The Secret to a Great TikTok or Reel

They say that if something is free, then you are the product. Whether that’s two complimentary checked bags on a flight, or the ability to build a following on Social media, your reliance and loyalty is on a path to eventually be exploited.

Last July, Southwest Airlines announced that they would abandon their open seating model and add premium seat options beginning in May 2025. It turns out, those changes were only a teaser to the full heel turn made by the customer-centric airline last week. Southwest went on to announce the elimination of their Bags Fly Free policy & discounted Wanna Get Away fares, added strict time limits to flight credits, and a significant reduction to the rate at which members can earn free flights. In search of long term profitability, fueled by new private equity partners, these moves served as a kick in the midsection to the millions of loyal customers who came to appreciate and rely on Southwest for their fair and laid back approach to travel.

For craft breweries and beverage brands loyal to Instagram as their primary option to communicate with customers, a much slower rug pull has been taking place since around 2019. Much like Southwest’s plummeting stock price over the last four years, Instagram hit a low point in engagement early in the pandemic as TikTok’s popularity took off. Fundamental changes to the Social medium’s features and algorithm would quickly follow, to modernize their approach, but at the expense of the small to medium sized businesses counting on them most.

A brand’s ability to reach its followers has become more and more limited over time. High-performing, recommended videos are instead prioritized, which fit into niches that the user follows, thus keeping them engaged on the app more so than a photo of a craft brewery’s latest release or trivia night. Now to compete for attention on this app, brands have to shift their mindset away from their follower count to the quality of each piece of content. Thankfully though, there are ways to crack the code and today I’m going to share my best piece of advice for doing so.

Having hustled to build a beer-focused Instagram feed up to 23K followers by 2019, I felt the new algorithm’s impact personally as my own reach stalled around that time. Looking back, I don’t think I was doing anything particularly compelling by that point other than relying on my old, probably outdated schtick. Instead of kicking and screaming with entitlement, I looked to TikTok in search of a formula to keep doing and sharing what I love, while making the necessary adjustments that would prevent my feed from becoming stale and tired. What I found was a completely different language being spoken on TikTok that, when ported over to Instagram, would transform posts from an underperforming state to wildly over-performing.

Of course, the answer includes a switch over to video, which introduces new challenges and more variables to the equation, but that’s far from the secret sauce. About two years ago, I made one simple, yet massive change to my process that completely changed the trajectory of my Instagram feed. It allowed me to post better content, more often, and consume less of my time. My following more than doubled in these competitive times, while allowing the TikTok audience to catch up and eventually surpass Instagram in a fraction of the time. Today, it’s time to walk you all through what and why this change was so important and how it can be utilized by any individual, brand, or aspiring content creator.

@beeraficionado: August 30, 2013