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Senior Engagement Strategist at UpGrow
Reels, video engagement, and like-velocity optimization
Sarah Mitchell is UpGrow's Senior Engagement Strategist and has spent the last four years studying how Instagram's ranking signals respond to video pacing, caption structure, and first-hour like velocity. She joined UpGrow in 2022 after running paid social at a Brooklyn-based DTC agency, and now leads a 4-person engagement-research pod that ships weekly tactical breakdowns to UpGrow's 300,000+ readers. Her playbooks have helped UpGrow customers add a combined 41 million likes across 18,000 accounts. Sarah lives in Austin, lifts heavy three days a week, and writes most of UpGrow's Reels and likes coverage.
Free and paid methods that actually work, plus why first-hour velocity shapes reach.
Median likes by follower band, best posting windows, format performance, and first-hour velocity.
Detection rates across 8 provider categories, penalties observed, and velocity risk zones.