The Instagram Post I Almost Didn’t Make Got 78,000 Views
There are few things more humbling as a small business owner than spending hours creating content only to watch the internet collectively shrug at it.
You know the post. The one where you cleaned the store, styled the display, steamed the clothes, found the perfect lighting, took approximately 137 photos, edited them, picked your favorites, made a Reel, found trending audio, wrote the caption, rewrote the caption, sent it to someone asking, “Does this sound stupid?” and then finally hit post.
And... crickets.
Then one random Wednesday, Texas decides to give us a rainy October morning under 80 degrees, you make a graphic in approximately five minutes, and suddenly 78,000 people care.
Welcome to social media.
The Post I Almost Didn’t Make
It was October 1st.
It was raining in Texas.
And, perhaps most importantly, it was UNDER 80 DEGREES.
If you live in Texas, you understand that this is basically a state holiday.
I was ridiculously happy about it and wanted to post something on Tullia Sage’s Instagram. Nothing strategic. Nothing particularly groundbreaking. Just something that captured the collective mood.
So we made a simple graphic in our Tullia Sage colors that said:
IT’S OCTOBER 1ST.
IT’S RAINING IN TEXAS.
AND IT’S UNDER 80°.
EVERYONE STAY CALM.
IT’S FINALLY FALL.
That was it.
No product. No call to action. No “shop now.” No beautifully styled outfit. No reason whatsoever for someone to buy something from us.
And I almost didn’t post it.
Because when you own a retail business, there’s always this little voice reminding you that your social media is supposed to be marketing.
Shouldn’t I be showing new arrivals? Shouldn’t I be promoting an event? Shouldn’t I be reminding people to come into the store? Is this even relevant to Tullia Sage?
I posted it anyway.
And then my phone started going a little crazy.
78,000 Views Later...
The post went on to rack up more than 78,000 views. Nearly 1,000 people sent it to someone else. Hundreds reposted it. More people visited our profile, and people who had never heard of Tullia Sage were suddenly landing on our little corner of Instagram.
Meanwhile, I was staring at the analytics thinking:
Are you freaking kidding me? THIS ONE?!
Not the Reel we spent forever editing.
Not the beautiful photos from inside the store.
Not the new arrivals.
The weather.
The freaking Texas weather.
Once I got over the initial disbelief, though, I started looking at the numbers differently.
Because the most interesting number wasn’t actually 78,000.
It was the shares.
They Weren’t Sharing Tullia Sage. They Were Sharing a Feeling.
People weren’t sending that post to their friends because they wanted to help market our boutique.
They were sending it because they saw it and immediately thought: THIS.
Or: Us.
Or: I need to send this to my friend who has also been complaining about it being 95 degrees in October.
For a second, Tullia Sage wasn’t a store trying to get someone’s attention.
We were just another Texan standing outside thinking, “OH MY GOD, FALL.”
And people connected with that.
That realization has completely changed the way I’ve been thinking about social media for our business.
Because maybe people don’t need brands to constantly impress them.
Maybe sometimes they just want brands to understand them.
Small Business Owners Are Expected to Be Content Creators Now
This is something I don’t think people always realize about owning a small business.
You’re not just running the business.
You’re also somehow supposed to be the social media manager, photographer, videographer, copywriter, graphic designer, email marketer, website manager and occasionally the unwilling star of your own Reel.
And somewhere in between all of that, you’re supposed to actually run the store.
There is so much pressure to create good content.
Make it beautiful. Make it aesthetic. Use trending audio. Hook people in the first three seconds. Post consistently. Show your face. Don’t show your face too much. Sell the product. But don’t be too salesy. Be authentic. But also make sure the lighting is good.
It can make you overthink everything.
And I’m absolutely guilty of it.
I care deeply about how Tullia Sage looks and feels. I want our content to be beautiful because the store is beautiful. I want someone scrolling through Instagram to get a little piece of what it feels like to walk through our doors.
But somewhere along the way, it’s really easy to start creating for the algorithm instead of creating for people.
And this ridiculously simple weather post reminded me of that.
Connection Over Perfection
I don’t think the lesson here is to stop creating beautiful content.
I’m certainly not going to.
I’m still going to obsess over photos. I’m still going to move something two inches because it “looks weird.” I’m still going to rearrange something in Canva 47 times because the font feels slightly wrong. I’m still going to spend entirely too long choosing a song for a seven-second Reel.
That’s probably never changing.
But I am going to leave a little more room for the random thought.
The inside joke.
The thing all the moms are talking about.
The weird thing happening in Texas.
The thing happening in our shop that makes us laugh.
The moments that don’t necessarily sell anything but make someone on the other side of the screen say:
“Okay, these are my people.”
Because those people are the reason Tullia Sage exists in the first place.
Maybe Not Every Post Needs to Sell Something
This might be the biggest thing I’m taking away from all of this.
For years, businesses have been told that social media is a marketing tool.
And obviously, it is.
We need social media to tell people about new arrivals. We need it to promote events. We need it to remind people that our little shop in Old Town Lewisville exists.
But maybe the posts that make people feel connected to us are doing something just as valuable.
Maybe they’re building the part of the brand that can’t be measured by how many dresses we sold that afternoon.
They’re building community.
They’re creating familiarity.
They’re giving someone a reason to remember Tullia Sage.
And sometimes they’re introducing 78,000 people to our little corner of the internet without asking them to buy a single thing.
That’s pretty cool.
So yes, I’m still going to plan our content. I’m still going to photograph the new arrivals. I’m still going to make the Reels. I’m still going to care probably way too much about whether something looks aesthetically pleasing.
But I’m also going to post the random thought sometimes.
Because apparently the post you almost don’t make might be the one everyone needed that day.
And if Texas gives us another 75-degree October morning?
Don’t worry.
I’ll be ready.