There are so many things happening in the world right now, so I strongly encourage you to consider how your audience has likely changed from March to now. Their feelings are changing, their priorities are changing, their needs are changing and we need to be able to adapt. 

What got you here will not get you there, girlfriend. 

So, with that in mind, let’s look at the three Instagram captions you need to master now to connect with your audience.

1. The Humblebrag  

It’s difficult to talk about yourself and your accomplishments sometimes without sounding like a jag, right? Without sounding like your bragging or making people feel bad because you’re doing well and their not. 

What if I told you there is a way to do it where the reader feels really good, and you feel good telling your story? 

The biggest thing about the humblebrag is that it needs to be HUMBLE. 

You have to say things like, “I am so happy, I am so lucky, I am so blessed because of what I get to do.” 

And even though it’s about you, you’re still making it about them, your client. Making it about them is exactly what makes a humblebrag post so powerful and is the key difference between a humblebrag and a look-at-me-look-at-me-I’m-on-a-pedastool-I’m-so-cool kind of post. 

You want people to be able to believe that because you did something it is also possible for them to do it too. 

I read a lot of Network Marketers posts, and when you’re talking about your rank advancements, your wins, hitting qualifications, talking about your teams, all the trips you get to take and all the glitz and glam - it’s easy for your post to come across in a way that makes it hard for your reader to believe they can do it too. 

Of course, this is not your intention at all, which is why mastering this type of post is SO important.

2. The Teaching Infographic 

This type of post is picking up so much momentum and traction, especially when it comes to shares and saves. 

You’ve heard me talk about it SO many times, but I’m going to say it again to make sure we’re all on the same page: vanity metrics are OUT. 

The number of likes and comments you get on a post doesn’t mean anything. What does mean SOMETHING, is your ability to keep people on your content longer.

This means people saving your post so they can come back and look at it later or sharing your post, either to their own Instagram stories or sending it to other people. 

When someone takes the time to share something that you created, that means it’s good, girlfriend! That means someone wants their team, their friends, their loved ones to see what YOU are writing. They find it helpful, entertaining and useful. 

Traditionally, if you share a quote card or you share a graphic or something cute that someone else has made it can get shares and saves. But here is the difference: when you create your own graphic and you create it for YOUR audience people start to recognize that it’s you and your brand. Not that you’re just regurgitating someone else’s ideas. 

So how can you make this powerful? 

Use a program like Canva - it’s online, it’s free and you can make infographics super easy. And if that seems all a bit overwhelming, and you don’t want to do it yourself, reach out to someone who can do it for you (in fact I have someone, Sam @awesamgram and she can show you or even make them for you!)

When you make these graphics, you want people to recognize that they’re yours, so the colors, the fonts and the styles that you use all matter. 

Make sure it’s your original idea, something that you’ve said, and that you’re not just copying something that Rachel Hollis (or whoever you look up to) said. 

The reason they’re so powerful? 

On top of the shares and saves, these types of visuals are almost performing as well as video content on Instagram right now. 

This means that these are the type of Instagram feed posts that are more likely to end up on the Explore page and therefore more likely to end up in front of more people. 

Video is still number one, but you don’t have to create video all the time. You can still create valuable content that shows up in a different way. 

3. The Art of Storytelling 

It’s time to start switching out “I” and “me” throughout your post and replace it with “you” “us” and “we.”

When you do that the dynamic of the post completely changes. It takes your post from talking TO them to talking WITH them. It creates a sense of community, which is GOLD right now. It’s something that people are actively seeking out because we’re all stuck at home. Honing in on that community feeling matters more than anything else, including making sales, because it means you can be there for your audience when they need it most. 

People might forget your business, they might forget your face, they might even forget your name, but what they will not forget are the STORIES that you tell. 

Using one of my key brand stories as an example - one which I’m sure you know - and that is how I built my business from my daughter’s hospital room. When people hear of me, when people talk about me, that’s one of the first things that people remember. 

Why is it so powerful? 

Because I tell the story so vividly. I talk about how it felt in her room with the machines beeping, her vomiting uncontrollably, me trying to be strong and not cry as I shaved her head because her hair was falling out in clumps from the chemo. 

All of those different areas of my story have made a world of difference and people are able to connect with me. Because stories connect us. Especially women connecting to women through that emotion. 

And even though most of my audience, thank god, has never gone through what I did, what my family did and what Teresa did, they can still connect with me based on their own reasons.

Whether they’re a mom, whether they’ve had a family member sick, whether they’ve been in hospital themselves, or just because people are empathetic. People who have never experienced anything like it can still connect with me. 

And people can connect with you the same way. 

When it comes to storytelling you don’t have to be these terribly sad or complete turning point stories. Your story can literally be something silly. 

Using two more of my key brand stories as examples pumpkin and bees.

My audience knows I love all things pumpkin and pumpkin spice. So when they go to Starbucks and order their pumpkin spice latte, they think of me. 

Or my complete dramatic and irrational fear of bees. I run screaming. So when people see bees, even if they themselves are not afraid of bees, they think of me. Because I tell the story of the time I got stung, right on my lower glute and literally skyrocketed off the porch. People connect with me because telling that story connected with them and made them laugh. 

And that’s the power of storytelling.

It’s your story, but it needs to be about them.

Why? Because they are the hero, you are the guide.

If you make it all about you, they’re not going to be able to connect with you because they’re going to think that you are a hero, trying to compete with their hero status. 

I’m so excited to share more about these types of posts with you this week! 

In my Content That Connects Challenge running from April 15 - 17, I’m going to show you how to create your own version of these three Instagram posts. I’m also going to give you the caption formulas so that you can connect with your audience and serve them right now. 

REGISTER FOR THE CHALLENGE NOW!