Podcast Summary: Do This, NOT That: Marketing Tips with Jay Schwedelson

Episode: SPECIAL SERIES – New Instagram ‘Must Knows’ and Changes! 📲 (Bathroom Break #75)
Date: September 29, 2025
Host: GURU Media Hub
Guests: Jay Schwedelson (Do This, Not That), Daniel Murray (The Marketing Millennials)

Episode Overview

In this special Bathroom Break collaboration episode, Jay Schwedelson and Daniel Murray dive into the freshest changes and essential tactics for Instagram marketers. Whether you're B2B, nonprofit, or consumer-focused, the hosts stress the platform’s huge reach and evolving features marketers must master now. From major format shifts to engagement hacks, Jay and Daniel break down what matters—and what doesn’t—so you can gain an edge on Instagram’s ever-changing landscape.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

Conference Travel Antics and Reluctance (00:33–01:55)

• Jay shares his distaste for travel and confesses to frequent "white lies" at events just to slip away to his room, highlighting the exhausting side of conference life.
  • Quote:
    “There’s a lot of lying that goes on when I go to these events.” – Jay (01:22)
• Sets a casual, humorous tone that carries through the episode.

Instagram’s Unstoppable Growth — Why Every Marketer Should Care (01:55–02:21)

• Jay: Instagram has 3 billion monthly active users; your ICP is there.
  • Calls out B2B and nonprofit marketers: “Stop being a clown. So let’s talk about some changes that are going on.” (01:59)

Engagement Hacked: Stories & DMs Dominate (02:21–03:58)

• Daniel’s “Stories Reply” Tactic:
  • Instagram’s head confirms: 80%+ of activity happens in Stories and DMs.
  • Asking followers to reply to Stories (instead of clicking out via links) massively increases both replies and overall views.
    • “I haven’t done the math on this, but I swear I get 4 or 5x more replies than I do clicks. ...Actually, like a 300x. It’s crazy.” – Daniel (02:50)
  • Example: Offering event links via DM response instead of a standard registration link can spike story views from 1,000 to 30,000.
• Jay recaps to clarify:
  • You get exponential results by encouraging replies, not link clicks.

Why Instagram Favors Native Engagement (03:58–04:20)

• Instagram deprioritizes “link clicks” because they want to keep users on the platform.
• Asking for DMs instead improves metrics but is more labor-intensive.

The Infamous New Banner Format: Worth Adopting? (04:20–05:23)

• Instagram’s 468x60 Banner (“Old-School Web Banner”)
  • Both Jay and Daniel dislike the long, horizontal format aesthetically—Daniel: “It’s horrendous. Like you can’t even see the video.” (05:20)
  • Strategy Tip: Jay cautions, new features are algorithmically favored. Daniel advises: “When they launch a new feature, always test the new feature…your goal on social media is to get attention.” (04:47)
• Bottom Line: Use it while it’s being prioritized.

Pin Your Own Comments (05:23–06:07)

• New Instagram Feature: Now possible to pin your own comment to the top of your post.
  • Useful for highlighting key info (“second-level thinking” or ‘part two’ content).
  • “You can comment on your own post and then ...pin it, which is a really good way to get some ...important thing out there.” – Jay (05:49)
• Use case: Creating multi-part posts and pinning the continuation for visibility.

Craft Captions for SEO, Not Hashtags (06:07–07:40)

• Instagram Posts Are Becoming Searchable Beyond Instagram:
  • Daniel: “You need to start crafting your captions as searchability and SEO, because things are happening beyond Instagram’s walls now.” (06:31)
  • Think what users would search.
  • Use keywords in your caption for outside discoverability (e.g. Google, chatbots).
• Hashtags are NOT for Growth:
  • Confirmed by Instagram’s head: use hashtags for categorization within a niche, NOT for going viral.
  • “Hashtags are dead on Instagram...has no effect on how many views you get...use it for categorization.” – Daniel (07:09)

Final Thoughts & Personal Updates (07:40–09:47)

• Brief discussion about travel with kids, the virtues of Miami living, and weather myths.
  • Daniel on Miami: “There’s a lot of places to go that are air conditioned...so stop hating, dude.” (08:47)
• Jay jokes Daniel should do PR for the Miami tourism bureau. (09:09)

Notable Quotes

• “Stop being a clown. ...They have 3 billion monthly active users now. Your ICP is there.”
  — Jay (01:59)

• “If you post a story and get people to reply, it gets more and more views. …80% of the activity in Instagram happens in stories and DM.”
  — Daniel (02:33)

• “Link clicks, they don’t want. …They want to keep them in.”
  — Daniel (03:58)

• “When they launch a new feature, always test the new feature...your goal on social media is to get attention.”
  — Daniel (04:40)

• “You need to start crafting your captions as searchability and SEO—because things are happening beyond Instagram’s walls now.”
  — Daniel (06:31)

• “Hashtags are dead on Instagram. ...The purpose is basically for categorization in a certain niche, but it has no effect on how many views you get any more.”
  — Daniel (07:09)

Key Timestamps

• 01:55 – Why B2B and nonprofit marketers should care about Instagram
• 02:21 – Stories as the #1 engagement lever and DM response hack
• 03:58 – Why prioritizing in-platform engagement trumps link clicks
• 04:20 – The new (unloved) banner post format and whether to use it
• 05:23 – Pinning your own comments for improved message delivery
• 06:31 – Crafting SEO-optimized captions and the downfall of hashtags
• 07:40 – Social platform micro-changes and Daniel’s life in Miami

Takeaways for Marketers

• Leverage Instagram Stories by soliciting DMs: Offers a massive multiplier for reach and engagement.
• Adopt new post formats early: Even if the design stinks, you’ll benefit from the platform’s algorithmic push.
• Pin your own comments: Give your most important points extra visibility.
• SEO matters for captions: Instagram posts now surface outside of Instagram; optimize for search, not just hashtags.
• Hashtags = categorization only: Don’t expect them to drive reach or virality.

For more rapid-fire, actionable marketing strategies, check out future Bathroom Break episodes and follow both “Do This, Not That” and “The Marketing Millennials” podcasts.