Have you tried to make Instagram Reels? Are you posting Reels, but they aren’t going viral? Laura Bitoiu is an Instagram Reels expert and the the founder of B Squared Social, a company dedicated to helping small businesses simplify their social media.
In this episode, we ask Laura about the journey she took to build her business, how she navigated her career during challenging times, and how she found success through creating Instagram Reels. Listen now to learn all the secrets about what makes a Reel go viral, and learn how you can utilize short-form video to grow your business!
Ina Coveney
Hi! Everybody, today we have the amazing pleasure of interviewing Laura Bitoui. Hi, Laura! How are you?
Laura Bitoui
Hi, Ina! I’m good. It’s so good to be here, and so nice to meet you face-to-face over Zoom.
Ina Coveney
I know! This is a real thrill for me. Like many people who are listening right now, I found you through Reels, so it’s amazing to get to talk to you face-to-face. We’re going to get into it, but first, can you share with everybody what you do right now and who you serve?
Laura Bitoui
Absolutely! Right now, I am working with business owners to streamline and simplify their Instagram Reels strategy. I do that through my Reels membership.
Ina Coveney
Awesome, and we’re going to get into all of that, but I like to go back to the beginning. Because when I see someone be successful as you have been on Instagram, I want everybody to understand that you didn’t come out of the womb with 70,000 followers. I want to start way back in the beginning. I understand your parents were entrepreneurs themselves when you were living in South Africa.
Laura Bitoui
Yeah, they were. They worked with big names like Tina Turner, Whitney Houston, and the Rolling Stones. In the eighties and nineties, they were behind bringing them to South Africa, which was super cool. Growing up, seeing them as entrepreneurs, I noticed how different their day looked compared to, say, a friend’s parents who had 9-to-5 jobs. I knew I wanted that flexibility and freedom, like being able to take a break in the middle of the day to hang out with my kids if I wanted to. I always knew I wanted to work for myself, but I had no idea in what capacity.
Ina Coveney
That’s so interesting! Usually, kids want to rebel against what their parents do. Why do you think you wanted to follow in their footsteps so badly?
Laura Bitoui
It was a lot of trial and error. I went to school for business, majoring in international business. Honestly, of all the majors I could pick, that felt like the fluffiest one because I wasn’t sure what to do with it. After finishing my degree, I started waitressing for a few years, worked my way up to managing a restaurant, and then went to law school for a year, thinking I wanted to be a lawyer. But during a summer internship, I quickly realized it wasn’t for me. The idea of being in an office all day really freaked me out.
Ina Coveney
Let’s pause for a moment because there’s so much there that I don’t want you to gloss over. You said you went into waitressing and managed a restaurant after college. What was happening at the time, and how did you land in that job? How did you feel about it back then?
Laura Bitoui
They call it the "golden handcuffs" for a reason. When you’re waitressing, you’re making cash every single day. It’s like a gambler’s thrill—you could leave with $200, $800, or just $40 at the end of the night. That unpredictability really fed my entrepreneurial spirit. For example, if I had a bigger section in the restaurant, I knew I’d make more money. Or if I could convince a couple of ladies each having a glass of wine to share a bottle instead, I’d earn more because people often tip based on the total bill. Looking back, I can see my entrepreneurial wheels were already spinning, even in that job.
Ina Coveney
What was the trigger that made you decide it was time for a change and apply to law school? Was it something you always planned on, or was there a moment that pushed you?
Laura Bitoui
It was FOMO—fear of missing out and being left behind. I saw my friends finishing master’s degrees, getting into med school, buying houses, hitting all these milestones, and I thought, “I’m still here at the restaurant.” That fear pushed me to apply for law school. I didn’t necessarily want to go, but I felt like I needed to get my life together and do something.
Ina Coveney
What year was this?
Laura Bitoui
This was around 2015. Facebook was already big, Amy Porterfield had her podcast, Online Marketing Made Easy, and online marketing was gaining traction. But at the time, social media wasn’t a big part of my life.
Ina Coveney
How were you using social media back then?
Laura Bitoui
I finished university in 2013, and we’d done a single course on digital marketing that focused on Twitter. I used social media mainly for a nonprofit I volunteered with, helping a friend with her online boutique, and for marketing the restaurant I worked at. For the restaurant, Instagram was key because it’s such a visual platform. We’d post about specials and promotions to get people in the doors.
Ina Coveney
So you got into law school—yay, you’re living the dream! What happened?
Laura Bitoui
I liked being in school—the change of pace, the focus, the social aspect. But I kept thinking, “What am I going to do with this? What’s the next step?” Then, during my second semester, I did a summer internship at my “dream” law firm. I showed up on the first day all dressed up, and the networking part was fun, but when I saw what the actual work entailed, I thought, “I don’t know if I can do this.” That’s when I started questioning whether I wanted to commit all this time and money to a law degree.
Ina Coveney
So when you decided to quit law school, what did you have going on at the time, and how did that influence your next steps?
Laura Bitoui
I had absolutely nothing going on. I went back to working at the restaurant, trying to make some money and buy time while I figured out my next step. That’s when I decided I wanted to be an accountant.
Ina Coveney
An accountant? Tell me more about that decision!
Laura Bitoui
I don’t know what I was thinking! I decided to start CPA prep courses, thinking it would lead to a more stable career. I did one semester, but about a month into it, my sister died.
Ina Coveney
Oh, Laura, I’m so sorry. How old was she?
Laura Bitoui
She was 23. Her death was completely unexpected, and it really made me stop and reassess everything. I thought, “Why am I doing things I don’t care about, to make money, to buy things I don’t need, to impress people I don’t care about?” Her death was a wake-up call. I started focusing on what would make me happy and how I could positively impact others instead of worrying about what other people thought.
Ina Coveney
A lot of people listening may have gone through something similar or are experiencing it now. What advice would you give to someone who’s just gone through a life-altering event and is struggling to move forward?
Laura Bitoui
It’s hard to say “move forward” because, honestly, you don’t move forward—you just get stronger. Early on, someone told me, “It doesn’t get easier, but you get stronger,” and I hated that at first. But it’s true. Grief doesn’t go away, but you learn how to handle it better. If you’re in the middle of something traumatic, focus on getting through the next minute, the next five minutes. Don’t worry about what you’ll do next week or next month. Take care of yourself moment by moment. And don’t let anyone pressure you into being “over it” by a certain time. If people in your life don’t understand, you might need to distance yourself from them.
Ina Coveney
So after that, you were still in accounting classes. Where did the idea of pursuing social media come from during that time?
Laura Bitoui
I took three or four months off work after my sister’s death because I couldn’t function. Eventually, I started coming out of that fog and thinking about what to do next. I went back to the restaurant for a day or two a week, but I struggled. My brain was so grief-stricken, and I had no energy for customer-facing work. My fiancé, now husband, suggested that since I was doing such a good job managing the restaurant’s social media, I should ask if they’d let me do just that as a separate role. I pitched the idea to them, and they said yes. They became my first client.
Ina Coveney
That’s amazing. So your work with the restaurant led to word of mouth, and people started asking about your services?
Laura Bitoui
Exactly. People would come into the restaurant and ask who was managing the social media, taking the photos, or designing the website. That’s how I got my next few clients. It all grew organically from there.
Ina Coveney
Let’s fast forward a bit to your Instagram success, which is how I found you. Before we dive into that, where did coaching fit into your business journey?
Laura Bitoui
I started with full-service social media management, but people would approach me saying they couldn’t afford to pay $2,000 a month for management services. So I started offering “pick my brain” calls, charging about $50 for an hour. It was wildly underpriced, but it gave people an accessible way to work with me.
Ina Coveney
And how did that evolve into courses?
Laura Bitoui
The coaching calls kept filling up, so I raised my rates. By the time I stopped doing them, I was charging $500 per call. But I noticed I was repeating the same things: how to create Reels, how to find trending sounds, how to set up your bio. I realized I could provide the same information more effectively in a course, with demonstrations and workbooks. So I created a mini-course to scale that part of my business.
Ina Coveney
That’s such a key takeaway: courses aren’t where you start; they’re how you scale something that’s already working. Now, let’s talk about your Instagram growth. I have some stats here: In September 2020, you had about 4,000 followers. By November, you had 15,000. Then, five months later, you hit 35,000. Now, you’re at around 68,000. Can you share how Reels played a role in that growth?
Laura Bitoui
When Reels launched in August 2020, I had a client who was excited about video content and pushed me to try it. I was skeptical but agreed to make a few Reels to test it out. At the time, I had 4,000 followers, and my first Reel got 6,000 views in less than a day. That blew my mind! I decided to swap out my static content for Reels, posting three per week for a month. That’s when my account really took off.
Ina Coveney
What advice would you give to someone starting with Reels today?
Laura Bitoui
First, check your Instagram insights and repurpose your top-performing static posts into Reels. Second, manage your expectations—Reels don’t always go viral. Third, consistency matters. The more Reels you create, the better your chances of one taking off.
Ina Coveney
Do you think it’s too late to get into Reels now?
Laura Bitoui
No, it’s not too late. It’s harder to go viral now because there’s more competition, but it’s still possible. Also, don’t just focus on growth. Engage deeply with the audience you already have.
Ina Coveney
This has been such an incredible conversation, Laura. Can you tell everyone where they can find you and learn more about your membership?
Laura Bitoui
Thank you, Ina! My membership is called The Reels Report. We send weekly trend reports for Instagram and TikTok, giving you a game plan for consistent content creation. You can find me on Instagram at @VsquaredSocial.
Ina Coveney
Amazing! Thank you so much, Laura. This has been a pleasure.
Laura Bitoui
Thank you so much, Ina. It’s been wonderful chatting with you!
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