[Social Media Growth - August 2023] Instagram continues to outperform other platforms

If you’re new here, you might want to read:

• The June update and the background of this project

• The July update

🎉 August’s highlight: My first viral video crossed 1M views on Instagram and one of my TikTok videos got 16.4K views

My niches

• Relationships

• Personal Growth

• Intentional Living

Where I’m posting

• Instagram: 6000 (up 184% from 2111 followers)

• TikTok: 505 followers (up 46% from 346 followers)

• Youtube: 606 followers (up 2.5% from 591 followers)

Frequency of posting

• Daily on Instagram and Tiktok

• Weekly on YouTub

Things I’ve learned this month

1. TikTok and Instagram behave very differently. What performs well on TikTok doesn’t do as well on Instagram and vice versa, at least for my niches and video formats.

2. For TikTok, it’s all about retention. You need to offer something of value and edit your video in a way that will keep users watching. You do need to put effort into it. TikTok’s algorithm is quite fair in that regard. Most of the time, content that can capture attention will do well. I’m excited to experiment more!

3. One of my personal goals is to improve my communication skills or become a better communicator. So I’m planning to do more unscripted talking videos on TikTok. I’ll pick a topic and will talk for 2-3 minutes without editing excessively. I’ll report on how that goes!

4. On TikTok, the number of followers doesn’t always positively correlate with the number of views, so it isn’t a metric I focus on. If your video’s retention is high, then naturally you’ll have views and followers, but just because you have lots of followers doesn’t mean your videos will automatically get views —unless you’ve built a very strong personal brand and community and people will just watch anything you post.

5. For Instagram, it’s a lot more about visuals. I’ve observed that videos that do well are often short and made with trending background music. People do read captions on Instagram while on TikTok, I haven’t found them to be very helpful.

6. Youtube is still a hard one to crack for me. I think I need to show up more consistently there. I do really enjoy making long-form videos. But my retention isn’t high at the moment. I feel motivated to get better at creating hooks and compelling storytelling. I’ve started a new series called My Immigrant Journey. Episode 1 is now live and I will continue to post new episodes every other week (It takes quite a long time to script, film, and edit.)

7. While I’m still keen to grow my channels and my community online, I want to minimise my dependence on showing up every day on social media for income. It’s just so unpredictable and potentially draining. I’ll make sure to diversify.

8. I don’t want posting to be a chore. I want to have fun with it. And I think I’m having fun. It’s very important to draw boundaries, switch off, and be present. I’ve found scrolling on TikTok to be harmful to my mental health, even though sometimes it’s helpful to find inspiration that way. So a balance is a must.

9. I’ll give myself a year to keep up with this project without any questions. No self-doubt. So let’s see how it goes!

See you next month!