Episode 158: BEST OF BELLA: Instagram Secrets For Your Pet Business With Jenn Herman

Today we are replaying Episode 116 with Jenn Herman as part of the Best of Bella series. Jenn literally wrote the book "Instagram For Business for Dummies" and she is a wealth of knowledge. She is incredibly insightful, she talks fast, drops lots of value bombs, and you are sure to learn stuff from her. Show Highlights Who Is Jenn Herman? [2:25] Why Do I Need Instagram In MY Business? [4:30] What Are The Different Ways Consumers Can Use Instagram? [6:55] How Do We Figure Out HOW Our Audience Consumes Instagram? [10:25] What Tactics On Instagram Can We Use To Build Our Local Following? [13:10] Should You Always Use A Location Tag? [17:25] What Kind Of Strategies Can I Use For Hashtags? [18:25] How Often Should You Post On Instagram? [26:20] Why Should I Have A Kick-Butt Instagram Page? [29:20] Original Show Notes It’s no secret that Instagram can be a powerhouse social media platform for your business – but I see so many business owners that are just NOT using it to its fullest potential. If you’ve been wanting to dive deep into the inner working of Instagram and learn useful Instagram secrets, then today is your day! Jenn Herman is a social media consultant, speaker, and globally recognized Instagram expert. She is the forefront blogger on Instagram marketing and her blog, Jenn’s Trends, has won the title of a Top 10 Social Media Blog in 2014, 2015, and 2016. Through her blog, consulting, and speaking Jenn provides tips, resources, and training for small to medium-sized businesses that need to structure their social media strategies. Her business background includes Administration, Sales, Human Resources, and Marketing and she enjoys bringing all these skills together to help you grow your business. Jenn has been featured in Inc., Fox News, Yahoo Finance, HuffPost, The Verge, CBS Radio LA, and numerous other podcasts and publications. She is the author of “Instagram for Business for Dummies”, “The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to Instagram” and “Stop Guessing: Your Step-by-Step Guide to Creating a Social Media Strategy”. Learn more about Jenn on her website http://jennstrends.com. Biggest Takeaway You Don’t Want To Miss Above all, you have to have a consistent strategy. Being active and taking the time to implement the strategy you develop is key.  Your processes will drive the results that get you clients, regardless if you have 50 followers or 50,000 followers. What matters is who’s going to find you and bring you business. Build an amazing community of the followers you have and use strategic efforts (i.e. hashtags, stories, following events) to turn that into business. Special Offer Pick up a copy of Jenn’s book, Instagram For Business For Dummies, on Amazon here: http://bit.ly/IGBizDummies Share The Show Did you enjoy the show? We would love it if you subscribed today and left us a 5-star review! Click this link – Bella In Your Business Click on the ‘Subscribe’ button below the artwork Go to the ‘Ratings and Reviews’ section Click on ‘Write a Review’ Transcript: Welcome to Bella in Your Business, the Best of Bella. My name is Bella Vasta, your host, and today we are going to be replaying episode 116 as part of the Best of Bella series. Today's guest is going to be Jen Herman. She literally wrote the book Instagram for Dummies and she is incredibly impactful. She talks fast, she drops lots of value bombs, and you are sure to learn stuff from her. Instagram is like Facebook's sister and Instagram is something that has worked very well for a lot of pet sitters and dog walkers. In fact, after we recorded this, I actually created a webinar for pet sitters. If you go to jumpconsulting.net/instagram, you can get your own free class on it there. Jen Herman is a wealth of knowledge. She is definitely the leading expert in Instagram and I'm so excited to bring her to you. She's not just some other person who is regurgitating old information. She is on the pulse of all the changes of Instagram strategy with Instagram and how you can really use it in your business. I have news for you. Instagram, I believe, is actually even easier than Facebook, provided that you can wrap your head around it and have a strategy. So without further ado, this is Jen Herman with a replay of episode 116. Welcome to Bella in Your Business, where Bella will discuss anything and everything about your pet sitting business to help you land on target. So get ready. Bella's got your chute. Let's jump! Welcome to Bella in Your Business. My name is Bella Vasta from Jump Consulting, and today we're talking everything Instagram. So if you've been wondering about why you should be on Instagram, how you should be on Instagram, what to post on Instagram, or just how to actually use it for your business, today is your day. Today I've got my awesome friend, Jen Herman, with me and she is just an Instagram expert. I mean, honestly, you guys, if you wanted to know anything about Instagram, Jen is your girl. She is a go-to expert in so many different social circles. I am so excited to have her here and it's off the coattails of her actually coming in, being our expert in the Jump Mastermind. And we had fangirls over her. She's so fun and I'm so excited to have her here. Jen gives a quick background of who she is and how she became the Instagram queen. She started a blog about social media, and six months into it decided to figure out how Instagram worked. She fell in love with it, especially since nobody was teaching it from a marketing perspective. She started sharing what she learned on her blog, testing and theorizing, and within six months began receiving invitations to speak and do interviews. She became known as the go-to person for Instagram content. She loves Instagram for its community and creativity and enjoys helping businesses use it strategically. She explains that she loves seeing businesses succeed with Instagram because it forces creativity and authenticity—it’s not just dropping links like on Facebook or Twitter. It requires more human connection. Bella notes how she likes that Jen doesn’t just teach tactics but strategy—something business owners need to avoid just shooting darts in the air. Jen shares that Instagram has exploded in growth and now has over a billion active monthly users. If you exclude YouTube, Instagram ranks second only to Facebook. She debunks the myth that only millennials use Instagram. Millennials are now in their thirties, buying homes, building careers, and starting families. Gen Xers and even baby boomers are also active on Instagram. She emphasizes that your audience is there—you just need to figure out how they’re using the platform. She describes Instagram as having multiple components: the feed (photos, videos, and carousels), stories (raw, real, behind-the-scenes 24-hour content), live videos (which stay for 24 hours unless saved), direct messages (which now allow live video chat), and the newer IGTV. Each section attracts different users, and it’s important to learn where your audience spends their time. Jen explains that to know how your audience consumes content—stories, posts, or lives—you’ll need to test and track. Analytics can help, and she reassures listeners that Instagram’s built-in analytics are much simpler than Facebook’s. They clearly show how many people came from hashtags, profile visits, or clicks. Business owners should focus on two or three key metrics that align with their goals—whether that’s engagement, traffic, or growth—and build from there. Bella adds that many pet sitters and dog walkers find great success on Instagram, and Jen agrees that it can actually be easier and less time-consuming than Facebook. Since most pet businesses serve a local radius, she shares practical tactics: use Instagram Stories with boomerangs or videos of dogs in action and tag your location—specific parks, neighborhoods, or landmarks. Tagging smaller, specific locations increases your visibility in broader searches like city or county tags. Jen also advises using local hashtags. For example, “#DogsOfSanDiego” or “#ScottsdalePets.” Use up to 30 relevant hashtags and even follow those hashtags to find local users. When you like and interact with their posts, they’ll notice you, check your profile, and potentially become clients. It’s a subtle and powerful way to grow locally without cold-calling. She suggests that business owners keep hashtag lists on their phone organized by themes—geographical tags, brand-related tags, and interest-based tags—and continually add to them. Importantly, she notes that your clients aren’t searching Instagram for “dog walkers.” They’re searching for dog parks, events, or dog-friendly restaurants. So you need to show up where your clients are, not where your competitors are. Bella agrees and adds that pet business owners can use local events and venues to “hijack” visibility—following event hashtags, liking posts from local pet owners, and showing up in their notifications to build awareness. Jen calls it “strategic stalking,” joking that everyone has those skills from social media already—now they just need to use them smartly for business. By liking multiple posts from the same person, you stand out in their notifications, and they’ll likely check your profile, see your services, and reach out. It’s simple but powerful—if done consistently and authentically. The conversation moves to posting frequency. Jen says there’s no magic number. She prefers quality over quantity—don’t post just to post. Once or twice a week is fine; consistency matters more than frequency. Stories can fill in between posts with quick, casual content. Bella adds that even small daily interactions—liking, commenting—matter because Instagram rewards engagement. The more active you are, the more reach your posts get.