Instagram is known as a visual platform for images and videos. Adam Grant is known for his ideas on organizational psychology. So, how did he train 2.6 million Instagram followers to engage with his ideas on his terms? Alicia Cintron finds out and tells all.
Alicia Cintron, of Cintron, Revised is committed to advancing the public understanding of research and creating a positive impact on society through effective and responsible research communication.
Alicia chose to research Adam Grant’s social media because he’s “the epitome of a publicly engaged academic. He gained popular following by publishing popular press books, his first one in 2013, and built on his momentum with speaking engagements, sharing his research and insight on social media, a monthly newsletter, podcasts, op-eds and public writing, and a few Ted Talks.”
Most researchers and writers use X (Twitter) because it’s a native platform for text. Although Adam Grant is on Instagram, Linkedin, Facebook, and Threads, X has been his primary platform since 2013.
Even though he has 869.K followers on X versus 2.6 Million on Instagram, X is still considered his primary platform based on his primary content style.
How can you tell?
His support platforms are filled with screenshots of his Tweets.
“His posts rarely share anything personal, instead focuses on highlighting research (tagging the authors or journals), sharing very simple data visualizations, and insights about human behavior. His posts are very relatable, accessible in language, and concise. He doesn’t include many links or data or dense jargon to support his points.”
– Researcher, Alicia Cintron”
Using Creatrix, Alicia audited +5-years of Adam Grant’s posts on Instagram from 1st Feb 2014 to 19th October 2024 to discover what themes and topics stood the test of time to stand out as the most popular.
Alicia’s hypothesis was that his personal photos and interview videos would be the most popular on Instagram due to its visual nature. But the results? 90% of his most popular posts were screenshots of text tweets!
“In general, Grant’s captions for his top 10 Instagram posts were short or nonexistent, which makes sense. The Tweet capture is enough to trigger the audience to engage with the post.”
– Researcher, Alicia Cintron”
Adam Grant’s Top 3 Instagram Posts
#1 Monica Lewinsky’s @ response to the worst advice.
(The date of the Tweet is a few years before he posted it to Instagram.)
#2 An interview clip with Grant and actress Jennifer Garner about mentorship and providing tough feedback.
Comments on this post discuss their interviewing chemistry and the ease and flow of this interview made it feel like they were old friends catching up.
#3 The third most popular posts includes an interview clip of actor Andrew Garfield’s interview with Stephen Colbert on recently losing his mother.
The post leads with a Tweet on grief and a short clip in the following slide. His caption is humanizing, talking about how Garfield’s perspective on grief challenges the way we process grief.
“If you go back to the beginning of Adam Grant’s Instagram feed, back in June 2018, you will see that his first 40+ posts are photos, memes, and various data visualizations. By no means was he an Instagram early adapter either. Yet, today he boasts over 2 million followers, sharing mostly screen shots of Tweets. He began sharing Tweet posts in earnest in September 2018 and hasn’t looked back since.
I do believe training your audience is what made him successful here. He is consistent across platforms and true to himself and how he wants to communicate. There is absolutely nothing telling you or me to step outside our zone of comfort in terms of promoting our thought leadership. Take it from Adam Grant.”
– Researcher, Alicia Cintron
Key Findings from Adam Grant’s Social Media Strategy
- Consistency across platform / Content repurposing of Tweets
- Celebrity Connections with a focus on key themes:
Themes of the Human Condition
- Mental health
- Parenting
- Grief
- Relationships
- Expectations
Steal Grant’s Strategy for Research Scholars
Cintron argues that scholars can “train” their audience to expect a particular type of content.
So if the written word is your preference, write. You don’t have to follow the current trend of content style. Stick to a text-based approach as your consistent content style.
“By being consistent with his communication style, Grant has cultivated an audience that values his insights over visual content.” – Researcher, Alicia Cintron
To read her in-depth study report, click here for more.
Want to know the best topics to write on based on Adam Grant’s top themes?
Get a list of blog titles, email headlines, article overviews, and captions based on what’s working best. Email lauren@creatrixsaas.com for more.
