Week 16 - BamaRush and the Fear of Failure

influencing

Aug 23

Well, in case you live in the real world and not in deep niche internet drama, it was BamaRush over on the Tok. I resisted this. Oh, how I was resisted this but in the end Bama Morgan and her orange juice dragged me right on in. I couldn’t begin to explain why it’s so fascinating for full grown adults to be absolutely enthralled in these young girls journeys to TikTok fame and Greek Life glory but here we all are.

I made a video or 2 about it and they each had successful runs on the Tok and Instagram separately. As always, I find it fascinating that what is successful on one app, doesn’t always translate to the other. I had initial success with my Bama Rush Tok on (where else?) the Tok. In fact it’s the most views I’ve gotten since my first viral TikTok. I didn’t even bother posting that one to Instagram since it was so blatantly for TikTok but I did post the follow up OOTD I made in the style of Bama Rush. It did okay for me over on the Tok and I posted it mainly just for consistency’s sake over on Instagram. No one was more shocked than I how well it would do. Full disclosure here is that I did tweak my hook and immediately jumped in with the start of my outfit description, no preamble. It worked. It’s now the best performing reel I have on Instagram and pulled in even more likes, views, and shares, over the next 2-3 days. The last 9 reels I posted have views that all range from 500 - 6000. The 9 reels immediately prior to those average 50-150. I’m so proud of that. Not necessarily because of the view count but because I didn’t give up. I could’ve stayed there and said, “it’s not working, I’m getting more traction on TikTok, I’ll stop here and focus my energy over there,” and instead I kept pushing it. If I had quit there last week, I wouldn’t have seen all this success this week and that’s what I’m proud of. It’s encouraging and inspires me to keep it moving forward. At the same time, I do feel such pressure to keep “performing” at that level and I don’t want that to translate into “freezing,” not posting anything at all because I’m scared it won’t do as well. What happens when I post the next reel and it absolutely bombs?…Absolutely nothing is what will happen. Who cares? I will just retool and keep posting the things I want to.

While I have been playing a little fast and loose lately, I have been slowly filling out my fall calendar with my friends and family which I’m sure will make its way into my content. I want to plan out these concepts well in advance so that I can execute them as quickly as possible in order to keep my focus on whoever it is I’m with. The goal is “blink and you missed it” as much as possible to avoid being intrusive to my loved ones.

In other news, I absolutely cannot get over this weather. It’s supposed to be 105*F tomorrow and I’m unsure how I’m supposed to even behave. What is the protocol? What are we doing? I just want to do fall already or least get back to 85*F highs.

RHONY - This is such a great group of women. I absolutely loved Ubah wanted to make sure Erin was outfitted right for her Anniversary party. I would say that I hate that she had to miss it but by the looks of it, the other girls would say she was better off at home. I am glad to see Jenna opening up more and she gets more comfortable with everyone. I find her incredibly fascinating.
More old Amazing Race episodes. I wish I could say we were tackling this in any way that made sense but there is no rhyme or reason to what seasons we start next. I would absolutely love to do the race with my husband one day!
I finally finished The Family Game by Catherine Steadman! It was a fast paced, easy read. Definitely recommend for the plane or the beach!
DeuxU Podcast - Y’all already know.
Paper Ghosts Podcast - I finished Season 1 and just started Season 2.
It was family dinner night this past week and I made this Gnocchi Bake from Half Baked Harvest. I make for my immediate family all the time and it’s just so comforting and simple and delicious. For the amount of people I was cooking for, I doubled the recipe and cooked it in a giant Le Creuset and then transferred it to 2 casserole dishes before topping with cheese and tossing in the oven! Came out perfect!
These Bonafide Bones Earrings from BaubleBar! I’ve been obsessed with these for awhile. I went to get them last year and they were sold out. I’ve been hoping they’d come back in stock this year and I wasted absolutely no time, so yes, I bought Halloween earrings in August.