How we launched a series with this creator-preneur, helping her
reach big numbers in engagement
What was her problem statement:
Hannah Zhang, is a creator making content around careers, non-linearity and creator-preneurship.
She had 102k Instagram followers and her main platform is Instagram and LinkedIn.
She is an extremely analytical creator, who knows what she is doing. And hence, her content game was absolutely top-notch.
However, her main reason to hire us was to eradicate hand-holding every step of the content making journey. She mentioned, "I am tired of hiring freelancers and it's so annoying to explain every small detail to them, only for them to mess it up in the end"
Our positioning was clear: You give us the raw files and you forget, we take care of the rest.
We initially collaborated with her to offer just the editing package, but we were inspired by her niche and added our concierge add-on for free.
Months later, we ourselves were shocked with the growth she had shown.
The pre-established brief we were given:
We love it when a client is specific about their brand, it reflects that they are extremely serious about their internet presence. Hannah is an ex-Mckinsey and an MBA graduate from The Wharton School, so her image and maintaining her credibility is very important.
She was very sure about the fact that she did not need the 'edit' to stand out but rather her value to come out in the most digestible way for her audience. She is not creating videos for the general
crowd but rather a niche of high-functioning individuals stuck in linear careers.
We took notes:
- no fancy edits, focus on storytelling
- extremely complex topics, which needs to be made into much understandable short content.
- adaptability of edits, based on the content
We got to work.
Our Process:
We did a trial month with her first, trying to understand her brand and audience and what truly resonates with them. Her content felt like a big-sister explaining to someone who is just starting
out.
After studying her content, we made the first video. It hit 2M+ in views and showed a considerable jump in engagement.
Clearly, the messaging was shown in the most deliberate way possible which led to such a high
number in shares.
Now, all of the videos post this did not hit a big number but the average view duration and engagement ratio definitely increased. Which is why the jump from 102k to 190k Instagram followers in 4 months make sense after we collaborated.
As we kept editing for her, we became fans ourselves. We then suggested a concept for a series
that caters to her specific niche and can become a potential IP. She approved it and we began the bandwagon,
All the episodes we did for that series averaged views ranging from 60k to 200k views.
Not massive, but definitely targeted.
The series ended up bringing her community much closer and that led her to conduct multiple seminars and webinars and also a course framework. It was the perfect content-market-fit for her.
We realised to be constantly relevant within algorithms, building a repetitive series is a huge leverage. Most creators avoid this, reason being the age old: unable to meet the execution speed. That's where we come in.
Here's the undisclosed truth about series though - you cannot forever stick to one IP and build your niche on it. You have to evolve.
Currently, we have marked the end for this series, and building another long-run series for her. She's the mastermind, we are the thought partners.
Hannah is now executing faster than ever, the feedback loops are barely there, brand deals are flowing in and complementing the new style and she can finally go on a vacation without worrying about her content.
Something we admit to:
Amidst all the growth building, we learnt something tremendous from Hannah. Its not always about
packaging videos for them to work well. She is not fighting for attention, her content is the north star end of the day. How can you make it appeal to a particular category is the real game.
We never did any flashy animations for her, it was rather extremely straight forward. But things like emphasis, industry visuals, key examples, pacing and research showcase is where it's at.
We love working with creators like this.
Will update more on this, when she hits 500k soon.