Ep 173: Elvis Kruze
DEEP DIVE in Tiktok & short-form video: tactics & lessons from 1bn views, algorithms, metrics that matter, amateur mistakes, workflows, equipment
Elvis Kruze is the founder of eksplodemedia.com - a content creation strategy and execution agency. Elvis has helped his clients get over 1Bn views in the past 2 years on social media. He is working with famous YouTubers such as Mike Thurston and his agency specializes in helping brands, influencers & entrepreneurs produce consistent short form content to grow organically.
On this episode we talk about:
How Short Form Video is Taking Over Social Media
Content Creation Strategies to Elevate Your Reach
How is AI Impacting Content Creation Today and in the Future
Why Being Authentic is the Key to Success in Content Creation
Practical Tips on Sourcing and Executing Content Ideas
The Most Common Mistakes in Social Media Marketing
We are on YouTube and Linkedin as well
Watch select full-length episodes on our YouTube channel > https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCP6ueaLnjS-CQfrMCm2EoTA
Connect with us on Linkedin > https://www.linkedin.com/company/pursuit-of-scrappiness/
Read the full episode transcript below
Janis (00:05.154)
Hello friends, we're back with another episode of Pursuit Scrappiness Podcast. Whether you're building a business, running a team or just starting out in your career, we're here to bring you scrappy and actionable insights to help you become more productive. My name is JΔnis Zeps as always, with me today here, Mr. Uldis TΔraudkalns as well, hey.
Uldis (00:24.56)
Hi, hi.
Janis (00:26.19)
Before we start, quick reminder, follow us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Helps more than you know. In exchange to that, you'll find over 170 episodes already covering all sorts of topics you need to become scrappier and better version of yourself in life and business. There's plenty to explore if this is your first episode. All topics are almost all are evergreen, so you can listen to them today or in a year or in a week. Plus, by following us, you will be the first one to know when a new episode comes out every Tuesday. Open your Spotify or Apple Podcasts app and click the follow.
subscribe button please. And exciting news by the way, it's not like we're asking too many things of you I hope but we are on YouTube now. Look for pursuit of scrappiness on YouTube and you can also watch the video full -length episodes conversations. We know a lot of you like to do that so we decided to go for it as well. Check us out on YouTube as well. And funny enough the video is gonna be a big topic for today's episode as well. Regardless of your business niche if you ask
around what's the hot thing in social media, what should I do to get attention from my audience, what's the format that people respond to. The answer you will very likely receive is short form video. A silver bullet almost address all your business challenges, just create a short form video, upload it, go viral, grow your business organically, right? I mean, we all know it sounds better than it works. It needs a bit more effort and today we are here to unpack
Maybe give you some details of how you can start and learn from real professionals. mean, everyone can film and upload content these days, creation, distribution, it's virtually free, but you might have really not get the attention you hope for. I mean, our attention overall is limited, many brands influence us competing for it. So it's clear that the competition is quite high. Those of you who tried building your business or personal brand, you know that. Very soon you start to ask questions like, how do algorithms work on these platforms?
What should I post? When should I post? How often should I post? Can I copy just other TikTokers, YouTubers, and will I get the reach? In order to answer all these questions today, we have someone whose bread and butter is exactly short form video content creation for platforms such as YouTube and TikTok, and topreneur who has helped his clients get over 1 billion views in past two years on social media. He's working with
Janis (02:47.052)
Also famous YouTuber such as Mike Thurston and he runs an agency that specializes in helping brands, influencers, entrepreneurs to produce consistent short form content that can grow organically. We're happy to welcome Elvis Kruze with us today. Hey.
Elvis Kruze (03:02.553)
Hey guys, yeah, nice to have me here today.
Janis (03:07.481)
Yeah, Elvis is a founder of Eksplode Media Agency and basically today we thought of diving into this topic of social media content and video and for brands and a lot of you I know in business world, entrepreneurs, VCs, you want to build your personal brand also on social media. So let's see what it takes to do from someone who has done it successfully.
To warm up, actually wanted to ask, like there was one stat I heard and I'm not able to quote it entirely, but I'm sure it's actually the big things are true. That 19 or 80 % of content that you saw today on TikTok, LinkedIn or whatever has been produced in like last 24 hours. So like this content cycle is just so, so fast. Do you find it as well? Do you find it believable working in the industry and overall, like is there a...
upper limit of content production we can reach. mean, what's the industry like these days?
Elvis Kruze (04:04.993)
Yeah, that's an interesting stat. I, to be honest, haven't paid attention to.
But I would say it could be true, seeing that, especially today if you look at it, more more creators are blowing up and going viral with being as authentic and as themselves as they can be. And that means picking up the phone, picking up the camera, saying something to it and uploading it.
We had this boom of this over edited, over designed pretty content where we are sitting here and there's animations here, there and it's full of distractions.
And for some time it worked, it got people views, know, it put you in a state of authority like, wow, how can he edit such high quality content with all of these animations and everything? And it was just as an authority thing. People watched you because, you have editors who you pay a lot of money for it. But then it happened that, you know, a lot of people started to do that style. And it wasn't, it started to look
cheap and right now what I see if the stat is about today then I see the more and more people as well as our clients are moving on to this raw style of the less editing the better you know so the more you can focus on the person and what he's what is his message then all of these technical distractions the better you know so I would say that stat could be right
Elvis Kruze (05:48.154)
To answer to your next question, where is the limit of posting? I think we have just started to like even open this question. I think there's no limits. I think and I'm sure of that we are just starting, you know, it's not it's not the question also for regular people that are opening eyes, but also like people who have, you know,
made a mate who have been laughing about social media all the other people old heads I would say are seeing okay this is really important part of our business we need to implement it you know because we cannot just run paid ads or use our other marketing sources like paid organic content is really I would say the future because it's slowly building your brand paid advertisement is slowly killing your brand because you're pumping pumping more and more money into it
So.
Janis (06:42.295)
Yeah, I it's just, I think it just gets tougher and tougher to compete. Obviously production gets easier and easier, even like we've been doing podcasts, I think three, four years now when we started there, you you had to cut those clips. There were already tools that are putting on those elements, I think. I think like this Gary Wee some six years ago started this loading bar and social media. Everybody now then use the loading bar and the captions and everything.
But, then last year with AI you have tools like Opus, we, well, we have mentioned a few times that they don't pay us, but it's a good tool. mean, you upload a big long video and it gives you some clips and this creation kind of becomes easier. But on the other hand, just, no, no everyone can do it. you get, you know, the social media must be flooded with 10 times more content maybe than it used to be in a few years ago. Yeah.
Elvis Kruze (07:42.635)
Yeah, you know.
Janis (07:42.997)
As a creator, do you see it as a, how to put it, like a threat, meaning that now everyone can do something or you see it like, that's fine because good content will always break through and the real pros will always out -compete.
Elvis Kruze (07:52.809)
and
Elvis Kruze (08:00.409)
Yeah, that's a great question and of course I have many opinions on it and discussions about it. And yeah, I see, I don't see, to be honest, I don't see it as a threat. I see more as a tool because if a person goes in and think, you know, I can be lazy, I can use the...
artificial intelligence for my content and think that people on the internet and people with the phones in their hands are fools and they will not see the difference between real creator and artificial intelligence and they're just wasting their time. I think, you know, as artificial intelligence will get better, the social media apps will get better to noticing.
like the fake content I would say and they will compete each other. Of course there will be times that will be some loopholes then artificial content some kind of idea or something new will pop off but soon again you know social media like Instagram other platforms have found a way kind of like to decrease the views on it. The most challenging thing is that it can get so good
that for the algorithms it's hard to see is that a real person or not. That I think could be a threat, but like I said, you
I think at the of day we'll win the person inside in front of camera because artificial intelligence will and is replacing a lot of jobs and lot of roles right now and it's helping tremendously in our daily life already and I think it's just going to be all right hand in next few years but I think still what was going to be missing and what we will crave as humans and right now why the editing style is so raw and people want to see the raw people want to see emotions is that the that they want us that connection
Elvis Kruze (09:54.274)
with the real person and they will somehow, we will somehow notice is this a real person or this is an artificial intelligence created person. So big question, I have no clear answer to it, but I say we will, the smartest people will use it as their helping hand, you know, and also the smartest people will, you know, differentiate what is what. So that's my opinion right now.
Uldis (10:21.2)
It's not just about fakes and what's real and what's not. I think it's the sheer output that you can have, know, the honest -mentioned tool. I think it would take me less than an hour to upload, spit out and schedule like 20 videos on TikTok for the next week or for the next day or so.
Janis (10:21.52)
No.
Uldis (10:49.752)
I think it just underlines how much more important it is to master the art of actually getting noticed because the capacity, the amounts that can be produced and posted are just now, I mean, the barriers of entry have reduced massively. It doesn't take almost any effort.
Elvis Kruze (11:11.776)
Yeah, I mean it's that part of question of for example you create you know unique content you know for example it's a podcast and you have those short clips that you can distribute automatically not even checking what part of the podcast is taken out. That is a great tool yeah but then again you have to then look and analyze is that really the best part of the content and if it's not then really you're putting out a lot of
useless and a lot of spammy content with your face and with your voice on it. So have to look really analytically like what that tool is putting out. So like you know we will touch maybe a bit later in the conversation like what makes a great video but today like really the messaging and the value in it is the most important metric and thing.
Janis (12:03.216)
100 % and we've also kind of experimented and tried and you know one learning is like if you don't put any thought in it and you know the outcome will not really be like it's very unlikely that you will you'll get anything out of it. Let's say there's an entrepreneur wants to build his or her personal brand and thinks like okay I phone I could film a few minutes or a minute or 30 seconds talking about some topic or
Elvis Kruze (12:23.154)
you
Janis (12:32.847)
And I was just interested, like you as a professional, how do you even approach the whole process of starting from ideation and planning and just understanding, producing something that you think will be good? It's not 100 % guaranteed to know this, but for someone who's just starting and who's not a professional, maybe you can give us an insight in your workflow, how you approach this.
Elvis Kruze (12:59.695)
Yeah, so first of all, when we work with people, we are really great listeners. We ask a lot of questions. We try to get as much information as we can. So how it works, you know, there's different people. have people we help that are really busy and they don't want to spend too much effort in the content. They just want something what works. What is their niche?
And for example, we could meet with them and get in one day like a month's worth of content in one day, one half day. Some people are a bit more critical about themselves and they want, you know, maybe have content days, couple of days a week or maybe create something every day. So it really depends on you. like what I would say to like a beginner, like what we do is we try to understand your personality and your interests and what you want to be known for in like five to 10 years.
When we know that, then we take...
similar people like you on the internet which is already are Successful I would say and we are not copying but we are just checking what worked them for for them because there's a lot of niches, you know, we work with and then we come up with strategy which is that is your personality that is you and that is what is working already there and Then you know that is kind of like starting point where to move people which direction and they got this get this dopamine of like something is working out and I'm
I'm getting then then he naturally founds topics himself and naturally comes up with ideas and it's a lot easier but for beginner I would say do not copy and paste but just you know steal a little bit of ideas steal a bit you know don't invent a new bicycle in this age there's a lot of great creators that are really similar to you that are really similar values to you and don't be afraid it just takes a little bit of inspiration you know like good artists also takes inspiration you know like
Janis (14:59.212)
Yeah, mean researching exactly. It's almost like a bit of homework you need to do. Are there any tools how you can, based on keywords or based on interests, can find similar people or you just go into search and TikTok and YouTube and go from there?
Elvis Kruze (14:59.286)
That's the same as content.
Elvis Kruze (15:22.58)
Yeah, so a good tip I can give you, which I think I'll also share it on my social sometimes is if you don't have really anything, don't know what is working. You also don't want to spend time of like...
putting out content you know you're not confident about or you don't know what to work so you can go on TikTok and there's a search search search bar and think talk is really good for actually Instagram is now on the same page I would say but TikTok was before Instagram really good at the SEO search engine optimization so basically the tip is like that for example you are interested in fitness
you write in the search bar fitness tips and then on the filter you choose the most liked and in last seven days and basically you have all the videos from the creators who have posted their videos who have went viral in the last seven days which means you have proven concept that that idea works that people are interested people are saving people are commenting and look what they're commenting you know
And second of all, it's trendy because it lasts seven days. So I think still to this day, it is the best tool because you can research yourself, you can look for ideas yourself, know, like, like, like ways you can go. There's so many ways you can go these days. And but the biggest thing is the biggest thing is at the of the day, you have to find something from your expertise. You went through life to get out in the world. You cannot.
Janis (16:54.221)
Yeah.
Elvis Kruze (17:03.3)
completely and I'll copy someone if you want to be long -term in this game.
Janis (17:08.974)
Yeah, it's like this, you need to find this to Venn diagram where your knowledge, actually your, also your interest, because if you're putting in years in it, you kind of, you you need to be passionate about it. Knowledge interest and demand kind of overlaps, maybe even more factors. But yeah, I was just thinking in terms of what you, when you see brands putting something out, which could be a tricky question because bad content actually doesn't even reach none of us.
to see like some kind of failures. in case you have, especially from entrepreneurs or businesses, so we discussed that you need to do some research, we discussed that you need to also be knowledgeable about topic. Other, I know, mistakes, you have noticed that someone who's not a pro in social media, but is pro in his industry, but doesn't really get the pulse of social media might make.
Elvis Kruze (17:39.704)
you
Elvis Kruze (17:59.448)
Hmm. Yeah, like if we talk about you mentioned brands specifically like you know there's a business that wants to grow on social media get more customers and make more money. Right now like a lot of those brands and serious brands have opened their eyes. Like that's no question about it but like smaller brands smaller business I would say they make
I have occasionally like conversations with these smaller brands that they make the mistake of not zooming out and not understanding how the sale is happening. Sale is happening not someone is interested to look at your picture of your product but person to person. People buy from people. That has been like business 101 from day one. So they make a mistake thinking you know at least if I'm gonna post something and be consistent
It will work and I see an Instagram page of their products, know, just a bottle of skincare product or something like that and just like they don't zoom out to think like why would someone care of your brand? You know, why? You know, and the mistake is they either are too afraid to be in the content themselves, to be the face of their brand, to build trust with the potential customer.
Or if they are like serious business owner, like a bigger business owner, they have to attract teams and people. For example, what the trend right now is to bring in influencers on your brand that they are the face of your brand. They are making dynamic videos showing how they're using your brand. Now we see it all the time. And the mistake is that people, you know, just not zoom out, not look at what their competition is doing and, you know, and they're, you know...
trying to make these sales, know, and pushing all this money into advertisement thinking, you know, like this is the better option. Like short -term it is, you will get the short -term sales, but if you really, I think, think long -term about your organic brand, then, you know, you just have a launch, have a launch, new product launch, it just, so it sells out eventually.
Janis (20:11.289)
Yeah, because look, the sale is like a long process and in some industries very long, but like you have different stages and I, you know, and not maybe I'm not correct academically how to break it down, but like you have, I know the consideration discovery phase and, and at some point when you're really comparing already and like very far down the decision funnel, when you're comparing exact products and maybe the product picture can actually work, but on
Until you even get there, that's the part where this human, I guess, is important. And you mentioned either it's your face as a founder or somebody from your company or even companies hire influencers. It sounds like almost the only way how you can humanly do it because are there even examples where people respond to a non -personal entity, a brand page or something like that? I don't know, it almost sounds like only way.
Elvis Kruze (21:09.74)
Yeah, like those business owners don't understand that you, that people are giving their attention, their time, which is the most valuable thing. And if you treat them like nothing, you know, like, you know, I'm going to post this picture of my skincare bottle or whatever. And just delusional to think that you're going to win this way.
So it needs to have even the biggest big brands in our home country, LATI, all the opening guys, know, like every influencer is with them. And at least, okay, people know it's an ad or influencer is there to like promote a product. Then at least they get it in an entertaining way. At least they get something out of it. They're like, you know, it's a great brand, you know, there. And also what I would add, I just understood,
Like you have a chance to show the world what your brand is about. For example, you are really serious or you are really about your product like serious, then you show that you're a serious brand and maybe you attract more serious people. You have an influencer yourself or know, bubbly, you're jumping around, you know, showing life isn't...
have to be taken too serious, then people see your brand as that. And you can really change perspective how people see your brand. And if it's just product pictures, it's just thinking the illusion that you're gonna sell like that, then there's really no trust and it's hard to sell.
Janis (22:41.805)
Another thing I thought of actually, if I'm mistaken, how much the production quality in this matters. You kind of started mentioning it about being raw and natural and what I've heard from other people who maybe are thinking about creating and very often they are discussing how to buy the most expensive microphone for podcasting or like a super fancy camera before even they've recorded a video.
How much does that play? Like equipment? is like a minimum must have and what is overkill?
Elvis Kruze (23:18.005)
Yeah, what I think is for someone who's at the stage want to do content but they're stuck with this thing that you know I don't have equipment you know excuses yeah
My personal story was I also did not start creating content because I had like high standards for myself and I said to myself when I get the camera then I will start doing tic -tacs, know short film content and I procrastinated like when I was young and then I finally bought the camera and and then okay, you know Like this is the moment, you know, are you a man or you know?
swear on here and yeah and I look back at those videos I had like DSLR like professional camera like I saved up I bought it and I look back at those videos and they're not even better than like an iPhone footage like less but I didn't have a microphone I didn't know how the settings work I showed it on auto mode you know some videographers will hear like be and laugh
So you really need an iPhone, really these days. You really need an iPhone. Make sure you just...
you are in the space where is light, there light on your face. Make sure the audio is great. On new iPhones the audio usually is great, but you can use headphones or you can use external mic which is under 100 euros or you want a bit better quality a bit above. But really if you want to start with the thought that you don't have a camera holds you back, it's just an excuse. A lot of creators what I mentioned before all those tips I said, all like...
Elvis Kruze (24:56.684)
like a big chunk of them are still creating content on their iPhones, you know, really. And for people, you know, say, okay, I have an iPhone with a really old one. So what should I do? Should I buy a camera or should I buy the newest iPhone? Buy the newest iPhone.
Really. Like cameras are using, okay we are using cameras in our work. It's still, it is the best, you know, it cranks out the best quality because that is our specialization, that's what we do. But if you want just to get out there, newest iPhones have crazy, crazy cameras. They are equipped crazy with crazy cameras and settings and yeah, will encourage everyone who's listening to this. Forget about it, forget about this question. Just go in, take your iPhone out and create.
Janis (25:40.674)
Yeah, or Galaxy phone. Anyway, new phones. I'm also like, I I like taking photos, for example, and I bought this camera a few years ago and I never carry it. I just shoot everything with iPhone because in the end, the quality is almost the same and it's always with you.
Elvis Kruze (25:59.662)
I can show one thing actually it's in my background standing right now I can just show it it's gonna be on YouTube right as well I can show one one thing which has revolutionized a little bit content creation I will show you
Uldis (26:06.927)
Yep.
Janis (26:12.344)
Yeah.
Elvis Kruze (26:19.777)
This thing looks like something police would use to beat people but this is a DJ Osmo Pocket 3. you can see the gimbal is moving. Basically, this is a vlogging camera that can also be used to shoot reels like portrait mode. And the great thing about this is it's really compact.
Janis (26:22.561)
What is it?
Uldis (26:24.42)
you
Janis (26:35.255)
Yeah.
Elvis Kruze (26:47.635)
You just flip the screen and you start to record videos. You can vlog with this because I'm showing this for some people who are into vlogging, into YouTube. And the big problem was, you know, that first of all, iPhones are still clumsy because you have to turn the screen. And the big cameras, you know, you have to get it out, then turn it on and it's like you already forgot what you want to say. Here I put it in my pocket. I was on my skiing trip and I put it on my pocket, flip the screen and it starts to record. And 4K quality.
Janis (26:57.049)
Mm -hmm.
Elvis Kruze (27:19.508)
and and yeah you can put as big memory cards you want it's not an ad for DJI is something I just discovered and a lot of a lot of creators like all of our pro creators we would have a million YouTube subscribers are using this thing right now and this costs around like 500 euros something like that 600 this I would suggest
Janis (27:39.779)
Yeah, mean, you see how, yeah, exactly. mean, like if you, there are options basically, even iPhone or Samsung phone or whatever you like, Google just announced a new phone with a really good camera. No excuses anymore.
Elvis Kruze (27:45.66)
Ha!
Elvis Kruze (27:58.811)
Well I can say anything about Android phones to be honest. Kind of the iPhone side a little bit.
Janis (28:05.326)
Another thing that people, a lot of them think about is algorithms. And a lot of times when you say, I didn't get any views, probably algorithm is to blame. How much in video algorithms, how big role it plays, and are there any tricks? Because they change almost like every half year, or post then, post in the night, post in the morning. Anything you have learned that actually works with appeasing the...
algorithm gods.
Elvis Kruze (28:35.947)
Yeah, I love this question, you know. I have a great answer to this. forget about the algorithm, you are the algorithm. You as a person. Like, I can't tell you because I don't work in Facebook or Instagram or Google. I can tell you like technically what's happening in there because a lot of times in our work, it just doesn't make sense. Like the algorithm just make sense.
They like Modi, like as a woman can be sometimes, you know. They really push what they want to push, be pushed. But I would say the biggest chance for you to like cheat the algorithm is to understand that you have to provide video you want to see on your feed. Like if, you know, like you have to again zoom out and create content you would like to see and you see value in it.
Janis (29:22.637)
Hmm.
Elvis Kruze (29:29.558)
Don't create content just for content creation. Say you can think, one day I'll blow up. Every video is a new story, every video is a new opportunity, so treat it as like that. And be the figure you want to see on your feet. And with that habit, you will not have to worry about the algorithm. Because I will say to this,
There is not a cure or tip on how to cheat it. Of course there is some technical things, you know, we could talk about hooks, we could talk about how to get people in, but really you can cheat it. Sometimes it favors you, sometimes it tests you. What we notice also for our creators is that we have a good strategy in place, we start to post videos.
And for two weeks we have great results like we are turning the page over and then it plummets. And what creator thinks at that moment is, it's not working anymore. We need to change it up or it's not working anymore. While they're it up, they of course start to stop posting.
and they're freezing their account again. And then again, they start to post a new idea, again plummets. just what we have noticed is that algorithms are testing you if you're gonna be consistent creator or you're gonna be one of those snowflakes which are coming up and know, showing up and then, you know, ghosting, ghosting you. They kind of see if you're gonna be consistent even if you don't give you reviews and then they put you back on the horse.
So the answer to this is consistency and just really putting out content you want to be remembered for. And also about, you know, people are feeling sad about not getting views. Imagine, okay, one video gets you like 10 ,000 views or 100k views. Amazing, right? Like dopamine hits and everything. And the next one, I don't know, hits 100 views. But still imagine that...
Janis (30:58.518)
That's very interesting.
Elvis Kruze (31:21.682)
If your message was genuine, put value that that message was seen by 100 people. Real 100 people. Put 100 people in one room, you will see how big of an impact, how big of a reach it had. So really don't be discouraged, be consistent. And one extra tip I will add to this is people who are discouraged by the views and everything. If you haven't made at least 100 videos, 100 reels.
then don't even look at the views, at followers, at analytics. Get in the habit to create 100 videos because then you will learn all the necessary things you need to kind cheat the algorithm. You will understand, you will adjust. But sometimes as well I would say like a personal trainer people choose. Sometimes people come work with us or with other company to give them guidance, give them strategy.
shortcut that way. Now we can give all the tools to shortcut that way to like those views, you know. So, yeah, just consistency,
Janis (32:25.294)
I mean, like, that's the thing with, of course, you you guys are professionals and there's just limited insights you can capture in like, I 40 -minute conversation. And I guess, you know, a lot of people will experiment and start and hopefully some also reach out because, it's such a... The learning thing is interesting. Like, I was also wanted to ask about this. When you build a product, you know, you launch something, you gather data, you iterate, test.
For me at least always it seemed like a bit more understandable how to do it, whatever. If you're selling something online, you have funnel conversions and a lot of data points where you can see like you change one element, another element. How do you approach this for videos? Like how do you even learn? Like you said, example, views would be great to have a lot of them, but if not, was it the content? Was it the unlucky timing? Was it algorithm? Any kind of tips on how to?
become better over time.
Elvis Kruze (33:27.776)
Yeah, great question as well. in everything you want to scale or improve, you have to check for data, for analytics. And the same thing is for videos. Also, like to get back to the last question, how to trick the algorithm is that you could follow data. So for example, like every video you can see after some time when it has run for a couple of days, you can see the data of like watch time.
watch time and the retention rate. And what we focus on, and why really we sometimes you hear the work hook or how the video ends, CTAs, call to actions, you have to be really smart with it because the most important metric is the watch time. It's not the likes, it's not the comments, it's the person sticks from the start till the end to your video. And if you mess up the hook, if the hook is, you know, you're sitting there and you have...
Video starts and you're like Hello guys, my name is Elvis and in today's short form video, gonna you know, you already lost Done. You already have to jump in the in what you're gonna say, you know, and also and also the ending Yeah, you said what you needed to say and you start, know telling about
Uldis (34:32.46)
you
Elvis Kruze (34:45.736)
If you like this video, please, please like, comment something and also in my bio there's this and that also like 5, 7, 10 seconds. And people already like our super computers, they already sense that you're gonna promote something. And that leaves you to like, if you had opportunity, had 100 % watch time, that leaves you to 80%. Yeah, and ultimately you, it hinders your gains, hinders your gains of reach.
Because we want to make videos that people watch from start till the end and hopefully they didn't catch it as well and they have a loop and they watch it again. And if you crack that, that is the best thing I would say, that is the best analytic because we see in analytics the percentage of the watch time till what second, which second they stopped, majority stopped watching. And we look at that place and we then implement some changes that needs to be done. That is the most important thing.
Janis (35:41.564)
That's a good point, because I mean, like sometimes, I guess the beginning, most of people who are at least somewhat serious about social media should understand, like the beginning is important, post first line of text or video first few seconds, ending as well, actually, that I kind of didn't maybe know before, like in that detail, as you mentioned, that's a good insight.
Uldis (36:01.856)
Can you explain why do you want that people didn't fully understand and watch it again?
Elvis Kruze (36:07.906)
You
Elvis Kruze (36:12.5)
There's small tricks. What I mean is not in a bad way, in a good way that short from content is the name short for me. Sometimes people want to explain too much in one short. And that means that people are taking already a lot from the short and they already got bored and they leave. But you want to keep in one short one main idea.
Or know there's three quick tips or there's five quick tips but quick quick ones yeah and sometimes you you don't want to you know expand video for too long like I said because they cannot leave if you leave if you leave it shorter and maybe you you don't put all the details out
like everything you're just saying, like you open the book, say everything, and they will watch again trying to catch that idea again. So that will boost. And that is really working good. For example, if you have a podcast, you know, or a YouTube channel, and if you're really interested for longer version of this story, they will go to your long -form content. Yeah, so the idea was...
not to like trick people, not to understand. You have to be clear in your messaging, you have to give value. But I've seen people also with our clients that we have, know, hey man, we just have to re -film it because you just made the short three, four, five minutes long. Yeah, we need to cut it down a little bit. Yeah.
Uldis (37:37.424)
Are there any golden rules for length? 30 seconds, 90 seconds, 60 seconds... What does it depend on?
Elvis Kruze (37:49.055)
Yeah, good question. Also wanted to add to what I said lastly, also some videos on short form like also works like three, four or five minutes long, especially TikTok we see we have noticed some longer form of content, which is doing great. But it really depends on if that's like a, if it's a good story, if a person is really good story, storyteller that will work. If person is not a good storyteller and he's, you know, giving you tips.
or methods how to improve your work whatever you're doing, for example fitness influencer. better stick with one main idea, one main tip. For example, if you're talking about how to grow your biceps, then just talk about how to grow your biceps. Don't touch the triceps, shoulders, because people will watch who's interested in biceps and they will just leave. And what again that hinders your watch time. So if you can...
share your message in 30 seconds and make it valuable, do it. If it takes you 60 seconds, do it. But then from analytics you will see, okay, I talked about biceps for a minute and people are leaving in 30 seconds. In 30 seconds, Mark, they're leaving. So maybe I need to shorten it down a little bit. So there's no golden rule. Everyone is different. Everyone's storytelling is different and everyone's charisma is different to attract a viewer.
Janis (39:11.404)
Yeah, I think you already almost answered one of the questions I thought of asking as well, like for personal brand creators who want to grow, how they should measure it from one of the things I heard. Obviously, you want, know, if you're a business, you want to be selling or if you're a person that depends on networking, want, know, somebody will write to you, you will see results or you won't see them. But, you know, that's one way of measuring it. But then in the short
Uldis (39:36.142)
You will see something.
Janis (39:39.39)
But in short term, then at least, you know, can focus on retention rate of your videos and just really drill into those metrics. What would you say about follower numbers or things like that? Is that important or?
Elvis Kruze (39:57.147)
Yeah, it depends on your goal. For a person who's trying to sell, for example, like if you talk business here, you have like about followers. If you're not doing business on social media, then it's just for your ego to have as much followers as you have because it doesn't matter. If you can't sell the audience, it's worthless.
We have noticed with the multiple people in the industry that people with 5 ,000 followers can make more money than people with 200 ,000 followers. Like literally I've seen this many times. The followers are not as important. Important is the quality of the follower. So if your content is all over the place, or for example, we have this one instance that one of our clients was on a popular TV show in England.
and he got a bunch of followers. His niche is fitness. He's a fitness coach, not Mike, but other one. Ultimately you think, there's all guys, they're going to buy his programs. No, he attracted a lot of female audience, a lot of women that liked his looks.
And really his 1 million audience is not as valuable as someone who has specifically done content and has 5 ,000, 10 ,000 followers who specifically, for example, helps fitness coaches to make more money online or someone who shares content creator tips. Then you can create, you know, like a high ticket offer who doesn't know high ticket, you know, is like over...
and lower ticket one is like you you sell like programs or you sell like PDF something you know like under $100 something like that so if we talk about business it's really the quality of the followers and also for some business who are watching and trying to figure out which influencer to hire is really have to watch engagement okay he maybe have 100 ,000 followers
Elvis Kruze (41:52.232)
But what is the percentage of the followers who are actually liking, who are actually commenting on it? Because there's a lot of dead profiles out there and you can't watch the follower account at all. And especially I would add this, on Instagram is a bit more important than on TikTok. Because how Instagram algorithm works is they push your content first to your followers. If they engage, they like what you posted, then they push you out to explore page.
TikTok works a bit different. TikTok pushes you out to everyone and a little bit, just a little bit to your followers which is kind of weird you know so but that is also you know that is really good for TikTok why a lot of people blowed up like previous years because you were pushed out to explore page they just competed at Instagram and they won in those years and Instagram yeah just pushed out your followers
But right now, especially TikTok followers is not important at all because someone has gained 1 million followers. I just met this one influencer, one TikTok meetup here in Dubai. It was interesting really because he has like 1 million TikTok followers but his recent videos don't even get 10 ,000 views.
What is happening here? Why he's pushed down? It really comes down to are you living with the time and are you implementing and are you doing new content? So what worked two years ago doesn't work today. And also the same thing I mentioned, if you are content creator, whose habit is to create content, you will adapt and you will enjoy the process, it's not going to be overwhelming for you. So followers don't count, the quality of them counts.
Janis (43:36.632)
Hmm.
Yeah, very good points. And now we talked about very pragmatic and measurable things. And what about like, you you've seen a lot of creators in YouTube. Is there anything like, I don't know, what makes the 1 % or stand out? Like, is it like, I don't know, charisma or they're just super relevant in that time? A few times you also mentioned that it's like last seven days recently. What worked two years ago doesn't work, like super important as well. Is it like, just get the trends?
they are likable, anything, something like, what makes them stand out.
Elvis Kruze (44:17.165)
Yeah, you know what I'm about to say, it's really hard to describe, but I believe everyone has this. But it's our mission to find it. It's that each and every individual is X factor. Yeah, so, you know, we have noticed, you know, like there is a person who's like handsome or beautiful, you know, they get a lot of attention because of their looks. And there are people...
who for example are not as attractive visual -wise, but they can bring out emotion of the audience, they can be funny, they can be charismatic. But what connects all of those people is being themselves.
Taking out what are you about? Like your interests and if you feel like that you want to talk like Gary, like swear words, know, say F word here and there, then talk. Don't hold yourself back because people will sense it. And just be yourself. If you're a quieter person but you see, this guy is really loud and funny and my content isn't working because I'm not like that.
And no, I've seen many, even my friend, who also this year blowed up also from Latvia, Christop skuka and shout out to him. Also my brother who lives here in Dubai. He's really, really quiet. He's really peaceful person. That's how he creates content and the people who likes that kind of...
peaceful style that doesn't like too much dramatic things happening that wants to learn quietly, peacefully. You will attract those people. And we come back also to the quality follower. If you're gonna fake that image was working for someone else to be you, then you will attract followers who will not later buy into you because, okay, this guy changed, like, why he was this dynamic, funny, attractive, and now he's, like, quiet and depressive or whatever, yeah.
Uldis (46:16.729)
and ugly.
Elvis Kruze (46:17.778)
So I would say that the X -Factor really like, and what I also see for all those guys and girls who have made it, they have this, I would say, they're a bit sick in the head that they believe themselves so much. They don't care about anyone who's saying anything. And that is really important because if you have that, then consistency will come. Because a lot of people, know, like,
Not right now, not as much, but previously they're so afraid. They're so afraid to post content. And my number one tip would be, I also had this conversation, I was talking to this young creator, it like how to get over the fear of posting. There's gonna be my friends, my family. It's really simple, imagine that in front of camera, also you guys, yeah, we are...
We are talking, three together, but realistically we are talking with the camera in an empty room. And if this message reach, if it will reach, if this message reach people, it's not like they're sitting in one big room and watching and laughing, pointing fingers at you. They're really personal. They're watching on their phone, one versus one. And if you're treated like you're talking with a friend, then you lose the fear of that.
I think eventually because a lot of people see the story views on your Instagram, you know, there's a lot of people, what did I just post, you know? And a lot of people saw it, but really it's so personal and be genuine and you will not be ashamed of yourself.
Janis (47:54.83)
Yeah, 100%. And from just, yeah, from yourself, like last few years been of course crazy in terms of development and AI and tools and productivity. We're also interested in learning about like, you know, successful people, their routines and productivity, any kind of tools in your direct space or whatnot that you have discovered in last few years, like maybe AI based or not, that have boosted your own personal productivity and helping you to do more in less time.
Elvis Kruze (48:25.709)
Yeah, so
I'm not gonna geek out completely on this. I'll share one tool like which is cliche, but I think all of you using me as well and I'm coming real close with it. It's becoming real my right hand is ChatGPT. Of course, for all the content, the research ideas, you can ask them crazy prompts. Now I'm surprised how good it gets. Really, I think for everyone should tap into more of this, but use it in a good way. Yeah, that actually use your own expertise
together with that. Because for example, you can write in here, know, give me top 10 content ideas which worked, you know, in 2000, like, I don't know, just give a prompt, you know, give me like working content ideas for fitness niche. And if you're just purely gonna copy it without adding something from you, it's also not gonna work, you know. So you have to give your expertise with that. And if you learn actually on web, you can learn a lot tips, a lot of tips how to create really, really good prompts.
and really get the most out of it. In terms of other tools, currently I don't have like this one winner in my head that, yeah, this is the future, is so we can depend on it 100%. Like there are a lot of tools, but still there's some things they need to improve. It's not as good, it's not cutting as good, the quality is not as good. And also in my team, how we operate.
more of like the brain operation, not as technical with them. So we, of course, we meet, we talk, we discuss new ways how to do it, but I give my team full freedom on using tools in their work. If there's a new tool that can help you edit faster, more effective, then share it, do it, and the tools come, you know, like mushrooms after rain, you know, like there's... And just I see it as a good thing.
Janis (50:24.416)
It's a bit of a... It's a gold rush and a lot of people want to make money from selling shovels and pickaxes, so... Makes sense.
Elvis Kruze (50:26.222)
Yeah.
Elvis Kruze (50:30.317)
Yeah, there's a lot of those tools coming out. We just have to wait. We're gonna crystallize and be the top winners.
Janis (50:38.37)
Mm
Yeah, no, no, and a good point about prompting that I think a lot of people still use ChatGPD as like a bit of more advanced Google and you ask one question, you get an, it's like the same as Google would give me almost, but when you get into it, prompting and teaching, man, it can save, it's not about saving time, it can make you more knowledgeable, effective, turning out.
Elvis Kruze (51:03.822)
More effective. Yeah. Yeah.
Uldis (51:04.376)
a scrappy and better version of yourself.
Janis (51:08.76)
How do people find you if they decide it's not enough for them to try, they want some professional help? How do they find you?
Uldis (51:09.196)
in life and in business.
Elvis Kruze (51:28.654)
Yeah, thank you guys as well. First of all, I love the name of the podcast. Pursuit of Scrapiness, That's great, great, great. You can find me on all platforms, really. There's no other way. Elvis Cruze. Latvians would know Elvis Cruze. Outside of Latvia, Elvis Cruze. Also my media company, Explode. Explode Media. And yeah.
Janis (51:36.834)
Yeah.
Uldis (51:56.528)
It's also a good name, Explode Media. That's a great name.
Elvis Kruze (51:56.654)
You can reach out and ask me any questions. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, it's you know, it's what we do. In a good way.
Janis (52:07.374)
Yeah, very good. No, no, it's nice and thanks for super, super insightful conversation. I will put your link in also show notes. Listeners, thank you for bearing with us for another episode. We hope we rewarded you with content that you can use. Go out, don't be afraid, post. Don't post like a machine, but also learn from it. I think you have more than enough to start and if not enough, Elvis is there on social media too.
to support your business or your personal ambitions. If you wanna grow your ego with million followers, why not? Who knows? All right.
Uldis (52:45.614)
And the first step is to subscribe to our feed on Spotify, Apple podcasts and on YouTube. Go check us out on YouTube. You can see finally what we look like.
Janis (52:55.352)
Yeah.
Janis (52:58.754)
All right, thank you guys. See you next Tuesday, bye.
Uldis (53:01.242)
Alright, bye.
Please note that the transcript text is AI-generated. We apologize for any potential errors or inaccuracies. Thank you for your understanding.
