Jenny Hoyos shorts get 11M views… here’s her playbook

I just want to begin this week by reminding you that, right now, this minute, there is someone super hard at work creating a social community where humans and AI’s can frolick, connect, and commune without necessarily even knowing who’s real and who… well…😳

My goal with this newsletter is to help you take advantage of a massive blue-sky video opportunity: TikTok style video on LinkedIn. Week by week, I’m showing you how to build a content engine that makes your video content feel like it appears… spontaneously.

If you create content (or want to), but aren’t awesome at video yet, this newsletter is for you. If you’re happy being part of the 98.5% of LinkedIn users that don’t create any content… this probably isn’t for you.

This week

Since all of us here are cranking up the short-form vertical for the LinkedIn audience, I thought it would be a good idea to look at who is killing it in shorts. And for that, we don’t have to look any further than Jenny Hoyos.

Here she is in action:

Jenny is a 19 year old Youtube Shorts creator. This video has 45M views🔥  She’s also super scientific about her approach to story structure, and super generous in sharing her methods in interviews, on podcasts.

I decided to listen to all her best interviews and distill her method into an easy to read, business-creator friendly step-by-step pdf, which you can download here:

I started playing around with Jenny’s method, and I totally love it. Her videos are geared towards kids and she takes a very narrative storytelling approach. She takes us along on an experience she’s having, which naturally engages the audience.

I know, I know… “Adam, business content is idea driven - straight to camera, how does this relate?”

But that’s exactly where the magic is!

Jenny is playing in a totally different niche, and to a totally different audience. And what she is doing is working.

So try it.

Challenge yourself to apply her model to your own content. Where it doesn’t fit, think about why, about how you can take the principles she applies, and make them work for you.

That’s what I did and I’m totally pumped about the results.

Here’s a script I filmed last week:

I am giving you advice on what to do, rather than telling you what I did. If I personalize it, I instantly make it a story, and I give you the opportunity to connect to me.

Let’s try to set the table for that by applying Jenny’s hook strategy:

I want my videos to feel more spontaneous, so I tried these unspontaneous things.

Boom, I like that so much better. I’m telling you a story about what I did. I added personal stories and a power(ish) word, and I already had juxtaposition (spontaneous/unspontaneous)

I have an ending - “watch your content”… Can I do some foreshadowing around that in my hook?

Yeah, I think I can:

I want my videos to feel more spontaneous, so I tried these unspontaneous things. And the last one you can do right away.

Ok, now for the meat of the story. I’ve got good progression (five things), and I can personalize them to match the hook, which will make them way better.

But there’s something else I can add from Jenny’s playbook: problem/solution storytelling. Right now, I’m just listing solutions, I’m not explaining what it fixes.

Instead of:

Number one have a content calendar, schedule your content in advance.

Number two time box your week. Corden off time to create content, and also to package content.

Let’s try:

I feel like I am always playing catch up, so first I created a content calendar where I schedule all my content in advance. But I still ended up working on content over the weekend.

So I started time-boxing. I set aside time for writing, recording, and packaging.

I am liking this so much better. It feels more personal, more dynamic, and I think this type of storytelling will really stand out in the business creator space.

Take Action

But we shall see, because this week’s challenge is to Hoyos-ize a video. Use the blueprint provided here to either upgrade a short (like I’m doing) or create a new one. Then publish it and see how it does.

I’ve already published the first video on LinkedIn. I’m going to publish the second this week. You should do the same, and let’s meet back here next week with our results.

Til then…

be spontaneous

Best, AE