My Most Viral Instagram Garden Videos and Why They Matter

Are you on Instagram? I'm on Instagram, and today I'm going to break down my most viral Instagram videos for you and why they matter. My name is Nicole Burke, and welcome to the Grow Yourself podcast. I founded Gardenary in 2017 with the mission to make gardening ordinary. So by listening to this episode, you are helping me do just that. And I appreciate that so much. I've been on Instagram since 2015. It's the way I grew my business from the beginning because I was an on the go mom of four kids, working and then running and picking them up. So I would just post on Instagram little photos. That's back in the day when you could do photos on Instagram and that was enough. And we're in a different day now. But it's a super fun time to be on Instagram. And last year, I challenged myself to post two to three short videos every single day on Instagram, and I did it. In fact, I posted almost over a thousand. I think I posted over 800 posts last year. It was wild and crazy and so much fun. And my account exploded. So I started in January of 2023 with about 260,000, maybe 270,000 followers. I ended the year with 650,000 followers. And now as I'm recording this episode, I'm @764,000 followers. And this mostly has happened through viral videos. And so I thought it'd be so fun to break this down with you, talk about the ones that have gone viral and why I think they've done so. There's a ton of them that haven't gone viral, but we won't talk about those. No, seriously. But so many times I think a video is going to do really well, and it doesn't. And so I've learned so much by what people love to watch. So I'm gonna put my filter on my phone to my last year of reels and pull up the viral videos and we're gonna talk about them and why they matter. So excuse me, clear my throat as I talk about virality. So here I've got over the last year, I've got 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16. So 16 of my videos have had over a million views in the last year. And that's like, I think in the previous year, maybe I had one video that had a million views, if that. So it's been a crazy, fun time, and so fun to get to know so many of you in a new way. Like, all the new followers in our community has been amazing. So if you're a new follower, if you're new to being with me on Instagram, welcome and thank you. So I'm going to start. I'm just going to do the top 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. Maybe the top, like, 10 or so. Okay. So we'll start with this one. This one I posted last fall, and it's me breaking down my business growth. And I say at the beginning, year one in my garden consulting business, and I say 138,000. And then I say year six in my garden consulting business, and I show that I made a million dollars. And that video, I posted it right around Labor Day, and it's just a very short video. And I actually took it. I took the idea from another entrepreneur I saw who did a similar thing where, like, this is how I started, and then this is what it grew to. And I thought, oh, that's such a cool story to tell. And as you know, I help gardeners become garden consultants, so I love showing what's possible. And this one went viral really fast. And, like, literally within minutes of posting, I was like, oh, wow. I was actually on vacation with my family, and I sent it to my team, and I was like, oh, this is really cool. People are really inspired by my story. And so I think one of the reasons this one went viral is the first part of the video. I'm, like, toiling in the dirt, and I chose that on purpose, but I have, like, a hula ho, and I'm, like, working in the soil, And I put 138,000 on that. And then the year six, when I show myself in these really big, abundant gardens, and I'm like, this is year six, you know, a million dollars. And so I think it's. I think it inspired people to realize that they could start with a hula ho and some dirt and that they could grow a business on their own and that it could actually be a big business. I don't know the exact stats, but I think that, like, less than 1 or 2% of small businesses hit a million dollars in revenue a year. So it's, you know, for me now it's become like, oh, you know, I have bigger goals, but, you know, you realize that's a pretty rare, amazing thing to do. And so I think it inspired people. I think it inspired and showed people the possibilities and hopefully woke a lot of people up to the fact that they could do that, too. So that was Viral video number 10. Viral video number 9. This one I posted just during the holidays. And I show how to turn one rosemary plant into 100 rosemary plants. And it's just this simple system. I think one I used a little olla, which is, it's an ancient way of watering the garden. It's this clay pot that's got a bottom that doesn't have a drainage hole in it. You fill it up and then you can plant around it. And it maintains the water moisture level for the soil. So it's wonderful for propagating plants because it keeps the soil evenly moisture as those plants propagate. And so I showed this little project that I like to do in the winter, which is take cuttings from my herb plants and then put them around an olla and let them grow roots so that they can become new baby plants. So why did this go viral? One it was the holidays. I think people were thinking about like gifts and small little things they could make with their hands. But more than that, I think it was the, the hook that I put on the video, which is turn one rosemary plant into 100 rosemary plants. And people just love free stuff, you know, Like, I think they just love the idea of nothing becoming something and they love the idea of turning, you know, one plant into a lot more. So it was very crafty. It was very step by step. I showed each part of the process and I think they love that concept, that idea that they could take a plant, take of one thing and turn it into many, many more things for free. My next viral video was filmed by my then 11 year old. It was a Saturday and Elaine and I had gone to Home Depot actually to turn in some pots to be recycled. Home Depot has a great service where they let you turn in pots and hopefully they actually do recycle them. So we had just dropped off a ton of pots and I saw people like frantically buying up all the plants at Home Depot. I mean, people were in a craze. It was, it was wild. People were just throwing their credit card like, give me a plant. Just give me that plant. And we walked out. Elaine and I got almost back to my car and I looked at her and I said, hey, would you do me a huge favor and come back inside and film a video with me? And she's like, sure. So we put our stuff away and she grabbed my phone. I had on like a Maui T shirt and some Birkenstocks. Like, I was not dressed, you know, ready for to be on screen. But I just looked at her at the very beginning of the video. And I said, we're about to go into Home Depot, and I'm going to tell you the things you should not buy right now. And she followed me into the store, and then I just brought her around the store and showed all the plants that were not worth people's money. It was either like, you know, the wrong season or just a ton of money for something you could grow with a seed. I talked about, like, just all the different things that were just at the wrong place at the wrong time. I ended it with this bean pot, which was just stupid. They had this big pot with, like, these weird trellises. And then four beans, y'. All. Four beans. Oh, my gosh. Four bean plants. And they were selling it for, like, $20. I'm like, what in the world? And I just felt so bad for whatever person is going to spend their money on four bean plants for 20 bucks. I mean, that person will never garden again. I can pretty much guarantee you that. And so I went home. We were going to do something that night as a family, and I just edited it super fast and posted it, and within minutes, it just went big. It was funny. It had two different kinds of responses. One, people got really mad. They did not like me talking bad about Home Depot or the plants. Some people were like, you shouldn't say that kind of stuff about plant growers, and that's so terrible. And, you know, like, I'm calling Home Depot, or I'm going to sue you for defaming Home Depot. And then other people were like, this woman is doing the Lord's work, and you're saving me money. And thank you so much. And they were just like, thank you. Like, you know, you just explained why I failed at the garden, that kind of thing. So it had, you know, it had two different kinds of responses, which, honestly is. Sometimes the best way to have virality is to get people to feel something, either pro or con. It can be negative or positive, but if you can get. Especially if you can get both of those from one video, it's really powerful. So that was a fun one to make. And it was so fun because it was Elaine and I making it together. And really cool that she got to film that with me. So my next one I filmed right before we were doing a fall garden launch, and it's called Them and Me. And so I use the. The song, the trending song, Adele song. It's like, I don't have to explain myself, okay, I cannot sing. I'm not going to sing. I'm going to talk it out. I don't have to explain myself to you. I'm a grown ass woman and I do what I want to do. I think that's what she says. Anyway, it was a trending sound, and so I was trying to convince everybody that they could plant a garden in the fall. And so I started the video with I say them and I have like a. In quotes, it's like, why are you planting your garden in August? It's never going to work. And then it transitions to me holding a ton of plants, and it's like me still planting in October, you know, something like that. It's me basically saying, I'm a grown woman and I do what I want to do. Okay, so this was awesome because it was right before our launch for our fall class, and it reached so many people. It reached 1.7 million people, had 42,000 likes and 5,000 comments, 2,800 shares and 5,600 saves. So it's really awesome. It reached over 1.4 million new people. I think this went viral because it was so different. It was me taking a stand and saying, I'm different than them. And you can be too. And if you want to stand out on social media, you got to stand out. You got to say things that are different from what other people are saying and even kind of highlighting that fact that you're doing something different. Obviously, you know, there's a thing as exaggeration, but I think that's one of the reasons that video worked so well. All right, the next one with 1.7 million. I posted this right before the new year, and it's me and my garden in the spring. And it says if your 2020, 2024 goal is to. And then I list some things, like build a garden, grow more flowers, grow your own food, be healthy. And then I put let's be friends, and this one took off. I posted on December 20, and wow, it was crazy. Like, you could tell people were just ready for new ideas and resolutions and goals for the new year. It had 2.4 million views, 49,000 likes, 2,500 comments, 8,000 saves. And I was like, okay, from now on, I am posting resolution videos. On December 20th. It was so powerful. And it just reminded me, you know, people are looking for you to move them. People want you to give them a goal, to give them something new to aspire to. And we get to do that with videos. So I think that's why that one works so well. All right, the next one I did that went Viral is me cutting a little head of lettuce. And it's totally satirical. And it says, you can pay $5.99 for a bag of lettuce or. And then I show myself harvesting the lettuce, and I say, you can pay $500 for a garden, wait 50 days, and get this. And so it was absolutely satirical. You guys know I think growing lettuce is awesome, but I was basically making a joke, like, just pay $6 for this at the grocery or spend $500, wait two months, and you can get this instead. And I think it did well because it was funny. It was just me poking fun at myself and at the gardening world. And people like people who make fun of themselves. You know, what do they call it? Self deprecation. Like, people don't love people who think they're amazing. They love people who are. Who think of themselves, like, with humility. So I think that was part of it. I think it made people laugh, but it also brought people to, like, defend it. Like, so many people came into the comments and they were like, but I love. But it's worth it because I like going out to the garden, and it's fun to be in the garden. Um, and they're like, you can't put a dollar quantity on my time in the garden. And I was like, yes. Like, they were, like, coming, you know, for my defense. Like, this is worth it even if you spent 500 bucks. Then, of course, there was an argument of, like, you don't have to spend $500 on a garden, blah, blah, blah. So just got a discussion going, got people laughing and made people think. Something so satirical definitely won the day. So that one had 1.8 million plays, 139,000 likes. That's a really high number of likes. 700 comments, 2,200 shares and 6,700. No saves 6,700 shares. So when you make people laugh, you are most likely to get a video people are going to share with other people, because no one. You know, how fun. I love having a friend that sends me funny videos. And so definitely you can accomplish that by posting a funny video. All right, moving on to the next spiral video is if you start now. So this one I showed a process of building a garden like we do for our clients. I started with the blank slate, and then I showed the raised beds, the trellises, the plants coming in, and then the final product. And I said, if you start now, and then I put text on top, your 2024 can look like this. And I show how the garden ends up full of all these plants. This one took off too. This was in December, on December 11th. So once again, people in December thinking about the new year, their goals, their plans, their aspirations, and they just love this thing. So it has 4 million views, 37,000 likes, 1500 comments, 26,000 shares. What in the world? And 30,000 saves. 26,000 shares. That's nuts, right? It's so crazy. So if you start now, so aspiration. I think it worked because it showed people the whole process and it also just really, you know, encouraged them that they could do it if they started now. The next one is a really fun one to share. And this is with my good friend Latasha Harrell. She worked for me for my first company, Rooted Garden. She now has taken over a lot of our clients gardens and she has her company, a new harvest. I got to visit with her when I was in Houston back in November. She has a gorgeous garden and a fantastic personality. And I made like five or six videos with her and we shared them as collaborative posts. So one of them, a lot, all of them did really well. But one of them went viral, big time viral. It's my third most popular video of all time. It's had 6 million views, 416,000 likes, 853 comments, 60,000 shares, and 113,000 saves. So this is a video I asked her to make. She had a bed of beautiful lettuce, and then she had chives right next to it. And I said, why don't you just do a quick tip video and just be like, hey, quick tip. If you want your lettuce to look beautiful like this, plant it right next to chives because it'll help deter the pests. And she has a fantastic personality on camera. And she just swings in. She's got really beautiful hair. She's on this white dress right up against her beautiful garden. And she says, quick tip. If you want salad like this, you got to plant it next to chives like this. No more going to the grocery store. And that thing just went viral. I think it's like five seconds long. And it's had. It's had 6,006. I mean, 6.4 million plays. It is incredible. I think one people just love her personality. I think getting to see a person up close like that. She's very much up close on the camera. I think people love the trick, like the tip that you could have lettuce, but if chives are right next to it, it helps protect from pests. Everybody's afraid of pests. So we kind of went into that fear and had this quick tip. It's just this idea of like, hey, I'm gonna help you. And it's only gonna take five seconds for me to do it. So I think that was the magic of that video. We're down to the last two viral videos that I'm gonna share about the other one. The second to most popular one is from January of 2023. I had gone to Home Depot again with my videographer, Molly. We bought this herb container. It's not herb container, it's just a steel container. Brought it home and turned it into an herb planter. And so I did this video. It has a really good hook at the top. It says, grow $400 worth of herbs in this $40 herb garden. And it's just an over the head video of me putting together this herb garden. And I put the drainage holes in, I put the soil in and the plants. And I did something that was a rule breaking thing. I put mint into this garden. And every gardener on the planet had a fit. They had a real fit about this. And they all had to come into the comments and tell me about it. So they did not like me putting mint into this herb garden. And everyone started fighting about whether it was okay for me to put mint in the herb garden or not. So it took off. It went viral within that first day and allowed me to reach a lot of people. I actually got to teach my herb system to lots of people. I reposted it later in the year and it got a million views again, but it got 4.6 million views, 158,000 likes, 2,000 comment, 75,000 shares and 128,000 saves. I think this worked because it had a really clear result. Get $400 worth of herbs for just a $40 container. I gave this step by step. And then I think also because I kind of broke the rules and I put all these herbs together in one container. And so the experts, you know, they couldn't stand that. All right, the last one, my most viral video of all time to date, is me talking about herbs once again. And I start the video by saying, this has got to stop. And I do a pan of the plastic wrapped herbs at the grocery store. And then I say, this is how America currently gets its herbs and it's ridiculous. And then I say, when we could all grow them ourselves. And then I give this step by step to grow your own herbs at home. I actually posted this two times. I posted one December 26th and one in October. I think both of them went viral. The last one I did, it's had over 7 million plays, which is crazy. And I think this worked because, one, we all care about the climate and the planet and we're all tired of plastic being in our food and we're all ready to have a little bit more control over our food. And so I think it woke people up to just like, yeah, yeah, I don't want to get herbs and those plastic things at the grocery store. It also had an answer and a solution. So I wasn't just complaining. I actually had a step by step for what to do. And I gave away a free resource afterwards that people could get our herb course to start growing their own herbs right away. And it also kind of created a little rumble in the comments because some people thought like I was being rude by telling people they had to grow their own herbs. And not everybody can grow their own herbs and they can't grow their own herbs in the winter. And so there were lots of ands and buts and ifs in the comments. And that always helps, you know, engagement and get people talking and having conversation. Because social media is about being social, right? And so when you can get a conversation happening in the comments, then you are doing something right. So those are my first. I don't know if I talked about 10 or 11, but that's my top 10 or 11 most viral posts on Instagram over the last 365 days. And I think I have two that are going viral right as we speak. I love this. I love getting to spread the positive message of the garden and figuring out how to get more people to watch and to listen and to learn and most of all, to take action. And it's become my new obsession. In fact, I started teaching other people how to use Instagram to grow their business last year and created a new company called Wildly. And Wildly's mission is to help small business owners get wild organic growth for their business. Because that's what I've done because of my Instagram posts and virality. I almost doubled my business last year just using videos. No paid advertising, no other methods of marketing, just using those Instagram videos. And so now I get to teach entrepreneurs all over, not just in the garden space, how to do that too. And if you're listening and watching this at the right time, we actually have a challenge coming up called the Real Reals Challenge. It's going to be a five day event where I teach you how to use videos like this to turn your business around and to grow your business organically in a wild way. So if you watched this far, listen this far, and you're interested in using Instagram for your own business and going viral to viral for you, then I would love to help you. You can learn more about the Real reals challenge@wrenwardlyco.com I'm sure we'll have a link on the gardenary.com website as well and and check out Wildly Co on Instagram. That's where I'll be sharing more about the Real Reals Challenge. So if you're one of the ones who found me on Instagram through one of these viral posts, thank you so much and I'm so thankful that the algorithm found you. My mission is to make Gardening Ordinary and to do that I gotta make viral posts so I can get more people's attention. So thank you for growing with us and making Gardening Ordinary right alongside all of us. If you want to get a resource to help you do some of these things that these videos are about, go to gardenary.com and go to gardenary.comcalendar to download our Gardenary calendar, customize it and use it for free or just your own garden this season. Thanks again for being part of the Grow youw Self podcast. I'll see you next time. Thanks so much for listening to the Grow youw Self podcast. You can keep listening anywhere. You love getting your podcast delivered on Apple podcasts, on Spotify, iHeartRadio, you name it, we are there for you. And if you want to read the notes and get our free resources to help you grow more, you can go to gardenary.com podcast.