← Build Your Tribe | Grow Your Business with Social Media
Build Your Tribe | Grow Your Business with Social Media
This One EASY Trick Went Viral and Blew Up Her Business Overnight - 870
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By the end of this episode, you will know exactly how you can blow up your business and go viral using just one Instagram post and one Instagram strategy. And in order to teach you this strategy, I'm going to tell you the story of Diane, one of our Insta clubhub students. Diane was excited to grow her business on Instagram, probably exactly how you feel. She specifically was an authorized Disney travel agent. And of course she was obsessed with all things Disney and helping people plan their magical vacation. Step number one for growing on Instagram is having a clear niche. And Diane had that. She knew exactly what she was going to be posting about. All of her posts were going to be helpful tips, valuable lessons, quick news about Disney and not just any Disney resorts, specifically Disney world in Orlando, Florida. Number two, because she's in the Insta ClubHub, Diane has optimized her profile. She has an attention grabbing profile picture. She has searchable keywords embedded into her bio. Speaking of her bio, it clearly tells us what what she does and why we should follow her. She has pinned posts that relate to her niche and help her business move along. In terms of the content she was posting, she was posting a healthy mix of reels and carousels. She wasn't being lazy or uncreative and only posting one kind of content. She was diversifying her posts and experimenting with different strategies. And probably like a lot of people listening to today's episode, she was posting a lot of valuable content, a lot of helpful tips, do's and don'ts, things to avoid, things that you have to try, different tips and recommendations for planning your Disney World vacation. And she was posting every single day. I bet there's a lot of people listening today who can't say that, who might say that that's their goal, but who can't in good faith say that they have posted every single day. Diane, did I say all this to say she was doing theoretically everything right? There are a few mistakes that we're going to talk about. There are a few things that she could have changed, but for all intents and purposes, she, she was getting a passing grade. She was probably getting an A grade on her Instagram. She was checking off all the boxes. But after posting more than 1,000 times to her Instagram feed, she had gained less than 2,500 followers. She felt like quitting, she felt like giving up. She felt burnt out. She felt like she was banging her head against the wall again. I'm sure those are things that you have probably experienced yourself. From my expert point of view. She had done pretty much everything right, but but she just wasn't seeing the results that she was looking for. But then in early November 2025, she woke up one morning to her phone blowing up with Instagram notifications. She didn't even realize that she had her Instagram notifications turned on until she looked over at her phone and saw hundreds upon hundreds of little tiny Instagram notification badges. She opened her Instagram and the little notification bar in the upper right said 100. 100, 100, 100 likes, 100 comments and 100 new followers. She was finally blowing up. She had finally struck gold. Let me tell you how. Like I said, she did this with just one Instagram post and one Instagram strategy. A part of that. There are four key elements that I want to highlight for you right now. Number one, the kind of post was a trial reel. Trial reels are something that I've done numerous episodes about in the past about. What are trial reels in my complete guide to using them and making the most out of them? But in short, a trial reel is a kind of reel that is only shown to non followers. So it has zero potential to annoy your existing followers, zero potential to overwhelm or lead to an unfollow from one of your existing followers. And it can only reach new people. It can only help you grow. It's like zero downside, 100% upside. The only downside is, I guess, the time that it would take you to create one of these trial reels. But besides that, you're like a baseball player who can have unlimited swings without striking out. The second key element is that her trial reel didn't just have a good hook, it had a curiosity driven hook. This is a kind of hook that makes people lean forward and it spikes retention. It makes people want to stick around and keep watching the video to find out what happens next or find out what happens in the end. The specific curiosity hook that Diane used was one that I have talked about here on this podcast before, that I have posted about, and that I have given detailed tutorials for. Inside the Insta ClubHub and and it's what I'm going to call the measuring tape reel. The measuring tape reel is essentially a reel where, yes, there is a measuring tape extended on the ground and it's extended to the point that the message that is written on the far end of the measuring tape is out of focus. It's not able to be read. At the beginning of the reel, you essentially walk up, you point at the unreadable message, and then you run over to the camera, which is actually running over to the front of the measuring tape, and. And you unlock that little lever or you make it so that the tape measurer kind of retracts really quickly. And what that does is it brings the message closer to the screen, thus bringing it into focus and thus allowing people to actually read it. This is something that's pretty easily understood. Even a drunk grandma or a fifth grader, which are the two people who I usually recommend making your reels simple enough that they can understand, those two groups of people can both understand that, hey, there's something about to happen, right? The tape measurer is reeling in, and there's a reason to stick around to see what that hidden message is going to say. So that is the first kind of curiosity hook that you can use. The second kind of curiosity hook that I'm gonna give you as an example today is what I'm gonna call the rope pull hook. Now, I want you to be safe. You need to be safe with this one. I don't want any liability, and I'm not encouraging you to do anything dangerous. Please consult your local fire department. I don't know what I'm saying here, but just with the rope pull reel, essentially you're going to tie a rope around a chair, around your neck or around your body, whatever. Then you're going to have it trail onto the ground. Then you're going to have a second rope. Please cut the rope. Don't make it just one long rope. Cut the rope. The second rope is going to be coiled up on top of the first rope, and it's going to be tied to a horse or a car or a motorcycle or your dog or something that would theoretically pull you if it was moving really fast in the other direction. The Paul brothers have done this. I have done this. There are so many people who have used this hook. Because again, whether you're a fifth grader or a drunk grandma, when you see something speeding away and it is tied to the person who's standing here talking to the camera, it grabs attention. It's like, oh, my gosh, is he going to get yanked? And of course, we know the person probably isn't going to get yanked, but we still want to stick around to see how things end, to see how things turn out. And then the third and final curiosity hook is another really popular one, and it's what I'm going to call the box throw reel. This one also requires a second person, just like the rope pole reel. But Essentially, you have someone throw a box or a ball or throw something at your head, and then you have the video cut right before it hits your head. And then you say something like, I bet you're waiting for that to hit me. I bet you're waiting for that ball to hit me. Something like that. And. And then you can continue talking about whatever it is that you want to talk about. Some people have kind of made parodies of this trend where it cuts and then they say, I bet you're waiting for that to hit me. And then it does hit them. And then maybe it keeps hitting them. You can definitely have fun and get creative with this. But again, all three of these hooks are not just strong hooks. These are hooks that grab curiosity and they make you want to keep watching because there's some sort of action that's going to happen. But ultimately, even the best hook is only going to get people to watch, but it's not going to get them to act. What Diane did, which is what I'm going to recommend for you, is the third key element, which is that she has gamified engagement. That message that Diane had written on the end of the measuring tape and the message that I had written on the end of my measuring tape started a game. It started kind of like a little puzzle or a clue game. In my example, it told people, don't look in the upper right corner. And then guess what? When they looked in the upper right corner, it said, don't read the last line of the caption. And then when they read the last line of the caption, it said, don't read the pinned comment. So it's kind of fun. It's interactive. It feels like a puzzle. Unlike most Instagram reels and most social media content where it's just scrolling through people talking to you and yapping the entire time, there was a hidden message. There was something that you kind of felt like you got to go on a treasure hunt to reveal. Engaging with my reel or with Diane's reel felt like a game. It didn't just feel like you were liking something we. But back to the whole blowing up your business overnight thing. Those first three things that we have talked about are all one Instagram post, right? It's a trial reel with a curiosity driven hook and gamified engagement. Are you ready to take your business marketing to the next level? Meet Brevo, the all in one marketing and CRM platform built to connect you with your customers, boost engagement, and grow your business smarter. With Brevo, you can manage all of your customer interactions in one place. Nurture leads with their built in CRM, reach your audience through email and SMS and keep them coming back with powerful automations. But here is where it gets really exciting. Meet Aura, Brevo's AI Assistant. Aura helps you craft smarter campaigns by suggesting personalized content, optimizing send times, and even analyzing performance data to improve strategies in real time. It's kind of like having a marketing Expert on your team 24 7. And of course, Brevo offers advanced analytics, seamless integrations, and AI driven personalization. It's basically everything you could need to create seamless multichannel campaigns that hit the mark every single time. Get started for free today or use code TRIBE50 to get 50% off the starter and standard plans for the first three months of an annual subscription. Just head to www.brevo.com tribe and take your marketing further with Brevo and Aura. But now let's talk about the strategy. The strategy that's actually going to take this viral post into something that's going to help your business into something that helped me blow up my business into something that helped Diane blow up blow up her business. The final piece of the post is you want to have a call to action that has DM Automation. Now, many of you are familiar with DM Automation. I've done entire episodes on it in the past. We'll make sure to link that up if you need more details. But essentially DM Automation is that thing where creators will say Comment the word guide and I'll send you my free cooking guide. Comment the word coach and I'll send you the link to my one on one coaching packages. That is Diem Automation. Or I should say the thing that's automatically sending you the message when you comment that keyword. That is Diem Automation. We've talked about that before. But what many people don't realize is that you can put DM Automation onto trial reels as long as you're using a tool like ManyChat. ManyChat is the DM automation tool that I recommend. It's the most widely used, it's the most popular, it's the most trusted. It's the only DM automation tool that is an official partner of Meta. But there's this really cool advanced feature within ManyChat that that is called Next Post or Reel. Next Post or Reel is something that most people use when they want to apply an automation to their Next Post or reel. But if the next thing that you post on your Instagram after enabling that Setting is a trial reel. Then the automation will be applied to the trial reel. So now you have all of these new eyeballs, you have all of this new attention, you have all of these new people who do not follow you, who are seeing your post for the first time. And, and they're not just engaging or maybe following, they're actually becoming leads. They're actually giving you their email. They're actually signing up for your freebie or your email marketing newsletter or whatever it may be. In my version of this reel, when people read the pinned comment, it said, oh my gosh, you're such a rule breaker. You never follow the rules. Whatever you do, do not comment the word pineapple. And then for anyone who made it to the final stage of the game, for anyone who commented the word pineapple and they received an instant DM automation from me with a lead magnet for our business. From this one post I had 45,000 people comment the word pineapple. And from that I had over 13% of those people, which is quite a high click through rate. Over 6,000 people become leads for our business. But hey, that was just on my account. And if I was a social media expert who had only ever grown their own account, I wouldn't be a very trustworthy social media expert. I believe that a huge part of my credibility is our students growth. I believe a huge part of my credibility is that our average Insta Club Hub member gains over 15,000 followers in their first year. I believe that a huge part of my credibility is what Diane was able to do. Diane had 2,500 followers when this post was made and she gained 7,000 followers from this one singular post. And because of this post, the engagement on all of her following posts both blew up. She went from getting 10 to 15 likes and 0 to 3 comments to getting hundreds of likes and dozens of comments on every single post. Which shows that many of these followers who found her through this trial reel, they became engaged followers, loyal subscribers, pretty flipping cool. All is great, right? Well, not necessarily, because there's a part of this story that I haven't told you. As someone who cooks about 95% of their meals at home. And no, that's not an exaggeration. You usually. The only meal that Tay and I eat out each week is our Sushi Saturday. What we eat, what we prepare, it matters a lot to us. And that's why I'm so excited to introduce you to our newest sponsor, HelloFresh. HelloFresh allows you to choose between more than 100 recipes every single week, including cuisines from all around the world and bigger portions that satisfy everyone. 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This offer is only valid while supplies last free meals applied at discount on your first box for new subscribers only and varies by plan there's an unfortunate truth that I have been withholding from you until now, and that is that going viral doesn't equal business success. It can. Going viral can definitely lead to more leads, more customers, more followers who become customers down the line. But it's not a guarantee. Because while Diane did get a bunch of followers and she did get a boost of engagement and she did get quite a few leads from this post, she unfortunately also got a lot of trolls. She got a lot of haters. She got a lot of people who were filling out her lead magnet and who were requesting to book their next Disney vacation with her. But they were just being silly. They were just wasting her time. They were just messing around and they weren't serious leads. And unfortunately, this is oftentimes what happens when you go viral. You might end up on the wrong side of Instagram. You might end up with a bunch of viewers who are less than ideal. And while I do believe that this entire thing was a net positive for Diane, she has more followers, more engagement, and she does have more leads now than in the past. It might not have been as explosive as you might have predicted if you just saw that one post and how many views and how much engagement it received. So now that you know the entire picture, let's take a step back and I want to share with you my four key takeaways. Four key lessons to learn from Diane's story. Number one, you never know when you're just one post away. Diane was posting every single day she had over 1000 posts and she felt like she was banging her head against the wall. You never know when you're one post, one trial reel, one story, one little moment of creativity away from blowing up your business, from gaining a bunch of followers, a bunch of leads and a bunch of customers. Lesson number two is something that I've been saying since December of 2024, which is that trial reels are a great way to reach non followers. But the bigger lesson to take away from this is that trial reels with a curiosity driven hook, gamified engagement and a DM automation call to action, that's like a powder keg. That is a ticking time bomb ready to explode. That's just not a good way to reach new followers. That is a great way to reach new followers, grow and do all those things. Lesson number three is so important and it's something that I've been saying for a while and I'm probably never going to stop saying, but it's that you shouldn't want to go viral. You shouldn't chase virality. Virality can be a great thing. Going viral, getting a million views, it can be really cool and it can be really rewarding. But chasing virality should not be your goal. And when I talk about this, I kind of feel like a fitness coach who is preaching against magic diet pills. The reality is there will always be a market and there will probably always be a majority of people who are who want the quick fix, who want the overnight success, who want to blow up and go viral. And it's much tougher to convince people that no, actually you don't. It's actually much more beneficial to have slow and steady consistent growth. Which, by the way, next week's episode, which is coming out just a few days after this one comes out, is going to be an A to Z guide for growing your following on Instagram in 2026. So if you haven't subscribed already, please hit that subscribe button. That's going to be a super valuable, super long episode, but again, super, super valuable. And that's going to be about slow and steady growth, sustained growth that is actually going to build your business and isn't going to rely on a couple viral hits. And then the fourth and final lesson from today's episode is that if a post is going viral and it's on the wrong side of Instagram, it's reaching the wrong followers, it's reaching people who are not ideal. You have my permission to archive it. When my post ended up reaching the level of virality that it was reaching a bunch of teenagers and non ideal, non niche followers. I removed the DM automation trigger. I stopped letting people trigger the automation. I turned off the comments on the post, so I still got the views, but I was no longer getting any fake leads for my business from that post. Diane archived her post entirely, which I think is valid. She was getting such an overwhelming amount of people who were trolling her and who were filling out her forms to request her travel booking and her Disney vacation help that was ultimately just filling up her time and it was really weighing on her psyche that this many people were kind of just laughing or trolling her. And so if you have a post that goes mega viral and it starts reaching the wrong side of Instagram, it starts bringing in leads or followers who are less than ideal, you have my permission to turn off the comments or archive the post or even delete it altogether. Give this a try for yourself. If it works for you, please shoot me a DM because I would love to hear your success story and maybe tell your story on a future Build you'd Tribe episode. Thank you so much for being here and as always, happy networking.