How Elise Darma Wins on Instagram in Just 15 Minutes a Day

We recently sat down with Elise Darma, Instagram Marketer & Agency Owner of Canupy. She shared her personal Instagram marketing insights with us and weighed in on how to kill it on Instagram – in only 15 minutes a day. Check out our conversation:

1. How do you define success on Instagram? What does ‘winning’ mean to you?

For me, success on Instagram is all about leveraging Instagram’s free built-in features – in accordance with the “season” that my business is currently in. Instagram is an amazing tool for all the main seasons a business experiences: 1) visibility 2) engagement 3) lead generation 4) sales 5) closing sales. No matter where you’re at in your business, you’re generally going to be experiencing one of these seasons.

elise darma

I know that I’m personally succeeding on Instagram when I’m creating content (Stories and video) that lines up with whatever season my business is currently in. Whatever the goal is – whether it’s to get more views, more followers, to engage with my current followers, increase my email subscribers, or tell my audience about a product – I know that IG’s features give me the ability to tap into my audience based on the season that I’m in.

When I’m in flow with the season that my business is experiencing – that’s when I’m winning on Instagram.

2. Do you think that IG Stories can be valuable for businesses and brands? Why?

100%! I would say that this has already been proven based on the thousands of students from various niches who have taken my course InstaGrowth Boss. We track the revenue that they’ve generated and we’re almost at $1M USD, just from Instagram! In my experience, it’s been proven that Instagram is an amazing connector tool for businesses and an easy way to close sales.

3. You say that you’re winning on IG in 15 mins a day – what’s on your list to-do during that short time frame?

If I only have 15 minutes a day to spend on Instagram, the place I’m going is Stories. Even if I don’t have time for my Feed – that’s OK! All I need to do is show up on my Story for 5 minutes in the morning, then another 5 in the afternoon and a final 5 in the evening. It can be me talking to the camera, sharing a graphic based post leading followers to my website, or sharing someone else’s content to my Stories.

That’s how I grow my business on Instagram and connect with my followers based on the season that I’m in. It’s simply about showing up on Stories 3 times a day. Every time you share a Story, you’re at the top of everyone’s feed. If you can do this consistently, you’ll have a much greater chance of being seen by your followers.

elise darma profile

4. Any other advice for businesses/brands looking to get better results with their Stories?

My biggest piece of advice for brands is to always remember the basics of storytelling. I find that many brands are apprehensive to show up on Stories, especially when it comes to video. Many brands also don’t create context for their Stories – oftentimes they just cut to the chase without really building up what their Story is about.

Always remember that Stories have a beginning, middle and end. Each Story should have 3 parts, with the first part being the set-up story. This part should give context to what your Story will be about and it should pique interest. After that, you want to share your main content: what exactly do you want to say? The third part of your Story should be your CTA, which can be as simple as asking your audience to send you a message. It should also give your audience an answer if you piqued their curiosity or teased some upcoming content earlier in the day.

Instagram’s algorithm loves it when people watch your Story and then take action. Use Instagram’s interactive features – like polls, question stickers etc. – as they are a great way to end your Story and make the algorithm work in your favor.

How Elise Darma Wins on Instagram


Subscribe to our social media tips and get a FREE Instagram checklist for your business.

By subscribing, I agree to the Lightricks Privacy Policy.