Vanity metrics show it was a flop, but a deeper dive proves it’s more complicated.
The background, what I learned, and why you should care:
The Experiment: Curious about the effectiveness of a consistent posting strategy, I decided to test it firsthand.
The Process: Developed 5 content buckets, crafted 30 headlines, voiceovers, and captions. Organized and edited a year's worth of video content. Learning: This was a significant investment of time, even more so than I had expected.
Timing and Trends: Should have capitalized on Instagram's push for Reels during 2020/2021 to test this strategy. Learning: The need for agility in marketing and the value of 'failing fast' to stay ahead.
Personal vs. Brand Engagement: Chose my personal account over @humanfitproject to test engagement theories. Learning: Still evaluating, but it's clear that personal connection plays a significant role in social media engagement.
Content Strategy: Went broad with content, mostly too broad. Learning: Platforms like IG and TikTok favor niche, sensational content.
Authenticity in Presentation: Tried a more raw, unfiltered style. Learning: Direct, camera-facing content might be more engaging.
Unexpected Offline Impact: Several people mentioned they liked my content when I saw them in real life. Learning: The value of real-world connections and their surprising impact on digital presence.
Net Result: Gained some followers while losing others, but my hunch is the new ones will be more engaged over time. The older ones aren’t interested anymore. More importantly, the learnings were rich.
Why you should care about my Instagram Reels project:
Execution Matters: Don’t get stuck in your head. You won’t learn unless you try.
Finer Details: "Post for 30 days straight" is too broad. You need more specifics around what that looks like.
Team Dynamics: If you're leading a team, understand the effort behind such experiments. Encourage, support, and iterate. This is very hard work.
Content Repurposing: Turn efforts into blog posts, newsletters, or other formats. I’m a repurposing machine.
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