If you're like solopreneurs everywhere, you use any number of social media tools to promote your business. Whether or not Instagram is one of those businesses, you're going to learn plenty from our guest for episode 154! Sue B. Zimmerman is affectionately known as the Queen of Instagram, a fairly recent title bequeathed to her.

In this episode you'll hear the story of how she began using Instagram and then how she focused on teaching it before finally declaring it was to be her niche. She also shares a ton of knowledge in the manufacturing, licensing and the importance of creating an experience for your clients.

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Sue has been in the business world for over 30 years. She started as an enterprising young girl on the Cape Cod coast, always with her eyes open for opportunities to sell her wares. Her father also taught her a great deal about business, relationships and the value of connection. He was a successful businessman running an auto parts store who supported her as she started and expanded her businesses.

The first business she created was a custom screen printing boxer shorts company. Sue was a recent college grad whose post-graduation job had fallen through, so she opted to start her own company. Her dad helped her with the collateral so she could buy what they needed to be up and running. She had clearly learned a great deal from her dad and her experiences on the coast as a young girl because she did over $1 million in sales in her first year!

Over the next few decades, Sue ran a variety of businesses that provided her with tons of opportunities; she even had a spot on QVC! In the last six years or so, she had been teaching social media in the Boston area. Instagram became part of her repertoire when she noticed her teenage daughters scrolling on their phones. They warned her not to start using Instagram because then she would start teaching it!

Though they didn't know it at the time, her daughters had planted a seed. Sue started using Instagram for her summer boutique in Cape Cod and saw some astronomical numbers early on!

That seed was given its full chance to grown when she attended Brendan Burchard's Expert Academy; it was there that Instagram became "the thing" for her. She got home from the conference, after teaching Instagram to everyone she came in contact with, and literally put a stake in the ground to signify her commitment to becoming the Instagram Queen.

You'll also discover things like:

* How much did her boutique's sales increase when she started using Instagram?

* What's the most rewarding thing for her?

* What people should get immediately upon viewing you on Instagram.

* Why you should NEVER buy followers, according to Sue.

* How and when to track your Instagram stats.

* And lots more!

 

Since that definitive stake-in-the-ground moment, Sue has gone on to become an expert in the world of all things Instagram. In this episode, she hands out some serious knowledge she's learned along the way! She explains what to do once you have 500 followers and why that's such a powerful number. She also helps us share links with people and how to create a funnel to get your followers from Instagram to your mailing list. It's pretty simple and she dials it all in during this show.

She also offers some feedback on the best ways to promote a podcast on Instagram like shooting a quick 15 second video to promote an upcoming show or remind people about a show that's already gone live. Even if you don't have a podcast, you can still use this technique to promote any piece of content to your followers.

Sue also tells us the best way to use hashtags on Instagram and how to ...