Hello, and welcome to the 14 new subscribers since my last article, One Million Views, One Decade Later. Today, I’m introducing a new, recurring segment where I’ll break down and analyze recent viral videos from all of YOU! It’s been deeply fulfilling to see some of my best practices put to use in the wild, and a relief to know I’m not completely full of shit over here.
In this edition, we’ll go under the hood of posts from indie band Easy Sleeper, as well as comedians Myq Kaplan, Jonathan Van Halem, and Henrik Blix.
If you’d like to submit something for next time, feel free to reply to this email with a link, or drop it in the comments below. The first section will be free, while the remainder will be available for paid subscribers only.
Easy Sleeper - WHEN YOU ASK THE PROMOTER FOR YOUR PAYOUT
Quick Stats (at time of writing):
691K Views, 16K Likes, 177 Comments, 14.9K Shares
Like PCT: 2.3% | Comment PCT: 0.03% | Share PCT: 2.2%
Video Length: 34 seconds
Text Hook: WHEN YOU ASK THE PROMOTER FOR YOUR PAYOUT.
Hashtags: #sketch #comedy #bandmemes
Easy Sleeper is an LA-based indie band that have been experimenting with their social presence lately. This videogame-style meme of their own fake tweet was their first hit since we started chatting, and the 2.2% Share PCT speaks for itself.
I think you can chalk up the low Like PCT (2.3%) to this Reel getting shown in front of the wrong crowd via the hashtags #sketch and #comedy. Ultimately, people who follow those interests aren’t really the audience for this Reel. The audience is far closer to that third hashtag, #bandmemes, i.e., fellow up-and-coming indie musicians.
Similar to how a comic like Martin Urbano or Sam Campbell is a real “comedian’s comedian”, this feels like a real “indie band’s indie band” meme.
And the comments reflect that. 0.03% is actually really high for Comment PCT (a good target is 0.02%). On this video, it’s mainly other musicians sarcastically commiserating:
Easy Sleeper tried to recapture their success with a follow up that was similar in spirit:
Quick Stats (at time of writing):
4,607 Views, 130 Likes, 8 Comments, 54 Shares
Like PCT: 2.8% | Comment PCT: 0.17% | Share PCT: 1.2%
Video Length: 29 seconds
Text Hook: WHEN YOU ASK THE ENGINEER TO RECORD YOUR GUITARS.
Hashtags: #sketch #comedy #bandmemes
It’s still early days, and pacing pretty well percentage-wise, but this video is being delivered to the wrong audience. People who like #sketch and #comedy are used to being served videos from groups like Please Don’t Destroy or Almost Friday.
My suggestion for Easy Sleeper, while it may sound obvious, is to get in front of the people who would actually get why this Reel is funny.
What I Would Do: Find a popular Instagram account that posts sound engineer or guitar memes, and identify the unique traits of their most viral posts. What hashtags do they use? Sound used? Location tag? Text hook? Video format?
For instance, ten seconds of Googling led me to @memesguitar, an Instagram account with 125K+ followers. A brief skim through their 10 most recent posts shows that #guitar, #memesguitar, #bandmemes, #musicmemes, #fender, and #gibson appear to be associated with some of their highly liked posts.
Those seem far more likely to fetch the right crowd than #sketch and #comedy.
Jonathan Van Halem - Blind Taste Test
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