u/SameProcedure3173

The Plateau
I've been growing my personal brand account for 6 months, right now at 2k followers. Before that I took my app's page to 25k followers on IG, so I know the basics about making content.

Initially my profile was growing really fast, got to 1k followers in less than 2 months. But after that it slowed A LOT, and since february I was stuck at 1.6~1.7k followers.

Mainly because my format got saturated with my viewers, so the Reels weren't pushing beyond them, just a little.

I've heard some influencers talking how effective Trials Reels were so I decided to test. Seriously at the beginning it sucked (got 150 views on a reels ??), but after the 3º one it just clicked.

In the last 7 days I got +200 followers and got to the 2k followers mark, and I'm confident that I can hit 3k by the end of May.

How am I using it?

Basically everytime I'm doing a content, I record 3 different hooks for the same script. I just change the initial phrases and that's it.

Seems like nothing right? But in some cases one hook got to over 5k views while to other ones died at the 200 mark, crazy.

Tips to be more effective

Leave the reels there for at least 4~8h. It takes a while for it to get traction, and some times the winning hook/post changes.

The first ones will probably suck, but after the algorithm finds non-followers that engage with you, the next ones will get way more views.

The best part is that even after promoting the winning one to your profile, the loser variants keep delivering to non-followers.

How to know what hooks to test

Always try to change the angle of each variant. Make on of the content focus on an happy outcome, others spark curiosity, maybe a more clickbait one.

Sometimes I test the text overlay on screen, some times the spoken hook. What's helping me is a tool I made to propose hooks for each content based on past posts' performance

Just for context, it was a study app for university students. Took me almost 3 year to cross 100k users.

1º mistake: Focusing only one country/language

This is by far the biggest regret I have, mainly because it delayed our growth A LOT.

Right now it is so easy to add multiple languages and market your product everywhere. Seriously, just do it.

Specially if you are in the same situation as me, which is launching on a Tier 3 country. Even though I had this many users, my conversion sucked and I never managed to get it over 2~3% (From install to paid).

2º mistake: Not studying the market properly

I launched the product when I was a student, so no brainer right? Wrong.

I targeted the worst audience first (college students) instead of the ones willing to pay. And since I was a student, I thought I knew all the features the product needed.

Never do that, always talk to your users and let them decide.

3º mistake: Not pivoting early enough

I don't know why, but even though the signs were clear (bad conversion rate, poor retention), I still thought that I could brute force this product into success.

And after 3 years trying, I'm changing my focus to other products. Would be way faster if I had faced reality as it is.

It still makes some money though and gave me so much learnings, so not a waste of time.

Exactly one month ago (march 20) I launched my new SaaS, which is an agent to help small creators and businesses grow their audiences faster on Instagram and TikTok. Basically it replaces a social media manager.

I was able to get the first subscribers (17 active right now) just by making content on IG. Here is proof on TrustMRR. I posted something around 20 videos in my personal branding account, which has almost 2k followers.

These people are actively using it and giving me feedback, so I'm iterating really fast. They will probably renew the subscription, so I'm not worring with churn right now.

My goal is to hit $10k/month as fast as possible, ideally on 3 months but would be ok if it took until the end of the year.

The only problem is that I'm heavily dependent on my audience. Last 30 days I got +500 visitors on the Landing Page, but 90%+ from my country.

I'm already testing SEO and english content on IG, but still too early to see results. Any tips to accelerate international growth?

Also would really appreciate feedback on my Landing Page. Is the value proposal clear?