How can you help make this my second most popular post ever?

• Your friendly neighborhood DC CopyPro, always ready to help—really!
• A picture is worth…115 followers?
• You like me! You really like me!
• DC CopyPro, English copywriting guru, how can we help you create a popular post?
• Can commenting on or liking my posts help drive a popular post? Abso-frickin’-lutely!
• By the light of the full blood moon…
• It’s about quality, not quantity—and it works both ways
• Does anybody read anymore? Well, not my blog they don’t! 🤣
• Oh, my most popular post of all time? It’s not even close…
• So watcha gonna do with this post, punk? Do you accept my challenge?

I’ve been working as a freelance English copywriter in Korea for more than half a year. When starting your own business, getting your business known is a considerable challenge. To date, I’ve spent a grand total of $0 on advertising. I rely on trying to create popular post after popular post to grow my audience.

Not advertising is a choice. I decided to spend my time creating content. Why spend money on advertising only to send people to an empty site? I started with a simple website. I’ve consistently added to that by posting blogs every week. You’re currently enjoying my 32nd blog. Trivia tidbit—what has been my most popular blog post thus far? Keep reading to find out.

I started posting content on Instagram and then expanded to Facebook and LinkedIn. I’ve collected hundreds of pictures of awkward English, most from Korea. I had a pretty good personal collection, but I asked for help, and it arrived—in bucket loads. I’ve currently got over 500 examples, and friends send me more every week—for which I am forever grateful!

Your friendly neighborhood DC CopyPro, always ready to help—really!

I post pictures of errors and then offer explanations and suggested corrections. This is to show potential clients:

• What might be wrong with their own site, sign, or menu. (Grand Open anyone?)
• That I’m very capable of spotting and fixing mistakes. (Yes, commas matter)
• That people do care about proper language usage. (Well, jerks like me do)
• The kind of mistakes I can help them with—for free. (100% FREE)

That’s right. I’m offering to help people with short, simple problems for free. I mention my offer to help for free in every post on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Can you guess how many people I’ve helped since I launched this 100% free service at the end of May? 

That’s right—a great big fat goose egg. Zero! Zilch! None! Nada! That page on my site has only had 23 views—in 4 months.

A picture is worth…115 followers?

Here are a few more stats from my site and social media accounts:

Blog	Facebook	Instagram
~300 hits a month 23 total post likes 41 comments (½ are replies) 19 WordPress subscribers  3 email subscribers	151 page likes Mar.—112 Apr.—23 May–Sept. 2/month Past month: 41 page views 2 page likes Reach: 907 people (+12%) Avg. Engagement Rate: 6.9%	123 posts 115 followers Reach: 1,247 (past month) Avg. Engagement Rate: 12.8% Highest Engagement Rate 23.6%

So what does all this mean? At first glance, these numbers actually look good—though I could do with some more blog followers! Typical average engagement rates for Facebook are 2% and 4.6% for Instagram. I’m killing it! Except…

I don’t have a lot of followers. Companies and brands typically have thousands of followers. Hell, my son has more followers on his personal Instagram than I do. And I actively try to get more followers. A popular post isn’t much good without followers.

I have a friend who started an Instagram page as a hobby to showcase his love of bike tools. He now has over 30,000 followers. I’ve got a “little” catching up to do.

You like me! You really like me!

As your number of followers increases, your engagement rate tends to decrease. Why? Part of the reason is the make-up of your followers. Most of my current followers are friends and family members. I am indebted to their support—I truly am.

This type of audience is more likely to engage more often (if you post quality content). They have a personal connection, and most of them want you to succeed. If you want to see me succeed, you can help. It’s not hard. I promise.

DC CopyPro, English copywriting guru, how can we help you create a popular post?

Engage. Like a post. Write a comment. If you’re feeling particularly raunchy, you could even *gasp* share a post. It might not seem like much, but the more you engage with my posts, the better the chance my post will get seen. But if you don’t wanna, you don’t hafta! I’d never ask you to do something you’re not comfortable with.

Can commenting on or liking my posts help drive a popular post? Abso-frickin’-lutely!

I decided to write about this topic partially because of my friends. Several of them have recently started blogs of their own. A few weeks ago, I commented on one of their posts on Facebook. Shortly after that, someone else replied to my comment. But it wasn’t one of their followers. 

It was one of my former roommates from my second year in Korea. I know he doesn’t follow their blog. He must’ve seen something in his Facebook feed that said, “DC CopyPro commented on a post.” And because he knew me, he replied to my comment.

Someone who didn’t know about their blog came across it because of my comment. I don’t know if he bothered to read their post or follow their blog. But that post got more engagement because I engaged with it. And when you engage with my posts, you increase the number of people that might see my posts.

By the light of the full blood moon…

You know those posts on Facebook? The ones that tell you to hold your breath, turn around three times, and put a hex on Mark Zuckerberg? If you do, you’ll start seeing posts from friends you haven’t seen in ages! They’re a bunch of BS.

Why weren’t you seeing those posts? You weren’t engaging with those people’s posts. So Facebook stopped showing you their posts. It’s part of the Facebook algorithm. No voodoo involved. 

Ever sit on Facebook, mindlessly refreshing the page? Notice how the posts are different each time? If you’ve got several hundred friends, you’re never going to see every single post. Not with posts from friends, groups, sponsored posts, and posts from pages you follow.

What am I asking you to do? Take a few extra seconds to engage with my posts. And while you’re at it, engage with any of your other friends who are trying to grow a business or blog on social media. The more people who engage, the more exposure that content gets. It’s a snowball kinda thing, but every little bit helps.

The algorithms for different platforms, like Instagram and Facebook, are only partially known. But they follow the same general trends. More engagement means your content will show up more often in other people’s feeds. This is particularly important on Instagram, where hashtags are of major importance.

It’s about quality, not quantity—and it works both ways

Another critical factor is engagement time. Scrolling through Instagram, double-tapping every pic—well, that’s a start. But if you click on the “more” link and actually read the post, that helps even more. So, if you’ve got the extra 13 seconds, I’d appreciate you reading my 100-word posts. But if you don’t, I get it—we’re all busy.

Instagram also considers how quickly people engage with your content. I use an app that analyzes my posts and their engagement rates. If you’ve noticed (I’m 100% sure you haven’t), I’ve been varying the times of my posts. I’m gathering data to attempt to determine the best times for me to post. This is particularly challenging for me. Half of my audience is in Korea, and the other half is in Europe and North America. But I’m trying to figure it out.

Another critical metric is my engagement with my followers. And if you look at my social feeds, you’ll notice I always react to comments. I try to reply, but at the very least, I try to like every comment. If I’ve missed one, I swear it wasn’t intentional.

The next time you’re scrolling through Instagram or Facebook and you get a chuckle out of one of my posts, gimmie a like. If it reminds you of a sign you remember or a memory about me, drop me a comment. That’s the best way you can help me succeed with a popular post. 

And to those of you who’ve been doing this all along—thank you! A thousand times over, thank you. I genuinely appreciate it. 

Does anybody read anymore? Well, not my blog they don’t! 🤣

BTW, I spend hours on my weekly blog posts—around 7–8 hours per post. I can hear you wondering, “How are they still so shitty?!?!” I know my blogs aren’t for everyone. Some are about language, some about language learning, and some about me. And even though I devote hours to each post, I know most people skim them. How do I know? Cause I read blog posts, too. 

As an English copywriter and proofreader, I’ve been studying stuff like this. Almost no one reads online content word-for-word. My posts have lots of pictures and headlines to make them easier to digest. That’s the part I hate the most—trying to find images that fit my post from legit stock photo sites. But I do it for you—my loyal readers.

It’s nice to think that people are poring over every word you write. They aren’t. I have no way of knowing if people actually read my posts after clicking on the links. My blogs get an average of 40 hits per post (35 if you discount my ‘best post of all time’). I guess that’s not bad, considering the number of followers I have.

Oh, my most popular post of all time? It’s not even close…

So, have you figured it out? My most popular post of all time? It’s got almost twice as many views as my next best-performing post. Was it…?

• My extensive review of the 12 verb tenses in English? Nope, that’s 3rd—but it gets the most search traffic.
• Was it my six-month update, wondering if I’d made an enormous life mistake? Nope, #4.
• Ah, perhaps my particularly insightful comparison between learning English and playing the guitar? Nope, that’s wallowing in 29th.

My most popular post? My first post where I informed my friends and family about my major life change. I guess everyone loves a train wreck!

But in all seriousness, thank you. Thank you to each one of you who’s ever liked an Instagram post, shared a Facebook post, or commented on a blog post. I appreciate it more than words can convey. Wait, should I be saying that as an English copywriter?

So watcha gonna do with this post, punk? Will you accept my challenge?

I challenge you to like, comment on , or share it. If you comment, I promise to reply. You can do it here on my blog, or on Facebook or LinkedIn when I promote it. And while we’re at it, let’s spread the love.

You might enjoy some of the content my friends are offering and help them boost one of their popular posts:

• Like bike tools and ridiculously tricked-out toolboxes? You need to follow toolboxwars on Instagram. Seriously.
• How ‘bout music? Remember those one-hit wonders? My friends at yeahbutwhatelse.com do—with a twist!
• Classic video games? Nostalgia? Combined? Intrigued? Then you need to check out presentperfectgaming.com.
• Guitar lessons? Online? I’ve been with this guy for over five years. I assure you my lousy playing has everything to do with me. It is no reflection of milehighshred’s ability as a teacher.
• Enjoy learning where idioms and expressions come from? I do. And so does esltoybox on Instagram.

Take an extra couple of seconds and spread the love. Engage with your favorite content creator—I’m sure you’ll make their day! 

Can we make this my new most popular post? Probably not, but we’ve got a shot at #2—but only if you engage. I’ve laid down the challenge, but I only expect a few to take it up. Will you be one of the few?

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