Hello Builders,

Today, we got:

🎬 A breakdown of how product expert Oren John blew up to 277k followers in less than a year (and what you can apply to your own videos)

📰 2 Pieces of Important YouTube News

🛠️ Moar Popular Tools

Let’s begin…

Meet Oren John.

Oren is a multi-decade CPG & physical product leader. He posts short videos about consumer goods, products & brand design.

This has netted him 156k on Instagram & 121.3k on TikTok and over 16.2k email subscribers.

Why did he blow up? What can you apply to your own video content? Why is he overflowing with drip?

Let’s break it down.

1. Strategy

The core reason Oren has blown up on Instagram is he created his own niche.

Before him, nobody was making relatable short content about physical products, suppliers and consumer trends.

So, he decided to make 3-4 videos per week to fill that gap in the market. He took a well known format, applied his unique expertise & stayed consistent.

orenmeetsworld

View more on Instagram

The other key aspect: He lives immersed in brands & creative products.

Oren’s online presence is just an extension of who he is as a person.

If you’re wanting to grow a brand for real, be sure it’s aligned with something meaningful to you. Something you have real skin in the game with. This will naturally keep you consistent vs. forcing something.

2. Editing

Anyone can apply Oren’s effective editing style.

Let’s break this down into 2 categories: attention & retention.

Attention

When you scroll onto his page, you notice his clear thumbnails. 

Nothing fancy, but they all have a clear title for what the video is about. Easy to find, easy to share & most importantly enticing to click.

When you click through, Oren hits you with a strong but simple hook. Hooks are essential to confirming to the viewer they clicked on the right video. Plus, it should entice them to keep them watching like he does with:

“This is the framework for modern brand media success, and the tool I use to manage it”

“If you’re a brand, this is how you start smart for influencer marketing”

“You asked for it — low order quantity manufacturers for athletic wear”

Retention

To start, he doesn’t use generic “Hormozi captions.” Instead he follows the 2 best practices we discussed last newsletter: native captions & branded captions.

Next, you’ll notice every sentence comes with a new visual. This is a super easy way to retain viewers across the full length of the video.

On top of that, he’s always moving. He swaps places from left to right. He speaks with his hands. He’s constantly retaining your focus through movement.

Lastly, Oren uses the “green screen” feature of CapCut to maximize images in most of the frame. You don’t need to edit in TikTok to access that sweet effect.

3. Network

You know whats better than money? The power of friendship.

No but seriously, this whole internet brand marketing content growth creation thingy is a lot better when you’re doing it with friends.

He got his friend Colin Landforce to start taking over the golf niche & he runs a newsletter with Clayton Chambers (I recommend you follow both).

When creating content, share it with your friends. Inspire (bully) them to start their own brand and do the same.

You’ll get:

• accountability

• people “in the arena” to bounce ideas off of

• collaboration potential (blow each other up)

Are Shorts ruining YouTube?

What this is: High level YouTube management staff think Shorts is ruining YouTube’s revenue model.

Why this matters: While Shorts are never going away, this might spark a real change in how they are prioritized by YouTube’s algorithm. This also signals potential change in how regular YouTube content is monetized.

Shorts Thumbnails are here!

What is this: For select creators, you can now put fully customizable thumbnails on your YT shorts

Why does it matter: Optimizing thumbnails & Titles are the 2 most impactful ways to increase CTR on YouTube. By extending this feature to shorts, it will now be easier to get attract viewers!

If you have anything interesting to share, send us a DM on Twitter: @tigerjvideo & @videobuildersio