Oshry is the brains behind one of today’s most popular meme Instagram accounts, @girlwithnojob. I don't feel those are platforms where my young millennial followers are hanging out. What makes Instagram a better platform than other social media? It's the best platform to find meme content -- it’s where it started. People always ask me, “Do you have a bank of content you just post?” No -- because content goes viral and then it's dead. Instagram Stories has totally disrupted my content strategy because now I spend just as much time creating content for Instagram Stories as I do for Instagram. My whole aesthetic is being super unfiltered, saying whatever, being funny, so as long as I stay really authentic to that type of storytelling, people will know that it's a @girlwithnojob story. It's just showing up, being funny, meeting people all around the country who follow @girlwithnojob and engaging with them. [Many] of the true influencers didn't start out with the intention of getting a lot of followers and making money from it. A lot of the people that I know in the “industry,” who have big Instagram followings, are some of the most hard-working people I've ever met.
In this series, Instagram Icon, Entrepreneur speaks with the individuals behind popular Instagram accounts to find out the secrets of their success.
Ever wonder where those funny viral memes come from? Claudia Oshry can stake a claim on some of them.
Oshry is the brains behind one of today’s most popular meme Instagram accounts, @girlwithnojob. This hard-working Instagrammer and social media personality has leveraged her humor and outgoing personality to launch an Instagram account that has a following of more than 2.7 million users.
Years ago, after wanting to make a website and without knowing much about coding, Oshry turned to Tumblr, where she began posting funny celebrity-infused content. Today, Oshry says she creates new content “24/7.” When Instagram launched, so did the “meme revolution.” Oshry didn’t hesitate to hop on board.
“I really rode the wave of entertainment-humor content on Instagram — using it more as a broadcasting opportunity than a social network,” Oshry shared with Entrepreneur.
When asked how much time she dedicates to social media, especially Instagram, Oshry says: “All of it.” So it turns out this “girl with no job” actually has a job that never stops. And on top of Instagram, she’s launched two podcasts, maintains other social platforms such as Snapchat, Twitter and Facebook and even DJs.
We caught up with Oshry to learn how she uses Instagram to build her brand.
1. How did you get your start with Instagram?
I flocked to Instagram to drive traffic to my blog [on Tumblr], which was really small at the time. But I credit a lot of my Instagram success to timing. I got on Instagram almost four years ago when the meme culture was still very much in development. So I feel like I really rode the wave of entertainment-humor content on Instagram — using it more as a broadcasting opportunity than a social network.
At first it was just interesting, the things I found on Tumblr. But then I thought, “What could be a way to diversify my page from someone else’s?” And that was to make [my] own content. So I figured out ways that people were making memes — finding what was popular and then doing it on my own.
2. What other platforms do you use and what percentage of the time do you spend on them vs. Instagram?
I spend about 75 percent of my time on Instagram and about 25 percent of my time on other platforms like Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr and Imgur.
[My followings are] much smaller, around 50,000. I don’t feel those are platforms where my young millennial followers are hanging out. I’m very in tune with how old my followers are and what platforms they like to hang out on. And I just hang out with them there.
3. What makes Instagram a better platform than other social media?
It’s the best platform to find meme content — it’s where it started. But I also think as a company, Instagram does a good job of listening to its users and that’s a problem I have with Snapchat. It takes them forever to make one big change. With Instagram, any time there’s an overwhelming consensus that [they] need to do something, they do it. And there’s something cool about having a direct line to Instagram.
4. How much of your time do you devote to it?
All of it. Maybe not [just] Instagram but in general — creating content, managing all the platforms and being a personality.
5. How do you promote your account? What’s your number one way to gain followers?
None of it’s paid. It’s all organic….
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