Laura Bitoiu of B Squared Social: Five Ways To Leverage Instagram To Dramatically Improve Your Business

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Use your profile as a portfolio: although growth is the main priority for a lot of business owners on Instagram, why not tap into your existing audience by talking about your offers, showing off your work, or sharing social proof? One of my physician clients has benefited massively from this strategy– she has existing patients who return for additional services, products, or procedures based solely on what they’ve seen on Instagram. Your existing audience is made up of your warmest leads– so lean into them!

As a part of our series about How To Leverage Instagram To Grow Your Business, I had the pleasure of interviewing Laura Bitoiu.

Laura Bitoiu is the founder of B Squared Social, an innovative social media marketing agency with proven results leveraging short form videos to make sales and connect each business with their ideal audience. With a BBA in International Business, Laura has over 9 years of first hand marketing experience, and a combined audience reach of over 70 000. Her clients have been featured in Forbes, CNN, Inc, Business Insider, and more.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

Absolutely! So, I officially launched my social media marketing agency in 2018 after I experienced the power of social media marketing for the restaurant I was managing.

While managing the restaurant, I had taken on their branding, web design, and social media presence in order to grow the business. I would come in on my day off to stage photo shoots, work on the website, and plan out content for social media.

Seeing the positive impact that these services had on the restaurant was inspiring —

I would track our web traffic religiously, and was always delighted to see customers ordering their meals directly from photos on our Instagram feed!

Watching my efforts pay off for the restaurant was incredibly motivating and it inspired me to work with other small businesses on their digital footprint. Restaurant guests were always asking who was behind the social media accounts, which got me thinking that this could be something I pursued full time.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started this career?

Not one specific story, but in general when people hear you are in social media marketing they always want to pick your brain! That was something I did not expect when starting this career.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

When I was first starting out, I had no idea that social media scheduling tools existed! So I was writing down which post had to go out at what time for which client. I was basically glued to my phone, manually posting around the clock for clients.. I learnt just how green I was– I knew a lot about marketing but not a whole lot about actually running a business and the systems that go into doing that effectively. I learnt that if I wanted to scale my business I was going to need some help!

Ok. Let’s now move to the main focus of our discussion. For the benefit of our readers, can you explain why you are an authority about Social Media Marketing?

Absolutely. I “unofficially” started working in social media marketing in 2013, working with a non-profit and later for a friend’s clothing boutique, and then the restaurant I was managing. Since then I have worked with thousands of business owners, both 1:1 or through my course or membership offerings. I’ve managed dozens of accounts ranging from 1k to 500k, and have worked with clients who have been featured in Forbes, CNN, Business Insider, and more. Using social media marketing, I’ve generated multiple 6 figures for myself and my clients. I’ve had millions of views on my reels, and have a combined audience reach of 70k.

Which social media platform have you found to be most effective to use to increase business revenues? Can you share a story from your experience?

It really depends on the business– I have clients who were able to dramatically increase revenue using Pinterest, and others who have found massive success on LinkedIn. At the end of the day it boils down to leveraging the social media platform that your audience is most active on, and most likely to take action on. You also want to consider if you’re going for organic or paid traffic.

Let’s talk about Instagram specifically, now. Can you share five ways to leverage Instagram to dramatically improve your business? Please share a story or example for each.

-Optimize your bio for searchability: What do my dermatologist, accountant, and favourite bakery have in common? I found all three through Instagram’s search feature! Optimize your bio by updating your “name” section to include your best, most relevant keywords. If you’re a local business, be sure to include the name of your city or location to take advantage of this. I also recommend using the Google Keyword Planner tool (totally free) to make sure you’re using the best keywords for you (sometimes they are not what you think!)

-Show your face: even when I had just over 2000 followers I got recognized in public by other biz owners! People trust people– so stop hiding behind product shots and graphics and show your face once in a while.

-Collab with other business owners: this one seems counterintuitive, but business owners who share a similar ideal audience profile are the perfect fit for collaborations on Instagram. I frequently collaborate with other social media experts who offer different products or services and it has done wonders for my business. Go “live” with other business owners, or create a collaboration post that both audiences will find valuable.

-Use your profile as a portfolio: although growth is the main priority for a lot of business owners on Instagram, why not tap into your existing audience by talking about your offers, showing off your work, or sharing social proof? One of my physician clients has benefited massively from this strategy– she has existing patients who return for additional services, products, or procedures based solely on what they’ve seen on Instagram. Your existing audience is made up of your warmest leads– so lean into them!

-Reels: it would be impossible to complete this interview without mentioning reels! Reels provide massive potential to go “viral” and grow your ideal audience very quickly. You do not need to dance or point to create a successful reel. Here are 6 quick ideas of reels you can create today! The key with reels is consistency– 3 a week is a good number to start with, working your way up to 5+.

Because of the position that you are in, you are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

Absolutely– you need to start now with what you already have. We tend to wait for the “perfect” moment or opportunity to try something new. As they say, “done is better than perfect”. This is true for content, too!

Some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them :-)

Sara Blakely– not only is she an incredible entrepreneur but such an intentional philanthropist. Everything she does inspires me– including living with her fear of flying (which I struggle with but take major comfort in knowing that even a badass like Sara Blakely has a fear of flying too!)

Thank you so much for these great insights. This was very enlightening!