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Welcome to the socialized strategy. Happy Friday. If you're joining me here live on video, you'll notice that there's a lot going on. The sun is just beaming in the window. So this is probably the worst time of day for me to be filming, But here we are because it's the best time that I could get to it.
Helen:And you'll also notice that my background color has changed. So I'm happy to report that I finally found a color that I'm happy with in my main wall here. I have some holiday decor going just to get something in the scene, and I'm feeling really excited. So in honor of Black Friday, we're also launching a sale for in the studio. And I will say, I don't like to talk about it because I don't like to sell things.
Helen:So I'm just gonna really use this as an opportunity to say, if you are interested, this weekend and through Cyber Monday is your now is your chance to really get in it at a lesser price because our core core creators who got in as the first 100 people did enjoy a discount. And if you're a little late to it, but now you're thinking, shoot, I should have done it because I really need daily inspiration, daily advice, daily guidance, and ideas for my account. That is what we are doing in the studio. And I'm just so thrilled that I found a way to finally make it happen. So thank you for all of you who have joined and embraced it right in the onset.
Helen:And I've gotten so many amazing emails saying, I'm so glad you did this. Now I feel inspired every single day. And what I do in there is pretty cool because every day I provide some type of direction. So if you're lost and you're wondering, you can always go in and look and say, oh, here's what I should do today. And here's how I should do it because I give directions how to do it.
Helen:I give ideas how to do it for your account specifically. So it's really almost like getting personalized help without paying for 1 on 1 lessons. So if you're thinking about it, it's gonna be it's gonna amount to what's a dollar a day. So you could try it for 30 days and then you could just bail out if you don't think you need it. But it's just a way to keep you going.
Helen:So if you're interested, grab it now while it's 15% off. And the link is in the show notes and, of course, it's in the newsletter. The other thing I wanted to really just double back on is a while ago, I talked about how I wanted to work on a couple of things in my content, and one of them was posting more spontaneously on the fly as I go through my day. So I wanted to report in on how I'm doing with that. I like to be accountable.
Helen:I mentioned it a couple of weeks ago. And I'm I'm gonna say that I might have to double back on the idea because I'm not finding it to be an efficient way to operate for me. I really do much better if I film, film, film my things during the day. And then in the evening when I sit and I curate and I go through what did I film today, then I have time to put the little titles and captions on it. And I definitely operate more efficiently that way.
Helen:So I'm gonna say, well, I tried it and it's not that it was it's not that it was bad. If that would work for you, go for it. Why it didn't work for me is sometimes I'd be in the moment and I'd go, oh, I post this right now and then I put a title on it. But sometimes I'd be moving to my next task and I'd say, I'll post it when I get to my next destination and then I forget. And so then I was skipping posts and then there was stuff I found in my phone days later and I'm like, darn, I never posted that because I walked from one location to another or I left a store and went to another place and I got distracted, ran into someone, whatever.
Helen:So that doesn't work for me. And so I've decided to go back to my more efficient way of operating, which is documenting during the course of the day and then coming back later to curate my content. And now let's just dive into the topic for today because I spent too much time talking about other stuff. And we're gonna discuss how to go viral, how to optimize your chances for going viral, what are some strategies you can implement to help yourself have the possibility of going viral. I mean, nobody knows exactly.
Helen:There's no formula to going viral. There's just things that I noticed when I was going through videos and preparing for a workshop recently. There were things I noticed specifically that were consistent in every viral video that I was noticing on my for you page. So I decided to kind of do the homework, deep dive, analyze it, and figure out what is it exactly that's making these videos viral, like what triggered it. And taking that learning and then sharing with you the things that you can think about to do in your content to help yourself have that chance.
Helen:Alright. That's it. I mean, there's no magic sauce, but there are definitely consistent things that are present in viral videos. The first one is that first 3 seconds. The first 3 seconds is so crucial.
Helen:Are you putting someone on the edge of their seat? Are you telling them exactly what this video is about? Are you creating suspense and interest? Are you doing some kind of a technique that's gonna keep them past the first three seconds? And a lot of people don't do it.
Helen:I can see already in my studio people, my studio members, my core creators, that I go to their videos to look at them because I'm giving feedback daily. And when I look at their videos, I'm like, oh, she took 5 footsteps when she was walking before she said her first word. That's a red flag on content creation. You don't wanna have people waiting for you to walk 5 footsteps before you even start saying anything in your video, unless you're creating drama. If that is a suspense movie and you're hearing click cluck click cluck and you see something dramatic, then you can have 5 footsteps because they're purposeful footsteps that are setting up a scene.
Helen:So there's a difference. There's a suspense kind of waiting pause, whatever, and then there's a wasted pause. So make sure yours is a purposeful pause if that's what it's meant to do. But if it's not meant to do that, you gotta get to it. Gotta skip over the the 5 footsteps and get to it.
Helen:So no hello. No hi everybody. How are you doing today? Hey. It's me.
Helen:I'm here. Skip it all. What's your video about? Another good strategy is looping and we covered that this week in the studio in-depth about how to loop your videos. So that's a thing that if you know how to do it, then you can really implement that into your content because you start with a quick little ending of your video.
Helen:It's almost like teasing people and confusing people and then you're getting into what your video is about. So there's a couple of things like that that you could do that are the first 3 seconds. But mind you, it doesn't have to be, a tutorial that's saying I'm gonna show you this or a lesson or a recipe. It can be something as simple as here, look at my new puppy. I'm gonna tell you how I got I how it happened when I picked him up or my house is haunted and then tell the story of how.
Helen:Like things like that which will hook your viewer in and then you tell the story. So get them in the first couple of seconds. That is number 1. And number 2 is something that is relatable is usually something that gets shared. And shared sharing is the highest metric for engagement from what where I sit and what I've seen on my content.
Helen:When people save it or forward it to someone, that seems to boost it more in the in the views and algorithm. So you wanna think about if you're doing something and or you're creating a video about something and for example, I just made one today about croissants and I will It's probably posted by the time you see this podcast. But it's but I thought, oh, croissants are kinda trending now. I'm seeing a lot of people. There's a lot of croissants stores popping up.
Helen:Croissants, however you wanna pronounce it, popping up around New York. So I made this video about that. And now I know that's gonna be very relatable to some people who like a good croissant. So that has potential. That might actually draw people in.
Helen:If you live in a cold climate and you have to stock up on your parkas and that's one of the things that you, you know, you have a fashion sense in, your parka collection. Or the opposite, you live somewhere warm so you need to have wraps and sarongs as your main wear if you live on a boat. What's your collection? What's relatable to someone who lives in the same climate as you? Things that could be something that there's that's why sports videos, like sports fans, they're die hard fans.
Helen:And so if there's a video about a certain sport and people are into it, that has better potential for going viral. When you have a lot of people on board for a thing. So relatable and emotionally charged content that can get people excited and relating to your videos is a good one. The other thing is being a two way poster, a two way engager. So not just being the person who posts but if you're viewing, commenting, you can sometimes have a comment that you make that goes viral if you're funny.
Helen:I love having a viral comment but then I get a little worried that it's like I'm getting so many alerts and it's not even about anything. There's no views counted when you have a viral comment. But it's fun to have a viral comment and if you've had that experience you know what I'm talking about. And it can be a little confusing because you're constantly tagged on someone else's video because of your comment. But engaging really helps and what it also might prompt you to do is see a video you've engaged on it.
Helen:Maybe take, or look at the comments and take a comment and make a reply to someone's comment that commented on that video. And that's a great way to create a video of yours that might be relevant. So if you're seeing something, it's already viral, it's already a hot topic, either take someone's comment and reply to it, duet it, or stitch it. Like, if it's a topic you're into, hop on it because that virality tends to go in that that way. Anybody that's in it all of a sudden is going viral also just like the demure trend took off and then everybody that was making videos using those term that term was hopping on that trend.
Helen:So engage being aware of what's out there and what's trending and then riding that wave is is also helpful. There's other ways you can think about your videos and figure out, okay, what worked on some of my videos? What are people watching my videos for? Let me look at one of my prior viral videos and how what what was the formula on it? Could I maybe try something similar in the same vein?
Helen:Could that maybe work? So there are strategies like that that you can implement into your thinking. So when you're planning your content, you give give yourself a little more thought. I knew that I had a viral video in stop motion and I love talking about stop motion. It just makes me happy to do stop motion.
Helen:I really enjoy it. So when I saw that that was a viral video and I hadn't and it was a few years old, that video, and it was very, very popular. I was like, I'm gonna make it I'm gonna make that video over again. I'm a new person. It's 2 years, 3 years later, And maybe people will enjoy seeing a different type of stop motion and I used a different product and I did a different a different way of of doing the stop motion.
Helen:And it was viral again because for some reason, that was a hot topic and people liked the way I explained it. So if you have a hot topic or something that you did go viral on already, maybe maybe grab onto that and run with it. You never know. You could you could have a double virality. It really could work for you.
Helen:So those are some tips about going viral, but it's also, a consistency of an odds game. I like to say you're playing the machines and the more you play, the more chances you have of hitting at some point. So if you're out there every day, you got a more likelihood that maybe one time it's gonna hit. If you're out there 3 times, 4 times, 5 times a month, your chances are gonna go down because you're not being putting enough content out to give yourself the opportunity to get something that gets grabbed on and a wave that you get to ride. So I'm gonna leave you with this today.
Helen:I'm not gonna go on too long because I'm losing light and I have other things I have to shoot tonight. So I'm gonna leave you with this thought. And this really applies to mental health as well as content. So stay with me because it's kind of interesting. I heard something recently, and I think it was on it might have been on a video where somebody was talking about when you have hard thoughts, like, difficult thoughts.
Helen:And I'm like, why am I thinking about this? Why am I, you know, if you have a moment where you think something bad or you think, oh my god. I hope I don't have a car accident. I'm gonna make up something crazy that I sometimes think, oh my gosh. I really hope I don't have a car accident.
Helen:I don't know why I think that way. But sometimes I'll have a moment where I think that way. And then I think if I think that thought, I'm gonna actually make that happen. I because I believe in the power of thinking. Like, if I think something positive, something positive is gonna happen.
Helen:And I so when I have a negative thought, I panic immediately and I think, oh, no. I'm gonna track this negative thing to happen to me. So what I have now started picturing and visualizing is that I'm a surfer and I'm I'm paddling out in the ocean and I'm waiting for waves. And each wave that goes by, I don't pick that wave and ride it. So in the same way, this person mentioned that thoughts are like waves that you don't take.
Helen:So you go, okay. That was a bad thought. Let that one go. I'm not gonna ride that wave. Oh, that was a bad thought.
Helen:Let that one go. This is so interesting to me and this has been game changing in my thinking because when I have a brief negative thought, I literally worry that I have just triggered it to come on to me. It's crazy as that sounds because that's how much I believe that if you think positively good things are gonna happen. I think, oh, no, I just had this bad thought. I'm gonna attract that to happen.
Helen:So what I do is now is I picture it, oh, that wave just passed. I'm good. Let's wait for the next one. And I let the thought go and then I wait for, like, a good thought to come or I I think a good thought and I decide to get on that wave instead and that's the one that I paddle and I try and catch. So in the same way, you're gonna have videos that are like the waves that you just put out there and then they pass.
Helen:So you Every time you put out content, it's like a little wave and you threw it and you didn't ride that one necessarily because it didn't go viral. But okay, that went out. Okay. That one passed by. That one passed by.
Helen:So think of all of your videos as waves and then one of them is gonna you're gonna be able to catch and ride. And that's your viral video. Okay? So relate it to a visual thing like that. Like, just don't get caught up.
Helen:Oh, this video all my videos are doing so badly. Just think, okay, those are all waves that I'm just letting pass me by and I didn't catch. And one of them is gonna be good, and I'm gonna catch it, and I'm gonna ride that fucking thing all the way. Sorry for the bad language, but that's what it is. You have to kind of I visualize a lot, and that is probably part of I don't know.
Helen:I think that's why my cancer journey was went the way it went because I never thought for a second it wasn't gonna end this way. It was gonna be no. There was no other option. So in the same way, I think that I've been wired to think this way. I don't think I've maybe I taught myself in my younger years.
Helen:I've always thought this way, but I've never been able to verbalize how I think until now and seeing videos of people explaining you know, the way thinking works and I'm like, that's how I think. And now that I see people talking about it, I got I actually realized, oh, I'm already doing that skill and I didn't even know I was wired that way. So you can change your wiring if you start thinking about it visually. Think about what you're doing, relate it maybe to waves or or think of another analogy that works for you if it's not riding waves. I just thought it was really a good one because, you know, think about the visual of that.
Helen:Like a wave goes by. Nope. It's a bad thought. Let it go. Let it go.
Helen:Oh, it's a bad video. Let it go. Okay. Oh, I didn't like that video. I made a mistake.
Helen:Let it go. Just hop on the next one. There will be a good one to ride. And with that, I'm gonna leave you on Black Friday to your shopping. And I hope that if you have to gift someone, a creator along the way that is struggling, this is the perfect gift to buy someone.
Helen:It is the gift that keeps on giving. You can buy them a 1 month, a 2 month, a 3 month. You get a 15% off and it is really gonna be a good one because it's gonna give them daily help and daily guidance on their specific account. So join us in the studio and gift it to a friend and or a friend or family member that needs help. I was gonna say don't worry about buying them a tripod.
Helen:Give them some guidance. I'll leave you with that. Have a happy weekend. Enjoy, and I'll see you next Tuesday.