It’s been a ride – going viral on Instagram (IG). Not what I expected in my 74th year. But after so many years I have learned to expect the unexpected.
Learning – that’s what made the difference
I entered this new world of IG about one year ago and I stayed well within my comfort zone. I wrote blogs about what really mattered to me, then carefully created posts on Canva to post, inviting people to visit my blog and read.
Very few people took up the invitation. The posts looked fine and had good content, but that was useless if no one read them. It’s obvious now that a new world required me to learn and find out how it all worked.
It took TEDx to get me going
I loved doing the TEDx talk. This was my chance to get out the message that retrofit was a win for everyone – good for the climate, excellent for comfort and brilliant for the bank balance.
Then the talk went up on Youtube and the real learning hit. In theory I knew I needed to work at inviting people take a look – of course I did. But the reality was something else. As so often happens to me, I know something logically for a while before it really gets me in the gut and I can find the energy to get moving. TEDx did that for me.
Instagram training
So I signed up for online training on Instagram and iphone. Really interesting stuff.
I rarely do things by halves and this was no exception. I took in the message – don’t just put out your message. Be interesting, vary your offering, let people get to know you.
I started a series of interesting things in my home. Put up a few, then it was the turn of the dishwasher. And we were off………..
At time of writing there are 5.25 million views.
Then came the counterbalanced stairs up to the loft. Approaching 10 million views as I write.
I’m learning more every day
I dreamt for two nights running that I was back at Uni. My days feel like that – just learning one thing after another. And I’m very sure there is a lot more to go.
I look at all the people who talk of having months of content planned and I feel deep envy. I’m still working by the seat of my pants. I feel great in the evening if my new reel is getting some traction, then wake up next morning and realise I have to start all over again.
It’s an exciting journey and I’m enjoying myself. I’m chatting to some interesting people and managing (most of the time) to ignore the negativity.
And I’m discovering new things about myself – not least that people love my voice. Now that has taken me by surprise – seems I have a potential career in reading audio books!
Let the next stage commence – Instagranny is getting out there!