Scale & Strategy
This is Scale & Strategy, the newsletter that takes you from “Huh?” to “Oooh, I get it!” in all things business.
Here’s what we got for you today:
- Stop Guessing: Here's Exactly How Often to Post on Instagram (2M Posts Don't Lie)
- Stop Burning Money on Bad Ads: How AI Can Actually Fix Your Creative Process
Stop Guessing: Here's Exactly How Often to Post on Instagram (2M Posts Don't Lie)
Everyone's got opinions about Instagram posting frequency. Your agency says daily. Your competitor posts twice a week. That one guru insists on 3x per day while simultaneously selling you a course about work-life balance.
Cool. Let's skip the hot takes and check the actual data.
Kirsti Lang crunched 2M+ posts from 100K accounts, and the numbers just dropped some inconvenient truths about what actually works in 2025.
The Sweet Spot (That Nobody Wants to Hear)
3-5 posts per week. That's it. That's the tweet.
This isn't sexy advice, but it more than doubles your follower growth compared to the "post when inspired" crowd posting 1-2x weekly. It also won't kill your team or turn your content into algorithmic slop.
The magic happens because you're hitting the consistency threshold without crossing into the "we're just posting to post" danger zone. Quality doesn't have to be the sacrifice you make at the altar of frequency.
The "More Is More" Trap (And Why It Kinda Works)
Here's where it gets interesting. The data shows posting more does drive more growth:
- 6-9 posts/week: 3.7x follower growth increase
- 10+ posts/week: 5.5x increase
But notice that diminishing returns curve? The biggest jump happens when you go from posting like it's 2018 (1-2x/week) to actually showing up (3-5x). After that, you're grinding harder for smaller wins.
Unless you've got a content team that dreams in Reels, stick to the sweet spot.
The Algorithm Isn't Trying to Sabotage You
Plot twist: posting more doesn't cannibalize your reach. It actually increases reach per post by about 12% when you jump from 1-2 to 3-5 posts weekly.
Think of each post as a lottery ticket for the explore page. More tickets = more chances to hit. The algorithm is smarter than your paranoia about "oversaturating" your audience.
The Ghost Town Tax
Zero posts in a week? Congrats, you just discovered the "no-post penalty." Your growth flatlines or goes backwards. Instagram rewards participation, not perfection.
Even one mediocre post beats radio silence. The platform wants to see you're alive.
The Reality Check
The best posting schedule is the one you won't abandon in three weeks when life gets messy.
Start with 3-5 posts weekly. Master that rhythm. Get your systems dialed. Then – and only then – consider scaling up if you've got the resources and the content isn't suffering.
Because at the end of the day, sustainable beats spectacular. Every time.
Stop Burning Money on Bad Ads: How AI Can Actually Fix Your Creative Process
Your creative workflow is probably a disaster.
Briefs that change mid-flight. Designers guessing what converts. Ads that look pretty but perform like garbage. Rinse, repeat, watch your CAC climb.
Most B2B teams are stuck in this expensive loop: create → launch → pray → pivot. Every failed ad isn't just a creative miss—it's burned budget and wasted runway.
Liana Hakobyan cracked this problem, and her approach is refreshingly systematic. Here's how to turn AI from a toy into your creative engine:
Build Your AI's Brain First
Create an AI-friendly brand guide. Not the pretty PDF your agency made—a proper prompt bible.
Document the psychology behind your colors, your core messaging frameworks, and the emotional triggers that actually move your audience. Include examples of what works and what definitely doesn't.
Garbage in, garbage out isn't just true—it's expensive when you're buying media behind weak creative.
Let AI Find Your Patterns
Use AI to analyze winners and losers. Most people only feed AI their best performers. That's half the game.
Run your underperforming creative through analysis too. Let it spot the patterns that tank CTR or kill conversions. Maybe it's the angle, maybe it's that stock photo smile you thought was "approachable."
Focus on hard metrics: CTR, CVR, CPA. When AI tells you that subtle facial expressions move the needle, that's not creative intuition—it's a data point you can repeat.
Test Like You Mean It
AI generates options, but you still need discipline. Don't just spray and pray with 15 variants.
One variable at a time. Write your hypothesis before you hit launch. And for the love of profitable growth, wait for statistical significance before declaring winners.
Your creative team will hate the process. Your CFO will love the results.
The Payoff
This isn't about replacing creativity—it's about making it predictable. When you can systematically identify what works before you scale spend, creative stops being a cost center and starts being a growth lever.
Most teams are still throwing darts in the dark. Build this system and you'll have night vision.
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