#20 - The Insane Reach of short form vertical videos with rob clark from @thattallfamily
My guest today is Rob Clark. Rob and his family are social media sensations known as “that tall family” and you guessed it, they are all very tall individuals. They post mostly funny takes on being tall and have amassed quite a following. As of today they have about 2.5 million followers across all their social media platforms.. 2.6 billion views. And Rob is here to share with us The incredible reach and influence that short form vertical videos can have on your school’s marketing. And I know there are a lot of schools out there like “ehhh should we get on tik tok? I don’t know.. It’s a whole other platform and we don’t want to do choreographed dances…” Well i’m here to tell you, or rather Rob is here to tell you that getting started with these short vertical videos for tik tok, instagram reels and youtube shorts is easier than you think and can grow your school’s brand faster than you think.
LINKS
Connect with Rob:
-Tiktok
-Youtube
-Instagram
Mentioned in this episode:
-Pricing for Video Storytelling Subscription: pricing.unveild.tv
-Download the 3-part storytelling framework for student/alumni testimonials - "3 Absolutely Crucial Components Every Compelling College Student/Alumni Testimonial Needs"
Interested in creating compelling student success stories?
Learn more about our video storytelling subscriptions
by downloading our pricing guide.
Transcript (done with AI so only about 80% accurate):
00:00:00:20 - 00:00:27:06
Rob
So what it means is that you've got to create content and put it everywhere, and then you let the people decide what they actually find interesting or valuable. So if you only stick with one platform, it's almost like baseball. Like you're going to say, like, I'm going to only swing at the best pitch. Okay, Maybe that's fine. But the guys that swing at more pitches hit more home runs.
00:00:27:06 - 00:00:49:09
John
So, hey, welcome to the Higher Ed Storytelling University podcast on the Be Podcast Network. This is a podcast dedicated to helping higher ed marketers tell better stories, create better content, and enroll more students. My name is John Azoni I’m the founder at UNVEILD, a video production company working specifically with college marketing teams on automating their video storytelling content through a subscription approach.
00:00:49:09 - 00:01:08:15
John
you can Learn more at unveild.tv that’s UNVEILD.tv. If you’re listening to this podcast for the first time, go ahead and subscribe. And if you’ve been listening for a while now and haven’t left a review I’d love for you to break the seal and do that. My guest today is Rob Clarke. Rob and his family are social media sensations will say.
00:01:08:18 - 00:01:32:00
John
Known as that tall family. And you guessed it, they are all very tall individuals. They mostly post funny takes on being tall and they've amassed quite a big following. As of today, they have about 2.5 million followers across all their social media platforms and a total of over 2.6 billion views. I know there's a lot of schools out there that say, like to get into Tik Tok.
00:01:32:00 - 00:01:52:09
John
I don't know. It's a whole other platform. We don't want to do choreographed dances. Well, I'm here to tell you, or rather Rob is here to tell you that getting started with these short vertical videos on platforms like Tik Tok, YouTube shorts and reels is easier than you think and can grow your school's brand faster than you think.
00:01:52:10 - 00:01:57:10
John
So here's my conversation with Rob Clarke from that tall family. Rob, thanks for being here.
00:01:58:04 - 00:01:59:08
Rob
Yeah, thanks for having me.
00:01:59:08 - 00:02:01:22
So tell me about a little bit about your.
00:02:01:22 - 00:02:03:02
John
Your family and your.
00:02:03:02 - 00:02:04:11
Journey on TikTok.
00:02:04:16 - 00:02:28:10
Rob
Yeah. So we've been on social media for a long time. I think I was just checking to make sure I'm telling the story correctly, but I think the first video uploaded to YouTube was about six months after YouTube launched. And so I've been on social media for quite a while. Like everyone else, you know, Facebook 27 was kind of when it felt like the tipping point for most people.
00:02:28:11 - 00:02:54:10
Rob
And so as different platforms evolved and as video became more and more kind of the mainstay and now seems to be the driver, been doing it for a long time. But really, I think most people get interested in the story about two years ago where we decided to actually create content as a family and to actually make it like a brand where we would actually make money with sponsors and and bigger brands and just monetization, those types of things.
00:02:54:18 - 00:03:17:18
Rob
And so that was two years ago. As we pushed into that, actually, I guess it's 25 months to the day now, but it's gone well. So currently we're sitting at 2.5 million followers, about 2.6 billion views. Now, YouTube's are fastest grow right now, but we did have the success right off the bat on Tik Tok. And then once Tik Tok started taking all the market share, it seems like everyone was chasing that format.
00:03:18:01 - 00:03:34:06
Rob
The short video kind of viral, trendy content. And so YouTube, Instagram reels, Facebook reels, and I'm sure other platforms are sure Twitter is going to be getting into it soon. LinkedIn already starting to see some of that crossover as well.
00:03:34:18 - 00:03:38:07
So you guys are on multiple platforms, not just Tik Tok.
00:03:38:23 - 00:03:59:14
Rob
Yeah, we're on all of them. So, in fact, you know, we're just about ready to cross over a billion views on YouTube, which should happen either at the end of this month or early the next month. The way we're growing and so it's over the last year, it's grown much faster than even Tik Tok, where right now it seems like Facebook is the place to be as well.
00:03:59:15 - 00:04:15:17
Rob
So even though people like to make fun of Facebook as being the old dinosaur not relevant anymore, there's still a lot of people on it. Last month we had over 70 million views on Facebook alone. So there's a lot of people consuming a lot of content there still. So we're seeing some growth there as well.
00:04:16:15 - 00:04:39:04
That's great. So tell me about your tell me about like the kind of stuff that you post and then I do what I want to get. I want to get into like how you manage all those content platforms because I think that's really relevant to me personally, selfishly, but also to my head, to my audience. But it's just so people understand, like what you guys post about.
00:04:39:18 - 00:04:42:18
Tell us like the general thrust of your accounts.
00:04:43:03 - 00:05:09:15
Rob
Right. So the big picture, what we want to do is the message is, is for us is going to be about family. So we're a very close family. We like spending time together. We travel together, we play together. We spend a lot of time together even now, create content together as a family. And so part of it, too, is the narrative that you can go on and and find any information you want about about how evil social media is, about how negative it is, and how divisive is.
00:05:09:15 - 00:05:32:14
Rob
And and I think there's truth to all of that. But at the same time, I think there's an opportunity to show positivity on there as well, to show lots of great things. So for us, it's the family play because that's who we are. And so one of the things early on when we were trying to think about like, okay, what's going to be the name of our social media accounts, my wife simply said, Well, anytime we go anywhere, people talk to us.
00:05:33:04 - 00:05:59:14
Rob
That whole family meeting, it's like, Oh, do you know the Clarks are like, Who's that again? Oh, you know, that whole family, just because we all are tollett. And so it just kind of stuck. And so that's kind of our shtick. And so a lot of our videos do kind of poke fun of, you know, the benefits and the downfalls of being tall, you know, for example, like not being able to fit in beds like most people or sometimes showerheads hit you in the chest, those type of things.
00:06:00:12 - 00:06:21:07
Rob
So we'll do some of those videos, even, you know, making fun of, you know, my 17 year old daughter who's, you know, five, ten. But we joke like she's the short one. So that becomes a shtick. And and so we do the family challenges, but we're starting to ship now. It's been two years. This is part of our plan is now we're going to get more into the long form.
00:06:21:16 - 00:06:37:13
Rob
We're going to be doing a podcast. We're going to be doing some more long form content where people get to see more than just the viral videos of 15 or 30 seconds. Now we're going to be creating some of that, you know, 10 to 15 minute long content per day, as well as a podcast.
00:06:38:10 - 00:06:48:19
That's cool. And so just for people to get a visual, the heights in your family range from what I, what I, what I gather is 59271. Is that true.
00:06:49:12 - 00:07:02:15
Rob
That. Yeah, that's true. I mean my I got a 11 year old son who's just starting to grow now, so he's, he's five, five. But yeah, he'll definitely he'll, he'll be way over six foot so he's Yeah, he'll be fine. He'll be just fine.
00:07:04:12 - 00:07:06:21
John
Cool. So tell me about how you.
00:07:06:22 - 00:07:14:09
Well, actually, before we get into all the content platforms, I'm curious as content creators, like, is it just.
00:07:14:09 - 00:07:16:03
John
You creating the content?
00:07:16:13 - 00:07:26:20
Is it is it a team effort? Is the family are your your kids, you know, running cameras, sometimes coming up with ideas? How do you manage the ideation and the execution?
00:07:26:20 - 00:07:47:03
Rob
So it's not really I mean, we don't spend a ton of time on it. So, you know, a typical day would look like, you know, if we're everyone's home and it's 3:00, 4:00, we're like, okay, let's let's post the video. Anyone got any ideas? And so usually it's the things like, I don't know, there's nothing. We don't see anything.
00:07:47:20 - 00:08:07:21
Rob
And then eventually we just talk for about 2 minutes. I'm like, okay, I got an idea, and then we'll film it. All of our equipment is iPhones. That's it. Every every single video has been made on an iPhone. The only other investment has been like an $18 ring light from Amazon that we use. If it's dark outside, that's it.
00:08:09:02 - 00:08:33:17
Rob
And then but yeah, sometimes the kids have a good idea and then sometimes, you know, my wife's sends me some things like, Hey, let's do this one tonight. So it's a lot of that kind of stuff. So anytime we're consuming content, if there's something that we that we see that either gets our attention or makes us laugh or there's something about it that sticks out to us, then a lot of times we're like, How can we take that idea, put our twist on it?
00:08:33:17 - 00:08:56:10
Rob
Because if it resonates with us, then, you know, is there a way to put a twist on it and make it resonate with other people? And so we do that a lot. I think that's an easy way when people say they don't, can't come up with ideas and they're just not creative, you know, they're just still the best ideas, see what's working out there and, you know, whether it's a sound or it's a trend, but then put your own twist on it.
00:08:56:10 - 00:08:59:10
Rob
How can you make it kind of fit your niche, whatever it may be?
00:08:59:21 - 00:09:03:02
Is this something that you guys do full time? Do you have other.
00:09:03:02 - 00:09:03:13
John
Careers.
00:09:03:13 - 00:09:04:18
Going on in the house?
00:09:05:07 - 00:09:29:18
Rob
So no, this is pretty much it full time. I do do some social media work now for college work where, you know, in a college town. And so I'm doing some work for the college, same thing, helping them do this short form video content, get their views and get their followers out, which right now is an easy thing to do if you do the right type of content.
00:09:30:15 - 00:09:49:03
Rob
And now I'm started. I just picked up another client, so now I'm certain for me personally, branching out and helping other people do their social media, but that's all that's fairly recently, you know, getting into the higher ed space. And I'm helping one college, you know, speaking at a conference next month. Those type of things are are starting to happen.
00:09:49:03 - 00:10:13:13
Rob
But for the most part, the vast majority of our income is from social media. The conference I'm speaking at is higher end next month. It's a conference now in Charleston. And so it's an area that I think I'm familiar with. The thing I like about higher education is that because it moves so slow, in some ways it feels like you already know what's going to work.
00:10:13:13 - 00:10:31:11
Rob
And so there's a lot of colleges debating whether or not they should be on TikTok, even though they should have been on TikTok four years ago, meaning that we already know that it's one. And so whether or not people kind of get caught up in is Tik Tok going to get bad? Is it going to go away? That really doesn't matter.
00:10:31:11 - 00:10:49:10
Rob
So even if it's going to get banned next month, there's still value in getting on it today. Because if you know what works on TikTok, if it does go away, then all those eyeballs are going to go to YouTube or are they going to go Instagram or Facebook or eLong is going to bring Vine back on Twitter, Something else is going to take its spot.
00:10:49:20 - 00:11:10:21
Rob
And so if you know and so at the end of the day, though, why Tik Tok so valuable is that everyone's consuming the content, it's grabbing so much attention. And so if you can figure that out, wherever that attention is going to go, then you could take those skill sets there as well. The big thing is, is how do you get over the mindset of that?
00:11:10:21 - 00:11:33:07
Rob
There's just not enough time, there's just not enough people. I think it just takes a little bit of creativity for colleges because I think in higher ed we can get stuck in this mindset. It's always been done this way. We have to do it this way. The reality is, is that colleges are closing down that and then there's other and then there's other like Grand Canyon University.
00:11:34:01 - 00:11:52:03
Rob
Like that's an amazing story where I forget maybe even a little over a decade ago, it was about ready to shut down. And now I think they're at 25,000 students every year, a new record year for them. So I think for them it was just a little bit of a creativity. And some people say, well, is because they're in Phenix.
00:11:52:03 - 00:12:21:03
Rob
And no, they were in Phenix in a rough neighborhood. They almost closed down. And so I don't think it's because of their location, but I think it's the mindset. They were able to do a few things differently that led to success. And I think colleges, when it comes to marketing, need to think a little bit different. I think we need to take ourselves a little less serious, you know, because when students are choosing a college now, they're looking for a place that when I'm done, I'm going to be able to get a job.
00:12:21:11 - 00:12:48:14
Rob
And to that they get that it's going to be a place where they have a good experience. And I think social media can highlight both of those things in a way that resonates with them, meaning that it doesn't have to be the suit and tie buttoned down type approach or the very slick looking marketing materials, whether we like it or not that a lot of students are going to choose a college based on their TikTok page.
00:12:49:01 - 00:12:59:09
Rob
It's just the reality of the world we live in now. I mean, every decision now is probably influenced by social media. So of course colleges are as well.
00:12:59:09 - 00:13:31:14
Yeah, yeah. And I would say that. So I want to talk about being on multiple platforms and I've had a few guests on here where they're thing because I, because I think coming from the higher ed world, it's an already overloaded marketing department, like the idea of coming up with just being consistent in the first place, just even on one platform, it seems like a challenge, much less like spreading that and being consistent in the ways that the algorithm needs in different platforms.
00:13:32:10 - 00:13:44:06
And so we've had some guests on here that say, Just pick one and just do it really well, but you're kind of saying, let's maybe like pick one type of content that you make, but then repurpose it across the board.
00:13:45:01 - 00:14:04:19
Rob
Yes. Meaning that if you were to sell a product, would you want to sell it in one store and you could only pick one store? Or would you rather sell it in ten stores? Of course, everyone say we'd rather sell in ten stores because you never know where the people are going to be and where they're going to be.
00:14:04:19 - 00:14:28:22
Rob
So this is some story that I tell all the time. Is that quantity over quality. Now, I would put a little asterisks by that. That quality is subjective. Now there are certain things that you have to do. For example, if you're going to do a tick tock, a YouTube or an Instagram reel, the vertical videos, if you're just going to put a picture over top of that and put some tech.
00:14:28:22 - 00:14:47:09
Rob
So it looks like an ad that's not quality, that's that's just laziness. And so you see that a lot. But when I'm talking about quality, it's like know how to actually create a vertical video because that's what they're designed to do. But then you're not you have no control over what's going to take off or what's going to flop.
00:14:47:18 - 00:15:06:20
Rob
And even for us in our own personal brand, we see that all the time. There's times where we do a video and are like, This one's not going to do well. In fact, our biggest video on YouTube is at 196 million views right now, and that one was a 32nd idea. We filmed it, edited it, posted it all within 2 minutes.
00:15:07:06 - 00:15:24:19
Rob
And my mindset, it's like, it's not great, but we just have to get something out there for the day because we didn't have anything posted yet. Ended up being one of our best videos of all time. And on the flip side, I've had ideas where I'm like, This is amazing. It's the right music, it's the right kind of trend going on right now.
00:15:25:07 - 00:15:46:08
Rob
It's hitting the pop culture at the right time and then it flops. So so what it means is that you've got to create content and put it everywhere, and then you let the people decide what they actually find interesting or valuable. So if you only stick with one platform, it's almost like baseball. Like you're going to say like, I'm going to only swing at the best pitch.
00:15:47:07 - 00:16:07:11
Rob
Okay, maybe that's fine. But the guys that swing at more pictures hit more homeruns, right? Yeah. And so that's in social media. That's what you're trying to do. Those homeruns drive everything, those big videos that that pop up, drive everything. So you need to be okay with striking out a lot because that a homerun is going to make up for everything.
00:16:07:11 - 00:16:24:17
Rob
And I know that's interesting. It's the same way. You know, people always invest and they're okay with ten businesses going to zero or even 100, business is going to zero. But if that one makes it, then they make all their money back. And then so and so social media is the same way. And there's no there's no downside.
00:16:24:17 - 00:16:44:10
Rob
Like if you put a video out because it's free. And if you find a find a way to get a rhythm where you actually can create content. So the only reason I think is we're talking about higher ed and talking about marketing departments is that I just think they have the right wrong mindset because they do take quality first.
00:16:45:02 - 00:17:04:19
Rob
It's a little bit about whatever I put out. There is a kind of reflex on who I am as a person. So they want that perfect, polished pitch, perfect lighting. They got the right diversity, they got, you know, they got everything. It's got to be perfect, but then it doesn't resonate. But they spend all their time, money and effort in this one video, so that's all they have.
00:17:05:08 - 00:17:16:13
Rob
Whereas if the mindset is if you had 20 videos instead of one, chances are you're going to reach way more people with your message and really that's that's the goal or it should be when it comes to marketing.
00:17:17:05 - 00:17:37:00
John
Quick break here to tell you about our video storytelling subscriptions. Look, making even one video takes a lot of legwork if you're doing it. The more polished video route. If you're doing it more the iPhone, you know, quick grab route, do that all day long. But if you want to do the polished videos where you're hiring an outside crew and that kind of thing, it's a lot of work that goes into it.
00:17:37:00 - 00:18:03:09
John
Lots of steps to hire a video vendor, herd all the cats, and then you get one video out of that. Most times. But imagine a world where you'd get 132 videos across the year and pretty much all you had to do was find the stories of successful student and alumni to tell and pass on to someone else to do all the nitty gritty scheduling, planning, coordinating all that stuff that you hate to do well, that someone is us UNVEILD
00:18:03:09 - 00:18:28:02
John
Our aim is to take the friction out of telling great stories. Whether you're a big school or a small liberal arts college, you can tell really compelling stories all year round through video and fill your content calendar with great video content. And we get this done anywhere in the U.S. We bet shoot an entire year's worth of content and then every month drip out to you one new student or alumni story along with a whole package of additional video content.
00:18:28:02 - 00:18:46:20
John
So you get the full length story, which is usually 2 to 3 minutes. You'll get a 32nd cut down to 15 seconds, cut down, use those in various ways, and then eight topical videos, extra good stuff from the interview that we've repurposed into content for you. And here's where this can benefit you when it comes to these short form vertical videos.
00:18:46:20 - 00:19:06:10
John
Not only can you take what we deliver and crop them vertically and, you know, make great tok and reels content, but you can keep all the B-roll and interview footage that we shot so you can make as much stuff as you want. There's a wealth of additional content opportunities as we're building your massive footage and interview library and you don't have to go film anything.
00:19:06:10 - 00:19:21:18
John
So head over to pricing.unveild.tv to download our pricing guide, which has everything in it you need to know. And if you'd like to chat further, you can book a call with me on our website. unveild.tv. I'd be happy to answer any questions you may have. Okay, back to my conversation with Rob. Okay.
00:19:21:18 - 00:19:23:01
John
So so for me.
00:19:23:01 - 00:19:42:22
When I when we talk about like multiple content platforms, say a school has has a vertical video and it's something, you know, okay, they feel good about this. I want to repurpose it over on on YouTube. Would you say like you guys developed a separate strategy for YouTube that was separate from TikTok like versus like where, where YouTube?
00:19:42:22 - 00:19:58:07
It's like very thumbnail focused. So it's now it's like, okay, do we got to like test all these different thumbnails and, and worry about that? Like was there like other zero another package of things that you guys picked up to worry about going into YouTube.
00:19:59:10 - 00:20:27:14
Rob
So no and so we did it a little bit different here and I think it was smart in some ways. And I think, you know, for us specifically at this school, we'll figure out a way to bring it back together. But we we have a marketing department and they kind of did everything they did. But like most schools that I've looked at, the social media is really like an afterthought because marketing departments often are also the PR department almost, and also the communication department.
00:20:27:14 - 00:20:51:23
Rob
So we've got a lot of different paths. And so when I came in, it was just and it wasn't even like I'm seeing overall overseeing all social media. It's like, no, I'm just overseeing tick tock. Instagram reels, Facebook reels, YouTube shorts. But those are the four areas right now that are driving all of the traffic and so I've been here a number of months.
00:20:52:08 - 00:21:14:17
Rob
And if you take away the videos that we paid for people to watch, like on YouTube, for example, like 30% of our history of YouTube has happened in the last six months. So a little bit of it is figuring out how the platforms are reacting right now. So YouTube is almost like, you know, you bring it up YouTube as an example, you got to understand it's almost like two different platforms now.
00:21:15:00 - 00:21:35:10
Rob
So you still have the long form YouTube, you is through thumbnails, you're thinking through titles, but then there's also the YouTube shorts. And so the YouTube shorts is totally different. And so you don't have to worry. In fact, you can even choose a thumbnail for YouTube shorts. Now I think they're talking about maybe they're going to let some people do it, but right now you can even choose that.
00:21:35:15 - 00:21:58:04
Rob
And so you don't even have to worry about that. But knowing that YouTube shorts is going to drive way more traffic to YouTube than your long form content. Now, of course, it's different content. It's it's, you know, long form people are more invested, they're spending more time. It goes deeper. But you got to look as YouTube shorts is getting a lot more people into your funnel.
00:21:58:04 - 00:22:25:05
Rob
So it's almost looking at it as two different things. Same thing with Instagram and Instagram, real is a different mindset than posting something that may be a photo. So again, almost like two different mindsets, but the Instagram reel is going to drive way more people to your Instagram and the post will. And so when we start creating short like, you know, I've been on YouTube since like 2000, I think it was 16 was our first video.
00:22:26:05 - 00:22:57:10
Rob
No, wait, 2006. Sorry, I missed. I missed I missed ten years there. Sorry about that. And so so but and I did hundreds of videos, like literally hundreds of videos. And then when I broke a thousand subscribers, like, it was like, amazing, like a lot of hard work years of making videos. And then when we started doing the YouTube shorts, when it clicked for us, then we were off to the races and now we're at almost 800,000 subscribers.
00:22:57:10 - 00:23:28:00
Rob
And like I said, just just yesterday we crossed over 900 million views. And so it's a totally different beast than, you know, because they're choosing TikTok. So all that to say is if you're talking to a school is they got to have this as a part of their package, you know, because if you're doing the other content, very few of your followers or subscribers are seeing it where the YouTube reels, shorts, the vertical video is going to get to new people and it's going to grow your platform a lot faster.
00:23:28:00 - 00:23:43:01
Rob
Now, most of them will have no interest at all in who you are. They just want to watch the video, but a portion of them will. And so because all the numbers are there, the numbers are so big, it's going to work out very well for for the school or the organization or whoever you're working with.
00:23:43:19 - 00:23:54:16
What kind of content would you suggest that colleges create if someone wanted to get their marketing team on board with this, where would they start?
00:23:54:16 - 00:24:16:13
Rob
So here's a problem with most creators is they overthink everything. And so they'll want to sit down. They want to talk about having a strategy, you know, like we talked about earlier, you just don't know what's going to hit. And so some easy things are more than likely. Most sports teams already have their own social media, so you just see what they're doing.
00:24:16:13 - 00:24:36:04
Rob
You can even take and borrow their stuff that could go on the main page day in the life that works well. That's very kind of common. You see that all the time. So you can have a student film something for you the day in the life that they want to edit it together. Great, fine, if I just record that kind of stuff.
00:24:36:10 - 00:24:57:20
Rob
But then a lot of Q&A. So what we found is very helpful is students asking questions to the president and then the president in return asking questions to the students. And that could be everything from serious stuff, like, hey, you know, what makes our college different to everything to like, what's your favorite ice cream? And so all of that is good because it's just bringing awareness to your college.
00:24:58:21 - 00:25:23:04
Rob
Another area that we want to push more into is, is the same thing. Questions to alumni or alumni asking questions to the university, doing some long form content that you can break down into short form contact with alumni. And then there's just following some of the trends just showing. So, for example, which I think this is popular among a lot of campuses, is things like urban golf.
00:25:23:04 - 00:25:41:20
Rob
And and I never heard about it. You know, I saw some kids. And so basically it's you play golf with a golf club, but a tennis ball. And so they'll go out on the field and okay, hole one, you got a hit here and you got to hit it up the steps in the library. And so well, so we just record like, okay, this is a thing like have you heard about urban golf?
00:25:41:20 - 00:26:00:04
Rob
And we record it and make it into a 32nd video and it does super well. And so in some ways that in some ways has nothing to do with the college, but at the same time, everything because it shows you the culture, it shows you what it looks like to be a student. So really, anything and everything should be content.
00:26:00:04 - 00:26:22:13
Rob
So everything from your athletics to, you know, what does it look like? Where's the best places to study? And if you could do it without making it into an ad, if you could be really just real and authentic, those always play the best. So so really, because there's some every college, no matter how big or small they are, you know, they have students, faculty, they have administrators, they exist in a town.
00:26:22:13 - 00:26:46:09
Rob
So another area that we're going to push into is how do how does our college impact the local community? So we're going to be making some content around that. So every college's in a town. So so really there's an unlimited supply of content that could be made if they're just willing to take a step back and not overthink it, but just try to say, okay, what would people want to see about us as an organization?
00:26:47:05 - 00:26:50:14
Rob
And then if you could answer that question, then you'll be just fine.
00:26:51:01 - 00:27:12:01
Oh, that's great. Very good. Practical advice. Tell me, like the videos you'd started making, you know, was it two years ago with with that tall family? Has has your content strategy changed? Much like if you look back to two years ago, are you guys like I remember when we were creating those kind of videos and we just didn't know what we were doing or.
00:27:12:17 - 00:27:14:08
Tell me about any evolution That's.
00:27:14:21 - 00:27:35:09
Rob
No, not too much. And so what I love about social media that's different than most marketing is that if you put a billboard up, you put a radio ad out, you put something in the newspaper, you have no idea like how people are engaging with that. But the beauty of social media is as we create content, like we're very active in our comment, so we'll reply to a lot of people.
00:27:35:15 - 00:27:53:11
Rob
If they have any questions, we answer the questions. But a lot of those questions then can lead to actually more content. And so we're able to see what people engage with, what they find interesting, what they want to know about. And so we can make content around that. And so I don't think a lot has changed. I think it's just evolved a little bit.
00:27:53:19 - 00:28:12:07
Rob
So after two years and I think we're at 809 hundred videos that we've made in the last two years, you start to see what works, what doesn't work, and you can kind of start. And there's times where we try content that we have no idea that it's kind of out of left field. We haven't done it before because we don't want to just get stuck to the same thing.
00:28:12:21 - 00:28:31:04
Rob
We do want to try different things and sometimes when we have tried different things, it works really well. But I would say that it's not that it's change, it's just evolving. And so now we're adding more things. So the long form content will be like an evolution and the podcast will be an evolution. So we're adding on top of it.
00:28:31:11 - 00:28:38:03
Rob
So now we've got this base and a percentage of that. Those people will then follow us to the to the next thing that we do.
00:28:38:22 - 00:28:44:22
So what do you guys imagine talking about on the on the podcast? How would you translate what you're doing now into a long form?
00:28:44:22 - 00:29:04:04
Rob
So so a lot of that's going to be family stuff because that's who we are. So we're not trying to create anything. We're not trying to act as experts. And so we're not going to be like, Oh, hey, we're parenting experts or relationship experts. It's going to be just our journey. And my wife and I have been married for 23 years.
00:29:04:04 - 00:29:23:07
Rob
We have four kids aging from ages 18 to 11. So we're just going to talk about our journey, what it's going to look like and everything. Some of the height stuff will come in because that's just kind of a shtick and that's what people kind of attract some people, but a lot of it will just be our life in general.
00:29:23:07 - 00:29:40:11
Rob
So right now we're in the process. We live in Illinois, but we're moving to Florida. And so as we do that, we'll journey some of that and why we're doing that And what does that look like as we talk about what are our kids going to do when they leave the house? What opportunities are they going to have?
00:29:40:18 - 00:30:07:15
Rob
And so it's like sharing our life. And in that, I think there will be some people that will be like, Oh, that's interesting, That may be helpful to me, or That's interesting, but that wouldn't work for me. And so the podcast will just be sharing more about life. And then I think when you share with people, they either do one or two things, they see something and like I want to I want to do that because I think it's helpful or I want to go the opposite direction because I think going the opposite direction is going to be helpful.
00:30:07:23 - 00:30:18:12
Rob
But at the end of the day, it's just putting content out there. And eventually I think there will be some people that engage with it and then some won't, but I think it'll be helpful. For some.
00:30:18:22 - 00:30:46:00
That's great. I like the idea of, you know, you guys have a thing or a shtick as you call it, but that's leading into actually more meaningful content that that people can resonate with on a heart level. And I think too, it's one thing I noticed as I was as I was watching a lot of your videos recently was you have kind of the same message basically saying like, we're tall, look at us.
00:30:46:00 - 00:31:09:20
You know, like we're you know, we're we're a uniquely built family or whatever, but it doesn't get old. You know, I think like you find different iterations, like different ways to say that. And I think when when marketing teams think about repurposing content, they worry, am I are people going to be bored with like the same message? It's just set in different ways.
00:31:10:15 - 00:31:21:05
And I think that that's a fear just to get over because I think, you know, eventually, you know, there's beauty in, in and people kind of knowing you for a thing or knowing you for a message.
00:31:21:10 - 00:31:44:09
Rob
And not only that, but they expect it. And so we do stuff from time, like I mentioned before, we'll do different things and sometimes it doesn't resume. And so what we realize is that for for example, LeBron James is very good about likable people. Tune in to watch him play basketball. People don't tune in to listen to LeBron James talk about his favorite books.
00:31:44:09 - 00:32:03:04
Rob
They just don't. In fact, he tries to do that sometimes when they make fun of them. And so they're like, no, we want to watch you play basketball because that's what you're really good at. And so and I get that. And sometimes in the comments we'll get like, okay, your whole personality is being tall, but we take all that with a grain of salt because we know that's not true.
00:32:03:04 - 00:32:22:12
Rob
They're seeing 15 seconds of our day and we just happened to make a video that is watched by millions of people where the people eating comments often have three or four, maybe six videos, and half of them are playing road blocks. And so and there's nothing wrong with that. Like, you know, like my kids like playing Roblox as well.
00:32:22:12 - 00:32:40:20
Rob
There's nothing wrong with that. But all that to say is that sometimes people make leave a comment like that. It usually comes from a place of jealousy. And so and in social media, like I get it, we do a lot of stuff and we're maybe we're not the content you want to watch. Great. You can easily slide past us, you know, that's too much.
00:32:41:02 - 00:32:56:19
Rob
That's too much. Go ahead and block us. You'll never see us again. And so for us, that is all that comes with a grain of salt. But when it comes to university ese, you know, it's one of those things where this may be a marketing principle as well. They feel like, Oh, we said this about our one program.
00:32:56:19 - 00:33:16:05
Rob
They said at one time it's in a brochure that nobody ever saw. And it's like, no, you got to say the same thing 100 times because every time you put out a new piece of social media, new people are going to see that. And so that's kind of the mentality. Every time we put out a video, more people that have never seen our stuff before see it than have.
00:33:16:13 - 00:33:35:22
Rob
And so that's what we want. And so, yeah, maybe you've seen this video before, but a million people that just watched it has I have never seen this before. So for us, that's the win. And if we get to, you know, at some point some people say, okay, I'm over this, it's not entertaining to me anymore. And they unfollow us that I totally understand that.
00:33:35:22 - 00:33:36:13
Rob
And I get that.
00:33:36:22 - 00:34:01:02
Definitely. I love Roblox, too. I've been I think if my my seven year old is she's she's that's listen what she's into now like watching videos of people playing Roblox and they're like these like to me they're dumb like like like use like obstacle courses or like I'll play. And with her I'm like, what is the point? Like, what is what are we her just jumping from one thing to another.
00:34:01:02 - 00:34:20:04
But but she loves it. I got really into the game. Flag Wars. Okay. Like it's like capture the and it became a problem. My wife had to, like, talk to me about it. She's like, you're I, she's like, are you okay? You're like, constantly escaping to this game for four eight year olds.
00:34:20:14 - 00:34:21:07
Rob
Yeah, Yeah.
00:34:21:18 - 00:34:27:19
No, this has been great. ROBERTS Appreciate it. Appreciate you coming on and talking about this. Where can people find you?
00:34:28:22 - 00:34:56:17
Rob
That's all. Family. Yeah. So, I mean, yeah, we were there. So if anyone types that into Google, you'll find everywhere if anyone on a message is message, I mean, Instagram messenger, I always see those 100% of the time. So that's all family there. You know, LinkedIn, if want to discuss more things, I see that as well. And then my emails you know that's whole family dot com my emails on there so I'm very easy to find if you want to find me.
00:34:56:17 - 00:34:58:01
Rob
All my information's out there.
00:34:58:15 - 00:34:59:16
I appreciate you coming on.
00:35:00:04 - 00:35:03:10
Rob
Of course. Yeah. Thanks for your time, John. And I'm sure we'll run into each other again.
00:35:04:09 - 00:35:27:15
John
Thank you for listening. Go check out Rob and that whole family on all the different social media platforms, and I think you'll really enjoy their stuff. I also want to give a shout out to Troy Singer, co-host of the Higher Ed Marketer podcast for introducing me to Rob. And they've got a really good episode with Rob as well over on their podcast, so go check that out.
00:35:27:15 - 00:35:49:20
John
Three things I want to give you before you go. Reminder to go to pricing that, unveil that TV. If you're interested in our subscriptions and download our pricing guide and number two, if you want to take the storytelling you're already doing to the next level, I have a free resource for you. It's a three part framework for creating compelling student and alumni testimonials that you can get at unveild.tv/studetntestimonials
00:35:49:20 - 00:36:08:00
John
And it doesn't even have to be for video. Put the framework to use in any format in which you tell student outcome stories. And number three, we'd love for you to leave a review for this podcast. It helps us out a ton. Thank you for listening. My name's John is go connect with me on LinkedIn and in the meantime, I'll catch you on the next episode of the Higher Ed Storytelling University Podcast.
00:36:08:02 - 00:36:10:06
John
Thanks.
