How to use short form video content to build your brand ft Keenya Kelly

Ozeal [00:00:01]:
What's going on? Welcome to the Creator Factor, where we dive deep into the vibe of the creator culture, entrepreneurship. We're going to talk about strategies to help you thrive as a business minded content creator. And I am the host who loves you the most, Ozil. And today I'm chatting with my new friend who is a video marketing queen behind the brand, vertical video mastery.com. In just three years, y'all, she's built an audience, over half a million followers, but also has generated over a million in her business through vertical video marketing. And she's here to break it down, to share with us the secrets of her content building success and how, of course, you as a content creator can implement these proven video marketing strategies to help transform your online digital presence. She's a video marketing strategist. She's a consultant, and she's the podcast host of the Kenya Kelly podcast.

Ozeal [00:01:03]:
Ladies and gents, let's welcome to the show and another Kenya Kelly in the house. Kenya, how you doing?

Keenya [00:01:10]:
I'm doing good. That's a great intro. Thank you.

Ozeal [00:01:14]:
Rightfully so. You know, we. We connected. Shout out to my boy, our boy, Rob. Elisabeth, out in you screen for. For connecting us. And I was sharing with you that we. That I was following your content way before we got the introduction.

Ozeal [00:01:30]:
So when Rob was like, yo, you should really meet this creator, Kenya. And I was like, what? I said, I think I follow her. And sure enough, I checked my TikTok, and I found that you were just. You've been crushing. You've been crushing TikTok. I remember the reason why I followed you, because you were doing it back then on a major level. And then, of course, you're still doing your thing and everything you're doing with vertical video mastery, which we're going to talk about in a bit before we dig into that video marketing strategy and everything that you've been doing there, Kenya, let's go ahead and kick it off. Share with us that first time.

Ozeal [00:02:06]:
I'm curious to know when you realized and discovered this whole video marketing potential had impact on building a brand and identity online.

Keenya [00:02:16]:
Yeah. So it actually was. I used to have this big hair show when I lived in Virginia, and it was called return of the curls. It was a convention style event for. Yeah, yeah. For curly haired women. And that was going okay. But what started happening was people loved how I thought and, like, how I designed things, and I didn't want to continue on with what I was doing with the trade show because it's hard work.

Keenya [00:02:40]:
And I saw people using the app, periscope. When that first came out, and they were talking and teaching and making money online, teaching people. And I was watching this like I got a gift. Like, how can I get on and figure out what is going on here? So I just kind of got on periscope, and I wasn't selling anything. Cause I was working in corporate America at Sprint corporate, and I just kept seeing people make six figures over and over and over again. And I said, I don't really know what I'm doing here, but I'm gonna get started. I don't. Like, if I get started today, in five years, I'm gonna be in some different, you know, stage of my life.

Ozeal [00:03:14]:
And what year was this? Kenya. More.

Keenya [00:03:16]:
2016, I think.

Ozeal [00:03:18]:
2016?

Keenya [00:03:19]:
Yeah.

Ozeal [00:03:20]:
Okay. And then, so we got into the video. So when did you discover. Was there a moment? Actually, let's go back a little bit. This is always curious. I'm always curious to ask creators, you know, when was that moment where you discovered, like, you were a creator? Have you been naturally, like, a creative person or this stump, something you stumbled upon later throughout the years?

Keenya [00:03:38]:
Yeah. So, as a creative person, I knew that I was my mom. And them, of course, they knew something was in me, because when I was a kid, I would buy candy for five cents and sell it for 25. Like, yeah, that thing. And when I went to college, I became an RA, and we had to decorate our bulletin boards, and I was. I kept winning all these contests with how I saw things. And one year, we were doing, like, a decorating contest for Halloween. And I was like, we're decorating this entire hallway as the seven deadly sins.

Keenya [00:04:10]:
And, like, every wall had black trash bags. I mean, it was the. It was so next level. The fire marshal got called in, and he was like, you can keep the directions on this wall, but you cannot put them on those walls. This is a fire hazard. But everybody would stop on my floor and go, whoa. And that's kind of when I knew that, like, I had this thing that I just couldn't tame it. It was just how I saw the world or how I saw things get.

Ozeal [00:04:37]:
A yet for design and just creating an experience, really, if you think about it, you know, aesthetically dope. Okay. I love that. Seven daily sins. Look at that.

Keenya [00:04:46]:
It was.

Ozeal [00:04:46]:
Wow. Yeah, I bet. I bet that sounds dope. You built a really successful, impressive audience, as I mentioned, you know, over 500k followers on TikTok, you know, for our listeners. I know we're going to be digging into the video form, short form video content for our listeners who are, like, in their early stages, you know, specifically in the TikTok space. You know, can you, can you share with us a bit? Because I feel like it's changed. You know, a lot of social media people, strategists, been saying, hey, TikTok isn't popping, as it used to. Give us an update.

Ozeal [00:05:19]:
I mean, what are some of the things that we can do now to kind of create an effective presence there as far as. And how has that strategy evolved since the first time you started?

Keenya [00:05:27]:
Yeah, for sure. So when I first got on, it was actually the beginning of 2020. I'm a religious person, so I heard God tell me, get on TikTok, which is the dumbest thing I've ever heard God say. But I did it, and then everything, I was like, I started realizing something was happening with the platform. And so back in 2020, you had millions of people who were stuck at home. You know, we're dealing with COVID and you're looking for something fun to do. So everybody was on the app watching content, so the creators that were on the app would accelerate so quickly in their growth and all that because people didn't know how to create, they knew how to watch. And so it was quite the time for 2021 and 22, where you were able to build massive audiences and then make a lot of money from the platform.

Keenya [00:06:10]:
And since then, of course, everybody's back to work. Instagram Reels has come out, YouTube shorts come out, Facebook Reels has come out, and people started finding themselves being frustrated with not getting paid per views on their content, mainly because they weren't selling anything. So I feel like, what if there's a lot of things that's happened with TikTok? One tick tock has done exactly what all platforms do. They force people to the platform, and they get you this hype, and they make you feel like, oh, my God, this is going to be forever. And so you get to creating content there, very similar to what Facebook did with business pages. We built these massive pages, and then they said, okay, run ads to it. And we're like, what? So the same thing kind of happened with TikTok. And so people felt like TikTok with the way that it was operating four years ago, that it was going to be forever.

Keenya [00:06:54]:
And that's no platform is like that. They're all like, they all make money when we run ads. So if a person starts on TikTok today, they cannot expect that. All of a sudden, the same type of growth that people experience in 2020 is what they're going to experience today? No, they still have to show up. You still got to create an audience, still have to create content consistently. The upside of TikTok is that the behavior of a person to engage is, I think it's like, 10,000 times higher than it is on any social platform. So, for example, if I post the same video on TikTok and on Instagram reels, if they both get the same amount of views, I'm going to gain way more followers and way more comments and engagement and all that on a TikTok video than I am on an Instagram video now. I'm going to make more money on an Instagram video in terms of selling my products and services than I am on a tick tock video.

Keenya [00:07:48]:
Because our behavior to purchase is known on Instagram. We're like, we're buying on Instagram. On TikTok, our behavior is to engage, and we are slowly becoming ones that are purchasing, which is why now people are saying, yeah, I got this from tick tock, and this from tick tock. And this one, tick tock. It used to be, oh, I got this from Instagram. Now it is becoming, oh, I got this from TikTok.

Ozeal [00:08:12]:
Interesting. So, yeah, because I wasn't asking. I think you answered that question. I was asking, why do you feel, you know, TikTok gets the better engagement versus Instagram, which is more buyer intent, but the, or buyer, you know, oriented? But that makes sense, because in TikTok, and correct me if I'm wrong, if I'm hearing it correctly, is it's more of, like, if I come across, like, I think I came across your content, and I'm pretty sure I was searching, you know, tick tock strategies or whatnot. And then I'm more like, if you see, if you say something that's fire, like, oh, man, that was a bar. That's something I could really, like, you know, implementing my business. I'm quicker to probably hit that follow and then just go on to the next. Is that.

Ozeal [00:08:49]:
Is that pretty much a psychology?

Keenya [00:08:51]:
Yes. It's just, it's just the beat. The behavior is just something second to none on TikTok. It's just different. It's just. I don't really know exactly why that is the way that it is, but that is just, it's just I've seen it over and over again with my own stuff.

Ozeal [00:09:07]:
So now with TikTok, let's. Let's get it. Also talk about strategies. Obviously, we all know that being consistent on social media, but TikTok, specifically, Kenya is it? I know there was a school of thought in the beginning where it was like, yo, you got to really go heavy. Like, you know, three to five, six. Is volume still a strategy for TikTok or does it matter? Is just consistency. Like, I'm curious to know if that's changed or evolved since that kind of school thought of posting and going heavy on volume on there to grow. Has that changed?

Keenya [00:09:37]:
Yeah, it has definitely changed. Because, one, you've got way more people that are creating content on the platform. And so the behavior of people today is people are dealing with, like, with burnout of, like, watching so much content. So people are being very selective even more now of what they're watching and what they're engaging with. And so what I am experiencing is that if I focus on a really great piece of quality content, doesn't mean a high end camera, but I'm just intentional about the content that I'm putting out. I'm going to find myself getting, you know, the same amount of views and follows and all that type of stuff on my account. Now, don't get me wrong, if I post multiple times a day, then of course it's got to help me to reach more people or what have you. But with the way that tick tock content is happening today is that if you post a video on TikTok, you're not really going to see its full potential for about 60 days.

Keenya [00:10:30]:
Okay. Tick tock. The company is focused so heavily on tick tock shop. Tick tock shop. The videos that are longer than 1 minute and horizontal videos. So, like, if I, when I post something today, I'm not expecting that it's gonna, like, reach its potential today. I know that in 60 days, when I see that I've got 2000 notifications, I know it's coming from that content that I posted two months ago. And so every time I'm creating content, I know that this is, this is like YouTube.

Keenya [00:10:57]:
You're gonna get success from the video initially, but then you're looking for the long game with YouTube. When someone is searching, how can they find you? That's kind of what is happening over on TikTok now as well. And then. But some people who don't really understand it or really spend time on the platform are like, well, I'm not getting as much as I was getting initially, and that's because they're not actually looking at what's happening two months down the line.

Ozeal [00:11:19]:
So for our business minded creators who are looking to, to develop a short form video marketing strategy, you know, there's reels, and then, of course, Facebook has their own vertical, and we got YouTube shorts, all the platforms. Right? Do you still feel that TikTok is still the place to be and for us to experiment and be on and start creating content to build that brand awareness and ultimately, you know, generate some sales and leads?

Keenya [00:11:46]:
Yeah, 100%. Because you still got at least 80% of creators that are not creating content on TikTok. They're just still not, or whatever. And so because of that, there's such quite the market for what is happening there. You know, like, I've seen accounts like podcasters, their podcast channel, like crazy, because they have, they stream, they do the regular video podcast, and they're taking the hottest clips and they're putting them over on TikTok, right? And then Tick Tock is driving it back to their podcast or YouTube channels and all that. So it's like, I think that people are sleeping still on tick Tock because they are not. They haven't understood the. How tick Tock has evolved and evolving, and then who is also on the platform consuming content? And so because of people aren't, aren't, aren't necessarily creating as much as they were.

Keenya [00:12:35]:
Those of us that continue to create are still crushing it because people are coming in, going out, expecting this fast viral moment, and it's like, no, this is social media. It's always been about the long game.

Ozeal [00:12:45]:
Do you recommend for somebody who's building a personal brand of being a thought leader in a specific industry, let's say myself, a podcast consultant, is a strategy on TikTok. Create the content that's going to build that thought leadership. And I just talk nothing but podcast consulting and coaching? Or is it more a variety of interests? Can I post other things if I'm going to a coffee shop or whatnot? I'm curious to know how uniformed the TikTok strategy has to be versus other platforms, where they always say, you should kind of leash it down, do more narrow focus versus broad. What's your take on that?

Keenya [00:13:25]:
You still have to be niche, because it's like when we look at social media, the reason why person follows an account is because they saw something. They saw a consistency within the content on the platform, and they go, I'm going to follow that. So if I'm posting about this, me and marketing today, and then tomorrow it's about my cat, the next day it's about, oh, I'm single, I'm moving to Houston, then they're like, is this really why I wanted to follow her? So that's why I have two accounts on TikTok. I have the main one where I focus on this, this, and this. And that's what makes me money. And then I have this one over here where I'm talking about the love is blind reunion. I'm talking about, I'm in Houston. I'm shopping now.

Keenya [00:14:03]:
I need to be more of a keen your brand, like the person over there, whereas over here, I'm the consultant.

Ozeal [00:14:10]:
You're curating the content. Right.

Keenya [00:14:11]:
And putting in a different creative outlet because, you know, work is work. But I'm like, sometimes I want to talk about. I just found this brand new thing. Oh, my God. Menopause. Oh, my God. I want to talk about. I had this terrible date or whatever, and I can do that on the other account.

Ozeal [00:14:26]:
Okay, that's a question. That's. That's great. You answer the question. Because I know a lot of creators that are watching and listening. That's a question that I get even as a. As a coach, is like, hey, can I go abroad? Because some thought leaders are saying that, you know, they're, the niches really don't matter. I could go broad and people are going to like me for me.

Ozeal [00:14:43]:
But what you're saying, and I agree, is that still having a specialty, having that special sauce that you can put online where people are attracted to and know you as that person, I think, still is where the value is at and where you could really kind of leverage these platforms. I love that you've said that. Okay, so what about.

Keenya [00:15:02]:
But also. But also give it to me. So let's just say, like, we have the king of Kelly brand. Like, obviously, Kenya is my regular name and Kenya Kelly is my business name. So on my Kenya Kelly content, where I'm talking about business, I can intertwine Kenya in it. I can talk about, like, as an entrepreneur, this is an s. I'm going here. And as I'm looking for an apartment in Houston, I have to have a space for my studio.

Keenya [00:15:26]:
This is where it's that way. It's still kind.

Ozeal [00:15:28]:
See what you're saying?

Keenya [00:15:29]:
That way it's still kind of, like.

Ozeal [00:15:31]:
Include other aspects, right?

Keenya [00:15:33]:
Yeah, for sure. It still can, like, be me and who I am and what it is that I'm doing, but it's not good. Ready with me to go on a date. You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Ozeal [00:15:45]:
What are some of the common mistakes that you've seen when you see people get on TikTok? And I'm asking this again for audience, are getting in there, and they're kind of just trying to build it because I see a lot of stuff, and it's just like, man, it's all over the place. It needs to be tweaked a little bit, and I'm one of them. I mean, there's a lot of things that I feel like I'm kind of dropping the ball on. Like, what are some of the things that you're seeing now, like, in 2024 that you see? Like, oh, man, if they could just tweak this or the video editing or something like that, is there anything that you can kind of share that you see that's common amongst all creators that are trying to build a brand on TikTok?

Keenya [00:16:16]:
What would I say? I would say, first off, you got to figure out who you are and who you want to show up as. Because if everybody's trying to be Gary Vee or Alex Hermozy or Alex Earl, then you're not actually giving people the reason to follow you. Because when you are creating, you're creating as you, as yourself or whatever, and you have to decide what is the aspect of you that people are going to experience. That's like, with my second account on TikTok, I said, what am I going to talk about here? And I talk about different things, right? But I'm showing up as the version of me that has been in therapy for ten years. I'm showing up as me, the more polished kind of version of me, so to speak. I'm still being myself, but I'm not out here, like, just all over the place, you know what I mean? So it's really important that you're going, like, okay, who, like, who am I and what do I want to display to the world? I feel like sometimes people just start creating content, and then if something blows up, they feel like they got to stick with that thing that blew up. And then a year down the line, they're frustrated because their content is not the. The totality of who they are.

Keenya [00:17:29]:
And now they've got to go and be this thing because that what, that's what they put themselves as. So I think that creators need to go, okay, here's all the things that I could talk about or create content about in the long run. Where do I want to take this? If I know in the long run, I want to be picked up by Tarte, which is the beauty brand, I want to be on one of those expensive trips, then I have to show up in a way where people want to follow me in my account where a brand like tarte or fenty or whomever will, would want to pay me as an influencer. So I don't think people are thinking about who they want to show up as and what their long game is. Like, what's their ultimate goal? And so they just end up doing all this random stuff and wonder why they're not getting the results that they want.

Ozeal [00:18:15]:
You know, that landed with me. Cause I was having a conversation with a fellow creator friend of mine, and we're talking about how, like, the importance of being, getting right with yourself is so instrumental in building a personal brand in thought leadership or whatever. Because I feel like a lot of the times, and I've struggled with this, too, before, just to be complete, completely transparent, where I'm like, man, why am I not like, why am I, I'm in my head too much? Why am I not creating the content that I already know but what, what's happening? And I, I've noticed that whenever I'm going through some turbulence in my personal life, like, I just, you know, it's like, I think it's important for creators to kind of constantly revisit who, how do I want to show up, what I want to be known for, and then who am I going to serve and get very, very clear on that, because taking that mindful approach can, can really help you as a creator, be able to create good quality, valuable content. That's freeing, that's not tied into expectations. You're just doing you, you know, does that make sense?

Keenya [00:19:10]:
And I agree with you. You know, like, when, like, we all, like, life is life and life is going to happen, there's always got to be stuff that happens. And, you know, I was just telling my, my membership group about, like, you know, when my content is flowing, it's like, is it the algorithm or is it me? And I'm like, well, most times it's me. It's like, what is actually going on in my life? You know, am I really busy? Am I really this? Am I really that? You know, like, I had surgery at the end of last year, and the content that I created that I scheduled didn't do as well. And it was because I was so anxious about having surgery. I was also anxious about all the work I needed to get done before going into surgery versus the content I created in February. I was, like, so full of life, and everybody's like, oh, my God, I love your energy. And it's doing really well because I'm in a better, different headspace, you know, and so I was telling my community, I'm like, don't film content on the days you don't feel good.

Keenya [00:20:02]:
Like you just can't because people can feel that. And so when you do feel good, shoot as much as you can. You know, that's why I'm always putting ideas in my phone. So that way, in those moments when I have that level of energy, I can shoot certain things and then I can schedule it when the time is right.

Ozeal [00:20:19]:
That's great advice. Great advice. I'm glad you shared that. In regards to this vertical video marketing strategy approach, a little bit on that, I want to ask your opinion, because being a podcaster that I'm so used to as a consumer, consuming a lot of long form content, curious to know in this vertical, fast paced digital age that we're living in, vertical seems to be the king right now. I'm curious to know, is conversation still the queen? Is long form still going to be a thing that we're going to continue consuming, or do you feel like the vertical video is going to be sticking around for quite some time because of the short attention span that we're having? What's your take on that?

Keenya [00:21:05]:
So we definitely have a real big problem with attention spans that's hands down, that's nothing to do with video, has to do with people. And I think it's because of all the different things that are constantly going on. And then when we all got on social media, when it all kind of started. So I think that's a problem in general. I don't think that long form video is going anywhere. I don't think the horizontal video is going anywhere because for a couple reasons. One, it's just, it's just always been the king. It's not going anywhere for two, we are watching all of the short platforms say, post more long form content.

Keenya [00:21:37]:
So for the last six months, TikTok has been saying, post videos longer than a minute and you'll get paid through our creator program, which is how people are getting paid. Then they started saying, like, three or four months ago, post videos that are horizontal, it'll teach you how to do horizontal content. And if you post a horizontal video the right way, a person can click a button and it'll take it full screen, you know, very similar to, like, a YouTube video. And so then I think Instagram released a notification last week that said that everybody's gonna start getting where you can post three minute Instagram reels. So all of that, like, I mean, right now you can upload up to 30 minutes on tick tock now and then, you know, you can shoot three minute reels, but you could upload a 20 minutes video. And a video is technically a reel, so it's already, everything's kind of already going long form. And I was telling everybody that I felt like that, the reason why, and I don't know this, I don't, obviously, I work for tick tock, but I was like, why would TikTok for focus on horizontal video? And I'm like, yes, horizontal in our phones. But I don't think it's about our phones, because when we look at our phones, we do everything through vertical.

Keenya [00:22:44]:
Like, we just, everything is set up for vertical. I'm like, it's not phones. I think it's for television. Because when I look at, you know, when you look at the TikTok app on television or YouTube, you go to YouTube app on television, everything's horizontal. It fits your screen. All the things. If you go to the TikTok app on your tv, it's horizontal. I don't want to watch horizontal videos like this.

Keenya [00:23:06]:
I'm trying to figure out what's on screen, what I'm on my tv. But if we start having people posting horizontal videos on TikTok and they go on their tv, now you are able to watch tick tock on tv full screen. And I'm like, hmm. From, to me, it makes sense from a business standpoint, it makes sense for like desktop computers and laptop computers for tick tock to be in horizontal mode. And so, and I also think that because so many people were creating short videos, that it really hurt the social media platforms financially. Because if everybody's shooting through these 15 2nd videos, where are they making money on ads? How are they able to put placement, you know, within videos for ads? But if they're strongly encouraging people to post longer content, guess now you can put ads in so many different places within a video. The company makes, the company running the ads, you know, make more money. TikTok or whatever platforms make more money, and then everybody's happy because I'm like, if I was Instagram and tick tock, how would I be feeling? Like I'm missing money on ads because there's so many things I cannot do.

Ozeal [00:24:12]:
Because everything's short that's aligned Kenya with something. Another conversation I was having, I'm constantly having these conversations, my people, my people about that. And you just basically went there regarding horizontal and tv. So check this out. Here's my prediction, my prediction, maybe sooner than later we're gonna see TikTok and Instagram, and I think we're seeing it with YouTube now, whenever you watch it on Apple TV. But I believe that creator specifically, I think a huge opportunity. Again, you know, we heard it right. You know, just treat your creator brand as the media, and I think that's gonna hold truth moving forward.

Ozeal [00:24:53]:
And the reason why I say that is because I feel like it's gonna be an opportunity for creators to build shows. Like, let's say. Let's say just. I'm gonna. Just hypothetically speaking on TikTok, and the word TikTok is like, all right, we're gonna license, or we're gonna go ahead and have these creators create shows, podcast shows, shows, period. We can put it on TikTok, and now y'all can get paid. I can do, like, a paid membership, and y'all start creating your own.

Keenya [00:25:18]:
So.

Ozeal [00:25:18]:
So basically, we become the Netflix of our own brand.

Keenya [00:25:21]:
Yep. That's like. Well, they have that. They have that feature called TikTok series, and it's actually currently under. It's under construction. It's been out for a while. And so it's kind of like, initially, the way we looked at it as you could film content and you could put it behind a paywall, and the most people can pay for it was, like, $189. I think that it's not just about the digital courses or whatever.

Keenya [00:25:43]:
I think this is more about what you're saying here with shows where people are going to be able to pay for a show, but more so, like, a subscription, like a Netflix thing. I think that creators are going to start becoming the actual Hollywood.

Ozeal [00:25:56]:
That's it.

Keenya [00:25:57]:
Actors and actresses. Because if we look at some of these people more watching, and we're like, wow, you deserve to be on tv. And some of their production, I think that that is the direction that we are headed in for 100%.

Ozeal [00:26:09]:
Okay. Okay. Yeah. Because I was, like, thinking. I think it's. I was just, like, a crazy, like, just projecting. I think that's what I'm seeing. And what you just said right there, I didn't know there was a series.

Ozeal [00:26:18]:
I think that's where we're going. So, creators, this is time. Start your shows.

Keenya [00:26:23]:
Start your show.

Ozeal [00:26:24]:
Yeah, it's coming. It's coming. All right, let's switch it up. You got me excited over you, kid. Let's talk a little bit about, you know, the journey of building a business online. I mean, you've been doing this for a minute, and, you know, one of the things about building an online business is that it comes with. With a lot of learning curves, you know, especially as a creative person, you know, can you share, you know, with us, like a significant, you know, challenge that you face, growing your Kenya brand and doing everything that you're doing with vertical video mastery. Like, what was the biggest challenge you feel like was tough.

Ozeal [00:26:57]:
And building that business, being a creator and trying to operate a business.

Keenya [00:27:01]:
Yeah. So there's honestly been a bunch of different things. So when I first started out trying to build a business, I was, like, fresh off of, like, a terrible divorce. And so it's like you're dealing with all of your, like, insecurities of, like, all of that death of a thing. And then to try to put yourself out online to be judged by people who knew you knew him, knew y'all, whatever. That was like the ultimate, the biggest thing. Because it was like, here I went from person building a business, you know, in person, to, like, becoming this online personality that people could judge or whatever. So that was like, that was the biggest thing.

Keenya [00:27:39]:
But then the next thing was I. I was used to having a job. You know, I didn't know anything about, like, showing up, building a personal brand, messaging, choosing a niche, you know, building a website. I didn't know anything about funnels, funnel marketing, a sales funnel, like email marketing automation, like all of those, like, aspects of building a business. And then you've got, now you've got a sale sell stuff. Now you've got to do the taxes, and you've got to do fulfillment. You've got to deal with people and their personalities and their expectations and all of that stuff. And so then on top of that, when I started creating content on TikTok, becoming this influencer that I didn't know was happening and going like, oh, so I have to learn how to be a production person.

Keenya [00:28:31]:
Like, now I can't just shoot content the way that I would shoot it. Now I've got to become the model, the script writer, the editor, all the things. And it's big money when you get paid with brands, but you're like, they have an expectation of what this outcome is going to be, and that's a lot. So you have your business and trying to be a creator, those are two totally different things. You got to go into two totally different minds when you're doing all that. And as a single person doing it, it's like, I don't have a husband doing all this stuff back here. It's like me. And I'm like, so all that.

Ozeal [00:29:07]:
What's challenging you right now?

Keenya [00:29:10]:
What is challenging me right now, I would say getting the business to a million a year. You know, we made a million. We made two millions. But getting the business to a million a year. And what I mean by that, not just by revenue, but like, you are making x, let's just say 700 or whatever. Let's just say five. You're making 500,000. There's one mindset.

Keenya [00:29:37]:
There's one level of experience. There's one set of products, services, whatever that got you to 500,000 to double that requires another level of skill, another level of understanding with taxes and hiring the right people. And it's just a whole nother level of getting yourself from this phase of life in your business to the next phase while, you know, navigating, like. Like, a lot of people don't really know that. When a woman starts to go through perimenopause, menopause, all these things are changing in her brain and she's trying to figure out what is going on. You know what I mean? So you're like, you're navigating your personal self and your business self, all this. And with me moving to houston, Texas, it's like one of these things got to be focused on. And it's like, okay, today is what we're focused on.

Keenya [00:30:25]:
Tomorrow we'll do something else.

Ozeal [00:30:28]:
When we talk about focus, you know, you, when I was going down your content, you were, I mean, I could tell you, prolific. A lot of courses, and we'll make sure that we link it up, y'all. Kenya kelly.com and of course, the verticalvideomastery.com as well. But I could tell it's like, oh, man, she has a lot of, like, good products. She has, like, a menu products, like a lot of digital course, et cetera. Like, what would you say, like, in 2024 for a creator who's looking to build, not scale, but build a menu of their own products? Do you feel like, where do you feel like the market going? Do you still feel like digital courses is the way to go test marketing that it paid community. Where do you feel like a creator should kind of start with in regards to generating some revenue?

Keenya [00:31:12]:
I would say more of a paid community would be smarter because when you talk about building a course, there's all these things you gotta learn about all that. There's the systems, the process, the automation, the film. There's all those things you got to learn about all that versus most creators have learned about Patreon. They've learned about memberships with YouTube. And it's easier to turn. Here's what you've been doing for free and creating something next level and getting people to pay you $10, it's easier to do something like that. So I would start with more of a membership, but I do think that even as a creator starting a membership, that you've got to get some level of training and understanding of what people are looking for from paying a service or you on a regular basis, because you've got to show up. Like, you've got to set what they can expect when they're going to be paying, and then how you're delivering that privately to them.

Keenya [00:32:07]:
And then, of course, you've got to learn how to market that, how to consistently market that, do customer service and keep everybody, quote unquote, happy on the inside of that. And then from there, you will probably find that people want something that they can, that can be more self paced, and then you can learn the art of creating digital courses.

Ozeal [00:32:25]:
What are you finding for creators? You know, I'm a big, and I'm glad you said, you know, pay community because I'm a community guy. Like, that's, I, you know, last past, over ten years, I've been organizing. I've been building community through in person events, live events, and virtually, et cetera. And it's just been, I'm a big believer in community. And I always say that, you know, the creators are one of the most collaborative, supportive community, you know, members out there. Do you see, like, there's, do you see a trend of creators now seeking leaders to be able to have that support and accountability and dig deeper versus, you know, the, then, you know, digital courses? Because I feel like, you know, the completion rate wasn't there. Right. We all, we all see the stats and the data.

Ozeal [00:33:06]:
Nobody was complete. I'm one of them, too. There was a few that I was like, I don't know, man, it's too long. So again, attention span, right. But do you find it, so my question to you is, do you find that now more than ever, creators should be seeking community as an opportunity to grow their creator brand, to get embedded in the culture, to learn together? I feel like there's a lot of benefits there. I want you to see if you can kind of share a little bit more about what you've seen as a community builder and what you have learned doing your paid community.

Keenya [00:33:38]:
Mm hmm. So I think that creators need to, there's a couple opportunities. One, I think that paying, like, a small fee on a monthly basis into a community is going to be very crucial because when you're in a community. Yes. You have the person that's running the community to help you, but you also have the whole community. You know, like, I pay for $20,000 to be in somebody's mastermind for a year. And when everybody graduated, they all started this slack channel, and every single brilliant mind is now in this slack channel for free, helping each less. Yeah, but, like, for now, we're like, good God, all of what we're getting in there, you know? But at the same time that you have a little community, like, a smaller community, paying monthly, at some point time, you're gonna have to pay somebody to talk to you one on one, you're gonna pay somebody to help you build what you need, because, like, because if you're in a community, you're going to get a lot of information, which is good, but it can also be bad.

Keenya [00:34:35]:
You know, you really need more strategic things to you that. And if you're going from creator to business owner, there's all this stuff you got to learn about building a business, and you're going to have a lot of questions. And so at some point in time, I think it's going to be beneficial to actually hire a consultant or coach or someone who can actually walk with you through what you're building. So the smaller community, first the small monthly work community, and then a coach or consultant.

Ozeal [00:35:02]:
That's exactly what I was thinking, too. I mean, it's seasons, right? I mean, I feel like the season for the aspiring creator who wants to learn the game and wants to learn different things of running a creator led business. I do. I do feel like the community is the way to go, especially if you can't technically afford a high price, you know, premium, you know, one on one coaching. But you'll get to the point where you can get the education, the right education, get connected with the right people, your people, and then grow that. You scale that, and the next thing you know, you're making money. Now you can go in to get that specialist, get that one on one consultant, hire him or her, do it that way. That's what I'm hearing.

Ozeal [00:35:36]:
I love that. I love, I feel like that's the, that's the way to go. That's the phase. Love it. Love, love, love. You know, looking forward, you know, getting back to the whole video marketing, where do you see, you know, the future? We talked about the short attention span and how video is going to play a major role. One of the things that I've been seeing, you know, even as an audio only podcaster, is seeing video play an instrumental role in the podcasting space now more than ever, where YouTube saying, look, we want to mess with podcasting now, and everybody and their mom is starting a podcast. But it's beautiful, even as an OG, to see the fact that video is being.

Ozeal [00:36:12]:
Podcasters are embracing video as a way to build brand and showcase a different face of a layer of the brand and what they're trying to share with the world. I'm curious to know, like, what. What is your take on just, like, video marketing and, like, what's exciting you these days in regards to, like, where we're going with the marketing? Um, as, as, as a creator? What's. What's. What's exciting? What do you see coming forward?

Keenya [00:36:34]:
Um, well, one thing that I'm loving lately is I'm loving seeing you've got content creators and celebrities coming together.

Ozeal [00:36:42]:
Yeah, yeah.

Keenya [00:36:43]:
So, like, what's the guy's name? Kai. What's his last name? The youtuber, the streamer, the Twitch guy, the young.

Ozeal [00:36:50]:
Yes, yes, yes, yes. I don't know his last name. I know, exactly.

Keenya [00:36:56]:
You got him this huge youtuber and streamer. And all the celebrities are realizing that here's how they've always run their business and doing what they're doing. They're realizing, wait a minute, there's something that we had just did not know. And so Nicki Minaj launches her, her new album, and then she does a collaboration with him in his house, in his studio. I think that Kanye did something with him or try to do something with him, Tyla. I don't know. A whole lot of people. I'm so Jesus, you know, but, like, there's all these people that are now.

Keenya [00:37:28]:
Oh, was it Keith Lee we all know and love? He just did a collab with Cardi B. I didn't know that. Yeah. So he, like this burgers joint, and he in LA, and she's talked about him a little bit, so they just.

Ozeal [00:37:42]:
He's the food guy, right? He does a food. He does the food tour. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Keenya [00:37:47]:
Burgers. And so apparently what's her name Cardi B. Did on her, like, live stream show, talking about she loves burgers and whatever, whatever with, you know, she was talking about Keith Lee or whatever. So somehow they got to collab together, and she's talking, and you're like, why is Cardi on Keith's channel? And then Keith shows up, and they do a taste test of this burger joint, and they're just talking. It's just a whole thing. Then they did a thing on ramen. So you're seeing, like, what we normally would never see, a celebrity. They're here with that, and content creators are over here, actors and actresses, and now it's like, it has become like we are one.

Keenya [00:38:22]:
Right. We're seeing way more content creators in movies than we've ever seen before. And so I think that the collision of those two worlds has happened, and it's gonna happen even the more, you know? So I think that's a huge thing that I'm loving that is happening. I'm gonna love watching what happens in terms of, like, the metaverse and all the things that are going on there. I'm still not a person in that whole world of things, but I think that there's a lot that's going to start happening there. But I am really, really excited to see where TikTok is going with this, with the series thing and creators having their own shows. That makes me very excited for them. And then how the Hollywood will be forced to come into that whole world and how that's going to collide.

Ozeal [00:39:10]:
Yeah, definitely a lot of opportunity for creators to kind of get into that space. Yeah. You know, even looking at, like, an, even a boxing fan, even seeing, which I used to hate on for, I was like, I was just because I was a purist, but see, I mean, a creator, Jake Paul now fighting Mike Tyson on a Netflix, I'm like, what, what kind of world we live in? Who would have, I mean, I'm pretty sure. I mean, we're like, mind boggled. I mean, I could just only imagine how Jake Paul, because Jake Paul, like, man, he said a long time ago, man, it would be a dream to find Mike Tyson. Here's a creator youtuber who has now, you know, has orchestrated this marketing strategy. We got into the boxing space, and he did a brilliant job. You know, love or hate him, but.

Keenya [00:39:51]:
He knows if I might.

Ozeal [00:39:52]:
Mike Tyson, I'm like, that's crazy. You know, and I think Mister Beast just said he just signed a deal with Amazon prime to do his own show. I don't. Have you heard about that? Yeah, I mean, it's happening. It's happening. Wow.

Keenya [00:40:02]:
It's already happening. It's just, we're like, we can either wait for it to happen for us or we could start going in that direction.

Ozeal [00:40:09]:
So build your brand creators. Get on tick tock. Get, like, in. Yeah, learn the thing.

Keenya [00:40:13]:
Learn first. I mean, yeah, it's like, it's gonna happen faster on TikTok than it is on any of the other ones.

Ozeal [00:40:19]:
I agree, because I feel like tick tock gave birth. I was there. They did a list of some of the musicians that, this is musicians that you have never heard of got their start on tick tock.

Keenya [00:40:30]:
Yeah.

Ozeal [00:40:30]:
And it's insane. There was a whole list, and I was like, oh, man, I don't know. Oh, he got. He. She said. And these were all TikTokers. So I feel like, okay, it's there. So let's go, y'all.

Ozeal [00:40:42]:
TikTok, let's get in there. Let's get in there. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Verticalvideomastery.com. Make sure we get linked up on that. All right. Before I let you go, I do have a question to ask. I always ask every guest is that if there's a creator factor that every creator should learn or master, what would that factor be?

Keenya [00:41:08]:
Like a gift.

Ozeal [00:41:09]:
You mean gift? Like, what's something that we should all learn and master?

Keenya [00:41:15]:
I think we should all learn to master the art of the Taylor Swift effect. I've been diving into her recently, and I said, oh, it kind of clicked for me. So a lot of times what happens with creators is we first, we were, we were small, so we were always talking to our people. And then the bigger we got, the less time we were spending talking to people. And so we're like, we become this quote unquote celebrity, and we're, like, untouchable. We're like, we're not actually being human. And what we have seen over the years, when Taylor Swift was first getting going that, like, people were send her things and invite her to stuff, and she would show up places. She showed up to somebody's, like, bridal shower, and they were like, what in the world? Taylor Swift is that? My bridal shower? And she started showing up in all these different spaces and places in ways that people would never even ever dream.

Keenya [00:42:06]:
And so now you've got the biggest celebrity of music artists, like, of all right now is Taylor Swift. Right? And it's not because her music is the greatest. It's not because her shows are the greatest when you see them. No. Beyonce's show was beyond when you look at the showman and what happened to her show. But Beyonce is very touch, untouchable. Taylor Swift, it feels very touchable, you know? And then the other thing that I learned about her was that, like, I forgot that, like, all her music is, like, this was her in her teens, in her early twenties, writing music. And so the Taylor Swift is a fully grown woman doing fully grown woman things, but her music is touching.

Keenya [00:42:51]:
You in a way where someone who is seven and someone who is 57 can connect to. So she. Her music, not that it's a bad thing, but our music doesn't feel very sexual or whatever, because her audience is all the people. And so she's mastered this connection to her community, and she stayed with them in some type of way. So I think that if a creator really wants to continue to grow and do all the things, figuring out how to continue to grow but still be touchable in. In a way that is safe for them, but also where it's like, you will not believe what John Johnson just did. He did this. Isn't that.

Keenya [00:43:31]:
So you're just like, who did what? Where? What? You know what I mean? Just. Yeah.

Ozeal [00:43:37]:
The Taylor Swift effect. Kenya kelly.com. Make sure you follow her on TikTok. Of course, we're gonna link it up her YouTube channel, which is fire. Gonna get a lot of tips and strategies on that. A lot of good stuff there. And, of course, the podcast. The Kenya Kelly podcast.

Ozeal [00:43:55]:
Kenya, it's been a little slice of heaven, and I am so honored and glad that you no longer in San Diego. Now you're in h town. You're h town bound soon, and, you know, we get to kind of hang out and collaborate. So I'm looking forward to just having you here, part of the city.

Keenya [00:44:13]:
Me, too.

Ozeal [00:44:14]:
Seeing what you do here for the creators here in h town as well. So it's been fun. It's been fun.

Keenya [00:44:19]:
Yeah. I can't wait. I'm excited. Good show. Good show.

Ozeal [00:44:22]:
Thank you very much. All right, y'all. Peace. Thank you for listening to the creator factor. I hope you got value from this episode, because this is one of my goals for the show, to introduce you to different ideas and perspectives to help.