Brands suck at content. Where we might once have been sucked in by brands’ socials, we are now more likely to swipe away if we feel we’re being sold to. So, at a time when individual creators demand and hold our attention, what’s the opportunity for brands on social media?
Mahad Aamir and Ian Saunders met at university, both went into tech — one as a product designer, the other as a founder — before finding a passion for content. Mahad became a travel creator and Ian started a football focused show. “We would share ideas and feedback with each other and push the other to try new stuff: from trending audios to different content styles. We got into the data of content and started A/B testing videos on our platforms,” says Mahad.
Ultimately, they realised they’d developed a deep understanding of what it takes to make good content — from both a virality and a storytelling perspective. So they started Jollyfish, an agency focused on developing short form shows for brands.
“Content moved from reality TV to YouTube shows like Hot Ones and Chicken Shop Date. Now, shows are on short form media like YouTube Shorts, TikTok and Instagram. Great examples are How much do you pay for rent in NYC? or Meet Cutes or Six degrees of separation,” says Ian. As a brand, this is the space that the pair believe you need to be playing in.
In our Startup Life newsletter, Mahad and Ian shared their top tips for developing your own show for socials.
Understand who you are — and where you sit in the market
You first need to understand your goals. Is it brand awareness, relationship building or community creation — or is it just hard sales?
Then you need to understand your audience, your niche and your brand image. For example, a lot of posts we see currently on socials is just brain rot content that follows trends so that it will end up on people’s feeds. But, if you’re an up-market or luxury brand like Rolex, a cat dancing isn’t going to attract the right people to you and it’s going to cheapen the brand’s image. Your content needs to align with your values.
Don’t reinvent the wheel
Trying to do something new every single week isn’t going to work. You want to be known for something specific. You want to have:
- A predictable, episodic format
- A consistent schedule
- A regular host
You want to integrate your product but not shill it. For example, if you’re a lemonade company, you might create a lemonade stand on the streets and give out free lemonade in return for words of wisdom. It’s fun, your product is front and centre and you’ve created value around it. You’re also fitting into a format people know and enjoy consuming.
Focus on building relationships with your audience
Not on hi-fi editing, sound, building sets, costumes, famous people etc. You’re overcomplicating it. People want authenticity and realism. This is how you earn their attention. Write a good script, get out your phone and some cheap mics to begin with and get filming.
Provide value
Content is saturated. Having an AI avatar talk about how great your product is is a waste of time, money and data. To survive as a brand right now, you need to have content but it needs to provide value for people to want to watch. What is value? You either have to entertain or educate your audience. You have to be anti brain rot.
Don’t have 45 marketing people involved in the process
Think of your content like a startup. You need to be able to move quickly. Create quick feedback loops, iterate and post again. This might be hard in a risk averse environment where there are many key stakeholders and goal ticking exercises. To make it easier, create a separate social channel just for this new show. It’s less risky for the main brand, you can continue with your day to day socials with the current team set up and you can shut it down if it all blows up. We recommend this sub brand building to all of our clients.
To keep things speedy, give the task to one or two people — they might even be your hosts of the show.
Don’t rule yourself out if you’re a B2B company
It’s not like B2B business owners aren’t on socials! Powerful algorithms will ensure your content reaches the right audiences. Forget obsessing over view counts; even if you only get 100-1,000 views, they could all be from decision makers engaging with you. That’s far more valuable than vanity metrics. You will no longer need to pay for ads if you’ve got great organic outreach.
Focus on creating compelling, relatable content that shows a deep understanding of the challenges business owners and operators face and how your solutions can address them. The bar for B2B content is so low that simply showing up consistently already puts you ahead of the competition. Take A.Y. McDonald, for example — a company you’ve probably never heard of. Its niche animated videos explaining how specific pipes and fittings work for water and gas have racked up hundreds of thousands of views. It’s proof that even highly specialised industries can thrive on social media with the right approach. People love learning!
Don’t forget to tell your story
It doesn’t matter what industry you operate in or the product you sell, running a startup is interesting. People want to see the inside, finding clients, the ups and downs… if you’re in a traditionally ‘“boring’” space like accounting, even better – these things have rarely been documented. So film it on your phone, write it , talk it — put your story out there. Even if it doesn't turn into anything, you have a log of your process and your story. If it blows up and helps you get clients, that's just a bonus.
It’s not just TikTok
Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, Substack video and LinkedIn are all platforms you can explore.
On the subject of... content creation
How Gen Z is changing the content game. Ian, one of this week’s How To experts, told me that “most companies that say that they're building for Gen Z are just building content that is entertaining and engaging. Other generations benefit from high standards and content getting to the point quickly.
How to go viral on social media. An excellent panel chat with Timothy Armoo, an exited founder we’ve interviewed before.
How does TikTok’s algorithm work?
From the Sifted archives:
How to create authentic user-generated content.
