Creating Viral Instagram Content with Celina Rosso
Apr 29, 2020How often have you tried to create something that goes viral?
Many people try to create viral content, but the pattern we normally see is:
Try it once → it doesn’t work → screw that → go back to selfies.
The transformation came for me when I was trying to get clients and it felt like pulling teeth to get the right type of people to see my stuff and deeply resonate with it so they would pay for my services or get on a call with me.
I was tired of what I was doing because it felt like it wasn’t working. So I said to myself, I’m going to be consistent for once.
I posted 5 times a week for a month with the intention of blowing up my feed and pulling new people into my audience.
In the first month, I gained about 1000 followers. For seven months straight I continued to produce content that blew up my feed and brought people in and I gained about 7000 followers. Not only were they followers, but they were also ideal clients who deeply cared about my message, who felt deeply connected to what I had to say and were DMing me constantly their life story.
From there it was easy to promote my services and my business.
Doing that work lit me up inside and I realized that there were plenty of entrepreneurs out there with incredible offers and amazing products, who just couldn’t get their message out there enough to attract in their ideal client. That’s when I pivoted my business to help other women to show up powerfully, confidently and vulnerably.
Ask yourself these questions about your Instagram feed:
- Does your page feel like a holistic version of who you are?
If someone who is not in your business looked at your page would they say, “Yes, this is *insert your name here* down to the core of who she is.”
- What is the energy that people feel when they look at your page?
If you want people to feel confident, bright and uplifted, dooes your page actually say those things?
Ask your friends what are the first 5 things they think of when they look at your page?
Write down what you think you’re presenting vs how people are actually perceiving your brand.
- What’s your intention and mission?
What is the intention of your content? Not everyone necessarily wants to grow their following. How do want to connect with your audience?
- What is your audience’s experience with your content?
Look at your last 9 posts, how many of those can you imagine someone saying, “oh my god, that is so good, I need to share that to my story or with my best friend!”
Look at social media as a human relationship and begin to bring human elements the actions taken. Is this one-sided or can you see people interacting with this like it’s a relationship?
How should we decide what different types of content to include on our feeds?
The blend of content you produce is going to depend on your audience and what they like and need.
So for example, a lot of Kayla’s content is very education-based and a lot of Celina’s is very emotion-based.
It’s about asking what kind of response you’d like to elicit in your audience and how you can do that over and over again. Find a balance between strong hitting teaching posts, maybe twice a week, and then create a post that is more emotional, or shares more about your transformation or has a visual element to it that people like to share.
What are your thoughts on using a generic weight loss transformation posts that sometimes get a little traction, but they use images of people you don’t actually know?
It comes back down to what is the purpose of this viral content?
Likes are the least interesting metric of them all. When you’re looking for someone who is likely to buy your services and care about what you’re talking about, it’s the deep connection that transforms a viewer into a client, not a like.
It’s connecting with the woman who loves it so much she had to send it to her friend, or who loves it so much she had to share it to her story.
A general transformation post that has nothing to do with you or your clients might get you likes, but is it actually pulling towards you and what you do?
It’s more than just getting attention - attention for what reason? If we want someone to work with us, but we’re not sharing anything about us, how can we expect them to know who we are and what we can do?
What about sharing random quote cards found on Pinterest or Google?
There is a time and a place for using someone else's quote card, like a hole in your content, or if it’s so good you wish you’d said it yourself.
But remember, your brand is YOU. When people pay for your services, 9 times out of 10 they pay for you more than anything. They know that you’re the person that’s gonna get them that transformation. It’s the relationship that’s the priority over anything.
Imagine you build an entire relationship off of someone else - it’s like catfishing someone.
You’re basically showing up by using someone else’s content and then saying, just kidding, it was me all along!
Again, it comes back to relationship building - you wouldn’t want your lead to be someone else other than what they’re showing up as, right? You want the real deal, you want a real person. So give them that same respect back.
Quotes with a really powerful message can do really well. So if you’re going to use a quote, EXPAND on it and use it as an opportunity to teach.
We want to increase the amount of time someone spends on our page.
Can you elaborate on the things you care about and not just put up random images?
Instagram is like your business card. It has to be a full representation of everything that you are.
Instagram is not about Instagram. Instagram is about building intimacy so we can take things off Instagram and actually do the real work. We want a deep connection.
Is your content getting people excited about working with you?
How do you figure out what to post?
Carve out intentional time for content creation. It’s really hard to put heart into something when the deadline is an hour from now.
When you're in your creation space, ask yourself:
- What is my brand?
- What am I talking to my audience about?
- What are the 5 cornerstones of your business?
- Am I hitting each cornerstone every week?
Layout your 5 topics and ask yourself, what are 5 things I can teach about each of these topics? Boom, that’s a month worth of content.
If one of my cornerstones is doing things with confidence, what is one thing I can talk about this week that has to do with confidence?
Look at it from a macro perspective as if someone was looking at your profile this week, what will they get all 5 of your cornerstones from briefly checking out your profile? Will they get your message, what you do best and how it can change their lives?
What about including lots of pictures of you on your feed?
Growth on Instagram and viral content doesn’t just mean a whole bunch of quotes on your page.
We want your audience to visit your page and then we want them to stay there. Growth with intention means infusing other elements into your feed is really important. This why your Instagram stories should not just be filled with your face.
What about using IGTV or periodically throwing in photos of you?
What I did a lot was taking photos of me and adding text to them, so I was still in those images but they provided instant value. You can display your message on your image as a shortcut to what you’re talking about in your caption, and your caption is FULL of life-changing information.
A type of image that does really well in the wellness space is letter boards. They give you the opportunity to show up with some really bold statements.
Another type of viral image that does really well is side-by-sides and transformation posts. Transformation posts aren’t necessarily about weight or fitness, you can apply it to anything.
Expectations vs reality posts also do really well. The reason these types of posts are so successful is they make people feel “seen” and they see themselves in your posts.
Highlighting things that we’re all thinking and making people feel seen and heard women especially want to feel seen and heard.
You can do a lot with visuals and graphics but don’t compromise the personal side of your personal brand just to blow up. You can intertwine the two.
If someone was to catch your post in their feed, or on a certain hashtag, does it capture their attention enough to get them to click on it?
It’s so easy to spend a whole day messing around in Canva, so when should you begin to outsource the visual and graphic aspect of your business?
It depends on how much you enjoy the creative aspect. Some women can create a mindblowing caption but can’t put it into an easily digestible format.
If you love Canva, but you spend so much time on it, then outsource it to someone who can do it so much quicker than you.
Recognize what you’re wasting your time on and what is your zone of genius and ask yourself, how can I do more of THAT THING - which is outsourcing in general.
How do you coach your clients to not lose who they are in this quest of getting eyes on their content and seeking going viral?
- Step 1: look at it as a game. See what resonates and what doesn’t and detach from the outcome. Don’t get wrapped in your likes defining who you are or your success in your business or your worth as a professional. Take a step back from your Instagram, put your phone down and evaluate internally so you can really separate the content from the outcome.
- Step 2: If you were to start from scratch what would your feed look like? Really take the time and space to focus on those all those different elements that make up your feed. What would you focus on first? Then go on Instagram and find inspiration and piece together what fits. It will feel so much easier to put these pieces together when you have the cornerstones of what you want behind your content first, not the other way around.
As long as you stay in alignment with your values, the visuals will do the work for themselves.
You can find Celina on Instagram @celinarosso