Well John we just entered into the new Year so what does 2023 look for you what Are you excited about this year what are You doing new what are you changing I Mean I'm I'm riding this wave of video That's for sure so I mean My Hope Is that Um long term because I I work with a lot Of agencies and advertisers generally Right and that's that's kind of what my Computer community and what my audience Is [Music] Hi everyone and welcome to another Episode of the high level Spotlight Sessions where we showcase awesome Marketers doing awesome marketing today I'm absolutely thrilled to be joined by A legend Mr John Loomer he is an Accidental marketer and founder of John Loomer digital John thanks so much for Coming on oh man thanks so much for Having me Chase so I got that intro from John and The Accidental marketer part Has me very intrigued you tripped and Fell into marketing what's the story There well it's weird because like I am I'm not your natural marketer Um I was a philosophy major in college Okay I uh it went so my first exposure To sales was my first real job I guess As a telemarketer and I was horrendous At it because I hated telemarketers so Like someone would tell me no I said
Okay you have a good day And uh and so like nothing I did really I would say nothing but a convention I Started getting into like uh uh this is This sounds like I'm on a tangent but Fantasy sports and fantasy sports for Business purposes and that led me to the NBA and when I worked for the NBA I Didn't even realize what I was doing a Lot of times was marketing uh because it Was like overseeing everything right it Was overseeing content and like the Magazine and you know a latest product And and create new products anything Like that but I've never been someone Who likes to sell anything Um so that's why I was like okay I got Laid off a couple times Um and then needed to do something start A website had to create a product had to Make money but I'm not like one of those People who was like He's all over the place trying to pitch Stuff to you you know it's like it's Always been a soft pitch for me like you Come to my website you've been there a Lot maybe one day you'll buy from me Doesn't have to be today and that's kind Of the way I've always approached it Um so that's why I kind of I consider Myself more of an accidental marketer Well I can relate I'm the same way I Hate having to sell things I prefer People just choose to buy them
Um but I will say you know I've been Doing this for a while and you you were Everywhere Um I mean I feel like there was a time When John Loomer was all over my feed Left and right and Um I'm curious so like you know you were Obviously established as one of the top Facebook ad experts or Facebook experts In general I would say did did that come From your time at the NBA is that where You kind of cut your teeth yeah so back In 2007 I still remember there was like A this young kid straight out of college Who came into my office he was like hey We we should work with the Facebook you Should do something with the Facebook And I could not wrap my brain around Whatever it was he was talking about so He didn't convince me he convinced Somebody else that we should partner With the Facebook and Um someone who was higher up than me and So we partnered with the Facebook to Create an app so that was before you Could create your own app and that was Right when it was opening up to everyone Who was older than high school and College so there were only 50 million People on the platform at the time and So I needed to create a profile in order To I was supposed to help manage the First NBA Facebook group Before there were Pages that's just how
How long ago this was so that was my First exposure but and from a personal Standpoint I just fell in love with the Platform because I was a kid who moved Around a lot growing up and so there's So many people in my life who's like I'm Never gonna hear from them again and all Of a sudden you just put in a little Search and there they are like oh my God And then you're connecting with them and It's crazy So I fell in love with the platform but I was also using for a business business Point of view Um moved around a little bit did some Things but I was getting experience you Know with Facebook Um even eventually Facebook ads and then When I started my brand I was using Facebook ads to promote it and that's Ultimately what led to this because it Wasn't so much as like I want to start This Facebook ads education business I Just created a website started writing About stuff because I had nothing better To do I had to fill my time didn't have A job and I wanted to start building That brand I used Facebook ads to Promote it and then I started telling People and teaching people how I was Doing this and that's really what ended Up sticking I I can remember going Through your tutorials on things of like Well I'm in Facebook and that button
Isn't there what the heck and then I'd Like find a job number tutorial and it Would be up to date and I'd be like ah Okay now I understand where I need to go How frustrating was that I mean Facebook Has changed you know interfaces so many Times over the years I can't even Imagine how many times you had to go Back and redo content well it's good and Bad Um it's good because if Facebook stayed The same forever no one would need me Sure Um they just learn it and that would be It but the fact it's always evolving and Changing and creating frustration and Confusion creates a need for my services Um but beyond that You know I I mostly gave up on like Updating stuff Because I like in the early days those First couple of years I was writing Every day so you know I've written I've Written you know over a thousand blog Posts over the years and Uh I've updated some of the stuff that's Like I think was last year the year Before I just had sat Downs like okay I've got to do this like there's certain Blog posts they're kind of like Cornerstone about a topic like we'll say It's like custom audiences or something Like that it's so outdated instead of Creating a new blog post I just need to
Update it so I went through and just Started updating stuff but beyond that That's that's one of the part the Problems like with training right I Created training and I focused on it Being live for the most part because of The understanding that in three months From now it may no longer be relevant or There might be a huge change and that's Just something I've had to embrace it's Also why like for the most part my focus Is on live generally like it's a Community is is a source of of you know My revenue and it's just teaching stuff In real time as a PO and not worrying About oh I've got to update this thing And as somebody who committed to the Chat challenge of staying current and Being a a teacher of what is current did Facebook ever bring you into the fold Like did you get sort of like a direct Pipeline of of new information from them So this was this was always an Uncomfortable place for me right so On one hand you want to take advantage Of those types of opportunities to get Inside voice and whatnot the other hand I think this starts with getting Accusations of being told that you're Being paid by Facebook and that you're a Shill for Facebook and things like that And then so and just not wanting that Um I mean we didn't even buy Facebook Stock which obviously ended up maybe
Being regressive but it's like I don't Want there to be any doubt about whether You could trust my information and it Being completely just not inspired by I'm gonna get paid for this uh by Facebook or by some other person for Telling you this so like if Facebook Does something I don't like I will tell You that they did something I didn't Like Um so I think in the early going like an Example would be I had Uh there's a developer on power editor Remember power editor from way back in The day that was before there was ads Manager and I would kind of go back and Forth to him I was like you know what This this feature would be great or Something like that Um and so and beyond that like there was A PR contact I had for a while So wait are you saying that he would Listen to you and yeah you you directly Influenced the product in some ways That's pretty cool I don't I mean I Could take a whole lot of credit but we Had some back and forth Um but yeah I mean it where it got a Little uncomfortable for me it went Through everybody but they were talking About you know bringing me out and stuff And like I just I don't don't like it so You've never been to the campus I've Never even been to the campus
Um but the funny thing is like I've I've Heard from people who work at Facebook Who will tell me that they've been Following my stuff for years and like They're they're on the development team And there's someone who told me this This a few months ago that they know That a feature took off once I've Written about it that's cool which was Pretty cool it made me feel really good So I've never really had that Really deep connection with Facebook I Know that disappoints people a lot of Times they're like oh if they've got This problem I'll contact John he'll Have a connection he'll put me in touch With somebody like I have none of that I Have no magic fingers at all but uh so That was intentional then that's smart I Mean it's smart and it's commendable so I I can completely understand so talk to Me about the the transition I mean we've All seen kind of you know Instagram blew Up and then they bought them and which Makes little sense and now they retain You know dominance over everything and Then comes Tick Tock and you know has Just been changing things at a rate that I don't think we've ever seen before how Has that been for you I mean did you Jump on Tick Tock right away were you Hesitant uh did not Um You know it's funny like
I think as recent as probably September Of last year I I still thought Tick Tock was kind of A joke I thought of it as dances and Memes and like when even when people are Doing business type videos they're just They're always pointing at text on the Screen and stuff like that Um and I was like this is dumb okay so I Refused Um to to Really jump on board with that Forever Um I was stubborn and trying to do Things the way I've always done them but It really got to the point really as a Business Um I try to do everything the way I'd Always done it which is look I've Accidental marker also accidental CEO I've never started business before so When you start a business you've never Started a business before you're not Necessarily thinking about I want to Create a business that is going to last 10 20 years from now I was just like I Just want to create a business that Makes me money right now and so I I Found ways to be efficient and I I Really was avoiding change at all costs And eventually That hurt that hurt my business I heard Everything so it came to a point where It's like I got to put up or shut up I Gotta do something different uh what's
It going to be And the glaring obvious change I needed To make was I needed to start creating Videos which I had avoided so beginning In October I completely committed to it It created some really bad videos to Start but just started like you know Recording and editing publishing two or Three videos a day Um and I'm eventually then carry that Over from Tick Tock to Instagram reels Facebook reels even YouTube shorts even Though I can't get any traction there Um I'm using those videos for uh LinkedIn also using some of those videos The audio of them for my podcast the Podcast shorts and it's been a it's been Eye-opening it's like You know hearing from people because the Emotional connection you can make with People through video and it just I just Feel kind of silly that it took me this Long to get there Well I feel like it's kind of nice in a Way that Tick Tock dominated so hard That meta had to Pivot themselves and Now the format is kind of the same you Make the content and you it plays on all Three and now YouTube shorts as well Right um I was interested to hear you're Getting no traction there um it's funny Because I think I've seen a lot of People Echo that but bet long term on YouTube shorts because of the fact that
It indexes and YouTube is actually a Search engine and so do you think the The views will come around as those sort Of mature yeah and I have seen like some That did okay I think look I never Listen to one person's uh experience With something and say okay that never Never works uh like I've accumulated 14 000 subscribers on YouTube over you know 11 years or whatever I imagine most Those people aren't active anymore maybe Maybe they don't care about marketing Anymore maybe they've all retired Because they're old now because it's Been so long but so like the fact that I Have those subscribers really doesn't do Anything Um now I'm also not deeply invested in The YouTube platform so I'm not in there Like you know watching other people's Stuff and doing all the things you Really need to do if you're committed to A platform but you're right it is very Helpful Like my commitment really wasn't so much To Tick-Tock even though like I did say Like I want to become you know the Biggest most followed Facebook Advertiser on Tick Tock but the truth is That doesn't even matter because the the Format's the same I can apply that to Facebook reels to Instagram reels to These other platforms and that's really Where overall I'm I'm making the biggest
Impact I mean The whole practice of sharing links Sharing links sharing links that I've Always done because it's driven good Traffic for me wasn't working as well Anymore Um even with a you know 195 000 whatever Followers on Facebook Um start creating these videos and have Never really used Instagram for the same Reasons we've been talking about Um I've only used it as a placement and Then start publishing those videos and All of a sudden and hearing from so many People like oh I haven't seen you in Years like which was kind of painful a Little bit I was like I've been creating Stuff you haven't seen it it's because I Was doing it you know doing it wrong Because I was stubborn but that's been The biggest thing for me is like It's not even one particular platform Like oh that exploded Um it's just this commitment to the Format and look I'm only a few months Into this I'm already seeing impact it's It's this new again uh emotional Connection I'm making with people that I Hadn't made in several years So have you seen any explosions on Tick Tock I mean you hear that like it's the One platform where you could just be a Brand new account and throw up a great Video and get a million views and you
Know a day I've had anything like that Um so Um comparison it's a really good Comparison because I have about the same Number of followers I have I think about 6 000 followers I take talk I just hit 5 000 on Instagram and every once in a While like I'll have a video on Tick Tock that might get 15 20 000 maybe a little bit more than that Followers My my best video so far on Instagram it Was yesterday it was like fourteen Thousand not followers uh Views plays yesterday was 14 000 plays And so it's like I I don't think I'm necessarily your uh Go viral material uh but It's I'm sorry It's but it does well right so it's Getting to a point where I'm getting you Know way more engagement than I've seen In a long time and it's you know it's Tougher to manage and it's good it's Good So let me ask you because I'm sure There's a bunch of folks in the Community watching right now who are Kind of at that same point too where It's like all right I get it I'm gonna Have to make this transition into Creating this form of video Have there been any tools or
Um tips or whatever you picked up along The way that's made the process of Creating these videos a lot easier for You Yeah look uh first of all just use the App whether it's Tic Tac Instagram Whatever and start following these Videos Um I think that was probably what's Mo Was most valuable to me because I went Into it Thinking I'm just gonna record a video And publish it and hopefully people Engage with it without really thinking About how people engage with it and like What does well on the platform and like And then getting having the experience Of having a feed and being like after Three seconds nope you know flip into The next one like why was it that I did That and what what is it that I need to Do and kind of learning from that first So but also follow people who know what They're talking about Um and stuff like like you really Appreciate their videos like oh man and Then you start asking them questions That's one one of the things I was doing I started asking like what's what do you Use for captioning I mean that was one Of the things I asked people a whole Bunch of times early on or and now I get These questions all the time like what Do I use for captioning and the truth is
This like when it comes to software like I'm always kind of hesitant to tell People Because I use what I'm comfortable with It's not that and it's not even stuff That was made for this it's like I use Screenflow because I do screenflow first I was just gonna say are using Screenflow because that's what I use too Yeah I've used it for a decade so I have My my iPhone which records all of my you Know headshot stuff sitting on my desk And at the same time I record screenflow To pick up my microphone and pick up my Screen when I when I need to do that Um it is probably not efficient the most Efficient way to do things but it's what I'm comfortable doing like I've tried to Use cap cut for the editing process I I I maybe it's because of my Experience with screenflow that it Doesn't work the way screenflow does and I don't like all the snapping and stuff That happens in there that I find it Frustrating so I basically use Screenflow to do all of my editing and Then I move it over to cap cut for the Captioning And who knows like three months from now I might have a completely different Process so I guess I understand that that's one of the most Popular questions for anyone getting Into it but I think also first of all
Ask what is the software that I use now That could make it that could be easiest Uh to create and edit these videos if You don't have anything then yeah you'll Have to start taking some suggestions From people I've I mean I can relate we're building Out a new product marketing team and you Know when I sit down and think about Things every we produce a lot of video But it's all horizontal right and now Yeah so wait are we really going to Commit to like doing a second version of All these videos or really try to Retrofit the horizontal into the Vertical screen I mean there's a lot uh There's a lot going on and it is yeah I Think about you can even like before I Really started using Tick Tock and I've Published a couple things to it you can Tell that that's what I did like I Recorded widescreen and then I zoomed in And created us that Um long that tall tall version and it Looked like garbage Um and yeah you can't do it that way but I think for the most part we're moving In a direction where There's nothing that's horizontal for The most part there's very little that's Horizontal anymore so either we're going To be straight 9 by 16 or it's going to Be four by five or it's gonna be square But there's there's very little
Horizontal I mean I know YouTube you Still have that but Which is kind of weird right do you use Uh do you use like Apple TV do you um Yeah yeah do you use YouTube on your TV I don't I don't so like I do I do it all The time I love time it makes sense Right YouTube subscriptions on TV and It's so weird with the shorts because They dominate the feed now and it's like These 10 second Clips on my TV that are Like this so I'm like this is such a Weird point that we're at right now Yeah and I don't know the answer for That uh but it absolutely that was Seriously one of the obstacles for me it Was like how do I record this and be Good for that that platform for that Um because everything everything I had Done was wide And the first thing was understanding is Like oh I don't need some special camera Like these phones are really good that's One of the best parts right and like I Find a lot of tick tock stuff that works Well is just holding your phone and Pointing at your screen like filming my Screen and people don't care like that Seems to be what they want to see yeah I Refuse to go that route but a lot of People do a lot of people do it because I also like okay I like because I I Don't like like showing like my ad Account ID and stuff like that like I I
Make sure to like be able to edit it out And stuff but um no I mean so I use I Used a iPhone 12 I think before and I Just got a new iPhone 14 pro like no It's it's so good like it's certainly Better than anything I could do with my Webcam you know yeah for sure that's Awesome well John we just entered into The new year so what does 2023 look for You what are you excited about this year What are you doing new what do you Change it I mean I'm I'm riding this wave of video That's for sure so Only My Hope Is that long term because I I work with a lot of agencies and Advertisers generally right and that's That's kind of what my computer Community and what my audience is but I Understand I've got something here with This video stuff because there's so many People who are like me just a few months Ago they're like they know they need to Get into it Um but how so I I think I'm gonna you Know the as this builds up Um I think and be helping people more And more on that side of things as well Whether it's starting a video editing Agency or or whatever that may be it's Going to be a new territory I've got my Life is changing this is kind of a weird Tangent it sounds gonna seem like but Last summer was like when everything
Kind of broke for me and that my middle Son moved on to college so my two oldest Child my youngest son moved down to high School So for the last 16 years I've been a Baseball coach for my kids and and it's It's taken up so much of my time that Honestly it's been hard to focus on Business especially the last few years So once my youngest moved on to high School It's been okay now it's time to work and So it's been a new life for me and just Trying to figure out you know what is What is my purpose and how can I help People the most now that's interesting I Feel like there's kind of two levels to The challenge right it's first giving Agency owners Consultants doing it for Themselves and then the next question Becomes well how can we sell this in a Scalable way to our clients right how do We then get our clients to be able to do This so that we can help them succeed And and I you know I think they're two Unique challenges that uh there's you Know it's an open c for the folks who You know figure this out It is a challenge right I mean as an Agency and managing clients On one hand you really want the client To do some of the work like when it Comes to social media because they know Their business better than anybody they
Know their voice they have you know the Cameras and the people around and all That kind of stuff and you want them to To take control of some of that stuff But not all of them have the time or Willingness to do it and sometimes they Just want someone else to do it for them Uh so that I think that's where video Could absolutely come into play whether It's okay telling the client now go Video this stuff tell them what to do Send it to us and we'll cut it up for You yeah that can that can work pretty Well right are you in on Um sort of the trends because I feel Like a big part of this style of video Is A trend pops up and it's like oh okay You're supposed to like do this for two Seconds and then cut to this or whatever And then you know That's what people want to see this week Are you up on the trends yet no this is Where I'm still an old fogy well here's The problem Um I I think it's misguided for those of Us who want a very focused audience Right that you shouldn't really want I Don't know I don't want to say you don't Want to go viral like you got you Certainly have benefits of that but if You go viral that means that you that You are mainstream and you created Something that appeals to everybody
Right but if you have a very focused Potential client Do you really want that right so Um because then next thing you know you Have a huge potential audience but just Like Facebook just like anything else if You have a bunch of people who follow You don't care about yours your real Stuff not just your viral thing but your Real stuff your day-to-day they're just Gonna tune you out and that's bad for The algorithm So you that's it if you go viral and you Gain a bunch of followers through the Next day realize wait a minute I don't Want to follow this person that's right That could be shooting yourself on the Foot so when it comes to Trends I kind Of look at again this this might be the Wrong way look at and maybe I just need To get there uh but I see it the same Way like I'm gonna create stuff that I Think is interesting that's going to Appeal to my target audience I'm not gonna let someone else that Sounds so alternative I'm not going to Let some others someone else's Trend Tell me what kind of content to create Today you know Um I I see the trends as being you know What is my audience talking about the Most right now what do they care about What are they asking about as opposed to What dance should I do or something what
Filter should I use or you know whatever Um I just as a business owner I just Don't I don't see any of those things as Being important I think that was a really good tip right Or a place to start if I work you know We used to work a lot of Med spots I Mean you can't go wrong with that kind Of hat on right well what are our Customers interested or curious about or Wondering what's new in our industry That they have questions about I mean That's a pretty tried and true way to Create content what'd you say anything That's that's how I wrote over a Thousand blog posts over the years I Mean all of that was pretty much Answering questions what are people what Are people you know asking me already What do I think they might be asking and Writing a blog post about it it's the Same thing with videos have you have you Uh dabbled with any of the new AI stuff With Chad GPT Yeah it's it's a little scary look I'm Talking to you're talking to a guy it Took this long to even get into video And now you're gonna tell me to use AI Like and look it's it's scary to us Who've been around down for a while Because we immediately see ways that it Can replace us right but it's also a Matter of First of all you should probably not be
Scared of that understand how it works And be able to leverage it more than Anything Um and that's that's what I'm trying to Focus on the most like uh I wrote a blog Post about Chachi PT and you know how it Can impact marketers and things like That and One of the things I did was I fed chat GPT the content of that blog post and I Said hey give me three blog post title Ideas and I I used one of those ideas Like Ah that's pretty good good title Um so stuff like that like yesterday I Think it was a couple days ago Um I did a video using chat jbt to Generate purchased event code for your Pixel Because it's me personally I'm not like A super technical guy where I don't just Have it memorized if I need to put in a You know I'd go find it and but here you Just like type in your situations like Hey generate pixel event code for a Purchase of this product of this value And it generates it and copy and paste It Um so it's stuff like that like there Are opportunities To make us better at our jobs too now There are opportunities to make us lazy As well like I don't I'm not totally on board with Having chat jbt writing articles for my
For my website yeah I'm with you Um But I will say I think it was yesterday It was sort of late in the day my brain Was like starting to fog up and I was Trying to help somebody I think with a Nurture sequence ideas and I was like uh Wait a minute let's let's try this chat Thing so I happen I'm like what are 10 Common Um concerns about whatever and it's spit Them out and I'm like well here we go we Have 10 email topic ideas so now which Right you know have your client answer These 10 things the way they would and You've got 10 pieces of great nurture Content exactly that's amazing I mean I Think that's I look forward to using it In situations like that it's great for For brainstorming and yeah you run into Writer's block or or something like that I mean I had asked it like one of the Videos I did actually was I asked it you Know what are the primary obstacles that Facebook advertisers face and like man I Mean it was and the thing is I've I've Asked it that multiple times and it Comes up with a different answer every Time but it's like yeah those are good Answers and so I I think it's look You're absolutely gonna have people who Can really easily generate a website Like that because they're just going to Say hey write me an article about blah
Blah and then it's going to write a Whole bunch of Articles and Um I'm really curious to see where that Goes right so First of all with like Google and other Search engines care whether it's AI Generated Like we don't want to see artificially Generated content and we're going to try To figure out if it is or not but here's The thing what if the user doesn't care Really what matters that's what they say Is most important right so that that's Where our struggle as I get I I don't as As a marketer I'm like and someone who Writes I I hate the idea that someone Just throw up a website with a thousand Blog posts on it that they didn't write And put in that the work in it and it Could actually be decent Um that said like If you don't have you know I try to you Know always I think I think from our perspective we Always want to say like why that's not Going to be as good Um I think not having a a true Personality behind it I think Will be a negative Uh like not have any perspective right Like AI can't really provide perspective Or life lessons or life experiences and Things like that that you can inject
Into these articles or they can make it Up I guess it's been done a lot of Inaccuracies and falsehoods too so these Two very good very convincingly though Yeah exactly which makes it even more Dangerous Um in some regards but I like the script Thing that's a really interesting I've Been telling myself I should play with It with CSS like generate me some CSS For whatever because You know I don't remember anything oh I'm terrible at CSS I have to I have to Do a Google search of CSS all the time Right so what if I get good at just Asking the right questions for it to Spit out CSS that could be super helpful In my database so well and I think about Like my website Um people come to my website looking for Answers like they're that'd be pretty Awesome if there's some sort of chat Extension to my website where they it Learns from the content on my website People ask it questions and it's just Like the real person's answering it wow You just made me think of what if we Combined it with like a A hot jar or a Microsoft Clarity like The heat mapping stuff where it's like Just starts talking to you like hey I'm Noticing that people aren't scrolling Past the first two paragraphs of this Page you should probably go work on
Those two paragraphs right I mean well That's another thing like people have Used it to like they will write an Article Put it into chat GPT and say hey clean It up you know clean up the grammar or Whatever and it will and so it could Potentially make us better writers I Don't know maybe Um but yeah I think that's the main Thing is like we shouldn't There's lots of reasons to be kind of Concerned about it and hopefully we'll Take care of uh the things that are Unethical Um but from a marketer's point of view There's so many powerful things that can Make us better and more efficient in our Jobs too uh John I could chop it up with You all day but um I want to be Cognizant of your time your community is The power hitters Club correct tell me About that and uh who's it for yes I Started it man I think about nine years Ago now and uh private Community power Hitters Club you can learn more about it At powerhootersclub.com And it's primarily for agencies and Those who advertise for others And so we in addition to the private Facebook group where you can you know Build relationships with other people And kind of answer questions and get Answers from the community I have weekly
Strategy sessions where it's it's Honestly pretty great because I learn From these people who are in there as Well I'm just like what is everyone else Seeing you know okay I've got this Problem how would you all approach this Uh so that's like a live one hour Session we do every week I do uh live Webinars once a week get access to any Training I've done and uh also get to Book one-on-ones at a huge discount so That's that's power years Club so go to Powerhittersclub.com but you can also Just go to johnlumer.com and get my free Stuff too Awesome John I really appreciate you Coming on hanging out with us yeah Thanks so much Chase man it's been a lot Of fun Thanks for watching guys we'll see you In the next one [Music]
