INSTA SUCCESS
JULIET Hackett is a young sportswoman who has used social media to her benefit.
The Gold Coast teenager is involved in cheer – cheerleading – a sport that does not receive a lot of publicity.
Jules (pictured) is 15 and has about 55,000 followers on her Instagram page. It is believed she has the fifth largest cheer account internationally and it is in the top 10 of accounts not attached to a product.
Astonishingly, Jules has achieved this in only two years.
I asked how she did it and if there are dangers:
Q Why did you start the account?
A There wasn’t a particular reason that inspired me to create the account but in one day I gained a following of close to 200 people and in no time I reached my first milestone of 1000 followers. I then realised that it was something that cheerleaders were interested in and so that made me want to stick with it and reach new people all over the world. Q
What do you want to achieve by posting this information? A
My favourite outcome of having this account is that it has increased my knowledge of all things cheerleading. It gives me the opportunity to promote a sport I love through an engaging platform. The account is a hotspot for cheerleading updates about individuals and teams and it keeps me motivated to keep it current with information. Through having this account I have learnt a lot about the sport and communication with many people. It has also created overseas opportunities which are important for myself in the future. Q
What are the biggest ‘kicks’ from the account? A One of the most exciting things about owning the account is when I reach a new follower goal. When I reached 10k and 50k followers, they were major goals. It makes all the hard work of finding photos and editing videos worth it. I love knowing I am reaching people who share my passion. Making new friends across the state and globe has been an unexpected kick. Q
What are some of the most interesting responses you have received from your posts? A
The best feedback I have received from followers is that I have inspired them to start their own account. I am creating opposition to my account but that is life. It is a great experience and a lot of fun. It is about creating positive promotion of ‘Cheer’. Q
You have a huge following. How long has it taken you for your feed to become so popular? A
I have had the account for about two years now and it was the first year when I saw the most growth. I went from zero to 30,000 followers in one year. This growth was due to me spending lots of time interacting with my followers, making edits and keeping everyone up to date with all things cheerleading. Homework and a part-time job gets in the way sometimes now. Q
What sort of information and photos do you post on your account? A Everything I post is cheerrelated. Whether it’s a recommendation of a product, an update on a famous team or something inspiring I think would be beneficial for younger athletes to see. I always try to keep something new and exciting happening. During the US cheer season, particularly around NCA and Worlds,
you can expect to see lots of updates, competition times and sometimes interviews with famous athletes but during the “off-season” I tend to focus on posting general pictures and videos relating to cheerleading. I focus on lower levels and international teams during the off-season and on World teams during the US competition season (December-April). Q How often do you put posts up? How much time do you spend on keeping your account up to date? A
I usually spend about five to 10 minutes each day in the car posting and replying to messages when Mum is driving me around. It doesn’t take any longer than that. I used to spend a lot of time editing videos but now I have
gone back to just posting pictures and videos of cheerleading. Q
Have you attracted anything negative from your posts? A
The only “negative” comment I ever see would be a few people who have said “Cheer isn’t a sport”. My reaction was to block them from my page because their intent is to cause drama and torment. There has also been the occasional inappropriate comment from men relating to children and my immediate response is to block them and report it immediately to the right channels. Apart from these few instances, all comments and feedback have been positive. This helps to make my job so much fun.