We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Elisa Mastrocolla a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Elisa, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What do you think matters most in terms of achieving success?

Social Media is an interesting business because people don’t tend to understand it. Most people think that a content creator simply records videos and posts them. They don’t see what goes on behind the scenes. There is a tremendous amount of pressure to be unique and authentic, and it’s a constant comparison game.

For a content creator to succeed in all aspects of the business, it takes passion, hard work, courage, and perseverance to keep going. It is easy to give up when you are not getting the results you are hoping for. There are so many ups and downs, some of us call it an emotional roller coaster. On the other hand, if you have the passion for what you are doing, that passion will carry you through the disappointments of the downs and will keep you determined to keep moving.

Elisa, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I was born in Brazil and moved to the US as a teenager with my mother and sister. At that time my mother needed a lot of help with house projects, and that is how I developed my passion for home DIY projects. Since purchasing our first home in 2012, I have experimented with countless projects for myself and others. A little over two years ago (2020) we moved into a new home in our dream town. It was a simple, averaged size home that needed a lot of work. My husband and I knew that we were in over our heads buying this home but we were willing to make sacrifices and work with what we had. My first project was the kitchen, and I thought, why not share ways to improve my home in a truly budget friendly way. In January of 2022 I started @thedgewoodhome on Instagram. Building the business slowly became part of my new life and a new way of expressing myself.
I try to keep projects simple but that make a big impact so my followers don’t feel overwhelmed. Instead, they are inspired to try something they never thought they could do. It is always a joy to get messages telling me I have inspired someone to start. The messages that really inspire me to keep doing what I am doing are the ones asking me to help them with their own projects and requests for advice on how to fix any issues they have. I am always willing to help and will answer every single question I receive. It is important to me and to my business to be responsive and to help my followers and audience to achieve their own goals. Through these conversations, I want my followers to know that I am here for them, I want to be their friend and build a community for them.

How did you build your audience on social media?

In January of 2022, I created my Instagram account with no major goals. I was hoping to create an environment that inspired others. During the first six months, it grew somewhat slowly and reached 5k followers in August of 2020. Shortly afterwards, I had a reel go viral and that was the beginning of a growth surge, and my followers hitting 100k on January 1, 2023. There were times when I didn’t think it was worth it and was very close to giving up. It took a lot of perseverance and dedication to keep going. With that said, building your social media audience can be exhausting and discouraging but it can also be exciting to see your numbers rise every day. Here are some ways you can start:
1- Identify your target audience and create content that resonates with them.
2- Engage with them by responding to comments and messages, and use relevant hashtags to increase visibility, including other creators.
3- Spend some time engaging with other creators within and outside of your niche. This helps them get to know you.
4- Collaborate with other accounts in your niche by posting a video interacting with one another.
5- Consider utilizing paid advertising to reach a wider audience. Paid advertisements have really helped my growth by promoting my reels.
6- Lastly, be consistent. Make sure to post regularly and analyze your data to optimize your strategy. Post at different times of the day and see what is the best that works for you. Use stories to talk directly to your audience every day: my followers love to connect this way.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

I treat my followers, prospective followers, and fellow content creators as my customers so I am constantly responding to their needs. I strive to always provide excellent service. This has really helped build my reputation. I do my best to deliver the best content while being honest and transparent with my communication to build relationships. Engaging with my followers is one of my main priorities and replying to their comments and messages, I believe, keeps them coming back.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: theedgewoodhome
• Facebook: theedgewoodhome
• Youtube: theedgewoodhome
• Other: tiktok: theedgewoodhome