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I’ve always said that if I ever went viral, it would be for something stupid. I’d be filmed saying something grammatically incorrect. Or trip and fall face-first into the concrete in front of Ryan Eggold (after saying something grammatically incorrect).
Apparently, manifestation is truly a thing.
The PUNCHLINE
I made an Instagram reel.
Within 24 hours, it had 1.2 million views. 10,000+ likes. and 6,944 shares.
Here's what happened next.
THE BACKSTORY
It started like any old Monday. Slowly and with (decaf) coffee that I firmly believe wakes me up.
Late afternoon, my best friend send me a reel she thought I’d find funny because we have an inside joke about the pronunciation of the word “croissant.”
I laughed hysterically and clicked on the account of the stand-up comedian who made it.
He only had 554 followers, which I thought was a crime because he's so funny. I screenshot his account and shared it to my stories, hoping that a member of my community of 8 would also be thrilled to discover him.
He replied to my story via DM and said thank you. His account had been hacked 2 week prior and he was starting all over.
I thought, "How can I better share him with my community (of 8)?"
I could repost to my feed (but to repost a reel I figured I'd have to download some new app I didn't know how to work) or I could try one of those duet things.
The duet option made more sense. It was quick and didn't require that I download a new app.
So I made a ridiculous duet of me "reacting" to Dylan's hilarious reel.
I never thought anyone beyond my community of 8 would see it (or care). If I'd known this would happen, I would've used better lighting and put on mascara (and put my new book, a CTA, or the mere mention of what I do in the caption!)
Within an hour, the reel went a little viral.
It hit 162k views in 8 hours and was up to 1.2 million by the next morning.
I couldn’t keep up with my activity updates.
After 30 hours later, it had 1.2 million views, 10,000 likes, and 6980 shares.
(My previous reel, posted earlier that morning) had 172 views and 12 likes. The post before that? 8 likes. And the one before that? 6.
Now, saying “it’s no big deal” is like saying “hitting the NYT bestseller list is no big deal.” (Kind of.)
But it's not a big deal for the reasons you might think.
In this episode of Write the Damn Book Already, I break down my experience and explore why thinking that anything is a magic bullet is dangerous. It's important to explore our expectations and assumptions when it comes to going viral, hitting a (real) bestseller list, having a million followers on social media, or quickly (and non-methodically) growing an email list of 20,000.
The lessons (so far) in a nutshell
Sometimes, 12 likes on a post or a reel brings an interested (and, with any luck, kind) new subscriber or invested follower, while 9,974 likes brings nothing but a number.
When you put yourself out there (intentionally or otherwise), be prepared. Many of the comments on the reel were so mean that I deleted them. There will always be someone who says something illogically unkind. It’s almost never about you. My delete/block/ignore game is strong, but strangers saying horrible things to/about you sucks. And I’m 50! It hurts m
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