping them engaged in my content, right? So like to continuously nurture. The people that are currently following me. And if I grow at the same time, great, but that's not my number one priority, 

LaTara Dunn: And then the next thing is, is you wanna, make sure that you have a clear profile picture. Okay, this is extremely important and you wanna make sure it's consistent pretty much throughout all platforms, right? Like, is this a headshot you have on your website? Is it the same photo you have on your LinkedIn, on your TikTok, on your Facebook?

LaTara Dunn: Really good to have [00:08:00] kind of the, just the same image everywhere, so people will recognize you and you wanna try your best to make sure it's on brand. So some people do logos and some people do pictures of themselves. I have a picture of myself and it's like just me, just my face with a bright yellow background. And the reason I do that is so in the comment section, I like stand out. I. And I really want people to be able to see me, right and , recognize me. Or when I pop up in stories, , I want, people to recognize that bright, yellow. And so it's a very clear image. It's just me. It's not my pets, it's not my kids. just me. And that will help you stand out. In the massives of all of the people. Now, Molly, I believe, Molly, you have your logo, correct?

Molly Block: Yes, [00:09:00] I do have my logo.

LaTara Dunn: Yeah. And I think a logo is another great option because you know, you're really consistent with having your logo everywhere, right? Like you have it on all of your social media

Molly Block: 

LaTara Dunn: and so it's easy to like

LaTara Dunn: recognize logo, 

LaTara Dunn: right? 

Molly Block: Yeah. Yeah. And do you notice. or have you noticed or you know, heard anything? That one is favored over the other.

LaTara Dunn: I really

LaTara Dunn: have No, I don't, I really haven't actually, I don't think there's, I don't know. That's, I mean, I don't know. Let's find out, let's do

LaTara Dunn: some get back you because. Yeah. I don't know. I've never like, I think that's the first time someone's ever asked me that. I think it's great to have your face personally, because it does help give you that human

LaTara Dunn: touch. 

Molly Block: Right, and I can see that.

LaTara Dunn: You know what I mean? especially if you have a hard time showing up. [00:10:00] As your, like as a face on social media in your reels or your stories, which I do.

Molly Block: Hmm.

LaTara Dunn: And so that helps them, you know, see who I am. bUt there's so many accounts out there that are faceless accounts, so, you know, having a logo is good because then they at least can identify that imagery in their mind with your business, you know?

Molly Block: Yeah. And yeah, we'll definitely have to do a little research on that, what people say like . Is it better to have a photo or, because I've seen both too. I follow a lot of business that are, you know, local to me. Friends of mine and half of 'em have their face and half of 'em it's their logo.

Molly Block: But I think what you said is interesting about what, how you show up in stories, because in stories I show my face more and I have my picture as my logo because I do like, I'll make reels of my face and I post [00:11:00] myself on stories more. So yeah, I would just be interested what, what other people recommend and let us know.

Molly Block: so let's move on to our next question. So, next question I have for LaTara is optimizing your bio, what you do and who it's for. 

LaTara Dunn: back in the day when it was my personal account, I mean, I started my Instagram account. When Instagram first came out, so oh my God. When was that? When did Instagram first come out? It, it was like forever ago now, right? maybe it was like 2012 or 2013. It came out, I think. 

Molly Block: like that. 

LaTara Dunn: Yeah, and 

LaTara Dunn: obviously it's, it's changed so much since then, but, so when it first came out, my bio was probably something like, Hey, I'm LaTara, I'm just gonna share my day with you, or Come drink, have a drink with me.

LaTara Dunn: Or, I don't [00:12:00] stupid. Right. Like, because that's just what it was back then, So maybe now if it's your personal account, you have something like Mama Five or Faith, or I like to share the food that I cook, or I'm into blogging, or, you know, hacks and tips or, I don't know, like just like little, little short statements or little short words that explain and give a little bit of insight into who you are or what you do or what you believe, right? Now those things are fine. However, that's not optimizing what you do as a freelancer, right? So a long time ago, maybe like a couple years ago, I had like mom of three or mom of one, or whatever child I had at that time, right? And in my life, and you know how many pets I had or something like that. That does not matter anymore. And you. [00:13:00] Right. it doesn't.

LaTara Dunn: so the flip side of that, however, is your Instagram bio isn't going to be searchable. Anyway, so it's not like if you have in your bio, I have three dogs, people aren't gonna find you because of that. A lot of people think by putting hashtags or keywords in their bio is gonna help them be found.

LaTara Dunn: And that's actually not true at all. And you're just wasting character space. . Think of it as like your real estate. It's very small. You need to make sure you maximize what that space has. So it needs to really, really, really be clear on who you are, what you do, and who you do it for. in mine I am, you know, super clear. I say I ha I do website design, digital courses, funnels that is very clear on what I do. Then I say something like, ditch overwhelmed so that you can elevate your vision.

LaTara Dunn: So oh, by her doing my website [00:14:00] designs and my courses and my funnels, maybe I won't be super overwhelmed, but my vision will be clear on what I want things to look like and what I wanna create, right?

LaTara Dunn: that's what my bias is telling the person that comes to me. And then you wanna make sure that you have a really clear call to action, which is a CTA, and that is telling the person what to do. Okay. , do you wanna have them schedule a call with you? Do you wanna have them check out your guide? All of that? We'll talk about URLs in just a minute, but I wanna make sure I finish up talking about the bio. and it's okay to use like emojis to help with your. Personality, right? And it's okay to still put some things in there that are truly important to you. Maybe you do have a business that as a freelancer, but you only help Christian women who homeschool, right? [00:15:00] Like, maybe that's your freelance business. It's okay to have that in there, but that should be part of your statement. so it could be something like I support. Christian-based homeschooling mamas ditch the overwhelm or optimize their lead magnets or, help strategize their Pinterest, you know, something like that. Right? So you're still being clear on something that's very, very important to you, but it makes sense in the statement.

Molly Block: No, that makes sense.

LaTara Dunn: And so again, the bio is not searchable in SEO, so don't stress out about putting hashtags or. Anything like that in it. Now, if you have another account though that you wanna feature, that is where you would tag their, the other handle in your bio. If you wanna feature, maybe this is your transition or your starting a new [00:16:00] account and this is your personal profile and you wanna start transitioning people to your new business account, right? So you could say what you do in your personal account and then say. Make sure to follow me at or check out my business a page at, and then you could have your handle there, but you don't need to waste space with hashtags. Okay. So again, yes. Yeah. So get super clear on what it is that you do in your bio, who it is for, and then what is that CTA and, and you can change your bio. Whenever you want. That's the cool thing about the bio. You literally can update it as much as you want. It's okay to update it because like I said, it's real estate and so it needs to be speaking to what you're currently offering. Maybe you have a sale going on, Sometimes if I am have room for a client, I'll say, have two client spots open, or now booking [00:17:00] web designs only, or something like that. So it's really, really, really clear on what I'm currently looking for and what I want them to be doing. So When they click my link, they know, oh, this is what she wants.

Molly Block: Yeah. That is such amazing information. And, and I don't use my bio to the full potential, so I am taking tips. mine has a bunch of font and just like a few words, . But yeah, updating it. I like what you said as far as updating it, saying two spots available, because that way if somebody finds you, it's very clear like, oh, you know, this is what they offer.

Molly Block: They have two spots. I could fill one of those, maybe, so you're, really, really opening the door for people and I think that's a wonderful tip for our listeners.

LaTara Dunn: Yeah. Cool. Okay. What's next, Molly?

Molly Block: So our next question kind of ties into the bios and you mentioned we could talk about it in a little bit. So let's talk about the URLs now.[00:18:00] What's the new feature Instagram has?

LaTara Dunn: Okay, this is awesome. So for the longest time, you were only able to connect one link to your Instagram and it would go to your website or your link tree, your stand store, your, you know, whatever millions of other platforms there are out there that are like Tre, I don't really know what they are. I don't stay up to date with that. But most of the time it's a link tree and people are always like, look at the link in the bio. And it's just basically where all your stuff lives,

Track 1: right.

LaTara Dunn: Basically people would have a link tree because they would have more than one link that they would wanna share with people, right? They wanna make sure you follow 'em on their other social medias or get their guide or book a call with 'em, go to the website, blah, blah, blah, free resource. And so now Instagram has this new feature. And again, these are only things that you can do if your account is set up as a professional and business account.

LaTara Dunn: If it's a personal account, you can't do this. And so [00:19:00] another reason why you need to do that. And so you can have multiple links. So right now I have like, I don't know, three links or something like that. And it's because I really, really, really want them to get exactly what it is that they're looking for. Sometimes when you have a link tree. People can get lost, right? Because sometimes link trees can get a bit out of

Molly Block: Oh yeah.

LaTara Dunn: and I'm not a fan of that at all. I think you should be super concise on what you're sharing. There's so many business owners out there that. We'll literally only have two links available, and it's like get on their email list, go to the website or book a call, buy this thing super clear. And it's because when we have too many options, nobody knows what to do, what to pick. It's unclear. And so I'm not really a fan of using TRE one for SEO reasons, it's not helping you at all. But if you don't have a website, [00:20:00] that might be your only option, And so just scale down on what you have on. But that, that's another day for another topic. But, so anyways, you can have multiple links. I have my service guide linked. I have our podcast linked and I have a booking link so someone can book a discovery call with me. when I'm talking about these things. In my posts, , and I tell them okay, go grab the link in my bio, or however I wanna say it.

LaTara Dunn: But that's what most of us say. thEre are other ways to say that, to make you yourself stand out from the crowd. 

LaTara Dunn: so it's super easy for the person to know where to go and less steps because you want to make sure there's the least amount of steps as possible when you're trying to get someone somewhere. The best example that I like to use with this is how many steps [00:21:00] does it take for someone to buy something from you, and this is kind of the same thing, how long does it take them to find that link to learn about your rates or to book that call with you? So if you're selling something and they wanna buy it, can they buy it instantly? Or do they need to put in their physical address for a digital product? which is madness, right? Don't make someone put in their physical address if you're gonna be sending them. A downloadable PDF, right?

Molly Block: don't need that information. We don't need that. It's okay.

LaTara Dunn: No. And and so many people do that because they just aren't thinking about It's set up by default, so I'm just gonna leave it as is. So always think about how can you make this more concise? How can you optimize this? How can I create maximum result with the least amount of effort and steps for the user? Right? [00:22:00] Super

Molly Block: Yeah, I,

Molly Block: I love it. 

LaTara Dunn: so, yeah. So url. So Molly, what do you have, have in your URLs right now?

Molly Block: I have the podcast and to be honest, I have Link Tree and

Molly Block: I know, I know. But it had just been there like, because again, I'm not changing my bios, I'm not doing the things I'm supposed to be doing. So my linktree was there and I looked at it like a month ago and I was like, holy shit, there is so much stuff on here, first of all, second half, it's outdated.

Molly Block: So, slap on the wrist for me. I'm being a bad business owner, I think this was right before the switch happened. I had gone through and like really cleaned my link tree up and I think there's like maybe two links, maybe three, but I think two like my website and portfolio.

LaTara Dunn: I'm looking, it's really concise. I'm It's our podcast, your website so they can view your services, your Etsy shop, and then your Pinterest. I think

latara_1_12-05-2023_123444: that's great. 

Molly Block: So I did clean it up. I did. 

LaTara Dunn: 

Molly Block: question for you with the multiple [00:23:00] links, do you know how many you're allowed to have now that you can have multiple. 

LaTara Dunn: Yeah. I last I heard it was five

Molly Block: Wow, that's amazing. So I could ideally get rid of Link Tree and add all of my links. Yeah.

LaTara Dunn: You could, 

Molly Block: And that way people can at glance, you, like LaTara mentioned, you put the title,

Molly Block: it's very concise. It's very clear. This is my Pinterest, this is my Etsy page. So you're basically cutting out that step of them, clicking on your link tree, scrolling through your link tree, seeing what appeals to them, what they're actually looking for, and then clicking on that link, I mean, taken to that page with the multiple links.

Molly Block: You can just title them appropriately. And have them right there. So it, it saves them a step, and that's a step that everyone would really appreciate being saved. 

LaTara Dunn: Right, exactly. And then when you become, more advanced in your business and say your website is now your top.

latara_1_12-05-2023_123444: Priority, 

LaTara Dunn: [00:24:00] And you really want to optimize your SEO and Google and traffic and all of that. once you've gained more growth is to just share like two links, right?

LaTara Dunn: So it's your website link and then your booking link or your service guide or whatever, and then when they click on your website. , what you wanna do is you wanna make that Link Tree vibe page put on your

LaTara Dunn: website. And the reason why is because of SEO, because Link Tree doesn't help you. you could then have a quick little, URL on it is like IG or some, or Instagram or whatever, Instagram friends. Andcan make the header like, Hey, Instagram friends. Because the only way people are getting to that link is by clicking from your Instagram page, And and then you could have Check on my service guide, book a call, follow me on Pinterest, here's the podcast. And that's it. Right? but again, that's the same thing that I'm talking about earlier. [00:25:00] Are all of these steps absolutely necessary,

LaTara Dunn: right.

LaTara Dunn: So you wanna make sure you're weighing out your pros and your cons. And always keeping your ultimate goal in mind. If it's helping you get to your ultimate goal, then great. But if it's not, don't do it. It's a waste of time.

LaTara Dunn: That's my thought on it.

Molly Block: No, I agree with that.

LaTara Dunn: So Molly, you totally could ditch link tree and that's just one less thing. becausethey're on your Instagram, they click on your link tree, then they gotta click that button and then they go to the place that want. So you're saving a. Click because in that second of them clicking, a notification might pop up on their Instagram and they might wanna check that out, and they're just gonna click that notification. So-and-so's going live talking about this. Oh, I, oh, I don't wanna miss that. And then they're, they're gone.

Molly Block: Exactly. It just, it's that [00:26:00] fast.

LaTara Dunn: Mm-Hmm.

Molly Block: 

LaTara Dunn: What's next?

Molly Block: All right. Next question is, what is the difference on Instagram between your name first, your username?

LaTara Dunn: this is such a good one. And It didn't use to matter, but it does now and it has for a little while. And when I say used to, I keep meaning back in the day when we first started on Instagram.

Molly Block: I.

LaTara Dunn: Right, and it's because of the SEO, and you can now be found because of your name and your username. your username is like your Instagram handle, and that is the name that's at the very top of your ins. If you go to your Instagram and you click your little picture and you're on your home feed and you're looking at just your profile, that's the name all the way at the top, and that's the name that's gonna show up to everybody when you're leaving comments, when you know they're on your [00:27:00] profile or when they're Um, tagging you, that's your name that's gonna pop up. 

LaTara Dunn: So every time somebody tags me, they're going to get, they're going to get, LaTara underscore designs, and anytime they tag Molly, they're gonna get Molly Muse's creations. Right? And those are our Usernames. when people go under the search button, they can search us that way. However, that means they already know who you are, and that's not how people are going to be finding you or finding you because they're looking for services that you provide, right? And so your name, which is gonna be the name that's gonna be right underneath your profile picture, this is that one that you really, really, really, really want to optimize. The best you can [00:28:00] and you can have quite a bit of characters in there now. Like 30, maybe, 30 characters. It's a lot now, 

Molly Block: okay. All right.

LaTara Dunn: You can do a lot. And this is super important. So mine does not say my name in it because my name's at the top Latta designs, like my name's LaTara, right? But my name under my profile picture is what I do. therefore, when people are searching these things and these, you want these to be key words that are related to you. So I. Work with Kajabi. I design websites, I deal with funnels and marketing, and I am an integrator, which means I implement the work for my clients that I suggest that we should do. So my name is Kajabi website and Funnel expert done for you. So I do DFY because people that are searching the word done for, you know, what DFY means. [00:29:00] And I wanna be working with the people that know what DFY means, right? that's my type of client.

Molly Block: Yeah, absolutely.

LaTara Dunn: And so Kajabi website and funnel expert.

LaTara Dunn: So when people are searching Kajabi website expert or funnel. That is optimizing my chances to be found in the explore page and search page.

Molly Block: Ah, I love that. Actually, I have noticed your your name on Instagram. I just never correlated together why you had it like that, and it so much fucking sense

LaTara Dunn: Mm-Hmm.

Molly Block: so much.

LaTara Dunn: Yeah. And the past five clients that I've, that I work with all have found me from Instagram because they have searched Kajabi.

Molly Block: Wow.

LaTara Dunn: Yeah. and so I have Kajabi as the first word. So I'm more likely to pop up towards the top [00:30:00] of the list.

Molly Block: Oh, okay. Oh, I love that.

LaTara Dunn: Yeah. Yeah. And so that has really, really, really helped me because that is searchable. So the thing is, is with that one, you only can change that name every 14 days. So if you spell it wrong and you push save, you're stuck with 14 days.

Molly Block: Oh shit. 

LaTara Dunn: Yeah, so go slow and think hard, you know, think about it. And I've changed it, I don't know, maybe five times in a year. as I've dialed in more, and learned more about how to be found and discovered. and I make mine in all caps I think it's easier to read all in caps.

LaTara Dunn: that's a personal preference. It doesn't matter at all. That's just me. they're not searching me in caps, you know what I mean? So that doesn't matter

LaTara Dunn: regards to being found, but I just think it's, I just like how it looks. So that part is all in [00:31:00] caps. And also I do wanna add real quick before we finish up on this one that I meant to say earlier with your username,

LaTara Dunn: if you change that. That is your URL, so you have to make sure that you make updates wherever your Instagram link has been shared before in the past. So if you have a service guide floating around somewhere on the internet and your Instagram icon is linked at the end of the guide or throughout the guide, you need to make sure that you update that guide with your new Instagram URL Because if they click on it and you don't update it, they're gonna go to an error page and they're not gonna be able to find your Instagram account.

Molly Block: Oh, good to know. Yeah.

Molly Block: All right.

LaTara Dunn: I definitely learned that one the hard way.

Molly Block: Oh, no,

LaTara Dunn: Oh man. Okay. is there anything you wanna add, Molly, in regards to [00:32:00] like the difference between your name and your username and the importance of it, or you know, any things that you suggest?

Molly Block: No, again, I'm taking notes and I will say that, I have my phone off right now, but when you started talking about your username and your name, I can automatically picture LaTara's Instagram because I know that title that she has as her name is in all caps, and it stuck in my mind.

Molly Block: So as she mentioned, you don't have to do that, but. I'm not looking at her page. I don't look at LaTara's page, you know, every single day. I'm not stalking, but I have looked at it

LaTara Dunn: You're not heart's so broken

Molly Block: but it, it's, it's stuck in my mind. Like I don't even have to open my phone. I don't have to open Instagram. I know. That's what her name is, and it was the first thing my eye was drawn to when I came to her page. And I can see

Molly Block: wonderful benefit that it will provide you with if you do [00:33:00] change that from your actual name to what services you provide or the type of clientele you're trying to attract or your niche offering.

Molly Block: I think that's a wonderful tip. I love it. 

LaTara Dunn: Cool.

Molly Block: And I think we have one more question here. And this one is, what is the point of pinning posts on Instagram? 

LaTara Dunn: Ooh, I love this one. this serves, multiple purposes. . And there are certain things that you should try to make sure that are covered in these pin posts based off from The purposes that you're pinning them. So what is a pinned post? A pinned post is a post that will always stay at the top of your feed.

LaTara Dunn: Within the first three squares you can pin up to three Some people like making the first three, like one big, long extended like carousel. So when you're on the feed and you're just looking at the feed, it looks like [00:34:00] one Extended header image.

Molly Block: I know what you mean. I think that's super cool.

LaTara Dunn: Yeah.

LaTara Dunn: That's a like a fun little feature that shows personality.

LaTara Dunn: Right. Others are individualized and it's because they want them to serve different purposes. So either way, it doesn't matter. It's totally up to you. This is a great way to show who you are and your style, your design elements. You know what you do, but there's certain things you wanna make sure that these pin posts do.

LaTara Dunn: And there's two different types of ways that you can pin post and I'll share that afterwards as a bonus tip. one is like. Who you are, what you do, right? So say they're just, say they found you in a reel and they go to your feed and they like what they see, they start following you. And they haven't clicked on your link yet, right?

LaTara Dunn: They're not fully convinced. And so your pin post is a great way for them to learn more about You without them having to leave Instagram just yet [00:35:00] and you know, get some more of your voice and your tone and So you can share your story, your background, why you started your business, your goals, what you're currently trying to achieve, whatever that may be. And so a lot of that will be talked about in the caption or the description, whatever term you use in the text.

Molly Block: yes.

LaTara Dunn: But the image needs to be super clear so that they know before they click on that image what they're going to be seeing. Right? So it can be like, who am I? Or you know, my story, or What is X business?

LaTara Dunn: You know, you're hitting your content pillars basically in these pin posts you're covering, , your type of content that you share and or services that you provide. Then also it can be like What makes you different, right?

LaTara Dunn: why are you different than anybody else? So you could have a pin post that talks about that, or that could be part of your story. Another great pin to have [00:36:00] is your guide. this is the one that reminds people to go to, get your link above book a call with you. It could also share a client testimonial. to kind of reinforce some success that others have received from working from

LaTara Dunn: you. If you're trying to grow, yeah, if you're trying to grow your email, list it. Another pin post could be your freebie. So it's pin one, who you are, what you do. PIN two services, testimonial. What you talk about pin three, a freebie offer if you're trying to grow your email list or, or if you're not at that stage, it could be, your portfolio, like client work that you've done, right? it kind of just covers and encompasses the main things that reinforces what you say you do in your bio and in your name.

Molly Block: Makes sense. Makes sense.

LaTara Dunn: so all of these things. [00:37:00] That we're talking about all come together and come full circle. everything isn't just piecemealed, it's cohesive. And so as you're listening to this episode, we tried really hard to talk about this as your eyes scan down the page. But for someone hopping onto your page. It makes sense for them too. So they could look at your pin posts first, then check out your bio, then check out your name, then check out your link. But it all works together like this needs to make sense. every month or few weeks or whatever, hop over to your bio and look at it. Because life happens, things change. You forget to update stuff and be like, does all of this still make sense? You know? And so having those pin posts are super important, but make sure that they are up to date with what you're doing. So you can pin post two ways. And then I'm gonna have Molly share some cool, fun, [00:38:00] other reasons why you could be pinning your posts as well. So when you're on your feed, so you're looking at just your feed, you're not looking at just reels. You can pin your posts, and that's what we're talking about. Like these posts are pinned to your feed. Now they might be a carousel, so that means if somebody finds you from a reel. And they wanna click on your profile.

LaTara Dunn: When they, when they do that from the reel, what's gonna happen is they're gonna hop over to your feed, but they're only going to be seeing your reels.

LaTara Dunn: They're not gonna be seeing your pinned post,

LaTara Dunn: Right?

LaTara Dunn: If it was a carousel.

LaTara Dunn: So you can also pin reels.

Molly Block: Oh yeah, baby.

LaTara Dunn: Yeah, so that is a way to get more pinned things, right? So for those people that really like doing that long header three part image, that makes one big image, right? Those aren't gonna show up on reels

latara_1_12-05-2023_123444: [00:39:00] at all. 

Molly Block: Right. It. 

LaTara Dunn: So they Right. So they could have all of those pins and then they hop over to the reel section, and then you could pin three reels. Now this is where it comes in handy for the tip that Molly wants to share. So, if I was going to be pinning a reel, Molly, what are some reels that we could be pinning?

Molly Block: I'm gonna apply this to myself and also my, 

Track 1: uh, 

Molly Block: work. 

Molly Block: aNd one thing I do is, as I mentioned a little earlier, I'm trying to grow my Instagram. my goal is to have a lot of followers and not just a lot of followers because guess what? I could just buy bots and that, you know, they serve no 

Track 1: um, 

Molly Block: except to make your numbers go up, but they don't actually help your engagement.

Molly Block: So I am trying to grow not only my following, but also my engagement 

Molly Block: because one, I. , I do want to start promoting more of my freelance stuff. I wanna promote this wonderful podcast, and my art. So what I do is I post on my page, which I forgot to mention earlier, a lot of art videos too, [00:40:00] because that's also a business I have.

Molly Block: So if people are new to me and I do a lot of abstract art, so I will pin the reels that have the most views. 

Molly Block: And I pin those to the top it's the one that obviously is the most popular to my viewers. So I wanna make sure new people are able to easily find it. So it's not all the way down the list, because when I start posting art reels, I can post a lot and stuff can get lost. 

Molly Block: Something, I use this for . In my own business, but also with my clients is, for instance, when a new episode comes out and on Instagram, I'll make a reel. I pin that. So when people, if they're looking at the reels on my page, they'll see that first.

Molly Block: anD that way, you know, it doesn't get lost in the sauce. I do that with my clients.

Track 1: Um, 

Molly Block: And this can also apply to your own business. You know, if you have a, new offer out or something you really want your followers to see, pin it. I pin reels for my [00:41:00] clients when we do have one of my clients just at a free masterclass.

Track 1: 

Molly Block: shE made a few reels. I pinned those to the top of the page. So when people were scrolling reels and she does have a good amount of followers and we post kind of . 

Molly Block: Little consistent, but sometimes it goes from zero to a hundred. So when we're promoting something, we'll post a lot. I don't want that stuff to get lost.

Molly Block: I don't want it to be ninth on my real page. I want it to be at the top. So I will pin it for a specific period of time while we're 

Track 1: uh, 

Molly Block: current offering. Or while you are promoting a current offering in your business.

Molly Block: Let's say you're running a sale. And for the first five clients that sign up, maybe they get a hundred dollars off or something.

Molly Block: You make a reel, you you don't want people to to miss that opportunity. So you would pin it to the top so it's right there and it doesn't get lost. So that's how, that's how I use pin posts 

Track 1: Um, 

Molly Block: I love LaTara's tips as you know, your story and your [00:42:00] background, and it just goes to show there's so many ways that you can pin post and it's really important to do so.

LaTara Dunn: Yeah, I totally agree with all of that.any other things that you think we should cover?

Molly Block: I don't think so. 

Track 1: I think we've covered a lot. I know I've got some wonderful tips and if I've got some wonderful tips. I know all of you guys have received wonderful tips from LaTara. 

Track 1: Um, 

Molly Block: I. 

Molly Block: you know, we could maybe another time talk about one of the other platforms because as, as was mentioned in the beginning of this episode,

Molly Block: sometimes people use LinkedIn, sometimes people use Pinterest.

Molly Block: Sometimes people use Facebook. So, you know, we're gearing towards Instagram with this content. But . Maybe in the future we'll talk about one of the other platforms to give you some insight on that particular platform, even though a lot of this information, especially bio and that, 

Track 1: um, 

Molly Block: the importance of having what you offer and who [00:43:00] you're serving,

Molly Block: upfront and center with your links is universal across most platforms.

LaTara Dunn: Right, exactly. seriously, Molly for example, she has an amazing Pinterest account, so she knows way more about that than I will ever know about. Like I am not a Pinterest person. I don't know anything about it. And so Molly would be perfect for sharing that. So

LaTara Dunn: let us know if you wanna hear Molly to talk about Pinterest. We can talk about other platforms and we, we just barely scratched the surface when it comes to optimizing your Instagram on how to get more qualified. Leads, right? We literally just helped you warm up, we just showed you the baby steps into making sure this is all set up. So I do wanna say, in regards to all of this, how does that help you get more qualified leads on Instagram? It's you being super clear on who you are, what you do, and what you offer. So therefore, the correct [00:44:00] people are finding you, searching for you and. Booking calls with you or hiring you, right? And so everything is aligned appropriately but we didn't talk about like what to post or how to post or blah, blah, blah or when, or, the algorithm or all these stupid ass hacks, you know, you're feed is always trying to share with you and whatnot.

LaTara Dunn: So I personally, clearly I don't believe in the hacks, but There is no easy way, people, you know, listening, you might be like, why don't you talk about the algorithm at all, how to show up in the algorithm. And it's because that is such a massive, massive conversation and I have so much to say about that.

LaTara Dunn: So, feel free to send us an email or, and follow us on Instagram. Send us a DM on Instagram. And share with us your thoughts and ask us what else you would like to hear about because, you know, we definitely wanna talk about this and we wanna talk about this from the standpoint of. [00:45:00] Not how to help your clients grow their social media.

LaTara Dunn: If you're a social media manager, we wanna make sure that we're very clear on this. We wanna talk about this on how to help you grow your freelance business to get more leads and clients.

Molly Block: Exactly. Exactly. And 

Molly Block: we just hit the tip of the iceberg with this conversation. So I'm excited, for more conversations. And again, you know, leave us a comment. Send us a DM, send us an email to, imtired@theburntoutfreelancer.com. Let us know what you wanna hear more about.

Molly Block: we wanna gear this towards the questions you have because that's really why we're doing this, is to help and support other freelancers,

Molly Block: so you can grow and optimize and thrive.

LaTara Dunn: That's right. check out all of our links to help you out with our handy dandy resources in the show notes below. And we'll be sure to talk to you next

LaTara Dunn: week. 

Molly Block: All right, bye. 

LaTara Dunn: