The Local Instagram Strategy That Actually Works

Jacob Espinoza runs What's Happening Salem, a local brand in Salem, Oregon. A little over a year after he started, it had more than 35,000 Instagram followers and more than 10,000 newsletter subscribers. Most of the growth on Instagram came from him posting short, useful videos from his house. In this conversation he explains why Instagram beats a newsletter as proof for advertisers, which videos work, how the green screen setup works, and how he sells it.

Why Instagram gives you proof a newsletter can't

Jacob says the Instagram, the newsletter and the podcast were planned together from the start. Each one reaches a different audience, so together they reach more people.

The Instagram page has an edge with advertisers. Most local businesses are trying to grow their own Instagram, so they understand it. They can see how many followers you have, and they can see which people they know already follow you.

I made the same point on the show: your newsletter's success is a private number. I could tell you mine, but you'd have to take my word for it. Instagram shows the number for you, and that matters when a business owner is deciding where to put a tight ad budget.

Skip the link in bio

Jacob says many local news pages post an image, a couple of sentences and a link in the bio. He thinks people don't want to click. They want the information to find them.

So his videos give the whole story with zero clicks, in about 25 seconds. He asks himself how to break the topic down and cuts anything that isn't crucial. If the first 3 seconds hook a person who cares about the topic, they're far more likely to watch the whole thing, and that tells Instagram to show it to more people.

Another trick is to watch what's already getting attention. When a post on a local news feed gets 10 to 20 times the normal reaction, he knows the city cares. He credits the source and adds his own context in a video.

The building video that took off

Jacob's first idea was five-question interviews with people in Salem, in 30 seconds each. They didn't go anywhere. The first video that took off was one he made at home on a green screen. He pointed to a building under development, walked through how to get there, and only at the end said what it was going to be.

He says that type of video has worked every single time, because people want to be the first to know and want to send it to a friend. The same goes for new stores. I said anything about a Costco or Trader Joe's coming to town gets talked about the most in my newsletter and Facebook group, and Jacob agreed.

His warning is about balance. Entertainment and education both work, but a page that only posts memes becomes a meme page and limits its audience.

Local memes for people who aren't funny

I told Jacob I'm not funny enough to make memes. His answer: you're saying what nobody else is saying in your community, so just be authentic. Watch which template is taking off, then ask what your city feels that way about.

CapCut has templates that make it easy. When a restaurant closes, he used a sad template. One had Luke Skywalker yelling "no." Mixed in with real information, he says they're easy to make and fun to watch. If memes feel overwhelming, start with another type of content and try memes later.

Five kinds of content that work

He is also testing a broadcast style. When a fire broke out near a local train track, people sent him video. He used it with permission, found the fire department's press release, had ChatGPT help draft a script, and read the news over the clips in about 20 seconds. He saw many new followers come through.

How the green screen video works

Jacob says it's extremely simple and you can learn it in a day. In CapCut, go to Camera, then Effects, then Green Screen. It removes your background automatically. You record yourself talking over one image, then pick the next image and record again, and the clips go together in the edit.

He moves his head around and changes images to keep people watching. Some accounts keep the same image in the corner, but he thinks moving things along holds more of the audience. No special equipment needed.

How Jacob sells it

When you're just starting, Jacob says to talk to interested people and ask what would make this an easy yes. Instead of dropping your price, raise the value. For him that means making a video he knows will work. Instagram has been his number one source of leads, because sponsors see it in their reels and know people from Salem follow it. The newsletter is paired with it, though he thinks the Instagram has driven the revenue.

Deals vary. Some sponsors get a package of videos and newsletter spots. He's testing a What's Happening Salem Business Collective: a group of businesses that each get one video and one newsletter spot per month at a discounted rate. That means he can focus on inbound leads and do much less outbound selling.

The part I liked most is how he positions the business owner as a professional in their field. He treats it like a TV series. A real estate agent gets a monthly video on a different Salem neighborhood. She emails a few bullet points ahead, he brings the images to her house, and they filmed in about 30 minutes. It took him about 15 minutes to edit and gave them two videos. People ask questions in the comments and her name gets shared. A local tennis and swim club got a fun video of him playing pickleball instead of a discount pitch.

Free features, an award show and trolls

Jacob says only a small share of what he posts is paid. When it's a restaurant, he often just shows up and tells people about it, and he's fine doing it for free. His experience is the opposite of what you'd fear: after a year of that, a free event drew so many sponsors that he was almost overwhelmed.

It was an award show for community builders who are just getting started, not the legacy names. It ran like a late-night talk show, with stand-up comedians, a house band and minute-to-win-it games. A sponsor gave $500 to each person selected, and the event was free to attend. Chick-fil-A showed up early and he threw sandwiches into the crowd, up into the rafters. People told him they'd be back.

Jacob says it happened because of the goodwill he'd built highlighting the good in Salem. He also notes that his city has a self-perception problem, and that he answers trolls in the comments with humor while still defending the mission.

Why he avoids giveaways

Jacob avoids giveaways "like the plague." His worry is that people who follow for giveaways only follow for giveaways, and he'd rather make better content. He has turned down sponsors who wanted one. He also says he may not do them forever, and that there might be a right way.

I shared the other side: we ran one giveaway for a new Culver's, and even with an ugly image it got about 20 times the engagement of anything else we'd posted. Jacob's Chick-fil-A moment started as a giveaway request too, and he moved it to the event.

Posting twice a day, and what's next

Jacob posted 628 times in the last year, about twice a day. I pointed out that most of us send a newsletter once or twice a week, so he's in front of people seven times as much or more, with his face and voice. He says talking to the camera like you would to a friend is a huge advantage.

His advice on niche: Salem has about 180,000 people, no local TV station, and newspapers without a social focus. Going small beat going wide, because pages already cover Oregon. Even in a big city, he says, pick a specific part of it.

His course is live at jacobespinoza.com, and he's building it as he goes, with tutorials, walkthroughs and feedback on videos. He says an hour a day is plenty. His next business idea is finding creators to be the face of local businesses. He has a county fair deal and says people want to follow a person more than a brand.