176. 18,000 Instagram Followers in 90 Days: The Only 3 Posts I'm Creating Right Now

Summary

---

Episode Overview

Podcast: Call Her Creator with Katelyn Rhoades
Episode: 175. 18,000 Instagram Followers in 90 Days: The Only 3 Posts I'm Creating Right Now
Date: July 28, 2026

In this actionable episode, host Katelyn Rhoades breaks down the exact Instagram content strategy that propelled her—and her clients—to explosive growth: gaining nearly 18,000 followers in just 90 days. With her signature no-fluff, approachable tone, Katelyn identifies and explains the only three types of content formats she’s posting right now for maximum visibility and engagement—and teaches listeners how to “steal” her method. Whether you’re new to Instagram or are ready to simplify and amplify your content, this episode is packed with clear, practical steps, marketing psychology, and motivational real talk for creators and entrepreneurs.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Myth of Overcomplication (01:41)

• Stop Overcomplicating Content Creation:
  “One of the biggest mistakes people are making on Instagram right now is overcomplicating the absolute hell out of content creation… That’s a lot. And then you’re wondering why you’re exhausted.” (Katelyn, 02:03)
• Katelyn stresses that you don’t need to do every format (reels, stories, carousels, etc.) or post every day to see serious growth.

---

The Only 3 Content Formats You Need

1. Split Screen Static Post (04:43)

• What Is It?
  A single static image split into two contrasting sections—either with two images or two sides of a concept—that immediately creates curiosity and relatability.
• Why It Works:
  “Our brains love contrast. You are immediately creating curiosity… you want to just create that high contrast, create recognition, give people something worth sharing. And that’s format number one.” (Katelyn, 05:27)
• Types of Contrasts to Try:
  • “What people think growing a business looks like vs. what it actually looks like”
  • “What my audience believes vs. what I know to be true”
  • “Expectation vs. reality”
• Shareability:
  Posts resonate when they make people think, “Oh my gosh, that’s me,” or provide someone with words for their own experience. The goal is content people want to share or send to others.

Timestamp: [04:43 - 08:36]

---

2. Strategic Carousel (08:36)

• Why Carousels?
  “You knew I was going to talk about carousels, didn’t you? Because carousels have been absolutely crushing it for growth right now. But… pretty slides are not the strategy.” (Katelyn, 08:37)
• Katelyn’s Visibility Framework:
  • 1. Attention: Slide one’s only job is to hook (“wait, what? Tell me more.”)
  • 2. Retention: Keep the viewer’s interest on slide two (“Don’t immediately dump all the info. Make the problem big—bake or challenge something they believe.”)
  • 3. Value: Create a shift, not data overload. “Did you teach them something? Did you give them something they can actually use? Did you put words to something they’ve been experiencing?”
  • 4. Action: One clear call to action per post (comment, follow, share, etc.).
• Quote:
  “Every piece of content needs one job. So don’t try to put them all in there. Pick one call to action.” (Katelyn, 10:00)
• Template Resource:
  Katelyn references her “Visibility Vault” packed with templates, including her famous carousels.

Timestamp: [08:36 - 11:28]

---

3. "Yap Reel" (Talking Head Video/Reel) (12:26)

• What Is It?
  Authentic, unscripted (or loosely scripted) selfie videos—often filmed in your car—speaking directly to your audience about one idea, story, or controversial opinion.
• Why It Works:
  “People want to feel something, right? They want your opinion, they want those stories, they want personality, they want to feel like they know the person they’re following.” (Katelyn, 13:26)
• How Katelyn Structures Her Yap Reels:
  1. Pick a thought, story, or opinion (“What do I want to talk about right now? Something I learned, something I experienced, something I disagree with?”)
  2. Use ChatGPT to organize thoughts or build a concise outline (“Give me a 30-second script on this topic”)
  3. Don’t read the script word-for-word. Make it your own—show your unique take and real personality.
• Memorable Example:
  Her “They Need You to Be the Villain” yap reel hit 28,000 views, 2,000+ likes, 100+ comments, 173+ reshares.
  “So the girl who said yapping videos sucked—maybe they don’t suck. Maybe you just need to practice a little bit harder on them for them to be easier for you.” (Katelyn, 15:29)
• Low Production, High Authenticity:
  “There’s no studio, no fancy lighting, no massive editing process. It is just me sitting… talking about something I actually have an opinion about.”

Timestamp: [12:26 - 19:32]

---

Mindset, Motivation & Action Steps

• Don’t Worry About Posting Every Day:
  “I did not give you a complicated seven day posting schedule… y’all don’t need more things to do, you just need a few things that work that you can do consistently.” (Katelyn, 20:35)
• Action Plan:
  1. “Create one split screen static post this week.”
  2. “Create one strategic carousel using attention, retention, value, and action.”
  3. “Get in your car and yap about something that you actually have an opinion on this week.” (Katelyn, 21:26)
• Experiment & Iterate:
  “Figure out if it worked, learn why it worked, and then create a repeatable system behind it. And then keep doing more of what gets you results.” (Katelyn, 20:54)

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Overcomplication:
  “Stop trying to teach 17 different things in one post, because that’s going to overwhelm your reader.” (06:35)
• On Shareability:
  “The best performing static posts are the ones that make someone think, ‘That’s me,’ or ‘I need to send this to someone.’” (07:12)
• On Focusing Content:
  “I stopped asking, what should I post today? And I started asking, what is the job of this post? That completely changed the way I create content.” (10:40)
• On Yap Reels:
  “At the end of the day, people want human and they do like hearing you. As long as it’s not, like, overly produced, I think it could work really well.” (15:33)

---

Important Timestamps

• 01:41 — The misconception of needing to post constantly and do everything
• 04:43 — Split Screen Static Posts: what, why, and best practices
• 08:36 — Carousels: why they’re working, and the A-R-V-A framework
• 12:26 — Yap Reels and how to simplify talking videos (with example)
• 13:26 — Why authenticity in video matters
• 20:35 — Why you don’t need a complicated posting schedule
• 21:26 — Simple assignment and closing encouragement

---

Final Takeaways

• Focus on just three content types: split screen static posts, strategic carousels, and “yap reels”—and post them consistently.
• Simplify, don’t overcomplicate: Each post needs a single, clear job.
• Human connection and relatability matter more than production value.
• Take action: Try each format this week and see what sticks.
• Make content creation easier—use templates (like those in Katelyn’s Visibility Vault) if design is your bottleneck.

Assignment:
“Create one split screen static post, one strategic carousel, and one yap reel this week. Don’t overcomplicate it—you probably have everything you need to create content that grows your account.” (Katelyn, 21:26)

---

Want more resources?
Katelyn references links for her “Visibility Vault” and “Club Influence” in the episode show notes for plug-and-play templates and weekly content ideas.

---

This episode is a must-listen (or must-read summary!) for women creators and entrepreneurs aiming to grow on Instagram without burnout or endless guessing.

Transcript

[A]

This episode is sponsored by Shopify, Whatnot and Storyblocks. If you've ever dreamed of turning your ideas into a business, Shopify makes it so much easier. Whether you're selling products, digital downloads, or building a brand from scratch, Shopify gives you everything you need to create a beautiful online store without the tech headache. Love finding amazing deals. Whatnot is the largest live shopping marketplace in the country, where you can discover everything from collectibles and beauty products to fashion and home goods while shopping live with sellers in real time. It's interactive, fun, and full of incredible finds. And if you're creating content like I am, Storyblocks is a game changer. Instead of spending hours searching for the perfect stock footage, music or sound effects, Storyblocks gives you unlimited access to a massive library of high quality creative assets so you can create content faster and make it look incredible. Ready to check these out? Start your business with Shopify by signing up for your $1 per month trial at shopify.com CHC download the whatnot app today and get free shipping on your first order. Just search wh a t n o t whatnot in the App Store and start scoring amazing deals. And bring your creative ideas to life with storyblocks by visiting storyblocks.comchc

[B]

welcome back to Call Her Creator Podcast. I am so excited that you're here today because I think I've cracked the code. My profile has grown 17, almost 18,000 followers in the last 90 days, and it's working for my clients, too. In the last 30 days, I've had a client grow over 3,000 followers. I've got another account, 5,000 followers.

[A]

This is all in the last 30

[B]

days, by the way. And then another 3,600 15,000 followers. These clients are using the same method that I'm using. So I am going to teach you the only three content formats that I am posting on Instagram right now and our clients that is gaining us a ton of followers a week. Okay, so I would not be trying to post seven days a week right now if I were you. If I was just getting started, if I had to start from zero, I wouldn't focus on like, oh, I have to post this many times a week. No, instead I would focus on these three specific format types and I'm not going to reveal them to you yet. We're going to get into them. But I think one of the biggest mistakes people are making on Instagram right now is overcomplicating the absolute hell out of content creation. You're trying to Create reels. You're trying to create carousels, stories, lives, B roll talking videos, trending audio, educational posts, relatable posts, sales posts. That's a lot. And then you're wondering why you're exhausted. Meanwhile, some of the simplest content that I have created lately has been responsible for some of my biggest growth. So today I'm gonna break down these three content formats that I would be creating if I wanted to grow my Instagram account right now. Exactly what's working for me, what's working for my clients, and how you can steal my strategy and make it work for your own brand. So are you ready to get into it now? Before we get into today's episode, I need to ask you a favor. I am in need of podcast reviews. So if you could just pause this episode right now. If you're listening on Apple Podcasts, pause it. Scroll down to the bottom of my podcast and you will see, like, the little stars. Please leave a review. Give me five stars. Let them know that you love the podc. If you're on Spotify, you can do the same. But it means so much to me and it really, truly helps me grow this podcast. So if you have a second and you're feeling froggy today and you're feeling generous, please leave me a five star review. Okay, let's get into the content that I would be posting. There is only three types of content that I would be posting. So this is going to be so stupid simple for you guys. If you don't do it, I'm going to be looking at you wagging my finger because there's no reason that you shouldn't be. Okay, the very first one that we're going to talk about, I actually have included it in my visibility vault. Okay? So if you do not know how to make this, it is in the Done for you templates visibility pack that I have. All you have to do is go to the show Notes. You can download it for yourself and have it and edit it at your leisure. So this first one is called the split screen static post. So if you've ever gone to my page or I've even posted it on Lori Harder's page, I think HALA has done it too. We've got some really cool clients here at Influence Marketing Studio and all of them have used the split screen static post and it works so well. In fact, the very first post I

[A]

ever posted for Lori was a split

[B]

screen and it went the frick off and she was like, oh my God, what are you doing? What's this magic. So the split screen, it's a static post. Now, I will tell you, boring static posts are dead. Okay, so there's a difference between a really good static post and a boring static post. So one of the formats I'm loving right now is the split screen static post. And you've probably seen these. You'll take one image and you'll split it into two sections, and you'll use those two sides to create contrast. You might even do two different images. It doesn't matter. If you've ever gone on, like, Mel Robbins page, you'll see her podcast post where it's like a person at the top and a person at the bottom.

[A]

That's a split screen.

[B]

You might say something like, the person I thought I needed to become versus the person I actually needed to become. What people think growing a business looks like versus what it actually looks like. The advice I use to follow versus what I actually grew my account. So there's two different split screens. The one I'm talking about right now is when you take two ideas and you contrast them against each other. The other one, Mel Robbins, me, Lori Harder. What I've done for us is it's an interview split screen. So you'll see me on the top and then whoever I'm interviewing during my podcast on the bot bottom, and you'll kind of see our conversation between the two. So it is a split screen kind of showing you two different things. And the reason the split screen static posts work so well is because our brains love contrast. You are immediately creating curiosity between the two because you see the first slide and now you need to know what's on the second slide. But here's where people mess this up. They make the post too complicated. Okay, you do not need seven paragraphs of text. You don't need a groundbreaking ide that nobody has ever heard before. You need a thought that your audience recognizes themselves in, and that's the entire game. Or if you're going to do the podcast split screen, you take one of the juiciest parts of that podcast and you split it up into those two screens. The best performing static posts are usually the ones that make someone think like, oh, my gosh, that's me. Or I need to send this to someone. Or I've literally never known how to put this feeling into words. And she just put them into words for me. That is your shareable content. So if you want to try this format, ask yourself this, what does my audience believe versus what do I know to be true? What are they doing now versus what should they be doing instead? That's an easy contrast right there. What did I used to believe versus what have I learned? What is the expectation versus the reality? And then just start there. Stop trying to teach 17 different things in one post, because that's going to overwhelm your reader. You want to just create that high contrast, create recognition, give people something worth sharing. And that's format number one. All right, the next post is the strategic carousel. You knew I was going to talk about carousels, didn't you? Because carousels have been absolutely crushing it for growth right now. But I need you to understand something, okay? Posting a carousel does not automatically mean that it's going to be good and then it's going to perform well. Pretty slides are not the strategy. 27 tips that nobody is going to remember is not the strategy. And taking a blog post and chopping it into 10 slides and throwing it on Instagram, that's not the strategy. A good carousel needs to move someone through your content. And this is where I use my visibility framework. This is a free framework, by the way. I will pop it into the show notes for you guys at the end of this episode. The visibility framework starts with a hook. How are you going to hook them in? The job of slide one is to not teach. It is to hook them in. You don't need to introduce yourself. You don't need to explain what the carousel is about. Its only job is to make me swipe. That's it. So I should see your first slide and immediately think, wait, what? Tell me more. I need to know this. Or, whoa. Did she just say that? And then we move into retention. So once you've got them, like, hooked in, they slide. And you need to retain their thought process. You need to retain their attention. Now that you've gotten someone to swipe, you have to keep them there. So one of my favorite things to do on slide two is reopen that loop. Don't immediately dump all the information on them. Make the problem big Baker challenge something that they believe. Tell them why they need to keep reading, and then you get into the actual value. And this is another place. I think people overcomplicate things because value doesn't mean cramming as much information as humanly possible into a post. Value means creating a shift, right? Did you teach them something? Did you change how they see the problem? Did you give them something that they can actually use? Did you put words into something that they've been experiencing? That is value? And then finally, as they keep Moving on, we need the action. What do you want them to do after they consume that post? Do you want them to follow you? Do you want them to comment, share it, save it, buy something, join your email list, listen to your podcast. Every piece of content needs one job. So don't try to put them all in there. One pick, one call to action. And then that framework is simple. Attention, retention, value, action. And I can tell you right now, one of the biggest, biggest reasons my content has grown so much is because I stopped asking, what should I post today? And I started asking, okay, what is the job of this post that completely changed the way I create content? And yes, this is a huge reason why I created the Visibility Vault. Because I know I can sit here and I can teach you the strategy behind a good carousel, and I can give you the framework and I can tell you exactly what needs to happen on every slide, but you still have to to open Canva and create the thing. And some of you are already thinking, like, kaitlyn, I don't have time for that. I don't want to do that.

[A]

Which is why I created the Visibility Vault.

[B]

Because it's got 150. Well, I should say 151, because I'm adding a template after this podcast episode. 151 templates. And I've organized them by what you actually want your content to do, and I put them inside of the Visibility vault. Whether you use my templates or not, though, I want you to remember this. Stop creating content just to fill your feed. You've got to give every single post one job. And that will make content creation so much easier, I promise. Okay.

[A]

If you're someone who wants to make money online as a creator, listen up. I know a lot of people. They assume you need a massive following or some fancy setup or years of experience before you can actually start earning online. And that's just not true. Fanview is a platform that helps creators monetize their content, connect directly with their audience, and build reoccurring income doing what they're really good at creating. And what I actually like about this

[B]

is how simple it is.

[A]

You create content around your niche, you upload it, you build your audience, and start creating income from it. Whether you're into lifestyle, fitness, business, education, literally, whatever. It's built to be beginner friendly. So if you've been sitting here thinking, could I actually do something like this? The answer is positively yes, if you help getting started. Fanview has a creator academy that walks you through the whole thing step by step. And if you're ready to start your own creator journey and see what's possible. Head over to fanview.com and get started.

[B]

All right, format number three, the yap reel. You knew I was going to talk about yapping. Now we need to talk about my current favorite form of content. I say it's my favorite because I get to be myself. But it's also the hardest type of content for me because I'm not a natural yapper. But I've been working on it. I feel like it's a muscle that you have to work on. So I've been sitting in my car and trying to yap to the camera. Um, but I'm gonna give you my highly sophisticated content strategy behind the yapping. Okay? Because again, it is not natural for me. So get in your car, prop your phone up or hold it up and just start talking. I'm serious. Just start talking about something. Something that is, you know, we gotta pick that one pain point, that one thing that they need to be talked to about. That's what you're going to talk about. And I will be honest with you, before I start doing this, I actually will think about my topic and I'll throw it into ChatGPT and just be like, hey, can you give me like a 30 second script on this topic? And typically chat will come back with a pretty good, like, storyline for me to where I'm able to like shut that off and then just yap about it so that at least gives my brain like some direction. I feel like with my adhd, I struggle really hard on talking about a certain subject topic without like going off tangent and then making my video way longer than it needs to be. So that's why I sit there and I, I kind of script before I do it. Now most people will argue with me, like, if you're scripting, then that's not yapping, that's a talking head. They're the same freaking thing. Okay. At the end of the day, you're talking to a camera. Same thing. Yep. Script, talking head. What are we doing? We're talking to you. So there's no studio, there's no fancy lighting, there's no massive editing process. It is just me sitting in my talking about something that I actually have an opinion about. And I think there's a reason that this content works. People want to feel something, right? They want your opinion, they want those stories, they want personalities, they want to feel like they know the person they're following. Um, I just thought about this. I actually did a freestyle. Freestyle Freestyle yapping video this past weekend on Call Her Creator. I would love for you guys to go to Call Her Creator Patreon Instagram page and there's one that says they want you to be the villain. I think that's the hook on it. Let me just double check for you guys. They need you to be the villain. That's it. It's got 28, 000 views right now. This was me talking off the rip. Now, I did get on chat GPT before I started talking, just to kind of help me put my feelings into words, but this is like a topic that I'm super passionate about and that I'm struggling with right now. So really talk about it and do a really good job. And this video has 2000 over 2000 likes, over a hundred comments, over 173 re shares, and 404 sends. So the girl who said yapping videos sucked.

[A]

Maybe they don't suck.

[B]

Maybe you just need to practice a little bit easier, a little bit harder on them for them to be easier for you. I think at the end of the day, people do want human and they do like hearing you. Yeah. So as long as it's not, like, overly produced, I think it could work really well.

[A]

So here's exactly how I create these videos, right?

[B]

First, I start with a thought. Not exactly a content idea, but like a thought or a topic. Like, what do I want to talk about right now? Something that annoyed me, something I learned, something I experienced, something I keep seeing people do that I completely disagree with, something I wish someone would have told me five years ago. And then I take that thought and I go talk into chatgpt about it.

[A]

Okay, I have to tell you something I genuinely had fun using lately. Whatnot. The first time I got in the app, I was honestly just browsing. I ended up watching a live seller, chatting with everyone else in the stream, and found some really great products that I would have paid way more for somewhere else. It didn't feel like online shopping. It felt more like being a part of a community. And that's what makes Whatnot so different. Whatnot is the largest dedicated live shopping platform where sellers are building real businesses across everything from beauty and fashion to collectibles, electronics, jewelry. So much more. And what I love is that anyone can sell. Whether you already have a business or you've been looking for an easy way to start one, Whatnot helps passionate sellers grow through live connection and community. Instead of just listing products, you're actually building relationships with customers who come back to shop with you. People selling on whatnot sell 10 times more than on any other major marketplace. And across the platform, the number of sellers making over a million dollars a year has double. Buyers are spending over an hour a day in the app, discovering products and supporting sellers. So it's a really exciting place to build something. Search whatnot W h a t n o t in the App Store. Download and you can start selling right now.

[B]

And before somebody comes for me, no, I'm not asking ChatGPT to replace my personality. I promise. I'm not typing it. I'm just literally talking into it and saying, can you write me a 30 second script? And then it aligns my. My thought process into like a storytelling format so that it's easier for me to talk about it. So I'm not typing, write me a viral Instagram reel and then reading whatever it gives me word for word. Cause those will suck. I promise you they will not perform well. Don't do that. But I use chat to help me organize my thoughts. So I'll say like, hey, here's what I'm thinking, here's my opinion, here's the story. Help me turn this into a 30 or 60 second script. Okay? Give me a stronger hook. Okay. Make this more concise. Okay, where am I losing the point at? And then I take whatever it gives me and I make it mind. I change the words because guess what? I. There's people with photographic memories who can read something and then regurgitate it. That is not me at all. I can't remember what I wore yesterday. I don't even know what I ate for breakfast. And that was probably 30 minutes ago. So I'm not the type to read something off word for word. You're gonna have to make it your own. And I think that's why that video performed so well for me, was because I made it my own and I was very passionate about the topic. So if you need to kind of see an example of a good one, not saying that mine is super good, but it performed very well. It's an outlier right now for all of my content on Call her creator Instagram account. Head over to my Instagram and check it out. I think you might enjoy the message. And you can also kind of critique, you know, my hook, what I'm doing in the reel, how long it is, what do my closed captions look like? Where's my title text at? You can study the whole thing and try to work it out, but you don't need a $3,000 camera to do that. I Use my phone, I sit in my car where it's quiet and I don't know, it works. I liked it. And now I'm starting to kind of make it a game to where I'm gonna start testing more content like this.

[A]

It's fun.

[B]

It's fun. So I hope you will at least test a piece of content like this. And guess what? I have Club Influence for stuff like this too. So like say you're not into the graphic design and the carousels, but you wanna do more reels. That's where Club Influence comes into play. Because with Club Influence, we're giving you three trendy reels ideas every week. So you're gonna be using trending audio, but we also throw in a content drop every month. And so with that we're telling you exactly what to post. So we'll give like talking head reels, topics that you can talk about. Content pillars, all the things are inside of Club Influence. So if you need that little like push and that support, you get access to my team. You can also join Club Influence. I will put that in the show notes for you guys as too. Okay, so if I had to start on Instagram account from Xero, those are the three formats I would focus on. Split screen static post for shareability, relatability, strategic carousels for growth, value, authority, and then my yap reels for the personality, connection, trust. And notice what I did not give you. I did not give you a complicated seven day posting schedule or a list of 20 different content pillars or a 43 step strategy because I know y' all don't need more things to do, you just need a few things that work that you can do consistently. So pick one of these formats, try

[A]

it this week, figure out if it

[B]

worked, learn why it worked, and then create a repeatable system behind it. And then keep doing more of what gets you results. And if the biggest thing stopping you from creating static posts and carousels is the fact that you do not have the time or the energy or the desire to design every single post from scratch, that's exactly where the visibility vault comes into play. And you can grab these templates, you can choose what you want your content to accomplish, you can customize it for your brand and then you can post it.

[A]

So I'll put the link in the

[B]

show notes, but for now, your assignment is so very simple. Create one split screen static post this week, create one strategic carousel using attention, retention, value in action. And then I want you to get in your car and yap about something that you actually have an opinion on this week. Don't overcomplicate it. You probably have everything you need to create content that grows your account. So go post it. And remember my one request today.

[A]

What was it? Please go.

[B]

Leave me a five star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Let me know you like the podcast. I'm so grateful you're here and I will see you next week.