SEO vs. Instagram Marketing: You Don't Have to Choose

You don't have to quit Instagram. You just have to stop needing it to be your ENTIRE marketing strategy. 

That's exactly where so many of my clients are when they find me. 

→ Either Instagram isn't working at all, or it's working just fine & they're just SO over it. They’re looking for a marketing strategy that will bring clients TO them!

In this episode, I'm sharing what happened when I took an 18-month break from posting on the ‘gram, how SEO supported me, & what it looked like for my client Elli, too! (Spoiler: her website & blogs are now doing the heavy lifting while she builds out a van with her hubby.)

→ Get the full show notes here:
https://brittanyherzberg.com/blog/seo-vs-instagram-marketing-you-do-not-have-to-choose

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Transcript

Brittany Herzberg:

Hello and welcome to the Basic Bee Podcast. I'm your host and favorite SEO coach, Brittany Herzberg. First, before we get into the SEO things, which, I've got a good show for you, but I want to do a book catch up because I started this last episode and I kind of feel like I need to, like, bring you up to speed. So I finished the rights of the Starling, which is a book. Two in a series, I believe. I don't know how many there's going to be in the series. It was so good. Okay, if you're a Romantasy fan, definitely add book one is Shield of Sparrows, and then book two is the Rise of the Starling. Definitely add it. This is another one of those. Book two is possibly maybe even better than book one, which is like, very hard to do, but highly recommend it. Add it. So I'm done with that one. And now I am on a book called A Web of Vows and Vengeance, and it's so good, it's giving fourth wing vibes. That's all I'm going to say because I honestly don't know too much yet, but I am hooked. I'm finding myself very excited to go back and finish whatever the chapter is for the day. So, yeah, that's the book journey. Okay, on to SEO things. So, as you saw with the title Instagram, it didn't stop working for me. I honestly just. I didn't need it to. So this entire episode is inspired by a post that this week went pretty wild because I think it seems to be hitting home with people. So again, the hook was Instagram didn't stop working for me. I just stopped needing it to. I feel like every time I say that, I have to, like, pause and just let it land. Instagram didn't stop working for me. I just stopped needing it to. And I want to talk about that more in depth here with you on the podcast, because that's where so many of my clients are. I've either got those who are truly not getting anything from for their efforts of posting on Instagram, or I've got those who have a large following. They're making sales, they're booking clients through the platform. They just don't want to. They want to have a less effortful type of marketing strategy working for them. So they get interested in SEO, they find me, and boom, magic happens. I myself fall into the second camp, minus the large following, at least as of the time of this recording. Here's a little bit more about my story with Instagram. So Instagram for me, has always worked, and it still works for me because I have my profile optimized and my content optimized, which we can totally talk about. But not all that long ago. I decided to take some time off Instagram. It ended up being a full year and a half break from the Gram. And I should clarify, I was on stories, but I was not posting to the feed. No carousels, no reels, even though I actually genuinely enjoy them. I was just like, I need a break. So that's what I did. I took a break, and it ended up being 18 months. My decision wasn't one based in burnout. I just wanted to do other things. You may be considering a break from Instagram, and yours may very well be based in burnout. And you just being like, I'm over it, I'm out of here. But mine, like I said, it was more of like, I want to F around and find out, like, what else do I have going on? What other ways can I pull people into my world? And I wanted to focus on those. And it was just me over here. So I did that. In 18 months away from the gram, I discovered that my profile could actually book me for speaking gigs without me posting my stories could be a place for a vibe check without me being worried about a post for the day, and my DMs could actually make me money again without me posting. But for this amazingness to happen, I had to start in the last place that you would think over on my website. I had to optimize my website for SEO, make sure that was locked in. And websites for many of us are those things that we pay thousands for and continue to silently regret side eye and actively avoid sending people to. I know it probably seems like a ridiculous starting point to go to your website when you're like, I'm jumping ship from Instagram. But here's what I discovered. People would find my website or my podcast or my podcast blog posts, and then they would come over and chat with me on Instagram before deciding to work with me. Because, yeah, they were doing that. So Instagram still played a very critical role in my lead gen process in that workflow. But it stopped being the place that I needed to put pressure on to get leads in the door and stay top of mind. With 18 posts a day, it became a place that, once again, I got to just come hang out for fun. It can be that place again for you too. I know. So many of us feel like we have lost that fun social place that social media once was. And this isn't just something that's happened for me. It worked for me and it worked for my client Ellie. The number one thing Ellie told me she wanted when she joined my SEO program was to get off Instagram or to at least have it be a place she could be on, to be social, to have fun. Both of us were tired of having Instagram be this pressure filled space. She also mentioned she, you know, like wanted to make money from her website or whatever. And spoiler, she did that too. Now she's living that virtual bookkeeper life while building a new van with her hubby, all while letting her blogs and website do the heavy lifting of bringing in aligned leads and sales. SEO success like this starts by you getting clear on your vision, your keywords, and getting a solid strategy plugged into your website. Funny enough, that's exactly what happens in my SEO Sprint. If you're interested in joining a future Sprint by Buy the Buy, but you don't want to wait two whole months, message me SEO Sprint. You can either use the link below to text the show, just make sure that you include your email address as part of your message, or you can DM me on Instagram. Brittneyherzberg and I want you to message me because I have a super fun summer SEO Sprint option for anyone who's like I want help asap. The thing I want you to take away from this cute little shorty of a chat situation is this. Instagram is not the end all, be all of marketing. It can be a great place for some and maybe you find yourself in that group of people who has a large Instagram following. Your DMs are always overflowing with conversations and you've got a funnel that works that is amazing. And if you're wanting something else, you have other options. Especially if you are feeling burned out, uninspired, drained and just over it. Especially on that platform, that's a major sign that you're ready for something different. Something like SEO that can be working for you in the background 247 while you're doing literally anything other than talking to the camera or trying to keep up with the latest dance trend. Something like SEO that actually compounds over time versus dying out after 36 hours. So as long as you have an idea of who you help and of your offers, you've got more than enough to get started with SEO. Instagram can be a place that's fun. It can be a place to be social. It can be also working for you alongside SEO. Like I mentioned at the top of this, I have my profile optimized for SEO so people can find me when they're searching on that search bar. That's part of what I walk my clients through. But we have to start with those three. Who do you help? How do you help them? Why? You then get the right aligned, effective keywords for you. Build out your website SEO strategies and then the rest becomes much easier. You can take that stuff, you can apply it to directory listings, to social media profiles, to any number of things, to podcast guesting opportunities. But you need to start with your website and you need to start with those three questions. All right, come find me in the DMs. I love when you say hi. Tell me your favorite part of this episode or you're welcome to even ask me an SEO question. I am always looking for questions that real people are asking so I can answer them here on the podcast. Until next time, remember I'm cheering you on on your SEO journey.