The plan that made me reach 100,000 followers
It's 2022.
I've finally got my 1st viral video - hitting 661,000 views.
It felt amazing. And I kept uploading...
Until I didn't.
I felt I had posted all the photos I had. All ideas that I could've come up with...
So I left my audience of over 18,000 followers. I focused entirely on NFTs. (Which wasn't necessarily a bad thing. I got some good success.)
Last year then, I started thinking...
"Damn. I love making art. But I really gotta build a sustainable business too..."
I thought of all business options.
And a personal brand sounded the best.
But I was afraid to start again. As it would've required a completely new approach.
An approach that hadn't been done much amongst photographers.
Making content NOT just of your photos. But actually, videos where you talk - which show your personality.
It was a big challenge to overcome. To start from scratch. Put my ego to the side. And accept I must suck first to get better.
But I did it. My first talking-head videos sucked. But the plan worked.
This past Monday, I hit 103,000 followers on Instagram. I gained around 27,000 followers in 3 days.
(It's still difficult to comprehend what happened.)
There's a lot of stuff I've learned behind the scenes that allowed this to happen.
But mainly, I had the plan. And I followed it.
Today, I'd like to share that plan with you.
I hope you'll take many takeaways from this Letter.
The big challenges with social media
It's difficult to know what on Earth should you do.
What should you even make content about?
Who's gonna care about it?
What if my followers don't like it?
What if I lose even more followers?
How do I make a lot of content without burning out?
I used to post photos every single day. And it burned me out.
There had to be another way...
All those questions I had in my mind. I had no clue on the answer to those.
But I went for it. And I figured out many answers in the progress of doing so.
Today, my goal is to help you achieve success on social media like me. And even more. And I'll talk of the plan I indeed used to get where I am now.
The Plan
1st I knew I needed new knowledge.
As Einstein put it:
No problem can be solved from the same consciousness that created it.
Thankfully, that was a thing I had already learned a long time ago.
Now I just had to learn from someone...
And that someone was 1st Tom Noske.
In 2022 (I believe) I enrolled into this Time to Build Cohort 1.
I didn't implement a damn thing.
But I wasn't planning on doing it either.
I wanted some new knowledge and insights regarding Instagram. That I could take advantage of it later on.
And so I did.
I went back to Tom's cohort. I rewatched the entire thing. And figured out a strategy for me.
I found him to be a great teacher for me. Because he had the exact same problem as me (although he was a digital artist - not a photographer.)
He was also trying to post art daily. And it burned him out.
So I knew - he would have some answers for me.
And he did.
My main takeaways were:
1) Content should be easy to post (not that you need to hike every day to get a photo.)
2) The more you post, the more likely it is that you'll go viral. If you'd post 600+ times in a year - don't you think you'd blow up?
So I set out a system to make my content creation close to effortless.
And I didn't only make photography videos anymore.
I made videos where I talked of MY interests.
Don't get me wrong. The videos I started out with were bloody terrible.
But I knew, over time, I'd improve.
To get better, I must suck first. And accept that.
It felt difficult doing that. As I felt I was already good with photography. But I knew the talking videos were totally amateur.
But I knew, there was no other way.
It was either this - or I'd become another feature page with no soul.
So I started posting. Every single day. On September 26, 2023.
I had no idea what I was doing...
Apart from posting daily.
The 1st video was about f*cking Winston Churchill and how he took naps.
I mean... wtf? Lol.
(You can watch the Reel here.)
I mean it was related to what I was interested in (and still am). But how was it connected to anything I was known for?
I wasn't a king of naps. Or of rest?
It didn't make sense. But... I had to learn it the hard way.
I kept doing videos.
And MOST importantly, I analyzed what's working and what's not.
If you don't analyze and measure what's working and what's not, you can't improve.
This is why most don't make it.
They just blindly make content.
Want to know the reason I blew up again?
After having my primary focus on shooting instead of IG, I analyzed my content.
I realized I hadn't done "Audience Building content". (Of which goal is to only bring in new followers. More on this in a bit. )
I made 2 videos to hopefully change this.
And it worked.
Both got over 2M+ views so far. 1 video gained me 22,500+ followers alone.
The plan after trial and error
Back to the time when I had really no clue what I was doing.
I had blown up once by now.
The viral video got over 5M+ views. And gained me 33,000+ followers.
I did it based on my knowledge of what could work.
And, it did work.
(I won't get more in-depth on how to do only viral videos. You can read my previous Letter about it here.)
Now I knew how to make videos with high viral potential.
But... I still didn't have a solid plan or a system.
There was some stuff I was doing.
But I knew... to get where I wanted the fastest - I'd need new knowledge once again.
So I turned to my friend George Sidiropoulos aka @disisjorj.
He's known especially for his editing. And he had been everywhere on my timeline.
I thought I needed help with editing.
I want to see how could I get better at making videos.
That was the main goal.
I also wished I could get a bit faster at editing them.
And George absolutely crushed it.
It had many things Tom had too - but he covered the editing side of video making too.
And that worked incredibly well.
Now I felt I had even more clarity on how I gonna move forward.
So this was my plan:
Post 3-4 audience-building content per week
Post 3-4 nurturing content per week
Search for proven ideas if I don't already have enough for the week
Batch script everything
Batch film everything
Batch edit everything
If you follow this plan, life will get easier for you. And you'd much more easily reach what you want.
But now, you might not understand all the terms in that plan.
Let's dive deeper.
The kind of content you want to make
There are 2 goals you want to have with your content:
1) Get new people into your account - and
2) Get the people who already follow you to know you better.
What this means is - separate content for trying to go viral. And the ones just for your current followers.
When I do the "Hi! I'm a 20-year-old photographer..." videos, they aren't aimed for people already following me. ALTHOUGH many love them anyway.
The purpose of that content is exactly to gain new followers. That's it. No other goal than that.
And I believe that's the biggest reason why they've done well for me.
I haven't tried to make all my videos fit for everyone.
The same thing if you want to make a Star Wars movie that is interesting for babies, adults and grandparents.
It ain't happening.
There's a reason why there are movies only for small kids.
There's a reason why there are shows only teens are interested in.
There's a reason why there are shows only popular with grandparents.
If you try to aim everywhere, you won't hit anything.
Select what you're trying to hit. Dedicate that piece of content to it.
Now then - you have hopefully got some videos viral.
New people are rolling in.
Awesome.
But... now you must make people care about you.
This is if you want to make a personal brand that will last for decades to come.
IF you want people will care about other stuff you're posting too.
I wish people would've cared more about the Churchill video, lol.
But yes, it made no sense.
However, I want to talk about photography too. Not only post photos when I have new ones. And make content on social media and (probably) online business.
I'm not saying my talking-head videos are perfect. But they're much better than at the start.
And - people care about them more now. And I've received a ton of great feedback from them.
That was not the case last autumn for the 1st 30 days. Nobody seemed to care.
So - the nurturing content
The goal of this - is that your existing followers get to know you.
For me, this is easiest done by talking to the camera. About photography, social media - or other lessons I've learned.
This is how you're not another feature page.
If you only post photos, are you really different from a feature page?
I'm not saying you can't do that. But it's not a strong personal brand.
Of course, you can share stuff in the Stories too. It's a great place to put stuff.
But - to make the most powerful personal brand - I'd recommend posting videos where you talk. (Although at the start people won't care. And you'll not receive a lot of likes. But you'll learn a ton. And improve a ton.)
So what to talk about?
Think about what the past you wish you knew.
Maybe it's something to do with photography?
Maybe it's something to do with editing?
Maybe it's something to do with just being brave and going for your dreams?
The sky is the limit here.
Just find a way to make it make sense for the audience in some way.
Like the Churchill example, it made no bloody sense whatsoever.
But - I just made a video on how someone told me I can't call myself a photographer - if I don't have a degree.
And that video allows me to:
1) Show my opinion
2) Show my personality - and
3) It is connected to photography which is one of my main topics.
This is the "science" behind it all.
To:
1) Make posts to gain new followers
2) Make posts for the existing audience.
You can see me doing that.
All the talking videos are aimed at you, my audience, get to know me better.
And when you do trust me better, I can help you more. Through my products and coaching especially.
If you didn't know anything about me, I'd have so much harder time getting you to buy from me.
And when you invest your money into my stuff, I can help you the absolute most.
So it's a win-win.
I help you change your life by dedicating my time and effort to your success. And then I make money from it.
This leads us perfectly me telling how I can help you even more.
I have a 1-1 Social Media Coaching Program.
In it, we'd craft you:
a plan to crush it in 2024
systems for effortless content creation (a combination of a lot of info from many mentors)
how to figure out what to talk about
how to start building a Newsletter (it's crucial for those serious about making this a business)
how to get unlimited ideas - never run out of them anymore
+ more
You'll have direct priority access to me too. I'll personally help you get where you want.
If you're interested, click the button below to apply.
(I only take students I'm 100% I can help.)
Wrapping it up
I hope you found this helpful, my friend.
Social media can be a difficult game to understand.
But you can learn it.
If I could give you 1 more tip, I'd say post as much as possible. Ideally daily. But that might be close to impossible to pull off without a good system. (That's what I can help within the program. But over time, you can figure it out. It'll just take longer. :) )
If you posted 700 times in 2 years, do you truly think you would not grow?
Go for it. And you'll learn a ton. And grow as well.
But indeed I can make the process much faster for you. Here's still the link to the 1-1 coaching application once more.
(There are limited seats as I have limited time. And I want to put extreme focus on my students' success.)
If you indeed haven't read the other article about social media - which goes more into how to make posts viral - read it here. :)
Feel free to forward this issue to your friend.
If you want to continue learning from me for free - and don’t want to miss any new Letters - make sure to subscribe (for free) by typing your email here:
Till next Saturday my friends,
Hugo
(P.s. Feel free to answer any of these emails I send to you. I answer all emails. I'm here on the other side.)
