Introduction

Hello Reptile Entrepreneurs, this is your host, Bill Strand. And we are going to be starting our 2022 season 2 early because we have a big year ahead of us. My goal for Season 2, is to lead you through a complete digital footprint creation step by step. For Season 2, this show is going to be a combination of interviews and tutorials as we build a business from the ground up and talk to people who have done that exact thing along the way.

The interviews start back up in January so, right now, I am going to get a head start on these tutorial episodes.  

2022 Development Phases

As far as building the business, there will be four phases.  I am going to lead you through a progression that adds one component at a time. Of course, there are any number of ways you can structure your business in this digital world. So there is no one right way. But I am going to put together a way that will work for most businesses and, this will be as valuable as possible to as many viewers and listeners as possible.

Phase 1 is to establish a digital presence. For that I will get you up and running with an Instagram account. Instagram is easy to get started and chances are you already have an account. But we are going to optimize that account. Instagram is a multi-facetted platform with a wide variety of tools which need to be used properly for maximum return. And I will lead you through the tools and the strategy to use them. If you follow the reptileentrepreneur Instagram account you know I have already started with Instagram hints and tips. And they just happen to go in a general order that helps you start and work your way forward.

Phase 2 is to establish a product. For this phase we will create a logo and create a print -on-demand merchandise shop.  This does not have to be your main income. If you have a product already then this is a bonus revenue stream. If you are a content creator or influencer then this could be a significant revenue stream. Either way, it is important to have a revenue stream established. Because, well, that is what this show is all about! If you have a product already then we will be discussing setting you up with an account on an ecommerce platform like Etsy or eBay.

All of this will be connected by a link aggregator like Linktree. Don’t worry about that until we get to phase 2 at which time I will explain it all. Websites are of greater value to us, but take a high level of effort to create and maintain. We will do that in phase 4. But right now, I want you up and running quickly and, at least some money coming in.

Phase 3 is to expand your outreach and foundation. These don’t have to be in any particular order, but I will then discuss the option of creating a YouTube video channel or podcast outreach. You decide if one or the other or both is right for you. What is important is you feel like you could implement that tool if it would benefit you.

Phase 4 is the website. By this time you know what you will need for eCommerce and support for your multi-media outreach and can select a website theme that gives you the features you need.

If all goes well, I will be able to fit that all in the 2022 calendar year! I know the end of 2022 sounds so far away now, but there is so much to learn and accomplish it will go quite fast. And, honestly, I think I am just about ready for the 2020 holiday season. So, it does sneak up on you!

Anyway, let’s get this party started.

Phase 1: Instagram – Your Digital Homebase

Let’s start at the very beginning.  You need a digital homebase. And for that I am going to go with Instagram as the one social media  platform that has the most to offer a new start-up business.  Those of you listening to me from the beginning will be surprised that I am not going to start with a website. A website is still the best place to plant your flag because you own the website and that cannot be taken away from you. Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, TikTok…these are all someone else’s platforms and you are only borrowing their space in exchange for bringing them ad revenue. So it is a symbiotic relationship. You provide the content that brings the people to the platform and they take care of the platform and allow you to have a space. And this works perfectly until political pressures make you a bigger liability than you are worth to them. And you are evicted. But, social media platforms provide a very easy way to get in front of millions of potential customers quickly and easily so we are going to take advantage of this. Later in the year we will add the firm foundation of a website to our portfolio of digital assets. But for now, let’s start our business on Instagram.

If you already have an Instagram account then your first step is to follow @reptileentrepreneur. There is nothing like learning within the platform and I have daily entrepreneurial tips going out. True to the phase 1 theme, many of them are Instagram related so you get a daily Instagram tip about some aspect of using or understanding the tools available. On this podcast you are getting high level overview and strategy, which is critical, and on the Instagram account you are going to see detailed topics. Although I will be talking about marketing concepts in the context of Instagram here on this episode, you can apply these to any social media platform or website or sales text. So don’t let my discussion of Instagram turn you off if that is not the platform of your choice. The concepts can be used anywhere.

If you are new to Instagram then the first step is to sign yourself up for an account. Just load up the free Instagram app on your smartphone and follow the instructions. Instagram makes it very easy to do this.  Once you are on, find and follow @reptileentrepreneur.

Why Instagram?

Of all the possible social media platforms, I have chosen Instagram because of the following

• It allows you a profile page, of sorts, with the ability to present whatever you are offering with the ability for private communication with your potential customers
• Instagram retains a powerful organic reach capability
• Instagram has a business suite through Facebook which provides basic, but rapidly growing management, scheduling tools, and dashboard.
• Instagram is deliberately positioning itself to take on qualities of a search engine which has the real potential to thrust it into a realm beyond being just another social media platform.
• And, finally, you have adequate tools for images, video, audio, and text. It is much more skewed towards visual media and is pushing video hard. So text is not powerful and audio is not what the audience expects. But you can use those media as long as you manage your audience’s expectations.

Of all the social media platforms I see Instagram as the right blend of maturity as a platform and aggressive development. It is Meta’s best chance at maintaining relevance as new social media platforms such as TikTok grab the minds of the up and coming generations. As a reminder, Meta is Facebook’s new company name. Instagram is still the #3 social media site behind Facebook and Youtube with about 1.4 billion users. TikTok’s astronomical growth rate will easily see it passing Instagram in 2022, but TikTok has yet to mature to the point where it has the tools for a standard business to establish itself. Expect that sometime in the future. Right now, it needs to grow on the backs of trendy videos to build up the size to survive against the established behemoths. I, of course, will continue to monitor the situation. But, for now, Instagram is my pick for the best platform to start with.

Two-Factor Authentication

Before we go any further I highly suggest you turn on two-factor authentication. Hackers are making a living off of breaking into your account and selling it back to you. If they change the contact email address, Instagram will have a very hard time determining who the rightful owner is. That is, if you can reach any one. You do not want to lose your hard earned account and followers to a hacker. Two-factor authentication will send a code to your phone if someone tries to log in from a device that is not recognized by your account. This is a free feature in Instagram so there is no reason not to turn it on. The minor inconvenience of having to enter in a number the first time you use another device pales in comparison to the disaster of losing control of and access to your account. If you didn’t set it up when you set up your account then go to the menu button, which is the three dashes on top of each other in the top right corner of your profile screen. By the way, this is called the hamburger icon. Seriously. But in the menu you go to account, security, and two factor authentication and follow the directions. Don’t put this one off.

Profile Image

When you are setting up your account you will be given the opportunity to put in a profile picture. This should be something that represents your account. It can be a company logo for a company account, a picture of a blue tree monitor if your account is about blue tree monitors, or a headshot of you if you are an influencer/content creator. There is no one right answer, but think about what picture would bring in the visitors that would most enjoy the content you will regularly post. For example, my profile picture for the Chameleon Academy account is me with a chameleon. Pretty straight forward!

Account Name

Next is the name of your account. Your name should make it easy to figure out what your account is all about. BillStrandsadventure is a really cool name, but if you do not know or care who Bill Strand is then I have lost your interest in the first half second. But when I call it the Chameleon Academy you know, with 95% confidence, what this account is about. Chameleons and education! So the name is the first thing that starts your visitor down the path to becoming a follower. Your name is critical and it is worth changing now if it is not your business name or an obvious description of what you have to offer. A keyword is a word that people will put in a search engine. If at all possible, have the main keyword people searching for your content will enter into their search engine. Example, “Chameleon”. What is the difference in my success between Chameleon Academy and googly-eyed tongue zapper academy? One is cute and fun. One is boring and straight forward. One will be found when someone types Chameleon into their search bar. One will not. Now, it is not the end of the world if you use your company name and your company name does not have a keyword in it. There are plenty of other opportunities to include keywords and we have hashtags which we will go into soon which will provide that organic reach. But, if you have the opportunity to put a keyword in your name then take it.

Keywords

And this segues into something I want you to keep in mind.  Instagram is taking on qualities of a search engine. People are using it to search for information and Instagram is leaning heavily into this trend. It is kind of like what happened to YouTube which started as some place to put up your wedding video and it morphed into the second most powerful search engine in the world. What this means is that you will see more and more sophistication in how Instagram decides who to show your post or account to. Now, I do not know that Instagram, in its current format, will become a major search engine like YouTube did, but Instagram employing keyword analysis means you have more opportunity to give the algorithm reasons to refer your account.  Hashtags have traditionally been the main method Instagram judges what the content of your post is about. Which means they have been trusting you to accurately tell them where to show your post and then they measure the reaction from the people they show it to. Well, with keyword search they will analyze what you write in your text. So, as you are working on your bio it is a good idea to keep in mind to use searchable words in a natural manner.

You will notice in my Chameleon Academy account I use the word “chameleon” in my name and a number of times in the bio. You have to use it naturally so it isn’t annoying to read. Remember, if you just stuff your bio with keywords you will turn off any potential followers and that will speak louder to the algorithm than keywords ever will. The end goal is always positive customer engagement. Trying to game the system will back fire eventually. Just have your goal to be consistent with giving your followers a positive experience your #1 priority and you will do great. For a keyword example, on my chameleon academy podcast I often affectionately refer to chameleons as mini-tree dragons. I would want to save that term of affection for my spoken word. Any text, which will be searched for keywords, I should prefer to use the word “chameleon”. Because then the algorithm knows who to match my content up with. No one is searching for mini-tree dragons (yet, at least) so that means nothing to the algorithm. Once again, my main priority is the user experience and so I will color that experience with fun wordings. But I also have to make sure I am mindful as to when and where I apply creativity in searchable text.

Bio Text Strategy

So let’s get to the bio. In the digital marketing game, first digital impressions are critical. Whether your digital home base is Instagram, a website, Facebook, a YouTube profile, or even a link aggregator, that first impression  means everything to you gaining that follower or customer.  With the deluge of information and entertainment we are giving each choice mere seconds to justify it being given more of our time. So you send out images, posts, videos and such like tentacles into the digital ocean. They pique someone’s interest enough that that person is drawn in to check out the main hub to see if there is more of the same. So they come to your main digital hub and you have a few seconds to let them know they made the right choice and that your account is worth following. Your profile picture, name, and whatever post grabbed them were your first impressions and they worked enough that the visitor is now viewing your profile to determine if this is the place to be.

So we are going to use the text allotted to us for a “bio, they call it” to convince them. And I want you to use a three concept progression that leads your visitor on a logical path to following – if they are right for the account!

The progression is

• Benefit statement – What benefit will they receive if they follow
• Qualification – Why are you the one qualified to provide that benefit?
• Execution – How will you deliver these benefit? And, finally…
• Call To Action – What do they need to do to get these benefits?

Wow, that is a lot of information! How many pages do we get? Well, that depends on that format. But since we are specifically working with the Instagram bio right now we get all of 150 characters to complete our mission….sound intimidating? It is and you will be agonizing over each character and you will be constantly refining the text! But this isn’t just an unnecessary challenge. That is all the social media attention span will give you. Heck, if you want to write pages of detailed explanation then get yourself a website and have at it. But you will still need something as brief as an Instagram bio to convince people that all your text is worth reading. That is just where we are in today’s world. So, for better or worse, 150 characters is what we have to work with.

So, our goal for this week is to finish an effective Instagram bio. You may have never given it much thought or even remember what you wrote. But, that is why you are here!

Bio Text Level 1: Benefit Statement

First, your benefit statement. What benefit are you providing? Take a look at almost every Instagram bio out there. They are almost all a description of who the account holder is. Which makes sense since it is called a “bio”. But if you look at your account as a marketing tool, take this opportunity to explain why anyone should follow you. And who should follow you? You don’t want just anyone following you. Let’s take my Chameleon Academy account for example. My first line is “Learn how to care for your chameleon”. I am making it clear that this account is for people interested in learning chameleon husbandry. That is the benefit if you follow my account. It also lets you know that the content will center around husbandry and not conservation or scientific study. So I am specifically inviting followers that will 1) enjoy my content and 2) will be the type of people that will engage and interact and strengthen my account. Here is another thing to think about which we will talk more about in another episode – engagement is more important than the number of followers to the Instagram algorithm. Instagram is much more impressed with a high engagement rate and an account with 100 followers and 10 comments on a post looks much better than an account with 100k followers and 10 comments on a post. This is why I am going to spend so much time in these episodes working on helping you get the right followers. Because lots of followers actually makes you look bad if they are not the right followers. So now you are starting to get an understanding as to why I encourage you to be clear about your product (which is your Instagram account) so you don’t get a follower that will be disappointed and not engage.

Let’s take a look at another example.

My first line of Reptile Entrepreneur is “learn how to build a business you love in the reptile world”. Once again, you follow me if you want to build a business you love, but you notice I also limited my outreach to the reptile world. This is strategic. Yes, I am cutting out the enormous number of niche hobby business people who could use this information just as well as a person in the reptile community, but there is significant strategic benefit to defining your niche and sticking to it. I talked about this before in my episode on niches and will talk more on this later. The point I am trying to make right now is that your benefit statement is most powerful if it identifies what problem it is solving and who it is solving it for. Your goal is for the visitor to immediately see themselves in that statement and know they are home. And to be clear, your goal is not to craft a statement that covers the widest number of people. Craft it so it targets the people in the specific niche you are covering.

So, don’t think of this as discouraging followers. You are being upfront and clear about what you are offering through this account. If the idea has occurred to you that you need to have a rock solid understanding about what your purpose is, you are right. Not all of us do when we start and that is okay. But we will not be fully effective until we figure that out and use it to guide all these outreach efforts I am talking about here.

Bio Text Level 2: Your Qualification

The next line is to explain why you are the one they should listen to. What are your qualifications? Have you bred turtles for X number of years? Are you the tarantula world’s most prolific creator of educational material? Were you a columnist at a relevant magazine? Did you will awards for your achievements in this field? Give them a line that explains why you are the one who is qualified to solve their problem. For the Chameleon Academy I bring out my over 40 years of experience. For Reptile Entrepreneur I have decades of marketing and entrepreneurial experience, but I choose to highlight that I bring you experience from the community. I say “Hear from experienced entrepreneurs”. Through the interview format you tap into not only my decades of experience, but the experience of all these people in the community. And, that is a powerful qualification!

Now, what if you are just starting out and really don’t have a qualification that is worth 25% of your limited characters. Well, then simply leave it out. Or say something aspirational. Instead of “4 years of breeding experience” you can say “exploring the world of chameleons” or something that describes your process of growth.

Bio Text Level 3: Your Methods

The methods line is optional. If you are providing value through your Instagram feed then there is no need to point out the obvious. But if you have private tutorial sessions, a YouTube channel or some other outreach then it is valuable to let the visitor know that following you is a step into a larger world. As long as you aren’t confusing about it, that is a powerful selling point. Every account will be different so you will have to mold the concepts here in a way that serves you best. So don’t take these concepts as rigid rules. Take them as guidelines for an effective bio and make them work for you.

Bio Text Level 4: Call To Action

Finally, be clear as to what your visitor’s next steps should be. Often it is “Follow for….” And then whatever you are offering. Examples could be “Follow for more frog keeping tips” or “Follow for bearded dragon availability” or “click link for merch store” or “click link for entire YouTube video catalog”. I know it may seem obvious to you, but you have been leading them deeper and deeper into knowing you and what you are offering so end it with your desired result so they know what to do if they want to become part of what you are offering.

Is there more?

If you haven’t used up your 150 characters already then you can determine whether there is something else that a potential follower might be interested in. But be careful not to confuse with more details. The more simple you can make your message the better. This guideline I have presented above is a clean progression. From why they should care to why you are the one to solve their problem to how you will solve it. This leads the reader one level deeper closer to deciding to follow you. If you feel you have already achieved your goal do not feel the need to add more information. If you do want to add more then make sure it takes them a level deeper or maintains the “depth”, so to speak, instead of throwing out another benefit statement which brings them back to the surface.

Obviously, these concepts are subtle. If you sandwich your bio with benefit statements or just fill your bio with talking about your qualifications your account is not going to suddenly be shunned by millions. Just like your car will run without being finely tuned. But, just like your car, if you want to put all the odds in your favor and present a clean, professional account, then the details matter.

External Link

The last part to your bio is one link to some other digital entity. Your link is where you want to send them when they have decided your account is perfect and they want to experience more of what you have to offer. For most businesses that will be their website. For content creators it may be their YouTube channel where the audience expects long form video. While it is true that you can technically put long form video on Instagram video, that isn’t a common use for Instagram and so you’ll be much more successful on YouTube with that. Things always evolve and platform expectations change so we need to keep an eye on trends. But that is where it stands right now, circa: end of 2021.

If you have a merchandise store, one of those print on demand places, that can go in your bio. Or if you have a merch store, YouTube, TikTok, and favorite charity then you can use what we call a link aggregator which is a landing page you can create, often for free, with providers like Link.tree. But, the purpose of the link is to give your dedicated fans a level deeper. If you are following my progression in building your digital footprint from ground zero then you don’t have anything else and I suggest not putting a link because if your Instagram account is the deepest you go then you don’t want them going anywhere else. Don’t worry, once we get your Instagram account solid and running then the next step, accurately named Phase 2,  is creating a free standing merchandise shop which you can put in your bio and earn some side revenue as you are going through this building of your business.

Conclusion

Your Instagram bio is just the basic homebase of your profile. There are sooo many features that can be used on Instagram. But my purpose today is not to go into the deep recesses of Instagram and make you an Instagram expert. That is for another day. Right now, my goal is to get you started enough that we can methodically add and piece together an entire digital footprint from which you can run an online business or influencer outreach.

Once again, the interviews will start back up in January and I will mix in interviews and tutorials. I want to lay down a foundation of podcast, website and YouTube basic tutorials so there are digital references for our community to use to be successful with start-ups. So you will see a lot of that foundation building and I invite you to build your digital footprint along side these episodes! Right now I am working on building up the @reptileentrepreneur Instagram account and I will be sharing here how I am doing that. Although I have worked with many start-ups, the @reptileentrepreneur outreach is a start-up in itself and I am going to take full advantage of that and share the growth strategy as I implement it. I’ll be teaching it while I am doing it and you can see the results in real time. I love the digital classroom!

I’ll close off here, but with the reminder that now is a great time to start that business you have been thinking of. Whether it be a breeding business, a product business, or being an influencer. There is huge growth in the reptile community and not enough supply. Yes, you have to do things strategically and you still have to put in your time to build reputation. Yes, you can fail if you take short cuts, engage in aggressive tactics, or are generally unpleasant to work with. But, if you build it, and build it right, they will come. This is the time to get yourself out there and make it happen. Of course, I will do all I can here to give you the information necessary to be as effective as you can right out of the gate.

Your call to action today is to go follow the @reptileentrepreneur Instagram account because I am continuing the Instagram tutorials there.

Thank you for joining me here. For season 2 we are hitting the ground running. Take care of yourself. Take care of our reptile community. And let’s see what we can build!