Is AI Making It So Anyone Can Run Effective TikTok Ads?

0:00I'm Mari Smith, known as the premier Facebook marketing expert, aka queen of Facebook, and this is actually my 14th time because I have been at every single social media marketing world. There is no amount of sophisticated technology that can ever take the place of live, in person, IRL, heart to heart, face to face. You could very well meet some of your best friends, clients, joint venture partners, alliances, have opportunities, podcasts, speaking engagements, it's extraordinary. So come on in for this beautiful in-person experience. Get tickets at socialmediamarketingworld.info

0:37Welcome to the Social Media Marketing Podcast, helping you navigate the social media jungle. And now, here is your host, Michael Stelzner. Hello, hello, hello. Thank you so much for joining me for the Social Media Marketing Podcast brought to you by Social Media Examiner. I'm your host, Michael Stelzer, and this is the podcast for marketers and business owners who want more exposure, more leads, and more sales. Today, Jerry Potter and I are exploring important updates from TikTok with our special guest, Melissa Laurie. Take it away, Jerry. Thanks, Mike. Great to be here. There are some important TikTok changes to discuss, including, are we at the point where a marketer or a business owner with a mind for marketing could run an effective TikTok ads campaign on their own using AI.

1:24Plus today we're going to help marketers who already know TikTok ads speed up your workflow and results with some new AI innovations that they are rolling out. We're very excited to be joined by Melissa Laurie. Melissa is a short form video content expert and founder of Oysterly Media, a video marketing agency that specializes in helping Fortune 500 businesses create highly engaging short form videos. Today, Melissa, Mike, and I are going to explore what these latest updates from TikTok mean for small business marketers and owners like you. Melissa, welcome back to the show. Thank you. It's so good to be here, Mike and Jerry.

1:54Looking forward to the conversation. Yeah, these are some big updates. So let's start with kind of the big overall one. They've launched what they call Agentic Hub, which is a new marketplace of AI-powered advertising tools that help marketers create, manage, analyze, and optimize TikTok ads using AI, so less manual effort. And it's also part of the TikTok for Business MCP, meaning you You can connect AI agents like ChatGPT and Claude and other agents to TikTok ads without requiring API credentials, coding, complex integrations. So all of this is getting easier and easier where you can manage things from ChatGPT and Claude.

2:33They've also said that there are already built AI skills for cam game creation, creative generation and optimization performance analysis. There's one for audience insights for catalog management. And you can also, as an advertiser, build your own custom AI skills and workflows. So I'm so curious about this. Like, are we going to get to the point where you don't even have to open the TikTok ads interface? Like if somebody opened TikTok ads and then connected it to Clutter Chat GPT, what are they going to be able to do there versus needing to go back into TikTok? I think it's a really interesting point about not having to open up TikTok ads manager because TikTok ads manager can be pretty confusing, right?

3:11It's like a plain cockpit where you have so many different buttons and it can be overwhelming. So essentially what the value here is, is that if you can connect, let's say Claude or ChatChipyT, you connect with their NCP and then you can just ask questions about how your campaigns are running, pull reports, and essentially kind of acts like an intern for you where it can help you and you can brainstorm different ideas. So there's a lot of value here. And I think the biggest thing, it really simplifies and makes it more accessible for small and medium business owners. Jerry, let me just explain to people what the heck an MCP is, because a lot of people might be like, what the heck is that, right?

3:54So if you are using AI, and pretty much all marketers are, you're probably using Gemini, or you're probably using ChatGPT, or you're likely using Claude. All of them have, for lack of better words, connectors that allow you to connect into kind of their official ones that were created either by Anthropic or in partnership with Anthropic in the case of Claude. But you're seeing a lot of providers of services and software and all this stuff coming out with what are called MCP. And MCP is kind of a protocol that is designed to allow you to kind of have a two-way communication between the AI and whatever is behind the scenes.

4:37Prior to this, we had to have what was called APIs and you had to hire developers to do all this kind of crazy stuff. So this MCP stuff allows you now to just talk to AI the way you would talk to AI, which is in plain language. And then it will go out and it will get what it needs and come back. And some of the really good ones allow two-way communication and some of them are one way. So some of them are read only, some of them are read and write. So the read and write ones, which are the more sophisticated ones, for example, with our email provider, we have the ability to draft up emails directly using AI instead of going directly into our email provider.

5:12So I think where we're going with this MCP stuff is this simpler, easier way, because everybody agrees that interfacing with AI is generally almost always easier than trying to figure out how to use a tool. So this is kind of a big deal that I think TikTok has this. Yeah, absolutely. And I think just to add on to that, to help the audience visualize, the way that I think about this is like going to a restaurant. So you have a restaurant that's like TikTok ads manager. You have the waiter. So that's essentially your MCP that connects. And then you've got your menu, let's say with Claude or Chat Chippity.

5:48So you can start to ask questions and understand more about the menu. What's on offer? What's any specials? And that's the way that I think about it. We've given a lot of value to Herb is using it, but it's a really big update from TikTok. And I think that really what business owners need to consider is just spending time with understanding how it works and then playing with it as well and getting familiar. Yeah. I love this ability to connect things to Claude and ChatGPT, especially because it gives me the ability to say, all right, explain it to me like I'm five, you know, which the AI tools are really good at doing sometimes if you're trying to do something you haven't done before.

6:30But I guess what I'm curious about, like, I think the best skill in any industry in the world of AI is knowing whether what AI gives you is good or not. So do you feel like the average marketer will be able to do that with these tools, whether they're using it, you know, from Claude or ChatGPT or inside of the agentic part of TikTok? Like, are they going to be able to recognize that stuff if they don't have a lot of TikTok ads experience? Yes and no. You need to understand and have your own thoughts about how the ad campaign is running. So I'll give you an example. Like, let's say that you just launched a new creative a few days ago.

7:08What TikTok generally does is prioritize creative that's been running for longer and it's performing better. so TikTok might say to you that you might want to pause that ad because it's not performing but it's only been running for a few days so you need to be able to have a bit more of your own common sense as well with understanding how campaigns run I know TikTok's got a lot of information that you can upskill but I do believe as you're working with this protocol that you can ask questions and ask, why is that the case? And be curious. And I think that's also a way that you can learn as well.

7:48A couple of thoughts here. The AI skills are going to be the big unlock for people that don't understand what an AI skill is. This is something you can download. And TikTok has developed a bunch of official AI skills. You can just Google TikTok AI skills. And they've got some, for example, ad group optimizer that that's actually not by them, but they've got, they've got one that works with C dance by bite dance, which is their parent company for creating videos. They've got account specific diagnosis co-pilots. They've got all these cool skills. So they've effectively, what they've done is they have trained up a set of instructions that anyone can download and then connect with the Tik TOK ads manager and effectively be operated at a much higher level because these skills operate inside of your AI tool of choice and then they connect via the MCP server.

8:39And I think that's a huge unlock. What do you think, Melissa? Oh, absolutely. And one of my favorite skills that they've created, and there's a lot to look at, so definitely spend some time looking, but there's a skill that I love, which is the viral video creator skill. So TikTok has all this data, like millions of videos are being posted every single day. So you can actually use this skill and look at what are some of the best performing ads. And then you can use that Intel and create your videos off the back of that. So the hook, what should be in the middle of the video, et cetera. But I would say that it probably takes you to about 70%.

9:14And then you just need that human touch to refine. Maybe you want to call out specific benefits or features, but the skills is game changing for people. Yeah. The thing that makes me nervous about this. Like if I, I feel like as of this recording, the last 10 days, I don't know what it is. I feel like I'm correcting all the AI tools a lot, you know, and they say, thank you for pushing back. You're right for pushing back on that. And so, and it's one thing to go, oh, I wasted my time, but it's very different to go, oh my gosh, I wasted all this money on ads. That's the part that kind of makes me nervous.

9:44But like, where do you think this is going, you know, now that TikTok ads will be more accessible to people, what do you think things will look like in a year? Like, will more people be advertising overall, driving ad costs up, or will it be harder for agencies to get clients as businesses can do this on their own? Like, where do you see things headed? We're in an interesting time, right, where there's been so many tools that have flooded the market, right? I do believe it's very overwhelming for SMEs. However, this step forward with TikTok is making it really accessible. You really just need to trade your time to upskill and learn.

10:20I do believe that there will still be a place for marketing agencies. Like I think about this like flying. You've got economy, business class and first class. It still gets you to the destination, right? But some people might just prefer having first class or business class and having an agency manage everything for them. So I do believe that this is a step in the right direction. If you are advertising on TikTok, you should really be looking at this as well because you will create efficiencies in your business. Now, I'm a big fan of automating anything that can be well automated. And one of the things they said was that if you do connect it to an external tool like ChatGPT, you can build custom automations.

10:59So in the TikTok ad space, I mean, what kind of things do you think can be automated in, you know, from campaign creation to management and all of that versus what you should always have your eyes on? Oh, I love this. So you can ask lots of different questions and actually ask what should be automated. but some of the baseline ideas include just doing a daily report and seeing how your campaign is tracking, asking what creative has the strongest hooks, is there creative fatigue? And then beyond that, that's more just campaign management. But if you are setting up a campaign, you could say you've got$5 ,000 to spend.

11:36This is what you want to achieve. How should I set up this campaign? What's your recommendations? And I think, Geri, you touched on a good point a moment ago about But just don't take it as gospel. Ask questions. Hey, what's another way to do this? Or could I be doing this better? Because I do find from my own personal experience as well that sometimes chat, Chappie Tea or call, they agree with you and suggest something. And once you push back, they then change their point of view. So it's worth just using these tools as a bit of a soundboard and be curious. I got a couple of thoughts here too, Jerry and Melissa.

12:10we are at like a real fascinating inflection point for marketers. For the first time ever, we have the major social platforms coming out with skills that you can download and put on whatever AI tool you're using. Okay. And they have connectors that work with whatever AI tool you're using. So historically, the way it used to work is you had to go into their system and use their tools locked into their ecosystem. But now everything is opening up and now you can download their skills and guess what? You can modify their skills. You can copy their skills. You can enhance their skills because skills are just piles.

12:50And then you can layer stuff on top of it because if you're really savvy with AI, you can set up recurring tasks and all these kinds of things. So it's a complete paradigm shift where in the past, it was all about which platform has the best this or the best that. Now it's like everything is opening up and it's allowing us to do things that we could never do before, which I think is really fascinating. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I was surprised to see that TikTok has launched these different skills and I can see a lot of the platforms as well have skills listed in the AI agentic hub like Wix and many others.

13:23So it's essentially like a smorgasbord. So a huge opportunity to go in there and test and see what really works for your business. Yeah. So does that mean in some scenarios, like you might find that Meta's Instagram copywriting skill is better than TikTok's copywriting skill for your business? Yeah. Or you could use TikTok's skill to create your ads on Meta. I mean, you totally could. Yeah. That is a big shift. That is really interesting. So a second ago, Melissa, you mentioned how TikTok has all the data, right? So we were talking about this new agentic hub. And then now, in addition to that, Another one of the tools is Symphony Creative Studio, which is TikTok's AI-powered video generation hub.

14:03And now they have a Symphony agent, which is an AI-powered creative system. And if I'm understanding this right, it uses TikTok trends, top-performing ad signals, business goals, and brand guidelines to help basically develop creative at scale. And I opened it. I've never run an ad on TikTok, but I opened it. And I'm like, oh, this is going to be really intimidating to somebody like me. It's not. It looks like a prop box from any other AI tool. So am I understanding this right, that this tool could actually create ads for you based on current trends, like almost in real time, like same day? Yes, absolutely.

14:36Like as soon as you click create, it will create and take a moment. So it's pretty instant. And I think it's very interesting to see the progression of this tool because Symfony has been around for quite some time for TikTok, but they have been improving in the background. So with this new development, you can now use the tool, you add in your prompts, but there's things like your brand guidelines, adding more details so that you're getting a better output. But I would just add the caveat that you still just need that human touch at the moment just to understand, like, does this ad really connect with your audience?

15:10But again, it's another example of how TikTok is really leveling the playing field, I would almost say, against like bigger brands and smaller brands. Okay, so we're not ready to just say, here's my credit card, make an ad about whatever's trending, mention my product or show my product in the background. We're not quite there yet, is what you're saying. No, unfortunately not. We can't be drinking cocktails on the beach and not working. We still need to be involved in creating the content. Okay. And another part of this too, I mean, it says they can take campaigns from a brief to a finished video, generates product briefs, insights, storyboards, scripts, avatars, and video.

15:48And then the marketer, as you said, can step in and revise scenes, add voiceovers, calls to action, different things like that. So what kind of ads have you seen, you know, creative with Symphony Creative Studio, like using the generative AI? Are there certain types that seem to do well with that? Yes, but I might just take a step back because you listed all these different steps. And I think as you were talking, it's not that easy that you just add in all the details and then this amazing video comes to life. There's still a lot of work with prompting and getting that frame right. Maybe something doesn't look good.

16:20So yes, it might sound easy, but you really are trading time. It's just a different skill with creating these videos. And then in terms of what what is working really well, a lot of product videos. So I met someone that leads marketing for a big furniture company and they don't really need people in the videos that they create. So they're able to create a hundred videos a week, which spotlights a different furniture that they have in their, their stores. And I think that's a really nice example with the lowest hanging fruit with how you could get started. If you do have a product, you can upload the product images and And then TikTok would use that to create the videos.

17:00The last time we had a deeper show about TikTok with this, we talked about one of their generative AI tools where you can say, hey, I want a person who looks like this and I want them to be in the bathroom and all this kind of stuff. And I'm curious what your thoughts are on that from a trust standpoint for advertisers, because it was literally, you know, you could like the example ad TikTok showed was, you know, a young woman saying, hey, my friend just sent me this and you have to check it out. And it's like, you don't have any friends. You're a generated avatar. Yeah. Well, look, I've had a lot of conversations with different brands about this, lots of leading brands, and I don't believe that we're there yet.

17:34A lot of companies are testing the waters with AI. I'm seeing a lot of content that is created that doesn't actually feature people. I wouldn't be going down the path of creating AI videos with people just yet. I don't believe the technology is there. And I think, Geri, you touched on something else just with the integrity, right? With this AI person talking about, all my friends are talking about this. I think you just have to be careful on that point. So what I'm seeing is that a lot of businesses are either using AI to create more product videos, especially in the beauty industry where you're showing the product and the material and how the lip gloss looks, etc.

18:18And beyond that, what I'm seeing with how companies are using AI is if they've created a UGC video and they're actually using AI to enhance it. So one example for us, we work with 3M. We're creating content for a mop that they're releasing. So we have the creator that's showing how to use the mop. And then we're using AI to add in like angry germs and really show that before and after. So those are the two big areas where I'm seeing companies play at the moment. You know, what's fascinating about this is I'm looking at their actual example on their webpage and they say a formal night should feature a night scene like in a bar update the storyboard the voiceover should be formal night and frame one young black woman with voluminous curly hair holds a light blue tiered mini dress she smiles at the camera in a sunlit minimalist studio room and the voiceover this tiered mini dress is going to sell out fast so they're literally creating AI actors in these videos that they're talking about here, which is really fascinating.

19:25And for anybody listening, this is one of those examples where you could do this without having to go with TikTok because what TikTok has is they have C-Dance behind the scenes, which is the leading, one of the leading image video models that's out there, which we'll probably talk about a little bit later. But you can accomplish this very same thing using all sorts of other tools that already exist. But what I like about what they're doing here is effectively, they're allowing you to create something literally out of nothing. So their actual example here is they're creating a fake person with a fake script and a fake product.

20:00So that's actually what they're advocating. What's your reaction to that, Melissa? Yeah, look, I think TikTok always likes to push the boundaries. And I think that it's great that they're sharing this, but I do believe it also comes back to the integrity of the brand. and from speaking with a lot of companies, I don't think companies are there yet. I know a lot of startups are tapping into AI created videos and helping with create a lot of efficiencies with getting a lot of content. I think that it's interesting if you already have videos of yourself and then you're using AI to like duplicate those videos.

20:33I think there's a lot of value there and that's something I'm personally looking at, but I'm unsure about creating people from scratch unless it's like a mascot or a spokesperson for your business and you could have a little bit of fun. But I think it just requires a bit of thought around that. Yeah. It'll be interesting to see where regulations go with that kind of thing too. Because I know here in the United States, I mean, if you have a paid actor that is, you know, acting out a testimonial, even if it's for somebody else, you know, you have to disclose that. Now it may be tiny print at the bottom of the screen, but it still has to be there.

21:07So how much do you, for like either, you know, for your clients, either organically or paid, I mean, is trying to jump on trends still really, really effective? And because I'm wondering if all of a sudden everybody can jump on trends, thanks to AI, does it lose its effectiveness? Or is this like right now, is this the best way to get a higher return on your ad spend? The way that I think about these platforms, right, whether it's like TikTok or Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, they're powerful platforms where people are spending their time. Yes, it's great to hop on trends. And if the trend aligns to your business or your product, yes, absolutely right.

21:43You need to be in the moment with your marketing. But I do think about these platforms, it's a journey, right? You need to be constantly creating content. And there's a lot of research that's coming out, especially in the States where more and more people are now using these platforms like the new television, especially YouTube as well. So I think it's actually like a huge opportunity for companies just to take a step back and think about this system that they're using to create content and how they're looking at like what's performing and having a strong feedback loop. And then yes, absolutely.

22:18If there's trends you can hop on that makes sense for your business, then definitely do that because in the moment, marketing is a way to connect with a new audience as well. Hi, my name is Mandy Hedrick and I'm here at Social Media marketing world my first time attending social media marketing world and I had won my ticket and so I attended online and the impact it had in what I could do for my business immediately it was my goal as a business owner to be able to earmark the dollars this is my second time in person so I just love being in a room full of people that are like-minded it's a big investment but I'm not just investing in myself, but I'm also investing in my clients.

23:01And I will be coming back every single year. I'm already ready to buy my next ticket and book my hotel room. Get tickets at socialmediamarketingworld.info. So you mentioned that, you know, one of the best things you can do is to keep testing new creative. I'm curious because every time an AI tool comes out and gets adopted, the floor of quality for everything goes up, right? And I don't think this is happening this month, right? A year from now, my guess is that a large number of people buying ads on TikTok still won't be using the skills or some of the, you know, generative video. But what else can marketers do to stay a level above wherever the new higher floor ends up other than just testing lots of new creative?

23:42It's a good point. And I believe you need to understand what makes a high performing video as a marketer, right? And yeah, so it's not about the first three seconds. I'm sorry, we need to scratch that. It's about the first frame. And if you think about how someone scrolls on social media, and I do this a lot when I'm on the, when I'm going to work, if I'm on the bus or train, I look around and people are scrolling fast. And to add onto that, a brand isn't competing just with their direct competitors, right? You're competing with every other video on the feed, big influencers, KOLs, et cetera, right?

24:19And these, these big influencers like Mr. Beast and, and all the rest, they've got big media teams behind them, right? So we're always thinking, why would someone stop and watch your video? So think about the first frame. That could be, that's essentially the first like image of your video that someone sees. And then you think about what I call the billboard text. That's that big text on the screen. I call it the billboard text because imagine that you're driving down the freeway or highway. You have a moment to like look up and see a big billboard. It's like the same with scrolling on social media.

24:55You have a moment to read that text. So it needs to grab the viewer's attention. So beyond that, then you think about what is, if there's a voiceover or someone talking, what are those first few words? And then what we think about at Oysterly Media is the glue. What connects the start to the middle? You need to have something there that connects. Then you essentially have the middle of the video. If you're sharing tips, we recommend either three or five tips. Three is a nice number. And then finally, you have that call to action and you want to ensure that it's a really sharp ending. What I mean by this, you want to sharp endings to the video loop so people don't know it's about to end.

25:37Often people make the mistake where they start to slow down and talk slower in the video. You know, like you and I spoke previously, Jerry about YouTube videos. You want to have that crisp cut so that the algorithm knows that people are watching your video till the end. So they're just a few things with understanding like how a video is created. That's one part. And then the next part is how the video is edited. And that's like a whole nother beast. So one of the things that came out of some of these updates with AI and generative video with C-Dance and everything is that now you can create longer clips than you could before.

26:15And personally, I primarily create long form content on YouTube. So I'm curious, like how long is a TikTok ads these days? I mean, are they 15 seconds or are some longer? What do you generally see working the best? Yeah, look, it depends. I am often asked how long a video should be on TikTok by many of the clients that we work with. But essentially, I really believe that it comes down to value. Like if your video is interesting and it's giving value, people will stick around to watch. Even if you think about these micro dramas, right? They've taken the world by storm. A lot of these micro dramas are a minute long, right?

26:52And if you think about that in TikTok language, that seems long, right? But people stay on and watch. I do believe that it's good to have different texture to the length of videos. So you might have some that are 10 seconds long, maybe some 30 seconds, but really just think about the value you're giving. So the start of the video, the first frame, what's happening there. And the next thing you need to think about is retention tactics. And happy to share more on that. But that's how we think about creating videos for our clients. So where we are right now, I'm very curious about this. Do you think that it's more important for a brand to have like a polished, recognizable, consistent look?

27:36Or do you think right now we're in an era where ads or videos that were made look like they were made by a customer or an employee are much more effective? Yeah, the later, like, if it looks authentic, I think what we preach at our company is that we want to create videos that seem like you're watching from a family member or a friend. So I was watching a video that came up my For You page, and it was a young guy in his 20s, and he was selling hair product. And the way that he was talking about this hair product, it was an ad, but it seemed like you're watching a video from a friend and he was talking about the challenge he had with getting volume.

28:15And he was just talking outside. There was like a bus going past and other traffic on the road. And it seemed really natural. And so I think the challenge for marketers is that you need to loosen the reins a bit. Polish videos or stage videos, they're out. And the real value is this authentic, I know authentic gets thrown around a lot, but just really authentic or natural content. And that's where you're going to see the best results. All right. So what I'm hearing you say is that even if it can make your ad look like a Hollywood film, it's better to make it look like the woman in her bathroom is talking about your product or one of your actual customers.

28:57Yeah, absolutely. Otherwise, people will just scroll past. And I think that's a very interesting point because a lot of brands are struggling with this. Like if you have a look at some of the big luxury brands like Tiffany & Co, etc., they've started to be more active on TikTok, but they're struggling with this sort of polished style. So it's going to really be interesting to see how these more premium brands adapt to what consumers expect. Okay. So that brings me to something else I want to ask you about. another one of these AI updates. So TikTok has Content Suite, which is a tool where brands can find people posting about them.

29:34And now it's added AI search. So now a marketer can go in, describe their creative requirements and automatically narrow large libraries of brand related creator videos just to the relevant recommendations that they want for that. So is this a big upgrade from the like how searched worked before in Content Suite? Was it awful before? Yeah, so essentially Content Suite, think of it like a library with all different videos, UGC style videos and ads, etc. So now what really the value is that you can go in and it's just easier to search. So one of the big challenges that a lot of people have when they're creating content for TikTok is coming up with new ideas.

30:14It can be like staring at a blank piece of paper. So with this new update, it's just easy for you to go on and look for your product or your competitor products and understand what you should be creating content on. It really just helps with that ideation. Okay. And if someone's never used like Content Suite, like what's the, like you just go in and search for the name of your company to start or? Yeah, absolutely. You can search for different key terms. You can search for different categories like industries. So let's say airline or beauty. and then you can also filter via time. So it could be like the last 30 days, et cetera.

30:51So it's pretty handy. You can also search via objective. So if it's for sales or legion or brand awareness, but what I found really effective is just looking at the different categories and you can see what brands, whether you filter via your specific country or you can just look globally, but you can see the different creative that's being posted on TikTok, which is a huge benefit. Yeah, so not just looking for your own brand, but looking for other people in your industry. Like even if you don't have brand mentions, it sounds like it's a really powerful tool and AI would be a big upgrade if we think about like how many blog posts you had to click through six years ago to get an answer sometimes.

31:30And now it's like, here's the answer. It's very similar to Facebook Ads Library as well. So you can go onto Facebook Ads Library and see what type of content that brands are running. Obviously, this TikTok update is a lot more easier to use. I mean, I think they've updated the Facebook ads library for many, many years, but it's similar, right? It's just giving you insight into what's running at the moment. And you can use this actually for competitor research as well, which could be really beneficial for business owners. Melissa, I have a couple of questions. I confess that I am a newbie on TikTok.

32:08I've only opened up my TikTok account probably in the last month. Oh, why? And I mean, you know, it's just taken me a while because I'm now creating short form videos. You mentioned earlier that sometimes the best performing content is the stuff that's raw and transparent and authentic. And, you know, there's this big thing that's been going on on Instagram called the Yap Challenge, which you probably have heard about, right? Yes. Which is just talking direct to camera and being raw and authentic. Does that kind of content also perform well over on TikTok? I'm just curious what your thoughts are because so much of what I've seen across the platforms is highly polished.

32:45You know, lots of jump cuts, lots of edits. And I'm just curious whether there's a trend that's not just in ads, but organic to just be real, raw, authentic and transparent. What's your reaction to that? It's an interesting point because even though a video looks raw and authentic, when you understand like a lot of the editing styles, they're still being edited in a certain way, right? So if you are talking to camera and doing the app trend, one of the biggest tips I can share with the audience is like, just don't speak directly to camera. You want to be doing something. So maybe you're picking up your water bottle and having a drink.

33:25I'm sure you've seen all the videos with people doing their makeup and getting ready. So why does this work? Well, it just feels a little bit more natural and more inviting rather than just speaking direct to camera. So yes, I believe that there's a lot of opportunity. I think that those videos do work really well, the raw style. But even when you are watching them, sometimes they do have a lot of clips involved or slight jump cuts as well. And that essentially sends a message to the brain that something interesting is happening here and encourages people to keep watching as well. I love that suggestion of doing something.

34:03Now, it's hard for some people, myself included, but I remember there was this woman, I think it was Lawyer Page, and she would just basically answer legal questions while she put on her makeup. And it was the power of not only answering questions, but then also putting on makeup as a transformation, right? Like there's a before and after. And so that, I mean, she blew up so fast with that format, but I, I've, I, a couple of years ago, I was like, I'm going to start doing things in my short form video and beyond pouring a diet Coke into a Tumblr. I just couldn't come up with anything. But, but I think, I think the psychology is it's like, I didn't sit down to make this video that I hope you'll watch.

34:39It's like, Hey, I want to mention this really quick. I want to just, you know, Hey, real quick, I'm on my way out the door. I feel like adding those little signals almost makes the content feel more casual, even if you intentionally, you know, put that in there. Do you think there's something to that, Melissa? Yes, absolutely. And I think to add onto that, also adding subtitles as well, because if you think about a raw video, that's like no editing, nothing's done. So you want to edit the video lightly where you set the start and end. So it's a really clear start. You still need to be thinking about how you start the video.

35:13Maybe it's like, so I get this question a lot. And then you say the question like something, something like that, that brings in the viewer as well. And then adding subtitles so that people can follow along. A lot of people do scroll on these platforms with the audio off. I'm guilty of that as well. So just make it easy for the viewer to follow along and read what your video is about and follow what you're saying. You know, it's really, I guess, unfortunate that we have to do all these things. You know what I mean? because it just makes it incrementally more complicated for a lot of people, right?

35:49Who want to do something. Because then all of a sudden, okay, they got to practice walking through a door or they got to practice getting into a car. You know what I mean? And if it doesn't, they got to do it again and again. Then they got to pick the best cut and edit it. It's a lot of work. It is. It is, yeah. And all of a sudden, we're now almost like becoming actors, if you will, right? Because everybody knows that's not real. You just didn't happen to have a camera as you were walking through that front door. You thought the whole thing through, right? And it is an interesting thing. And I guess those that are skilled enough that know how to actually move and talk and do all this kind of stuff have an unfair advantage, do they not?

36:29Yes and no. But I do think like if we think about marketing 20 or 30 years ago, these platforms didn't exist. And really, you'd be investing in like a print ad or it really depends on like where your shop frontage is, right? so that you've got traffic, people walking past on the street. So yes, it can be a little bit challenging, but it's just a huge opportunity for us as business owners. And I do believe that it's leveled the playing field. Just look at what's happened in the beauty industry where you've had like Estee Lauder and L 'Oreal. There's so many new beauty brands that are popping up that are small, medium-sized businesses that are competing with these really big players.

37:08So I just believe that there's a huge opportunity, but it is like going to the gym. You need to just get the reps in and you will get better and stronger and be able to turn around videos quicker. And Mike, I think for anyone who hasn't seen it, Mike has been posting these videos and it's like thoughts from the porch and you're not on a set, right? You're on your actual front porch, I assume. I didn't ask you, but. Oh no, I legitimately am. Yeah. Yeah, I'm introducing props now, you know what I mean? Because I know that if I have something on the screen, like this morning I recorded one with a lock, you know what I mean?

37:39And adding a little something to it, But, and I have done some on the move. The challenge with being on the move, as y 'all know, is that like, especially because I'm trying to do these unscripted, you got, it requires a lot of different aspects of your brain. You know what I mean? Like if you're not scripted, it does open up a whole fascinating, like, it takes me back to the live streaming days, Jerry. I don't know if you ever live streamed, but the idea that you're moving, like I used to live stream every day while I was hiking and I would have branches smack me in the face. I would have bugs flying in my mouth.

38:10You know, all that stuff actually makes for great short form content now. But it does require, like you said, Melissa, the development of skill. And eventually, the more you do it, the easier it is to do it, which is why the younger generation is so darn good at this. Right. Because they've been doing this ever since they were little kids. Yeah, I think it's a really good point. And I think it just goes back to what we spoke about with understanding the structure of a high performing video. So I would say that, yes, raw and unfiltered, but you still need to know how to have that opening hook as well to bring in the viewer.

38:43So I think that's really important. I do believe that even if you want to do these raw videos, you can just write down what the topics are that you want to talk about and the key points you want to land because often what can happen is that it can end up like waffle. So you still need to think about how you're landing your points in a crisp way. And I do this on my own TikTok as well, when I'm sharing updates as well. Like I always think about that start, the glue, and then the points that I want to share. Yeah. For those that are watching on YouTube, I actually do start with the story and then I get a whole script together.

39:18I have my hook, you know what I mean? Like I didn't know it was possible, you know, and then blah, blah, blah. You know what I mean? And I run a practice run and then I do an actual run. But it's more like I know my story because I'm telling a story. I think storytelling really matters. Do you agree with short form video? Yes, yes. Like people want to be taken on a story and a journey, be told something as well. I think also like a big tip that I might share with the audience as well is that a mistake that a lot of people make is that they give the reveal straight away. So you want to be able to sort of hold attention and then give the reveal maybe mid or to the end of the video.

39:57So what I mean by this, let's say that Instagram did a really big update. So you might say like Instagram did a really big update. This is going to change this, this and this. It means that da, da, da, da, da. And then finally you would reveal, you know, the update is this. It doesn't have to be for every single video, but just think about that because I see that a lot of people give away the so what or the answer. And then why would someone stick around and keep watching? So all of these new AI tools that are rolling out to TikTok, If somebody is listening right now and they have never spent a penny on TikTok ads, do you feel like it's accessible now?

40:32And like, what's the first thing you would tell them to do? Yes. I mean, look, the fact that they haven't spent any money on TikTok ads, TikTok is not the cheapest platform. You still need to hit the minimum, the minimum spend. But I do believe that this is a step in the right direction. So if you are running meta ads already, then it's an easier transition that you can start testing on TikTok as well. My big recommendation here is that I'm sure in the show notes that you'll have the links to the different platforms. Have a cup of coffee or a tea and sit down and just read and get an understanding of these new updates as well.

41:11Probably the best starting point is also just to have a look at the content suite and see what other videos are being created for your industry just to help that expand that creative thinking. Melissa, this has been a fantastic conversation, really helpful. Thank you for joining us today. If people want to explore working with you, where do you want to send them? Yeah, absolutely. They can go to my LinkedIn, Melissa Laurie, and reach out to me there, or they could go visit our website, Oysterly Media. And what's your handle on TikTok? The Melissa Laurie. So you can go check out my videos there as well.

41:44Melissa and Jerry, Thank you so much for being on the show today. And folks, if you missed anything, we took all the notes for you over at socialmediaexaminer.com slash 734. If you're new to the show, be sure to follow us on whatever platform you're listening on. And if you've been a listener for a little while, we would love a review. Do check out my other show, the AI Explored podcast. This brings us to the end of the social media marketing podcast. I'm your host, Michael Stelzner. I was joined by my co-host, Jerry Potter. I'll be back with you next week. I hope you make the best out of your day and may your marketing keep evolving.

42:14The Social Media Marketing Podcast is a production of Social Media Examiner.

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