84: The AI Sales Funnel That Turns Instagram Followers Into Paying Clients - Part 4
You’ve got followers, you’re posting consistently, and people are engaging with your content. But here’s the million-dollar question: are those followers actually becoming paying clients?
In part four of my five-part AI Instagram series, I’m teaching you how to build an Instagram sales funnel that turns engagement into revenue. You’ll learn how to design a clear customer journey, use lead magnets to grow your email list, and set up automations that nurture your audience while you sleep.
Plus, I’m sharing my exact CRIT framework prompt that lets AI map out your funnel, from follower to paying client, so you never have to wonder what your next step should be.
If you’re ready to stop spinning your wheels on Instagram and start generating consistent revenue, this episode is for you.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
[01:22] Why followers don’t equal revenue, and what to focus on instead
[02:19] The biggest missing piece for most entrepreneurs on Instagram
[04:15] The difference between influencers and business owners (and why it matters for your content)
[07:27] How mentorship shortcuts growth and helps you avoid trial-and-error marketing
[10:49] Understanding your Instagram funnel: awareness, nurture, and conversion
[13:36] Why you need a lead magnet and how it captures your dream clients
[14:54] How I grew my email list by 5,000+ subscribers with no paid ads
[15:24] Using DM automation to capture leads and generate sales while you’re offline
[16:48] How AI can help you map your funnel, create lead magnets, and write email sequences
[17:16] The CRIT framework prompts you to build your Instagram sales funnel with AI
[19:23] What to expect in next week’s finale with Geoff Woods, author of The AI-Driven Leader
Key Takeaways:
Followers don’t pay your bills; clients do. Your funnel must move people beyond likes and follows.
Instagram is the entry point, but your funnel (lead magnets, email, DMs) is what drives conversions.
Lead magnets are essential for moving followers off Instagram and into your ecosystem.
DM automation tools like ManyChat can grow your list and generate leads 24/7.
AI is your strategic partner. Use the CRIT framework to design your sales funnel step by step.
Links Mentioned:
Try Poppy AI → Think of it as your AI content strategist: helping you discover what’s working for others, spot the gaps in your own messaging, and design a content strategy where every post, email, and page works together to drive sales, not just likes.
Join Hot Reels, my 12-month Instagram content lab → elizabethmarberry.com/hot
Apply for Private Coaching with Elizabeth → elizabethmarberry.com/application
A Truth You Need to Hear:
“Instagram gets them in the door, but your funnel is what turns them into paying clients.”
S3 Ep84 Transcript: The AI Sales Funnel That Turns Instagram Followers Into Paying Clients - Part 4
00:00
You've got followers, you're posting consistently, your content is getting engagement, but here's the million dollar question. Are those followers actually becoming paying clients? Because here's the harsh truth. Followers don't pay your bills. Customers and Dreamboat clients do. In today's episode, I'm breaking down exactly how to turn your Instagram into a client generating machine.
00:24
Plus, I'm sharing the AI framework that will map out your entire Instagram sales funnel so you never have to guess what your next step should be. If you're ready to drive actual revenue with your organic Instagram content, this episode is for you. Let's go.
00:43
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 lead 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.
01:12
Let's dive in.
01:22
Welcome back, you've landed on part four of this five part series on how to leverage AI in your Instagram marketing strategy and funnel. If you missed the first three episodes, definitely go back and listen at some point. In the first episode, I taught you how to optimize your Instagram bio, which is really like the storefront of your brand. Super important first step. Step two, we talked about how to develop and create a client centered content strategy. So your content,
01:52
actually gets noticed by your ideal clients and customers. And then step three, we went even deeper into the exact type of content to focus on, which was spoiler alert, Instagram reels. This week, we're exploring how to turn those followers into clients and how to build your customer journey using AI to make the whole process smoother and more strategic.
02:19
I'm excited to dive deeper into this topic of developing a customer journey because after coaching and mentoring hundreds of small business owners over the last couple of years, this is probably the biggest missing piece. A lot of people come to me and they're so concerned about I need to post more and content ideas and all of those things. And they haven't even stopped to think about, okay, wait, if I get the follower.
02:47
Now what do they do? What do I want them to do next once they're on my page? This piece is so easy to push to the back burner, kind of like, oh, eventually once I have a following, I'll figure this piece out. But that is a mistake. That is a mistake because I will tell you, I have connected with and met with other creators that have way more followers than me, like hundreds of thousands of followers. And now they're trying to figure out how to monetize their audience.
03:16
That's not how we do it here. We are business owners. We are marketers. We are creatives. We want to leverage this tool to drive leads and sales of our own products and services, which is a different goal than let's say an influencer who's trying to build a lifestyle brand and get brand partnerships. In other words, other brands to pay them to create content to essentially influence other people to purchase their products. That's not what I'm teaching you here in this podcast.
03:46
all the work that I do. I'm teaching you the exact strategies and these are simple improvement strategies that actually work. And the reason why I know that they work for small businesses is that I own a brick and mortar local service based business and I own an online business that serves clients all over the world. So totally different business models, but I've seen what works depending on the business model and the audience and how to
04:15
actually drive more leads and sales through Instagram of my own products and services. And that is where I'm coming from in this episode. So very excited that you are investing in yourself and joining me today. I hope that you're going to get some clarity on your next step as to, what is my Instagram sales funnel? If you feel like you are in that thought loop of
04:41
You're consuming all my podcast episodes. You're watching my Instagram content and you're still stuck. You're not implementing what I'm teaching you. You keep telling yourself, I'll do that eventually when I have time. I have bad news for you. You're never gonna have time. You have to decide what you're gonna prioritize. And I would absolutely love to support you if you're in a place of wanting to invest in that marketing mentorship support. And I'm speaking from experience.
05:10
I spent the first nine years of my business, I didn't have any coaches or mentors and it was a slog. It was hard. I had to figure everything out myself and I got just six figures, but my God, it was fail forward and falling on my face. It was rough. It was six years ago now that I took the leap and invested in my first coach. And I remember the investment was horrifying. I had never invested that much.
05:39
I never had a coach, I never invested in coaching before. And the program was $9,000 and it was a three month group coaching program. Group coaching, not even private. But I knew that this mentor and this coach had already done what I wanted to do. And if I wanted to actually go after and achieve my big goals for my business, I needed help. I needed help. Success leaves crumbs, right?
06:07
I wanted to find that person who had already done the thing that I wanna do and invest in them so they can teach me exactly what they did so I can go and implement it. Fast forward six years later, I have hired many different coaches and mentors at different phases of my business growth. And I just wanna highlight this piece around it is spooky the first time that you are investing in any kind of support because we are often in that place of
06:34
I know I need support, but my business isn't generating enough revenue right now to support the assistance that I need, right? I was in that place too. Essentially, I took a risk, I took a gamble, but I knew myself, I knew I had picked the right mentor, and I knew that I am an implementer and that I would get an ROI, a return on investment, because I would take the knowledge of my coach, I would go and implement it, and I wasn't gonna be alone.
07:03
So when I bumped up against my roadblocks and my patterns that I developed as a business over the last decade when I had first invested in this program, I had my coach and mentor there to spot me through those blocks. And that is what I do for my clients. I absolutely love my Hot Reels, which is my group coaching program and my private mentorship programs because...
07:27
I know that for you to get the return on investment for Instagram and all of your content marketing, you have to show up consistently and you have to play the long game. And it's difficult. And what's really cool is that when you bump up against those visibility blocks or perfectionism blocks, or even one of my private clients messaged me today and she's giving me the list of 20 different projects she's working on this week. And I am helping her to identify what are those lead domino projects that are
07:57
actually going to help you achieve your business goals, your revenue goals, your time freedom goals, your location freedom goals. We all go into business for different reasons, but a good mentor and coach, we are not swimming in the soup with you. Jeff Woods, who I'm bringing on the podcast next week, he says, it's hard to read the label when you're inside the box. A good coach is there to help you get out of your own way. And it's not just the mindset and energetics piece. I talk a lot about that because
08:27
It actually is a huge part of being successful as a business owner and entrepreneur, but it's the strategy piece, right? It is that I studied this day in, day out, so you don't have to. I share with you the only Instagram updates that you actually need to know about. The rest is noise, right? There is so much noise and distraction in the online marketing world, and my job is to simplify it and share with my clients what they need to know to actually
08:56
help them achieve their visibility and sales goals. That is it. So whether you work with me or you work with someone else, just felt really called to share this with you today because I have had some DMs lately of people who are saying, you've shared so much in your podcast and there's so much I need to go and do and implement. I just want to highlight that for some of us, we will go further faster with way more ease and joy and pleasure and alignment if we hire.
09:24
support if we invest in support. So whether that is you working with me or you working with someone else, this is your pep talk to go all in on yourself and your vision, implement, and you will be blown away. You won't even recognize your business in six to 12 months from now. If you just heard that and you're like, I am amped, let's go. If you want to learn more about Hot Reels, my 12 month Instagram content lab, which is my high touch group coaching program.
09:51
You can DM me the keyword hot, H-O-T on Instagram or go to ElizabethMarberry.com slash hot for program details. Or if you are at a level of really needing that private mentorship, that super customized mentorship, that's for multi six figure, seven figure earners, then you can apply for a complimentary 30 minute Instagram breakthrough session with me. To get one of those free calls, you do need to apply. You can go to ElizabethMarbury.com.
10:20
um That's Elizabeth Marberry, M-A-R-B-E-R-R-Y.com slash application. And you'll fill that out and then we will get in touch with those next steps of getting your call scheduled. Okay, so let's dive into how to build your Instagram sales funnel. First of all, you need to understand the role of Instagram as your funnel entry point. So when I say a funnel, I want you to picture an upside down triangle.
10:49
where the top is really wide and the bottom is really narrow. That's what we're envisioning when we say a funnel. So think of Instagram as the top of your sales funnel. It is a very powerful tool to attract and engage potential clients and customers. And social media is just brilliant. It's like a megaphone to get in front of the people who need to know that you exist. Because here's the truth, if people don't know you exist, they can't.
11:16
buy from you, so you being invisible is serving no one, right? So that's the top of your funnel. Then the middle of your funnel is, imagine this upside down triangle as it narrows and is going down, is you're nurturing those people. So they followed you, they're binging on your content, they love it. Now you're gonna nurture and deepen that relationship with them, yes, through your Instagram reels or your carousel posts.
11:44
But hopefully you have an email list or you're in the DMs having conversations with them. But emails, DMs, that's a great way to get into conversation, nurture, really build the relationship with your ideal clients or customers and really keep you top of mind. Because remember, clients come from conversations. And then the final step is
12:12
conversion. So the bottom of the triangle is conversion to a paying client or customer. Like imagine someone whipping out their credit card and saying, I want to buy your product or service. So I want you to think about what is your sales funnel. When we think about customer journeys, we do want to think about how we're going to get our followers off of Instagram and into our own ecosystem. Because
12:40
Relying solely on social media is absolutely risky. If your account gets hacked or Instagram's algorithm changes, you could lose access to your audience at any moment, right? So it's imperative that you're really clear, like where are the followers moving to? Are they moving to your email list? Are they moving to a consult calendar? Maybe you do discovery calls or you do free consults for your service-based business.
13:10
Or maybe they're moving over to your shop, your direct shop, where they can buy your products and services and you have an opt-in where they can save 10 % off their first order. And in order to get that 10 % off, they give you their name and email, right? But you wanna think about how you're gonna capture information from those people. So that way, if you do lose access to social media, which God forbid,
13:36
you still have their info. So it's really important to think about, okay, I come to your page, I see your stuff, now what do I do? What is my next step? Now one way to do that is to create a lead magnet to drive conversions. A lead magnet is a valuable freebie usually, or it can be low cost as well.
14:02
that addresses a common pain point or need for your ideal client. So my brick and mortar business is called Wedding Dance Coach, and we created a free first dance checklist because couples wanna feel confident and rock the dance floor, even though they have two left feet, right? So we walk them through exactly how to best prepare for their unforgettable moment in the spotlight, dancing in front of all their friends and family. So this checklist is an example of a lead magnet.
14:29
And lead magnets, I use them for both of my businesses, are definitely how I have been able to land over 5,000 people on my email list through Instagram without spending a dime on paid ads. These are highly qualified, hot prospects, right? My ideal clients. If you are strategic in how you set up your lead magnet, it's not just random people who are grabbing it. It is your ideal people.
14:54
I also use DM automation to do this. ManyChat is my absolute favorite platform. And if you want to try it out for free, the pro version for free for a month, which by the way, this is not a public offer on their site. It is just with my link. You can DM me the keyword leads, L E A D S on Instagram right now. And I will send you a little guide up together on how to start leveraging DM automation so your content can work for you when you're offline. DM automation is
15:24
part of why I'm so motivated to create content is that I know that when I'm setting up my content in a strategic way and I'm very clear about why I'm creating the content and what I want people to do with it, that call to action, using a keyword to trigger my automation to send people the free resource or send them the link to this podcast or send them the link to a free masterclass or whatever it is.
15:52
That can all happen for me when I'm offline hanging out with my two young kids. Or I can totally unplug for a couple days and come back and see, wow, I have new podcast listeners. I have new people on my email list every single week from setting up these very simple funnels. Now, here's where AI becomes your strategic partner in building this customer journey. So remember, whether you're using ChatGBT, Google Gemini,
16:20
poppyai, which I taught that new tool a couple of weeks ago. If you want to check it out, you can DM me the keyword poppy, P-O-P-P-Y. You can use your AI tool to really map out your entire customer journey from Instagram follower to paying client. You can use AI to create compelling lead magnets that your ideal clients actually want. You can use it to help you write email sequences that nurture and convert or calls to action. I mean, it is
16:48
endless what the AI can support you in doing. Remember, you have to be the strategic thought leader. It is the partner. So it's always that first draft. You have to keep giving it feedback. It's not a one and done situation. You might be listening to this and you're not totally clear on your Instagram sales funnel. So I wanna give you a crit framework to help you get crystal clear on your next steps and where your people will go after they find you on Instagram.
17:16
The CRIT framework, C-R-I-T, is Jeff Woods framework, and he's gonna break it down for us next week. I've been using it throughout this entire series, but here is a prompt that you can run with, with whatever AI tool you are using right now. So C stands for context. I need help mapping out my Instagram sales funnel and customer journey. My business is you describe your business. I help describe your ideal client or customer.
17:42
my main offer and you describe your product, service and price point. Remember, all of this needs to be extremely detailed. Roll. Act as a sales funnel strategist who specializes in converting social media followers into paying clients. Do you hear how specific that was? I, interview. Ask me one question at a time, up to five questions to understand my current setup.
18:06
my ideal clients buying journey and any gaps in my funnel or any clarifying questions you have for me to ensure that you're going to support me in building out this funnel. Task, based on our conversation, create a clear step-by-step customer journey map from Instagram follower to paying client. Include what lead magnet I should create, what my email nurture sequence should cover, what calls to action I should use in my Instagram content to move people through each stage. Obviously,
18:33
I made that up, you need to customize this prompt for you, your goals, your business, what you want. But what's really cool about this is when you have the AI interview you, it will ask you questions like, well, what's the biggest objection your ideal client or customer has before they buy? Or how long is your typical sales cycle? Or what free value could you provide that would make someone really excited?
19:01
to join your email list. So when you answer those questions really honestly, you're gonna get a customized funnel strategy that actually makes sense for your business. So I'm excited to see you go out and run with it this week. Next week, we close out our five part series and I'm bringing in none other than Jeff Woods.
19:23
He is the author of the AI Driven Leader and completely a trailblazer in the world of AI adoption within corporate environments, but also just business in general. How do we leverage this tool to increase our revenue and really impact the bottom line while also bringing our people, our team, our leaders on board with AI adoption? Because people are still really scared. Some people are really
19:50
fearful or resistant to AI and you might be one of those people, which I completely get it. I was there too at one point. As you know, if you've been listening to this series, Jeff is the developer of the CRIT framework that we've been working on for the last four weeks together. And next week, you're going to hear from him directly. And the thing that I think you're going to love the most is that he's kind of an icon in this AI business leadership space and he's a person
20:20
that when you're in a room with him, you just start thinking bigger than you ever have before for your life and your business. So I am so honored and excited that he agreed to meet with me because that energy is gonna be such a gift for you next week. Make sure you have subscribed and followed the show. You don't wanna miss it. And if you loved today's episode, please share it with another colleague or business bestie trying to figure out this whole Instagram AI situation. Until then,
20:49
Don't forget to use that crit framework to map out your Instagram sales funnel, get clear on where you're taking people after they discover you on Instagram. And remember, Instagram gets them in the door, but your funnel, your strategy is what's gonna turn them into an actual paying client. And if you need support with that, you know where to find me. Make sure you follow me on Instagram at Elizabeth Marberry, M-A-R-B-E-R-R-Y.
21:17
As always, I appreciate your support and I cannot 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 to finally make money on Instagram. You can grab your guide at elizabethmarberry.com slash freebies.
21:46
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.
