Today on the show I’m bringing back my friend Craig Ballantyne to share more about how he’s crushing it using Instagram for his business. Craig appeared on the podcast back in May last year, where he talked about how he used Instagram Stories to sell over $500,000 at that time in “high ticket” workshops, but you won’t believe the further growth and success he’s seen using the platform since then! As you’ll hear, Craig just started using Instagram in February 2017, and he says he really didn’t know what he was doing for the first month. In April 2017 he made his first $5,000 sale using Instragram, and he hasn’t stopped learning and refining his approach since that time, revealing many of his strategies he now uses in this episode. Craig reveals the single most important thing about Instagram “swipe ups”, as well as giving a call to action that will get your prospects to take action, while allowing you to stay in integrity and fully aligned with your message. He discusses how he qualifies the people who DM him on Instagram, what his message sequence to prospects is and how he uses video in DM to stand out from the crowd. Craig gives us his “VPS” formula to use for successful posts, and he even breaks down some of the posts on both of our actual Instagram feeds (you can find the video of that below)! As Craig says, the biggest thing with Instagram is being intentional about how you’re using it, and he definitely knows what he’s doing as his clients are seeing massive results using his methods – with many of them being in very unique niches.  In fact, one of his clients sold a $28,000 personal training package through Instagram, and another sold a $40,000 massage school using the platform, just to name a few examples! You could start seeing amazing results from your Instagram too, by even implementing just a few tips that Craig shares with us today. Before we start the show, I’ve got something to ask. How do you listen to this podcast? Is it in the iTunes app, Stitcher, Spotify or maybe iHeart Radio? Do you listen to it at regular speed, or maybe like me you listen to your podcasts at 1.5X speed? I want to know! Take a screenshot of you tuning in to The Art of Paid Traffic, and include it on your Instagram Story, while tagging me, @RickMulready!  Want to win a 30-minute strategy session with me? I’ll be drawing one winner at random each month, and all you have to do is give me your feedback on this podcast over at http://rickmulready.com/messenger, telling me what you’d like to hear more of - including topics you’d like to see covered, guests, style and frequency of the show! On the Show Today You’ll Learn: How you can increase the number of responses you’re getting on your videos, and an Instagram Story strategy that doesn’t use videos The role of the conversation on Instagram, in addition to just what you share with your stories 7 key words to keep in mind each time you’re speaking with a potential customer on Instagram Which day of the week Craig is getting a ton of views on (this may surprise you)! Ways that you can keep your Instagram feed and stories fresh and unpredictable, leading to more shares by followers What he has done to grow his Instagram following to almost 50,000 people, and why he won’t be trying paid shout outs again in the near future Craig’s “VPS” formula, what it means to really be purposeful and why using quotes on your posts is so important to do How to use IGTV to overcome changes on the platform and to get even more engagement, and his best tricks for getting the most out of this tool