0-100k Followers on Instagram. How I Grew My Account In Just 188 Days

Sharing the incredible journey of growing my Instagram audience from 0 to 100K in just 188 days with all the tips, tools, tricks and strategies you need to grow.

This wasn't just a fluke or a stroke of luck; it was a meticulously crafted strategy that you can steal for your brand. In this article, I'll unveil the tactics, insights, and AI-driven approaches that not only helped me achieve this milestone but can empower you to replicate this success in your own digital ventures.

Whether you're a budding influencer, a seasoned marketer, or an entrepreneur looking to amplify your brand's presence, these insights are tailored to help you navigate the dynamic landscape of Instagram growth.

As we look towards 2024, the landscape of Instagram is evolving rapidly, making it an exciting time for anyone looking to grow their audience on this platform. The strategies for Instagram growth have seen a significant shift, particularly with the platform's pivot towards video content, notably Reels. This change reflects Instagram's ongoing efforts to remain a dynamic and engaging platform, adapting to user behaviours and preferences.

To succeed in this evolving environment, it's crucial to understand and leverage the key strategies for Instagram growth and also let go of some myths that are still sticking around like there being a best time to post and hashtags.

Consistency: The First Step to Success

Starting off, my goal was clear - consistent posting. For the first 146 days, I posted daily. My commitment didn't waver, and now I make sure to post at least five times a week. This consistency laid the foundation for my growth.

Consistency isn’t about posting for the sake of posting. The goal of the consistency was to crack the code. When you post every single day you have a 1 in 7 chance of getting it right once a week. My goal initially was to get to 100 posts and to hopefully have one piece of viral content during that time.

To start off I researched 50+ content creators in the same space as me. I analysed how they structured their videos that went viral. I broke it down into pieces and followed the exact same format for my own videos. Now, 12% of my videos will go viral (with more than 1million views).

This is what that structure looked like for me. It might be different in your industry but mapping this out is a crucial first step.

You know when people tell you that you’ll feel your best when you exercise, eat well and sleep and then you skip the exercise and continue wondering why you don’t feel good? This is the exercise step. It’s tedious, but has to be done.

Leveraging AI to Move from Research To Script Writing

The resources for research are few and far between. This tool

https://viralfindr.com/ was my go to resource for research and finding content that performed in the space. Highlight recommend checking it out (Not affiliated).

Once I had nailed down the structure of my video and what needed to happen at every moment during the video, I now had information that I could feed into ChatGPT so that it would write the scripts for me in a way that actually worked. Here’s an example of my prompt for ChatGPT that you can use for your industry. Remember to swap out the elements that resonate with the structure I use with the research you have done in your industry.

“Act as a world class Instagram reel script writing expert. You are working on a Reel for a client in [Insert Industry Name] industry. The script needs to be about [Insert Topic] and has to highlight [Insert Key Benefit]. The script should be structured into 4 key parts. A hook that is sensationalist in tone, highlight the problem, clearly state the solution and a wrap up sentence. The goal of the script is to keep the user engaged until at least 45% of the video and entice 5-7% more saves than likes at a minimum. Ensure to not include terms like “swipe left” in the script. Write 5 variations of the script”

This is the starting point for your script. You will have to edit it. AI can only ever do 80% of the work for you.

The Edit

Next you have to make sure that the edit meets the engagement standards you have in the script. There’s 3 key rules to an engaging video:

• Audio
• Visual Movement
• Pace

Audio:

I never really found the trending audio making a massive impact on my videos so often I didn’t use it or else used background audio from a service like epidemicsound.com (there’s ton’s of free options out there too). But the real impact is in sound effects. You want to make things pop. A transitional whoosh sound between moments or a pop noise when something new appears on screen. Layering this into my videos improved my viral rate from 9 to 12% which was a significant impact. This may not have the same impact on your videos, but it was critical for my performance in my industry.

Visual Movement:

Every 2-3 seconds something has to be moving. What I like to do is use the Captions App on iOS. It’s €8.99 per month but it uses AI to put little zoom effects in, has dynamic moving captions, you can also add the sound effects using this if you like. There’s tons of free tools out there too. For example submagic.co creates dynamic captions for free. You want to keep the users eyes engaged. Create movement and layer this with the audio for maximum impact.

Pace:

Nobody cares when you start a video with “hey guys” or “today I am going to”. Cut the crap and get to the point with a sensationalist hook. You need to remove every single moment of silence in the video and keep the pace up. If your video is long you’re making a mistake. Try aim for >30 seconds if you can. If it needs to be longer, really focus on the visual movement and audio to support the length.

The Metrics

This is what the metrics behind viral videos are like:

Notice in 2 out of 3 instances here the save rate is much higher than the like rate and in the 3rd instance what saved the post was the comment volume. Every single one of these videos also has a 3rd variable metric in comment. The watch rate is more than 45% of the video. Which means most people made it at least half way through the video. This makes a significant impact and it makes sense based on these that the structure of the video is built around it. Hook lures them, problem keeps them, solution only hits half way through the video and then the wrap up sentence needs to be short so that you have kept them for most of the video.

The Next Level

Once you have started to get the swing of this you will feel it instantly. Your videos will stop burning out at 200 views and you’ll start seeing your first 1000 videos and more. It’s slow but steady. The first 30 days are rough. The 45-60 day mark was really when I got in the groove and now it’s plain sailing from here. Make sure to stick it out because once you do, you can level up to automations and that’s where manychat.com comes in.

Instagram is a very top of funnel audience and I wanted to monetize as quickly as possible so I figured out a way to leverage the metrics I need to hit for a video to do well and engage with the audience using ManyChat.

Now often I will offer someone a freebie and tell them to comment a word below the video. This drives my comments up, but also they get an automated reply with a DM with the freebie and an upsell. Sometimes it’s this newsletter (which is growing 100+ per day with this tactic) and sometimes it’s my course. But check out the sheer volume of people that got sent a message over the last few days using this tactic. It’s 100% worth it.

Those are the key tactics you can leverage to get started and sprint towards growth.

Happy Instagramming!

If you’d like to learn more about growing on Instagram I’ve also put together a 12 part video series on all of these tactics and more and it’s available here:

https://jenbryan.ai/

Use code JEN25 to avail of a 25% discount to access it.

If you'd like to join my newsletter where I send these updates weekly go to https://jenbryan.substack.com