The Key To Instagram Success With Jasmine Star

Over the last few years I have taken lots of advice from the amazing photographer and business strategist, Jasmine Star. Jasmine’s advice has been valuable to the way I use Instagram and how I grow my account, changing the way in which I see the platform today. This week’s episode will look at exactly how you can do the same, learning as much as we possibly can about smashing one of today’s most difficult social media platforms.   KEY TAKEAWAYS COVERED IN THE PODCAST Even though things are portrayed as very happy go lucky on Instagram, it’s important to know that often that’s not always the case. Remember that everyone started with zero followers, the important thing is that even when they thought no one was listening, they showed up and invested their time into the platform.' Do you only post when you remember? Do you only post when you have something to sell? Do you only post when you’re on vacation? This means you’re ON Instagram, not USING it. Using Instagram means you have a strategy, you categorise your photos, your respond to every single comment or DM and you start conversations yourself. When it comes to IGTV, it’s better to get started when nobody is doing it, rather than when the market is saturated. If you’re going to be creating IGTV videos, people do not want to turn their phone. This may mean you need to change the way you shoot or edit your video content. If your content isn’t been seen, it’s not the algorithm, it’s you. THE ONE THING YOU NEED TO REMEMBER ABOVE ALL ELSE… It’s important to remember that Instagram isn’t an overnight success, it takes a lot of time and dedication to build a successful account. Social media isn’t something that will bring you quick results and if you’re not in it for the long run, find out what is better suited to your business. HIGHLIGHTS YOU SIMPLY CAN'T MISS Introducing Jasmine Star – 03:37 Using Instagram As A Tool to Grow Your Business - 11:55 Are You Using Instagram, or Are You on Instagram? - 15:20 IGTV – Is It Worth It? - 24:41 Jasmine’s Top Tip for Instagram Success - 34:20 What’s to Come for Jasmine Star -39:30 LINKS TO RESOURCES MENTIONED IN TODAY'S EPISODE Jasmine Star Instagram Jasmine Star Website Social Curator Transcript below   Hello and a really warm welcome to this week's episode of the podcast. How have you been? I hope that your week has started well, if it's Monday. Obviously, I know people listen on various different days, but obviously this does come out on a Monday. So if you are listening on a Monday, I hope that you're having a great start to your week. So this week, I'm gonna dive straight in and talk about the interview we've got for this week's episode, because it's so good. And I know I say that every week, but honestly, I wouldn't bring them to you if they weren't good and this one is one of my favourites. Because this is just someone I've been trying to get on the podcast for a little while. She's been really busy. So I am so glad, I can finally tell you that I have Jasmine Star on today's podcast. And Jasmine is such an amazing person to listen to, to take advice from, to hear her story. I joke during the podcast that Jasmine is an amazing storyteller and she sort of laughs and says, "Okay. No pressure then." But she is and I've watched loads of her things. She does a lot on Instagram TV, she does a lot video-wise and Insta-stories and going live and she is a great storyteller. So I knew this episode would be good, but also, some of the advice that I have had from Jasmine over the years. I've bought her course, I've watched her live a few times at different events, and the advice I've had from her has been absolutely invaluable, in terms of how I now manage my Instagram account and also how I've grown my Instagram account. So you'll hear all that in this episode, but it's a really, really good one. And then, talking about Jasmine going forward, she's now doing lots of business strategy stuff. But anyway, I'm jumping ahead. Let me tell you a little bit about Jasmine. Jasmine Star is a photographer and business strategist from Newport Beach, California. I mean, there are worse places in the world to be, aren't there? She dropped out of law school to pursue her dreams of becoming a photographer and in less than three years, she built an internationally recognised and award-winning business. Later, founding Social Curator, which I'm a member of and I talk about that in the interview and Social Media Marketing Membership for business owners. She harnesses her hustle power and Jasmine empowers entrepreneurs to build brands, market them on social media and to create a life they love. Jasmine has been featured in Forbes, Entrepreneur, and INC magazine. But most days, you'll find her in her sweat pants scrolling through Instagram and her favourite days are spent with her dog in her high school sweater eating Takis. Jasmine is charming and charismatic and entertaining. So I know you are gonna love today's episode. As well of course, as getting lots of great information about using Instragram for your business. If you love this episode, then Jasmine and I would love to hear about it. Obviously, we are both full-time on Instagram. So please come and find us over there and tag us in a story and let us know what you thought. But I'm not gonna take up anymore of your time. Here is Jasmine. So I'm so excited this week to welcome to the podcast, Jasmine Star.   Introducing Jasmine Star   Well thank you for having me. I couldn't be more excited. It's been a while. This has been a while in the making but here we are. Yeah. Oh we have, we've been talking about it for a little while. So it's finally lovely to get you on. And I am so excited to kind of introduce you to my audience because I'm fairly sure, a lot of my audience will know who you are, but I have been following you for ages. I was lucky enough to meet you last year in Santiago. In fact, you hooked me up a great photographer, Tim King. He's done photos for me a few times. So we'd had a conversation about that. But it's so nice to get you on and hear about how things are going because I know that you've been doing some really exciting things haven't you? I have been excited and when I'm excited I do exciting things. So yes. Yes, it's been a good year so far. Awesome. So just as a kick-off, if you don't mind, in case my audience don't know who you are. It would be great to give them a bit of background of who you are, where you come from. And also, I want you to do this because I've also said in the intro that you are an amazing storyteller. So I know whenever you tell any story, it's just, I can't help to just sit and wanna listen. So if you could do that, that would be awesome. Oh yeah, there's no pressure in this story at all. I was feeling none and all of a sudden I feel this abundance like I better stand on this stage and deliver and academy-award worth of story right about now. You know, I think that the more we converse throughout this conversation, the story will naturally unfold. But I think it's going to expedite where people or why people see my passion for creating a business and creating freedom, but also using social media as a vehicle for growth in a business. Yeah. So in 2005, I earned a full ride law school scholarship and it was the thing I was supposed to do with my life. I thought as a first generation immigrant daughter, first generation college student, first generation post graduate student. That this was thing that would define me and really help expedite my family into a different stratosphere of being American culture and at being American. When I was there, I just realised how unhappy I really was. It just wasn't the best fit for me, but I thought, well this is what I'm gonna do. This is what I've worked for. And my first year of law school, my mom unfortunately had a relapse of brain cancer and it just really rocked everybody's world. Because it had been an eight year battle at this time and the doctors had said that, "Her time had come and we had to start making funeral arrangements." I think that, that reprioritized everything in my life. Like it forced you to have hard conversations and really say, "What do I want in life?" So I planned a wedding in three months to my long standing boyfriend. We'd met in high school. And I'm very independent. I was like, "I have to finish law school, this is gonna be the thing. I'm very driven." And he was just waiting. He was like, "Great. I wanna marry you and we're going to get married." I said, "Yes, just give me some time." I had an Excel spreadsheet, colour coded. I was so annoying. It's like who was I back then? And then all of sudden, I got that Excel spreadsheet and I literally was like, "Bye. This doesn't matter anymore." All your plans don't matter if you're not surrounded by the people who love you and who you love. And so we planned a wedding in three months and against all odds, my mom and my dad walked me down that isle and it was the best day of my life. I came back from the honeymoon and I had to make the declaration to go back to law school and I did not want to. So my brand new husband asks me the most beautiful question. He said, "If you could do one thing for the rest of your life and be happy, what would it...