Friendly Veg Fridays #4

how to go viral on instagram | viral rice cooker meal | am I buying a house?

IN TODAY’S ISSUE:

1. An affirmation

2. How to Go Viral on Instagram: A Formula

3. The Viral Rice Cooker Meal

4. My favourite products, with discount codes

5. Am I buying a house? (for paying subscribers only! :) )

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Hi! We have lots of new subscribers. Thank you so much!

In this newsletter, you can expect (generally):

• an 🙏 affirmation to improve your confidence,

• a 💡tip to help you navigate social situations,

• a 🍲 recipe to inspire you,

• 💸 discount codes & my favourite products to help you shop,

• and 👀 bonus content for paying subscribers to thank you for your support.

  • E.g., what I eat in a day (I don’t share full days of eating anywhere except here), recipe previews, early access to upcoming ebooks

AND! I will also share random bits of my life:

Rescue dogs, machine learning, investing, building a business, health, etc.

This will be more personal than my IG, TikTok, or YouTube. I feel more comfortable sharing personal details in writing (for now).

I’ll send this every Friday-ishhh. I will only send one out if I truly have something relevant to share :)

If you enjoy this, please share with someone who would enjoy this as well. It means a lot.

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1. Affirmation 🙏

It can be anxiety inducing showing up to a social situation as the only vegan.

I feel this often.

I feel it much less now. Something about being in my 30s makes me more resiliant to social pressure, I guess.

Regardless. Having a growth mindset helps. You never know how people might surprise you for the better :)

To help you with your growth mindest, check out the Friendly Vegans and Friends Discord community. We just started a #serotonin-factory channel where we share our small wins everday. Yay, self gratitude!

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2. HOW TO GO VIRAL ON INSTAGRAM

I’ve had recent success going viral on Instagram!

1. Tomato Tofu Carrot Rice: 1M views

2. Tofu Rice Cooker Meal: 1.5M views.

I’m not sure if you post on social media, but maybe you’ll find this interesting.

Let’s talk about how (I think) I did it:

Hook + (Aesthetic or Pacing) + Story = VIRAL

And, the simpler the better.

Let’s break down each piece.

1. Hook:

   • Visual or auditory way to reel people in.

   • Visual example: a quick 0.5 - 1 second shot of delicious looking food.

   • Auditory: a surprising fact, or the sizzle of cooking food.

   • My hook in the 2 aforementioned videos were a quick zoom into a bowl of rice with a focus on the crispy bits.

   • My content isn’t that aesthetic, so I try to hook people in with a zoom and then a quick cut.

2. Aesthetic OR Pacing (ideally you have both)

   • If your video is aesthetic OR is quick (0.5 s per frame) then you’ll capture people’s attention.

   • Ideally, you have both.

   • Like I said, my content is not that aesthetic. I film in a dark corner of my dark apartment, with an LED panel light. So I make up for it with my pacing! Every frame is about 0.5-1 s.

3. Story

   • I read recently: for short form content “Your Story Is MandaTORY.” It is.

   • Don’t just tell people what you did, or how you did it. They can see that. Tell them WHY you did it. Anyone can make a recipe video. But your why is unique. People want to connect with YOU!

   • My story: I talked about why I like making simple vegan rice cooker meals. (Because I’m vegan, and I’m frugal and lazy). Apparently it resonated!

Finally, keep it simple. Viral content is content that appeals to the masses. It’s not niche.

So with that, let’s look at an example of viral content!

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Recipe 🍲

Rice Cooker Meal [VIRAL VIDEO - 1.M VIEWS]

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups white rice, washed

• 1 onion, diched

• 4 cloves garlic, minced

• 1 inch ginger, peeled and minced

• 2 tsp sesame oil

• 1 tbsp dark soya sauce or 2 tbsp light soya sauce

• 1 tbsp shaoxing cooking wine (can skip if you want)

• 2 tablespoons vegetarian oyster sauce

Method

1. Add the washed rice to your rice cooker.

2. Add water: place your fingertip on top of the rice and add water until it reaches your first knuckle.

3. Add the liquids: sesame oil, soya sauce, shaoxing cooking wine if using, and vegetarian oyster sauce. Mix.

4. Add the rest and arrange it on the top of the rice so that everything is submerged, but make sure it’s on top of the rice!

5. Cook! If you have a fancy rice cooker (I just bought myself one for my birthday!) then use the “mixed” setting.

   1. Othewise use the regular setting - you might need to add extra water and recook at the end if that’s the case. Add about 1.25x the amount of water you normally would.

   2. You can also cook this on the stove or in your instant pot. Add about 1.25x the amount of water you normally would.

I suggest you add more sauce to this when you eat it. You can always add more sauce, but you can’t take it away, otherwise I would add more sauce into the rice cooker directly. And, eat some vegetables with this too to make it a well rounded meal!

💸 Discounts & Products

RICE COOKERS

Zojirushi Rice Cooker - this is what’s used in my rice cooker videos.

Aroma Rice Cooker - a more affordable option.

SAUCE

Vegetarian Oyster Sauce - made of mushrooms! I use this almost everyday.

15% OFF WHEN YOU SPEND $60 AT IHERB.COM

The title says it all. Valid until March 20!

PROTEIN POWDER

Save 30% off your order of vegan protein powder at goodprotein.ca with the code SERENA30.

Disclaimer: I get a small commission when you use these links. Thank you for your support <3

To my free subscribers: Randy says, “Talk to you next time!”

👀 For Paying Subscribers Only

Am I buying a house?

All my life I’ve been incredibly frugal.

I cook my own food at home, I don’t spend money on going out, I invest diligently, I don’t buy clothes often.

It can be hard seeing friends buying whatever they want, whenever they want.

I often ask myself: “What have I been saving for?”