Make Scroll-Stopping Content
Practical tips for creating scroll-stopping content and mastering the business of social media, delivered weekly.
The shareability formula
This is a modified version of an original post from February 22, 2024 The Dinner Table Test In my years of making videos and analyzing which were the most shared, I've found there's pretty much one major factor in determining the shareability of any post: the dinner table test. A cousin to the elevator pitch, it basically asks if a picture/video is simple enough to describe that you'd be inclined to bring it up in discussion at the dinner table. "Hey, did you see that video where the cat...
The product anyone can sell
When I was working with Studio to develop my Scroll-Stopping Shorts course, they put a huge emphasis on showing my unique process - how I personally approach crafting concepts and editing videos. The experience completely changed my opinion on what it means to offer online classes and digital products. I used to think being an expert on the internet meant providing the answer for 2+2, when it actually means showing how to arrive at the number 4. There are infinite ways - especially in...
Why I make videos alone
With AI's sudden rise, there's been a lot of discussion about how important 'narrative' is to artists and businesses online. Simply put, what's the story behind your content? For example, Wendy's has notoriously leaned into sounding like a snarky social media manager gone rogue from corporate headquarters. Given that my content is all about realistic magical effects and tedious stop-motion animation, I've specifically chosen to present a narrative of: a wizard casually filming himself on his...
My 2024 YouTube Revenue Breakdown
In my quest to shine a light on being an artist making a living on social media, I thought I’d pull back the curtain on my YouTube revenue. My 2024 on YouTube My revenue = $30,000.67 USD - 10% to agency x 1.37 exchange rate = ~$37,000.00 CAD (I live in Canada) Daily average of $82.00 USD or $112.00 CAD January has notoriously low ad rates December typically brings a holiday spike 319.9M views = 6.1M video views + 313.8M Shorts views (much lower ad rates) The Power of Evergreen Videos Out of...
There are no rules
Today, a great example of how a digital artist can tell a compelling process story while also advertising their work. I attended film school when social media was first appearing. My grad film was printed onto tape and snail-mailed to film festivals. Posting video online was still a bit radical. To this day, I still feel bound to my traditional film background. I have outdated ideas about how to approach visual storytelling. Almost like there are certain ways to film specific shots because...
Teach people who don't want to learn
One of my most popular YouTube Shorts, at 117M views, is this quick tutorial breaking down how I magically (through editing) grab Thomas the Tank Engine from my TV and throw him into a picture book. Does that sound like a video that would go viral? Absolutely not. I think what's happening is that I'm tapping into a sweet spot of what I call teaching people who don't want to learn. It's the perfect blend of sharing expertise on a really niche topic in a way that's dumbed down just enough to...
Revenue breakdown of a viral video
People have asked me to share more about the business side of being a full-time artist on the internet. So this week, let's take a look at the revenue generated from my 10 Types of Magic video (and my surprising conclusion). Three important factors: This video is an outlier and its success isn't repeatable. I posted these videos in March 2023, so this revenue spans two years. I'm Canadian and don't make ad revenue on platforms like TikTok or Instagram. YouTube Shorts: $9,792 USD Shorts don't...
How businesses can win on social media
Last week, I wrote about how I used 'effort' to make an animated vitamin ad more engaging. While that post focused on artists, the same principle applies to business advertising in general. Check out this post from Logan's Candies. It has an astonishing 51M views! Not bad for a family-owned candy shop based out of Ontario, California. And this isn't an outlier - they have dozens of videos with 10M+ views. What I think they've done tremendously well is hone in on the 'effort' of their process....
'Feeling the effort' of your art
I took a very deliberate approach for a recent partnership with Nature Made vitamins: 'feeling the effort'. Instead of a cleaned up piece of animation, I chose to use my hand as a support rig and not remove it in post-production. I'm mixing behind-the-scenes into the animation so that you enjoyably get a sense of the amount of creative work involved. This was the perfect opportunity to try something like this because an ad for a multivitamin is a bit of a tough sell. I knew I had to lean into...
One simple CTA changed my business
This week I have a quick, actionable tip that's increased visitors to my site by ~100/day. If you've ever checked out a YouTube description, you might be familiar with the 'wall of text' approach. This is dozens of links to related videos, affiliate products, digital offerings, and profiles on other social media platforms. I was guilty of this. My video descriptions used to have 10+ links (left side). Now, they have just two: one for learning from me and one for contacting me (right side)....
Practical tips for creating scroll-stopping content and mastering the business of social media, delivered weekly.