What Gaining 550+ Followers in 10 Days from One Reel Taught Me
In digital media strategy, we often talk about engagement metrics: views, likes, comments, and shares. But the metric that ultimately defines growth is much simpler:
Did the viewer decide to follow?
On March 3rd, I posted a Reel experimenting with a concept I had tested once before (Video Link Here): turning EDM festival culture into gym workouts. The idea was simple. Each exercise mirrored something familiar to festivalgoers:
Shuffling as a warm-up
“Monster stomps” as squats
Headbanging as good mornings
Weighted lunges framed as “shoulder rides”
The video itself wasn’t especially complex. It was a 30-second compilation filmed in the gym with text overlays describing each exercise. But a few details were overlapped to create organic growth.
The song in the video, “Pop, Lock & Drop It” by Izzy Vadim & Huey, was chosen for a few reasons: the bouncy beat which makes an exercise video easy because of the tempo and pacing, Izzy Vadim had just played a show in Seattle about 4 days prior and is actively on tour for the next couple months.
The hashtags #seattle #pnw #edm #gymmotivation #festivalseason, opened up the audience to all festival goers and not just ravers, opened up the audience to general gym goers.
At the end of the video, I added a line of text: “Follow for Level Advanced.” This “call-to-action” is important especially since my videos were getting over 90% views by non-followers.
After posting the video, the results surprised me.
As of March 13th, - 10 days after the reel was posted the reel generated:
99,620 views
17,420 interactions
5,350 shares
550 new followers
For comparison, a previous Reel with over 165,000 views produced only 20 follows. The difference wasn’t reach. It was the call-to-action, song selection, and hashtag selection.
Why Song Selection, Hashtags, & Calls-to-Action Work
Many creators assume that if viewers enjoy the content, they will naturally follow. But behavior research suggests otherwise. Online audiences are passive by default. Even when viewers enjoy a post, they rarely take additional action unless prompted. A call-to-action removes ambiguity, and tells the audience exactly what to do next. In this case, the CTA worked because it framed the account as an ongoing series rather than a single post which makes viewers feel like they weren’t just watching a workout video, they were joining a sequence. Song selection can determine who sees a reel. If viewers are following an artist, or listening to their songs already, like the genre, the are more likely to engage with the video. Hashtags were also important in this reel because they categorized the content to Seattle, the PNW, EDM fans, Gym goers, and Festival Goers.
The Strategic Lesson
The internet is full of content that entertains. But growth happens when content also directs behavior. This Reel reinforced an important principle I now apply consistently when creating short-form media:
Engagement captures attention.
But direction converts audiences.
Sometimes the difference between a viral video and a growing audience is song selection, a call-to-action, and hashtags.
@Poetatehoe Instagram as of 3/16/2026
@Poetatehoe Instagram as of 1/29/2026