A video I posted to Instagram on a whim hit 110,000 views this month.
I initially made it for LinkedIn as a part of my content material pillars: a easy video on the place to search out distant jobs. Someplace in the midst of exporting it, I assumed, why not simply put up it in all places? So I did.
And Instagram was the place it actually took off. Which was unusual, as a result of I have been on Instagram since 2016. That is 10 years of birthday carousels and journey photograph dumps, and by no means as soon as treating it like someplace I might truly develop.
Should you’ve been following my Proof of Idea sequence, you realize I’ve spent the previous few months making an attempt to develop on Threads. I had a plan, full with a follower aim, a deadline, and the outcomes of making use of all the principles I like to recommend to different folks.
I didn’t get to 1,000 on Threads by December 15, 2025. And after one unintended crosspost, I am undecided Threads is the place I ought to have been making an attempt to develop within the first place.
So this is what has modified.
A fast recap on Proof of Idea
Should you’re new to the Proof of Idea sequence, this is what it is advisable to know: after hitting 20,000 followers on LinkedIn, I needed to get again to experimenting with content material the way in which I used to, earlier than I knew what “labored.”
The primary platform I examined was Threads. My aim was to develop from 366 followers to 1,000 by December 15, 2025, organically, by way of consistency and curiosity.
I am at 824 in the present day. Not fairly 1,000, however shut sufficient that I might in all probability have gotten there if I stored going. However I am not making an attempt to shut that hole anymore as a result of I am now not positive it is the best platform to check this on.
So why am I pivoting? A couple of issues occurred directly.
The primary was that Threads is quicker than I am used to from LinkedIn. On LinkedIn, I am writing for folks scrolling between conferences. The pacing is slower, and a put up can afford to wind up earlier than it lands. Threads is the other: the posts that journey there are reactive and quick. I used to be continually translating my pondering right into a format I hadn’t constructed actual muscle for but, which meant I used to be determining what good seemed like in actual time whereas additionally making an attempt to develop.
The second was that I did not have sufficient fluency with the platform to kind a very good speculation within the first place, by no means thoughts take a look at one. A Proof of Idea works greatest when you have already got sufficient instinct for a platform you can truly take a look at one thing. I used to be nonetheless studying Threads. That is a special venture.
After which the third factor occurred, which I did not count on: Instagram began working. Certainly one of my cross-posted movies hit 110K views, and all of the sudden I had an precise recipe for virality on a platform I might play with. That acquired me enthusiastic about Instagram in a manner I hadn’t been about Threads shortly. And sooner or later, I needed to be trustworthy with myself that the power was pulling me elsewhere.
I am not completed with Threads. I nonetheless have a profile, I nonetheless put up, and I am nonetheless interested in it. But it surely’s time for a pivot.
Why I am pivoting to Instagram (the platform I’ve averted for 10 years)
For years, there was a voice behind my head going, “Whoa, the individuals who truly know you will see this.”
That is a bit embarrassing to sort. But it surely’s the reality.
I made my Instagram in 2016, again when the platform was nonetheless largely doing what it initially promised: a spot to remain in contact with family and friends and hold your folks up to date in your life. That is how I used it, and for a very long time, that is all I needed it to be.
When folks began turning Instagram right into a creator platform, I felt lots of resistance. I could not absolutely clarify it at first, however I just lately figured it out.
My LinkedIn, TikTok, and Threads accounts all got here after I used to be deep into my profession and already offered on the thought of turning into a creator. These had been creator accounts from day one. Instagram was the one profile I had from earlier than any of that, and the individuals who adopted me there have been individuals who truly knew me: associates, household, folks from college, outdated coworkers, the woman I met within the toilet at a bar, and so forth.
So the considered posting creator content material into that feed made me shy, in a real manner I did not count on.
I additionally had a psychological block about what beginning on Instagram must appear to be. I assumed I might have to construct an entire new profile, or if I stored this one, I might need to unroot ten years of private historical past to make it “on-brand.” Both manner, it needed to be a manufacturing.
Seems, it did not.
What truly occurred
I made a few movies for LinkedIn: one for my Buffer work anniversary, a pair about what I do at Buffer, and one about the place to search out distant jobs. I used to be experimenting with hooks on display screen, completely different video kinds, all of the issues I might been telling different folks to attempt. Then I assumed, why not crosspost them to Instagram and TikTok? So I did.
Cross-posting the movies on TikTok helped me go 1,000 followers, which was good. However Instagram was the place one thing truly occurred. One of many movies hit 110,000 views, and I grew from about 1,200-ish to 2,319 followers in a matter of weeks.
And all of it occurred as a result of I used to be lastly making use of all the recommendation I had been sharing with different folks.
I am Instagram-native, I simply haven’t been appearing on it
I have been on Instagram for a decade. I do know what a very good reel seems to be like, the way to determine trending sounds, and what to place in a photograph dump to make it nonchalant. None of that got here from (simply) observing and finding out creators, however from being a daily consumer for ten years, constructing instinct I by no means regarded as a talent.
That is completely different from the place I used to be on Threads. On Threads, I used to be nonetheless determining the language. On Instagram, I already converse it. I simply hadn’t been utilizing it to say something.
Which modifications what this subsequent Proof of Idea is testing. The Threads speculation was whether or not consistency and curiosity might get me to 1,000 followers organically. The Instagram speculation is extra attention-grabbing to me: what occurs if you lean right into a platform you are already fluent in?
For different creators studying this: the platform you are avoiding may be the one you’d develop on quickest. The resistance you are feeling towards it’s in all probability what’s stored you from noticing how a lot you already know.
My plan for Instagram
I’ve set some guidelines for this pivot to Instagram which are purposefully looser than those I had for Threads. I am leaning on instinct for the artistic calls and on the confirmed ways from Sabreen’s progress playbook for the mechanics.
Talking of, you’ll be able to take a look at Sabreen’s full checklist of suggestions right here — she’s grown her personal account previous 15K followers and Buffer’s previous 100K, so she is aware of what she’s speaking about. I am borrowing from it liberally.
The aim
I wish to develop from 2,319 followers to five,000 by the top of Q2 2026. That is about 10 weeks from the day this text publishes, and sure, it is a larger bounce than my Threads aim of 1,000 (from 366), but when I am proper concerning the Instagram-native factor, the expansion charge ought to replicate that.
The posting cadence
Sabreen’s data-backed advice is 3–5 posts per week, which grows followers 2x quicker than posting 1–2 instances. That is the cadence I am aiming for. However I am not setting a each day minimal, and I am not going to really feel dangerous about skipping days. I need this spherical to really feel like play, not a guidelines. If I hit 3 posts per week whereas staying in play mode, I will take it.
The method
If I see a development I wish to attempt, I will attempt it the identical day. If I’ve an thought, I will create it in no matter format feels proper and work out after the very fact what landed.
I am utilizing the total format combine Sabreen recommends: Reels for attain (they get 36% extra attain than different put up sorts), carousels for engagement (they drive 12% extra engagement), and photograph dumps when the temper strikes. Kirsti, who’s additionally been rising on Instagram, gave me another advice I am taking to coronary heart:
“I now at all times create two barely completely different variations of the identical content material and put up them as trial reels 24 hours earlier than I need them to go stay. Then I see which one performs one of the best. My concept is that trial reels drive Instagram to push your content material to individuals who may very well have an interest within the particular reel, quite than simply your followers. It is an effective way that can assist you attain the viewers you need quite than the viewers you could have.”
I am undoubtedly going to attempt her method, which she’s additionally expanded on on this article. Trial reels additionally let me experiment with out committing a put up to my fundamental grid, which inserts the “deal with this like play” power I need.
The content material pillars (for now)
The matters I am main with: what I’ve discovered rising on LinkedIn, how I’ve landed model partnerships there, distant work recommendation, and my profession journey. I am leaning on what I already know works. These are matters my current viewers trusts me on, so that they’re my on-ramp to Instagram.
I do know I am unable to lean on them eternally. Instagram just isn’t LinkedIn, and ultimately, I wish to work out what my pillars are native to the platform. However proper now, that is what’s resonating, so I will journey it till one thing extra Instagram-specific clicks into place.
Engagement as a progress tactic
Another from Sabreen’s checklist that I am making an actual behavior: replying to feedback. Her information reveals it boosts engagement by 21%, and extra importantly, it is the way you flip first-time viewers into individuals who truly stick round. For an account that is been largely passive for 10 years, that is the shift that can really feel essentially the most completely different.
What success seems to be like (past the follower rely)
Hitting 5,000 can be nice. However I am defining a number of different wins for myself too:
Constructing Instagram-native fluency whereas my matters nonetheless lean LinkedIn-adjacent
Most of what I speak about, i.e., distant work, job looking, profession stuff for early-to-mid profession professionals, would not look or really feel just like the Instagram content material in my feed. It isn’t the style, meals, or wellness content material that dominates my feed. I wish to see if I could make my matters Instagram-shaped with out stripping the substance out of them. If the 110K-view video is any indication, the reply may be sure. However one video is not a sample, so we’ll see.
Construct visible style as a talent
On LinkedIn and Threads, the craft is generally writing. Instagram is a special craft. Pacing, framing, shade, sound, all issues I have not needed to assume a lot about on the opposite platforms. I’ve at all times had a very good eye for aesthetics, I simply did not level it at my very own content material. I am curious whether or not leaning into that modifications how I take into consideration my content material on the opposite platforms, too.
How a lot of that is the platform, and the way a lot of it’s me lastly making an attempt?
That is the one I haven’t got a transparent reply for. I have been on Instagram for 10 years and by no means tried. It is attainable that any platform would begin to work as soon as I truly confirmed up for it, however I will know for positive in a number of months.
After which there’s the factor I am not going to hype up simply but, so let’s hold this between us: if I hit 5,000 followers, the subsequent Proof of Idea might be about turning an Instagram viewers into earnings. Model partnerships, particularly. I’ve completed a handful of paid partnerships on LinkedIn over the past two years, however Instagram is the place the actual model partnership cash lives. I wish to see what it seems to be prefer to construct it deliberately, as a smaller creator, and share the numbers.
However that is a narrative for one more article.
