I Am That Content Creator Podcast

EP#68 Authentic Instagram Growth: Thriving Without Viral Trends with The Reel Amy

• Kristen Werner & Mia Steel • Season 1 • Episode 68

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In today's episode, we delve into the world of authentic Instagram growth with Amy from @the_reel_amy, who has mastered the art of building genuine engagement and achieving six-figure success without relying on viral trends or a massive following. Discover the benefits of staying true to your personal brand and the risks associated with the 'follow-the-leader' approach that dominates much of social media today.

Amy's story underscores the power of authenticity and highlights the pitfalls of adhering to conventional 'expert' rules that can stifle creativity and connection. We discuss how her commitment to genuine content has paved the way for sustainable success in the ever-changing social media landscape.

We also tackle the critical issues surrounding content ownership and attribution, sparked by Amy's experience with her viral content being copied without credit. This conversation extends into the ethics of content sharing and monetization on platforms like Instagram and TikTok, emphasizing the importance of proper crediting and the impact of personal branding in a space where content can often feel impersonal and recycled.

For creators feeling stuck or constantly comparing themselves to others, Amy's journey offers refreshing insights. We explore how her reach expanded unexpectedly by aligning her posting strategy with her authentic self, and how embracing discomfort and "messy action" can unlock a unique voice that resonates with audiences.

Tune in to be inspired by Amy's approach to social media, where being genuine doesn't just differentiate you from the crowd—it can also drive remarkable growth. Whether you're a seasoned content creator or just starting out, this episode provides valuable strategies for anyone looking to enhance their social media presence authentically.


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Speaker 1:

Okay, buckle up. This week on the podcast, we are talking to Amy from the Real Amy on Instagram. Now, amy is an absolute power pack of energy and light and so much resources and information when it comes to Instagram. Now, what we found with Amy is she came into our masterclass and we were going to ask her a few questions about Instagram how we can grow our profiles, how we can expand, and she came in with so much energy, so many nuggets of gold and truth, like the real, authentic truth, which we all needed to hear. And what we loved the most is it was not what you hear from the gurus, it was the honest truth and how you can grow an Instagram profile. So the entire discussion we had is inside our membership, but we thought we'd chop this up because there were some good bits that we thought on the podcast. You deserve to hear this, so buckle in and let's go.

Speaker 1:

I'm Mia, a mum of two, a former burnt out ambo who sold it all to travel Australia in the caravan and turned a single TikTok idea into a six-figure content creation business leveraging UGC. And I'm Kristen, also a mum of two, with over 15 years experience in branded marketing. I went from the corporate world to being made redundant, and decided to back my idea of starting a branding business and a successful wedding venue side hustle, generating six figures, all whilst living on the vineyard. One random DM between us sparked more than just a friendship. It ignited a passion to mentor women online around the world. We know what it takes to make it work online and we're here to show you what's possible. In less than 12 months, we built a six-figure membership together.

Speaker 1:

And here's the kicker we have not met in person yet. That is a kicker. We're here to show you the power of reoccurring revenue and how achievable it really is. We don't sugarcoat things around here. We talk about the real shit, the good shit and the bullshit. So buckle up, let's go. Guys, we're professional guys. We'll hit it. Mia, let's do this, we're done. Yes, let's go. First things first, instagram. Is there any sneaky little settings that are going to affect your reach?

Speaker 2:

Okay, little like tips and tricky sort of things. Okay, well, first thing, I'd like to remind people because this is where I think a lot of people get unstuck, and people are probably going to hate this advice because you've really got to fuck the rules off. I have done when you think of every rule that you get taught by gurus that pop up on your Instagram and it's like guys. For a while there it was like God and you would have totally done it where it's like, put your what are the freaking SEO words and then put them and then drag them off and all this sort of stuff, and then make sure your captions full of SEOs have only seven hashtags actually try 20, all this sort of shit. The moment I stopped actually doing any of those things was the moment that things changed for me. So, when it comes to like settings and things like that, I have no joke. I have no particular setting on. That has made a significant difference.

Speaker 2:

Prior to that, I had tried tagging USA because for a while there, the trend was to, like you know, want to build your audience, put your location as USA, all that. So it did nothing. It really did nothing. So I have no particular settings on. I used to have specific times I posted and, as you know, for a while there like probably how I had to burn out. Who would have fucking thought I was posting three times a day? Because it was the thing. It was three times a day morning, noon, night and again it was slow going. As soon as I relaxed, as soon as I took all the rules away off myself, because we often put them on ourselves because, again, this is the thing.

Speaker 2:

Can I just remind people that a lot of what you see on Instagram is clickbait. So when someone's like I've got an engagement thing following for you or whatever it is, when they've got something and you're just like, oh, comment this word, just know that that is clickbait. Just know that they want you to comment because it boosts, it does it boosts their algorithm, it gets you into their many chat feed and everything like that. For the most part it's bullshit. Nobody has it completely figured out and, if I'm quite honest, sometimes it is just the luck of the draw. But I will honestly say you do not need to go viral, you do not need to have a huge following to be a success. You really don't. I made my first six figures in the online space, and I think I started with 700 followers. I made my first sale and then, I think by the end of last year, I still only had like 3,000 or something followers, and I made six videos at that time.

Speaker 2:

So I don't want people to be like, well, that's not the thing. But what I want you to do is also take the pressure off yourselves. There is no magic pill, there is no magic setting, there is no magic time, there is no magic amount. You have to do things that you're comfortable with. That shows your authenticity and that you can sustain, because what is shit is when you're like God. I've just fucking steamrolled here now.

Speaker 1:

I've just seen that going. She's talking our language and she can continue all day. And now I'm going to make this into a podcast and clips and pop it in there, so you just keep going.

Speaker 2:

I'm just like taking your question, I've just like sprinted away with it.

Speaker 1:

Good, because, like, it's the honest stuff that we need to hear, because mia and I know that that's exactly the truth. Yeah, trying to get it through, even ourselves. Sometimes it's like like it's a numbers game in terms of if you've got the numbers, people believe you must be good, but then there's a lot of like business coaches that have had luck or whatever, that don't actually have the backing behind them, but yet people will invest hundreds of thousands in them, potentially, or tens of thousands, because they've got the numbers. So I think it's really important to remind ourselves that the numbers don't mean you're better or worse or whatever 100%.

Speaker 2:

It's a reminder how much money you're making Exactly, and that was you guys were a great reminder of that because you had so many people starting with UGC and, like my sister was a great example. I mean, she was one for me where she had like a hundred followers and she was already booked out and I was just like holy shit. So it's all that stuff Like numbers do not equate to sales. Numbers do not equate to sales. Numbers do not equate to success. I've got a very good friends in this space who have cracked over a million and they still they've been stuck at like the 7,000 or whatever. You know what I mean Followers but they're like oh, I'm stuck, I'm stuck, but I'm like but you're making sales all the damn time. So you know, it's one of those things that, and because we see it on Instagram all the time, and, like you said, it's that clickbaity shit that really pisses me off now, where it's like I've got this, I've got this. Don't get me wrong. There is absolutely things you can do that will improve your chances of getting more views, and those things are, of course and we've all heard it before like a hook in the first couple of seconds whether that is something you've written on the screen, or whether it is a movement or whether it is something that people are like oh, that's relatable. What I do is, specifically, is attraction marketing, in a sense that I post relatable funny shit that people go like, oh, I get that, that's my life or I've experienced that, and that's enough for people to go, you know, to engage in that. Don't get me wrong. Sometimes even the engagement is shit because you're just like what? Like my most recent one that went viral, which I was not expecting it to. It took me two seconds to film because I did it in two seconds and the amount of like stupid comments I've had from people make do people don't understand. So that's what I mean. You can go viral but you still get stupid like it doesn't equate to yay, it's like oh, my god, come on, you know so. Yeah, so always have. I'm always like looking at something that's relatable for me. I used to, and you know it.

Speaker 2:

You know the ones where you stop and just take note of why you stopped on that reel when you're scrolling and you've stopped. Why did you stop? Was it what was written on the screen? Was it what they were doing? Was it a funny voiceover and then go, go, oh, I've stopped for that. Why was that? Can I take that as inspo and use it myself? Yeah, that's a great point. Yeah, because a lot of the times that's, that's all it is. You can take I and believe it or not, like some things come out of my beautiful ADHD brain. But I draw a lot of inspo from people as well and I go, oh, I can twist that and make it into my own. So definitely draw inspiration of the ones that you stop on.

Speaker 2:

And why did you stop on that? What have they written on there that you've gone? Huh, that's caught my interest. How can I put that into my words? Even screenshot it, you know, screenshot it I have. This is probably why my storage is full and I keep. They keep like upgrade to iCloud. I'm like I'm not paying $15 a month.

Speaker 1:

They can't get me to get out again. You go back and you find photos of your kids. You're like delete.

Speaker 2:

Not important, not important. Whatever this person's written is really important. But I do have folders and I have folders on my Instagram. I have folders in my photo albums and, for people who don't know like, you can make folders on Instagram. So when you find a reel that you love, or even if it's just, even if it's a simple thing it could be the music, it could be like what they've written on the page save it and create a folder. And I have to do reels, like reels that I'd like to do with the music or a voiceover. I have Reel Inspo. So then I get inspiration from those Reels and I just save them into those folders. And that's really simple to do when you go to the Save button the little flag and you can create a folder. So just play with that. It is simple and then just save them because, yeah, I draw inspiration to create it and put it into my own way of doing things.

Speaker 1:

I suppose that's a good point to touch on before we answer some of the questions. But first of all, the whole. You find inspiration from other people's content, but how do you feel when someone takes your content and takes it as their own and then sells a product from it? So Amy's got a story that she'll share with you, but I think the first thing to remember is it is absolutely fine to take inspiration from other people, and one of the things that is important and that I've done in the past is look at other fields, look at other areas that are not your niche at all, and see how they're using the trending sound, see how they're using the audios to get you know. That just allows you to be even more creative, instead of kind of what. Amy will share her story in a moment, which is hilarious and true, but we just got to be really careful with copying somebody's. There's a there's a difference between copying and taking inspiration.

Speaker 2:

But share your story, amy because, oh, that was really fun and I've experienced stuff like this before.

Speaker 2:

But not to this level, I don't think. And it was my husband who found it and he was like huh, he was like and he sent it to me. He was like, he sent it to me and I was just like, what's this? And at the beginning I was like, oh yeah, someone's just copied my reel. But then I looked at it and I was like, no, when someone reposts my reel onto their page, it's either a remix or they will credit.

Speaker 2:

The one thing I say is you always credit the person. I even credit people who I get inspo from. Sometimes I'm like thanks for the inspo at someone if I've done a reel similar to theirs. But this person is, and she's got 145,000 followers. So my thing was you do know better.

Speaker 2:

And she fully took my reel my one that was stupidly going viral and then she put on her page, twisted it to be kind of like taking a hit at me, because she was like look, parents, this is not how we want to be. We want to make it a safe space. And I'm like, oh my God, because that was the biggest thing. I'm like, oh my god, because that was the biggest thing. I'm like, guys, this is a joke. Do you think I actually threaten my children like I'm stupid, all of you are stupid, anyone who comes on and goes oh, we want to make it a safe space. I'm like my space is not like I'm gonna. It's ridiculous anyway. So she's twisting it and then she's selling her digital product, her parenting product, from my real, which she got 3.5 million views, 56 000 likes, 2 000 shares and about a thousand and something comments of her guide, guide, guide, guide, guide.

Speaker 2:

And I was like no, that's taking copywriting to the whole new level where you're now monetizing off me. Yeah, yeah, and I was like so I did hit, I got all my like a whole bunch of them went in there and I was just like I was like bomba, this person. I was like she has written to me. She did write to me because I also contacted her directly. Yeah, and I was like she wrote back and she's like I'm so sorry. Usually, when I remix, I'm like no, girl, this was not a remix. Yeah, now you're just covering your tail.

Speaker 1:

I know exactly what you did, because I know how you do it. So when you have a high 4 000 followers, like if she had a thousand or even a hundred or two, it's like whatever, it's cool, we get it, you don't get it, it's fine, but you do.

Speaker 2:

But when you're taking thing and monetizing off it, that's where I'm like guys, it draws the line. And this is the thing draw inspiration. If you share somebody's, absolutely just credit the creator, because you know. But when you should, but don't be wrong, you can use the same audio and stuff like that and create your own. That's fine. But yeah, this was like taking it to a whole new level where I was like, oh, you'll cross some boundaries, sister.

Speaker 1:

No, matter what, just if you're not sure, add a credit, add a credit, tag them, thank them, you know at least. Then they're across it and they know that you've used it for inspiration. I think that's really important. As creators, we create content and sometimes it's too close to someone else's and there's nothing wrong with that. But if you said inspiration from, I think that's important to remember. Yeah, yeah, yeah 100%.

Speaker 2:

Don't get me wrong. We've all used the same audio because it's trending and we've done something to it. That's totally fine, because that's just what the social media game is. But yeah, when you're using my face or using somebody's face on your thing, always just like put a little bit like those that steal all your content and then put a different stand store and stuff like that.

Speaker 1:

Tiktok. I haven't been over tiktok people like tiktok.

Speaker 2:

I'm like I haven't preached on tiktok in a solid like year and then people are still ripping the tiktok off'm like it's cowboy country over there. I'm scared of TikTok, which I should probably not be, but it's a whole other world. That's why I stick to my lane of Instagram because I'm like oh, I love Instagram.

Speaker 1:

I don't know why this is in my brain. I don't know if anyone else feels the way I feel, but when I'm on TikTok it is like the Wild West and I just post whatever and I'm just me. But when I come onto Instagram, for some reason I've got okay, I've got to be different or something, I've got to be more polished or put the thumbnail on, and I don't know why it is. But I think once you just let yourself go, that's probably when the numbers will start to get better, I assume anyway.

Speaker 2:

No, a hundred percent. The thing that I noticed is when I started doing things more true to myself, I always loved comedy shit and it's always like, if you scroll well back into today, when I first started, it was always comedy stuff. But then I was like but I need to work out how and, don't get me wrong, I think there's a fine line of attraction, marketing and also what I'm trying to do now, because, like everybody, I'm still figuring stuff out, I'm still trying to improve on myself, I'm still trying to improve on my own business, but I'm trying to have a nice, equal sort of thing of comedy, sort of drawing eyes to my page and then a few business ones. So then, people, because if I'm quite honest, how I started in this space was I was following another human being and I resonated with her stuff and she was a hilarious farmer and I was like that's great. And then one day she posted her affiliate marketing thing and I was like that's great. And then one day she posted her affiliate marketing thing and I was like what is that? What is that? She'd already got my know, like and trust, because I was like this chick's amazing, I love her shit. And then she got, and that's when I started talking to her. I was like what is this? I had no clue what any of it meant. I had no clue what affiliate marketing meant. I had no clue and it was because of that. So that's what I'm going on now, where it's sort of 80%. I should maybe make it a little bit less, but like around that sort of thing of attraction marketing, and then I throw in a few business reels every now and then, or I speak about it in my stories quite a bit. So I think, then, it's a happy medium of not bombarding people all the time with a sales pitch but getting people.

Speaker 2:

People now know me as who I am, as a person, and I think that's really important, especially in this online space where you feel like you can be scammed or bullshitted. Quite a lot people now know, and they're quite surprised when I voice note, they're like, oh my god, you sound exactly the same. Or you're like, yeah, I guess that's me and that's who I am. But that's what this is and that's what I think people need to be reminded of is don't put on a facade or try and change yourself or look at someone's content and go okay, I want to be more like them. Like, don't do that, because you'll find it really hard to keep that up. You won't know how to show up. You'll be like shit. What do I do today?

Speaker 2:

The reason why I think my account sort of exploded is I started doing things that I resonated with and I started in my stories. I'm a hundred percent'll see that They'll take you through shit that's happening in my life and I don't know. You just see the real side of me in my life and I think a lot of people then go. I resonate with that, I resonate with that. I resonate with that and authenticity wins every day of the week.

Speaker 1:

Go there anyway. Let's go there anyway.

Speaker 2:

Okay, because I'm just like that is I want a, a trending sound. We love a trending sound and I mean I think most people would know how to find a trending sound when the arrow is going up. But what you want to be looking for and don't get me wrong Again there is no rhyme or reason, like if it was more than this. It's still fine to use, it's totally fine. But sometimes when I find something I'm like I will go in. So when I get fed my random audios in on my other page, I go and check what's there and sometimes it's golden where I tap on it and there's been like three reels made but it's had like six point something million views from this one reel and there's only three and I'm like that's golden. So that tells me I'm like a no one's using it. But b like it's had a shit ton of views. So I'm like I will a hundred percent use that. But if I find one, it's about 107,000 reels made.

Speaker 2:

I'm just like, okay, well, that one's been done. Like it's not, you can still use it a hundred percent. Like I said, there's no rules, you can still use it if you love it. But I'm like every time I go, that's what I love about. Going onto my other page, is that so often it feeds me these reels and sounds and I go into it and there's millions of views and minimal reels being made with it and I'm like there's your golden nugget. So it means that it means that not many, like clearly no one's doing it, and so when you do it, it will be like eyes on you, eyes on you. Oh my God, that's new. You know what I mean. It's already had millions of views from somebody else so you know it's good, so that's what I'll say.

Speaker 2:

If it's trending and it's got less than 10 000 um reels made I would even say less than that then yeah, it's a good. And it's had millions of views on its original one, then that's a golden nugget. It's a good one to use, have you?

Speaker 1:

ever bought in original sound from tiktok or somewhere else and had that? Yeah, has that been good.

Speaker 2:

So I have, and I had like a number of people. It was that back in the day it was actually probably around this time last year it was like to the window. Since we've done that, my balls and I was like I put, I merged two sounds together and I'm like what people think I do to make money and then what I actually do and it's me dancing around. My husband that went. I brought that in. It's my original thing and a whole bunch of people made reels off that. So, but I haven't for a while there. That's. I was like so keen to find original audios and I would go to the effort of like all the series that I loved and YouTubed it and I screen recorded the sounds and then I was going to like I'll bring them in, and I had a whole bunch on my phone. I was like, oh fuck, this shit. It's true I was going to bring in original sounds, like because you can do that, guys.

Speaker 2:

It's a thing If there's something you love and you're like, you can make it. It's very simple to do. It's changed a little bit, though on like your Instagram settings. It used to be like and import. It's not up there anymore. It's now. When you make a reel it's down. There's all these buttons down the bottom and there's an import button down there. I found it the other day because I was like the import button's gone, oh my God. So it's still there, it's just completely in a different spot. But yeah, importing audios I have done and I did do for a little bit just to be something different.

Speaker 1:

I haven't done to want Anybody that's right now looking for growth and they're looking for that connection. We know that whole top of funnel is the way to go. Have you got any tips for anybody that really does feel stuck? I mean, you can shoot that at us. It feels like I, honestly, and me and I are like as it's broken, like we just lose more people than we ever gain. But anybody that's really feeling stuck in terms of other than like the authentic and is there anything that you can kind of throw at us for Instagram knowledge that you've seen work for you, that you're like, oh, I didn't think that was going to be a thing, but that worked like anything any rare, yeah yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2:

Well, first of all, I think we all go through a time of plateau. I felt wildly stuck and it fucking drove me mad. I was just like and then, okay, okay, there's this thing. Don't compare yourself, but I was comparing myself to other people and I'm like your contact shit, and I was like I couldn't believe it. Can I just say I feel like as well, oh, the usa accounts, I feel like they get a lot more reach. Can I just say that usa accounts, they explode because I feel like their reach is something else and I no joke, I have been I was so stuck there and I was stuck at 7,000 and then I started going backwards and then all of a sudden, I just went majorly forward and I'm trying to even think of what I did at that time that made that just switch.

Speaker 2:

And then all of a sudden, I went from reached you know how you've got your like accounts reached I went from something minuscule to like 4 million accounts reached and the only thing, like I never did anything. Like I said, I never did anything specifically where I was like, right, I'm switching this up to then to do something to get out of this, like hold, that I was in. The only thing I started doing was I did. I changed my content.

Speaker 2:

I think everybody gets a little bit sick and tired of seeing the same salesy sort of content and I was doing them a lot, like I was trying to do them in a really authentic way, like I was trying to do it in a different way.

Speaker 2:

I was trying to make it a bit more engaging and stuff like that. But as soon as I created things again, it just came down to relatability. It changed and things that I found and I became way more comfortable within myself and I just want to remind people like it's okay if it takes a little bit of time for you to find your feet and to find your groove and to find how you want to show up. It took me a while and you can 100% scroll back on my Instagram and see the changes in my content. It changes from trying to do a bit of comedy stuff to then clickbaity shit because I was trained that in an affiliate marketing thing to then going I hate that to then something else, to then something else, to then now like a really nice little mix and I've been doing it for in March next year It'll be two years.

Speaker 1:

It goes fast, doesn't it? It's wild.

Speaker 2:

But I've changed and I'm still changing and I'm still finding things I'm still like okay, because I don't think there's a dead set strategy that just goes bang. But what I will say is find a strategy that works for you and that you can be consistent with it's. At times where you post and ghost for freaking six weeks or five weeks, she's like I'm over this and you come back and you're like you're, you're literally you're making it 10 times harder for yourself if you do something like that. Yeah, so there is no magic posting number. Like some days there was a time there I'm. For me it was a lot, you know, I missed like four or five days and I was like, oh my god, but it didn't change much, like for me it didn't change much. But find your own posting schedule. It doesn't have to be every single day, even if it's like four days a week and you're just like, okay, I'm going to do this and again I sort of plan to do something that's a little bit relatable, something businessy, and the accounts that I've seen that have been really like successful, like the one who I got in on this. She does the exact same thing and she does it all and she does it well. She does it really well.

Speaker 2:

So just give yourself a little bit of grace, give yourself a little bit of time. Find how you want to show. There is no, there are different algorithms. So I will say that. So there's the reels algorithm, there's a story algorithm and things like that. So there's a carousel algorithm. So they say, reels will get reach, carousels will get engagement.

Speaker 2:

And your stories, like, do not underestimate stories If you're not showing up in your stories. Get in your stories. Get in your stories and showcase who the hell you are. Like, give people a bit of an inside scoop into who you are as a person, and not this like you know, hi, hi, um, what do I see all the time? Happy thursday. I'm sorry. I just want to tell you that you're a guy you know and I'm just like you know. No one gets your personality from that and you don't have to be crazy like me, where I literally will be talking in my adhd brain. We'll see something else and we'll be like what the fuck? And then it comes back Like you don't? That's just how I work. Show up as you because, believe it or not, there will be another human being, or thousands of them who will go.

Speaker 2:

She's exactly like me. I'm that, I'm that calm and reserved or I felt awkward and speak about that. If you feel awkward or you're feeling something, go. I'm struggling, but I'm doing it because I know that this is a gateway to something else. But don't get me wrong, I find it wildly uncomfortable. So I want to give you that inspo to say start wildly uncomfortable. Talk to people like that, because there's people sitting on the other side of the screen who's going. I haven't started yet, but this person's starting and she's telling me that she's uncomfortable. Do you know what I mean? So, and believe it or not, I was wildly uncomfortable talking on screen. I remember when I first started and I did my first voiceover, everybody in the thing that I was doing at the time were like everyone would like to congratulate Amy because she did her first like real voice, and I was like thank you. So you all start off and you just do messy, fucking action, just messy well.

Speaker 1:

As you can hear, we had a blasphemic blast with amy. It was so good to hear her authentic truth. When it comes to growing your instagram, we know it can be a tricky, sticky situation for some people, but I think the key from our discussion that we had is being authentic and doing things that light you up. So if you are wondering how to grow on Instagram, if you are wondering how you are going to create better content, consistent content, long-term content, then please jump into our community. That's what we're talking about all the time and obviously this chat is in there inside of one of our masterclasses, but for now, we want you to have an absolutely ripper day.

Speaker 1:

Please leave us a little something, something on the podcast. If you listen the whole way, you're like that was a good episode. If you can, let us know that, that would be amazing, because that helps us grow on this space, and please feel free to share it with anyone you know. Tag anyone you know. We love bringing this podcast. So that's all for me today and I hope you have an absolutely sensational day.