My production company brings in $1.08 million a year
A content creator shares how they pivoted from high-production food videos to TikTok content creation after discovering their polished videos weren't performing well on social media. They built a production company called Shortcut that has now created thousands of videos with over 3 billion views.
Summary
The speaker describes their journey from creating expensive, high-production food content that failed to gain traction on social media to discovering the power of TikTok-style videos. After noticing their clients' polished food videos received little engagement, they proposed making 10 TikToks for $2,000 with a money-back guarantee if the content didn't perform. Their first TikTok achieved 700,000 views and the second got 300,000 views, proving the concept worked. This success led to the creation of their production company Shortcut, which has since produced 2,000-3,000 videos generating over 3 billion total views. The speaker outlines their content strategy philosophy, explaining that successful online content must either entertain or educate audiences. They emphasize the importance of defining a specific target audience before creating content, using the example of an entrepreneur targeting 18-25 year olds who are uncertain about college and have some savings but don't know how to use it. Their formula involves taking viral concepts and adapting them to solve specific problems or entertain people within the creator's area of expertise.
Key Insights
- The speaker discovered that high-production food videos they were creating performed poorly on social media despite their quality
- The speaker offered clients a money-back guarantee for TikTok content creation, charging $2,000 for 10 videos
- Their first TikTok achieved 700,000 views and the second got 300,000 views, validating their new approach
- The speaker's company Shortcut has produced 2,000-3,000 videos generating over 3 billion total views
- The speaker argues that successful online content must either entertain or educate people, and requires defining a specific target audience first
Topics
Transcript
[0:00] I was shooting like really, really high-production food porn, basically. But, whenever my client would post these videos, I would notice that nobody really, really care about these videos on social media. So, I told all my client at the time, "Give me like $2,000. I'll make you like 10 TikToks. If it doesn't work, if it doesn't get any views, I will give you your money back." The first TikTok I made for that client got 700,000 views. The very next one, it got 300,000 views. So, after that, I was like, "Wow, I think I got something here. I think a lot more business could use us." And that's how [0:30] Shortcut was born. We have made…
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