How do you succeed on Instagram as an Introvert?

This is a transcript of Emma’s video essay. Click here to watch it on IGTV.

 

 

Are you feeling totally discouraged because you feel like your introverted personality–something you were born with and cannot change–is holding you back from succeeding in your business?

 

In this post, you’ll learn:

• How to successfully navigate marketing your business on social media as an introvert
• The three questions you need to ask yourself BEFORE your next post
• What to do if your culture just isn’t as bubbly and extroverted as the Instagram accounts you follow
• why Instagram NEEDS more people like you right now

 

 

I’m Emma Natter, founder of The Aesthetic Way, and I help entrepreneurs find freedom and fun in creatively building their businesses. I’m going to share the exact approach I’ve used to guide my one-to-one clients to making five or six figures in their creative business.

 

 

So here’s what usually happens for introverts who decide to grow a business on a social platform like Instagram.

You see someone’s business that inspires, entertains, or educates you, and you dive into looking at everything they do. You find more people you like to follow who are fun, funny, and have a lot of energy. The problem is that when you decide you’re finally going to take the plunge on all this…you realize that everyone you’re following seems to be an extrovert. They’re dancing on their Instagram stories, laughing, chatting it up, and overall just being very extroverted.

So you decide to bite the bullet. Decide “okay, I guess this is part of being an entrepreneur! I’ve pretended before, I can do it to make a living.” So you try to be bubbly and fun and exciting and friendly…and you’re not authentic.

 

When you’re not being authentic, 1 of 2 things will happen:

1. Either people can feel that you’re not being authentic, so they don’t connect with you the way they need to and you don’t make sales in your business
2. OR people DO connect with something that’s not authentic and so you feel like you’re living a lie. And you get discouraged feeling like this is only an extrovert’s game.

 

 

All of that is SO hard because at the end of the day, you’re not doing this to be popular, you’re doing this so you can be successful in your business. So that people will value what you do. That people will spread your name and respect what you create. That your work can make a real impact.

You want to create work the BEST way for you, and that may not be displaying it for all the world to see in real time. For example, did you know Albert Einstein came up with all of his BEST ideas being undisturbed in a room in Bern where he reviewed patent requests for part of the day, finished earlier than his boss knew, and spent the rest of the day unraveling the mysteries of the world. That is the power of being true to yourself as an introvert.

 

 

So here’s why this is going on for you

Our brains try to keep us safe by warning us of danger with fear. So we’re on the lookout for anything that might make us a little vulnerable or uncomfortable. There is something about entrepreneurship that challenges every single personality out there. 

The problem is that a lot of the people teaching about marketing give advice as though everything they say is so easily doable for everyone, and since they’re asking you to do things that aren’t easy for you because you’re an introvert, you’re disqualifying yourself from that strategy just because it’s uncomfortable. You say, “that’s not going to work for me because I’m an introvert.”

Even though I’m technically an extrovert, I am not the life of the party. I feel uncomfortable going into a setting where I don’t know anyone. I am not the center-of-attention type. At a party, I’m more likely to have found one person to go in-depth with, pouring out my thoughts in a very free-flowing and extraverted way, than to have the attention of the room. So a lot of the tactics and strategies people teach about online have also been really uncomfortable for me.

 

But there’s one thing you have to realize

 

Being enjoyable to hang out with is not owned by extroverts. Personally, some of my FAVORITE people to hang out, people I have SO much fun with are introverts. Sure, they may not be the ones involving random people they meet in the fun, but that’s just a difference of style, not a difference in fun.

 

 

Here’s the truth

There isn’t much creativity to the structures of marketing…people find out about you, realize how awesome your stuff is, and then they buy it or don’t buy it. It’s that simple. If every person is trying to do it the exact same way? You’re going to feel inauthentic and get totally lost in the crowd.

What you HAVE to recognize is that sure, you may be introverted, but that has no bearing on whether the people close to you like you, trust you, and think what you do is cool. You want to amplify THAT, not try to fit someone else’s style.

 

What I mean, is that you need to do this if you want to NOT feel inauthentic

 

Focus on how YOUR style naturally and authentically achieves goals of connection and persuasion outside of business, and bring it in from there.

 

 

Let me show you what I mean

My friend and former client, Michelle from Mishku Studio, was very skeptical about whether she would be able to succeed on Instagram. She told me that it’s not really in Australian culture to shout about how awesome they are from the rooftops. She said it’s more in their nature to be very self-deprecating, and maybe even hold their emotions close to their sleeves. She told me that her humor is sarcastic, and that she’s never going to dance on video, and to be honest, she spends most of her time in a fluffy robe, in bed, with her cat, Sushi.

We figured out how to get people interested, excited, and valuing what she does without her having to feel like she’s acting like an extrovert. Instead, her posts feel like an intimate experience with one person at a time. Can it be a little tired for her to post sometimes? Yes. But. She is communicating and connecting BECAUSE of her introverted soul. And she is able to relax and recover in between.

She has a whole community full of people who love her introverted voice. They want to connect with her for the same reasons her friends and family in real life like to connect with her. She’s brilliant, talented, funny, fun, sensitive, and caring. The fact that she’s an introvert is actually an asset to her social media presence. She’s drawing in the people that need her heart and voice, not feeling like she should be someone else. Definitely follow along with Mishku studio if that sounds like the kind of community you want to be part of.

 

The truth is that if you feel pressure to look just like someone else, that means there are probably too many other people trying to look like them too.

 

That not only means that you’re going to get lost in the crowd, but it also means that there are important voices that are being overshadowed and not heard. If you feel frustrated because it feels like there’s no one out there that sounds like you yet, that means that you are meant to put your voice out there. There is a gap that can only be filled by your voice. We need you.

 

 

So in order to help you stop feeling like you need to do things another person’s way, here are the questions you need to ask yourself before your next post:

• • • Would I actually say this to a close friend?
    • Am I posting this because I think it would help, or because I feel like I’m supposed to?
    • Is this a conversation I would enjoy continuing with a close friend?
    • Then post it.

 

 

 

What’s Next?

If you want to learn more about how to build a profitable creative business that allows you to be authentic, go check out emmanatter.com where we have incredible resources to help you build the business of your dreams while creating beautiful work you love. Plus, keep your ears out for when we open our doors to The Aesthetic Way where you’ll learn my exact framework to package, sell, and launch your products, services, and programs so you can get your important work out there.