The Instagram Strategy Wedding Pros Need to Book More Clients

Transcript: The Instagram Strategy Wedding Pros Need to Book More Clients

Heidi Thompson:
Today I’m joined by Elizabeth Marbury, who you probably know. If you don’t, you should know her from Instagram because she is absolutely brilliant when it comes to Instagram strategy and visibility. And she is joining me today to talk about how to actually get leads and sales from Instagram when maybe it just feels like you’re just like posting stuff, screaming out into the void, and, uh, nobody’s really hearing you. So Elizabeth, thank you for being here.

Elizabeth Marberry:
Thank you, Heidi, for having me. I’m so honored to share this space with you and serve your brilliant community.

Heidi Thompson:
Yeah, we were talking before we got started, and this is something we both see is like people, they know that showing up on Instagram is important. They know that people are looking on Instagram. They know that oftentimes their clients are on Instagram. They know that consistency is important and they may be doing those things, you know, they may be posting something regularly, but they’re not seeing the results from it. So I would love to talk to you about that gap between, okay, I’m, you, you You told me to post stuff, I’m posting stuff, but it’s not actually doing anything.

Elizabeth Marberry:
Yes. Oh my gosh. And this is just so common and I have so much empathy for small business owners and wedding pros and creatives who are, you know, none of us are full-time content creators. Okay. So, and, and most of us, when we started our businesses, our wedding businesses, it’s not like we thought, okay, I’m, I’m creating this business. So I can go create content.

Heidi Thompson:
Right.

Elizabeth Marberry:
So I totally understand. Yeah, it’s, it’s kind of this cycle of, okay, I’ve, I’ve heard I have to be consistent. I, I heard my people are hanging out on Instagram. I heard I have to post this, these reels or these posts and I’m doing it, but like it’s not doing a whole lot in terms of leads and sales and there is a huge, huge disconnect. So I just wanna start with saying, if that’s you, you’re not alone. And of course, you know, if no one’s ever taught you this, of course you, there’s a total disconnect. So yeah, so what I like to think about, there’s a couple different pieces here, is I like to start with inviting you to think about what is your intention for your Instagram, right? Because for some people, their intention actually isn’t leads and sales, they just want, brand awareness and they know that their lead and sales funnel are really happening on other platforms for them, but that Instagram is kind of that top of funnel visibility piece that, you know, couples these days are looking at, you know, everywhere you’re showing up, right? And so, so for some of my clients that I’m, they might just say, you know, not enough people know I even exist. And so that is like my first goal. Mm-hmm. Goal. And, or some people are like, okay, if I’m gonna do this thing and I’m gonna post content, I want to have it drive actual leads and sales. Which is also like, honestly, those are typically the two, the two goals I hear is like, I just need visibility and brand awareness. Like right now that’s kind of where I’m starting. Or I am like, I have the brand awareness, I have my offer suite, I, everything’s really dialed in. I know who I’m, who I’m speaking to. But my content isn’t doing the job of leads and sales. So I always start with like, let’s start with the end in mind. Like, what is your intention? What is your goal? Because Heidi, a lot of times when it’s, if we skip that step, that’s when we start just posting to post. And if you want your content to be effective at helping you reach your goal, you have to start there with that piece.

Heidi Thompson:
That’s such a good point because I think we get into this rhythm of like, well, like, that’s the job. That’s what I’m supposed to do. I’m supposed to post things. And if you’re not thinking about the intention behind it, you might not be posting the right things to get people to do what you want them to do.

Elizabeth Marberry:
Exactly. And if you are not clear on what you want the content to do, there’s no way of measuring the results, right?

Heidi Thompson:
That’s a good point, yeah. Because it’s like, I don’t know, is it doing what I want it to do? I don’t even know what I want it to do.

Elizabeth Marberry:
Yeah. And the other thing I wanna highlight

Elizabeth Marberry:
for everybody, and I, I teach this in depth with my clients. I actually taught, did a training with them last week, but happy to, to share it with, with you here, is that, you know, um, marketing, when we think of marketing in general, we think of that funnel, or we think of the first stage is attraction, right? A visi— visibility. The second stage is connection, connection, nurturing, deepening that relationship of like, okay, I know you now. Do I like you? Do I trust you? And then the final stage is sales, right? That’s when, okay, here’s my credit card, Heidi, I’m hiring you. I love you.

Heidi Thompson:
Okay.

Elizabeth Marberry:
So when you think of that funnel, a lot of people teach Instagram content where they say, okay, Heidi, this is a growth piece of content, meaning it’s going to get, it’s going to be highly relatable, highly shareable. It’s going to get in front of as many couples as possible, even if they’re not your ideal clients, who cares? We just want more eyeballs on your stuff, right? Then there’s the kind of content that drives conversation, nurtures, drives connection, and really like deepens the conversation with your current audience, right? Building that authority in your space or your expertise or your, you know, your previous, yeah, the previous couples you’ve worked with. And then the final stage would be conversion, which when we think of conversion content, we think of. Inviting people into the next stage of, of whatever your sales process is. So for me, in my wedding business, the next step is I want to send them information for our private wedding dance lesson package— packages, right? So if someone comments our keyword, because we use DM Automation, they’re clearly very interested in learning about our our packages and, and what we do for our couples. Now I just kind of described like the 3-step funnel, right, of, of marketing. What always didn’t work for me and my, a lot of my clients, because we’re all very creative, multi-passionate, is when you sit down, like if I sat down and I thought, okay, I’m just gonna create this visibility growth piece of content. It was confusing to me because I was like, well, my current followers would also appreciate this content, right? And then, well, why can’t this content also drive more leads and sales? So what I have discovered, Heidi, and this is what I teach, is that when leveraged strategically, one piece of content can actually do all three of those things. And that gets me out of bed, I want to tell you, because I’m not here to like be be putting out more and more and more content. And I’m gonna give you an example of this. So yesterday actually I posted a short-form video, so a reel on Instagram, and it was, uh, I believe it was like 14 seconds, maybe it was 12 seconds. Like we’re talking really short, but my hook on the screen, and remember this is for, so if you don’t know me, I, uh, have two businesses, a brick and mortar, service-based business in the wedding industry, and then my online coaching business where I, I’m an Instagram marketing strategist for small business owners, creatives, all of that, right? So this example is my personal brand, Instagram coaching brand, but I had a hook on the screen that says, your Instagram growth plan for 2026 is as simple as, and then I did 1, 2, 3 really short little, um, words that go with the music. And then in the, and then I had a call to action of want the full plan, comment kit below. Now that if you see the video, it’s kind of hard for me to describe, but if you see the video, I am dancing in my kitchen because if you know me, you know, I love to dance. I’m a former professional dancer and I just freaking love to dance. Okay. So I am dancing in my kitchen. No, you don’t have to dance. So don’t stop listening to this podcast and say, Elizabeth, I’m not a dancer. I don’t care. You don’t have to dance. Okay. That’s my thing. But I’m, I’m dancing and I edited the video to the beats of the music. I added text on screen, really, really simple. And then, so that particular piece of content, I would argue, is a visibility piece because it’s fun to watch. And while it is specific to my audience, it’s not so specific, like it’s still highly shareable content, right? When you think about visibility. You think of highly shared content, like the content that is sitting in your DMs right now that maybe your partner is sending to you, or your friend, or your business bestie, right? That’s shareable content. So the piece of content I created, I would argue, was shareable cuz it was entertaining and educational at the same time. And then in

Elizabeth Marberry:
In the caption, which by the way, most people don’t read your caption and that’s not a problem. The people who do read your caption are your warm to hot prospects. Okay? So in my caption, I go deep on this Instagram, this 3-part Instagram strategy. Okay? And I teach the, I teach the steps. And then the last thing is I have a call to action of comment kit below and I’ll send you my free Instagram visibility jumpstart kit. Multiple people did that, and so I got leads onto my email list from my content. So do you see how one piece of content did 3 jobs? Isn’t that so fun?

Heidi Thompson:
Yeah, and I love the way you’re thinking about this because yes, you can separate it, but like you said, you know, you can also put all of these things together and think about like, okay, how am I introducing this to a new audience? How am I? Nurturing people who I know are following me and I know what they care about and how am I getting them, or even just like simply inviting them to take the next step.

Elizabeth Marberry:
Mm-hmm.

Heidi Thompson:
I think that is a much simpler way to think about it.

Elizabeth Marberry:
Yeah, because I, I know that it’s content creation can feel intimidating and it can feel, it can feel it’s, it’s easy to get into overthinking, right? We all do it. Um, but for me, whenever I just start with like, what do I want this piece of content to do? So like that particular video I just described, I, I wanted to grow my email list with it. Like that was my goal with that video, right? That makes sense. Yeah. Did it do other things? It sure did. And what I also want to highlight is, um, there’s this myth with DM automation, which is that, oh my gosh, I, there’s no point in me using that because I don’t, I don’t have 100,000 followers. I don’t have like hundreds of comments on my posts, you know, like, and I would argue, well, I don’t either. And, but my philosophy is if I create a reel, if I go to the effort, I spend 30 minutes creating a reel and posting it, if I get one new podcast listener, if I get one new person on my email list, if I get one person applying for a sales consult call, right? If I get one couple inquiring about lessons, that was worth my time. And what I love about DM Automation is that for busy wedding professionals, that is seriously my motivation of like creating content is I know that my content is gonna work for me while I’m not, while I’m doing other things. Like I don’t have to babysit it and it, it kind of motivates me, right? And I, and we can talk about this more, Heidi, if you want, but, you know, the other thing that I see is that if you’re, if you are trying to use DM automation and it’s not working for you, it’s usually a content problem. So it usually just means that we need, you need some support to create better scroll-stopping content, honestly. Because DM automation is not gonna work if no one sees your video. And so if your video is not great, no one’s gonna see it. But we all have to start somewhere, right? So it’s, it’s kind of that balanced approach of like, you have to fail forward enough. Like I posted a video every day for a year. I did not grow, but I learned a lot during that year, right? And then I started to get it. So it takes what it takes, but it can be a very effective lead and sales funnel for your business if leveraged strategically.

Heidi Thompson:
Yeah. And I want to get into DM automation for anyone who’s not familiar with it. So if you’ve ever seen, you may have seen it on Elizabeth’s post, my post, other people’s posts where you comment a certain word and then they get, you know, a DM with something as a result of that. That’s what we’re talking about when we mean DM automation. And most people set that up through something like ManyChat. I’m curious for your clients. I mean, it, there’s like a very direct connection. I think people can see if they’re promoting a blog post or they’re promoting a podcast episode or they’re promoting like a specific download, like then obviously that would be the thing I would send to them. But I’m curious, like, what do you see with your clients when it’s, you know, or for your, you know, dance business, when people want more information, what does that damn automation look like when it’s like, oh, I maybe want

Heidi Thompson:
I wanna work with you. I’m that kind of lead.

Elizabeth Marberry:
So I would say it depends on your sales process, right? Yeah. I know that, like, let’s say you’re a wedding photographer and your sales process is you do a consult with people, like on Zoom, right? You need to have, you need to, it starts with your clarity around how do you make sales in your business. And I know that a lot of people in the wedding industry, we tend to have like that contact us form on the website, right? It’s like, people are like, oh, I just fill out, you know, people just fill out a contact us form. What is really cool about DM automation is that that form you can build out within the Instagram DMs. Because if you send people off of Instagram to your website and your contact us form and they get a phone call, right? And they have to stop doing what they were doing or, oh shoot, I have to go cook dinner or whatever. You’ve lost them, there’s no way to track them. When you’re leveraging DM automation, you can, it’s not just links, you can build out like conversations, you can actually capture people’s name, email, phone number within the Instagram DMs. You don’t even have to send them off to your website. And especially with the Gen Z crowd, that is honestly what I would recommend is like capture their information right then and there. And you can set it up in a really, you know, like for example, If I was doing a sales consult as a photographer, you have to sell free, right? So, um, I would love to, uh, connect, like you could customize a DM message to say something like, uh, congrats on your upcoming wedding. I would love to connect with you, learn more about your, your love story and your vibe and your vision of what you’re, what you’re hoping for. I’m hoping for to see if we’re a good fit. Um, and then I just need like, how, like, does that sound good to you? Or something like that, like a question. And then the person would say like, they could literally tap like, yes, that sounds good. And then from there you can automate these questions where they’re just opting in. Now what I will tell you is, um, I do love to add like a personal aspect, right? So Whenever I’m leveraging DM automation, especially if it’s what we’re talking about here, which is that if someone’s actually considering booking a sales consult with you, for example, that’s like a really hot lead, right? Like that’s, that’s someone that you, you definitely want to give them some extra attention and love. I might like send them a quick voice note, like after they filled it out, or let’s say they didn’t fill it out. Maybe they got that initial message, but they didn’t fill it out. I would send them a voice note and be like, hey, I’m Elizabeth. I was just checking out your feed. I love that you, oh my gosh, you have the cutest dog, this golden doodle. I’m obsessed with golden doodles too. Like, obviously be authentic, but you could send a voice message and say, I would love, you know, I’m curious if you’re still looking for a wedding photographer. I, you know, how it works in my business is this is how I meet with, you know, like inviting people into your process. Selling your free session to them essentially as like that they’re going to get something out of it even if they don’t hire you and making— so you— so my point is, I guess you can add personalization in to the DM automation as well. I love that.

Heidi Thompson:
And I love the idea of just sending a quick voice message, especially if someone requested it and they didn’t fill it out because like you said, that is a hot, lead, that person took the time, even if it’s just commenting a word, like they requested the information, they want more information, they want to hear from you. So actually honoring that and following up because yeah, that person is so hot. They’re like right there. They want to have a consult with you, but they may have just, you know, got interrupted. Yeah.

Elizabeth Marberry:
Yeah, exactly. And with these automations, I mean, you can make them as simple or as layered as you’d like, right? So you could even set up like, you know, if someone didn’t fill it out a day later, you have an automated message that says, hey, Heidi, I noticed that you like— I wanted to, you know, check back in with you. Are you still interested in connecting? Right? Like that. You could literally set that up. So I find that

Elizabeth Marberry:
that, you know, we are still just like at the tip of the iceberg of what is possible in using these different tools. And couples, you know, they appreciate just getting what they need when they need it, right? Like there’s been, you know, couples have complained for, I’ve been in the wedding industry for 15 years. There’s that complaint about the vendors who take forever to get back to them. And in this day and age, you can’t do that. Like literally you can’t. And you needed to be able to run your business, right? So I personally am just such a huge fan of DM automation. It is really phenomenal. And I want to tell everyone another way of leveraging DM automation. And again, by the way, you can, the strategy that Heidi said of like comment this keyword on this post and then automatically get a DM, that is 100% one way of doing it. I leverage DM automation also with my Instagram Stories all the time. So this conversation wouldn’t be complete, Heidi, if we didn’t talk about how Instagram Stories is actually a really effective way of driving leads and sales because people who are watching your Instagram Stories are, again, those warm to hot leads. So Instagram Stories is, is for the people who already know you or your brand, or they’re checking you out. They’re definitely curious about you. They’re, they’re stalking you. Your feed is really, yes, it can nurture those people who already know you, but your feed is really positioned more for a cold audience that doesn’t already know you and your brand. So sometimes it can feel a little bit more resistance of, of driving those leads and sales with feed content. With your Instagram stories, that’s where the money is, baby. Like hopping in your Instagram stories, bringing us in behind the process, and then literally like us getting to know you, right? Like people buy from people they know, like, and trust. So whether it’s a product or a service, we need to see your human face, hear your voice. Or maybe you’re like, oh my gosh, I can’t get on camera. But there’s, you’re still bringing us in behind the scenes, right? Like, um, text on the screen or however you decide to do it. And then you can have a keyword, like reply to the story chat and I’ll send you my link to book a free consult. I would love to, um, design a custom floral, um, look for your unique, you know, event or whatever, right? So that is another way of leveraging Instagram that I don’t hear a lot of people talking about.

Heidi Thompson:
That’s a really good point. And I think people don’t really even necessarily look at their stories as like a different level. Like those people, they know you, they’re a little bit further down, they could be warm leads, they could be hot leads. So giving them regular opportunities to take a step with you is really important, and I think it’s something that gets really overlooked.

Elizabeth Marberry:
Oh yeah, absolutely. I mean, people need to be— we, we often assume that people are just gonna remember us or remember our website URL. They’re not doing that. You have to invite people in, tell people what to do, tell them the next step. Um, and Instagram is, and social media is just such a beautiful way of, um, like it’s a direct connection to you and your company versus your website is more passive. I would say like, is it important? I thought, yes, it’s totally important. And I can’t, I can’t see what you’re up to today. I can’t see the event that you just worked on yesterday. Right? Like, um, whereas Instagram is just this like intimate way of connecting with our audience and The hardest part is you have to keep showing up even when you feel like no one’s watching.

Heidi Thompson:
That is the hard part.

Elizabeth Marberry:
Yeah. And I want to just normalize that because I, you know, I’ve grown my followers to a decent size for sure. But believe me, I, I still have moments where I’m like, gosh, like my views are so low, everything’s so low. Like, It must be, you know, like, is anyone even seeing what I’m doing, right? Like, I just wanna say that that is just such a normal human thing. And this is honestly why I love teaching Instagram marketing. It’s not even about Instagram, it’s about entrepreneurship and it’s about belief in yourself and that you have to keep going even when there’s zero evidence that it’s working. You have to keep showing up even when you think no one cares. And I promise you, if you commit to that and you do it in a sustainable way for you, right? Whether that’s 3 times a week or once a week or 5 times a week, whatever you have capacity for, but you just commit and you commit to showing up, you will be amazed at what shifts in your business and your ability to generate leads and sales.

And this happens all the time when I’m working with my clients where they’ll come into Hot Reels, my 12-month Instagram content lab, which is my high-touch group coaching program. And they’re like pretty new at like showing up consistently and creating content. And a month, 2 months into it, they go to a, you know, a barbecue or they go to like a— A wedding. A local event and they will have people come up to them and be like, “Leah, I’ve been seeing all of your Instagram stuff. I love it. It’s like so playful.” Or it’s like, and Leah’s thinking, “This person never liked my stuff. They never commented on it. They didn’t,” like, who knew, right? And so that’s why I always tell people, I promise you people are always watching you. They’re always watching. Not everybody engages, But I’m telling you, this stuff works when you work it, but you’ve gotta commit to showing up even when there’s no evidence it’s working.

Heidi Thompson:
That’s such good advice because it is so easy to get disheartened, but you cannot ignore the lurkers. Like, the vast majority of people lurk.

Elizabeth Marberry:
Totally, totally. Yeah, it’s funny, I always call out my husband ’cause sometimes, you know, after we put the kids to bed, you know, we’re— Well, I don’t know, he’ll have football on and we’ll both just be sitting next to each other scrolling on Instagram, which I know it’s not, you know, I’m sure—

Heidi Thompson:
I do that too. I totally get that.

Elizabeth Marberry:
I’m like, everybody does it, right? And so, but it’s funny, or he’ll like show me something, right? Like he’ll be like, oh my God, look at this, look at this. And we’re laughing. But then I noticed that like he enjoys it. Like he’ll consume it, he’ll watch a whole video. He might even watch like a 2-minute video, which by the way, I never do. I’m like, these are too long for me. And he, but he doesn’t like it. He doesn’t like it and he doesn’t follow the creator and he doesn’t, and like, I’m always like, babe, you should like their post, you know? But my point is, is like, I think a lot of people consume, like user behavior on Instagram has shifted dramatically in the last couple years. And yeah, a lot of people are consuming, but they’re not necessarily engaging. So do we still wanna be mindful of driving engagement with our content? Yes. Do you still wanna tell people like, hey, like this video if it was helpful and follow for more? Yes, you definitely do. And if people don’t like it, moving on.

Heidi Thompson:
Mm-hmm.

Elizabeth Marberry:
Yeah.

Heidi Thompson:
That’s a really good point. I wanna circle back to something you brought up with DM automation because it really stood out to me, and that is being able to actually like take in an inquiry through, you your DMs in like a native way. Because what I see the vast majority of people doing, well, let me, let me get on my high horse here for a minute. The thing that I see that I’m immediately like, this is a terrible idea, is when I see an account and it’s like, no DMs. Don’t, don’t come to me. I don’t, I don’t want your business. Don’t, don’t talk to me.

Elizabeth Marberry:
Wait, do people do that? Yes.

Heidi Thompson:
No. Like no DMs. Like go to my website basically.

Elizabeth Marberry:
Oh no. That’s, That’s, if you’re gonna do that, just don’t, don’t be on Instagram.

Heidi Thompson:
Yeah, I agree. And the other thing I see people do, which I don’t necessarily have a problem with, but I see a lot of people doing this as their only way of automating anything and it’s that auto response. And then they’re not, for a lot of people, like they don’t engage because they don’t have time. So they’re not actually responding to that DM. Or, you know, they’re then directing someone to a website, which—

Elizabeth Marberry:
Yeah.

Heidi Thompson:
I mean, is okay. I would rather you do that

Heidi Thompson:
do that than not respond to the person at all, obviously. But if we can just process an inquiry and do it without you having to do anything and without them having to leave the platform, mm-hmm, that is just so much better for leads.

Elizabeth Marberry:
It’s so much better. Yeah, I, I know what you mean. I think do, when you say those auto responses, do you mean where it’s like, um, you DM someone and they’re like, Hey, thanks for reaching out to so-and-so bridal. These are our hours. Like someone will be back with you shortly. Yeah, I do not recommend that you turn those on. Like just— I don’t either.

Heidi Thompson:
Like I’m not an expert. I know you’re an expert in this area, so I’m glad you’re confirming that I’m right. But yeah, sometimes it’s just like, oh, and then I’ve had situations where it fires multiple times, which is really weird.

Elizabeth Marberry:
Yeah.

Heidi Thompson:
So like if you then get into a conversation with a person and it like just triggers again and it just kind of breaks up the flow.

Elizabeth Marberry:
Yeah. Yeah. No, totally. I know that when, if like, if I go to the effort to DM someone and then I get that back, the first thing I think to myself is, are they gonna see my message? Yeah. Like it kind of freaks me out. Like it’s, it’s not a good first impression. And I think honestly it does the opposite of what brands are trying to do. Right. Like brands are probably trying to be responsive, but it’s like to like here, okay, here’s the difference in strategy. So ManyChat, which by the way, if you’re, if you’re listening to this and you don’t have ManyChat set up, I have a little guide that I put together that has, that includes a free month of ManyChat with my link, Heidi. So I’m not sure if I can give that to people, but essentially Okay, cool. Absolutely.

Heidi Thompson:
I would love to include that.

Elizabeth Marberry:
Okay, cool. So if you’re listening, you can follow me on Instagram right now at Elizabeth Marberry, M-A-R-B-E-R-R-Y, because if you don’t follow me, sometimes you won’t get the automation. Sometimes that, that happens, or it’ll go in your request and you’ll never see it. But anyways, DM me, so direct message me the keyword leads, L-E-A-D-S. And I have this little short guide that like walks you through like kind of step by step. And then I give you a month of ManyChat Pro totally for free. And by the way, I always wanna say this. When I spoke at a wedding conference in November, someone came up to me after and, ’cause I was talking about DM Automation, they’re like, okay, like how much is the investment for this? And I’m like, it starts at $15 a month. So we’re not talking like thousands of dollars a month for this tool. I think, It truly is a no-brainer if you, if you are willing to kind of commit to showing up consistently on Instagram this year. So recently, Heidi, ManyChat released this new feature that you can auto DM people when they follow you. Have you heard about this?

Heidi Thompson:
Yeah, I’ve seen it.

Elizabeth Marberry:
Okay, cool. So I have this turned on now and I’ve been testing it and it’s really interesting and I do think it is, effective, and I’m going to tell you how I’ve been leveraging it. So essentially what I do is they get this welcome message from me that says something like, hey, you know, I’m so happy that you’re here. I put together a free Instagram visibility jumpstart kit to help you grow your audience and get more leads and sales without paid ads. It’s totally free. Do you want it? Um, so they click yes, send it over. And,

Elizabeth Marberry:
I will, and then my automation fires back and it says, great, here you go, here’s your guide. And then they can click the link to get their guide, which by the way, right now I do have it set up where they go to my landing page. I, my next step is to integrate where they’re putting their name and their email directly into the chat. But anyways, I would tell you, Heidi, that just in testing this just in the last 2 weeks, About 30% of people are grabbing my, my freebie. Wow.

Heidi Thompson:
That’s way more than I would’ve expected.

Elizabeth Marberry:
I know, I know. Totally. And I kind of like it because, you know, I— followers are great, but I’m really wanting a very specific type of follower. So if for some reason someone got my auto DM and they were like, what? I don’t need, I don’t wanna grow on Instagram. Or like, wait, what? Like, what do you do? Like, and they decide to unfollow me for whatever reason, that’s okay too, right? That’s not an ideal client or customer for me. So, um, yeah, DM automation is, is so cool.

Heidi Thompson:
Yeah, I love that. And I’ve seen, you know, the auto follower thing. I think that can be really good. There’s just something about that auto DM response that like, it just kind of like hits you in the face. It’s like, you know, you go to a store and there’s a sign in the window and it’s like, we’re at lunch. It’s like, oh, oh. Oh, okay.

Elizabeth Marberry:
I guess I won’t be doing what I thought I was gonna do. Yes. Yes. Like if you’re listening and you have one of those messages set up, just turn it off. Full permission. Yeah. To turn it off.

Heidi Thompson:
And if you’re like, well, I’m too busy to respond to DMs, that is the perfect case for DM automation because you can be bringing in leads. You can be asking them for their name, for their email, letting them know, okay, this is how this step goes. I’m going to email you the link to Uh, schedule our call, or here’s the link directly because now you’re an official lead. Yeah. That is going to cut that time down so that you can actually generate more leads from Instagram because I can see people being like, well, if I remove, you know, that auto thing, then now I have to be in my DMs all the time and that’s not necessarily the case.

Elizabeth Marberry:
Yeah, and you bring up a good point, which is, you know, I always assume that people check their Instagram DMs regularly. Um, if you are a business and you are telling me that you want to grow your business on Instagram and you’re not looking at your DMs, I would say, what are you doing? Because leads and sales happen in the DMs. Yeah.

Heidi Thompson:
Leads and sales. I think a lot of people don’t realize that. I think a lot of people think the goal is to navigate someone somewhere else to a website, to a, a form somewhere. But man, there is magic in those DMs.

Elizabeth Marberry:
That’s so interesting. Yeah. And you know, uh, like I get, it’s like you just have to build it into your workflow. Like you check your work email every day and then you go check your Instagram DMs. And moving on. And then the next day you check your email and you check your DMs. It’s just part of, it’s just part of business. You know, you have to shift your mindset from, oh, social media is just this like random extra thing. And no, it’s like literally a part of your marketing tasks, marketing and sales task, tasks. And I would argue it’s the most fun, but I know not everyone feels that way and that’s okay.

Heidi Thompson:
You know, I think the DMs are a lot of fun, and I think a lot of people don’t realize that. I know I didn’t for a long time, and then I actually started

Heidi Thompson:
prioritizing it, and it is just fun to get into like actual conversations with people and, you know, do what social media is actually about, which is connecting with other people. Yeah. And yeah, I’ve absolutely made sales from those because I was able to have that back and forth in the place where they were already expressing interest. I wasn’t, I eventually, you know, it’s like, oh yeah, okay, if you wanna sign up for this, this, here’s the form that you need to fill out, or here’s the purchase page, or whatever. Yeah, but I think if we can lean in a little bit, even if it’s like 10 minutes a day, into having like actual human-to-human conversations, especially when so much is AI, it really stands out.

Elizabeth Marberry:
It does. Yeah, it totally does. It totally does. And Yeah, it’s just, it’s important to just kind of weave it into your workflow. And if you are listening to this and you’re like, but my DMs are silent, I would just ask you like, what are you doing to fill your DMs? Right? So I am constantly inviting conversation in. Like when I think of my platforms, this is not a stage. This is like I’m coming down off my stage and I’m sitting next to you in a theater and I’m like, hey Heidi, what’s up? How’s your day? Right? Like, that’s the vibe. And I’m constantly inviting people into conversation and Instagram stories. Um, you know, I like, for my personal brand, obviously I’m sharing a lot. I’m sharing not, I don’t wanna say a lot about my personal life because I’m very actually selective about what I share. Like, I don’t share about my kids, I don’t share pictures of my kids and things like that, but. Like today I posted about, I just, I recently started lifting weights and I’ve always been like very anti-lifting weights. Like I hate weights. And I was just sharing that. And part of, part of why I share just like random facts is it’s, oh, it’s a connector. Like it’s a way for people to reach out to me and be like, oh my God, Elizabeth, what? You like, you never lift weights? I wouldn’t have guessed. Or I love lifting weights. How do you hate it so much? Or oh my gosh, I also used to struggle with disordered eating. Like I didn’t know that you did too, right? And so I’m, I’m, if you’re listening to this and let’s say you are a wedding florist and right now, like you, it’s, it’s just you, like maybe you have assistants or you have people helping you, but like you are the like main person in your business. I would argue you have a personal brand too, right? Like you, like people wanna hire you, yes, because you are so great at floral work and design and all the, you know, all the things. And they wanna hire you because of your pers— of your personality, whatever that means, right? You don’t have to be bubbly. You don’t have to be anything that you’re not. You get to just be who you are. Like, that’s the best part. Like, thank goodness, right? And so I’m always inviting people into conversation, and then you’d be amazed at how many people will actually respond to your DM, you know, in the DMs and be like, oh my gosh, amazing. And then it also works in not only in building connection, but like keeping you top of mind for people too. So. If your DMs are empty, maybe look in the mirror and say, how can I invite more people into conversation? Like with my wedding dance business, I could pop in there and say, hey, have you picked out your first dance song yet? Like, you know, drop your first dance song in, in the question box here below. And if you’re struggling, let me know and, um, I’ll send you over a free resource. Right?

Heidi Thompson:
Like so simple, so straightforward.

Elizabeth Marberry:
Yep. So simple. Mm-hmm.

Heidi Thompson:
And I think it’s really important to highlight what you did there,

Heidi Thompson:
was you made it a very specific ask and it wasn’t like, do you have any questions?

Elizabeth Marberry:
Oh, that is so huge, Heidi. Yeah, that is like a very— the more specific, the more like even yes or no. Like if I did a poll for my wedding dance business, I would just say, have you picked out your first dance song? Yes, I have. No, I’m struggling. Like, like it can be that simple, right? You want to make it really easy for people to respond to you. Um, but people do wanna respond. They do. They come on Instagram to connect. They wanna feel that sense of belonging. They wanna feel less alone in their lives. Like, you know, they want to be entertained, they wanna laugh, they wanna feel, uh, so if you can invoke those, those sensations and feelings and help your, your potential, you know, ideal clients and customers feel seen, heard, helped, loved, adored, celebrated. You know, you’re gonna be, you’re gonna be really successful on this platform.

Heidi Thompson:
I think that’s a really good way to think about it. And it comes back to the beginning of what you said as you need to come at this with a specific intention in order to get anything out of it.

Elizabeth Marberry:
Yes, exactly. That is so important.

Heidi Thompson:
This has been an awesome conversation. I’m definitely going to, uh, I will link to your Instagram so people can DM you the word leads. To get that ManyChat guide for sure, because I think that is gonna be something that is so helpful for wedding pros. I mean, if we can take something off of their plate by automating it, like, yes, let’s do that. I’m all for that. But where would you like people to go to connect with you, find out more about what you offer, all that good stuff?

Elizabeth Marberry:
Yeah. Well, first of all, if you’re listening to this podcast, you you love podcasts, and I would love for you to check out my podcast. I had Heidi on as a guest a few weeks ago. She was phenomenal. So my podcast is called Strut It: Bold Visibility Through Instagram Marketing, and every Monday I drop exactly what’s working for small businesses, creatives, wedding pros on Instagram. I keep it really simple and actionable, and just, you know, weaving in the mindset and energetics that are required to really win, win in the game of Instagram, but also just win in business and life. So I would love for you to check out my podcast. Um, and if you are interested in getting support from me, I invite you to join my waitlist for Hot Reels, my 12-month Instagram content lab. If you wanna learn more about that, you can go to elizabethmarberry.com. Hot. That’s elizabethmarberry.com/hot for more info. Takes less than 30 seconds to get on the waitlist. And, uh, I always have some goodies for people who are, who decide to hop in from that. So I definitely go check that out if you’re wanting support from me in 2026 to grow your brand on Instagram.

Heidi Thompson:
And shameless plug, Elizabeth’s podcast is the only one I listen to, I think, about anything. Social media, because it is so holistic and takes in, you know, the fact that you’re putting yourself out there, and that’s kind of hard sometimes, as well as really digs into like, here’s what’s actually working. So if this is something you wanna improve upon, definitely listen to her podcast.

Elizabeth Marberry:
Thanks Heidi. I so appreciate you.

Heidi Thompson:
Thank you so much for being here.