Learn about Victoria Repa's 8 Year Journey to 225,000 Followers

*This is Victoria's total engagement numbers from her 8 year journey (through May 25, 2024)

Introduction

Victoria started posting on LinkedIn August 29, 2016.

I’m not sure what her following looked like at that time but it has grown wildly over the years to over 225,000 followers. I’ve been watching her journey over the last 6 months which is where a majority of the growth has come from.

We’ll get into that but it’s best to start with her content style and start from the beginning of the journey back in 2016. 

Content Style: Specialist

Victoria Repa is a Specialist because she’s focused on one specific thing. It’s similar to a Generalist like Justin Wright, but it’s a unique style that focuses on helping the largest group of individuals with a specific point of view.

The Generalist is going as broad as possible without a clear point of view on a specific topic. Victoria does things differently (in a good way). Her tagline on LinkedIn is: “On a mission to create an inclusive, healthier world by inspiring change in people of all ages, shapes and backgrounds.”

Her journey started back in 2016 and the content was really focused more on who she is, her accomplishments and her company (BetterMe). Her growth on LinkedIn content is seen throughout the years (which we’ll get into) and it’s compelling to see how she’s grown into over 200,000 followers using this method.

This is the method that I’m working on refining on my growth journey. 

Other Specialist Creators Worth Following

We All Start Somewhere

Victoria’s LinkedIn journey started on August 29, 2016. It’s been an 8 year journey to get to 225,000 followers. Most of those didn’t come until 2024.

It’s important to understand how Victoria started her journey and why she began the way she did.

Let’s start off with her first post. 

Do you notice something here?  

There aren’t any likes, comments or reposts.  

Back to my original point here, we all start somewhere. 

Good things take time to grow and building up your personal brand is well worth it but remember that good things take time. 

This was the only post for the first two years of her journey.  

It wasn’t until October 23, 2018 that she decided it was time to start posting again. 

Here’s the opening line (hook): (Link to Post)

It was an unforgettable experience to participate in the panel of "Ukrainian Creativity and Tech for export" organized within Kyiv International Economic Forum. A short summary of my speech:

You’ll see as we go through this journey further that the next few years are all about sharing her experiences.  Things that she’s doing, thinking about and believes her audience is interested in.  

This is a great way to build trust but we’ll also talk about why this may be something that should be adjusted (as you’re building your strategy). 

Here are some other examples of what happened as she was exploring how to share her experiences:  

December 3, 2018: Talks about a podcast she was on going from 0 to 15 million downloads by using social media.

December 6, 2018: Let's talk about books. One of the books that motivated me the most is Homo Deus: 

January 29, 2019: All about BetterMe being in the top 5 grossing fitness and health apps…. 

April 30, 2019: Joined Forbes Tech Council 

The We All Start Somewhere phase for Victoria stopped right around the time we entered COVID in mid-2020.  From there, it seems like this is the point at which she starts to take things a bit more seriously in trying to figure out the growth strategy on LinkedIn.  

Let’s get into what I noticed and why it matters in her journey. 

Testing Phase

Feb 6, 2020: This is a pivotal moment in her testing phase.  It may not seem like it from an engagement perspective but you’ll notice a shift.  The shift is rather than speaking about her and BetterMe - it’s about you and ‘people’.  

This is important to note as we continue through her journey because it’s a way of growth by speaking to your audience rather than telling them about yourself.  

You’ll also notice that she’s speaking specifically to Female Leaders which is a great niche since she is one of them.  

As Devin Reed talks about in his REED Between The Lines interview with Jen Allen Knuth, you want to be in the audience vs. standing on a pedestal.  Imagine yourself in the crowd with your audience vs. speaking down to them from a stage.  

If your content can speak to your audience in that way, you’re ahead of 99% of creators.  

You’ll notice this post is speaking to the right audience but (for me) it also feels like she’s speaking down to me vs. being right next to me with the bullhorn.  

That will change but this is a good point to stop and really understand this point.  

Now, let’s keep going and see what else we can find that’s worth exploring… 

November 5, 2020: This is a pivot back to sharing about her.  

It’s not a bad thing to do this.  It builds authority, trust and continues to tell her audience about why they should follow her (and listen).  

You just need to be really intentional about how (and when) you share personal stories if you’re planning to do so.  Again, this is a great thing if used intentionally.  As Victoria was building her brand, this all seemed like a great way of building trust at the time (I can only assume).  

This will continue through the rest of 2020 and deep into the beginning of 2022.  

There are a few more interesting posts that come up in 2022 that are worth noting that will bring us into how she finds her Creator Style that hits the virality she experiences.  

Here are the meaningful 2022 posts, with some interesting insights for you. 

February 16, 2022: 

This one hit an emotional chord that allowed her audience to engage.  It was a personal story that tied back to teamwork.  Extremely well done post that builds further trust by being vulnerable and describe real life experiences. 

June 6, 2022 : This is a pivotal moment that plays out in future years.  She pictured with Tim Cook (CEO of Apple) and ties in a personal story. 

November 3, 2022 - Another great post showing herself as a trusted source with an image of being on stage at WebSummit. 

After this, we start to pivot into finding her creator style.  

It all started on November 5, 2022.  

It’s her first infographic post.  

The difference between this one and things she’s posting now are the topic.  

This was a really deep topic for a very niche audience.  

Here’s the hook she used:

Topic: Gut and Brain Connection or How To Increase Your Productivity And Happiness With Food 🤔

This is where Victoria starts talking about how to increase productivity.  The challenge with this post is that it’s too specific and not broad enough for individuals to want to reshare it.  

But this is where the fun begins to find out how she finds her creator style.  

There was a lot of exploration between her first post and getting to November 5, 2022 but the rest as they say is history (once she realized what her style should be). 

So, let’s talk about what happened in 2023 that changed it all.

Finding Victoria's Creator Style

It took almost all of 2023 for Victoria to find her first viral piece of content.  This brings me back to my point about the fact that it does take time to find your style and refine it for a piece of content to change everything.

It all happened on December 26, 2023 - one of the pieces she wrote took off with 9,184 reactions, 230 comments and 1,431 reshares.  

Here’s the post: (Dec 26, 2023)

Hook: How to get everything done in 7 days before the end of the year? 🤯

Steal this cheat sheet to avoid carrying old tasks into the new year.

Let’s back up and talk about what happened in 2023 that allowed her to get to this viral piece of content. 

She started to try her hand at carousels and you’ll see the engagement just wasn’t here.  

January 28, 2023: 4 pillars that can help you avoid burning out in 2023, check them now: 

The reason I believe this happened is it’s the first piece that really wasn’t about her or BetterMe.  This was about her audience.  It was a new take on content from her.  

Her audience was used to seeing everything about her and this is the first time it’s flipped to be about a topic they might care about… 

Does that mean you should stop and go back - no.  That’s the point of testing out different flavors and types of content. 

Throughout the next few months it was more testing and pivoting on what to talk about.  

Here are a few of the directions she went between March - August 2023 that leads up to the content style she has today.

March 15, 2023

Hook: Ukrainians need to stop staying up at night, doom-scrolling the news, and drowning in the uncertainty caused by the war.

Focusing on what is happening (current events) tied to personal stories about Ukrainians. 

244 reactions, 7 comments, 2 reposts

July 8, 2023

Hook: It's easier to stick with a fixed mindset.

This is the first post with her new branding.  It’s focused on the audience - not her or BetterMe. 

This is the day the world changed for Victoria (even if she didn’t know it)... 

From here, it just continued with this branding and built on her already growing audience. 

December 15, 2023

I do something that 99% don't.

(As I've been told)

1,926 reactions, 116 comments & 78 reposts

This speaks clearly to a broad audience that allows Victoria to focus on motivation which is still tied to her brand of motivation, burnout, etc. 

Note: It also looks like she was working with Jade Bonacolta, Colby Kultgen and other creators to engage with her content.  This is an important point because their audiences are much larger than Victoria’s at the time.  

This helps accelerate the growth of any account by having other larger accounts commenting and engaging. 

December 26, 2023 

This is the post that changed everything.  It took off.  

Hook: How to get everything done in 7 days before the end of the year? 🤯

Steal this cheat sheet to avoid carrying old tasks into the new year.

What happened?  

Well - it’s the day after Christmas across the globe and clearly there were a few people thinking about new years.  

Talk about timing and hitting the right message at the right time.  All it takes is one piece of content to completely change the trajectory of your growth.

The reason this worked so well is because everyone is thinking about getting their tasks done and are looking for ways to make it happen. 

This piece wasn’t really connected to anything else she’s published before from a topic perspective but clearly the guidance to moving to something that hit a nerve for the LinkedIn community worked on this day. 

This can be repurposed for any time of year that you feel like you need someone to pay attention. 

This is the content style that Victoria has now.  

Focus on a specialty of talking about health and wellness but to a large (and broad) audience on LinkedIn that it will resonate with.  

Here are a few other pieces that stand out to me but it’s pretty consistent throughout the rest of 2024. 

January 8, 2024

Hook: I am an introvert.

This is the most viral post she’s had to date.  The creativity she uses to compile this shareable piece is unique and speaks to a broad audience again.  You’ll see a theme here.  Find ways of connecting with a broad group of people and tie it back into her point of view which finding ways of making this a healthier world.  

This piece does just that.  

The takeaway here is to continue to find creative ways of exploring how you can connect with a broad group of individuals while bringing it back into your point of view.  

Sounds simple, right?

Well, I can tell you from experience that it’s not.  

Bookmark and save this one because it’s a good one. 

From there, everything she’s posted has had over 100 reactions and continues to fire really well.  

March 3, 2024

This should be taught in schools:

Just physical rest isn't enough to avoid stress and burnout.

Note:

The idea of bringing back to the topic of what BetterMe focuses on - burnout.  She ties in the types of rest you can leverage in order to avoid burnout.  

It’s a great twist of focusing on a topic that should hit a broad audience and then brings it back into something specific.  

May 17, 2024

Many employers might hate me for this, but I'll say it anyway:

There's no such thing as a bad job; there are bad managers.

Here’s another one that she was able to weave together that talks about a toxic culture while hitting a broad topic about why employees leave jobs.  

So what does all this mean for you?

The Specialist: Is it for you? 

Victoria found her calling as a Specialist.  It's different than what we discussed with Justin in a few ways: 

• Focused on one specific topic (mental health) 
• Creates content that at the core has the mental health point of view

This is the approach if you have a product or company that revolves around one specific niche topic.  It's a great way to highlight your product or service.  Some would argue that Victoria is a Generalist but I argue this is more specific content that allows her to focus energy on digging deep into one main topic category.

You may find some broader posts and topics from her but at the core it's about the specialist.  

Think about all the different content styles you can go before you decide to go all in on this path.  

We’ll get into breakdowns of other content styles throughout the coming weeks but really think about if this is the right style for you.

Conclusion

Here’s what you should take away from Victoria’s 7+ year journey to 200,000 followers: 

• You just need to get started 
• It’s about them (not you or your company) 
• Build authority and trust with storytelling