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Salted Papaya

E-commerce-focused digital agency that supports fashion and lifestyle brands

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10/10/2019

What happens when someone visits your Instagram profile for the first time? This person spends 3 to 5 seconds to decide whether he/she is interested in you or your product. Before people read your profile description and captions, they quickly evaluate your Instagram feed and decide whether to leave or stay to learn more.
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Instagram is all about visuals, and it makes Instagram the most international and inclusive social media. A visual language doesn’t need a translation. This is a huge advantage if you sell products internationally.
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Even if your potential customers speak the same language, make sure that people can get the idea of what you sell, and to whom you sell, from your Instagram visuals.
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How you can do that (see examples in the gallery!)
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1️⃣Use pictures and videos to demonstrate your product and its features, explaining how the product should be used
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2️⃣Feature your buying personas in your pictures
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3️⃣Use lifestyle pictures that are relevant to your audience
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Now I have a small assignment for you. I have 3 Instagram feed screenshots in the gallery. Can you guess what product do these brands sell, and what is their target audience?

20/09/2019

We had such a great ACE NextGen Women’s Initiative event yesterday!
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We were talking about Social Media Marketing, Customer Acquisition, Branding, and what mistakes entrepreneurs make than their starting their business.
It was a small gathering, but we had business-owners from different industries: real estate, interior design, eCommerce.
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We discussed what are the most common obstacles the women-entrepreneurs face. And the most popular answer was “They don’t ask for help than they really need it’' This is so true about me!
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Events like this one help me a lot to feel not isolated and get support from my colleagues and other business-women. We need more events like this one!
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If you are a women-entrepreneur, what do you consider the most challenging in your business?
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14/08/2019

TOP THREE INSTAGRAM MARKETERS I FOLLOW
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I always keep an eye on what other Instagram experts are doing; I follow them on Instagram and I’m subscribed to their email newsletters. These are the top three expert Instagram blogs I’m checking out regularly.
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✅Sue B. Zimmerman

I’ve been following Sue Zimmerman since 2016. I’ve learned a ton from her and, most importantly, her passion for Instagram is contagious! She has a YouTube channel dedicated to Instagram education, and her videos are short, sweet, and to the point. As soon as Instagram rolls out new update, she immediately has a video on this topic. Often, I send my clients a link to one of her videos instead of explaining everything myself.
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Her IG stories are awesome! Seriously, check them out for lots of valuable tips. I highly recommend following her on Instagram and subscribing to her YouTube channel.
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✅Jasmin Star

Jasmine is an Instagram educator and strategist. And she is also an IG TV Guru. Visit her Instagram account and click on the IG TV icon to access lots of videos with a ton of value. Her IG TV channel inspires me to shoot more videos myself and be present and authentic. Also, I like her Live Q@A with her followers. Lots of insights.
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✅Tyler J. McCall
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I discovered Tyler in 2016 when he had about 5k followers, and I have been following him since then. His posts are always informational and thought-provoking, and his sense of humor is irresistible.
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Tyler’s approach to Instagram resonates with me very much. He teaches his followers to be themselves on social media; to be open and to communicate! It’s amazing, but he responds to his DM within minutes!
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These are my top 3 Instagram Experts that I follow, respect, and love. I’m not planning to copy their style or approach, though. I am different. My primary job is to work with brands directly and do Instagram Marketing FOR them and WITH them. And I love to share my experience here.
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Do you follow any of these experts? Or maybe you know an Instagram expert that I forgot to mention? Please share!
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11/08/2019

What should you post in Stories if you are promoting your services as an expert?
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If you want to use your Instagram account strategically to attract new clients, then you should be deliberate with your Stories content. I’d say 70% of your content should be work-related.
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Here are 13 ideas that you can use for your Instagram Stories:
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1. Educational content. You can use Stories exactly in the same way as you use your feed – to educate your followers in your expert niche. You can create educational videos and how-to videos, or use picture+text to explain the ideas you want to share with your followers.
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2. Complementary content for your feed posts. Add some screenshots or pictures/videos to illustrate your idea from your last post. Don't forget to mention in the post that you have additional examples in Stories.
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3. Share your feed post as a story. This is a great way to reuse your old content.
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4. Business announcement. If you plan to run a workshop, go live on Instagram/Facebook, relaunch your website, etc., tell your followers in a series of stories.
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5. New product/line/service overview.
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6. Lifestyle content. Always try to connect your lifestyle content to your work, if possible. Example: a video expert posting a video about his last vacation, in which he also mentions the online tools and equipment he used to create this video. Smart, right?
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7. Client reviews. Make use of screenshots, videos, IG Stories reposts.
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8. Polls stickers. Use them to ask people’s opinion, or to get feedback on something. Post the poll's results with your comments the next day.
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9. Quizzes. On topics related to your area of expertise.
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10. Questions. Use a question sticker so people can ask you a question. You can post your answers the next day.
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11. News. If there is some news in the industry you want to share with your followers, you can post a screenshot from the news website and your comment on it.
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12. Screenshots. An article about you from a newspaper or a blog.
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What ideas do you like the most? Have you tried anything already?

05/08/2019

Do you know that you can add “Book”, “Reserve”, “Get tickets” buttons to your Instagram bio?
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This small feature could increase your Instagram conversion rate significantly, especially if you are a beauty salon/restaurant/consultant.
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Remember, this button is not the same as a link in your profile - it is a separate option. This button appears right under your Stories Highlights.
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I noticed that many beauty salons and service-based businesses underutilized the Instagram option called custom action button.
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✅What is a Custom Action Button? Go to the post gallery and see the examples.
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This button is a great way to convert followers into customers. Many people are hesitant to buy from you because they don’t understand how to do it quickly, and without going to the website.
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✔️If you are a beauty salon - add a “book an appointment” button, so people can easily book an appointment for their haircut without going to your website.
✔️The same thing with consultants - ask your followers to schedule a call with you.
✔️For restaurants - let people reserve a table using their phones.
✔️For event organizers - send people directly to the Eventbrite page.
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✅How to add this button?
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First, you need to have an existing account set up with the specific third-party app with which you plan to integrate. For example, if you plan to use Eventbrite to allow customers to buy tickets, you must have an active Eventbrite account with a link to your event ticket page.
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Most popular third-party apps you can integrate with: Eventbrite, Appointments by Facebook, Appointments my Square, OpenTable, MyTime, Reserve, Yelp, BeatyDate, and many more.
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To add an action button to your Instagram account, go to your profile and select Edit Profile. On the Edit Profile screen, scroll down and select Contact Options. Now select the third-party app you need, and enter the URL of the page you want to direct people to.
Done!
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Do you use this Instagram Action Button? Did you notice the difference after adding it?

31/07/2019

I'm talking with my fellow social media consultant and creative entrepreneur Carol King about dealing with negative feedback on social media.

30/07/2019

Instagram Stories are not as easy to make as they seem. This is not something you can get good at overnight; it’s like learning how to use a new social media platform!
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If you feel like you are left behind in this trend and still can’t figure out how to use Instagram Stories, don’t get discouraged. You are not alone. 😁
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Here is a list of my Instagram Stories lifehacks. Like this post, if you find this information helpful.
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1️⃣ Most of the time it’s hard to explain your idea just in one picture or 15-second video. Create a series of stories, maybe 5 to 7 in a row and say everything you wanted to say using Instagram Stories language: pictures, videos, voice over, text, and stickers. Always use a Call-to-Action in the end: ask a question (poll stickers!), send people to your bio, or encourage them to shoot you a DM.
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2️⃣Use Stories as a complementary content for your Instagram feed. For example, I have two educational posts per week in my Instagram content plan. For these posts, I use screenshots to illustrate my points and I post these screenshots in Stories. In a post, I mention that there are additional examples in my Stories. This way I encourage those who only read my feed to check my Stories, and vice versa. Do you get the idea?
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3️⃣Make a list of Instagram Stories ideas on your phone, and add new ideas to this list every day. I get my ideas after talking to my clients and browsing my Instagram Stories feed (competitors are the best source! 😉) or just while living my life. It becomes a habit very quickly.
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4️⃣ Create a Stories content plan in a Google Sheets table. It is very helpful to have a visual plan for at least two weeks, even if you won’t always follow it.
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5️⃣ Create several series of Stories, and save them on your phone. Or schedule them using special apps like StoriesEdit, Preview, Later, etc. Do you know that you can create a Story but save it on your phone instead of posting right away?
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Do you use any of these hacks for creating your Stories? How is it going?

24/07/2019

I know that many of you have difficulties filming yourself for a video. I hear you, guys, because I’m one of you.
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“Difficulties?!” you might say. “Are you kidding me? It is almost impossible!! I’m too shy to do that. And I look and sound awful on the video.” Exactly my thoughts, plus English is not my native language.
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And yet I’m doing it. I’m not good at creating videos yet, but the most important thing is that I have started, and I’m making progress.

These are my 5 life hacks for how I overcame my fears and started creating videos of me:
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1️⃣ I started with Instagram Stories. You don’t have as much pressure posting IG Stories because these videos will disappear in 24 hours. I was hoping that nobody would notice my little videos, and I was wrong! 😁

2️⃣ In my very first video, I announced that I have a challenge – I will be posting a video of myself in Stories every day. And it worked for me because I’m a very responsible person. If I promised something, I will deliver. So, I did.

3️⃣ I started working with a video/speech coach. In the beginning, she taught me the basics of filming myself – lighting, makeup, posture, voice, etc. She helped me to build confidence just by giving me feedback on my videos. When an expert (not your mom and friends) says that you are doing well, that helps a lot. Also, when you are paying money for someone to teach you, that makes procrastinating on doing your homework just stupid. I don’t know about you, but money is the best motivator for me!

4️⃣ I bought a tripod, an iPhone holder, and a selfie stick. This staff is super helpful, and I paid under $100 for everything.

5️⃣ And – finally! – I started doing makeup and I dress nicely every day just in case l decide to film myself and say something important to my followers. Yes, I double-check every morning if my brows are similar to each other. (Shoot your first video, and you’ll find out why!😁)

Are you still procrastinating about creating videos? What is holding you back?

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My story

Hello, my name is Jane Zhdanova, and I’m the owner of Salted Papaya. I’ve worked in digital marketing since 2012 with startups and businesses from various industries, including 3d printing, nonprofit, apparel and fashion, and the food industry.

Having managed my own online store, I realize what the challenges are in making an e-commerce business successful and what enormous opportunities social media provides for e-commerce entrepreneurs. Today I’m helping other businesses grow their brands and scale up their companies.

My strong side is strategic thinking. I can help startups and entrepreneurs create the right branding message to get a response from their target audiences, and I help them build a sales funnel using proven methods, as well as leverage new trends, tools, and technologies.

I hold live workshops for the Boston entrepreneur community on e-commerce marketing, launching new product strategies, and new technologies in social media. If you live in the Boston area, you are welcome to attend! Salted Papaya team We are a remotely based team of professionals from all over the world, with headquarters in Boston, MA. Being remote lets us employ top professionals and minimize overhead expenses to keep our prices very competitive.