Business Networking on Instagram – Beginner Online Course
Live Classes – Small Group Size (8 people max.) – For Professionals & Business Owners in Canada and the US
Your Instructor: Juhli Selby, based in Victoria, BC, Canada
All courses are delivered online using Zoom video conferencing.
Next course starts on Tuesday, April 5th, 2022
4-week course – April 5th, 12th, 19th, & 26th, 2022 – Tuesday evenings 6pm-8pm Pacific time via Zoom Video Conference
This course will be offered again in Fall 2022.
‘Business Networking on Instagram’ Course Description:
With over a billion monthly active users (reportedly 2 billion as of Fall 2021!) , Instagram is one of the top social channels for consumers & businesses in the US & Canada. It’s the visual social network where people explore their interests, and are more receptive to engaging with businesses – 90% of users on Instagram follow a business! All the big brands, celebrities, and approximately 40-45% of online users in the US & Canada are there. It’s a great tool for networking, since many people allow their accounts to be public. This gives you the opportunity to find and connect with people who could be a fit for your business.
Learn how to get your first 100 followers by setting your profile up for success, determining what & how often to share, and how to find and connect with relevant people. We’ll cover rookie mistakes to avoid, effective use tagging – including hashtags & location tags, what to share & more! Learn how to take a strategic approach that will support your business goals, and help you to connect with opportunity. If you have been wanting to get on Instagram, or explore its potential benefits but have no idea where to start, this course is for you!
This is not a course about how to get ‘Instagram famous’, become an influencer, or how to get thousands of followers. This is a practical course designed to teach business owners how to use Instagram as a networking tool. While you’ll learn tips for time management on Instagram in this course, there are no auto-magical shortcuts! It takes time and effort to build & serve your audience, and to nurture relationships that can lead to sales. If your audience is active on Instagram, it’s a great tool to have in your marketing mix for proactive outreach online.
NOTE: This course does not cover Instagram Reels, which are short form, 60-seconds maximum, vertical video posts. Reels (also known as TikToks) are an important newer post type on Instagram, since this can help you get more exposure. I will show you how to upload a video from your phone, and add music to create a Reel, BUT we will not have time to cover how to use all of the creative tools within the Instagram Reels camera. If you want to take this course to learn the basics of Instagram for business, and you still want to learn Reels – this is something that we could potentially cover in a Friday office time question & answer session (which is not recorded). Alternately, I’m now offering a separate, stand alone 3-hour workshop for Facebook & Instagram Reels – please click here for more info.
This course was designed for:
This Instagram course is geared to service/knowledge professionals and small business owners who are based in Canada & the US. Past clients have included coaches, consultants, health professionals, authors, artists, realtors, interior designers, and marketing professionals. Social media community managers and virtual assistants are welcome.
Course Objectives:
By the end of this course you’ll be able to…
➤ Use Instagram to support your business goals – and be able to communicate this to your admin person or social media assistant if you want to delegate
➤ Develop a respectable Instagram profile that will help you grow your following & help you connect with opportunity
➤ Navigate the Instagram platform with confidence
➤ Share photos & video to help attract your ideal audience
➤ Find & build relationships with the right people – without being spammy
➤ Get exposure for your business, products & services
➤ Monitor, maintain and grow your network on Instagram
➤ Have some control over who you engage with on Instagram
➤ Manage the time you spend on Instagram
➤ Evaluate the success of your Instagram marketing efforts
Course Cost – $500 CAD – 4-week course:
- 4 x 2-hour sessions – live, small group class every week for 4 weeks
- Call recordings of all sessions – access to the recordings for 3 months – more time available on request
- Copy of the presentation slides for each session (4 x pdf documents)
- Instagram Resources handout (1 x pdf document) – Many great online resources to explore to continue your learning!
- Additional resources will be provided by email after each session
- 4 x Informal Question & Answer sessions (optional) – 1 hour every Friday – Questions will be answered on a first come, first served basis
- Private Facebook Group or group chat on Instagram to ask questions anytime – Questions answered within 24 hours
- Course time commitment 16 hours total over one month – 8 hours in class (2 hours/week), + plan to spend a MINIMUM of 8 hours over the month to apply what you learn (2 hours/week for homework) outside of the course.
- Discount on private training sessions when you’re taking a course – up to 2 sessions may be purchased at a discounted rate. Private training sessions must be used within 3 months of taking the course, or a refund will be provided.
- 30-day (from the start of the course), 100% satisfaction guarantee – If you don’t find the course valuable I will give you a full refund. I will ask for your feedback, so I can make course improvements.
Not sure if this beginner Instagram course is right for you? Or would you like to purchase this course? Click the button below to book a 15 min call with Juhli to discuss.
Business Networking on Instagram – Course Outline:
Session #1 – We’ll cover:
✔ What is Instagram, who uses it (demographics) & why (business purpose)?
✔ Use Instagram to support your business & professional goals
✔ How Instagram is different than Facebook? ~ including strategy considerations
✔ What to share & how often to share?!? We’ll discuss the different types of posts you can share on Instagram i.e. feed posts, Stories, Reels, Instagram TV, live video, etc.
✔ Differences between types of Instagram accounts; personal, creator, and business – & how to switch to a business account if needed
✔ How to set up your Instagram profile for success & why this is important
✔ Tour of Instagram – How to explore the platform on desktop & mobile
✔ How to upload, edit & share photos or videos using your phone/mobile (feed posts)
✔ How to follow or unfollow, mute, report, restrict, block or remove people/followers
✔ Instagram ‘Saved collections’ for relationship building
Session #2 – We’ll cover:
✔ How to grow your following over time – including how to find your ideal audience
✔ How to connect & engage with someone new
✔ Best practices for sending private messages
✔ Monitoring your account & weekly account maintenance – including how to clean up your following (get rid of bad followers), and why this is important
✔ How to identify & avoid spam, and the ‘bot’ problem on Instagram
✔ Instagram Community Guidelines – how to avoid getting your account disabled or shut down
✔ Instagram settings ~ for privacy & security, and time management
Session #3 – We’ll cover:
✔ Understanding how Instagram’s algorithms work & how to use this to your advantage
✔ Which post types get the best reach & engagement?
✔ Understanding your Insights (statistics) i.e. What’s working & what’s not (for Business accounts only)
✔ How to optimize your posts – including how to write captions & create eye-catching content
✔ Best practices for tagging; using hashtags, location tags & mentioning other accounts to get exposure – without being spammy
✔ How to share feed posts from your desktop computer on Instagram.com (not available to all accounts yet – this new feature is still rolling out)
✔ How to share or schedule posts for the future from your desktop computer, using either Facebook’s new ‘Business Suite’ tool (if you have access), or Facebook’s ‘Creator Studio’ tool (Business accounts only)
Session #4 – We’ll cover:
✔ Instagram 24 hour Stories basics (photos & short form, vertical videos) – how to use Stories to increase your visibility & engagement
✔ What to share, and how often to post to your Stories
✔ Tour of Instagram Stories – how to view and engage with the Stories of others
✔ How to create Stories; how to use media from your smartphone or the Instagram Stories camera to create, edit (decorate) and share to your 24 hour Stories.
✔ How to share the content of others to your 24 hour Stories (the lazy share)
✔ Using Stories plus proactive engaging for increased exposure
✔ How to turn your Stories into ‘Highlights’ (circles under your bio) at the top of your profile page (pin to the top)
Technical requirements to take this course:
✔ Calls will be held using Zoom video conference calling – you’ll need a computer with a microphone & a web camera (most modern laptops have this built in) – You will need to install the free Zoom app on your computer (similar to Skype) – you can download it here (called ‘Zoom Client for Meetings’): https://zoom.us/download
✔ Good internet access – standard high speed wi-fi
✔ You must have an Instagram account set up, and have the Instagram app installed on your smartphone before the course begins. Here are directions to set up a new account: https://help.instagram.com/155940534568753
✔ Please check to make sure your Instagram app is up to date before the start of the course ~ Check your Apple App Store or Google Play Store.
✔ A second computer monitor is nice to have but is not required. If you have one computer screen, there will be times where you may need to switch back & forth between your Zoom screen & your internet browser.
Do you have questions about any of the above? Not sure if this beginner Instagram course is right for you? Or would you like to purchase this course? Click the button below to book a 15 min call with Juhli to discuss.
Please click here to see all courses offered by Juhli Selby Social Media.