Instagram Brand Worthy Basics  

workbook   

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 why instagram 

 Why Instagram? When you are building a brand and determining your marketing strategy you have to ask yourself where the attention is at. As of the last few years, Instagram is the fastest growing social media and it is not an option to build on Instagram… it is a must for future success. Posting and trolling on Instagram is not Branding on Instagram. Branding on Instagram has to be implemented into your daily work schedule. It takes consistency, dedicated time daily, and a strategy that is led by the value your customers will experience.  **Important fact- Instagram is not yours. You don’t own it, Mark Zuckerberg does. Always build what you own to be able to transition to whatever social media will knock out Instagram in the future. - your website, your email contacts, your involvement in your community and your personal growth. Whatever comes next, if you have built the habits to build and share on Instagram you will transition smoothly.  ________________________________________________________________  According to Omnicoreagency.com  Instagram Facts! as of September 2018 Instagram Founded: October 2010  How many Active MONTHLY Instagram Users worldwide? 1 Billion   How many Active DAILY Instagram Users worldwide?  500 Million   How many Active Daily Instagram Stories users? 400 Million  How many photos shared to date: 

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50 Billion  The number of BUSINESSES on Instagram 25 Million 

The number of Instagram LIKES per day: 4.2 Billion  The number of Photos & Videos uploaded per day: 100 million+  Average Instagram Demographics:  

● 68% of Instagram users are FEMALES ● 77.6 Million Instagram users in the United States  ● 6 in 10 online adults have Instagram accounts ● 32% of all internet users are on Instagram ● 59% of internet users between the ages of 18 and 29 use Instagram 

and 33% of internet users between the ages of 30 and 49 use Instagram 

Instagram Financials: ● An estimated 71% of US businesses are on Instagram in 2018 

 Important Instagram Branding Facts: 

● Posts with a Location get 79% more engagement ● 7 out of 10 Hashtags are BRANDED ● Photos with Faces get 38% more LIKES ● Posts with at least one hashtag average 12.6% more engagement ● Instagram users engage more on Weekdays with Tuesday & 

Thursday showing the most engagement ● 50% of Instagram captions & comments contain emojis ● Instagram videos get 2 times the engagement of photos than any 

other social media platform ● The most popular hashtags on Instagram are #love #instagood #me 

#cute and #follow    

 

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basics  

name  

Why is the “name” a crucial part of building my brand and Instagram community? 

➢ If you are sitting down taking this workshop you are serious about building your 

brand, which means you are actively putting in the work to increase your 

influence, connections, and visibility. How are people going to find you on 

Instagram if you hand them a business card or connect with them on a 

professional business site like Linkedin? Make sure your name is complete on the 

name section of your Instagram because people you have met or people who 

have heard about you will plug in your name in the search section of Instagram to 

connect with you. On your business make sure the Legal Name of your Business 

is in this field.  

MOST Frequently asked Question: 

1. Do I create a Business Instagram and a Separate Instagram for me personally? 

YES! In the industry of HVAC you want to make sure you empower and incentivize 

your TEAM to use their personal Instagram to share the magic of the business they 

work and TAG THE BUSINESS. On the other hand, you as the Business Owner needs to 

also have a personal account to distinguish and brand the Face behind the BUSINESS. 

People connect and trust people.. Not the name of a business, until it is BRANDED.   

 

 

 

 

 

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username  

How does my username BRAND me? 

➢ BE CLEVER and THOUGHTFUL with your Username. Take a moment and read 

this carefully: Every time someone sees you on their Instagram feed and you catch 

their attention they will refer to you as your username. That username is the 

perfect opportunity to BRAND your talent, your expertise, and immediately answer 

the question of “what does @soandso do? Example: I am @theinstaprofessor 

What do you think I do? What do you think I am passionate about?  

Do the following activities to create the perfect BRAND WORTHY username. Make sure you complete each question in one direct sentence. If you need to answer any of these questions in a paragraph you don’t have a clear BRAND. Go back to the drawing board until you can clearly and concisely in one sentence share what you do, what value you give your customers and why you do what you do.  

“Clarity is Kind” Brene Brown 

 

1. What value do you bring to your customer?   

   

   

2. What is the most common problem you solve for your customer?  

 

 

3. Why do you love doing what you do? 

 

 

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4. Take a good deep dive into your answers. Now develop a username that is a title, 

statement, or description of your talent. Example: @thecoolsolution @coolpro 

@hvacguru @airmaster Jot down at least 5 ideas: 

 

 

5. First, go to Instagram and type in @usernameoption and see if it is available. It is? 

Now, type in #sameusername and see how many posts have been tagged with 

this hashtag. If it is under a hundred posts this is the PERFECT username to build 

your BRAND on Instagram!  

 

 

profile picture 

 

➢ Your picture needs to look like you as you look 

today because people will not build a trusting 

relationship if you don’t look as you do in your profile 

picture. Society is over FAKE!  

➢ Ideally, make an appointment with a 

professional branding or headshot photographer. It is 

worth the money!  

➢ Very important: People buy from people they trust not from a business… the more 

often the faces behind the business SHARE their FACES the more engagement 

(and trust) will be built.  

○ Tips on finding the perfect Photographer:  

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■ Ask them if they have colored backgrounds. This is always fantastic 

because if you can do a headshot with a pop of your brand color it is 

magical! Hey.. but a great white or black background is SHARP!  

■ Ask them if they have headshot equipment. Headshot equipment is 

the bomb diggity! Great photographers can do it without the specific 

equipment but when they have this equipment they are passionate 

about headshots and those shots come out incredible!  

■ Ask if they do “brand building photography”. This type of 

photography usually will give you a collection of shots with different 

clothing options that will give you leverage over time to use on 

Instagram. These shots are awesome to create quote ads, tips and 

creative layouts.  

○ Professional Headshot Hacking: Tips on taking the best headshot without a 

professional photographer will be focused on lighting, a solid background, 

a shot framed mid thigh up plus always keeping the attire brand worthy and 

authentic to your style. **A word of caution: it is not advisable to use car 

selfies, mirror selfies, or selfies at all. You need to be thoughtful and 

prepared to create a professional headshot.  

■ Lighting: 

● Natural lighting is the most flattering lighting. Find a window 

and test your placement. You will be FACING the natural 

LIGHT. It can be a bit tricky. Do a few selfies before asking 

someone to help or before setting up a tripod. 

■ Background:  

● Solid is best. If you don’t have a solid background then make 

sure the background is super clean. Clutter will create a 

negative perception of you. 

■ Wardrobe:  

● Be you! Be Brand worthy- which means dress appropriate to 

how you conduct business. Within those guidelines, 

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professional headshots always look best with solid colors. 

Too much print or pattern will be busy. You want people to 

notice you! You will POP in solid colors.   

 

 

bio  

Instagram BIO is NOT the place to list all your certifications, accolades, and accomplishments. Nobody gives a poop! Sorry, but it is true. People care about how you will make their life better, how you will save 

them time, or how you will solve a problem. Your BIO isn’t about you… but it is.  

➢ The same concept applies from the work you did on the username section of this 

workbook. BE CLEVER and PLAYFUL with your bio. The bio is the perfect 

opportunity to feed your followers' bite-sized nuggets of the awesomeness you 

provide them! Let’s get to the bottom of your talent, your expertise, and how you 

bring your customer value. 

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Do the following activities to create your bite-size bio that highlights how you will make the life of your customer better. Make sure you complete each question as detailed as possible. Again, try and be clear with your answers. If you have to work at explaining your expertise you need to do some branding exercises. It is not about how many services you provide. It is about the overall value your business provides. Focus on why you do what you do and how it makes the lives of your customers better.  

“Turn down your Ego and Turn up your Passion” Giselle Mascarenhas 

 

6. How does your business better the lives of your customers?   

   

   

7. What is your expertise? What have you spent over 10,000 hours doing that gives 

you the ability to call yourself an expert? (if you are barely starting your business 

change the question to: What will be the thing you do in your business you will 

spend 10,000 hours perfecting?) 

 

 

8. What is your superpower? Example: I help the everyday person brand which will 

help them build a forever business. 

 

business page  

Hustle. Hustle. Hustle. This is what having a business page will make you do. Those analytics will get you in motion! 

➢ Being a business page gives you the extraordinary power of analytics. If you want 

to concentrate on a certain city, region, state… you will be able to analyze your 

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strategy to make sure you are hitting the mark. If you want a very specific 

demographic this will guide you to make sure you are on point. Also, when you 

play around with posting days and times the analytics will give you a great 

roadmap to help you with your action plan.  

○ You can find the insights feature on the top right corner of your Instagram 

page. The icon looks like three little lines. Then click on Insights.  

 

 

EXTRA EXTRA EXTRA EXTRA EXTRA EXTRA  

Basics +  

➢ Here are extra NUGGETS to 

help you build your campaign. 

Getting started on your Instagram 

Branding is a long game. Don’t feel 

overwhelmed. Make sure your 

Instagram Foundation is solid: 

Name, Username, Profile Picture, 

and BIO. Then take the steps to 

post and create intentional, 

thoughtful and passionate content 

to begin building your brand and showcase the culture of your business. You can 

always shoot me a direct message on @theinstaprofessor or @boldinstatute or 

book a 1:1 consultation. Everything is easy enough to do on my website. 

www.beyoubebold.com  

“You don’t know what you don’t know until you do!” Giselle Mascarenhas 

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grid  

The Magazine of your Brand.  

➢ The Instagram grid is where you will do a ton of your brand work. As of this workshop, I want to focus on teaching you how to upload, tips on creating engaging content, and briefly share with you the power of hashtags.  

○ Upload to your grid: 

■ On the bottom of your home page, there is a square icon with a plus 

sign inside of it. When you click the icon you will have access to 

choose a picture or a video from your personal photo album.  

■ Next step: There are filters once you choose your picture or video 

that you can choose from before posting. Choose one or two that 

you love and use them as part of your brand and people will quickly 

look forward to your style.  

○ The most common questions about posting  

■ How many times should I be posting? The more the merrier AS 

LONG as you are sharing good content. I know it is subjective but 

make sure you follow the rules of engagement below on content. It 

takes seeing a brand 100 times until it is branded into the brain. 

There is no way the same people are going to see every single one 

of your posts. One person may see every 100th post … it takes daily 

intention. To brand successfully you have to be consistent, clever, 

honest, give value, and really care about your Instagram community. 

Remember, it isn’t about you. It is about the value YOU BRING YOUR 

INSTAGRAM COMMUNITY. i.e. consumer. 

■ Won’t people get annoyed if I post several times a day? If you post 

5 times back to back you may annoy the few people who are 

following you that are on at the exact moment. This would be the 

only way this happens. Because of algorithms, you will not flood 

someone’s feed anymore. Make sure you are posting different times 

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of day and make sure it is content worth posting. Again, see content 

tips below.  

○ Tips on Creating Brand Worthy Ads:  

■ Canva.com - Graphic Designer Hacks 

■ Adobe Stock Photo or Shutterstock.  

■ Use Type on Instagram Story.  

○ Brand Worthy Content: Make sure it answers one of the following and you 

are golden! Don’t overthink it! Lead with your passion, lead with your 

enthusiasm, and lead with your expertise. 

■ Does your content educate? 

■ Does your content entertain? 

■ Does your content solve a problem? 

 

story   

Move over Kardashians…   

➢ The Instagram story feature is your very own reality show! Read it again… YOUR REALITY SHOW! Share what you love. Share what drives you nuts. Share how you solve your challenges. Share a great deal you just got. Share. Share. Share. YOU can NEVER share too much in the story feature. The best part of the story feature is the little nuggets you can share about your business and how it HELPS PEOPLE! **Keep in mind each post on the Instagram story only lasts 24 hours.  

○ Tips for maximum engagement: 

■ If you use this feature use the add-ons! There are too many features 

in the story feature - it needs its own workshop, but you need to play 

around with it. When you do a 15-second video don’t overthink it. 

Just do it! Share value for your audience, share tips, share 

something entertaining but don’t just talk. YOU HAVE TO USE the 

gifs, the fun functions, and the endless filters because this feature is 

playful and if you don’t play well in this playground people will stop 

watching your “show”. 

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icons (bottom of the home page)  

This is where the action is!  

➢ Lordy. Lordy. When you are new to Instagram all the icons can be a little overwhelming. Each one does something extraordinary and important to build your brand, influence, and connection. Since this is the BASICS course, I am not going into detail but you will know what the icon does. I encourage you to play! 

○ Raise the Roof! House icon: The “Casita” icon (house in Spanish) is the icon that takes you a couple of places: Your Instagram community and your Instagram story.  

■ Camera: this icon takes you to your story.  ■ TV: this icon takes you to the igtv section  ■ Paper plane: the icon where you will Direct Message (DM) and 

receive Direct Messages. On the right side of each Instagram user who sends you a message is a camera icon. The camera icon gives you the ability to send a Direct Video Message to that specific Instagram user.  

○ Magnifying glass icon: This icon is where you will plug in full names to find people who you have met along your networking journey to find them on Instagram. You can also put in a username and hashtag. Hashtags are your search engine to find the top posts in that industry. This tool is something you will need to get very comfortable with because this is how you will build your brand, how you will build your Instagram community and how you will gain engagement.  

○ Square with a plus sign icon: This is the action to upload to your grid. Look above and reference grid.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

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igtv   

Did you want to be a youtube star? Now is your chance to dominate on Instagram!   

➢ The Instagram igtv feature is the youtube of Instagram. It is a complete land grab right now and a perfect time to create your series of educational videos or “how too” videos. The awesome thing about Instagram is you can build your youtube like show, promote it on your grid and story plus send out private messages to certain people who you know would get a ton of value from your information. Super effective!  

 

 

Thank you! What an amazing opportunity to connect with you and give you important information that you can immediately implement to help you BUILD YOUR BRAND! The way we communicate has evolved over generations and will continue to do so. Look at Instagram as an opportunity to communicate, to build real connections and offer a resource to your Instagram Community of value! Be vulnerable because it does take courage to share… but this is the magic that connects you to your tribe. What a pleasure to help connect you to your power of branding. I am at your service…. 

 

Giselle Mascarenhas  

 

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