Aron Sogi 4:42
that was beautiful. And I’m feeling a bit more relaxed because I was like I’m on the right podcast. Is it gonna be a cooking podcast is about barbecues and grilling. This is definitely going now into my territory. So I’m happy to be here and I’m excited to be sharing my little tricks and tips and lessons that I have learned over my career.
Rolando Rosas 5:04
Well, you know, I won’t ask you about how, what’s the proper temperature to cook a tomahawk steak on a barbecue grill. We’ll save that for the next time. When we when we do a collab
Aron Sogi 5:14
on my homework in the meantime.
Rolando Rosas 5:19
Man, I gotta tell you, I’m really impressed with what you’ve put out on TikTok. There’s a lot of folks that are on TikTok. Really, you know, there’s a ton of people, and there’s a ton of people coming onto the platform every single day. And there are folks that just put stuff out, turn on the camera, and talk. And there’s some folks like yourself that are on another level. And you can’t just fabricate that and you’ll turn that on from day one. And I’m sure there’s a lot of experience from the things you learned in the in the film industry that you’ve brought in to your tiktoks. And what I’d like you to do is also just tell us what what that was like what that journey was like, because making that transition from the film industry and bringing that over to TikTok.
Aron Sogi 6:10
Yeah, absolutely. So my, my my lives. into real world, Charles mission is to bring the cinema, film aesthetic and juice. So if you’re watching documentaries now that the aesthetics are improving in the last couple of years, but before that all the documentaries were pretty basic, it’s similar to how a lot of people make TikTok videos, they just point a camera of shoot, that’s it, no art behind it. So wanted to build the craftsmanship from Hollywood, or that level of filmmaking and bring you to problems like the plastic in the oceans by us driving wildlife to extinction. So I wanted to bring that visual storytelling into these areas. Because I think Hollywood is, is successful, or let’s say Hollywood, but big cinema films or movies are successful, because they’re following a certain formula. And it’s done by people at the top of their game. So if we can create that aesthetic and show like, okay, here is a global challenge that we can solve. Let’s make the real word unknown heroes, just as known as Thor or Batman or the Jedi is right, there are so many heroes that are unknown. And I want to give them that aesthetic, just because then the viewers are going to be more engaged. So that’s my mission. And because I you know, just backing, answering your question about the transition, I like to full time income from working on film sets as a freelancer to get two day job five day job one month, four month jobs. And when I decided to quit, because I wanted to make these videos to help the oceans and help protect animals and clear out the air of pollution. I had no income. So when I quit, the way I quit was I cut back on my living expenses, I saved up six months. And then I said, Okay, now I can quit. I’ve got six months to build a business. So my priority last year was to build an online business around video education. And I thought the best way to kickstart that business was to give out a ton of free value on a social media platform that is currently has the biggest potential for you to grow on currently to grow from. And it seemed obvious that for video zero is TikTok, that’s why I picked TikTok and I decided to just narrow down on one thing and be outstanding on one platform as opposed to post everywhere and try to be everywhere first and out on one platform if you start from zero, and then spread out to other platforms, because the organic reach and TikTok is going down over the next one year. Whereas on all the other platforms, it’s not really changing from this year till next year. That’s why I decided to just be super single focused. And that’s the reason why I get invitation to podcasts like this. And I’ve been on like multiple podcasts because I am outstanding on one platform and you don’t care that Aron, you have zero followers on YouTube, LinkedIn, Instagram, etc. Because I’m focused on being outstanding here and that I can spread my wings. So the transition for me was challenging, the process was challenging, but this is what I say to everyone you don’t, you don’t really want things to be easy, you want it to be meaningful. And once I knew that, I’m doing this because I have to build now an income source so that I can go and make those environmental videos. To me it’s a meaningful task, even if that means meant not taking any time off. You know, putting in all the hours not seeing the results certain times. I’m like, I’m building something that I know it’s worth building. So it’s okay if it gets hard. And most people don’t get clear at the beginning of their journey. They don’t know if if the hardship will will be worth it. So people give up. So if you’re going to set a big goal, and that means you’re going to have to walk on fire. Yeah. And the one thing you will learn when you walk on fire is that you can burn yourself. So choose a path that is worth walking on.
Rolando Rosas 10:04
It so those were those are cautionary words for folks. I’m sorry, Dave, I’ll let you jump in right after this. Those are cautionary tales for folks that want to make that transition to content creator, be prepared to jump into a fire. And things may not get cooking really literally with with money, business sponsorships, or enough income to really, you know, you know, live like a Kardashian, you may have to you reduce your living expenses, like you mentioned earlier, before you see enough revenue or income are really, you heard you say the word business and I like that word, because you want to look at it like a business, because you want it to pay back your time, your effort, your your investment, right percent.
Aron Sogi 10:48
And there are two levels that people don’t think of business, there’s the level that you need to make a certain amount of money for you to live your life. And anything above that is your choice, if you’re going to increase your lifestyle, or the rest of the money is just enabling you more time to help more people. So a lot of people have an unhealthy relationship with selling their products and services, because like, I don’t want to come up with some selling. And I feel like I have the opportunity to help people to bust their limiting beliefs that I just don’t have the time and the money for this. That belief is showing up on people’s life everywhere. So if I’m jumping on a call, and I say, Hey, I see that you you, you need what I have to offer. And I and I have the solution for you. But it’s going to cost this much money. And they say that’s a bit steep, that I feel excited to help them destroy those beliefs that are holding them back in all areas of their life. So I’m not there to like sell them something because the difference people don’t understand is the difference between influence and manipulation is are you focusing on what the other person really needs or what you need, if I’m just trying to make more money, I can use the same tactics and manipulate you to buy my services. But if I truly listen, and I say, Dave, like I listened to you, I see your problems. And that is exactly what we specialize in. And that is exactly what we can help you with. And I know I can deliver this to you. And you say, Man, I don’t have the money, I don’t have the time that I’m excited to help you overcome this. Right. So then it’s no longer a selling, it’s a desire for me to for you to experience, what you can experience. And what I say to everyone, hey, if it doesn’t work if your money back, and then it’s no, it’s no longer selling, it’s it’s an it’s a no brainer. Opportunity.
Rolando Rosas 12:31
Awesome, terrific. You know what I gotta give to that hold on second. That’s what I say. I’ve got a new toy now, a year, the first guess that I could roll out these toys. And I know you’re such a great sport about it. So I’m gonna roll out some of these a little bit more during our conversation. Dave, I know you wanted to jump in here, as Aron some questions go for it.
Dave Kelly 12:58
Yeah, you know, it’s interesting that you’re talking about the filmmaking aesthetics, right. And, you know, there’s a lot that goes into very short clips, keeps the keeps the viewer engaged. But when I’m watching films, usually it’s on the big screen, it’s in my living room, but TikTok is the majority on a mobile mobile device. So what kind of challenges do you have trying to bring that big screen feel into a handheld world?
Aron Sogi 13:34
Yeah, the most important thing to understand is, what are the constraints that you’re working with one is a different aspect ratio, because you’re not in a cinema film aspect ratio, your portrait aspect ratio. So it’s not just cropping out the middle of the image, you have to compose your videos differently. But it’s the same way you have to compose the videos just like you’re taking a portray photo of someone. So the other challenge is understanding who you’re I’m just gonna use the term target audience. Or we can say who is it that you’re trying to reach with your video. And the person like, let’s say, if I wanted to reach Dave with my videos, and I can make a film, or I can make a tic toc video. And you’re going to be in a very different mindset on both of these platforms when you’re going to consume that content. So I have to be respectful of that and mindful of that, because when you decide to watch my documentary, for example, you have decided you’re going to watch it. So you press the play after you reading the title of this summary. You watch the trailer, I’m going to watch this. So now I have your attention, your curiosity. So I’ve got a bit more time to build up what I want to tell you now on TikTok, I’m arriving in front of you and you don’t even know me you don’t know what I have to offer and you don’t even know if you want what I have to offer. So the comparison I always say is the metaphor think about you want to go and have food and you’re deliberate. I’m going to get Italian tonight. This is really nice restaurant we go into the Italian place and you go into that place. And then you know where you’re going. That’s like watching a documentary or going on YouTube. Now TikTok is like walking down China time, where everybody’s like, hey, come, come, come try this coming to this Come, come come, it’s a bit like this. So you want to understand that that’s where that’s what the mindset is of the people that you’re trying to speak to. And you have to bring out a different side of yourself. Now you don’t have to change who you are, you just bring out a different side of you. Just like if you’re talking to your five year old, you talk differently than you talking to a 95 year old that you don’t even know. Or you’re, if you’re at a funeral or a basketball game, you behave different, but it’s still you, you just bring you a different side of great analogy. So that’s super important to understand. Now, when it comes to aesthetics, I don’t think it really makes a big difference. What I would say is, you have to adjust your aesthetics to what the audience is expecting a certain place. If they go into a cinema film, and it’s Tiktok style, raw handheld phone videos, they’re gonna be like, What the heck is this, but the same way on Tiktok if you start watching the cinema, film, quality, aesthetically crafted video, a lot of people tune out because I’m not here to watch those. I do it all at home. on Netflix, or in my home cinema setup. I go to the cinema here I want to see I want to see Brad Pitt in the kitchen fooling around with with the dog. This is not my time for him to watch Brad Pitt delivering what they what they’re best at. I want to see the human behind the crash. Very interesting. Whether it’s an actor, whether whether it’s let’s say, for example, that’s like a big brand. If you were just gonna use Apple, let’s say Steve Jobs was still around. If he was apple on Instagram, you want to show the beautiful commercial, highly crafted $500,000 commercial film by the best of the best. Now, what you want to see on TikTok is Steve Jobs talking about I came up with this idea and you know, this is my drawings and you see the person and the process behind the genius, front shopfront. You want to see the behind of what’s going on. And that’s why for example, if you look at photographers, the photographers who are crushing it on Tik Tok are the ones who are showing you the process through an entertaining story and giving value. And throughout the video, they’re not just showing the beautiful videos, go on Instagram story and watch these videos of photos, just flushing the music, they have higher views and on Tiktok because Instagram is a lot more aesthetic focused. So when you go on Instagram, you are in that world, that aesthetic world, when you go over to TikTok now you don’t want to see those pretty photos, I want you to show me how you created those pretty photos. And tell me the story how you came up with it. And what’s the process? And let me enter your world.
Rolando Rosas 17:50
That’s when they ask you something, Aron, because you’ve hit on something that I’m really curious about. So you know, as a whether you’re a brand like you’re talking about Apple, or even a smaller business or even an individual, you’re trying to find the audience. And right now the audience is going to TikTok right there. They had the most view time and the most downloaded apps in the last year. When you’re looking at that for as as a business and businesses kind of looking at the social media landscape. Do you say hey, the attention is on TikTok. So therefore, we’re gonna invest all of our time or a lot on TikTok because maybe there isn’t a lot of crossover anymore. And it’s segmented where somebody says I’m just consuming TikTok from now on, or is that the wrong approach where people are still on TikTok on YouTube, as well as on Instagram, are they are they consuming all of these platforms? Or this just now TikTok is the lion’s share now
Aron Sogi 18:49
I would say that’s the new CLICK kid on the block so a lot of people aren’t keeping their eyes on but as you know, I’m sure you follow this you don’t want to learn everything on Tiktok sometimes like I just want a 10 minute slow step by step guide so you go to YouTube so I wouldn’t say that these platforms necessarily competing with each other the one thing everybody’s competing for his attention but it doesn’t matter if you have a real sharp front are you have a product or service is attention everybody’s is fighting for so what I would say right now if you’re starting from zero as a business TikTok is the one to put most of your time into. So I would put let’s say 70 to 80% of your time into TikTok then start building 20% LinkedIn clubhouse, whatever else is coming up right now or whatever else is there. If you already have an established YouTube channel or an already established Instagram don’t ignore neglect that now and the community there and now migrate to TikTok add TikTok in but take it seriously because right now your growth potential is still huge on TikTok and if you do it the smart and elegant way you can give people a reason to follow you on these different channels because you have to offer something that is different than you offer them. TikTok that means A guy says, Hey, follow me on Instagram and you see the exact same thing. It’s like okay, but for example, on my live I would say if you want to see like behind the scenes into my life like day to day what I get up to check out my Instagram story, that’s why that’s where I’m most active. That’s where you can find that you don’t find it on TikTok. Now, you have a reason to go over the Instagram story if you’re interested. And I can say, okay, here are the three biggest mistakes everybody’s making on TikTok 123. By the way, I have seven more in my youth, my latest YouTube video, that’s so
Rolando Rosas 20:27
you, you you would do the crossover, you get people to read. So you so let’s, let’s say I’m doing a TikTok about. I’m doing photography, and I’m showing the process. And it would you would say based on what you said, I could interact or not interact, but I would include in that video, if you want to see more about how I shot this video, go over my YouTube where I have the whole full feature.
Aron Sogi 20:54
Exactly. Now the important thing is that the most, the most of the TIC tock video has to give value and has to be about you getting value on your viewer getting value on that platform. So I’ve seen people who make a teaser to you want to know how to do this really ready, ready, go to YouTube, then I’m ready to find them and twist their ears. Because you want to give value and then you say if you want more, or you want to consume it in a different fashion, then check out this or that. For example, I can say, hey, if you’re enjoying these tips, now, you may be driving in the morning and you can still consume these tapes, get my pot and jump on my podcast on Spotify, you can put it on the car, and you can still consume these tips while you’re driving while you’re listening. It’s a different way of consuming information. So if you have to offer that, then you mentioned it, but the video, the purpose of the video is not to tell people to go over there, you give so much value. And then you mentioned Hey, you can also do it here and there, then you’re more likely to go over because it doesn’t feel like a promotion or an
Rolando Rosas 21:57
Aron. I want you to say that again, already. This is a pro tip give us a pro tip. So the Aron could let the people know about it. Hit us again with value because I think that’s the understated thing that I’ve heard. But you nailed it on the head. Go ahead.
Aron Sogi 22:21
About value the most important thing that every single piece of content you put out has to give value. And if you want people to take action in the form of go and check out the link, go over to Instagram, go anywhere and do anything you want to first give value and give people a reason to go. Because what most people are doing is let’s say that you did give value to me in the video. And then you say, Oh yeah, drop a comment below. There is no reason for me to drop a comment below. But if you say would you prefer a or b drop a tick? If it’s a yes and a cross? If it’s a no, I give you two options, or two words. Now it’s easy for you to decide a or b and then you’re going to drop it in. Or if I make a bold statement, there is no way to fit a podcast into one hour and give value. What do you guys think? So I make a bold statement. And then I ask opinion. So now I’m giving you a reason to go down. Or I can say I gave you value. And I say if you want to know how to decide how far you should be from your camera when you’re filming, check out the bonus comment. So now I give you a reason. But I already give you so much value that even if you don’t do the action, you still feel like whoa, this was awesome. And if you consistently do that, then people will know you that no matter where and how you get in front of them, whether it’s a video or a podcast or anything, they will learn something amazing. And it’s not going to be a sales pitch into a sales funnel or an upsell into something, you’re going to learn so much. And if you want to go deeper in any way or shape or form, you can do but it’s just if you want to. It’s a very laid back way of doing it.
Rolando Rosas 23:59
Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Ding ding ding ding ding awesome stuff that you’re Aron. You are no you are the man boy, you’re dropping bombs on these tips. Uh, Dave, I saw your face you got something you want to throw it Aron.
Dave Kelly 24:15
When I when I’m watching a Tiktok video, whether it’s produced from the hills or something that’s just someone that turned on their phone and they were sharing a thought maybe did minimal editing. I’m always looking for that value added piece. And then if they’re able to provide me value, I give them a like, I’ll share it while subscribe. But I have a question about when you’re working with clients that might be on YouTube or they might be on Instagram and they’re coming into Tik Tok. How important is that first video I’ve heard that the way that the algorithm is built is that when someone creates a tic tock account and they post the first videos that that first video goes out to more, more viewers. Is there any truth behind that? And do you work that into your strategy with your clients when they’re producing that first TikTok video.
Aron Sogi 25:13
The way I look at the first TikTok video is just freaking get going. That’s that’s how I look at it. It’s just just just make it happen. I don’t care how it turns out, just make it happen. Take the first step, and that will start correcting now. Let me ask you this question from a TikTok’s business model? Does it make sense for them to give a little extra boost on the first video? Does it make sense?
Rolando Rosas 25:38
You think it does? I think so
Dave Kelly 25:42
give a boost or to receive a boost. If I knew that our first video was going to go out to 10 times the amount of us people than the first video, I think we would have been more aware of that. And we weren’t
Aron Sogi 25:56
okay. Sure. Okay. I would say that in my experience, there is the truth to this. But it’s not like the very first one, but one of the first few that you put out. So you put out four videos, let’s say and one has like 10 times more views than your average view count, which was 200. So you get way more views on one video, but it’s 1000. So you get a lot more views than that kind of video currently is getting. But it doesn’t mean you put out one video and we’ll be careful because this can go out to 100,000 people, it’s very unlikely unless you are ticking all the boxes for how to make a proper TikTok video that is set up to win. It’s like it ticks all the boxes. That is important. If that video is doing it, then you can have very high views. But I would say it’s very unlikely for an unknown person’s first video to really go big. And what I mean by that is if it’s David Beckham doing it, yes, he has a much higher chance than somebody who’s on who’s not famous or it’s not a celebrity. Because nobody has seen you before. Whereas if you if let’s say you suddenly you’re in Tik Tok, and you’ve never seen Jay Z on TikTok, and you see JC like, oh, wow, Jason’s got an account. Now you’re gonna engage because it’s the new first thing from Jesse.
Rolando Rosas 27:14
What do you say about speaking of that? So if you let’s say you’ve already created a few videos, let’s say your your past three or four or 510. And then you see this this thing on TikTok? Oh, I can promote my videos so that more more people can see it. What’s your thoughts on on that about the promoted feature that is on Tik Tok?
Aron Sogi 27:35
Yep. So I’ve got two takes on this. The first one is, just because that video has high views, it doesn’t mean that you necessarily want to promote it, if you made that video in a way that it’s getting you the outcome that you want. So everybody want I want everybody to think of ticker like a tool is just a tool, nothing else, no need to glorify it. It’s a tool. What do you use that tool for? What’s your goal? Is your goal to get more followers? Is that true to your end goal? If you had a million followers right now above your name, would you be fulfilled and happy? Or are you want more followers? Because that will mean you can make more impact? Or you want more followers? Because you can make more money eventually? Or you want? Like, what is it that what the tool is for? Let’s say my goal would be to get signatures to a petition, just let’s make this up. Video is getting high views, and it’s accomplishing my outcome or supporting it, then I think it’s worth boosting it. Just because it’s getting high views and it’s giving you more followers, I wouldn’t boost it. Unless you are ready now to keep paying. Because guess what, guess what happens? Think of it from a business perspective. You are TikTok, somebody promoted a video, they’re getting more results. They paid you clearly they have the money. Now what is obvious for them to do for your future videos, if you’re not paying? What are you going to do?
Dave Kelly 28:58
suppress them? Suppress, perhaps suppress?
Rolando Rosas 29:03
Exactly. Interesting.
Aron Sogi 29:04
So this happens
Rolando Rosas 29:06
as your user right? So let’s say so let me let me just does this double down on what you just said? So I go ahead and boost a video it gets a million views, just as hypothetical. Say it’s, it’s a million views. And on previous to that, it I got 10,000 views per video, right? And what you’re saying is that after boosting one video that got a million views, I may not go back to that average of 10,000 views again, I may go to something lower. That will drop. Wow. Wow.
Aron Sogi 29:40
Now Now the great thing is that every video is treated separately, right? Everybody was treated separately to just because your floor dropped. It doesn’t mean that you couldn’t have a video that pops to 500,000 because, again, there is these all these elements in this web from a business perspective if you just think common sense. If that video you put out next is so engaging, that everybody’s watching to the end, everybody’s commenting everybody’s sharing it. That means that you’re, you’re keeping eyeballs, and you’re bringing eyeballs to the platform. That’s why sharing is important because when you share it, people click on it, it brings them to the platform. So if you make a video like that, it makes no sense from a business perspective for them to suppress it just because you haven’t paid while they’ve suppressed the next one that is not performing as well. So your floor will drop down.
Rolando Rosas 30:30
I see. Hey, let me ask you one other question. Because we’re getting, we’re dancing around something that I want to ask you about, which is the analytics side? Do you spend much time looking at the analytics on your video, I know that TikTok, for example, I noticed just recently, I looked at my iPhone, and the analytics, it presents me it’s different than on Android, it doesn’t give me the same information, it presents it a little bit different. And actually on the iPhone, it gives me the retention time in a graph. So I can see exactly when people are dropping off, you don’t get that in the Android. And it just gives you the raw percentage like 25%, watch the whole video, and on the iPhone gives you that as well as a graph. So you can see where you’re dropping, where your viewers are dropping off, do you how much time should somebody invest in looking at the analytics to determine this is the message that’s working? Well, this is what’s not working well, or because of the way TikTok works is where it’s serving up videos to new people all the time, is that even worth looking at.
Aron Sogi 31:35
So what I would say to that is, that is a fairly new feature, the exactly telling you when people are dropping off and how many people will come from how many followers you get from a video, that’s a new feature. And newest features are rolled out to iPhones normally first, because there is only one software, there is only one type of like iPhone is just one type. Whereas Android, you’ve got so many different brands. So TikTok is prioritizing and optimizing everything for iPhones first, so it’s being rolled out. So that will come to Android later on. When it comes to analytics. Here’s what I would encourage everybody to do. Look at the average watch time on all your videos and find a number mine is 23 seconds. And I’ll bet that yours is something similar, because it’s not really a reflection of what I do. It’s a reflection of consumer behavior on their platform. So I deliberately made making my videos way shorter than I used to make them now, my best performing videos are still at one minute. So if you can get keep giving value and keep engaging the viewers and break it into like, Okay, I’m gonna give you value, you want this end result? It’s three steps. Step one is this. So if somebody wants that end result, they have to listen till the end. Okay, so So the first one is, I deliberately reduced the the seconds like I’m deliberately making it shorter. But it doesn’t mean everything has to be 23 seconds. But I’m like, if it’s 30 seconds, what can I cut out? Can I cut out a sentence somewhere and bring it down to be closer to 23 seconds just for me. And if it’s a one minute video used to beat now I’m aiming to bring it out to 45 seconds. So I’m deliberately shortening it. And people would argue that TikTok is introducing now the three minute to 10 minute clearly you want to make them longer videos. But I don’t want to make longer videos, just because TikTok introduced a new feature, I want to make the videos that have the highest chance to get me the results that I want to get. And that’s based on consumer behavior, not availability of features on a platform. Okay, so a second metric that Yep, please go ahead. Good. You’re good. The second metric is something that I’ve seen a few places, and I found it very true is the 10% rule. So if you get 10,000 views on a video, you that should give you at least 1000 likes and at least 100 followers. So if you have the that 10% rule, you can keep that up, it’s great. If you get higher than that, that is like you’re getting into the unicorn territory. It’s like so hard to get above that. Follow up from Tim.
Rolando Rosas 34:17
Aron, go ahead and give us something a little bit more about this 10% rule that you got on when it comes to TikTok.
Aron Sogi 34:25
Yeah, the 10% rule is something that I have heard of I read it and I found it very true in my videos. If you’re getting let’s just say 10,000 views on a video, you want to have at least 10% of that to have to be likes. So a 10,000 views is 1000 likes and 10% of that is 100 That’s how many followers you want to get from a video. This is if you if you can hit that level consistently on most of your videos at most of your videos. You’re gonna grow super fast and that’s the sweet spot. If you’re getting like what I check is let’s say There’s been like five hours since I posted a video and I’m looking at okay, how many views? Did he get? 5000? How people are liking it 500 Perfect. If it’s only 300 people are liking it, that I would just analyze the video not the analytics. But okay. Like my hook was it? Was it clear who this video is for? Was that clear what the problem is that I’m trying to solve once I fast enough. Now, this is a new analytic that TikTok has introduced is something that you mentioned about is now you can see the drop out exactly when do people drop out of the video, and I want everybody to go to your analytics, easiest thing, you’re on your video, bottom right where you have the Share button you will have, you will see three dots on your own account, click on that go to analytics, scroll to the very bottom. And there you’re going to see exactly when people are dropping out. And I can tell you right now 50% of the people are gone within two to three seconds.
Rolando Rosas 35:56
And this is what you’re finding on your own videos as well.
Aron Sogi 35:59
If it’s a high performing video, it’s only 40% Who are gone, not 50%. That’s because you’re down to 25%. Dead, people decide in two to three seconds, three to five seconds. So everybody remembered is you’ve got two to three seconds to make it very clear who this video is for what the problem is. And to create curiosity. If you’re getting low views on TikTok, try this. This was two seconds. It’s clear who the video is for what the problem is. And I create a curiosity. That video I know just by the type of hook, it will have a better retention rate. And now it’s an art for you to keep people’s attention throughout the video. So they don’t drop out thinking there’s going to be a poor tip, or you’re going to take too long.
Rolando Rosas 36:47
Alright, So Aron, I want to ask you this, because you just said another thing I wanted I wanted you to come out with because you do this. So well on your videos, I’m going to ask you to give us two or three hooks that you know are rock solid hooks that people can use. But before you do, here comes a pro tip. All right, give us those rock solid hooks that you know are working on your videos.
Aron Sogi 37:16
So I would say most important thing, get your hooks within the first two to three seconds who the video is for what the problem is, and create curiosity. These are the three things that you have to make sure that you’re hitting on your videos. Now, if you can use and frame it in the negative, you will get a bit more retention. So instead of saying if you want to do this, okay, stop. For example, stop going live on TikTok like an amateur like that one, right? Like that, for example, or stop recording your videos inside TikTok, instead try this. So there is a very powerful hook stop doing something and instead try something else. Or don’t do this. Do something else instead write and you don’t want to tell them what it is. You just say? Try this, or this is why or here is how because that’s an invitation to the video. Okay, so one powerful hook, stop doing something. Awesome. Okay, stop, stop doing something and instead try this. Okay, but don’t make this mistake. Or you can use words like steal this technique from me to get more views. Okay, using the word you twice in the hook, it will increase your effectiveness by 96%. Okay, you can make your video stand out by Well, let me think about this. Yeah, you can get more videos, you can get more views on your videos just by implementing this one simple trick. You can make your videos you and your that’s very powerful. So you want to make sure that people who are watching they feel like it’s it’s a something for them. Like Dave was saying, Dave is looking for the value. If I say here’s how you can make your podcast, reach 10 times more people then try this website. And then I talk about then I’ll give you the value. Okay, but if I say here’s here’s a great website that I really liked using in my business because it really helped me to get 10 times more viewers to my podcast. Guess what happened? The keyword podcast has landed at the end of the sentence and people are way gone. By the time you said the word podcasts and only people who want podcast tips did not know these videos about podcasts. So what you want to do is restructure your hook. So the key words at the beginning of your hook. If you’re if you’re if you’re building your if you just started your podcasts, here’s the biggest mistake people make. Instead of saying the biggest the biggest mistake people make when starting a new podcast. The key word is too far away. Go look at your analytics wherever you’re listening to To 3% People are gone. The word podcast is beyond the two to 3%. Mark. And if you say the word podcast, like you guys will be triggered like, Oh, I’m gonna listen, if I say the word, here’s how to use your barbecue. Even if you don’t have time, then you know, I know that, you know, you are primed to listen to this, if you’re a single mom, right? If you’re a podcaster, if you’re starting out on YouTube, if you’re starting out on TikTok, when people can identify with the hook, they are more likely to listen, at least till the end of your hook, because people don’t even listen to the end of your hook. That’s the the era we live in. Welcome to TikTok.
Dave Kelly 40:38
You apply that to videos that have already been made. So if I had a channel, I have 50 videos, and then I’ve listened to you speak and I’m like, You know what, I want to apply that. I know I could apply it to new videos that I make. But could I could I go back to the 50 videos that I have. And maybe create a new thumbnail or beginning page and add that text with audio reading that text behind it. Instead of recreating the 50 videos that are that I already have. Can you are you
Aron Sogi 41:17
asking me specifically about TikTok? Like on TikTok
Dave Kelly 41:20
specifically, specifically for TikTok? I did 50 videos, I have very low viewership and followers. I’m listening to you. I’m like, I think he’s, I think Aron’s on to something, can I go back to some of the videos that I have changed the first image, put some of that text and caption behind it that’s, you know, seeing you or some of that. That kind of negative bias, don’t stop doing this. It’s not helping you whatever it might be. But do you think you can take your advice and apply it to something that’s already been created with just graphics and captions?
Aron Sogi 42:02
I wouldn’t say you can do it effectively, probably with VoiceOver you can, like you can record yourself, just having a surprise look just like a YouTube thumbnail. And you have the text and the voiceover of you sitting on that hook. And then you show the rest of your video. Now be mindful that it’s now more or less a little bit like a repost because TikTok is analyzing with AI that has this video being posted already. And if they can see that most of your video has already been here, they will treat it slightly differently doesn’t mean they want, you know that you cannot get high views. I encourage everyone to look at the past as places a place where you learned lessons and go forward. Instead of trying to spend time How can I repurpose my old content and trying to make it work with a new tips just make new tips. But what I would say is use footage from the old content and hook people in with what I said and then show the different type of footages while you are, let’s say doing a voiceover so it’s very quick to make. I’ll give you an example. I record myself saying the hook, which is like five seconds, Max four seconds, I recorded a video. Now I put this into my editing timeline. And I just use different clips from all your videos. And now I’m just recording a voiceover and narrating things and giving value. That’s how I would repurpose older content. But I’m a big believer in you learn this lesson, keep going forward. If you look at my content, you know you were seeing it. Clearly it has come a long way and it’s evolving. I like seeing that evolvement and if I want to work with someone, for example, then I say hey, you think that I have great energy? Look at my first videos, I sounded like a boring slow motion machine. You know, you gain the confidence. You gain the confidence, the enthusiasm along the way you can get used to talking on camera, you know talking to an inanimate object, you will get used to it and you get better at it. And it’s great for yourself to look back and see man my videos a year ago. Wow, I came a long way. That’s awesome. But if you delete them, then
Rolando Rosas 44:00
what do you do? I want to ask you this because you’ve you’ve had a lot of success on the platform. And you clearly put time effort. It looks like you script some of the stuff because you have to plan some of what you do. It just comes off very polished. I don’t think you could just you just go on and turn on your iPhone and start talking right? So you clearly plan out your strategy on your videos. What do you how do you feel when some of videos just don’t get the views or the or the performance based on what you’ve already accomplished in the past so how do you how do you deal with that? Because that happens to all of us right? You clearly pour your heart and soul into something and it doesn’t it doesn’t take off like some of the other ones like I love the animated one wait where you’re you have this Monkey Banana guy come to your door knock and I think is hilarious. And it’s not one of the more it doesn’t have the big views on it. Like some of your other stuff, you know, and I know that you had to put energy and effort into at least that kind of video, and you probably were expecting it to do better, because you’re like, I’m gonna try this animated stuff, see if it, you know, takes off and it didn’t perform like some of the other stuff.
Aron Sogi 45:17
Before I answered that specific example, I would just talk about February, February, I had 130,000 followers, and I grew 1000 followers in one month. Now, once you’re beyond 130,000 followers, you have slightly higher expectations for the number of followers you can gain in a month. 1000 followers, how did I feel frickin excited? Why? Because I know what I’m about. I love growing, learning, and giving and helping. So anything that happens is just an opportunity for me to learn something and to help people. So here’s how I looked at it. It this is called a plateau Aram. And it’s awesome. You experiencing it, because you’ve got so many clients who have or are or will experience plateaus. And now you can reflect how that feels when things are not working. And the most important thing is know your vision, this is what I’m here to create No, your why. Here’s why I’m doing it and nothing’s gonna stop me and find a way to enjoy the creation process. Because I loved every video that I made that month. It was just not getting the numbers, I cannot control the numbers, I can control my vision, I can control my Y, I can control the process, enjoying it, I can control consistency. And I know that you know what, every time I didn’t get the numbers. I just said, All right, you’re asking me how bad I wanted what I’m about to show you. Because every time you’re not giving me the numbers, I’m gonna get better. And the reason why I have the videos currently performing that my floor is now up to like 30,020 30,000 is my floor now used to be 5000. It’s because I wasn’t getting the numbers. It was a gift. And I’m grateful that I had those low numbers. Because when you’re not getting the results you want, you have the opportunity to self reflect or self beat yourself up, which is most people are doing the self beaters club has full time membership of one member cancel that membership, and they will go out of business and you’re gonna be flying.
Rolando Rosas 47:09
Love it. Great. Now back
Aron Sogi 47:12
to the monkey Monkey video back to the Monkey video. I
Rolando Rosas 47:16
love it. I love it. Man. I love the creativity. I love the energy you made you didn’t make yourself the star you made the the ape, the star of this particular clip.
Aron Sogi 47:30
And here’s what I gotta say. It made both of you smile. 20,000 people have watched this video. Yeah, it’s lower than what other videos 20,000 people, it’s almost like a half like 20,000 people. I think it’s the NBA Finals, we’ve got 20,000 people. It’s a freaking stadium full of people. And we forget that behind the numbers. There are human beings just like yourself. And here’s what’s beautiful. I’ve got a two year old brother and he loved it. It was already worth my time he will have is like the best thing ever. So, you know, it’s perspective. It’s knowing what really matters. And I know why it didn’t work.
Rolando Rosas 48:10
So you don’t let the fact that that it didn’t get as much views as some of the other ones where you’ve clearly already got a hunch.
Aron Sogi 48:18
I told you already the answer based on our conversation, you could figure out why this video is not performing well. What second does the monkey appear?
Rolando Rosas 48:29
He goes beyond the three seconds.
Aron Sogi 48:32
That was the biggest challenge. I said how can I hook people in just with a two second max three second hook and then showed a monkey? Because that wasn’t sure how can I just start with a monkey and it still be funny of somebody knocking in what I may reuploaded just with starting with a knock and all it is it’s just me going and then straight to the door because then it’s quicker to the monkey of it. So I’m going to upload that later on. Cut that off and see how that works. I love it. And I’ve done that with Will Smith. Will Smith. I mean it Will Smith’s video. Uploaded I’m like there’s no way I mean, it got
Rolando Rosas 49:05
a million it’s on there. 50
Aron Sogi 49:09
That was the third post. There it is. I reposted it three times I made tweaks, I made tweaks each time minor tweaks, I cut out 0.2 seconds here. I deleted 0.2 seconds there just the first few seconds and I hooked people in better. So the first one get 30,000 The second one get 560 1000 and the third one got a million.
Rolando Rosas 49:31
So it’s critical. I’m talking what I hear from you. If we were going to hold on a second I’m going to push a button myself for a pro tip. If it’s critical, you need to have those first three seconds absolutely be the reason why somebody must watch the video. Otherwise, like you said, second number four is too late. You’ve missed a lot of people who would have seen the video if you’d have brought that stuff in Within the first three seconds of the video,
Aron Sogi 50:03
and if you can start with an interesting visual, you can hook more people in because a lot of people are watching it while you’re on the bus while they’re in school, why they are at work, why they’re on their partner, you never know where people are watching it on silent. So you want to make sure that if it was a monkey animation, they’d be like, Oh, that’s interesting. And they will just watch it even silently and read it. But if it’s a white dude going, like, here’s how to get high or low views on TikTok memory. Oh, I’ve seen 1000s of these guys today. Right? Right. So you want to be mindful of that as well.
Dave Kelly 50:37
So Aron, we want to do a rapid fire. We’re going to do a thumbs up or thumbs down.
Rolando Rosas 50:44
No right or wrong answer here. Podcasting. Thumbs up. Okay. Cold calling. Thumbs down. trade shows. Thumbs up, Linked In. Thumbs up. Instagram. Thumbs up, TikTok. Thumbs up. Okay. FaceBook. Twitter, thumbs up. And lastly, on the thumbs up and thumbs down Pinterest. Thumbs down it good. Thumbs down from Aron on this one. So that’s the thumbs up or thumbs down.
Dave Kelly 51:22
All right. So short questions, Al. Or stout? Stout.
Rolando Rosas 51:28
Your favorite app on your phone? Aura. Or, okay. All right, Steve Tucker. Awesome.
Dave Kelly 51:36
What’s your favorite place to eat in London?
Aron Sogi 51:40
I’m just gonna go boring and pretium on J for now. Brett is like a it’s like a higher quality takeaway food like sandwiches, juices. It’s just a great undergo quick, healthy snack. And I mostly eat at home and cook so rarely do that.
Rolando Rosas 51:57
Are you mostly at home? Okay, cool. That’s, that’s cool. I’ve been doing a lot of that the last two years myself more and more at home
Aron Sogi 52:03
or I’m coming to your takeout viewing?
Rolando Rosas 52:05
Yeah. That’s, I’m telling you, you’re, I’m inviting you to my barbecue TikTok collab type thing. So when that gets going, I’m gonna I’m gonna tap you for that sounds great. Who is your favorite content creator right now when you look at the landscape, you know, there’s so many of them. Some that have been around for a while and keep growing. And some that are newcomers Who’s Who would you say is your favorite right now?
Aron Sogi 52:30
There are so many creators that are you know, they’re great for certain things, but um, I will go with Zach King zack, zack King, Zack King
Rolando Rosas 52:37
Zack king. He’s good.
Aron Sogi 52:39
Yeah, I mean, I watch a lot of Gary’s Gary’s content. Gary Vee. Gary V’s. Yeah. I mean, if we if we’re talking about if we can be called Gary content creator, like,
Rolando Rosas 52:48
of course, he’s creating content.
Aron Sogi 52:52
Well, that sounds everybody’s content creator. Right. Yeah. Let’s go. Gary, that is in the content creation. Space. Yeah.
Rolando Rosas 53:03
Well, he wouldn’t be from a from a puristic. standpoint, like he’s purely an influencer. And he’s, you know, standing in front of the cameras, just creating video, right? You know, it’s obviously, it’s more documenting, like he says, he says, I document the experience. And then you know, his team cuts it up and puts it online.
Aron Sogi 53:24
I would also add Sam colder, just because he’s visual style, travel photographer, travel videographer. I think he really changed the game for travel, videography. Like he’s aesthetics and he’s lifestyle videos, they started a whole movement. And I think that like that is really a huge sign that what you’re what you have done is making an impact. It’s not just your style. Everybody wants that style now, so yeah, Sam colder.
Rolando Rosas 53:52
Everybody’s copying. Everybody’s copying the Well, I think, I think you’re ahead of the game, especially on TikTok because, as as people become more aware of what you’re doing, there’ll be more I’ve seen a smattering or two right now of TikToks that have taken some of your cues on how you’re presenting and how you’re doing some of your your captions with the different colors and whatnot. Not a lot, but the fact that oh, I’ve already seen a few that are have that style tells me that you already are influencing the marketplace of ideas, which is the content creation side. So kudos to you. Kudos to you. Man, Aron, we could we could spend a whole lot of time here but I want to I want to wrap it up with one last round. It’s not we don’t call it a rapid fire. But this is underrated, overrated and must haves. Okay, this is right up your wheelhouse stuff that you probably use or are in that that space. so overrated underrated must have. These are just a few ring light, underrated. Overrated must have.
Aron Sogi 55:06
It’s so overrated it’s a ripoff. Do not buy a ring light. If you have a red light, watch my videos you can get the best out of it. But if you don’t own a ring light do not buy one. It’s a bad bad ripoff. Okay, 13 years industry experience in lighting. I have never seen a ring light in action apart from one one music video, which was deliberately in a club in a dark club for a stylistic wide angle lens. Look for the wrapper. That’s it. It’s not a beauty light. It’s sold as a beauty light. It does not create beautiful lighting on the face. It looks interesting because it’s a ring, but it’s it’s not a great light source for your face. So clearly, clearly I’m not getting any ring light sponsors. Way
Rolando Rosas 55:49
over. They’re not coming to you but I got a couple other ones here. iPhone for videos.
Aron Sogi 55:56
Underrated
Rolando Rosas 55:58
underrated? Android for videos. Overrated. Overrated. external microphones for videos. I must have must have must have. And then I think I know your answer. This next one the moment app
Aron Sogi 56:15
the moment app way underrated way under rock.
Rolando Rosas 56:19
Okay. And here’s our last two. This Go app.
Aron Sogi 56:24
It’s it’s a must have.
Rolando Rosas 56:27
Must have. And then lastly, scripted videos
Aron Sogi 56:32
on underrated, underrated. You don’t have to script all your videos, but I think most of the videos is worth making it scripted for TikTok. So you can keep everything very short.
Rolando Rosas 56:45
Awesome. Awesome. Aron, you’ve done terrific. I absolutely love it. I could spend three more hours talking to you about all things TikTok, and everything else Dave was. But before we go, if people want to check you out, and they want to follow you, they want to they want to connect with you. They want to hey, I need some coaching or something like that I need to blow up or I want to I want to figure out how this all works. And they want more advice from you. How should they go about doing it? Yeah, just
Aron Sogi 57:12
head over to my Tiktok@aronsogi, that’s my handle, you can find me there you click on the link in the bio. And you will always see the ways that you can learn from me or work with me or join a community. And right now, as of yesterday, I just made my hope template free. So that is one of the most powerful tools that I put together. It’s free go through that will change your tic toc game forever. It’s it’s so powerful.
Rolando Rosas 57:43
Awesome. I’ve seen I’ve seen that ebook. By the way, I highly recommend that as well. It’s wonderful stuff. And you could tell you put a lot of energy and time into that ebook. Awesome. Well, Aron, thank you for coming today. We really appreciate your time. Dave, anything else you wanted to say to Aron while we have him here?
Dave Kelly 58:05
You know what I just wanted to let you know, thank you for everything. I’ve actually just started using the moment app. And I think that is an underrated application. So thanks for the advice on that I started using it myself. Well, don’t let the or that
Rolando Rosas 58:18
anything else you want to say any parting words, Aron.
Aron Sogi 58:22
Just give no expectations. And then you’re going to become a blessing for people and your life will be blessed. Just give no, I’m not giving because then I can make money I’m not giving because then maybe I can collaborate with this person. Just give and fall in love with the act of giving and seeing another person light up, because that will create more fulfillment than any money that you can make as a back of a transaction if you have expectations attached to your giving.
Rolando Rosas 58:53
Well said, Aron, I really appreciate your time today. And all of what you’ve brought to the table for our audience today. So thank you very much. You’d be what Obi Wan Kenobi, who would you be and I know you were on last Jedi, right?
Aron Sogi 59:08
Well, I learned a lot from Yoda. I learned a lot from your videos
Rolando Rosas 59:11
So Yoda Master Yoda
Aron Sogi 59:13
I learned a lot from him.
Rolando Rosas 59:15
From from the young Jedi to Master Yoda Thank you very much.
Aron Sogi 59:19
Nerys, no try.
Outro 59:22
Thanks for listening to What The Teck? Be sure to check out our other episodes featuring awesome tech and amazing guests. Find them on circuitloops.com or wherever you consume your favorite podcasts.
Trackbacks/Pingbacks