Okay, I want you to do something with me right now. I want you to open up Instagram. I want you to scroll back through your last 10 posts and just take a look at them.

I want you to honestly ask yourself, "Did these perform the way that I wanted them to? Did they perform the way that I hoped they would?" And if the answer is no, that's okay. We're gonna go through that today. What I want you to know is that there's almost always a specific reason why it didn't perform the way that you had hoped, and it's not random.

It's not that the algorithm hates you. It's not that you have bad luck. There are four main things that will kill post performance, and once you know what they are, you're gonna be able to immediately see what went wrong with your post and fix it for the next one. And that's what I hope that you get out of today's episode.

Most people will look at a post that didn't perform the way that they'd hoped and think that you just need to try something completely different next time, but you never actually figure out why it didn't work. So what you do is you just kind of s- keep repeating the same mistakes over and over again without realizing it.

And what I want you to take away from this episode is that you have a real framework, so that way you can go back and kind of diagnose what the problem is in your last few posts and be able to change it up for the following post. I want you to see exactly what went wrong. I want you to be able to fix it before your next one goes out.

And I don't want you to beat yourself up about past content. Like, if it didn't perform the way that it hoped, it's actually giving us a really good indicator of what we can change and, like, then we know we don't wanna post something like that again. It's just simply about getting smarter about our content so that every post we make will have a better shot at landing.

And sometimes it does take a lot of trial and error. Even for me, if I'm trying out a new style of content, it takes trial and error, and that's okay. So we're gonna get right into it, and we're gonna chat about each reason why your content might not have performed the way that you want it to. Reason number one is probably the most common, and it's that your hook didn't stop the scroll.

It's honestly the main one, and it's the main reason why a post will underperform, and it's also the most fixable. If your hook doesn't grab somebody in the first, like, one to two seconds, they're leaving, and that's not your fault. And then what happens is Instagram's like, "Oh, nobody actually wants to watch this Reel, so we're not gonna show it to anybody else."

But no one ever actually saw your content. No one saw the meat, the good stuff that you wanted to talk about or the good stuff that you wanted to share in your caption, simply because your hook didn't get their attention, and that is so frustrating. I know. It is so frustrating. At that point, it won't even matter how good your tips are or how beautiful your graphic is or how much time you spent on the caption or on the carousel.

If the hook doesn't do its job, nothing else is gonna even get a little bit of a chance. A weak hook will look something generic, typically like five tips to grow on Instagram, or if you start a reel with, like, dead space or dead air instead of, like, talking immediately as soon as it starts. But a strong hook will create an immediate reaction from somebody, whether that's curiosity or they can see themselves in it, or maybe they're surprised by something, or, um, that relatable moment of, "Oh my gosh, this is totally me."

Every single post needs a hook that will earn the next second of attention. You are trying to earn people's trust, earn them watching your entire video the whole way through. Reason number two is that your content might be too generic and didn't speak to one person. We talked about this in the last episode, but it shows up in performance data, especially with new clients and new students that I get when I onboard them It's very generic content that is typically the problem.

When content is written for a broad general audience, it doesn't create deep resonance with somebody, and deep resonance is what's gonna create saves, shares, comments, sales. And it's just gonna get, like, a passive watch and like, "Oh, that's kinda cool," or even just, like, someone's gonna scroll right past it.

So if you look back at your last 10 posts and most of them could apply to literally any business owner or any woman on Instagram or whatever your, like, main general niche is, if it can, if it can apply to everybody, you're not really talking to anybody. The posts that are gonna perform best right now are the ones where the right person is gonna stop and think like, "Wait, she's talking about me right now."

I want you to really get specific in your content. It feels weird to get super specific in your content, 'cause you're like, "Well, then only a few people are going to understand it." Yeah, but the right people are gonna stop, and the right people are gonna be able to watch your whole reel the whole way through.

That's the purpose. It can feel like you're narrowing your reach a little bit, but specificity is gonna be what drives people to actually trust you and want to watch more of what you have to say. Reason three is that there's no, like, open loop or call to action, like what to do next. Should I follow them?

Should I save it? Should I share it? Do I have to buy something? Do I have to get a freebie? So they just, like, watched it. They got, like, a, a nice good tip, and then they just moved on to the next one. There was no reason for them to stick around on your page any longer. Content without a call to action or without an open loop is just like having a good conversation and then just walking away from somebody.

Oh, but no, I just met you, and I kinda wanna be friends. Like, should we exchange numbers or something? So people consume your content, and maybe they liked your content, but then they had nowhere to go with it, so they just kept scrolling. They didn't know that you talk about this all the time. They didn't know that you have a free offer that's gonna help them even more.

They didn't know they can get on a free call with you to be able to get an audit. They didn't know any of this, so they're just gonna keep going. And a call to action doesn't have to be a big sales push. It's simply like, "Hey, save this for later," or, uh, "If you have a friend going through this, send it to them," or, "DM me the word blank, and I'm gonna send you this free thing," or, "Tell me if you agree with this in the comments," or like, "Tell me if you have a different way of doing this that's gonna help more people."

The point is to give people one clear action to take so that the engagement will actually happen instead of just people watching. Reason four is that you're just trying to post for the Instagram algorithm, and you're not actually posting for your audience. So you're just, like, following all the trends, figuring out the little hacks to do in order to make people see more of your stuff.

And this one is super sneaky because it really feels like you're doing the right thing. You... What you do is you research the audios. You use, maybe you still use hashtags. You post it at the perfect time for your audience. The content itself was created with, like, just pleasing the algorithm rather than attracting your human.

Like you're attracting other humans on this app. We're not just, like, working for an algorithm. We're trying to attract other humans to us People can feel that. Content that is simply just for reach instead of created for connection, it feels flat, it feels boring. It will check boxes, but it doesn't make anyone actually feel something.

And if I can give you anything from this episode, is that your content should make people feel something. Like, feel ready to take action, feel seen, feel heard. Make them feel like you actually understand them. The algorithm will reward content that people are loving. Like, people are commenting, they're saving, they're sharing, they're doing stuff with.

So the best way to please the algorithm is actually to stop thinking about the algorithm and to start thinking about the one person that you're trying to help the most. Don't worry, I'm not just gonna leave you there. I'm gonna give you fixes for all of these right now. So fix number one, I want you to audit your last 10 hooks before you do anything else.

That's the first step, because this is usually the main problem. Go through your last 10 posts and write down the first line or the first visual of each one, and then ask yourself, "Would that make me stop scrolling?" If the answer is no for most of them, then your hook is your biggest opportunity. I want you to spend more time on that first line of every single post, the thing that you say, the thing that pops up, the thing that's on your carousel.

Test different styles. Try a question, try a bold statement, try a hot take. Um, maybe a relatable scenario, like a stat that makes people be like, "Oh my gosh, I had no idea." And see which one your audience responds to, and do more of that. Fix number two is to pick one specific person and rewrite your next post specifically for that person.

Before you create your next post, think about maybe a past client or, like, your past self, and think about, "What do they need to hear right now? What can I help them with right now? And what are they feeling right now? What is she frustrated about right now? What would she type into Instagram or to Google for help with right now?"

Write the post like you're sending it directly to her, like it's your best friend and she just asked you for help about, with something that you're really good at, and you're just spitballing stuff back at her because she knows you're good at it, and you can help her. Then, what I want you to do is look back at those last 10 posts and ask how many of them were written with that same specificity.

That gap is where performance is leaking. Fix number three, you're going to add a call to action to every post. Every single one. It does not have to be a call to action to buy something. Go look at your last 10 posts right now, check how many of them had a clear, specific call to action. Not just, like, "Let me know what you think," but, like, a real next step.

Um, I love ManyChat for this. I think ManyChat's a great way to do it. Also, just inviting them to have a conversation in the comments. Just pick, like, one to three types of call to action to practice for next month, whether that's, like, a ManyChat DM, maybe it's, like, a save prompt, a question that invites a response, or, like, um, a call for people to share.

My favorite one to do right now is open loops to follow, like, "If you like what I'm sharing, I share more of this all the time. Like, follow me for more." Something like that, that gets people like, "Oh, like she shares this kind of stuff all the time. I'm definitely gonna follow her." Fix number four is before you post your next post, ask yourself, "Who is this for?"

Like, not, what strategy does this serve, or what will the algorithm think of this, but who is the real human on the other side of this, and what do I want her to feel when she sees this post? And if you can't answer that question clearly, the post isn't quite ready yet. Just go back and think about it with that specific question in mind.

Here is what I really want you to take from this episode, is that your last 10 posts did not underperform because you're bad at this. They underperformed because of, like, very, very specific and fixable things, and now you know what those things are. That is super powerful. And if you think of it like a little bit of an experience and helping a bestie out, I bet you're gonna do so much better.

Most people just keep posting and, like, hoping something works, but now you have an actual framework to look at any piece of content and understand why it did or did not land, and that is gonna change a lot for your Instagram. The gap between creators who grow consistently and creators who feel stuck, it's not like a talent thing or a luck thing or a follower count thing.

It's really just, like, about making people feel something and using what works and doing more of that. And then it's also a willingness to, like, keep changing and keep adjusting. If something's not working, change. Even if something has worked for, like, a month or two, it might not keep working for forever, so then you might have to adjust again.

And yes, does that get frustrating? Sure. But just thinking about it through the lens of, "How can I help somebody?" is going to be a major shift for you. As with all these episodes, I love doing a quick recap and an action challenge for you. So your recap is the four reasons that your last 10 posts probably did not perform.

One, the hook did not stop the scroll. Two, the content was too generic, and it didn't speak to one specific person. Three, there was no clear call to action, so people just kinda consumed it and moved on. And four, you're actually posting for the Instagram algorithm instead of for a real human being on the other side.

Your four main fixes are to rewrite your weak hooks, to pick one specific person and write your next post directly for that person, add clear call to actions to every single post from here on out, and then before you post anything, ask yourself who this is actually for and what do you want that person to feel when they see your post.

Your action challenge. You're going to go back through your last 10 posts. You're gonna pick the one that performed the worst. Out of your last 10 posts, which one performed the worst? Now, look back at that post through these four lenses. Figure out which one is the main problem. Did the hook stop the scroll?

Was it specific enough? Did it have a clear call to action? Was it written for a real person, or did you write it to try to please the algorithm? Then I want you to write down what you find. It might be a combination, it might be mainly one. That's your answer. Then I want you to rewrite that post with everything you just learned from this episode and post it again.

I really think you're gonna be surprised at what happens the second time that you post it. And if you're like, "Okay, Nicole, great, but, like, I have no idea what the right hooks to use are," listen, if you want your hooks, your calls to action, your content strategy already baked into your content every single week for you, that's what Plug and Post is for.

Every single week, I give you everything you need to post with confidence. It's literally your B-roll reels, your talking head script, your carousels, and an AI tool that literally takes it and makes it into your voice with your specific goals for your Instagram in mind. If you've been listening for a while and you're still trying to figure this out on your own, the membership is the next step, and I'd love to invite you in.

We have live Q&A calls. It's really fun, and the link is below. I hope you have a fantastic rest of your week, and I'll catch you next time. Thanks for hanging out with me today. I hope you're walking away with at least one actionable takeaway to make creating content easier. If you loved today's episode, it would mean the world if you could take 10 seconds to leave a review or screenshot this episode and tag me on Instagram.

I'd love to connect and see your new content. Always cheering for you. See you next time