January Growth Diary
Updated: Feb 17, 2023
What a whirlwind month! I was able to double my following by finding a way to provide value to my audience! Read on to see the lessons I learned this month and how I plan to apply them in February
January Mindset
While December was all about broadening my skills, testing content, and dipping my toes back in the water, January was all about refining my strategies and defining who I am on Instagram.
While I did not grow a lot follower-wise, I learned a lot about improving my video-editing skills to make catchy and fun Reels, as well as understanding the posting times that work best for me!
Beyond that, the most important thing I achieved was building a base community of fellow content creators that spend a lot of time on Instagram! Not only are these creators incredibly inspiring, but they also helped my content immensely by engaging with it! Plus, it just makes IG more fun when I am able to connect with like-minded individuals who are sharing the same experiences and are on the same journey as me.
So while December was about laying the groundwork and honing my skills, January was really about taking it to the next level. I wanted to increase my reach and start creating more compelling content.
This Month's Approach, Methodology, and Strategy
Goals
My main goal was to increase my reach. In December, my Reels would gain anywhere from 1k-3k reel plays. To increase it, I needed to make content that was shareable and save-worthy.
It was important to me to find a way to provide value so that the people I reached would want to follow and spend more time with me!
Adjustments
I posted one "posing tip" reel in December that actually gained some traction! Before that, my reels were mainly going to people already following me, and only showing to around 300-400 non-followers. The "posing tip" reel actually got a lot of saves and shares! I was amazed and really doubled down on this.
The increased engagement and reach on this type of reel showed me that this was the type of content people were interested in.
What was really cool about finding a type of reel that worked for me was it suddenly meant I wasn't trying to reinvent the wheel every time I drafted a new post. I now had one type of pillar content that I knew would be successful every time, and only needed to think of a new perspective on the same content.
Posting Strategy
2-3 Reels a week, 1-2 Photos a week
Posting 3-5 times a week at 8 AM.
Types of Content
Posing Tip
Trends that shared my personality
Metrics
I really started hitting my stride this month and at the end of January (1/29-1/31) my IG following and engagement started increasing exponentially! Crazy stuff.
