I like to do an AAR on projects. Most people I’ve worked with on projects are afraid of an AAR because it highlights the flaws and limits of their success (more here).
What Happened
What was supposed to happen?
My plan was to make a 3-5 minute video about the South Sea Bubble and then edit that down for social platforms with the goal of doing one of these a month.
Ideally this is entertaining and adds value to the KmikeyM ecosystem (more shareholders, higher share price, more revenue, etc.) but I know this will take some time. This first video was about getting something done and out there.
What actually happened?
On January 18th I posted a video to YouTube talking about the South Sea Bubble. Fifteen days later the results are small but encouraging. I mean, sure it was only a couple of hundred of people, which is nothing in terms of online video, but that is still a lot of people to see a video I made about a financial disaster from the 17th century!
I got a number of messages and comments from people who liked the video, which is encouraging because as I was researching this I found so many videos about the South Sea Bubble.
| Site | Length | Views | Likes | Comments |
| YouTube | 4:29 | 106 | 5 | 0 |
| YouTube Shorts | 0:59 | 499 | 10 | 0 |
| IG Reels #1 | 0:46 | 550 | 24 | 5* |
| IG Reels #2 | 1:29 | 373 | 15 | 1 |
| Facebook Video | 4:30 | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| Facebook Reel | 0:59 | 14 | 0 | 0 |
What were the differences?
Obviously these numbers are low for any kind of social media post, but I still find it pretty encouraging that hundreds of people saw this video I made in January. Riding the algorithm of social platforms is a pretty effective way of getting attention. But then what?
What Worked?
What worked?
I gained a few more followers/subscribers and it’s interesting to bring people in not because of KmikeyM itself but because of some adjacent media I made. Will they discover that they can be shareholders and want to buy a share?
The cutdowns have been viewed much more than the longer form video.
What didn’t work?
The cut downs are a little awkward and the pacing of them is weird because I scripted for the longer form video, and then tried to make a cut down of that for IG and YouTube Shorts.
Also, the numbers are really low. I got thousands of views on two of my Hamburger Business Review Reels on Instagram (no idea why) so that kind of sets the standard for what I’m looking for.
Why?
If I prioritize the short 60 second video I can edit together a better video for social. I am also curious what other factors might impact a video, but for now I think the main point of what worked and didn’t was in pre-production.
What About Next Time?
What would you do the same next time?
Scripting and shooting and editing will remain the same. I like editing with a lot of layers and text and images popping up all the time but also know that I need to show my face a lot.
I like that I got two cutdowns out of the same longer video.
What would you do differently next time?
Personally I like doing the longer form videos, but the “state of the internet” right now will send short form a lot further. For my next video I want to focus on the short 60 second version as the primary video and then also have an extended cut with more information.
I’ll try to make chapters of one minute each that can be edited together into a longer form video, instead of the other way around.
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