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Do you wish you knew how to generate Instagram traffic? Learn how in this episode today with proven methods you can incorporate into your regular routine!
*This episode contains either affiliate links or links to my products. Should you choose to purchase, the show will go on! Woo hoo!
Click below for show notes.
Amber Cullum: Grace Enough Podcast (Follow her on Instagram by clicking below!)
https://www.instagram.com/graceenoughpodcast_amber/
Christian Podcaster’s Summit (Ruthie’s speaking on driving podcast traffic from Instagram! Click below!)
Topics covered in this episode:
Categories (Canva templates)
Pre-planned story subject matter (story strategy)
iPhone Recorder
Best mom/work hashtags
2 essential Reel tips:
Behind the scenes
Juicy hashtags
Real life
Welcome back to the Instagram Insider Hack’s podcast today, my guest is Amber Cullum, the host of the Grace Enough podcast! Welcome Amber. It’s good to see you and have you over on the podcast.
Amber
Thanks Ruthie! It’s nice to connect with you and your audience.
Ruthie
Well, Amber, tell us a little bit about the Grace Enough podcast before we get started and kind of what your message is!
Amber
Grace Enough is a podcast that’s really designed to encourage the believer that God can use you to impact his kingdom no matter what your story is.
I mean, we know that it requires this surrender and this trust of Jesus, but at the end of the day, he can take the most broken person and use that to bring other people and to himself. And so that’s really a lot of what the podcast is about from sharing people’s stories, too. Also, having people on that encourages us to actually use our story to do those things.
Amber
Those things overflow out of that that desire to be in God’s word, because that’s how you can know him more. And so it’s not so much about achieving as much as it is about just growing in a love for Jesus that then kind of propels you forward to do those things. That’s it right there.
Ruthie
Praise the Lord! Amber has been in my membership community for Instagram for the last three months, and we’ve just so enjoyed having her there and just building that community. She’s learned a lot and she’s killing it on Instagram, especially Reels! And she’s going to give us a few tips about what she does with Reels in a minute.
Ruthie
But Amber, I’d like to know I’d like for you to share with our audience what are, say, three main things that are helping you see results on Instagram and driving traffic?
3 Simple Tools to Generate Instagram Traffic; 1. Using Canva
Amber
Let’s see. Canva is a tool that I use that’s been helpful in generating Instagram traffic. I do have the professional version because I used the free version for some time and just needed to go ahead and pay for the full version. But the free version has plenty of things you can use.
I have these three templates that I finally nailed down that has my my brand scheme and all of that. And I love to have those three loaded and ready to go to just be able to easily change the content! Having that has made a huge difference for me because people recognize it as belonging to the Grace Enough podcast, but also it just makes the process of generating traffic easier, and we all need that. But I also just want people to know that that stuff doesn’t happen overnight. I mean, I am two years in now and just kind of figured that out in the last really three months of being with you and watching some other people in the community.
2. Developing Content Categories
Amber
And then another thing is having categories like I just have these, you know, anywhere from five to nine categories that I know I can post to at any time. And some of those things are set. So I know every single week I’m posting six times in my feed. I know one of those is going to be my podcast episode. One day is going to be quotes from my podcast.
And then the other four are kind of ever changing, but ultimately they are the same. So it either has to do with parenting or a resource I would recommend or my why or a behind the scenes. And so I’m always kind of functioning out of those things. So I’m not just trying to pull something from thin air.
3. Engage in Stories
Amber
And then lastly is I’ve tried to engage more in stories, and I’m not great about just popping on and saying stuff, but I do that occasionally! Two things that I always share on Wednesday or on Tuesday when my podcast goes live, is 1. the graphic in my stories, and 2. a tidbit of their recorded portion of my podcast so people can hear it, you know, with the nice little sticker that says “Sound On.” Then the next slide will be, “How can you go listen to this?”
The other one that generates traffic is questions like “Would you rather I post five or six?” and “Would you rather ask questions every week?” It’s fun for me and it’s fun for my audience. So, those are two things that every week are going to for sure be in my stories and then I just kind of fill in the gaps along the way.
Generating Traffic to Podcasts by Using Stories
Ruthie
So, back to what you said about sharing a bit of sound from your podcast. What what kind of software do you use for that?
Amber
I used to use Headliner which is a great software to use; it comes in little fifteen second sound bites. But, now I have an iPhone and if you have an iPhone, you can actually pull down the screen and just record directly from your phone. I will be playing the podcast through my phone and just record it, then I upload that video directly onto my stories.
Ruthie
I’ve never thought of doing it that way! Wow.
Ruthie
Just to recap, the three things that you mainly do is you have the Canva templates you use and recycle, develop content categories which helps free up headspace for everything else, and then you have a story strategy. It’s fun stuff and you’re building relationships, which is super important. And I want to talk about something else so that you do that is so fun, and I think it makes you very approachable and that is real, you do those things really well.
Using Real Life to Generate Instagram Traffic
Ruthie
So, talk to us about that! How how do you decide what “real life” things to post in Reels? Like, what is what is your process or what is how do you figure out what to post in order to generate Instagram traffic?
Amber
Basically, Reels hit Instagram, and I immediately realized they get more weight in the algorithm. I think most of us don’t know a lot about the algorithm. I’m going to be honest, I don’t fully understand it, but I knew the very first Reel I posted got a lot more views than any of my other content. That was simply me. I had a video going behind me of my son crossing the monkey bars, and I was basically just acting like a silly mom, like dodging him and things like that, using the green screen feature. It got a lot of views.
I started trying to think, OK, if this is going to be seen by more people, how can I apply it to the podcast, to my audience? So I started looking at other podcasters and other content creators. Pat Flynn is one of those who decided for 30 days – it might have been longer – he was going to do nothing but post a Reel for the purpose of seeing if it actually worked. And he’s just a genius at content creation!
Ruthie
Love that. I love that idea.
Amber
I mean, and he actually encourages you to steal his ideas. So, for some of them, I did!
But also what I saw was, OK, he is a content creator and he’s taking what he does and applying it to a Reel. How can I do that with podcasting? I started thinking through things like, why do I podcast? What do I want listeners to get out of my podcast? What is important to me?
Then, I just started putting videos together that were of real life, maybe from my mission statement or the one that got has gotten the most views is the behind the scenes where I’m sitting with my kids downstairs helping them with home schooling, and I look at my watch then I look at the screen and I’m like, you know, that panic mom feeling of I’m running behind and then you see me run up the stairs and get ready and come into my studio, which is our guest bedroom.
It got a ton of views because everybody can relate to that.
Another great way to generate Instagram traffic is to add a few juicy hashtags like “homeschool mom, homeschool life, work at home, mom, mom struggles…” You know, the mom life! The other thing, though, about Reels, is you can plan them out and and it’s great to base them on your categories, but it’s also fun to do real life in the moment. And sometimes some of my best Reels are done in the moment.
Ruthie
I love it. I love it. And that’s that’s often the missing component in a lot of people’s Instagram is they just need to share some real life so that people can develop that “know, like, and trust” factor with them. Yes. They start paying attention to your message.
Amber
And you helped me with that a lot.
Amber Cullum is the podcast host behind Grace Enough. I am first a child of God, saved by His grace alone, but I don’t always act like it. Wife to Sam, mom of 3, and a Physical Therapist turned stay at home mom.
I love connecting women with God, people, and resources to spur them on in their walks with Jesus and remind them that God’s grace is enough.
Follow Amber on Instagram @graceenoughpodcast_amber