Showing your face on Instagram - 5 Visibility Tips For Camera Shy Business Owners

 

Instagram has given us an unbeatable ability to directly speak to our audience at the touch of a button. Never before have we been so lucky to have soooo many ways to show our audience more of the human side of our business.

When people buy from us, they make an *emotional* decision about whether to plug in their card details. And that all comes down to - do I KNOW, LIKE and TRUST this brand or person?  

One of the quickest and easiest ways to build that know, like and trust factor with your audience is to show your face on Instagram stories, on your grid or in a live video. 

You’re probably thinking, GROAN…. But I *hate* talking to camera. 

I hear ya. I speak to so many business owners who shy away from being on camera. But with showing your face on social media being SUCH an opportunity to grow connections with your audience, I want to encourage you to give it a go.

 
Showing your face on instagram - 5 visibility tips for camera shy business owners - Sara Dalrymple
 

5 visibility tips for camera shy business owners

Don’t try to do it all

I know it feels like you’ve got to be on stories every day, do a weekly live chat, post a headshot to your grid and be dancing around on reels. Aaaand then you ask yourself… should I be on TikTok too, and maybe YouTube? 

Cue the overwhelm spiral that means you don’t do ANY of the above. 

But here’s a permission slip for you… you DON’T have to do All Of The Things.

Instead, just pick one way to get visible and do it as consistently as you can. Visibility is your community builder, so rather than do all-of-the-things half heartedly, do one or two things well and you’ll be building some seriously strong connections with your audience in no time.

Pick stories, reels, live video or video and images on your grid. And focus on building a habit around getting visible there before you worry about any other kind of visibility. 

Flex the muscle

Getting in front of the camera might feel stomach churning right now, but after your 5th, 6th, 7th story, reel or live video you’ll be feeling a load more confident with it. 

The key to building confidence with being on camera is to flex the muscle.

Challenge yourself to show up every day to share a talking-to-camera story. Try it for 30-days. Just 15 seconds of you talking to camera each day. (If you’re stuck for what to talk about, you need my FREE stories cheat sheet - sign up below).

After 30 consecutive days of sharing a talking-to-camera story you’ll be a natural! 

Have fun with it

Sometimes we take our marketing WAAAAAY too seriously. And we take on board all of the strategy tips and tricks to boost engagement and likes. 

That all gets us focussing on engagement, metrics and clicks. YAWN. Yes those metrics have their uses. But when you’re building your confidence with being on camera, it helps to make it, ya know… actually fun! 

Have fun with getting visible! This could look like:

  • Play around with silly filters on those days you feel a bit meh about showing up 

  • Use stickers in your stories to start conversations with your audience - sliders, polls, quizzes

  • Ask your audience what questions they have for you and answer them talking to camera 

  • Look at what other people are doing with their stories or reels. Use that as inspiration to record your own.

Make yourself accountable

Sometimes it’s hard to show up! Particularly when you feel… meh. And sometimes you can record, and re-record a story 5 times before you’re happy with it. (who am I kidding - more like re-record it 20 times).

So a little accountability can help. A few ways to make yourself accountable to showing up on your stories/ grid:

  • Tell your followers you’re doing a 30-day stories challenge (so you feel like they’re expecting you to show up each day)

  • Set theme days for each day of the week so your audience know what to expect (and expect you to appear in their stories) 

  • Do live video so you have to get on with what you’ve got to say (because you can’t re-record it 10 times)

  • Tell your followers you’ll be doing a Q&A in your stories every Tuesday (so you know you have to show up)

Be yourself! 

Showing your face online is a great way to show your audience you are a real human being - just like them! 

On instagram you have a platform to share your stories (big and small), shared experiences and your PERSONALITY. 

Visibility strengthens the effectiveness of your marketing because people can see the person behind the brand is a human being.

No one cares if you fluff your words, the dog starts barking or you get distracted by talking about the nightmare school drop off you had this morning - in fact those are the things that make you human and relatable.

Don’t be afraid to sell

If you are a business of one, YOU are the best (and only!) person your clients want to hear from about what it is you’re selling. 

Therefore, visibility = selling! It’s so hard for people to arrive at a decision to buy from you if they can’t SEE you. So…

  • If you mention a product you’re working on, tell them where they can buy it. 

  • If you’re talking about a take-away from a recent client call, tell them where they can find out more about working with you. 

  • If you’re sharing a client testimonial - tell your followers where they can book a discovery call to find out more about working with you. 

Yes, I’d love you to get comfortable with being visible on Instagram because it’s a great sales tool. But most importantly I hope you can find the joy in it! Speaking directly to your audience generates conversations, creates connections and gives you the opportunity to build a community rather than just an audience - and that’s a dreamy feeling.

Sara Dalrymple