Feb '23 in Other
I spent $20k to learn how to go viral
Dylan Jardon and Henry Belcaster have been best friends for ages.
They started a podcast together, but were frustrated with how slow their growth was.
Dylan decided to take a break, spend some time in isolation, and refused to come out until he had figured out the art and science of going viral.
He was pretty stoked, but it could've been luck... Right?
After hearing about this story I paid them both $20k, and they taught me everything they know about going viral.
And I thought I'd share my biggest takeaways with you for free :)
LESSON 1: THE VIRAL FORMULA
According to "the lads", the formula for going viral is:
Story X Pop Culture X Animation = Viral
Blend pop culture (something that everyone knows) with a great story (something that's already viral) with high quality animation to make timeless content.
But does every short need ‘Pop Culture’ in it?
According to the lads, yes.
They view pop culture as the jet fuel for the concepts you’d want to teach.
We’re playing a different game with Shorts. People are scrolling and have no idea who you are.
Hook the viewer instantly by giving them something they care about.
LESSON 2: EVERGREEN > TIMELY
But not all pop culture is created equal.
There’s a difference between creating Timely Shorts and Evergreen Shorts.
Many Shorts people make Timely content e.g. Alex Hormozi when FTX crashed:
But Timely content like the news won’t be relevant in 1 month.
Evergreen > trending for a few reasons:
- The long tail of shorts is important. Most videos that pop take a few weeks to get going.
- Anything we create should be as relevant in 2 years as it was in the first 2 days post upload
- Trending content leads to being on the ASAP treadmill, always chasing the next hit
LESSON 3: GREAT ARTISTS STEAL
- Find creator’s whose content you want to make similar stuff to
- Find their best performing pieces of content
- Turn them into Shorts, with your own twist
The main thing to focus on in the beginning is taking anything that’s already viral then repackaging it with better storytelling + editing + your own flair.
Why reinvent the wheel?
Find 10 great shorts creators and dissect why they are successful
Figure out the 80/20 of what’s working for each creator below. Sort by most popular.
- Henry Belcaster - Amazing stories, elite editing. The James Jani of shorts creators.
- Frank Michael Smith. Perfect amateur-by-design. Clean look. Good sounds. Sleek graphics.
- Colin & Samir. Similar vibes as Frank, but their editing is on another level. I also love how they repurpose their pod clips — script a hook then play into the clip.
- Cleo Abram. Good mix of amateur feel + infographics.
- Ryan Trahan. Different vibe but funny storytelling + editing.
- Johnny Harris. Good storytelling to camera. Solid editing. His long forms are great.
- Nick DiGiovanni. Nailed his format. Good hook. Punchy. HD. Loop. Now does longs that crush & sells cook books.
- Mario Perez. Video feels like a concert + documentary.
- Jack Gordon. Punchy storytelling + clean editing.
- Coding with Lewis. Any niche can go viral with pop culture. Solid editing.
LESSON 4: TO GET BETTER AT WRITING, WRITE
Writing Advice from the South Park creators, HERE
Since great artists steal, we want to find juicy stories and distill them down, leaving only the essentials.
The idea + hook + story = everything.
So once we figure out what the most interesting story is from the content we selected, it’s time to assemble the words into this pattern:
Hook: what’s unique and intriguing? Is it a question? Are we showing something? Is it saying something the viewer may not expect?
Setup: set the scene and give the viewer context. Try not to fact bomb, focus on the essence of the story.
Problem: where’s the conflict?
Solution: what’s the interesting solution? How does the story end? How does it help the viewer?
LESSON 5: Create a Binge Bank to play the game on easy mode
Most people create semi-original ideas and tidbits where they synthesize new stories themselves.
This is playing the game on hard mode.
Instead of creating stories, you should be looking for stories that are proven.
Imagine if you found 3-5 libraries of content that you can keep going back to to find already viral stuff in your niche? That’s your Binge Bank.
You find things within your niche that work, save them to your bank of content, and create shorts off of those concepts.
Make a list of links of viral clips, videos, stories, tweets, and blog posts.
Take ANY viral idea you like and tell it in a 60 second short.
LESSON 6: HOW TO SELECT VIDEO IDEAS
<Image attached below>
All ideas get dumped into a Notion database with the following markers:
- Easy story x
- Pop culture x
- Proven viral x
The goal is to select ideas from the list that have all 3 checked off.
LESSON 7: FIND VIRAL FORMATS
Formats work because it makes the hooks easy + we already know they work.
“How COMPANY makes money”
“How INSERT FAMOUS PERSON made their first $1,000,000”
“How INSERT FAMOUS PERSON makes $X”
Find an overwhelming amount of evidence that the format could work.
Then test a bunch of videos and see what performs the best. Triple down on what works.
Lesson 8: PRESENT > PAST
The frame you must break: “here is everything that happened”
Tell the story as it’s unfolding in real time (present tense vs past tense).
You can see how Henry Belcaster tells stories in real time, HERE
Tell the story in the simplest and most economical way. Add dates and context only when it makes sense. No fact bombs.
Purposely leave out pieces of the story to let the viewer figure it out as everything unfolds in front of them.
Keep the shorts around ~200 words.
Lesson 9: QUANTITY < QUALITY
Understand power laws to dominate media.
Video quality:
80% gets you 1,000 views.
100% gets you 1,000,000 views.
All the value is knowing how to go from 80% to 100%.
The last 20% = Hook + Story + Edit (all pieced together).
Most people can’t perfect all 3.
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Drop a comment below with your main takeaway.
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I spent $20k to learn how to go viral
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