Transcription
What would you say is the most important thing for going viral with shorts?
Oh, hook. That would stop people scrolling, and are also the reason that they get to the end. But also the idea. I mean, the hook and the idea are like, literally the exact same thing. If you cannot easily explain the concept in like, less than 10 words, do not make the video.
I'm here with Jenny Hoyos. We're going to be talking about shorts today, and her shorts strategy, and all the things that she's been doing with her channel.
Yeah, amazing. So, I'm Jenny Hoyos, and I can make anything go viral. So, I make challenge and prank videos on YouTube Shorts, and I have over 2 billion views and 5 million subscribers.
So, how do you come up with like, the best ideas that you use on your channel generally?
Yeah, so I originally, I used to come up with ideas by thinking of questions or things that I do on my day-to-day life. I like to think of a lot of primitive things because those are videos that get the most views. And what I mean by that is relatable videos. Not like, "Oh, haha, that's so relatable, funny, I experienced that too." But like, relatable like, "Every human needs water to live. Every human needs food to live." And different things like that. So, I used to come up with a lot of ideas just thinking about like, what are natural things that come on my day-to-day life that I need to live, and how can I make a video around that? So, a lot of viral video ideas can come from that.
But it could be very tough to come up with your own ideas. So, if I'm not thinking in that mindset, I am also looking at outlier videos on YouTube and creating my own twist.
So, what do you think separates like, your best ideas from like, the ideas that you end up, that end up like, not working out as you intended them to?
Complexity. So, the ideas that perform the worst are ideas that need context. So, that's why like, right now, we're trying to make content that requires zero context. In the sense, like, you can understand what's happening in the video just watching it. You don't even have to hear what I'm saying, and you don't even need previous like, knowledge to understand what the video is going to be about. Again, like, things like water, food. I don't need to tell you what water is to know why you need water.
How do you decide like, what format to apply to that idea and like, how to do the video for it?
That's actually a good question, 'cause there are a lot of different ways to approach a video. So, for example, like, we could be doing like, a problem that gets resolved or a question that gets answered. Um, but I would say the easiest way to think of like, the right format, at least for us, is whatever makes the video as real as possible. Because I'm seeing that a lot on YouTube Shorts. Like, a lot of TikTokers, Instagrammers, a lot of content creators are coming onto the platform, and they have a lot of raw and real content. So, we try to think, how can we make this as raw and real as possible? Which is why, even we're not even doing voiceovers at all, like right now. Like, voiceovers are banned, like, on my channel. We're not doing voiceovers. Like, we want to do it as real as possible. And we also try to think like, how could we have the shot happen all in one go? Like, camera's rolling, and I do the entire challenge all in one go. Like, um, me cooking in, uh, in the car. So, basically, the hook was, "Cook faster than fast food." And then I'm ordering a burger as I'm cooking the burger, and we're going through the drive-thru as I'm cooking it. And it all happened in one shot. 'Cause, 'cause I hit the, the camera, and then I, like, as soon as I told the lady, "How you can have a burger?" The challenge started immediately. And the footage is five minutes. It's just like, it's just happening in the moment. It's real. This is actually what's happening. There's zero voiceover. It's just what's happening.
So, do you think that that sort of like, time element of like, you, you're doing, you're kind of like, on the clock, racing against time, you think that's a big element that you're incorporating into videos more and more?
Oh, those are my best videos. Like, the highest performing videos are videos that have a time element. It's actually crazy because my worst performing videos are like, an hour of footage, but my best performing videos are like, five minutes, two minutes. I literally have a video that, like, all we did was trim like, the, the awkward pauses, and the video was like, already like, edited.
Yeah, so within your, your shorts content as well, are there any like, little tricks or like, small little tweaks or like, adjustments that you've been making that have improved the performance, do you think?
Yeah, a small tweak that I kind of lightly touched on was working on segmentation loss. So, on our shorts, we used to have like, a lot of different sections. Like, even in that video, the secret room video, there's a lot of segmentation loss. Or we would be like, going in different scenes or different locations or like, a joke, and then we pause, and then, and then we keep going. And it's like, on shorts, like, those pauses or like, those scenery changes can be like, very hard for the viewer because like, it's a very short video, and it's like, it's pretty hard to comprehend what's going on if there's like, a lot of breaks and pauses. It's like, like, all uncomfortable like, when the shorts moving like that, versus just like, a smooth, seamless like, video throughout the entire thing.
So, in order to avoid the segmentation loss, how do you flow between your scenes to make sure that there's no like, click-off element?
Yeah, so I will say, uh, my editors are absolutely amazing at doing it. 'Cause I would say it's like, very much in post. Because, because we like, don't do voiceover at all, it helps for them to like, be masters at like, making sure the cuts are like, right when they need to be. Also, we only use one song in every video, um, just so it's not like, sometimes people use a song and then they end it, and it's like, to like, emphasize on a joke, and then they keep going, and it's like, "Oh, like, all the energy just died." So, we like to, we like to keep like, all the energy as high as possible. And even like, or when they feel that the energy is slowly dying, they like, have like, a joke right right after or something really funny.
Did you always have editors for your channel, or did you edit your own videos?
Originally, I was like, the only one doing the channel until I hit a million subscribers for sure. So, um, yeah, I was editing all the videos and basically doing everything until a million subscribers.
So, when you're doing your editing, how do you decide what moments to leave in versus to cut out?
Yeah, it is very tough. Actually, no, that's actually very, it's tough, but it's also easy. You should only leave things that progress the video. If it does not get you closer to the end or closer to the answer or the solution, you should cut it out. Sometimes we will leave in things that are somewhat irrelevant if it's funny because the energy is dying down. But even so, we want that funny joke to still have some sort of progression. Like, the joke either has to, um, have progression that gets you there, or it's used to hide, um, sometimes like a CTA. For example, because we do a lot of call to action.
So, so yeah, so for those out there that are doing shorts, or maybe wanting to get into shorts, are there any things you would recommend for people that are learning shorts or kind of doing it as beginners?
Yeah, so I would say, I used to think good shorts were like, long forms and turned into a short 'cause I was like, "Oh, people do these crazy things for long form. If you do that in a short, then it's going to go viral because that means like, you showed like, a lot of energy." And it's, it's funny how like, completely like, wrong that is. A lot of people think like, "Takes hours on a short or like, something crazy." But that's not actually what does well on shorts. Like, what does well on shorts is like, real, raw relatability. Which is why like, I, I record with the phone because people want that like, realness. Um, so I would say like, actually think of like, real cool things that you can do. And it, even if it's not that crazy, um, just like, things that like, that happen in the moment. You want to capture moments for shorts. So, it's almost like, it's, it's funny 'cause people turn long forms into a short, but you almost want to think of it like, as that one funny joke that happened in a long form is the short.
So, for you, in terms of coming up with like, cool things to do in your videos, and real quick, if you want more help taking your skills to the next level as a creator, I just finished completely updating and overhauling our free YouTube Creator Bootcamp, where I'll take you through step-by-step the best way to grow a YouTube channel from zero, even if you've never made videos before or don't know what to create. And in that bootcamp, we go super in-depth, and I also give out a ton of extra free bonuses like a free mini thumbnail course and some extra free training. Send your email again, you can check that out completely for free at the link in the description. And back to the video. What is the thought process for, I guess it's, it kind of asked it earlier, but just in terms of like, a more beginner-focused approach for just coming up with like, the concept of the video? I think that's really like, probably the most challenging thing for people when they're first starting out.
The most important thing is not even like, what you think, 'cause we all have like, different opinions, but rather what others think. So, I like to ask a lot of people what they think. Or sometimes like, I'll tell my mom an idea, and if she laughs, then I'm like, "Okay, that's a good one." But if she's like, "Wait, sorry, I don't get it. I don't understand." No, don't make that video. If someone does not, you cannot easily explain the concept in like, less than 10 words, do not make the video. So, that's, that's the way I think about it. Simplicity, but still intriguing. But the easiest answer is also like, to see like, has someone else blown up doing this video? Like, has someone with like, less than a thousand subscribers gotten over a million views on this video? That means that is like, a complete outlier. You need to make the video.
In terms of like, identifying outliers and and other topics like, so if you, let's say, you find an outlier on YouTube, it's a really viral video from a smaller channel, how would you approach taking that outlier to actually making that into a video yourself?
A really important thing is understanding your branding and what your channel's about. So, for me, it was really easy back then because I would usually just do what's working and do it on a budget. But now, we still kind of do that, um, but we're more focused on like, having character development when doing an idea. So, there's a lot of like, viral concepts that like, for example, could be like, pretty faceless. And then we'll think, "How could we take that viral concept and put character into it?" So, that's how I think of ideas. But it depends on like, what your channel actually is and what your branding is.
Would you ever like, kind of copy ideas or just kind of do things without changing much from the original outlier?
I am very against that. But I will say, we actually tried that for the first time ever last week. Because again, like, I don't want my beliefs to be holding me back from actually succeeding. There was one time we actually experimented with it. But even so, we we still thought of like, "Okay, okay, so this was an outlier. Could we at least at the very least, when we're creating this, like, have brighter colors, a better background, at least like, better visuals?" So, then at least it's different. And that's what we did. But we don't want it to like, look exactly the same. The most important things are either finding a way to do it better or finding a way to do it different. Always do it better or different.
Yeah, we, our thing is like, trying to make videos as high quality as possible. So, let's say you find an outlier and it's like, a really good video, and you don't necessarily know how to make it better, and you don't necessarily know how to make it different either. What would you do in that situation?
Yeah, that's actually a good question. Um, I, I would say, we keep brainstorming until we know how to make it better or just like, a bigger scale or significantly higher quality. I think it would be a good example for you to show, um, because like, we literally for the first time copied a video, like, actually copied it, and it worked out very well for us. Um, and you could show the side-by-side comparison 'cause ours is very visually more appealing. Um, but yeah, anyway, there was a video that got like, in seven days, it got over 100 million views. Use, um, and it was basically a car racing a human where the car went first, and they put a timer, and then afterwards, a human ran to see, and at the end, the human beat the car. But it was like, a very dark, like, visual. It was so busy. It's like, you didn't, it was like, not good visually. The, and then there wasn't like, good contrast between the colors. And we basically just did the exact same video, but with very bright colors. So, if you show the side-by-side comparison, like, the video is one to one, but with very bright colors, um, and a better, like, I guess, visual. So, I think it'd be good to show that.
So, you still didn't just copy them straight up though, you just kind of found found your own ways to do it better as best as you could?
Yeah, as best as we could. That was the first time we ever did it. And and it actually worked. Like, actually copying, um, a video. It's interesting because we talked to so many creators that say like, they get ideas from finding other outliers and other channels. And so it's like, there's certainly going to be a little bit of a gray area of like, sort of copying in some cases. But I think, you know, if you're finding a way to do different, like, finding a new format, applying your own style, or just changing the idea, tweaking, adding a unique element, or just making it better, I think those can all be really great winning strategies. Literally, if it's working, you know, you got to do it. And I'm going to be honest, because like, I, there's a lot of people like, who do interviews or podcasts and be like, "No, I would never copy videos or I never fake videos." And then like, you watch their videos, you're like, "Okay, they just did it." And why do they lie? I'm just going to say, we try not to fake videos. There's some videos that are fake, like the glass ending and the secret room, like when we had my mom at the end. And sometimes we do copy. We try to twist it a little bit. But at the end of the day, a lot of my videos, almost all my videos are like, literally already made. So, at least I'm telling the truth. Like, at least see it. Like, we have a lot of videos that are fake, and we don't, like, we don't lie about it. We're like, kind of upfront. And just as long as you're honest about it, I think it's fine. Like, at the end of the day, like, every single movie, TV show, cinema piece is fake content, basically, right? So, the fact that something is fake doesn't inherently make it not entertaining. It's just like, when you lie about it, like, and you try to be making it seem like it's realistic when it's not. Like, still love watching fake content as long as it's entertaining at the end of the day. Like, us, the most important thing.
So, what would you say like, is the most important thing for going viral with shorts?
Oh, you have to boil it down. I would say it's definitely the hooks. Uh, just to like, go back to what we were talking about at the beginning of this video. Hooks that would stop people scrolling and are also the reason that they get to the end. But also also the idea. I mean, the hook and the idea are like, literally the exact same thing. 'Cause you, the hook is how you frame the idea. All your time should be spent on coming up with the right idea. And if you can't come up with a good hook for it, then maybe you need to twist the idea. But like, those two are the same, and you have to think of them together as you're brainstorming them.
Yeah, absolutely. I think it's really important, especially because the hook is like, the thing that gets people to stop scrolling and actually watch the video. It's like the shorts version of a thumbnail, almost in a lot of ways.
Oh, it is. It is. It is a thumbnail for sure. It's like, that's why our first frame, we try to make it like, as clean and visually appealing as possible. Like, you know, we do an insane amount of Photoshop, Gen Fill, just to like, make sure like, we have like, a singular focal point that people are looking at.
So, with your hooks, how do you think about what to do for the visuals of getting that like, visual appeal for a hook on a short?
Immediate time to action. So, uh, our most performing hook was literally like, me drinking off of like, a boba cup, like this big, you know, breaking a hole in the wall. We recently did a video where I had a bag of chips, and we had like, a big mountain of chips just like, fall on the table. Like, we want like, something shocking, very visual, and big to happen at the start. Something that just grabs attention.
Yeah, yeah. Usually, it's like, stuff that are big. Like, usually things that like, it's like, taking up the, the whole screen. It's like, "Wait, what? How's this even possible?"
Yeah, I think that makes a lot of sense. Like, big, shocking, impressive, just really crazy thing. Ex, almost like a spectacle in a sense, I think works really well for a short hook. That's why like, but again, it comes back to the idea. Like, the hook needs to be crazy, but it can only be as crazy as the idea. So, like, for example, I wrote the name of like, a bunch of my subscribers on my living room wall. Like, like, the actual living room wall. So, then the hook is like, it, it's funny 'cause the hook is like, me writing a name on my living room wall, and the camera's like, panning out, and then you slowly see that one name, and then like, "Oh my goodness, there's hundreds of thousands of names."
How important would you say is it to have that like, really impressive visual element for the, the hook on a short?
It's, it's more important than anything. Visuals are more important than what you're actually saying.
Yeah, so it's like, the most important part of the hook.
It is the most important part. Like, what they're visually seeing. Like, like, I would rather have like, a visual and no talking than have like, just a black screen and talking.
This has been an interview with Jenny. I think it's just actually really outstanding, like, just amazing information. Thank you so much for being here. Uh, anything you want to shout out or just where people find you out?
Yeah, so you can check out my channel, Jenny Hoyos. And if you want to work together, email team@jennyhoyos.com. I'm helping brands, creators, anyone to help grow their channel or or products, brands, anything. I would love to work together.