Have you ever opened Instagram to post something and immediately started negotiating with yourself? Does this need to be a reel? Would it be better as a carousel? Am I posting enough stories? And when am I supposed to run my actual business? I get it. I run two businesses, I have two kids, and I am not interested in turning every idea into a three-hour content project. But understanding what each format can do for your business makes those decisions so much easier. Today we are talking about reels, carousels, and stories: how they are different, when to use them, and how they can work together to help you get discovered, build connection, and invite people into your offers.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
01:58 Instagram breaking news: longer videos up to 90 minutes now live on Instagram and what it means for small business owners
09:14 Start here before choosing a format: what do you want your content to do and who needs to hear it?
12:47 Reels: why they still have the highest reach rate for accounts under 50,000 followers and how to use them to get discovered
18:33 The “who would my ideal customer send this to?” test and why sharability is a key growth metric
22:06 Carousels: why engagement is slightly higher than reels right now, the second-slide second-chance feature, and when to use this format
30:48 Stories: why they reach your warmest audience, what the 88% rise in Story replies means, and how to use stories for connection and offers
38:17 How one customer question can become a reel, carousel, and Stories post and how to find the right content mix for you
INSTAGRAM UPDATE WORTH KNOWING
Recorded Monday, October 26th, 2026: Adam Mosseri, CEO of Instagram, announced that Instagram has launched longer videos up to 90 minutes long. You can now watch them on your phone and on the Instagram TV app, which works on smart TVs. Horizontal video is now fully supported, meaning you can turn your phone sideways to watch in landscape just like YouTube. This is a major play by Instagram to compete with YouTube’s market share on TV screens. If you have a podcast with video, a masterclass, or long-form content, this is a new opportunity to repurpose and distribute it on Instagram. That said, reels, carousels, and stories are still 100% where Elizabeth recommends small business owners focus their energy for growth right now.
A Truth You Need to Hear:
“Before you ask do I need a reel or a carousel, ask what you are trying to communicate and who needs to hear it. That gives you a starting point.” - Elizabeth Marberry
LINKS MENTIONED
Watch my episode on Social Media Examiner: Making Instagram Reels Easier, Faster & Scalable
Free DM Automation Guide + 1 Month of ManyChat Free DM me the word LEADS on Instagram @elizabethmarberry
Hot Reels My 12-month Instagram content lab
S3 Ep141 Transcript - What to Post on Instagram to Grow: Reels, Carousels, and Stories (part 2)
00:00
Today we're talking about Instagram reels, carousels and stories. How they're different and when to use them and how they can all work together in your marketing ecosystem to help you get discovered, build connection with your ideal client or customer and of course invite people into your paid offers. This is part two in our three part series of how to use Instagram to grow your business. I hope you're excited, let's go.
00:30
Welcome to Strut It, a podcast about creating bold visibility on social media with zero apologies. I'm Elizabeth Marberry, your host and Instagram marketing coach. I help small business owners get seen on Instagram and monetize their offers so they can make more money doing their sole led work. If you're tired of spinning your wheels on Instagram and you're seeking simple, proven Instagram marketing strategies that actually work, you're in the right place.
00:59
Let's dive in.
01:09
Welcome back to the show. Thank you so much for joining me for part two of our series on growing your small business on Instagram. Last week, I shared with you five Instagram growth hacks I wish I had known when I first got started growing my businesses on Instagram, including getting clear on your offer, speaking to your specific person, and knowing what happens after someone discovers you on Instagram. If you missed that episode, go back.
01:38
and listen when you have a chance, it will give you a strong foundation for what we're discussing today. I'm super excited to unpack really the difference between reels, carousels and stories, because I know that when you are designing your content strategy, of course the question you're asking yourself is, what should I be posting? And it kind of starts with those formats, right? Like there's different formats that you can leverage on Instagram to get seen and get paid.
02:06
and each one plays a different role in your content strategy. So I thought this would be really relevant, especially this time of year. As we're approaching the holiday season, obviously we wanna be really mindful of how we're showing up so we can drive sales during the holidays. But also I know many of us are already starting to think about our 2027 Instagram content strategy. And so this episode will be a really great foundation around what you need to be posting on Instagram to grow.
02:35
Before we get into it, I do wanna share just a breaking news update on Instagram today. I'm dating the episode now on Monday, October 26th, 2026. I logged into my Instagram and this news was everywhere and Adam Ozari, the CEO of Instagram announced that they have launched longer videos on Instagram. So now you can watch videos up to 90 minutes long.
03:03
from creators you love on your phone and Instagram for TV. So if you didn't know, Instagram recently launched a Instagram TV app that works on smart TVs. I actually tested this out on my TV so I can now look at my Instagram from my TV. It's pretty wild. And I actually was recently on the social media marketing podcast with Michael Stelzner, the CEO of Social Media Examiner. And we kind of talked about
03:30
you know, why Instagram is rolling out this TV app. And of course, part of that is they're wanting to get that market share of YouTube, right? So Instagram has always been known as the short form video platform, or of course it was originally a photo platform and then migrated over to Reels trying to follow in the footsteps of TikTok, you know, capturing that short form video market share. And then now Instagram is really understanding that people...
03:57
are of course watching a lot of YouTube content on their TVs. Instagram wants that market share. They wanna show up on your TV as well. And so it's a huge opportunity for us as creators to post longer form videos. It's such a fantastic way to deepen the conversation and build trust. mean, that's why I love this podcast, right? It's my long form content. So there's only so much I can share and pack into a 60 second reel.
04:25
but in a longer form video, I could do a lot more education. It's a great place for authority, content, all of that. So if you're like me where you already have a podcast, I have a confession to make. My podcast is still audio only. My podcast manager has been telling me for years that I need to get on video. I've had so many conversations with people in this industry. I know I need to get on video as the person who teaches video, short form video. But anyways, podcasts are a fantastic way
04:54
If you do have a podcast and you are recording on video, which I will be soon, okay, wink, wink, hold me accountable to that. That could be a great way to like repurpose that over on Instagram or potentially if you do some sort of masterclass or just a longer form piece of content. Now, I don't want you to completely pivot your strategy for this. I would say most small business owners were already very overwhelmed with all the different things on Instagram. So today's episode,
05:23
is gonna be so relevant for you. Reels, carousels, and stories are still 100 % where it's at where I want you to focus, and that is how you are gonna grow your audience and make the most money. But I do want you to be aware of this update. It's a huge update that Instagram is now embracing these horizontal long form videos. And I was also blown away that I don't know if you've ever seen on Instagram when you watch a horizontal video.
05:50
You know, where it's the aspect ratio, where it's horizontal, not that vertical video format. Now, with these longer form videos on Instagram, now it will be the type of thing where you can turn your phone to the side, just like on YouTube, and watch it from the entire landscape of your phone, if that makes sense. Whereas before, Instagram didn't really allow you to turn your phone like that. I hope that makes sense.
06:14
how I'm describing it. You I just thought of another use case. I take a hip hop class every, not every Saturday, but most Saturdays. It's called Groove 3. It's like a hip hop dance cardio class. It's so fun. And the instructor often will film us in that horizontal video format because he wants to get the entire class on camera. And so now, instead of having to, you know, do a zoom in close up, you know, vertical view, he's going to be able to post that whole combo of the whole.
06:42
horizontal shot of the class and it will be better optimized for Instagram. So it's a really awesome update. I wanted to make sure I brought that in. Breaking news, fresh off the press, just for you, my beloved listener, thank you so much for being here. And I just wanna pause. If this podcast has served you in any way, whether it's your first episode today or you've been listening for a while, please take a moment to rate and review the show. That really helps me get in front of more brilliant people like yourselves. I so appreciate that.
07:10
I said this last week, I wanna say it again, my podcast listeners turn into my absolute favorite clients, because if you're listening to a podcast, you are so invested in yourself, you love personal development, you are determined to take action so you can get new results, and you're hungry to learn and figure it out, and you're seeking support, and those are my people, right? The people who are willing to implement, right? Not just like sit on the couch and think about what they wanna do. If you're listening to this podcast,
07:38
You have a big vision in your heart of what you wanna grow for your brand. And I just love that. And so anyways, I would love to meet more people like you. So if you can share this episode with a business bestie or colleague, I would be so grateful. Help us spread the word about this show with other small business owners and entrepreneurs who are struggling with Instagram. So today's episode, we're getting into what to post on Instagram.
08:04
And I wanna help you understand the strategy behind these formats so you can make decisions for your business. And of course, we could do an entire deep dive series on each one of these formats. I would probably still have endless things to say, but my goal today is to help you open up Instagram. And when you go to create or make a content plan, you just feel more clear and less overwhelmed, less in that like stuck, frozen, overthinking space.
08:32
and just more empowered with information. So I want you to start with what you want your content to do. Before you ask, do I need a reel or a carousel? I want you to ask yourself, what am I trying to communicate and who needs to hear it? Maybe you want a total stranger, cold audience who doesn't know you exist to discover your business.
08:56
Maybe you want to explain something that's come up with your current clients or customers, and maybe it's something that they find confusing and you realize instead of just answering them, you could also create a post around that to share that information. Maybe you have a client story, a client success story that you want to share, or you want to invite people to book an appointment in your shop.
09:22
Before we talk about the difference between reels, carousels, and stories, that's the question I always want you to ask yourself is like, what do you want this piece of content to do for your business? Because sometimes when I post something, I'm posting it to really just showcase the nuance of my personality, my sense of humor. And so I'll use a lot of like small business owner trying to grow on Instagram humor in my content because that's a huge part of my personality, right?
09:51
That post, obviously, I'm not expecting it to be a deep educational post because that one is more top of funnel growth content that's going to be super highly relatable to my ideal client. But if I were to say, OK, my goal is to speak into the strategy I'm using with trial reels right now, for example, and I want to give some really specific things that are working to help my videos be better optimized and get
10:21
an increase in engagement through the strategies I'm using within trial reels. So like an educational piece of content, that's going to inform like what format I might use. So it all starts with like, what is the goal of that piece of content? And when it comes to reels, carousels and stories, I also wanna just say that these formats can absolutely overlap. A reel can generate a sail, a carousel,
10:49
can reach someone who's never heard of you. An Instagram story can introduce your offer to a new follower that just started watching your story. There's a lot of different crossover. So you're not gonna hear me say like it's black and white that like reels are for sales or stories are for sales, but not for carousels or like there's definitely a lot of overlap. So we're gonna look at the strengths of each format and how you can use them intentionally to help you reach your goals. Let's start with my personal favorite, Instagram reels.
11:20
As I'm sure you already know, Reels are those short form videos on Instagram. How I like to think about Reels is they help people discover you and your brand while also experiencing your personality, your vibe, your perspective, your unique experience. Reels are still one of my favorite tools for getting in front of new people who don't already follow me.
11:48
And there's research supporting this in terms of Reels really helping you to reach those new people, like a cold audience that don't know that your brand exists. Social Insider's study using data from the first half of 2026 found that Reels had the highest average reach rate for accounts with fewer than 50,000 followers. Carousels took a lead in the larger account categories.
12:16
So Reels are a really strong discovery tool, especially for smaller accounts. And that doesn't mean every Reel will outperform every carousel by any means, but the data still tells us that Reels have the highest reach rate, meaning they will reach the most accounts of people who don't already follow you on Instagram. And also we should clarify that reach, when we measure reach on a video,
12:44
It also, of course, includes people who already follow you and they're consuming the content. So when you look at your own results and you're kind of tracking the analytics on your video, you can check out how much of that reach comes from followers and non-followers. And that can help you to understand whether your piece of content is introducing your business to new people. Now, one reason I love Reels or those short form videos is that you get to
13:13
come off the page. People can hear your voice, see your expression. They can experience your enthusiasm, your sense of humor, and the way that you explain something. It's not that you always have to be funny or make jokes or anything like that. There's a lot of people who have popped off just by sharing really incredible educational content.
13:37
If you've listened to this podcast for a while, you probably have a pretty good idea of my personality. I don't take myself too seriously. I do like to have a lot of fun in my marketing and I balance the fun with strategy and tactical next steps and actions, right? Like there's a both and because I'm not here just to grow on Instagram. I'm here to drive leads and sales for both my businesses, right? Like leads and sales are what is going to
14:05
pay my bills every month. I wish that followers did, but we all know that we need to make sales to pay the bills. But I love Instagram and I specifically love Reels because it is such a fun way for me to show off the nuance of my personality and video gives someone a little taste of that, right? I can't tell you how many times people have said like, I just love your energy or I love your vibe, right? Like that's something that you can't fake. You you just show up.
14:34
and you're being yourself. For me, that can show up as being really playful or joyful or I'm kind of making fun of myself or I'm being sarcastic or whatever it is, but it's showing how I am in real life. If we hung out, I'm not this super straight-laced person who's just gonna be, I don't know, having a serious face and rarely cracking a smile and I don't know. And so obviously I always talk about you wanna show up online just like as if I was sitting
15:03
across from you at a coffee shop. And it's not that you have to pretend like you're anyone else, right? So you don't have to be like me, you get to be like you. And for a product-based business, you can also show the product being used, right? So for many of our listeners, right? Like you're not necessarily the face of your business. Some of you are, some of you aren't. One of my private clients, she owns a crystal shop.
15:30
where she does not a brick and mortar, but like an online crystal and gem shop. She's made multiple six figures on TikTok and doing TikTok live sales. She's brilliant. So she's obviously showing a lot of her products because they're absolutely gorgeous and that's what she's selling. But in our work together through private mentorship, she's starting to show her face more on camera, show the person behind the brand. You know, for a service-based business, you can demonstrate your process or
16:00
helps someone understand what working with you feels like. I think about Wedding Dance Coach, which is my dance studio business in Denver, Colorado. We help nervous non-dancers feel confident during their first dance at their wedding. That's one thing for me to tell you that, right? But when we show an actual couple dancing together at their wedding, laughing, enjoying the moment, their guests are going wild and applause.
16:28
you can see and feel what we mean in that message. And that is so powerful. That's why video is so incredibly powerful. And by the way, you don't have to have this like completely, you know, I know that that picture I just described is probably pretty epic, right? Like you're at a wedding and people are all looking nice and at a beautiful venue and it's more of like a performance kind of vibe in a video. You know, the most mundane things like I've watched reels of people
16:56
know, packing orders and they just had a really cool like voiceover, storytelling voiceover or, you know, I saw a video yesterday of someone like sanding their floor and like refinishing their wood floor. It doesn't have to be performative. It's just, we love to kind of peek into people's lives and we love to see the process and it's just such a powerful medium. You can also use a reel to speak directly to a frustration.
17:24
or a pain point of your ideal client or customer, of course share a personal story, maybe in like a yapping direct to camera video, or just teach something useful. And you don't have to talk to the camera every time, right? You can use a footage of yourself working or out and about at a flower market or whatever you do in your day-to-day life. I mean, I've filmed videos of me at the library. It's not like you have to be going to Italy or something, right? Just your day-to-day life.
17:54
getting in the habit of capturing those everyday moments, we call that B-roll. And you can use a B-roll video and then a hook on the screen and of course, deepen that in the captions. So you don't always have to talk to the camera. There's lots of different ways to use reels to reach people. Of course, you can do voiceovers, lots of different things you can do. So the question I want you to keep asking is the one that we talked about in part one, which was last week when I shared five Instagram growth hacks.
18:24
And this is like the most important question I want you to ask yourself when you're creating a reel. Would this video make sense to a total stranger? Okay, so if someone has never heard of your business, have you given them enough context to care? So footage of a wedding dance might be really beautiful, but adding a hook about going from being terrified of dancing in front of your friends and family
18:54
to feeling totally confident on your big day and your dance lessons paying off. Like if I were to write some sort of hook around that, now the viewer can connect the dots into the story that that video is telling. And that hook would make it relevant to my ideal client, which is an engaged couple who's planning their wedding and they're feeling really nervous about being in the spotlight. So you can see how even if I were to show just a wedding dance video,
19:23
for my page, sometimes it's not enough. You wanna add more context to a total cold audience who doesn't know what wedding dance coach is, right? And even if you're creating a series, like it's been huge this past year on Reels and that's gonna keep it being a thing where creators are really blowing up after they have created a series of videos that builds on the next.
19:49
If you're creating a series, someone might discover part three first. So you wanna give them enough context to understand why it matters to them and then let them know where they can find the rest. So another question I ask myself when I'm creating a reel is like, would my ideal customer wanna send this to someone? And like, who would they wanna send it to? You know, I did a hook.
20:16
a few weeks ago where I was really speaking into that feeling of like when a small business owner posts on Instagram, it's a huge act of courage. Give them some love when you see it, like support them. And of course, who decided to share that video? Small business owners. They shared it to their stories and said, yes, this, right? Because it gave them a voice, right? So I think about like,
20:42
Why would someone want to share this video? We know that people share so much content privately through Instagram direct messages or DMs. Think about your own behavior, right? You see something funny, helpful, painfully relatable, and you immediately send it to your partner, right? Or your best friend or your colleague at work. If we're a wedding dance coach, could someone send our video to their fiance and say, see, like, this is why I want to do dance lessons, babe. Like, can we sign up? I want to get you on board. Like, let's do this.
21:11
For your business, maybe it's a post someone sends to a friend because it explains a frustration that you were just talking about with them when you had like a girls night, right? Maybe it's a product that they want to put on their holiday wish list. You know, like, oh, send it to my husband and I'm like, hey, you should get this for your mom. Like she would love it. Maybe it's a tip they send to a colleague because it would make their workday easier. Like maybe there's an AI hack within a specific industry or niche that you find and you would send it to a colleague.
21:41
So I hope that this gives you like a useful starting point when you're deciding what to create and asking yourself like, why would your person watch this? Meaning your target audience, why would they watch this? And why might they want someone else to see it? Why would they wanna share it with people? Because we know that the more people watch, like that watch time is very important metric to Instagram, you know, the longer people watch your content, the more reach it's gonna get.
22:11
And of course, shares are just such an important metric. That will absolutely expand your reach and get your business in front of more eyeballs, right? More people who can benefit from your product or service. So to recap, reels are fantastic for discoverability, showcasing your personality, and also, of course, nurturing that relationship with your current audience. Let's talk about carousels. So carousels are
22:40
you know, multiple images or slides. So instead of like a single image post, it's when you're able to add multiple images, right? And these could be photo images, they could be text images, or kind of a combination. Like it's very trendy right now on Instagram to make them look more like an editorial magazine where there are some cutouts of like, you know, pictures of people, but also educational hooks on the screen.
23:07
I will say with carousels, the graphic design of them is probably more important. And that's why I would say sometimes they can take more time if you don't have like a carousel template ready to go, because the design aspect is definitely a part of like that visual hook, right? Like how you capture attention on the first or second slide of your carousel. But what I want to get into today about like, okay, when do you use carousels? So I like to think of carousels as a playground where
23:37
you can give your ideas and stories room to unfold. You know, I'm so thrilled to talk about them because I know I talk a lot about reels. I love reels, but I don't want you sleeping on this format. know, carousels are still absolutely working extremely well, probably better than ever on Instagram right now.
24:00
And recent research gives us a reason to include them. Social Insiders third quarter 2026 benchmarks put average carousel engagement, meaning likes, comments, saves, shares, all the engagements slightly ahead of reels, which I thought was really interesting. Of course, these studies are always changing 0.5 % compared with 0.48 % in reels. So not like a massive difference, but...
24:29
In that study, engagement means likes, comments relative to your follower count. Now you don't need to memorize those numbers. The takeaway is that carousels are holding their own and they deserve consideration in your content strategy. And to be clear, reels are still like reaching the most people, but carousels are getting a slightly higher engagement. More likes, more comments, if that makes sense.
24:57
What I love about this format is that it gives you room to go a little deeper on a thought or tell a story, but in a visual way where carousels almost like slow us down. It's like reading a little book versus watching a video. And I think sometimes that can be really refreshing to the viewer if they're so used to seeing YouTube video. So maybe you have a client success story and you want to walk people through where that person started, what they were struggling with.
25:26
what you worked on together and then what changed. So what was the result of the transformation of working with you? And that's kind of an example for like a coach or a consultant, but I'm sure that formula that I just shared is just a great storytelling formula that you could apply to really any industry. So I love that a carousel gives you space to tell that story. You can include, you know, screenshots on the slides. You can include video in the slides.
25:54
You can explain the work behind the results. You can kind of go deeper in a format where it's just fun and easy to read and consume. It's easy and quick to flip through carousel slides versus waiting till the end of your 60 second video. It can be easier for some people to consume. And then of course, you can end your carousel with a call to action to drive that engagement, right? Like comment this keyword below and I'll send you this resource or.
26:23
Tell me, like, which one of these points resonated most with you or which one are you gonna run with this week, right? You could ask an engagement question. You can use carousels for educational tips, frequently asked questions, different kind of comparisons. Like, here's what to focus on and not focus on this year if you wanna grow on Instagram, right? Like a comparison kind of thing. For wedding dance coach, you I could create a carousel answering.
26:50
You know, how many first dance lessons do we actually need, right? Like that's a question we get asked all the time. That could be the hook on the screen for the first slide, right? If you're not my ideal client, if you're not an engaged couple, you probably don't care about that. But for all businesses, we have frequently asked questions, right? You could create carousels answering those frequently asked questions. And this is where your own experience becomes such a valuable part of your content. You don't have to come up with a topic nobody has ever discussed.
27:20
You know, your originality can come from how you explain it, you know, your experience in your business or what you're seeing, what patterns you're seeing, or you can even do a carousel of like things in your industry that you think are BS and here's why and here's your approach that you feel like is more empowering to you, right? So the possibilities are endless. Don't ever worry about like, oh, this isn't an original idea.
27:47
Right, someone else might teach the exact same subject, but they haven't had your exact lived experience or your exact client or customer conversation or your experience, you know, starting and stopping a business and then launching another successful business after all these failed attempts, right? Like your life story is the secret sauce and it's always important that you bring that into your content. And what I love about carousels and this is major, so.
28:15
per cut, make sure you're listening and you're doing this. Carousels can help you reach new people. It's not just reels that can help non-followers find your account. The most important thing with carousels, and this tip is so, so key, is that I encourage you to add music to your carousel. Instagram has explained that when you add music to photos and carousels, it can make them eligible to appear
28:45
in the Reels tab. It's giving your content another possible discovery opportunity, which is super awesome. Another fantastic thing about carousels is that Instagram may give them a second chance to resurface. And what I mean by that, and I'm sure you've noticed this when you're scrolling on your feed.
29:05
is if someone sees your carousel posts, like I scroll past it, but I don't stop and I don't like swipe through it. I just saw your first slide, but I was like, I don't have time to read that right now. Or maybe it wasn't interesting enough to me, right? Instagram can show it again later, starting with the second slide. So essentially your content now has a longer shelf life because now it's gonna show you that second slide. And then maybe on that side, I'm gonna wanna keep.
29:34
swiping through. So that second slide of your carousel matters too. You can think about like your first side having a hook and your second slide re-hooking. So I always kind of think about it from that lens when I'm designing my carousels. That second slide is another opportunity to catch someone's interest and bring them into the story. And please don't hear all of this about carousels and think that every carousel needs to become this massive design project that's going to take you forever.
30:03
Some of my best carousels, I've used just photos in my camera roll and I just put that text that's native to Instagram on top of the carousel slides. You can do that right inside of the Instagram app now or in the edits app recently released that you can edit carousels in the edits app, which is fantastic. Cause there are so many more font options and things like that. You can share a screenshot. It doesn't always have to be so polished.
30:29
What's more important is that you're really focusing on like one clear idea. So it's like really easy to read. You're not packing too much in. As of the date of this recording, you can include up to 20 slides in a carousel. Just because we have 20 slides, I don't think you need to use them all. My carousels tend to be around 12 slides. There's no magic number. It really depends on the story that you want to tell or what your goal is. But I typically try to keep mine around 12 slides.
30:57
And remember, when it comes to content creation in general, you already have more than enough information, right? You have the email where the client was asking you a question, or you are in your record store and you're hearing customers ask the same five questions every single day. Or they're asking for a very specific record, like when is this gonna be dropping? One of my former private clients, owns a vinyl record store.
31:23
And I'm thinking of him, you know, where it's like if there's some buzz around a certain artist, right? Like that would be a signal like, oh, I'm to do content around this artist, right? It's very relevant in my community. There's a buzz around it. So it's about paying attention to your life and creating content from that. So it's not like sitting down at your desk and you're like, OK, what do I post? It's like your life, your business is the content.
31:49
And the thing that you might tell a girlfriend at coffee or a dude on your guy's night out is often the best content that you could share. You don't have to reinvent the wheel every time you post on Instagram. Okay, so we've talked about reels for discoverability. We've talked about carousels are a beautiful way to let your stories really unfold in a different format of being able to read.
32:16
through the story and present it in a different visual format. It's gonna speak to different people and of course be shown on the Reels feed as well as long as you are adding that music. Last but not least, let's dig into Instagram stories. So Instagram stories are where you build connection with the people already paying attention. Stories require a different lens. Instagram doesn't have
32:44
one single algorithm controlling every part of the app. Feed, Reels, Stories use a different ranking systems because people use and consume those spaces on Instagram differently. Instagram has explained that Stories ranking looks at things like how often you watch someone's Instagram Stories, how often you interact with them, and your relationship with that account. So think about your own behavior.
33:14
Right? Like if you were to go on Instagram right now and watch my Instagram story, let's say tonight you got your kids in bed and you're like, oh, I want to hop back on Instagram. Check it. At the top of your phone where you see the little profile photos of people who have their stories going, you're going to see my story posts closer to the front because it knows that you engage with my content before. So think about your behavior. Like, is there a creator whose stories that you watch regularly?
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Probably people you know, people you enjoy, businesses you care about, or someone whose content is keeping you coming back, right? Think about why you would watch someone's stories. I know for me, the only stories that I watch are mostly of people that I've met in real life, like colleagues of mine that I maybe have met at conferences, or it could be a friend's Instagram story, or even like...
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If there was a new creator that I started following and I was like binging all of her content, maybe I would start checking out her Instagram stories. It's funny, I use Instagram so much as a marketing tool that sometimes I tend to create so much more content than I consume. So I'm actually not the consumer that like strictly looks at stories, but there are people who do that. There are some people that primarily only watch stories, which is really interesting to me. My husband, for example, he tells me like,
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I rarely ever look at stories. He just loves looking at his feed posts. Like that's what he likes consuming. So consumers have different behaviors. And when we think about your story, it's a place where many of your warm to hot prospects hang out. I interviewed Austin Armstrong. He's an expert in the AI space. And he recently did a conference called AI Marketing World, and he's been posting about it everywhere. And so of course I'm feeling that FOMO. I wish I was at the conference.
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And now I'm watching his story and I'm looking at what he's up to. And I've met Austin in person. I've brought him on the podcast and interviewed him. I'm watching his story and now I'm thinking about, maybe I'll buy a ticket to his conference next year. Right? But that's what I mean about stories are where those warm to hot prospects hang out. That doesn't mean everyone watching your story is immediately ready to buy from you. Of course, some people are friends, current clients, colleagues, or people who simply just enjoy following along.
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but there's often an existing connection that you can build on. And in Metro Cool's 2026 Instagram study, they found that story replies increased 88 % year over year, even while story reach stayed approximately flat. So that's a useful reminder that the value of stories can be in the conversations. This is where we're gonna start to like kind of pivot this idea of like, what is the strategy of using stories?
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If your entire story's strategy is sharing your latest reel to your story and saying like new post, I want you to expand on that a little. I still do that from time to time. I will still share feed posts to my story sometimes, but there's a place for it. But that alone isn't much of a relationship building strategy. People like to see different things in your Instagram stories. It's like your feed is like the front door of your business, like the beautiful like.
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display in the front window and I'm so excited to come in. And then your Instagram stories is like, I'm in the back room with you and we're packing orders and there's like tape and dust and boxes everywhere and you're drinking coffee and you're chatting with me. Like that's the vibe of stories is that behind the scenes kind of feel more of like an intimate feel and also very much like day up, right? Because Instagram stories are only live for 24 hours. So they come and they go.
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So you want to give people something that feels like you're actually talking to them. So it's not that it's like your TV channel. It's a way to make it feel like you're FaceTiming your friend, right? So the other day shared that my husband bought me this little bouquet of flowers from Trader Joe's and I love having fresh flowers on my desk. I'm looking at a bouquet right now. Like it's just a little splurge that absolutely makes my week. And it's just one of those small things that like perks me up during the workday.
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And I shared that in my Instagram story. Does that teach someone how to grow on Instagram or how they can work with me in my group or private coaching? No, but it lets you get to know me as a human, you know? So maybe you see that story and you love fresh flowers too. And you reply to my story and say, what you always buy at Trader Joe's, right? Or, oh my gosh, I do the same thing, I love it. And it's those little tiny points of connection that really.
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make a big difference. Like those everyday moments really count. And sometimes we dismiss parts of our lives because we think, oh, well, that's boring. Like, who cares? But stories give people a chance to experience the person behind the brand. In this trust recession that we continue to be in, there's never been a more important time to showcase the person, the human behind the brand. People want to know who they're buying from. And of course, you get to choose what you share and what you don't share.
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Don't have to put your whole life online. I certainly don't. I don't post about my children online, for example, but you can share a small moment from your day, something you're excited about or behind the scenes look at your work or the course you're building. You can also invite people into a conversation, ask a question you're curious about, give them an easy way to respond. And I just posted a story for wedding dance coach today.
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And it's a video of this bride doing this like kind of dirty dancing lift. It's pretty tricky. And one of our clients did it though. And I created a poll in the story and I said, you know, would you try this lift? And then I made it kind of fun. Like the answers were like, heck no, I would never do that. You know, something like that. And then the other one was like, sure, I guess I would try, you know. I included some emojis and just made it more playful.
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And that's just a great way, like obviously I'm not actively selling our dance lessons in that video or in that story, but it's a good way to drive engagement. And when people vote on my poll or they like the story or they reply to me, cause they're like, oh my gosh, you know, I want to learn this or whatever. The more people engage with that story, the more people are going to see it. I use my Instagram stories all the time to share about this podcast. I use it to share about waiting lists for my offers about
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my on-demand courses, my group Hot Reels, my 12 month Instagram content lab, which is my high-tech group coaching program, my 12 month private mentorship program. Like I'm always talking about the work I do with clients and explaining the next step for someone to take if they wanted to grab my course, right? So for example, if I'm sharing something about my DMs to dollars course, which is the short mini course I recently launched that can help you to automate your Instagram sales funnel.
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can build your first funnel in less than 30 minutes, I invite you to reply to my Instagram story with the keyword money, M-O-N-E-Y. And by the way, you could test this out right now. You can DM me the keyword money on Instagram and you'll see my message. But I use DM automation and my robot assistant will send them a link to grab that course. If you're not actively selling in your story every week, you're definitely leaving money on the table. It's a fantastic place.
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to drive those leads into that next step. Because remember, they're the warmed hot audience. So it's a great place to keep your brand top of mind. Like I'm thinking of my Hot Rails graduate, Chris, who owns a kombucha company, even just him posting to his stories every week about, we got this new flavor of kombucha, or did you know this kombucha dropped at this local market or whatever. Now I'm just seeing that. It's just psychology. I'm seeing that, I'm seeing it, I'm seeing it.
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Next time I go to the store, I might be like, oh my gosh, I've been meaning to try this kombucha, right? It's just a great way to keep your business top of mind. So Instagram Stories are a great place to build connection with your existing audience, those warm to hot prospects, and of course, drive more leads and sales. Next week, we're gonna go so much deeper into how all of this content connects into your leads and sales funnel. But for today, remember that Instagram Stories can help people get to know you.
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and understand how they can take the next step with your company. Now I know what some of you are thinking, okay, Lisbon, so now I need reels, carousels and stories. That sounds like so much more work. And I wanna just make it easy to kind of tie up this episode. Simple example, one customer question can give you several pieces of content. At Wedding Dance Coach, a couple of my ask, can we actually do this like,
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Are we able to learn a dance if neither of us knows how to dance and we both have like no rhythm? Like, can you help us or are we a lost cause? We can make a reel showing what a beginner couple learned in their first 60 minutes, right? Or we can make a carousel explaining what happened, like how you're feeling before your first lesson and then the simple transformation that you'll experience after five lessons in our studio.
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and show a visual example, right? In Instagram stories, we could answer that question personally. I could hop on camera and say, hey, I get this question all the time, and here's the answer, right? Or I could share a screenshot of a testimonial that is directly speaking to this pain point, right? We've gotten so many five-star reviews on Google. I think we have over 130 five-star reviews on Google. We've received a lot of reviews that literally would talk through,
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We were terrified of our first dance because neither of us knew how to dance and blah, blah. Like the customers are doing the work for us, right? So in Instagram stories, I could share a screenshot of that testimonial. All of these are examples of like the same content idea, but different ways to help someone understand the answer. You absolutely don't have to publish all of those on the same day. I certainly don't. I love just keeping it simple, but you're building a collection of really useful ideas you can come back to.
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And I want you to find the content mix that really reflects your strengths. So maybe talking to the camera feels easy. So video is a bigger part of your strategy. Or maybe you love writing and storytelling. So you want to give carousels more space. I want you to start with something that you can maintain and then look at what your audience responds to. It's both. It's like as the creator, it has to work for you. But obviously we want it to also resonate with your audience.
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When you review the results, consider what you wanted that post to do. Remember how I started this episode? Like you need to know what you want your content to do. So if you wanted to reach new people, look at the non-follower reach and whether people visited your profile or followed you, right? If you wanted to teach something useful, look at the saves, look at the shares, the questions people asked. If you invited people into your offer,
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Did people show interest? Did they click your link? Did they fill out your application? Did you track any purchases toward that video, right? That gives you more useful information than looking at every post and asking, did this go viral, right? We're collecting data and we're practicing and we're refining. Now, I know this stuff can get really overwhelming. It's a lot to understand Instagram and the nuance of it while you're also running a business and doing all the things. And that is why I'm so passionate about the work that I do with clients because
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My goal is to simplify Instagram so it becomes a super effective marketing channel, but it's also a place where you can take in only what you need and leave behind the rest, because I know you have a lot going on. There are two ways I support clients with their content. One I mentioned is Hot Reels, my 12 month Instagram content lab. That is my group coaching program where we really work on your content skills, your hooks, your messaging, showing up on camera with.
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confidence and then there's a lot of coaching and feedback along the way. So your content can get one to 5 % better each week. If you're curious about hot reels, you can go to Elizabethmarbury.com slash hot. That's Elizabeth Marbury, M-A-R-B-E-R-R-Y.com slash hot for all the program details. And then there's private mentorship. Private mentorship is where we can look at the whole business picture.
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and build a personalized strategy around it. In private mentorship, I can get so much deeper with you into what you are selling, who you are calling in, really refining that target market research, what content makes the most sense for you, your personality, your vibe, your schedule, your ideal clients, your expertise, all the things, right? And what happens after someone becomes interested, you building out that customer journey and sales funnel so Instagram can work.
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for your business. We can work on email marketing, website copy, landing pages, customer journey that really support your content because those back end pieces are really important. And because sometimes the next step is getting clearer on your offer. Oftentimes in private mentorship, there's some tweaking, whether that's the offer itself, like typically with product based businesses, not so much obviously you have your product that's done.
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In a product based business, it's typically around messaging that we're tweaking and a coaching consulting clients. That's where sometimes we need a lot more refinement and specificity of building our offer. So it's like really sexy and pops off the page. But no matter your business model, you know, looking at your messaging, making sure that your content isn't just generating interest, but it's really clear the path to how I can work with you.
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So this is the work I absolutely love doing with my private clients. We get to look at what's happening in your actual business and figure out your next right step together. And we get to work through things that can make this hard to do on your own, right? The overthinking, the perfectionism, or feeling so close to your business that you actually can't see what's happening anymore, right? Like sometimes when we're so close to it, we really need someone to give us a different perspective.
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So I currently have two spots open in my 12 month private visibility and client attraction mentorship. This is a year long container for an established business owner who kind of feels like they've hit a plateau or they've been spinning their wheels with content and strategy and they know that they just need some tweaks and that will help them to really achieve their revenue goals. So if you're curious about private mentorship, your next step is to direct message me on Instagram.
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the keyword apply, A-P-P-L-Y. When you do that, my robot assistant will send you a short application so I can learn more about you, your business, and where you wanna go. And then after I receive your application, I'll follow up with next steps for complimentary Instagram breakthrough session, and we'll get to hop on Zoom and have a quick chat and just connect. And if my mentorship is a good fit, we'll talk about next steps. And if not, of course, I'll share other resources with you, because I want you to succeed.
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So you can also apply for private mentorship at Elizabethmarberry.com slash application. That's Elizabethmarberry, M-A-R-B-E-R-R-Y.com slash application. You can do that there. Make sure you're following me on Instagram. You will get the Instagram strategy and tips, but also lots of fun. I go a little unhinged over there on Instagram. I love to showcase my personality and have some fun. So if that's your vibe, come give me a follow over on Instagram. And before you go,
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Just think about one question your ideal customer keeps asking. Would showing them the answer help? Would walking them through it in a carousel be the right answer? Or is there a personal conversation you could start in your stories today? Choose one and create it. And remember, you already have the experiences, stories, and conversations that can become useful content. Pay attention to what people ask you this week.
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There's probably a post in there. I hope this episode has really unlocked something in you. I hope you're feeling more clear about reels, carousels, and stories and what to pick and when when you are wanting to post for your business on Instagram. Thank you for investing in yourself and spending this time with me. If this episode helped you, send it to a business bestie or a colleague who's overthinking what to post and needs some support and inspo.
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I'm sending you so much love and I can't wait to drop part three next week where we're getting into how to drive more leads and sales on Instagram. Thank you, thank you for being here and I can't wait to strut it with you next week. Thank you for listening to strut it. If you're ready to start leveraging Instagram to grow your business, then you're gonna wanna grab my free monetize your IG guide where you'll learn seven simple and proven ways
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to finally make money on Instagram. You can grab your guide at ElizabethMarberry.com slash freebies. That's ElizabethMarberry.com slash freebies to get my monetize your IG guide. If you got some incredible value from today's episode, be sure to leave a review and subscribe on your favorite podcast platform. And I cannot wait to start it with you again next week.
