The shift that took us from 20k to 100k

When you first start a business or a social media account, you'll probably find someone to copy or find inspiration from. (Even we did this before we found our way). 
 
We always say this is a good idea - and it is... but only when you first start out.

Drawing inspiration and copying video ideas is great to "get the ball rolling" on your own ideas and your own growth. 

You can also find gaps where your competition is lacking but if you copy their essence, their personality, their brand image, you'll always fall short and ultimately fail. 

Inspiration and copying are two very different things but you do need inspiration to start any kind of creative project.

But copying someone completely is actually quite hard. You'll know if you're doing it so don't be put off by drawing inspiration from others to begin with.  

Here's how our social media growth happened. 
 
... 
 
When we first started Boring Studios, we looked at our competitors and we started to make content like theirs. Dull, boring, business-ey style content.
 
We kept it "professional" by dressing neatly, all in black with professional language to match. 

So scared of a hair out of place or word off script - it was so taxing to put on this "facade" every day.

It wasn't us and we weren't being authentic. 
 
But we thought this was how it was supposed to be. 

We saw a little growth - some but not massive. 

Tired and bored of the content we were creating, we looked at social media accounts who were not in our industry to gain inspiration for video ideas. 

We started to push out more creative content and it felt more genuine as we started to have more fun and have less "rules". 
 
Our language became more us and we weren't scared to be ourselves anymore. 
 
The black clothes came off (not in a nude way) and we started dressing and behaving like ourselves. 
 
Our content changed and became more enjoyable to make with no rules. 
 
We spoke our minds and gave our audience our real selfs. 
 
And here my friend is where we saw our business truly take off. 
 
We went from 20k followers to 100k followers all organically over the course of 4-5 months. 

We overtook our competition and became a unique blend of our continued inspiration and of course, our own personalities and essence. 
 
Our audience could feel our authenticity and that played a huge role in our social media and business growth. 

Like of course there were other factors; our content improved and changed over time and we remained 100% consistent, no matter what the numbers showed. 
 
But there are a few lessons here; 

- Most people will give up when they don't see growth instantly. Don't do this. Adapt, overcome and try new things until you find what works for you.

- Copying people will never help you get ahead. Find inspiration when you are starting out - absolutely but don't try to be someone else. 

- Bonus tip: Don't make videos similar to those who have 1 million followers when starting out because it's a different ball game at that level. You won't grow by posting videos like theirs. Find inspiration from the 10k accounts.  

- Finally, being yourself and creating the content you feel most aligned with will help you grow. Don't try to be your competitors, it will never work because you can only be you. (And that's even better). 

Social media is saturated but people are still hungry for content. (Yum). 

People are looking for uniqueness, inspiration and for you to be you. 

That's when you'll see the growth. 
 
P.S. If you're looking for the exact content planner we use to keep our content organised, you can find it here. 

XO 
Pen