#1 reason creators FAIL

June 11th, 2025

Read Time: 3 Minutes 42 Seconds

Hey, it’s Robert.

In today’s edition:

The biggest mistake holding creators back
How to reverse-engineer growth using data
A simple system to turn views into income

Why Your Instagram Account Isn’t Growing

Have you ever wondered how some creators can rack up millions of views…

Trackhouse - 1M views/post
SecondHandNeel - 200K views/post
Rawdawgclub - 300K views/post

While others stay stuck chasing trends that don’t convert?

Here’s the truth most people ignore:

Successful creators don’t rely on luck. They rely on data.

Because when you treat social media like a business, you start acting like a strategist, not just a creator.

Data is the only roadmap you need for consistent growth.

It helps you:

Find what actually works
Eliminate guesswork
Build a repeatable content machine

Let’s break down how you can use data to transform your Instagram growth.

1. Competitor Research

To avoid posting blindly, use data that’s already out there, sitting in public view.

Analyzing competitors helps you:

Spot viral patterns in your niche
Find content-market fit content
Steal proven content ideas from day 1

At first, posting content can feel overwhelming.

Especially when you have spent hours or even days working on a video, only to see it flop.

How do you research competitors?

Well, there’s more than 1 approach. But here’s what you should do step-by-step.

1) Find 5-10 Direct Competitors

Type in niche-related keywords in the search engine to quickly identify the biggest competitors of your niche.

Once you have found a strong creator, tap on the “Similar Accounts’’ button to discover more similar accounts.

BUT! Keep in mind this one thing.

Avoid just analyzing the top 1% of your niche.

Instead, go for creators with 10K–500K followers. They’re close enough to your level, but still crushing it.

If your niche is broad (like fitness or food), skip massive accounts like Chris Bumstead. Instead, look for creators quietly winning in your lane of followers.

2) Identify Their Content Buckets

Once you have found at least 5 competitors, look through their viral videos.

After you have done that for all 5 accounts, write down repeating patterns:

What are they posting about?
What formats do they use?
What’s consistent across creators?

This tells you what content your audience already loves.

3) Analyze the Structure of Viral Videos

To understand the structure of viral videos, break each post into smaller pieces.

Focus on analyzing these elements:

Verbal hooks: Context, framework, clarity
Visual hooks: actions, angles, aesthetics
Title hooks: text on the screen
Video topics: idea behind the video

Analyze the 10 most viral videos from each of your competitors and save that information in a document.

For the research, use this website extension, which allows you to sort Instagram & Tiktok videos by most views, likes, comments, and much more.

For the document, you can use my free template or create your file where you can store all the data.

You’ll now have a swipe file of what works in your niche.

2. Analyzing What’s Already Working

There are two ways to use your top-performing videos.

1) Video format hacking

When a video on your account has gone viral, don’t make the mistake of ignoring it.

Instead, take the same idea and recreate it in new formats.

You can repurpose 1 video into more than 8 different video formats:

1-4: Voiceover, Reaction, Green screen, Multitasking

5-8: Visual, Street interview, Podcast, Talking back & forth

This lets you post the same concept in 8 different ways with no need to start from scratch.

Example:

1st version: video on ‘‘being gifted’’ (b-roll voiceover)
2nd version: video on ‘‘being gifted’’ (talking to camera)

2) Repurposing Viral Elements

Instead of changing the video format, you can extract the ingredients from a viral post and reuse them.

First, break down the viral element:

What kind of hook worked?
What format or structure did you use?
What was the key insight?

Then, test it in new posts.

Examples:

Jesha Stevens: Same visual hook every time
Georgia Heins: Same script structure + topic
Benjamin Delwiche: Same visual hook every time

Consistency builds recognition. But Familiarity builds trust.

3. Build a Content System

The only way to grow consistently is to post consistently, and that means having a clear system.

Organize your content into buckets so you always know what to post.

Yes, we already touched content buckets. But now it’s time to use the data to create your very own content system.

Your buckets will also serve as a content funnel, guiding strangers into buyers.

Here’s how a content funnel works:

Awareness → Consideration → Conversion

Let’s break it down with a real example, say you’re a weight loss coach.

1) Awareness: Introduce Your Brand

In this part, the goal is to provide informative content that addresses their individual needs.

Create engaging, relatable content for a broad audience.

Example: Comparing the amount of calories in different foods in an engaging way, using Georgia Heins’ example.

This content is appealing to a mass audience, building reach.

2) Consideration: Build Trust

Here, you have to provide in-depth content to build trust & authority.

Example: Educate your audience on sleep, stress, or eating habits.

The content is targeted at only your target audience, building trust to convert them into customers.

3) Conversion: Turn Views into Sales

Finally, you encourage them to take action and make the purchase.

Example: Post testimonials in your stories and videos sharing clients’ weight loss transformation.

This is the final step to address any of their questions or concerns to take action.

To simplify:

Go wide with value
Go deep with trust
Close with proof

If you consistently rotate 3–5 content buckets, you’ll never run out of ideas, and your audience will always know what to expect.

Bonus Tip: Use YouTube to Find Unlimited Ideas

If you’re ever stuck on what to post next, don’t just scroll Reels.

Go to YouTube.

Type your niche keywords in YouTube’s search bar and find the most viral videos.

Find the best titles and repurpose them into hooks and video topics for short-form content.

Here’s a great example:

YouTube video with 6M views: "What Are Your Salary Expectations?" interview question & best example answer!’’

Instagram video with 50M views: ‘‘How to answer one of the trickiest interview questions: ‘What are your salary expectations?’”

Same idea. Just adapted to short form.

That’s all for this week!

Quick favor: Do you prefer these longer value-packed emails or the shorter ones?