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- Instagram isn't dead
Hey! I'm back with the second edition of Behind The Skits.
In the last 3 weeks, I went from 7,000 to over 27,000 followers on Instagram while the platform is supposedly “dead” — here’s what I learned:
The Formula
We’ve all heard “Preparation + Luck = Opportunity”
But, put in the context of content creation:
Successful Format + Trending Topic = Viral Video
This means that virality comes down to 2 things: the right format and the right time.
Find Your Format
One thing I wish I knew sooner was the importance of finding a repeatable video format.
The #1 metric a brand cares about when working with a creator isn't how many followers they have, but their average views per video.
If someone has 1 million followers, it means nothing if they get 10 views per video.
“Well someone with a million followers wouldn’t only get 10 views right?”
Wrong.
On TikTok, someone can accidentally catch their dog doing something funny and end up with over 100k followers. But, this isn't repeatable (usually).
I’m all for cute dogs, but if you’re trying to build a brand you can’t depend on an accidental video to drive growth.
It has to be something you can do not only once, but over and over again.
Nay Cook-Nelson
Of course there are levels and not every video will work even when you follow the exact formula, but if you have a format that tends to perform well that is better than constnatly “sparying and praying”.
Finding a good format will only come from testing, tracking and tweaking (intelligently) which I’ll cover in another newsletter but in the meantime here’s a Twitter Thread I wrote with 5 formats that I love.
The second part of the formula is timing.
Always Be In The Right Place
I love the podcast “How I Built This” where Guy Raz interviews founders of well-known companies to hear... how they built it.
At the end of each interview, he asks the guest what part of their success they attribute to luck and what part to hard work.
Can you guess the most popular answer?
Both.
You can’t always know if the right timing will be on your side, but you can be sure you’re in the right place.
The right place in content creation, is trending topics.
Mr. Beast for example leveraged Squid Games to create his most popular video to date. He had a proven format of challenge style videos and used the opportunity to create a breakthrough.
Mr Beast | YouTube
The only way to get the timing right for a viral video is to be consistent.
If you are consistently creating around trending topics that matter most to your ideal audience, you will eventually have videos that reach a wider audience.
“It's not a matter of hope. It’s a matter of time.” - Morpheus | The Matrix
I could talk forever about the best places to find trending content, but its all about your audience. Every audience doesn’t have the same value to every brand.
That’s why I recommend researching what upcoming events, movies, and press will be released your audience might care about.
That way you can proactively plan a content strategy rooted in not only your own internal promotions but also topics that will increase your likelihood of audience expansion (going viral).
Instagram Can’t “Go Back”
On August 27th I posted a video on Instagram about Apple releasing their iPhone. On September 14th they announced the iPhone 14. That video ended up getting over 20 million views.
Over the last few months, Instagram experienced a lot of push back regarding their choice to prioritize videos over photos.
Many creators (and brands) who grew a presence sharing high quality photos complained that less and less of their audience are actually seeing their content.
I think many of us forget that Instagram is a product that must generate revenue and remiain competitive in the marketplace. If a different product comes along and begins to take market share *cough * TikTok *cough * they must adapt or die.
Whenever there's change there are those that wait until the very last minute to pivot and there are the early adopters.
It’s still early for Instagram Reels, it’s still early for TikTok, and it’s still early for YouTube Shorts because most people are still complaining about them changing.
This is less about pooping on complainers and more about inspiring someone to lean into the discomfort because most people aren’t doing it. By the time everyone gets involved the biggest gains will have already been made.
In summary:
I gained over 20k followers in one month because I had a found a successful video format then connected it to a trending topic
You can’t always control timing being on your side, but you can control being in the right place by knowing upcoming events your ideal audience cares about
Instagram is a business and must remain competitive in the marketplace. Don’t bet on it going back to “the glory days”
Hope this brought you value! I’m still figuring this whole newsletter thing out lol. Drop me a reply if you feel like it or tag me on Twitter if you have any feedback.
Until next time, have a great start to the week!
-Nay