Are you looking for more strategies to grow your Instagram? You probably haven’t tried these yet. I had a chat with my friend Helen, the face of the widely-known company, Frownies, and she shared her 4 expert secrets that will explode your brand on Instagram. And this isn’t just a catchy headline–she actually uses these 4 things that literally quadrupled the company’s reach. 

 

 

Frownies has actually been around for a really long time, but it wasn’t until most recently that it became an established brand among most audiences. Helen joined the brand and with her expert social media strategies, she has turned the company into something bigger than anyone at Frownies was expecting. It’s crazy what adding a personal touch to a brand can do for your business’s success!

 

A Quick Backstory of Frownies

Frownies has been around since 1889. Helen’s great-great-grandmother invented facial patches you wear at night while you sleep. This product is essentially the longest-standing and best alternative to Botox. Helen came into the business in 2020. She has a background in social media and knew Frownies needed a little bit of a social media intervention. She came on board, took over all the social media channels for Frownies, and became the face of the brand. 

Before Helen joined the brand, Frownies was relatively unknown on social media amongst the general population. It was at the end of 2020 when things started to change. Helen discovered a viral TikTok of a user who was recommending Frownies products and that video gave the company a leg up in its growth. 

Helen immediately created a TikTok account for the company and started posting a video every day. She would make the video content and post it to Instagram as well. Her goal was to always get her TikTok viewers over to Instagram because she knew there was a better opportunity to connect with her audience on that platform. 

When the video content (TikToks and reels) started to go viral regularly, Helen never looked back. On average, she has made a piece of video content every day for the last three years. Now, Frownies is one of the top 3 leading beauty brands that pop up in search results. 

 

 

4 Expert Secrets That Will Explode Your Brand on Instagram

While these 4 expert Instagram secrets will give you a boost, there has to be a bigger purpose than just selling your product. Social media is what will help you bring that bigger picture to life because it’s where you can connect with people and build your community. In other words, you need to know your WHY. This is what will drive you to keep going forward, even on your hardest days.

For Helen, she wants women to feel supported, loved, and confident. You look at your face every day in the mirror and a lot of people don’t like what they see. Helen wants to change that narrative for people, whether they ever use Frownies or not. She wants them to love themselves. 

 

Expert Instagram Secret #1: How to Connect with Your Instagram Followers One By One

Social media is supposed to be social. It’s supposed to provide opportunities for relationships and connection. Helen loves talking with people, so she’s always approached Instagram with that mindset. She gets to know her customers so she won’t become bored with the business side of things. 

Helen has always prioritized answering every single comment, question, and DM. Also, what makes a huge difference is that she answers with a voice note instead of typing back a response. She started doing this out of convenience at first, but she quickly realized how much it meant to her customers that it was her personally getting back to them. This became such an easy and powerful way to connect with her audience one by one. 

 

Expert Instagram Secret #2: How to Combat the Hateful Comments

You can take negative and hurtful comments and let them replay in your head over and over again, but that’s so defeating. You don’t want to be the victim. It takes practice, but what works best is when you stand up for yourself. And you do that by making some sort of clever, witty, creative post referencing the hateful comment. Whether that person sees your video or not, you have your power back. 

You’ll gain the confidence to keep going because you’re teaching yourself that you aren’t going to let random haters on social media get the best of you. Instead, you are going to focus on the community that loves you, your content, and your products. 

 

 

Expert Instagram Secret #3: How Much Time Is Too Much Time Spent on Instagram?

Every company needs to have someone who is committed to spending too much time on social media every day and Helen is that person for Frownies. So many business owners look at social media as the extra hassle that’s keeping them away from what they should be doing. Helen sees it the other way around. She doesn’t want the other parts of the business to keep her away from connecting with her audience on social media. 

For your business, you can decide if you want to be the social media person or the business person and then find someone to fulfill the other role for you. You will probably fulfill both roles at the beginning, but as you grow you will be able to hire help and get more established on the work you want to be focusing on every day. 

Helen has a good point when she says that no one else can show up on social media and be the founder of your business. Only you can do that. And that’s a pretty powerful thing to do and an expert way of connecting with your audience and customers. 

You can’t really spend too much time on Instagram. BUT you have to be intentional. Do not get on and start scrolling. If you’re on you are collecting trending audio, gathering tips from Instagram gurus, responding to comments, etc. 

 

Expert Instagram Secret #4: How to Become the Face of Your Brand Even if You’re Scared

Helen loves Mel Robbin’s advice that she shares in her book, The 5-Second Rule, about fear and excitement. She said the feeling of fear, physiologically, is the same as the feeling of excitement. First of all, to get past your fear you just have to go for it. 

The other thing that helps is to stop saying things like, “I’m so nervous. I hate social media. I don’t like my face on camera.” You have to change the words coming out of your mouth to change the thoughts in your head. So instead you could tell yourself, “I’m really excited about this. I know this is a huge opportunity for me. I’m going to give myself time to get better at this.” 

If you simply start saying more positive things your brain is going to try to prove you true. It’s OK to be a beginner. Let yourself practice and improve. The cringe videos are inevitable for every content creator, but the good news is that your next video will always be better. Plus, the more you do it the more comfortable you will become in front of that camera and you will start to feel a connection to your people and vice versa. 

 

 

4 Expert Secrets That Will Explode Your Brand on Instagram

Isn’t Helen the best? This post just skims the surface of all the golden nuggets she shares about social media strategy. You can hear the rest of her tips in my podcast episode HERE. If you want to stay connected with Helen you can follow Frownies on Instagram @frownies. And if you have yet to follow me, you can find me @iammichellegifford where you will get all the best tips and strategies for growing a successful biz on Instagram and beyond! 

P.S. Helen and I both want you to know that you are so brave in leading your business in the crazy world of social media. While it can be the most magical tool it can also be so overwhelming. Just remember, the upside is astronomically more than you could ever imagine!