Read Time: 1 min 45 secs
Hey — Ryan To here.
In today’s edition we’ll be covering:
The 3-step formula to creating world-class brand content
Actionable strategies that brands can learn from creators
+ Real-life examples that are winning right now
Have you noticed how certain brands feel impossible to ignore?
the ones that dominate your feed…
steal attention without trying…
and somehow make content that feels more like entertainment than advertising?
Meanwhile other brands with bigger budgets, bigger teams, and bigger plans, can barely crack 10,000 organic views
The truth is:
The brands winning the attention game aren’t relying on luck, trends, or viral moments
They’ve mastered three fundamentals every creator already knows:
Tone → Format → World
It’s the strategy that @judysfamilycafe, @bkcoffeeshop and @hotboxpretzels have mastered to make brand content that makes viewers obsessed
Here’s how it works:
Set Your Tone
Most brand content falls flat because of one reason:
It sounds like a brand
The key is finding a tone that feels like it’s coming from a person
You can be funny, serious, motivational, or polarizing
This will be the backbone of your content and influence the types of videos you make
Check out @judysfamilycafe who makes funny, unhinged videos about her cafe’s pancakes
This one got 16.2M views:
Or @_campstudios who makes artistic, inspirational videos about building a film company
How to apply this:
Identify your customer journey: Once you know how you’ll monetize, you’ll know what you want the viewer to feel
Duolingo: Already had conversions down, so they went for awareness
Represent: Competes in a saturated marketing of apparel, so they had to sell who you become by creating aspirational branding
Be authentic: Pick a tone that feels natural to your brand and what you stand for… not what’s popular
Let it shape your style: Once you have your tone, use it as a guide for how you speak on camera, tell stories, and edit
Find Your Format
Great brands don’t rely on random ideas
They find repeatable formats
Your format is the engine behind your content
Some examples include:
Street interviews
Social shows
Storytelling
Skits
Customer reactions
Take a look at @meetcutesnyc where every video is a couples street interview in NYC
This one got 27M views:
Or @eatfrozenfruit who films the reactions of customers taste-testing their product
How to apply this:
Define your metric: Is it shares? saves? follows? views? Track one as your metric of success
Test, test, test: Try out different formats and see what sticks. Look for a format that is easy to make + grows that 1 metric
Look at legacy media: Many of these formats originated outside of social media. Explore movies, shows, books, and newspapers for inspiration
Build Your World
Now the final piece is…
World Building
This is everything viewers see, feel, and recognize around your content
It includes the setting, recurring characters, running jokes, storyline, and visual language
Creators are experts at this, so let’s take a look at a couple of creator-led brands
Check out @hotboxpretzels who’s trying to compete against Auntie Anne’s:
Or @bkcoffeeshop where each video is hosted in their cafe with the same baristas
How to apply this:
Add recurring characters: Just like a show, you need characters. Find employees, friends, or hire people to regularly be apart of your videos
Film in the same setting: Pick a recognizable setting that viewers that you can consistently film in
Create a common “enemy”: Hotboxpretzels uses Auntie Anne’s. You need your own version — a challenge, competitor, or mission that rallies viewers behind your brand
P.S. Want access to our 3 most popular case studies?
Fill out our 2-minute Creator Check-In and I’ll send it right to you.
Access it here.
Thanks for showing up this week ❤️
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Ryan To
Creator (120K+)
@itsryanto
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