On Sunday, I completed a marathon goal when I published at least one short-form video every day of 2023. I’ve received many questions since, from how I did it to the impact of this accomplishment on my business.

Meaningful measurement is complicated, but what I can say is this: Publishing at least one video every day had a significant positive impact on my business.

Before we get to the impact, let’s take a step back to help explain how we got here…

The Motivation

I started my website in August of 2011, and I reached profitability in a little over a year. It was a rather rapid ascent considering I wasn’t setting out to start a business and I had never started a business before.

My business would soon reach heights I never dreamed of. It allowed me the flexibility to fulfill a life goal: Actively participate in the lives of my three young sons.

As I had never started a business before, I also hadn’t set out to create a business that would last a decade or longer. As a result, I surely made some mistakes. I mostly maintained the same template every year, refusing to make dramatic changes.

My blog made my business go, and that was a blessing. I am most comfortable as a writer, and the fact that I could attract significant business by writing tutorials was a lucky combination.

But that didn’t work forever. While my blog is still an important part of my business, it doesn’t attract the traffic that it once did. Organic search referrals once exceeded more than 10,000 per day, and that number is a fraction today.

Through 2019, though, I was still doing just fine. I built a cushion, and a drop in effectiveness wasn’t the blinking red light that it probably should have been.

COVID hit in 2020 at the worst possible time. Things were already on a slow downward trajectory. But I found this time impacted me in ways that I did not expect. When I heard from people suffering, I lost any desire to sell to them. I only wanted to create free content.

There were likely other emotional factors, but I lost some passion that year. That downward trend accelerated through 2021 and into 2022. And at that point, something desperately needed to change.

I was also completing my 16th and final year as a baseball coach, as my youngest son was moving on to high school. This role had taken quite a bit of my time and mental space, but that was about to change.

I had resisted short-form video — and all video — for years. When I recorded, I avoided showing my face. I didn’t think I needed to do anything but blog. I made every excuse to avoid it.

But now, I had no choice. I had to do it, and it couldn’t be halfway.

The Initial Commitment

I created a handful of videos during September of 2022, but it wasn’t until September 30 that I truly committed to it. I use this as the start date because it was the day when I embraced creating bad videos.

@jonloomer

Create stuff that sucks!

♬ original sound – Jon Loomer

I was intimidated by the format until this point. I didn’t know how to create a short-form video — or how to make a good one. I realized that I never would know that without creating a whole lot of videos, many that wouldn’t be any good. And I’d need to be okay with that.

I then created 70 videos in October. It was a painful experience. I didn’t know what I was doing, so it easily took me two hours per video, which meant spending an average of six hours per day on this. I was doing barely anything else.

But with each video, I learned something. I learned the things that I liked and didn’t like. I found a process for creating my videos. And I figured out what software and hardware I needed to create the videos I wanted to create.

It all took time. But the end of 2022 was important to helping me figure out how I wanted to create these videos. And that was only possible by creating a whole lot of them to give me many opportunities to learn.

The 2023 Strategy

I vividly remember a pivotal moment when I decided that I was going to create the most followed account on TikTok related to advanced Meta advertising. I told my wife this, and I even got emotional voicing it. But I truly believed it would happen.

To build off of this initial commitment, I set out to publish at least one video every day of 2023. I knew that the only way I could benefit from this format was to keep creating — and create a lot.

Here are a few of the things that came together as we went…

1. Video Length.

I didn’t have a goal length in the beginning, but I’d eventually settle on 60 seconds or less. This allowed me to create a video that would work on multiple platforms (more on that in a moment). It also forced me to be concise and allowed me to break up thoughts into multiple videos.

2. Running List of Topics.

My biggest adversary would be a lack of inspiration. I’d need to keep an active list of topics so that there was always something to record a video about.

When I had an idea, I wrote it down in my Notes app. Once I published that video, I’d remove it.

3. Scripting.

In the beginning, I had a general idea of what I’d talk about and maybe some bullet points. But I found this made editing a challenge, and I’d often fail to express things the way I wanted.

That led me to scripting. By scripting out my videos, I found a character count (just over 1,000) that I knew would put me right around 60 seconds.

I wouldn’t read that script, but I’d memorize a line and then say it to the camera. I would then edit those lines together. I’d be very conscious of how I’d start and end lines and saying them as naturally and conversationally as possible.

4. External Editing.

I found that I was most comfortable editing videos from my laptop, as opposed to within the TikTok app (which was my initial focus). This became important. Since I edited externally, I could then upload the same file to multiple platforms without a watermark.

I use Screenflow for editing and CapCut for captions, but I don’t want you to worry much about that. Neither may be ideal, but they work for me. I’ve used Screenflow for more than a decade, so I quickly found a system for using it to create the videos I want.

5. Platforms.

My initial focus was only on TikTok. But as I went, I decided to experiment with publishing those same videos elsewhere. That started with Facebook and Instagram Reels, but expanded to YouTube Shorts and even LinkedIn. I experimented with Pinterest and a couple of other random video apps, but I’d abandon them after a couple of months.

6. My Website

Initially, I’d embed a related video at the bottom of my blog posts. Eventually, I decided to create a custom post type for all of my videos. This allowed me to add a short blog post that accompanied each video, which was embedded from YouTube.

If you’re following along, that means that my videos are now appearing in six locations:

1. TikTok
2. Facebook Reels
3. Instagram Reels
4. YouTube Shorts
5. LinkedIn
6. jonloomer.com

Audience Growth

Since I publish the same video on five different social channels, let’s take a closer look at how this approach drove the growth of each audience. Also keep in mind that these videos make up most of my publishing schedule to each channel.

I do share blog post links to Facebook and LinkedIn, but otherwise the publishing behavior should be nearly identical for each platform.

1. TikTok

TikTok may have been my strongest channel, which is really saying something. I had more than 5,700 followers by the end of 2022 and another 22,760 (more than 28,000 in all) by the end of 2023.

I should note that while I used some ads in 2022, all of this growth in 2023 was organic.

2. Facebook

Facebook is my oldest social presence, since I started it in November of 2011. It has also grown to more than 196,000 followers (187,000 page likes).

But that growth stagnated in recent years. In fact, my number of page likes actually dropped in 2021. By starting these videos, I added 2,600 page likes in 2022 and 3,241 in 2023. That may not seem significant, but it was a complete turnaround.

3. Instagram

I added more than 4,800 followers to Instagram in 2023, which nearly doubled my total. This is a big deal since I previously didn’t publish to Instagram, choosing to only use it as an ad placement.

Instagram was not a viable platform for me until I started sharing Reels every day.

4. YouTube

I actually started my channel in 2012. I used it here and there, often publishing webinars and other slide-first videos. I didn’t start publishing on a daily basis until 2023.

My subscriber count grew by more than 4,500 in 2023 to nearly 19,000. I added only 800 in 2022. The views are where it gets interesting.

I nearly abandoned YouTube when I started this strategy because I’d often get such a small number of views on my videos. But this grew every single month. Here’s what my views look like lifetime.

But take a look at what it looks like by month in 2023…

That’s an increase every month. What I found was that my videos often didn’t do great immediately, but YouTube attracted more views from search later on. So the increase in volume provided more opportunities for these views.

5. LinkedIn

I started experimenting with LinkedIn as a social channel in 2021, but I abandoned it before returning to it with these daily videos. It didn’t seem like a great fit for short-form videos, but I figured I didn’t have anything to lose.

I added 10,000 followers to LinkedIn in 2023, increasing to more than 17,000. I’ve also found that my videos are starting to get more engagement there than most of my other channels.

“Your Likes and Comments are Low”

First, I understand that the reaction to what I say may be that these numbers aren’t that impressive. It’s similar to a comment I’ll get occasionally from nay-sayers that my videos don’t get the likes and comments that they think would make this worthwhile.

It’s important to understand that I’m sharing the same video file to all of these channels. I’m not creating a unique video for each platform. As a result, this is best measured by looking at the overall impact — not from just one video or one platform.

Keep in mind that TikTok is the only platform that I would have been actively publishing to on a daily basis. I was only using Facebook for links. I never published to Instagram. I rarely published to YouTube or LinkedIn.

Thanks to these videos, I added nearly 50,000 followers to these five channels combined. In 2022, I added about 16,000. That means my growth rate more than tripled, and that also understands that I started these videos during the final three months of 2022.

The most important thing is this: Thanks to these daily videos, my audience was growing far more than it had in recent years, and I was reaching more people than I was, too.

I should also note that I don’t actually want to go viral. I know that’s what everyone who doesn’t go viral says, but it’s true. I don’t monetize my videos, which would make going viral more desirable. My only goal is to reach my ideal audience as often as possible to eventually drive them to my services.

Other Measurement

If you’re like me, you’re not wowed by follower counts. I really don’t care that much about them, but it is one way to measure my impact. Of course, that’s not why I believe so strongly in this approach.

A few things have happened that haven’t been happening the past few years during my downturn.

Over and over, when people have signed up for my membership or I’m conducting a one-on-one, I’m told that they took that step because of my videos. They felt like they knew me, which made them comfortable making that commitment.

In some cases, these are people who have long been on my email list, but they hadn’t seen me for years. They thought I disappeared. And then my videos started appearing in their feeds.

This has also led to new opportunities. I’ve been given several public speaking offers which had gone silent until 2023. I spoke at Social Media Marketing World for seven straight years through 2020, but I haven’t been invited to speak anywhere since. That is, until now. I’m returning to SMMW, and I’ve had several other offers as well.

I’m Only Getting Started

I am 100% sold on this approach and I know that my commitment to short-form video has been pivotal for my business. But I also know that the results I’ve seen so far are only the beginning.

I’ve often heard that it can take two to three years to truly gain traction with a new format. While I started gaining traction pretty quickly with my blog, it was in that two to three year window when I hit my stride.

While I’m excited by what I’ve seen so far, it could still be better. And I’m confident it will be due to the trends I’m seeing.

I’m going to continue publishing at least one video every day to these channels in 2024. I will publish more when I can.

And one day, maybe not in 2024, I will have the most followed TikTok account related to advanced Meta advertising. I’m confident of that.

Most importantly, I hope that it will lead to the business growth, opportunities, and flexibility I was seeing from 2014 to 2018. For the first time in a very long time, I’m confident that it’s a realistic goal.

You Can Do This, Too

One reason I’m sharing this is because I want to help others do what I’ve done. Something that’s been frustrating is seeing so many people start creating their own videos and then quit. Even some people who were very good at what they were doing.

People measure the wrong things. They have unrealistic expectations. They care too much about going viral. All of these things are motivations to quit.

I hope my story provides some inspiration if you’ve thought at all about taking on short-form video in 2024. You can do this!

Your Turn

Have you considered taking on short-form video?

Let me know in the comments below!

The post My 365-Day Journey with Short-Form Video Creation appeared first on Jon Loomer Digital.

Look, I hate titles that include words like “Secret.” It feels like click bait. My titles are normally boring as a result. But, since I’ve seen so many people fail at consistent content creation, I absolutely feel like I have some secret knowledge that others do not.

I have experience on the topic of consistent content creation. I started this website in 2011 and wrote 600 blog posts during the first two years. These pages generated more than 30 Million page views.

I applied much of what I learned with blogging to short-form video creation. In one year since I started, I am quickly approaching 500 videos published.

Let me be clear: I am not special. I like to think I’m pretty good at blogging and creating videos, but that’s ultimately not why I’ve succeeded at it and so many others have failed.

Others have the same skills I have and gave up. Some are more skilled than I am, and they quit.

So, yeah. There are some basic reasons why that’s the case. While writing all of those blog posts and recording all of those videos hasn’t necessarily been easy, it’s all so naturally part of my routine that it’s also not especially difficult.

Why did those people fail? Why didn’t I quit? That’s the secret that will be revealed in this post.

I have a lot to say here. But it’s worth it…

What is Content?

Let’s define this first. We could be talking about a blog, videos (short or long-form), a podcast, or something else. I’d even be open to accepting a commitment to creating engaging content on social media as a fit here.

You’re going to attack a single format or platform and make it a priority.

What is Consistent Creation?

This is going to depend on the format and lots of other factors. But I have a hard time accepting any frequency that is less than once per week of anything if you’re going to prioritize it.

You could make an argument for a weekly blog post, podcast, or long-form video. Creating more often would be better if you can.

When I first started blogging, I published a new blog post nearly every day for two years. I now publish two posts (or more) per week.

I also publish at least one short-form video every day. At some point, I would love to increase that frequency.

Consistent and dependable are important. But volume is important, too.

Why Does Consistent Content Creation Matter?

I almost omitted this, but I realize it’s not obvious.

You can apply this to so many parts of our lives. A healthy lifestyle is a great example.

I’m also a runner. I don’t run because I like running. I run because I know that it’s good for my health and I prioritize being healthy and I want to give myself the best chance to see my kids grow up. I have annual goals for miles and I will often have streaks where I run every day for a month at a time. Reminder: I do this because I understand why I do it, not because I necessarily like to run.

If you want to be successful building a brand with any type of content, consistency is not an option. It’s a requirement. This isn’t something you do “when you have time.” Creators who “dabble” in blogging or short-form video don’t randomly build an empire.

You have to be consistent. It may even seem obsessive. You prioritize it, expect it, and will find the time.

It’s by being obsessively consistent that you give your content a chance. Otherwise, you are bound to fail.

Why Content Creators Quit

I don’t have official stats to back this up, but I would conservatively estimate that between 95% and 99% of those who set out to consistently generate content fail to complete the year.

Why?

Every creator’s reason for quitting will be different. And sometimes, it has nothing to do with why that creator thinks they quit. The failure goes deeper.

But, more often than not, it comes down to one or a combination of these reasons:

1. I don’t have time. Creating content is a time commitment and I just couldn’t get around to doing this consistently.

2. I’m not seeing results. I’m not seeing views, engagement, traffic, or revenue, so doing this lost priority.

3. I ran out of ideas. After a while, I didn’t know what else to say and I didn’t want to create content for the sake of creating content.

4. I’m not good enough. The content I create will never be as good as what [fill in the blank] does.

5. I lack the proper resources or equipment. It’s not worth doing unless I can do it well, and I don’t have the right website, camera, microphone, lighting, or something else.

6. Something else became more important. Something that actually does drive revenue took priority over this thing that doesn’t (yet).

Each excuse is rooted in a basic misunderstanding of why it’s important to consistently create content in the first place. They were bound to fail.

Your Purpose: Building Your Brand

This should be your motivation for getting started with consistent content creation. Your goals are long-term. Your entire purpose is to build your brand.

What I mean by that is that you want to be the first person or brand that someone thinks of when they have a need that you can fill. That is why you are creating this content.

About two weeks into my short-form video commitment, I still remember vividly how I got emotional telling my wife that I was going to become the most-followed person on TikTok for Meta ads information.

That was my goal. That was my purpose. It was the reason behind each video that I’d create.

Why was I emotional? It caught me off-guard. But it was a combination of the absurdity and deep belief. It was absurd because weeks prior I wanted nothing to do with TikTok. And even two weeks in, I was creating bad videos and had a minimal following.

But I was fully committed and believed to my core that I would pull it off.

Embrace Creating Bad Content

It sounds crazy, but when I embraced that I’d create bad content, it was my breakthrough moment. Let me explain…

When I committed to creating short-form videos, I was overwhelmed. I was a novice. I had no idea the best ways to record videos or what equipment I should use. Should I dance? How do I edit? I was completely out of my element.

At that point, I had a choice: Obsess over making great videos (which was an impossibility) or accept that I was going to create a whole lot of bad ones.

You have to realize that when you get started, you aren’t an expert. You should not expect to create great content yet. That is completely unrealistic. You don’t have a process or routine. You’re mostly running blind and hoping to create something that passes as okay.

You will not create consistently great content until you create lots of bad and mediocre content first.

That bad content is part of your journey to great content. You will learn from it. You will see what you like and don’t like. You’ll make minor changes. Each video will be incrementally better than the last.

Let’s be even more to the point and honest about this: You will and should be embarrassed by your early work!

If you can’t embrace the possibility of embarrassment, you will find a reason to quit. That’s what makes this so important.

I started a content audit of my website recently. Blog posts that were 10, 11, and 12 years old. I cringed hard when I read (and unpublished) so many of those posts. It truly wasn’t until I reached about my 500th post that I felt like it was something I could have written today. I found my groove.

I’ve only been recording short-form videos for a year, but I already see that now. Those early videos were so bad. My lighting, my sound, and my editing were all so low-quality. Over time, you may not see the small adjustments I made, but I do.

It’s actually really cool to see how bad my content was because it gives me a sense of pride regarding how far I’ve come.

Quality and Quantity

This is the age-old debate. But we often frame it improperly.

Yes, you want your content to be of a higher quality. You won’t intentionally create bad content. But don’t obsess over the wrong things.

Don’t confuse “quality” with “polish.” You can spend all kinds of time and money on editing, lighting, and graphics for a video, but that won’t necessarily make it good.

The most important thing is your message. Create content that communicates your message effectively. Do not let the need for polish prevent you from publishing.

There’s also a balance between that polish and quantity. Volume is truly important. The more you create, the more opportunities you have to reach your audience. But these are also opportunities for you to get better and more efficient.

Don’t let the need for perfection slow you down. Your content won’t be perfect. It doesn’t need to be.

Acknowledge and Eliminate Your Roadblocks

There are going to be so many potential excuses, particularly in the early going, to prevent you from creating. Confront and address them.

Here are some examples…

1. Equipment. You’ve started creating short-form videos and you don’t have the right camera, mic, or editing software. Who cares? These things should not prevent you from creating. The truth is that you don’t even know what you need yet. Just start recording with your phone. With time, the best equipment for your situation will become clearer.

2. Time. It takes me an hour, from scripting to recording to editing to publishing, to create a video. If you tell me you can’t set aside an hour to publish a video every day, fine. Guess what? You can still publish a video every day. Find a routine that lets you create faster. Just start recording and ship it. Something is better than nothing. You’ll find a way to make your videos better with limited time as you go.

3. Editing. There’s a lot that goes into editing videos. I take a lot of pride in my amateur editing. But, you know what? I really don’t need to do what I do. There are so many examples of video creators who just look at their phone and record and do minimal, if any, editing. Knowledge of editing is not an excuse.

4. My Appearance. I sympathize if this is you. It’s one of the many obstacles that kept me from recording. Simplify it. I actually created an entire image of myself for videos so I never had to worry about what my hair or clothes looked like. I bought four plain baseball caps that I rotate. I have 10 solid-colored tee shirts. My appearance is no longer anything I worry about.

5. Lighting. My lighting was not great in the beginning. You are not going to have great lighting if you don’t know what you’re doing. This will take time. But instead of obsessing over your lighting, there’s an easy solution: Natural lighting. Go outside. There’s nothing better.

Have a Pipeline of Ideas

It may be easy to come up with your first ideas for content. But it will likely get harder as you go.

I keep a running list in my Notes app of video and blog post ideas. After using it, I remove it from my list.

One of the mistakes we make with short-form videos is that we try to pack too much information into them. Focus on a single thought that you can expand on.

You’re typically going to create a video that lasts about a minute long. That means that you don’t need a “5 Steps” to do something video. Focus on one step at a time.

The same goes for blogging. I do a combination of blog posts that expand on a single problem or feature. But I also write detailed guides that refer to multiple posts I’ve written before. There is room for both.

If you’re thin on ideas, try the following exercises…

1. What are people in your community talking and asking about? My Facebook groups and email inbox are filled with ideas.

2. What content struck a chord? If a prior blog post or video seemed to get a lot of engagement or feedback, create another piece of content from a slightly different angle.

3. What’s the breaking news in your industry? I’m constantly looking for new features and news stories. It starts in my Feedly and social media feeds.

4. What are other experts talking about? I’m not saying you should copy people or even chase down what’s popular. But if you’re short on ideas, search out the popular topics on YouTube or TikTok that fit your niche.

Establish a Routine

A routine will make you more efficient. You’ll become an assembly line. You’ll find ways to make everything a little bit quicker.

Here’s my video routine:

1. Grab a topic from my running list.

2. Write a script in my Notes app that is about 1,000 characters (which will be about 1 minute).

3. Set up my office for recording. This includes cleaning my lens, setting up lighting, mirroring my phone to my iPad to record from the rear-facing camera, opening Screenflow, starting an audio recording from my laptop, putting my phone on a small tripod, and starting the recording. It sounds like a lot, but it’s no more than a couple of minutes.

4. Record for about four minutes.

5. Export my video to my laptop so that I can edit.

6. Edit in Screenflow.

7. Add captions in CapCut.

8. Schedule to TikTok, Facebook and Instagram Reels (via Business Suite), YouTube, LinkedIn, and my website.

Sound like a lot? Maybe. But that entire process rarely takes longer than an hour. I’ve done it over and over and over again.

The part that takes the most thought is coming up with ideas. Everything else is just busy work.

An Expectation

Content creation isn’t something you do when you have time, at least if you want to be consistent. You won’t find excuses not to do it. You expect to do it.

For me, it’s not a matter of setting aside time to write a blog post or record videos. If that works for you, great. But I need the right combination of time and inspiration.

For me, everything is built around a simple schedule:

1. I will publish a blog post every Monday and Wednesday (to be promoted every Tuesday and Thursday).
2. I will publish a short-form video every day.

There are many paths to get there. Sometimes I do it at the last minute. Sometimes I write or record many days in advance, especially if I know I’ll be busy or unavailable on my publishing days.

There is a built-in expectation that these things are going to happen. They will happen. They are non-negotiable.

Ignore the Metrics

One of the primary reasons content creators quit too early is because they care too much about the metrics. I know this sounds backwards. But, metrics just don’t matter.

Do not care about how many views that video got. Do not obsess over the traffic that blog post drives.

It’s not that these things will never matter. They just don’t matter while you’re building.

If you’re obsessed with these metrics, a couple of things can happen:

1. You’ll worry too much about tricks to go viral. You’ll add silly hooks and click bait or follow trends just to get more views. This doesn’t help you stand out.

2. You’ll get frustrated. It’s hard publishing into the abyss. You won’t be able to completely ignore those numbers, but you have to remind yourself that this is all part of the process.

If you don’t get many views in the beginning, that may actually be a good thing! This probably isn’t some of your best work. You’ll get better with time. And once you do, the attention will start to come, too.

The primary short-term metric to care about is simple: Did you publish? How much did you publish? Everything else is window dressing.

All other metrics to care about are long-term. What growth have you seen in six months? Growth and progress often aren’t obvious over days, weeks, or a couple of months. But extend that period of time and you may be surprised.

It’s Not About Revenue (Yet)

Do not care about the metrics. And along those same lines, ignore revenue generated from the content.

Focus on revenue can be dangerous. Sure, you might discover that your content is driving revenue. Great. But if it’s not, you just gave yourself a reason to quit. And that’s not an option.

Yes, you will eventually want to drive revenue with your content. But that is not your initial goal. Your initial goal is to keep creating and keep building.

Give Yourself (Lots of) Time

You are going to be impatient. But take a deep breath. This is going to take a while.

How long do you think you’ll need to create consistent content before you gain traction? It’s probably longer than you think.

In The Most Amazing Marketing Book Ever by Mark Schaefer and Friends, Mark estimates that it should take 18 months to gain traction, even while consistently creating week-after-week.

There are some great quotes in that screen shot like “Consistency is more important than genius” and “The biggest mistake is that people quit too soon.”

The most famous YouTube creator of them all is Mr. Beast. How long do you think it took him to gain traction?

Well, he started his YouTube channel in 2012 and reached 30,000 subscribers in 2016. He first went viral in 2017, driving his subscribers to 1 Million — five years after he started.

We often see these creators after they became known and think it was easy for them. We miss how they showed up day after day, often for years at a time, before getting traction. They were stubbornly consistent because they had purpose.

Not At the Expense of Important Things

Be obsessively consistent, but not at a cost.

I do not endorse being so obsessive about your content creation that it takes over your life. Enjoy your weekends. Take vacations.

But, how does that work with the concept of being consistent? It’s actually simple…

I publish a video every day. That doesn’t mean that I’m recording one every day. I’d like to have my weekends free. I prioritizing recording more during the week so that I can schedule videos during the weekend and Monday.

I’ve also gone on a few family trips this year. There was a period of two months when we were out of the house half of the time. I didn’t bury my head in my laptop during these trips. I planned for them.

These times were coming, so I was motivated to record extra videos and write blog posts before we left. It’s amazing how much you can get done when you know you need to do it.

I then enjoyed those trips!

Watch Video

I recorded a video reflecting on my commitment to TikTok and short-form videos a year ago here…

Get Started Now

I know that this was an unexpectedly long post, but this is a topic that truly inspires me. I also struggle seeing so many content creators give up prematurely. It all starts with proper expectations and a clear outlook.

I hope this post helps you while on your content journey. What challenges are you facing?

Let me know in the comments below!

The post The Secret to Consistent Content Creation appeared first on Jon Loomer Digital.

I’ve consistently published short-form videos to TikTok, Facebook Reels, Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, and LinkedIn for most of the past six months and change. What was the impact on my presence (impressions, engagement, and followers) in each case?

Lots of context is necessary. First, I’ll explain the nature of my strategy. Then, we’ll go platform by platform, where we’ll evaluate performance before and after this commitment to short-form video.

Let’s go…

The Strategy

This commitment to short-form video began with TikTok on September 30, 2022. I created 70 videos during October.

Eventually, this approach would spread to other platforms. After briefly experimenting with downloading the TikTok video and publishing it to Facebook and Instagram Reels, I’d eventually create my videos outside of any app and publish that same file to every platform.

I would not create unique content for each platform. It was the exact same file published to each location.

There was a time when I’d never consider doing such a thing. But I knew that I didn’t have the time or resources to create unique content everywhere. The options were repurposing the same content or focusing only on one or two apps.

I decided to spread my content around. This would allow me to learn some things:

1. Does it matter that this is the same content published on multiple platforms?
2. Would certain platforms always outperform others?
3. Would some platforms emerge as being more valuable than expected?

For this to work, volume was a necessity. I’ve published most days since I started this, but I’ve committed to publishing at least one video every day in 2023 (which I’ve accomplished so far).

Let’s go platform-by-platform.

TikTok

Follow Me: tiktok.com/@jonloomer
Start Date: September 30, 2022

This is where it all started. I added 11 videos to TikTok prior to September 30, but they were rare and sporadic. On September 30, I marked the sand.

On one hand, my impact on TikTok is pretty easy to measure since 99% of my content created, impressions, engagement, and followers came from September 30 and on. Unfortunately, TikTok’s metrics are pretty awful as they only go back 60 days.

I do have nearly 12,000 followers right now, less than seven months after I started. And I also connected Agorapulse to my TikTok account beginning on December 13.

So, here’s a look at my account’s growth in followers from December 13 through April 23.

As you can see, I’ve added 6,638 followers during this time. That leaves another 5,132 for the three prior months. That’s a bit misleading since I also stopped running ads in early December, and about 3,000 of my followers came that route.

But you can see spikes in followers that came organically in February and March when a video took off. Also, I get more followers now on a typical day than I did previously.

Here’s a look at engagement for that same period (from Agorapulse).

Engagement was pretty slow until a video took off the week of February 11. While it’s clear I had a couple of spikes representing high-performing videos, the “floor” day for engagement rose significantly from that point.

Overall, I’m really happy with where I’m at on TikTok. I went from no presence at all to getting about 5,000 impressions per day now.

Instagram

Follow Me: instagram.com/jonloomer
Start Date: September 30, 2022

I’ve had an Instagram account for years, but I’ve barely used it. From a business point of view, I mostly only had it for the Instagram ad placement. Otherwise, most of my posts to Instagram prior to September 30 were of my kids or dog (and even those were extremely rare).

At first, I merely published my TikTok videos with the TikTok watermark to Facebook and Instagram Reels. I didn’t stop doing that until November 3.

I’ve added nearly 3,000 Instagram followers since I started posting videos to Reels. That’s pretty impressive since I have 6,525 in all, so nearly half came in just the past seven months.

As you can see, that growth is up 1,400% compared to the prior period.

My Instagram Profile Visits are up 289%…

Here’s a fun look at the increase in post reactions, comments, and shares…

It was a ghost town until October!

Here’s a video I recorded about my growth on Instagram…

Facebook

Follow Me: facebook.com/jonloomerdigital
Start Date: September 30, 2022

I’ve had my Facebook page since November of 2011. It’s where my social media presence as a business was born. My page has been through lots of ups and downs since then.

My page’s best year was probably 2017. But, I’d also say I hit the bottom in 2021. That was the first (and hopefully last) time my number of followers actually dropped from one year to the next.

To give you a visual representation of how Reels saved my page, here’s engagement from April 24 of 2022 through April 23 of 2023.

Even while including those horrendous months of April through September of 2022, engagement is still up 537%.

Let’s focus just on the time since I started sharing short-form videos to Facebook Reels. Engagement is up 1,187%.

While engagement is down a bit since the early spike when I started, I can still make some reasonable projections based on what has happened so far this year.

I’m projecting the following:

• Organic Impressions: 3,745,000 (+182%)
• Total Engagement: 768,273 (+219%)
• Follower Growth: +1,812

Yes, Reels saved my page.

Here’s a video I recorded about my growth on Facebook…

YouTube Shorts

Follow Me: youtube.com/jonloomer
Start Date: November 3, 2022

I have a complicated history with YouTube. I started my channel in 2012 and recently surpassed 15,000 subscribers. My best years on YouTube were probably from 2013 to 2014, but I’ve used it very inconsistently since then.

Let’s focus on recent history. Here’s a look at video views on my channel beginning January 1, 2022…

Pretty obvious when this started, right?

During the time since I’ve been posting videos to Shorts, I’ve added 992 subscribers with nearly 56,000 views.

Let’s use the period of January 1, 2021 through November 2, 2022 for comparison. This is the nearly 22 months immediately prior to starting with Shorts. This is about three times longer than the time I’ve been posting Shorts (more, actually), and I had only 43,000 views (fewer) and 1,600 subscribers (600 more) during that time.

While I’ve been somewhat underwhelmed by the performance of my videos on YouTube compared to the platforms mentioned so far, I can’t complain. Shorts have given my channel some life. And things do seem to be improving.

Here’s a video I recorded about my growth on YouTube…

LinkedIn

Follow Me: linkedin.com/in/jonloomer
Start Date: November 6, 2022

Now, I understand that LinkedIn isn’t technically a short-form video platform. And they actually prefer square videos, so posting my stuff there may have been out of place.

Initially, I placed my videos on a square canvas to compensate. But eventually, I just resorted to publishing the exact same video to LinkedIn, too.

Keep in mind that I have been relatively active on LinkedIn already for the past year or so. Once I started sharing my videos there, I actually pulled back on sharing the stuff I normally would.

Would that be a negative? Let’s see…

Impressions have been consistently higher since I started posting my videos in November. Unfortunately, I can’t isolate the time period to focus on November 6 to April 24 to see how it compared to the prior period.

Engagement shows a similar improvement.

Even if you eliminate my big spike of new followers in January, the new followers added are pretty clearly higher now than they were before.

I decided to export my data to get a closer look. Instead of looking at it by day, let’s go by month.

Here are impressions…

Here’s engagement…

And new followers…

While my presence on LinkedIn was already pretty solid, sharing my videos every day (that were shared to many different platforms) instead of my typical behavior didn’t hurt my growth. It may have actually helped it.

Here’s a video I recorded about my growth on LinkedIn…

Other Platforms

I’ve actually shared my videos to three other platforms as well. I’m not going to dig into those results because I haven’t been doing it very long.

• Pinterest
• Lemon8
• Clapper

I’m not seeing much with any of these three, to be honest. I may not continue much longer with them unless I start seeing more impact.

Evaluation

First, I don’t think I need to spend much time convincing you that publishing these videos to the five platforms has been an enormous positive for my social media presence. I know that the next question is whether it led to business or revenue but 1. That misses the point, and 2. Yes, I’ve had examples of where it’s led to revenue. I just have to rely on people telling me that, so it’s not easy to measure.

Next, which platform has been most impactful? That’s actually tough to say, and that’s a good thing. I will say that the top three performing platforms tend to be TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook. But the fun part is that it’s not always in that order.

Sometimes, a video does best on TikTok. Sometimes it surges on Facebook. Instagram has given me some big numbers. You just never know. And that’s actually the beauty of this. I’m getting results, and it’s not because of one platform.

What’s most exciting to me is that this is still so early. How will this look once I’ve published a video every day to each of these platforms for all of 2023?

I can’t wait to find out!

Start Your Own Short-Form Video Journey

To say I’m bullish on short-form video is an understatement. But I also understand first-hand how difficult it is to get started. If you haven’t, you need to. It’s hard. It’s scary. And it’s frustrating. But it’s oh, so worth it.

I created a training called The Short-Form Video Blueprint to help beginners get going. It includes so much of what I’ve learned during this journey.

I hope you’ll join me there!

Your Turn

I’m curious what you think of the impact of short-form video, either on my own social media presence or yours.

Let me know in the comments below!

The post How Short-Form Video Impacts Presence on 5 Platforms appeared first on Jon Loomer Digital.

I’ve recorded more than 270 videos (give or take) since I started my short-form video journey about six months ago. I’m often asked about my process for recording short-form videos, and I feel like this is a good time to do a reveal.

Truthfully, I didn’t feel all that comfortable saying much during most of this journey since I knew that I was still so early in figuring it all out. I was learning and evolving, and I knew that whatever process I had was likely to change as soon as I talked about it.

At this stage, though, I feel pretty good about the process I’m following. It’s consistent. I’m sure plenty will still change to how I do things over the next year and beyond, but the rate of change will likely slow. I’ve found what I like and what makes me efficient for now.

Below is my current process for recording my short-form videos. It’s not perfect. But it’s what works for me.

If you want to learn more about what I do and how to get started with short-form video, check out my new training course!

Scripting

I know there are a lot of theories on this, but I mostly don’t script anything.

Occasionally, I’ll write down some thoughts and I’ll even write out bullet points. But I truly think my videos are more conversational if I don’t have a script.

I have a goal in mind, of course. I know what I’m going to talk about. And then I talk.

I’ll get to that a bit more later.

Lighting

I won’t get into all of the details about lighting here because that’s a separate topic of its own, but here are three primary things that I do…

1. I turn on my two LED panels that are mounted on either side of my desk.

2. I turn off my ceiling lights.

3. I turn on my RGB light that’s laying on the floor for a splash of color to the walls and ceiling.

The RGB is unnecessary, but I’ve found it adds a little bit of style and variation. My videos are bound to look very similar to one another, so switching up the color every day tends to help.

My Camera (My Phone)

Some people are surprised to hear this, but the primary video source is my phone. It’s not a special DSLR or fancy camera.

Of course, I do use an iPhone 14 Pro, and I can see a noticeable improvement over my old iPhone 12. I also use the Cinematic video setting to make the background blurry and give it a bit of professional polish.

I perch my phone on a small tripod in front of me on my desk. I use the rear-facing camera because it produces slightly better quality. To do that, I connect my iPhone to my MacBook and open up QuickTime. I start a new video and select my phone so that I can see what I’m recording from there.

Many have reached out and told me that I don’t need to do it that way, but I do because I have an older MacBook from 2016. Newer ones can mirror to the laptop without hooking them up.

I use a little remote that once came with a tripod to start recording. Couldn’t cost more than $10.

Beyond that, I line everything up so that my desk doesn’t appear in the shot and my eyes land on the top horizontal line of the grid tool.

Screenflow Recording

While I record with my phone, I also record with Screenflow, a desktop video editing app.

Many people ask what I use for editing, and I’m always hesitant to tell them. The truth is that you can do the same thing with so many different apps, it really doesn’t matter. Use what you’re comfortable with. I’ve used Screenflow for more than a decade.

I record at least my external mic from Screenflow. This will replace my phone audio to improve the quality. If I’m doing a tutorial, I’ll also record my screen.

What that means is that we’ll have at least two files to work with when I’m editing. Since there will be audio from my phone’s video file, I will line up the phone’s audio with the audio from my external mic before deleting the phone’s audio file.

The Sit-Down

Here’s something you need to understand: While the final product is a clean edit, it was anything but that when I sat down and hit record.

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I could create a blooper reel for every sit-down I do. I’m not kidding.

I know that this is one of the things that keeps people from creating videos. They see the final polish and they think that’s how it looked when it was recorded. That can be intimidating.

My original video files are anywhere from three to six minutes. And really, three and six almost never happen. It’s usually between four and five.

To recap from earlier, I set up my phone in front of me and hit record. I have a general idea of what I want to say, but I don’t script anything out. I just talk.

To simplify, I’m really thinking about the next sentence I want to say in my head. I’m not all that worried about the full message.

I know I’m not alone in this, but I fumble with my words a lot. I often need to attempt to say the same sentence five or six times. It’s frustrating, but that stuff gets edited out.

I say a sentence, and then pause and think. I say another sentence, pause, and think. I repeat it if it comes out awkwardly. Sometimes I say sentence fragments and pause and then complete the sentence. I can splice the fragments together later.

Editing

I won’t get into the details of my editing here, but just a few quick points.

I will cut that three to six-minute rough file down to no more than 60 seconds. No exceptions. You’ll find that many of my videos are 59+ seconds. This is not by accident.

After lining up the files, I make a first-pass edit. This is when I just clean up the mistakes and pauses.

Of course, that almost always results in a video that will be longer than a minute (typically 10 to 20 seconds over). That means I need to go back through and prioritize. This is where I take out parts that aren’t completely necessary to the message.

Once I get it down to 60 seconds, I then add a final polish with jump cuts and zoom video actions.

The final step is that I export that file and import it into CapCut to add the captions.

Scheduling and Publishing

I publish my videos to six different platforms (links to my profile for each):

• TikTok
• Facebook Reels
• Instagram Reels
• YouTube Shorts
• LinkedIn
• Pinterest

It’s a lot. I’ve experimented with using various scheduling and repurposing apps, but I’m currently back to scheduling almost all of them natively. I just don’t find it takes all that much time to need a separate app.

There’s always the debate about whether third-party apps hurt your reach, too. Personally, I only have suspicions about YouTube Shorts. Whether a coincidence or not, I’ve seen that my videos consistently perform far better when scheduled or published natively from YouTube.

Not that my videos do great from YouTube. But I was regularly seeing 50 views or less per video when using a third-party app, but I consistently see more than that when scheduled natively.

Everything else is trial and error and personal preference. I publish at least once per day, and it’s typically in the morning.

Your Turn

Do you have any questions about my short-form video recording process? Ask it below.

The post My Process for Recording Short-Form Videos appeared first on Jon Loomer Digital.

The past six months have been a heck of a journey. I went from having no experience with the format (and a negative feeling about it) to being fully committed to it after recording more than 270 short-form videos. To say that I’ve learned a few things along the way is an understatement.

This post could go much deeper than this list. But it summarizes the best it can the most important lessons I’ve learned so far.

If you haven’t started creating your own short-form videos yet, it’s not too late. I hope this will be a push in the right direction. You can do it.

Let’s go…

1. Volume First

Your primary focus should be on volume. Create. Just keep hitting record. Every time you publish a new video, you are going to learn something.

If you are publishing a video once per week, it’s going to take you far longer to learn. It’s basic math.

I published 70 videos in the first month of my journey. It was pretty frustrating and exhausting. But it was necessary.

Set a goal for at least one video per day. Truthfully, you should do more than that in the beginning if you can.

I’ll say that focusing on volume is a good long-term strategy, too. You create more videos to give you more chances to strike a nerve with your audience.

2. Don’t Let Quality Concerns Impact Creation

Here’s something you need to understand: Your audience will be virtually invisible at first. Very few people will see your videos.

Does that sound like a downer? It shouldn’t. It should be freeing.

You are going to come up with every excuse in the beginning not to create a video. You’re going to lack confidence and you will be self-conscious. You’ll worry about everything.

Don’t. Embrace that you will create some bad videos. And you won’t create good ones until you get through that stage.

Here’s the first video I created once I committed to creating videos. I embraced that I was going to create bad videos, and it’s what helped carry me through.

@jonloomer

Create stuff that sucks!

♬ original sound – Jon Loomer

Your lighting is bad? Who cares. Bad mic? So what. Don’t know how to edit? Doesn’t matter. Bad haircut? It’s fine.

By worrying about this stuff, you’re only slowing down your growth. Your videos will get better and better with time. It will get easier. But it’s not easy at first, and you need to be okay with the results.

And maybe you need to remind yourself that virtually no one will see your video anyway. And if they do, they’re often encouraging (ignore the haters, of course!).

3. Create an Evolving Routine

The main thing, in the beginning, is this: Set aside time every day for recording, editing, and publishing.

How you do things will change. You’ll become more efficient. You’ll learn how you like to do things. Do you want to batch record one day and edit on another? Do you like to do everything at once? You’ll figure that out as you go.

Your routine won’t be perfect in the beginning, but you need one. It will evolve as you sort this out and find what works best for you.

4. Focus on a Single Thought or Point

In the beginning, my videos were far more complicated than they needed to be. I was too wordy, which probably isn’t a surprise. I needed to simplify.

If you focus on a single thought or point, you can exhaust that thought or point. It also opens up opportunities for creating more videos, rather than trying to squeeze everything into one.

It should be very easy to explain what your video is about in a few words. If it’s not, it’s too complicated.

Once you realize that, it’s okay! Break it up into thoughts. You now have multiple video ideas.

5. Keep it Short

This was a lesson I learned rather quickly. I wanted to treat short-form videos like long-form videos. That’s a mistake.

Long-form videos are different. They can be casual and have a relaxed pace. Short-form videos need to be quick.

Eliminate wasted time. Your video should open without a pause and immediately provide a hook or explanation of what is coming.

Your audience is impatient. Don’t drag out a thought. Edit out unnecessary pauses and mistakes.

If you can, limit the length of your videos to about a minute. There are benefits to this beyond it being easier to consume.

First, it will work on all platforms (TikTok, Facebook Reels, Instagram Reels, Pinterest, YouTube Shorts, and LinkedIn). Now that Facebook Reels changed their time limit to 90 seconds, only YouTube Shorts caps out at 60. But one video could work on every platform.

The second is workflow. If you’re creating longer videos, you’re likely missing opportunities to break up your thoughts into multiple videos. Combined with having to edit a longer video, you are creating more work for yourself.

I’ve found that the 60-second limit also forces me to be concise and prioritize what is most important during the editing process.

6. Learn to Edit!

You won’t know how to edit your first few videos. That’s fine. Do not let that keep you from recording.

But if you’re like me, you’ll quickly realize what separates many other videos from your own: Editing.

There are two keys to editing:

1. Tighten up the message.

Remove the dead space, cut out repetition and stuff that makes less sense when you hear it back, and prioritize what is most important.

2. Grab attention.

This could be done by adding zooms and animations. Something I’ve learned to do is change the zoom on video segments that follow one another. This is one way to edit and make it seem like multiple cameras. I also add video actions to zoom in and out during shots.

Start with #1 and progress eventually to #2.

7. Equipment and Software Upgrades Come Later

I’m often hesitant to tell anyone what software or equipment I use. Not because it’s a secret, but because that decision should be customized to your needs and setup.

You will not know what equipment and software you need before you get started. Sure, you may know that you need lights, an external mic, and editing software. But what exactly you should get is not a decision you should make right away.

As time goes on, you will start to realize not just what you need but why you need it and how you plan to use it. In some cases, you may actually have all the equipment or software that you need and you didn’t even realize it.

First, you don’t need a special camera. Your phone should be fine (it’s what I use).

Second, an example of not needing to get something new while not worrying about what other people use is editing software. There are so many different applications out there for editing videos. The vast majority of their features are the same.

I use Screenflow. Truthfully, it would probably be easier if I used either Descript or CapCut for video editing. But, you know what? I’ve used Screenflow for more than a decade. I am super comfortable with it. Because of that, I know I’d be more efficient using Screenflow than another application.

You’ll find what works for you, but be patient.

8. Do Not Sell (Focus on VALUE)

If you’re a typical marketer, your first impulse will be to use short-form videos to sell your product or service. While this may make sense for limited situations, it often is the opposite.

If you are posting organically, the goal of your video should be to provide some sort of value — usually educate or entertain. Promotional organic “ads” do not work in this format.

I have to admit that once I started hearing people I follow and respect say this, it took a lot of pressure off. We’ll talk later about why it’s so hard to measure success anyway, so focusing on value is a much easier approach.

You need to grab attention within the first few seconds. If you don’t, the user will flip to the next video. Do you think a promotional video will keep their attention? Usually not.

If you’re in the teaching space like I am, this is rather easy. I use these videos to teach and inform. I build my brand, reputation, and expertise by helping others and proving that I know what I’m talking about.

Barring a few exceptions, let go of the need to sell. Your content will be much more engaging as a result.

9. Let Go of Measurement Concerns

Measurement was one of the primary stumbling blocks for me. It was one of the many things that kept me from getting into short-form video.

Links are easy. You know someone clicked your link and went to your website. Use some UTM parameters, and you can even know what someone did on your website.

Video is different. Especially if you don’t sell with your videos, measurement is largely a black hole.

You’ll know which videos were most popular (most views, longest view time, and most engagement). But that’s really it. All surface-level information.

It’s not that you should ignore these things. They are, after all, the only way you can truly track what is and isn’t doing well. But, don’t allow it to shield you from what’s most important.

I became a believer in short-form videos a couple of months into my commitment to the format. I started hearing from people who signed up for a membership or booked a one-on-one. Over and over, they’d tell me that the primary reason was my videos.

It’s not that my videos sold anything or even mentioned these products. It’s that they helped me make a personal connection with these people and reminded them on a daily basis of the value that I can provide.

This is something that can’t truly be measured. Instead, you have to believe in it and trust in it.

Measure what you can. But embrace that much of your impact won’t be measurable while still being worthwhile.

10. Do Not Be Deterred by Slow Growth

This is the hardest part. Unless you are in the extreme minority, you will not make an immediate impact.

Growth will be slow. It will be easy to get down because of it.

Resist. Remind yourself that this is part of the process.

I’ve found pretty good success in six months. I built a TikTok audience from nothing to 10,000 people. I brought my Facebook audience back to life. And I have truly tapped into my Instagram audience for the first time.

But, it’s not all a glowing success story. I’ve yet to solve the YouTube Shorts riddle. Some of my videos there have 15-20 views. And even where I’ve found success, it’s a rollercoaster of ups and downs.

Celebrate the growth, but do not let the tough times keep you down.

11. This is a Long-Term Commitment

This truly is most important. Most people will quit. They expect results within the first month or six months. It’s not easy to keep going.

You need to accept and embrace going in that this is going to be hard. You cannot look at this as something that you’ll continue only if you get early results. If that’s the case, plan to quit.

Realistically, it’s going to take you a year to see decent progress. And it might take more.

But it’s worth it. So commit to at least a year of being all-in on short-form video before you make any rash decisions.

Summary: Be Stubbornly Consistent

I talk about this in the video below, too. You must avoid the ups and downs and stay laser-focused on your goal. You must be stubbornly consistent.

No matter what your results, create and keep creating.

If everyone could do this, they would. But often what separates those who do from those who don’t has nothing to do with talent. Instead, it’s patience.

Do you have the patience to persist? Or will you quit when it gets hard? Most people will quit.

I often use the example of how I wrote about 600 blog posts the first two years of my website. It’s a similar concept. You need to be so focused on the goal of creation that nothing else matters.

Build it into your routine. Make sure it’s your priority. And keep pushing.

Your Turn

Have you gotten started yet with short-form video? What’s holding you back?

Let me know in the comments below!

The post 11 Lessons Learned from Short-Form Video Creation appeared first on Jon Loomer Digital.

Yeah, it’s one of those posts. I get that this is a vanity metric. By itself, it doesn’t mean much. But it’s a reflection of hard work. So, allow me to explain what I did to grow from nothing to 10,000 TikTok followers in a reasonably short period of time.

(NOTE: All while not selling my soul or worrying about trends).

I hit 10,000 TikTok followers today. Normally, I don’t make a big deal out of this stuff. But, this feels like quite an accomplishment given the dramatic shift I’ve made.

It would be safe to say that six months ago, this would have been laughable. I wasn’t active on TikTok, and I detested everything about it (and short-form video generally). But, by the end of September, I put my old man shoes away and realized that this was something I needed to do.

When I committed to it, I made a conscious decision to become the most followed account related to the topic of Facebook ads on TikTok. I’m obviously not there yet, but this is a nice milestone.

What I did was simple and complicated at the same time. It really comes down to two things…

Some Ads Early

The toughest part of getting started is publishing videos into the void. Maybe it was to give me a psychological boost or to make my profile look a bit more desirable in the early going, but I ran a low level of TikTok ads during the first couple of months.

From the time I committed to creating videos on TikTok in October through the middle of December, I collected 3,253 followers via ads. It was a nice foundation.

This was good and bad.

The bad: I tried really hard to target precisely to build my audience with relevant people. All indications are that this wasn’t successful. It was mostly numbers padding (the relevant followers would come organically).

The good: We can knock vanity metrics all we want, but it does mean something on TikTok if someone has a following. It surely helped convince some relevant people that I was worth following.

Did this lead to a significant spike in engagement during those first few months? Not really. But I do think that it helped me reach the next step.

A Dedicated Commitment to Create

Look, I could run ads forever on TikTok, but unless I was actually creating good content, it would not matter. I dedicated myself early.

I would create bad videos in the beginning, there was no avoiding that. But the goal was to get myself out of that phase as quickly as possible. I created 70 videos in October. It was a difficult, challenging, and inefficient month of video creation.

But it was worth it. I started to figure out my process. I found a workflow. Needs like software and lighting became clearer to me.

I dedicated myself to publishing at least one video per day in 2023. Truthfully, I missed very few days once I started in October, but I wanted to avoid any days off going forward.

I’ve kept to that commitment and I’ve published more than 260 videos on TikTok. Consistency, volume, and quality. More than anything else, I’d say that these were the keys to my growth.

What I Didn’t Do

I didn’t try to go viral. I didn’t worry about trends or popular sounds. Trust me, you’re going to hear a lot of advice around that stuff.

But it’s wrong.

If all you care about is being popular, sure. Chase that stuff. But you’re going to attract a very general, random audience. And that’s not how you build an engaged following around a specialty.

While I haven’t completely niched down on TikTok (I talk about Facebook ads, video creation, and entrepreneurship), it’s at least a similar category. I don’t want to attract randos who don’t care about any of these things.

The result: Engagement is growing with the audience size.

Tracking Growth

TikTok only offers analytics back 60 days, as far as I can tell. But even within the past two months, the improvement really jumps out.

Here’s the growth of my audience during that time…

Those spikes are when some videos took off. I have three recent videos that received more than 30,000 views (all organic).

Those three videos alone resulted in 2,942 new followers.

But it’s not just those three. Here’s a look at the trend of views during the past 60 days…

Even during the end of January, most days I’d receive very few views. But then something started to change. The floor raised.

Engagement is no longer focused on a few videos. I can now expect that my recent videos will almost always get at least 1,000 views. That was definitely not the case before.

If I were to push back just a few more days, it looks like this…

That doesn’t mean that this new engagement level will continue forever, but it’s certainly a good sign.

Persistence

What you don’t see here is the truly difficult times. I recorded, edited, and published a video every day, knowing that it may not result in much impact at all.

These might be the most important times.

These are the times when people quit. And I totally understand why they do. But you have to push through.

This is why it’s so important to have some overarching reason and motivation for doing what you are doing. I knew that I did not have a choice. This is what I was going to do now. And once I committed to a video per day, excuses were meaningless.

If you want to grow your audience — whether it’s social media, website traffic, a podcast, or your email list — it’s important to have this sense of purpose. It’s nice to be reassured by the positive metrics. But you can’t let the lack of progress suck the energy out of you.

Making Light of It

I recorded this video today about reaching 10,000 followers. Check out the acting as I have a conversation with “someone else” (also me).

Join Me

I’m ready to share everything I’ve learned so far. I created a 37-lesson training with details about my experience, workflow, equipment, software, and more — not just about TikTok, but about the short-form video format itself.

Join me by signing up here!

Your Turn

Have you gotten started on TikTok or short-form video yet? What do you think?

Let me know in the comments below!

The post How I Grew to 10,000 TikTok Followers in Under 6 Months appeared first on Jon Loomer Digital.