Alright y’all, it’s been 2 years since I posted the original How to Make Your Cat Instagram Famous [in 2018].

Originally, I had posted 5 tips that I was going to implement to make Nala & Charlie Instagram famous. I won’t repeat the tips here, but rather, I’ll take you through what worked, what didn’t, and what my next journey is going to look like.

So, go over to the old post if you want to get some tips and brainstorm for your journey.

How did I do?

September 2018 – Start of the Journey

In my original post from September 2018, these were my Instagram stats:

September 2020 – Result: Where We Are Now

My stats have improved for sure. But, it’s not at the famous level at all. We’re now at:

• Today: October 11, 2020
• # of posts: 346 posts
• Average frequency of posts: 1 post every 2.6 days
  • What that really looked like was I had weekly bursts here and there where I posted everyday and then stopped for months at a time
• Followers: 145 (+90 more followers in 2 years. I’ll take 90 over 0!)
• Following: 106
• Profile blurb: “Nala & Charlie: The cats behind IndoorCatGuide”
• Most # of likes on a post: 46
• Least # of likes on a post: 3

Observations – What Worked Well

Daily posts in a row got a lot of likes

The posts with the most number of likes weren’t particularly stand-out. But what I observed was that posts after a string of daily posts got a lot of likes.

It’s almost as if the algorithm pushed the pics in front of more audience as a reward for you posting daily.

So, when social media gurus say you need to keep pushing out content everyday, I did see first hand what they mean.

Crisp photos

Those photos where I took outside of Nala where in the natural light, the photos came out crisp and made Nala look fierce were the ones that got a lot of likes.

Photos with stories

Photos that had a caption to illustrate what’s happening in the photo, whether it’s fictional or not, got more likes than photos with no caption or boring caption.

When I say “stories”, I don’t mean a long narrative about what happened that resulted in the photo. It can be as simple as putting a relatable 2 word caption. For example, “Nala the Rabbi got a lot of likes and hedonistic Nala tanning in the sun also got a lot of likes.

Revised hashtags

I started out with a bunch of hashtags in my old post, but over time, I revised them here and there. Now, the new batch of hashtags I use are:

#instacat #instacats #meow #kittycat #cutecat #instapet #catoftheday #catlovers #catlover #animals #catlove #mypet #catitude #ilovecats #cats #catsofinstagram #instacat_meows #kitty #instakitty #cutecats #cateyes #catmom #catlady #catmama #furryfriend #whiskers #mainecoon #abyssinian #catart

And I swap out a few with thematic ones like #suntancat or #[cat item brand]

Restarting Another 30 Day Daily Posting – What’s Different This Time

My increase in followers is absolutely not impressive by any means. But, my dismal “daily” posting bursts did get me another 90 followers.

The interesting thing is that after the month of daily posting, I achieved 145 and the follower count has fluctuated give or take a few from that number for the last two years.

So, my theory is that another 30 day burst of daily posting will get me more followers and then it will stay around that level again. We’ll check back after 30 days and see if we get more followers and if we want to continue with the strategy or pivot.

What’s different this time

This time, I’m doing 2 things differently.

First, I’ve leveled up my art + cat photos. And, this time I made sure to add some story context since that seems to work.

Secondly, I organized and planned my posts for the next 30 days instead of scrambling last minute what to post. How I did that is:

1. I created 30 days worth of art manipulation on each photo. I also have a caption made for each one.
2. I put a reminder in my calendar at 11am everyday for the next 30 days to post.
3. Then, I created a scheduler of what to post everyday in advance. I used google docs to plan which day I’m going to post what and a caption that I will copy and paste. And since I can’t post on Instagram from my laptop, I have google docs on my phone as well. Here’s a snapshot of the schedule I made to post for the next 3 weeks:

My original plan was to schedule them to auto publish in advance using an app. But after searching and downloading free apps / websites to try, they all turn out to be 7-day trial scams. Ugh. So, my old-fashioned way should work.

And, according to the internet, the best time to post on Instagram is between 10am – 12pm, so that is what I shall do. I will post at 11am and have the photos ready to go.

Wish me luck! I’m excited to see where this journey goes and to share it with you guys. (It’ll be so embarrassing if I get like 5 new subscribers by the end of the 30 days… Oh well, if that’s reality, then that’s reality!)

If you’re interested in seeing the progress, show me some love over on my IG and leave me a comment!!