 Okay. Welcome everyone to the newly rebranded TechSoup Connect South Australia chapter, formerly known as NetSquared Adelaide. We have a fancy new name and a fancy new logo. As we've done with our previous events, we just want to quickly talk about what NetSquared is and does and what our focus is before we introduce our speaker for today. So NetSquared is a TechSquared, even I'm having trouble with it, TechSoup Connect is a program of TechSoup Global. TechSoup Connect is a global network of tech for good meetups. So the focus here is on connecting digital innovators with nonprofits that perhaps don't have those skills and that knowledge and TechSoup is a nonprofit that helps other nonprofits get implemented and use tech effectively. So you can see TechSoup Connect Global Network spans the globe. So 128 cities this week in 41 countries, always on the rise. You can see they're pretty well spread throughout the world. Common values here as a nonprofit driven event. We welcome everyone, we put community first. We build stronger nonprofits and technology is one of the tools that we use to do that. We invite participation so everyone has something to learn and to contribute towards everybody else's shared knowledge and we treat each other with kindness and respect. Anyone can plan an event for TechSoup Connect anywhere in the world. So we're always on the lookout for people to join the team, event producers, marketing, welcoming crew, note takers or if you've got any other skills or experience that you can bring to help us with TechSoup Connect, please get in touch and we'd love to talk to you about that. The local TechSoup partner in Australia and New Zealand is ConnectingUp which is based in Adelaide and through ConnectingUp you can access a range of different technology products and solutions. Very American slide, prices you can afford but people like Microsoft donate their software to nonprofits and ConnectingUp is the vehicle that does the nonprofit eligibility for that program. If you need technology help, that's what NexQuest is here for but if you're a bit more of an online person forums.techsoup.org you can ask you questions there and get help from like-minded nonprofits. And our sponsors for the TechSoup Connect South Australian Chapter, I got it right that time. Our Refuel Creative which is where I am today and Create Your Change which is Kat Milner's business. Okay, so I want to introduce today's guest. So today's guest is Nihar. I'm going to try pronouncing your last name. I'm probably going to get it wrong. I apologize in advance. Awasthi? Yeah, perfect. Who is a marketing and mindset coach? She helps life coaches how not to repel their best clients and market like a human so they can get fully booked. She teaches them how to market like a human with soul and strategy. An ex-national marketing manager, she decided to break free from the pressure to wear high heels and shadow the glass ceiling while she was at it. She's on a mission to unmute the voices of business women who want to be trials blazers and be heard. So today Nihar is going to be talking to us about micro storytelling and Instagram. So without further ado, Nihar, take it away. Thank you so much Ryan. Hello everybody. I am so delighted to be here and talk about micro storytelling and Instagram. It's just so much fun to do this in partnership with TechSoup. Thank you for inviting me and let's get started. So I am going to share my slides first of all. And let's see. Okay. Can you just give me a thumbs up, Ryan, if you can see these slides. Okay. All good. Okay. I'm just going to go full screen then. Again, lovely. Okay. So micro storytelling and Instagram are two of my favorite topics to talk about. But first, I'll give you a very brief introduction of who I am. I'm a human, just like all of you. I like to make a mention of it because sometimes we can think that experts or, you know, person who is presenting there is kind of like, you know, from extraterrestrial territory and it's only you that you're struggling with things in business and life. So it's not the case. I'm also a brown woman. I'm a business owner and I am an ex national brand manager. So I have an extensive experience in and brand management and working on multimillion dollar marketing campaigns for various in various industry but predominantly financial industry is where my experience is. But I am also a marketing coach who is all on a mission to unmute your superpowers and help you fall in love with marketing, which is not that difficult in my opinion. So you can make more money and help more people and live a life on your own terms. You can find me here on Instagram underscore Neha Avasti. You might want to just write down the spelling of my name and you can also find me here where I love to hang out with other life coaches and other women entrepreneurs, which is a Facebook group called Unmuted Marketing. I've got it, but it's marketing with soul and strategy for women entrepreneurs. So let's talk about what is a story. So story is any narrative that helps you to communicate and experience engaging with a story really fires up a part of your brain, which is left temporal cortex and the region which is receptive to language. That's where the story kind of like, you know, you shoot a story and that's where it hits in the audience or the listener's mind. It is simply an experience and I really want to drive this point home that sharing an experience with people is really what a story is. You just have to learn a few skills to create the same experience in their in audiences mind as you experienced. And when you're able to do that, that's when you know that you have told a great story. So a story's main purpose is to really translate the experience that you have had. And when you tell that story to someone else, they should be able to have similar experience or have, you know, some sort of emotional experience and connection with that. When you do that, you'll never run out of stories to talk about and we don't realize how many stories we have in our bank in our everyday life experiences. Because stories really help us understand the world. It's something that we do naturally from bed sites to firesides. We have regularly used stories to relay our experiences and connect with all of those people around us. We have done it historically for many, many, you know, for centuries from, you know, from the day in age, like the mode of stories have changed. But we have used these stories to communicate events, examine our values, explore meaning and purpose in our lives from day in age. So in this sense, stories offer a perfect common ground for reflection and for us to connect at a very human level. And this is very necessary for businesses because in today's age, businesses are offering things, but that's not what really sells. What sells is the connection is the experience is the meaning that someone would get the change that someone would get after engaging your services or after using your products. So it's really important that you really make that distinction in your mind that what you're selling directly is not exactly what you're selling. You're selling the meaning and the purpose and the change behind that very thing. And stories help you do that. So I really like, you know, this is just an example of how stories help us really understand our world. So one of the things that you could be saying to yourself, this is from my own personal example that I really would have learned to sketch if my parents encouraged me. I was mugged few years after arriving in a new country and I started to think that it's not after all that safe. I took that course and that's why I failed or succeeded depends on how you interpret it in my career. These are just some of the examples of how we make meaning after we have engaged in a thing, after we have engaged in an activity, after we have engaged in an experience. This is how we interpret it. And these are all like parts, livers of the stories that we create in our own head to give it a meaning and to understand what just happened with us. This is what humans do on a very biological innate level. It's very important to understand because when you understand this, you know what's going on in your audiences and your customers minds as well. So where you can find stories that everywhere in books, movies, you're talking to a friend observing other people because this question comes up a lot like where do I find stories. And more often that question comes up because we start with the premises that we don't have any stories. But when you really open up your mind that the world is full of stories, your mind is full of stories and they're everywhere. Then you start to see that everywhere that you go and you experience and you engage with things on an everyday basis that all are full of stories that you can use to your advantage and in your marketing. Stories stimulate your audience's minds to put their guards down. And as I said, it helps to fire up that part of the brain that is receptive to communication. And when we're doing marketing, it's just very natural that we're all very smart people and our guards go up automatically. We just try to protect what we have and your customers are doing the same thing. They're just trying to assess what is in there for them and what are you trying to take away from them. So that really puts their guards up and to relax that part of the brain. And for you to be able to get through, for your message to get through to them, it's really important that you engage in stories so that it helps to relax their brain and they learn to put their guards down. And then you have an opportunity to tell them what you want to tell them because if they're not really like if they're locked up in a fort in their brains, nothing is going through to them. And that's where a lot of marketers think that they have to shout, they have to loudly send their message across or they have to be everywhere. They have to promote their message everywhere in every possible way. But really, if you make that message really potent and strong, you don't really have to put that much of marketing effort. And you can get through very small number of people but the right kind of message will land with the right kind of people. It puts their mind to ease and they become receptive to what you have to say. And I love Instagram for that matter because Instagram as a platform is just such a great platform that offers opportunity to tell micro stories in many different ways. It tells, like, you know, you can tell visual stories, you can tell in reels, it has a story as a feature itself, and then you can tell longer stories, you can tell educational stories. And that's the purpose, like, you know, it's not just about telling the stories, but the way you are telling the stories is also very important. So Instagram as a platform offers such a diverse opportunity for you to engage your customers brains in many different levels, in visuals, in, you can tell a story in your visuals, you can tell a story in snippets, you can tell real life behind the scene story in, you know, so many different creative ways. And that really helps to engage your audience in at a much deeper and a much sort of, yeah, at a much deeper level in many different ways. So let's talk about the most common mistakes that people do when it comes to telling stories. You know, the first common mistake is they don't understand that story is only meant to get them to pay attention. So it's not to do all the selling on a sales page, but it's really to grab their attention and to get their brains engaged in what you have to say. So people have specific ideas as to how to use story in their marketing and in their content. And, you know, they often think that story has to do the heavy lifting for the selling and it does in many ways, but the purpose of telling a story is not to really make the sale. The first step of telling a story is to really get an attention. And I have heard in the past that like sales page must be written in a way that is all serious and can't use these stories. In fact, I think everywhere you're selling is the best place to tell stories. So take that notion out of your head. Like, you know, it's a very formulaic old marketing kind of an approach where you think that it has to sound very professional. Otherwise, it won't be credible. In fact, when you use stories to your advantage on sales pages, on Instagram captions in everyday social media posts, it really helps your audience to build a holistic 360 degree understanding of you at a very human level. And that creates a much deeper connection than any other sort of marketing bland, you know, boring message. So as I talked about, like, you know, Instagram has just such a wide opportunity for telling those stories. You can tell, like, you know, you can use the story feature of Instagram in to tell real life stories. You know, real time stories from your life and your business behind the scenes. They're short snippets that would last only for 24 hours and they're 15 seconds each. So you can tell, like, really smart short stories and really bring the audience in your life behind the scenes and share, like, what's going on in behind the scenes of your business. So audience really love to see, like, how businesses are operating and how it all comes to life. And they become a part of your, yeah, they become a part of your business in that sense when you bring them along and you invite them, you know, and you open up the Kimono and really share things that they don't really get to see in a polished marketing campaign sort of a way. So that's, that's why I love using Instagram because it has just such a wide array of options to do marketing and tell stories. Captions, you can use captions on Instagram to really share educational, impactful stories and really educate your audience through captions. And this is a great way, like, if you think that your audience are not ready to buy from you just yet, this is the way that you bring them along and prepare them to get ready to buy eventually in some time. So by answering their questions, by educating them on things in terms of stories, you know, they start to, they start to understand things that they need to understand before they're ready to buy your product or service. Reels is a new fun entertaining way to tell stories on Instagram. It's the new kid on the block, not so new anymore, but like, you know, it's still fairly new. Like a lot of people are not taking advantage of Reels, but it's just so much fun to create those little videos. And, you know, all the technology and the creative tools are provided by Instagram within the platform. So definitely give it a try and try to really stretch your brain as to how you can sort of tell a very small story and in a creative way. So you might just want to tell, like, you might want to create a reel today to tell a story of how your day, how your everyday looks like, a typical day in your office looks like, you know, just as an example. Or you might want to create a reel on telling them, you know, the mistakes or the misconception, misconceptions that they have about your service or your product. The second mistake I see people making, they want to tell everything in one story. And that just is a recipe for overwhelming yourself. So who has done this mistake? I definitely have. There is a temptation that I want to tell everything in one story and everything in one caption from start to finish. And it's just really good to pay attention when you have this temptation because that not doesn't just overwhelm you, but it also overwhelms the reader or your audience engaging in that story. So, like, you know, anytime you write something or anytime you have created, you know, a snippet, a story, a reel, just ask yourself that, am I trying to tell too much in this story? And just really cut it down, really cut it down by 10X, like, you know, mentally, if you start thinking about it, that's when, you know, it, it lands the point that it's trying to make. So there is no need to tell, like, a 20 page story and essay in one caption. Just make sure that you're thinking about telling one point and just driving that one point home. That's, that's the most common mistake I see when people start to tell story even on about pages on Instagram captions or even on Instagram stories, they will just keep going, they will just keep going on and on and on about that story. So don't do that. The third mistake is when they start to write the story, we start to tell the facts, like, I went there and this happened and that happened. And, you know, that is, like, we are narrating as if like one fact after another, this happened in 1987 and then that happened after that. This is such a stilted, boring version of telling a story. So make sure that you're not just narrating facts, but you're really putting emotion and you're really tapping your own emotional state into that story because only then you will be able to communicate that to your audience. It is supposed to remind you of the beauty of humanity. It is supposed to remind your audience, the experience that you have had, the flaws and the characters and what was going on in your mind in that moment. Even if you look at the photo, like, you know, you can tell such a beautiful story about just a man sitting in a cafe. Like imagine, like bring all your senses to that one moment and think that what could have, you know, what could be going on in the head of this man is just trying to pick one dish from the menu. Like that itself could be a really potent story if you really try to bring your emotional state into that moment and then write it from that fact or tell it from that sort of state. Because when you just narrate the facts, the stories fall flat and they don't capture the audience and that is the whole purpose, right? Like you remember at the beginning, I started off the presentation saying the stories are just a narrative that is supposed to translate the experience that you have had into your audience's mind. And the experiences consist of emotions, experiences consist of, you know, your thoughts in that moment, your experience and what you were doing in that moment, right? So that's like focus on those things rather than just narrating fact after fact after fact. The other mistake that a lot of people do is they underestimate the value and the effect of visual stories in marketing. And again, this is also why I love Instagram because when someone lands on an Instagram profile that is built very strategically and that is telling a story, it's a great opportunity, communicates instantly what your brand is about, what your service is about, what your business really is about and what they can really expect in future. And this is such an underestimated tool in marketing to tell visual stories because a lot of people just think that, oh, they'll just take a photo of a flat lay which ends up looking like, you know, million other flat lays on the whole internet and that nothing really stands out. It doesn't tell the audience or the viewer as to who you are, what your brand is and why they should really stop and follow you and really spend their time and energy in engaging with you as opposed to someone else. So even if you look at all the photos that I have presented you in this presentation itself, you get a sense of like, you know, these are the photos that I have taken and they represent me as a person and I'm a personal brand. And my audience wants to know like what kind of person I am and what they can expect by engaging with me because coaching is just such a personal deep and intimate relationship that like, you know, they really need to know what kind of person I am. And if you just look at all the photos, the visuals that I have presented you in the presentation itself, it tells you a little bit about who I am as a person. You can probably take some cues that this is the person who probably loves Italy. It's a person who has an artistic sense, who has moody sense and who looks at a world and things in a particular way, right? So thinking in micro stories, this is what I would ask you to do. If you want to apply this material into your brand and business, the first thing that you need to do is start thinking in micro stories. What I mean by that is like start thinking like about little stories that are happening throughout your day, that are happening throughout the day in your business, in your brand, in your customer's life, in your client's life, in your own head and start telling those little micro stories. There is a place for telling your larger soul story for sure. You do have to find your larger mission story, like why you do what you do at the beginning of the presentation. I told you why I do what I do. And it's very important, like that story is really important because all the micro stories that you will find out will really be slivers out of that big soul story. So ask yourself, what is the story behind your business and behind your brand? What is the common thread in all the stories and experiences you have had so far that have led you to this point of creating the business and then start telling those stories? What is it about your work that you do that compels you and that inspires you? These are some deep questions that a lot of businesses don't often stop and think about because they are uncomfortable. The first answer you might get is, I don't know. Like, I don't know. Like, I have never really thought about what compels. I just wanted to create a business and that's why I do, but that's not what people buy. Like they don't care, like, you know, that you are in a business for money making. There is a deeper reason that they want to engage with your business and you have to do that work to get clear on those stories and that reason first in your own mind. And only then you will be able to communicate that to other people. So the reason behind the mission behind my business, just an example, is I think that if every woman felt unapologetically herself, she could create whatever she desires in the world. So this has nothing to do with marketing, but this has everything to do with marketing. This is something that drives me innately. This is what I feel is the purpose of me and my life and my work on this earth. And I want everything that I do in my marketing, in my business, my offers, in my coaching. I want everything to reflect this mission. And this hasn't, this is one line, but this has come from deep reflection and time that I have spent in just asking myself those questions that I just outlined a little bit earlier. If every woman felt trusting of herself, she will spread her ideas like a wildfire. And all of these are indicator of my value system that I want to add to the world. This is the value I want to add to the world through my business. And it's my responsibility to communicate this in my marketing, because if everybody could feel these feelings, the world will be a better place. This is what I believe. And that's the work that you have to do for your business. If every woman felt whole, she will feel rich and fulfilled life and create magic in the world. So these are some of the statements that really drive me to do what I do. So now I have an idea that this is the big mission that drives me. I have a sole story to base my micro stories on. Now the job is to splinter these big story into mini micro teeny tiny stories. So I as a business owner would ask myself, so what are the times that I have felt these feelings? What are the times that I feel like I have made these this kind of change in someone's life in my client's life? What was I thinking in those times? What was happening in those times? And I would go about taking answers to these questions and creating like little micro stories on all of these. And then using Instagram or any other social media platform of your choice to communicate those stories. I love Instagram because I can tell one story in many different forms on Instagram. I can tell in captions in a written form. I can tell it visually. I can tell it on reels and stories and then like, you know, also educate them through longer video versions called IGTV. So let's see three things that good stories have first they have meaning. Then they have details and they have curiosity. These are the elements recipe of what makes a good story. What makes a good story when we say the story was just like meh, like, you know, it didn't sort of land. It didn't sort of create any emotion. So these are the elements that were perhaps lacking in that story. There's so much to storytelling I can talk about, but this is a great start because I wanted to leave you with something tangible. Like something if you implement these three things and incorporate these three things elements in your storytelling, it will definitely take it to a next to the next level. So you're going to try them right. I'm going to tell you one by one very quickly an example just so that it really lands with you what I mean by meaning. So asking yourself does my story has a meaning. So leave them better leave your audience better than they were before reading your story. That is the purpose of asking this question lead them towards getting emotionally invested in your brand and that leads them to the sale. That is the sort of the benefit of telling this, but your focus should always be asking yourself like does my story has a meaning. For example, if I say my husband went to a market and came back with bananas, he saw Michael there. Okay, I'm telling the story, but it doesn't have that oomph, right? Like you're like, I'm stating some facts. I'm stating some things that happened. And now if I add that, he saw Michael there. Michael is our old childhood friend and he has been living in the same suburb and we didn't even know. Now the story, little story has some oomph, right? Like it has some meaning. Now you know why? What was the purpose of me stating those facts? And now it has some interest. Second details. Details just bring your stories to life in a very effective way. So asking yourself, does it have rich details? Am I including some details about that story? Because our tendency can be to just skim over the surface and we forget about the details. So you have to do that mental work yourself first in your brain. For example, we went to the bar. Okay, I'm stating some fact like we went to the bar. Fine. But when I say we went to this Parisian looking bar in the typical suburb of West Sydney. So as soon as you read this, you can totally your brain vent into imagining this Parisian looking bar. You had an image suddenly and that image would vary according to your own personal experiences of what you consider a Parisian looking bar. If you've ever been to one or not, what your image is about West Sydney, all of that would come into play. But suddenly when I say it with details, include details in this little story, you suddenly, your brain, your brain engages at a different level, right? Like all the neural pathways just fire up and then your brain is engaged into imagining what this is all about. And that's the purpose of including details. Very, very effective technique. Curiosity. The last one, curiosity. So does it create curiosity to read more because the purpose of telling a story is for them to come back to read more because it's important on a sales page on Instagram post or whatever. If they have a good experience, they will come back again for more. So for example, I stepped inside the door and what I saw was surprising, normal colors, but a surprising sight. Now you're suddenly curious like what I'm talking about. Like, you know, what was that surprising sight all about? And what were normal colors? And what was the surprise? You're suddenly into my world. I've suddenly pulled you from across the line and I've brought you over to my side, right? Now you want to know what was it that I saw behind those doors, right? And that's the purpose of curiosity. So always be thinking about these three things to incorporate in your stories. Lastly, I'm going to finish off and say that take it slow. Take it small and take it steady. Don't try to make like, you know, when you start with storytelling, it can be overwhelming because it might be a new skill that you haven't developed yet. And it is a skill. It takes time. It takes practice. So take it slow and take it steady. And then also just have fun with it because, you know, telling micro stories is all about your expression and your discovery. So more you think about your life and what is happening because it requires a certain amount of awareness and really reflect on what is happening in your business, in your life, in your client's life. And then expressing it to create more marketing, to create more meaning and to really like have this win-win fun cycle from where I see it. And it is a form of art from where I see it and it takes time to develop any skill, any art form, right? So be easy. Be graceful towards yourself. And here is what I will leave you with. If you want to download a free cheat sheet and easy-peasy storytelling format to grip your readers, entertain and also educate them, then you can do so by following me on Instagram. And just send me a DM just with a simple word story on Instagram. And I will send you that cheat sheet right away. Okay. Thank you so much. I hope this was helpful. And I hope you learned a lot from this presentation. And I hope you use my storytelling on Instagram. I would really love to see that. Make sure you tag me if you learn, if you're applying the techniques that you learn from this presentation. And I will stop sharing my screen. And yeah, that's it. Thank you so much. That was great. My pleasure. I don't have any questions for the attendees, but the one question I've got for you is how do you monitor the success of the stories and the interactions that come through from those? Yeah, sure. So my philosophy around monitoring the success is, you know, first there is a phase when we begin to tell stories, our stories will fall flat. It's a practice. It's a skill. So we have to allow for a phase where we will get no engagement, no likes, nobody will like, you know, sort of talk back with those stories. So make sure that, you know, we allow for that phase of suckiness basically, like, you know, just even accept that I'm going to suck at this at this skill for like two months and I'm going to post one story every single day. So I will start with saying that. And then, you know, the measure in my opinion, like, I get messages all the time in my DMs in my on my Facebook. I loved what you wrote. Sometimes people don't comment it in a public way, for whatever reason, like, you know, they could be shy, they could be whatever they don't even like a lot of times, but they would send me DMs and it's so interesting to notice that behavior. So the way I monitor the success is like, you know, as long as I feel like I believe that it is him having an impact in someone's life. And that's that's really good enough and that's the belief that I lead with like that's the confidence that I'll lead with first of all in my own mind. And then like, you know, I keep sort of a cursory look like a cursory sort of very loose sense of like where I'm getting more likes and engagement and then I get curious about it like oh what was about this story that really resonated you know so many times I would think that I have written an amazing story oh my gosh like this was amazing. And that would fall flat like we get no likes no comments and I was like oh my gosh like what just happened there because you just never know like you know what people are going to receive on the other side. It's so out of your control. So, you know, a very broad answer to that would be like, I believe that I lead with that belief first of all that whatever I am putting out in the world is going to make an impact is going to make a change in someone's life whoever is going to read it, whether that person sends me a message likes or comments is kind of irrelevant for me because I think what oftentimes I find when we are to hung up on the likes and comments as business owners. We get so attached with those metrics that we, we start to attach our worth with those metrics and then we like you know don't put out as much work in the world because you know what if for whatever reason we interpret them as we might get, we might think that it wasn't good enough or however we interpret and give it a meaning so that would be my long answer to your short question Ryan. All right, we don't have any other questions so I'll close today session and again I'd like to thank you Niha for being so generous with your time today. I hope that's been valuable for everybody. And I look forward to seeing you in a month's time for Rabina's session on social strategy. Thank you everyone. Sounds good. Thank you everybody. Bye.