Your Instagram meets your clients before you do.
So let's make it brilliant at introductions. Done-for-you content for personal brands: I make sure your profile says the right things to the right people, every week, while you get on with being good at your job.
The business is working. Time the profile joined in.
People are looking at your Insta right now...
...and deciding whether to get in touch or not.
Here's how it goes. A client of yours mentions you to a friend. The friend does what everyone does: taps your name into Instagram.
And finds one of two things:
- A last post from spring. Or...
- A feed that's lovely and gives no clue what you actually do.
They don't know you're fully booked. They don't know you're running a successful business. They don't know you're incredible at your job.
They know what the profile tells them. And the profile isn't telling them much.
The person who'd have found you on their own? Same deal.
So they book the other one. She's fine. She posts.
Now the other version.
Same friend. Same tap.
This time the name field says exactly what you do. The pinned post answers the question she was about to ask. Three posts in, she's nodding. Four posts in, she's sending one to her partner with "this is literally us".
Then she messages you.
You didn't write a word of it. You were with a client.
That's the bit I love.
Your Instagram, finally doing some networking. Its first good day at work in months.It's not that you can't do it.
It's that you don't want to.
Clients to look after. Invoices to send. A business to run.
And then, apparently, a design app to open, something to say, a photo that isn't a screenshot, a reel to cut and a caption to write. On a Sunday.
So it goes to the bottom of the list. Every week.
Occasionally you have a proper go. Three posts in four days. Then nothing for a month.
You could do it. You'd just rather do almost anything else.
You don't want to. I can't wait to. Between us, that's a full team.
Sound familiar?
Tick as many as you like. Nobody's checking.
That last one's the real one. The message exists. It just lives in your head and your client calls, not on your profile.
I make sure your Instagram says the right things to the right people. You go and do literally anything else. Lunch, ideally.
Here's the deal.
I write it, design it, edit it and post it. You approve it. Posted. In both senses.
Instagram first, plus one more platform if you want it. I will not fight you about LinkedIn.
Four lines in. A profile out.
This is The Four Lines, start to finish. Here's what one therapist gave me, and what her profile says now.
On Message #1, an example business1. Couples therapist in Bristol. Couples who aren't in crisis, just not really talking any more.
2. You don't need to be on the edge of divorce. You'd go to the dentist for a niggle.
3. Nobody's right. It's what's under the argument about the dishwasher.
4. It's not an hour of being told off. I don't take sides.
Couples therapy in Bristol. For couples who aren't in crisis. Just not really talking any more. I don't take sides and I won't tell you off. You don't have to wait until it's bad. Book a first session ↓
Hannah's part: two clips on her phone, twelve approvals, about twenty minutes.
Four sentences from her. A month of content from me. She approved it between sessions.
I want this for my profile →Here's the clever bit.
You know it. Your clients know it. Your Instagram just hasn't caught up... yet.
You know exactly what you stand for. Your clients could recite it.
It just hasn't made it to Instagram, because that would involve Instagram.
So you give me the four lines that matter, in whatever order they come out. I make the profile say them, every week, in a dozen different ways, to the person who needs to hear them.
Same message. New room. Much better lighting.Background in linguistics, which is a long word for knowing which words to cut.
The practice is deliberately small. A handful of clients, so each one gets an actual brain on it rather than a template with their logo on.
Three steps. None of them are homework.
For personal brands that are great at the job and bad at posting about it.
Is this you?
Unprompted.
What clients say when nobody's asked them to.
Quick answers
Will it actually sound like me?
Yes. I write from what you'd say on a first call, and nothing goes out until you've approved it twice. Two yeses, or it doesn't go out.
What do I actually have to do?
Three small things. Approve the ideas, approve the finished posts, and film a bit on your phone. About ten minutes of approving and [a couple of hours] of filming a month.
Do I have to be on camera?
Some of the time, yes. You're the brand, so your face is what people are buying. Nobody needs a ring light.
How much is it?
From €[price] a month. Three months to start, then month to month.
Can you make me go viral?
No. I can make your profile make sense to the right people, every week. That's the bit that gets you booked.
I've outsourced this before and it sounded like a marketer.
I know. It's the most common reason people are nervous, and it's fair. I start from what you'd say, not from a template, and you see every word first. If it reads like a webinar, it doesn't go out.
What if I don't like it?
Then I change it. One round on the ideas, one on the finished posts. Usually it's one line, not the whole thing.
I don't have anything to post about.
You do. A business, a face and opinions about your work. Finding the posts in that is the job, and it's mine.
Most of my work comes through word of mouth. Do I need Instagram?
Yes, the version people check. Someone's been sent your name and is on your profile right now. Its job is to keep them heading your way.
I have confidentiality rules.
Not a problem. Nothing about a client ever goes on your profile. Hannah's a therapist, and none of her month is about a client.
What if I want to stop?
You stop. After three months it's month to month. The posts stay up and the profile stays yours. I'd rather you left happy than stayed annoyed.
What happens after I apply?
I reply within 48 hours. If it's a fit, we book a call. If not, I'll tell you why.
Not sure what you'd even post? I'll tell you. For free.
Send me your website and your Instagram handle. I'll read both and send back ten posts your Instagram should have, each with a hook and a line on what to say. So instead of "post more", you get "post this".
A plan for your next ten posts, built from your business. Not a PDF of tips. Not a template.
One honest thing: I don't write the posts. That's the paid bit. Think of it as the trailer.
Is your Instagram working for you?
A performance review. Seven questions. Nobody's getting fired. (Yet.)
Order in the grid.
The person who'd be running it.
Hi, I'm Nina. I've been a bit obsessed with how people say things for as long as I can remember, which is how I ended up doing Modern Languages at Cambridge, and then in Spain, where I've now been for thirteen years and show no signs of leaving.
For a long time that obsession went into writing textbooks about getting a point across clearly. It still does, really. It's just that the point is your business now, and the textbook is your Instagram.
I should warn you that I like a plan and I like things done quickly, and my tolerance for overcomplicating stuff is dangerously low. If something can be sorted in a voice note, that's how it's getting sorted.
I'm also a mum, so I know exactly what running a business in the gaps looks like, and that some of the gaps are four minutes long. It's why you'll never get content homework from me. You've already got a full set of hats on, and not one of them says "Instagram".
And that thing people say, "do what you love and you'll never work a day in your life"? I don't buy it. Work is still work. But it can be a good time, and I make sure it is: a decent playlist on, a joke snuck into a caption, the odd team call that turns into a dance party for no reason. If we're doing this every week, it might as well be fun.
I keep the client list small on purpose. Enough to know whose dog is called what. Not so many I'd have to write it down.
Don't want to run your socials? Don't.
Off your mind. On your grid. Your feed, finally fed.
Just your Instagram, saying the right things to the right people, every week, while you're busy being brilliant at the actual job.
your last post was spring.
You're brilliant in person.
Your grid says nothing.
So hand me the login,
go do something fun.
I'll make it say what you'd say.
Then consider it done.