Everyone tells you that you need to be an “influencer” on Instagram. But what does that really mean? Does that mean you should have 10,000 followers, 20,000 followers? Does it mean brands are knocking down your door to work with you? There’s no one key number that will grant you magical influencer status, but if you can really make your personality shine on social media, you will build a following. And more importantly, you’ll connect with that following.

Case in point: Today’s guest on the Wingnut Social podcast, Natalie Reddell. Natalie is an interior designer based in Richmond, Virginia, and under her social media nom de guerre Commander-in-Chic, she’s made a name for herself in both the interior design social media sphere and the lifestyle/beauty worlds. On this episode, Natalie discusses how she grew her following on Instagram, how she navigates speaking two different audiences, and what makes her #struggle videos connect so strongly with audiences. And let’s just say her personality is not restricted to Instagram.

• [2:45] News about some upcoming live events for Darla

• Natalie on Instagram

• LuAnn Live

Darla asked Natalie how she got started making her #struggle videos, and even though the videos are about her struggles, she says she started doing them because they’re fun. As she says, no matter how much good intention you have, if you don’t enjoy what you’re doing on social media, eventually you’re going to stop. So you have to have fun, and then your audience will have fun with you, too.

Natalie is a living, breathing example of what Wingnut Social always preaches: Be authentic, be yourself, and people will follow you. As you’ll hear on this episode, Natalie has a story to tell, and because she does it with so much personality, people want to hear it.

Like all of us, Natalie saw some of her engagement on Instagram fade away when the platform changed its algorithm. But, she says it has gotten better, and one of the reasons that’s gotten better for her is because she has been an early adopter of new Instagram features. So when IG put out IGTV, she hopped on right away, and she found they reward adopting new features.

You only get seen by 10% of your followers now, which is obviously very frustrating. But, if you adopt new features IG puts out, whether it’s stories, or live, you’ll pop up more. They want their users to be using all of the bells and whistles, and your followers will get notified if you go live, so it’s an if-you-can’t-beat-’em-join-’em approach to social media, and it’s worked like gangbusters for Natalie.

• www.WingnutSocial.com