Here’s why your account isn’t growing …
When people listen to my advice about making their content short and simple, their account grows, BUT….
Almost no one follows that advice. Here’s why:
They say, “but Sun, people tell me they love my content. They DO read my long stories.”
It’s because they know you. They’re giving you the benefit of the doubt and reading your looooong ass content.
Strangers who don’t know you, honestly don’t give a shit. As soon as the content feels long, they’re gonna move on to the next post.
So unless you want to keep selling to the same 100 followers over and over, you have to make content for 3 types of audience:
1. People who ALREADY KNOW you
You’re probably already doing this.
The purpose of these posts aren’t to get more views, but to build a deeper connection with your existing audience:
A) Personal stories
Tell personal stories that are vulnerable and relatable. Every time your audience learns about your past, the more they’re going to feel connected to you. Here are few examples:
https://www.instagram.com/sun.yi/p/CujrAAnMeaX/
https://www.instagram.com/sun.yi/p/CvaCo8_Nesc/
https://www.instagram.com/sun.yi/p/C9UtLari5fC/
If you want to know more on how to write relatable stories, read: How to be vulnerable in storytelling
B) Authentic videos
When I meet my followers, they often say “you’re exactly like how you are in your videos.” They feel like they’ve known me for years even though we’ve never met. I’ve also experienced this with creators I’ve been following for a while.
BUT… this only happens with people who post videos. I’ve met many creators who don’t post videos and they were totally different than how I imagined them, which is always a bit awkward.
In my experience, the easiest way to create videos, is to do a podcast or to just use a Zoom recording. When you’re in a conversation with someone, you’ll naturally talk like yourself without even trying.
Here are some examples of clips of me telling stories:
https://www.instagram.com/sun.yi/reel/DGA_11HSU3L/
https://www.instagram.com/sun.yi/reel/Cu7GWy2PBqz/
As you can see, the personal stories and videos don’t get nearly as many views as my carousels, but I post them anyway. Remember, the goal isn’t to reach new audience. It’s to build relationship with my existing audience.
2. People who DON’T KNOW you, but DO CARE about your niche
Just because someone cares about your niche, doesn’t mean they’re gonna stick around and read your content. There are millions of other posts saying the same thing as your.
Your content has to be either unique or valuable.
A) Unique: myth/truth sandwiches
If you’ve been following me for awhile, you know this is my bread and butter. If you want to dive deeper into how to create myth/truth sandwiches, take a look at this newsletter: Good vs Great Content
Long story short, myth/truth sandwiches are designed to make people say “I never thought of it that way.” To do this, you have to take a cliché advice and find an example that contradicts that cliché advice.
It’s easier said than done and it requires a lot of practice, which is basically what we do at Night Owl Nation. (shameless plug 😉)
B) Valuable: practical tips
Most creators post vague advice that sound good, but nobody knows how to actually apply them in their life. So set yourself apart by posting step-by-step tutorials or practical tips people can start applying right away. Here are few examples:
https://www.instagram.com/sun.yi/p/DFsZeGMgATB/
https://www.instagram.com/sun.yi/p/DFvA3tUANTf/
https://www.instagram.com/sun.yi/reel/DFsgYohNUmz/
C) Valuable: step-by-step tutorials
These are longer tutorials so I would recommend sending them in an email newsletter. Most people don’t have the time or patience to read tutorials on social media.
To do this, you have to create a “preview” post that gets people interested, then send the “full” tutorial by email.
Here are a few examples:
Preview post: https://www.instagram.com/sun.yi/p/DHTLdX5AuaQ/
Full tutorial: https://sunyi.co/how-to-turn-your-views-into-followers/
Preview post: https://www.instagram.com/sun.yi/p/DGgAQE9g_0b/
Full tutorial: https://sunyi.co/example-sales-call-for-brand-strategy/
BTW, when I started doing this, my newsletter started grew 3x faster. 🤯
3. People who DON’T KNOW you and DON’T CARE about your niche
I know that reaching 100 of the right people is more valuable than 10,000 random people, but here’s the thing…
The way to reach 100 right people IS by reaching 10,000 random people.
Here are 2 ways to reach the broader, mainstream audience:
A) Reaction to viral videos or memes
I never used to post reaction videos like these:
https://www.instagram.com/sun.yi/reel/C8c6LMNO9to/
https://www.instagram.com/sun.yi/reel/DEaMNKLC3rS/
https://www.instagram.com/sun.yi/reel/DGf5YozARLb/
I always thought this type of content was lazy and useless because it just attracts millions of views from the wrong audience.
But when I looked at the numbers, they tell a different story.
For example, the first video I mentioned had 7 million views. Let’s just say 98% of those people are not my target audience at all. But that means 2% are my target. If you do the math, that’s 140,000 people.
That’s why it ended up bringing me 15,000 new followers.
Don’t dismiss reaction to viral videos or meme content. You can still bring value by relating it to your niche and adding your 2 cent.
B) One-liners and quotes
I also recently started posting short one-liners like these:
https://www.instagram.com/sun.yi/p/DG0Yz3PI7L6/
https://www.instagram.com/sun.yi/p/DGx0FRWA1cq/
https://www.instagram.com/sun.yi/p/DHdeqx9MZsx/
I never used to post these because they don’t pack a lot of “value”, but again, they’re bringing me millions of views and tens of thousands of new followers.
It takes barely any time to create them because I post all my thoughts on Threads everyday, then every week I take the ones with the most “reposts” and post them on Instagram.
My most popular posts always happen to be either the most basic or cliché advice. I almost didn’t post them because I thought it was so bad.
This is a reminder that you just have to post everything. AND you have to post it multiple times wording it slightly differently to see what works and what doesn’t.
Otherwise, you’ll never know.
I really hope you’ll follow my advice and start getting millions of views on your posts!
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