What I learnt from having 500k across social media

And why I decided to join Substack

Dec 20, 2023

I’ve read multiple essays in the past week around the topic of Social Media, (especially of how many wish to step away from it), and it urged me to contribute to the conversation from a perspective of someone with an audience of half a million for my main art business.

Disclaimed #1: This article is based on MY experience only. Yours may be completely different and if it is - please share it in the comments! I’m dying to know ❤️

Does having a lot of followers really make a difference?

The short answer: Yes.

The long answer: No.

Let me explain.

As any online creator, we can all agree that the content-creation treadmill that one inevitably finds him/herself in at one point or another, is not sustainable.

There will come a point where you ask yourself, when do I stop? When do I take a break?

At 10,000? 100,000? A million?

Most mainstream social medias are built on algorithms that favor consistency. This, along with the general culture of scheduling (you work from this time to that time, with lunch break here and coffee there), creates a systematic pressure to constantly keep up and let little freedom to just “act in a flow when inspiration hits”.

The latter is by the way the strategy that I use for this publication. Yep, completely against the strategising norm, but hey this is passion. This is art. This is potential. This is fun.

I’m a person who slowly fades away when confined with too many restrictions and rules (currently writing a collab piece about this with

Louise Tilbrook

so stay tuned for that). I frankly don’t even know how I would manage if I had a regular office job. I’d be a miserable rat.

When running your art business online, it’s almost like every piece of content you put out is a final exam, where you either pass or fail. The only difference is that you’ve got to redo the test again. EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. And for most platforms, multiple times a day.

In the months leading up to our first daughter’s birth in 2020, my husband scheduled 5-7 posts per day on Pinterest (I know, that was a lot).

It sounds outrageous for most creatives and visual artists. But that ground-work is what laid the foundation for years of consistent 10million unique views/month, growing to 190k followers and most importantly; Continuous new emails and paying customers.

The best part, it’s been mostly on autopilot since then. Those 7-ish months 2019/2020 of approximately 5 daily posts work for us to this day (and we’re closing in on 2024 reeaaaal quick).

So yes, social media is definitely a game-changer when the effort is put in the right place (think, long-term searchable content that doesn’t die 24-hours later).

What about Instagram (famous for short-lived content)?

I have about 200k and my husband 160k. It all started with a viral post back in 2016 (when I was completely new to Instagram and had just met my husband in Paris).

That one post of me holding my first architectural embroidery in front of the original building (which by the way got seen by a woman who lived there and contacted me to buy it!), got us shared in online art magazines all over the world. From there it was just a roller-coaster ride with crazy highs, and brutal lows.

It’s inexplicable to think that this image was what kickstarted our artistic careers. Who would’ve known.

As I write in “My plan on how to stay consistent on Substack”;

“You never know which post will be seen by whom when and where, which will bring you to the next level in your career”.

And when I say that, I don’t say that lightly. You. Never. Know.

Our online presence brought us our first traditional book deal for Mindful Embroidery which got published in 2020 (the publishers reached out to us), work with luxury brands, art exhibitions and creative students to our online embroidery academy from all over the world.

I’ll be forever grateful for the opportunities that social media have given artists to take charge of their own destinies as opposed to following “the starving artist” stereotype (highly recommend to read

Jeff Goins

’ bestselling book with the same name, if you haven’t already ofc.).

Yet, I think it would be ignorant to not recognise when things has its course. The only constant in life, is that it always changes.

Tiffany Chu

describes the current Instagram reality pretty accurately in her post “The trap of Instagram and Social media”:

By the time I get to the book I was eyeing, I’ve forgotten what I was there for and am so overstimulated and exhausted that I give up and leave the store. On the way out, someone pushes another flyer in my face.

This reminds me of a recent brief conversation with

Kat River

who shares a similar experience of having been able to be home to raise her kids with her hubby thanks to their online adventures and businesses.

You’re incredibly grateful, yet wish to disconnect all in the same time.

It’s like a dual paradox of gratitude and angst.

We wouldn’t have been able to lead the creative lives we do if it hadn’t been for social media, yet it drains you to keep up with it and you’re ultimately forced to find more sustainable models (such as newsletters!).

Why do I claim in the introduction that a lot of followers doesn’t necessarily make a difference?

It only matters if it matters to you.

If having a blue tick-mark, makes you feel better and more worthy, then it matters.

But there will come a time when the seasons change (it can be anything from algorithms to big personal life events) at which point a big following will not make a difference more than provide you with social proof (think testimonials) in the eyes of others.

For example, if you read this I guess that you may have gotten intrigued by the social metrics that I mention in the beginning. I’m not gonna lie, it serves its benefits in our modern societies where social metrics are a thing.

In this context, it serves me as proof of experience.

But a lot of followers doesn’t equal financial or personal success UNLESS it is the right audience and you’re actively engaged with them.

It can mean a great deal of success in the short-term, but without proper CONVERSION* strategies, you’ll be out of business tomorrow when the tide turns.

*When I refer to conversion it primarily means your ability to convert traffic from third-party platforms such as Instagram and Pinterest to your own website - preferably an email list, where you become the primary owner as opposed to the platform.

There are accounts with millions of followers who are broke. And then there are others with hardly any social media presence at all making BIG BUCKS.

There comes great responsibility with large audiences, which isn’t an easy task for the mind. Not only the feeling of “never being enough” (which fellow mamas probably know very well from raising littles), but also the feelings of judgement with every step you take (or word you say?!).

I’ve been blessed to be in a seemingly “nice niche”. But you’re still impacted.

The first couple of years we got recognised on the streets in Paris at multiple instances… that was quite an experience for an ordinary girl from the south of Sweden.

I’m still the same person, nothing changed. But to the outside world I was suddenly someone. It’s a tricky thing to navigate.

My only solution has always been: Be yourself. Some will hate you others will love you. And that’s OK.

Why Substack?

So far I’ve only seen

Claire Venus

here on Substack openly mention terminology like conversion rates (I imagine

Dan Blank

Russell Nohelty

and

Sarah Fay

to talk about it too, but haven’t had a chance to dive that deep yet). Let me know if there are more I should check out!

From my experience, conversion should be the first thing to consider when choosing a complementary social media platform to do your marketing. In addition to the standard “where do your people hang out?”, the next one should be “how is the platform designed to sustain my needs as a creator in the long-term?”.

I think we can all agree (especially parents) that we need platforms who can nurture our content in the long-run.

This is only one of the reasons why I decided to throw myself into the world of

Substack

when starting this new writing adventure.

The second reason is the question of ownership:

Who owns my content after it’s published?
How can it be found and repurposed later on?
And last but not least, how can I engage with my audience?

So far, Substack ticks all the boxes:

It nurtures your archive,
Makes content long-lived through the search bar,
Gives you full ownership (you can migrate your email list to any platform whenever you want)
Eliminates filters between you and your readers (you own the email addresses)
Promotes slow-creation, which lends for slow-consumption (which in turn builds stronger relationships, raving fans and potential increase in conversions…)
AND it includes explore features where you can discover new writers (and gain new readers).

For example, the aforementioned article “The trap of Instagram and Social Media” by

Tiffany Chu

was written in October, yet seems to have gained traction again recently (that’s probably why Substack randomly pushed it in front of my eyes today).

That right there (to me at least) is a sign of algorithms that work in favour of a longer shelf-life for your writing.

This also confirms the reality that

Emma Gannon

shared in a note before yesterday about her most proud moments throughout 2023. One of them being her incredible business generated almost solely from Substack, excluding marketing and driving traffic from other social media platforms.

Emma runs a 6-figure newsletter, so to see her share her experience of growing “in-bound” leads is incredibly exciting as someone new to this platform.

Kat River

whom I also referred to above, just shared in her most recent post how 75% of her readers comes from within Substack and she’s awarded a Substack bestseller badge (amazing!).

All these examples show me how

Substack

tries to work FOR its creators rather than having the creators work for Substack…

To round off, I want to mention another last note that I stumbled across last night by

David McIlroy

. He stated that it’s a good idea to build community on different social media platforms.

I’d argue yes from a “don’t put all your eggs in one basket” stand-point (and clearly my history begs to say that I’ve had success on building across multiple platforms).

But say no from an ROI and conversion perspective. In the aftermath of my online endeavors I definitely spent a disproportionate amount of time on the wrong things primarily short-lived content.

Let’s consider the 80/20 principle again:

Imagine, if 80% of your energy goes into 20% of the results? Personally, today (with two small kids at home) I wouldn’t think it was worth it. I rather double down on the 20% that generates 80% of the desired result. What about you?

If I’d start over today (which is what I do here on Substack), I’d put all my focus on building my email list. It’s the best long-term investment any creative person can do.

An email list can and will serve you for years to come.

I’m incredibly grateful for mine ❤️

Thank you for reading,

Elin, x

I’d love to hear your thoughts and reflections in the comments! And please share it with your friends if you found it valuable

If you haven’t joined me already, don’t miss to do so. This will be a fun ride, I can promise you that.