You are reading 3Bits & Change, Joseph's email about building a direct to consumer business on the internet. Today’s email was written to the sound of the coffee brewing and the dog eating breakfast.
Good morning,
The big news… we signed a lease on a small spot. It has a set of complementary retail co-tenants next to a gas station with above average gasoline sales on the west metro of the Twin Cities. There is a grocery store, a wine store, a hardware store and a bread shop all on the same corner - and with ample parking too. We’re excited.
We’ll be sharing more as it comes into shape. For now, the to do list includes assuming responsibility for power and gas as well as working with a contractor on some interior finishes and figuring out internet. We must have internet.
The target is to be sharpening in the space in early Oct and open for customers by the 15th for the holiday sharpening rush. Wish us luck!
For this issue, I had pre-drafted this TikTok vs YouTube shorts comparison. We’re creating on mobile in TikTok nearly daily and often multiple times a day. However, once the video is uploaded it’s also repurposed onto YouTube.
Enjoy this mini breakdown of results from the same video on each platform.
Bit #1 • Knife sharpener, by Mail
This video matches a common template that works fairly well.
Show a dull knife on the tester.
Show the sharpener.
Show the same knife as a sharp knife on the tester.
Conclusion… the number is lower
Results
TikTok = 6552 views
YouTube = 89,000+ views
From what I can tell, there is no real one rhyme or reason to why something goes so well on one platform and not on the other. I can guess that it’s a combo of things (time of day, previous followers, tags, content, watch time, captions? Etc.) Yet, what is successful in numbers is frequently not only about content but also platform. And, they are not consistent.
Bit #2 • Obsidian
Here we have the inverse. TikTok comments (and to some degree YT but there are fewer of them), regularly refer to obsidian or tungsten being the sharpest materials in the world. So, I ordered some. It came in rather large hunks.
One of the first things I wanted to do with it is show that it’s NOT sharp because it’s obsidian, unless it’s sharpened. Mission accomplished.
Results
TikTok = 116,800 views
YouTube = 6,400 views
Now the comments have moved to surgical needles being “the most sharp things in the world.” We’ll see. :) We’ve run a small series on scalpels.
Bit #3 • Big old cleaver
And, here we have YT winning again.
TikTok = 11,900 views
YouTube = 26,000 views
Bonus Bits
For a larger view, here are some dashboard screenshots from the platforms.
Shopify has these snippets each time you login. We’ve got some work to do on landing pages, conversion and increasing time on site from social traffic.
TikTok drives the most traffic of the group in recent weeks.
It’s 7am at the time of this screen capture and I can assure you this traffic is all bot/scraper traffic. Ugh. Fake traffic that will never convert.
We’ve crossed a Million views on YT
Here is the last 60 days on TikTok. Things have slowed.
The top video on YT is an Old Knife Sharpener video I snapped in an antique store in WI. It was made with very little thought. Just point and shoot.
TikTok = 12,700 views
YouTube = 112,500 views
About Reels. The auto connection to Instagram Reels has been glitching. I have noticed that if it’s posted by hand it gets a different result than if posted programmatically (often zero views). The next step is to take just the better performing videos from the other platforms and post by hand. That sounds like a bummer.
Sum
We’ll keep experimenting and talking about kitchen knives and their many intricacies - oh, and sharpening them.
I’ve been surprised by the view counts on YT. The highest engagement and views are still on TikTok but we’ll see for how long. The more we’re posting to YT the more that channel is growing. But there is a long way to go on long form content before we can monetize. :) Apparently “shorts” watch hours don’t count, yet.
We’ll figure out an Instagram reels work flow too and keep learning.
Got suggestions or observations? Hit reply.
Change
One district in CO has risen to the occasion and is offering free lunch to all kids. They are estimating an additional cost of $2M for the whole year. This is a district of ~20k students K-12. LINK
There are pushes around the country to provide full paid lunch to all kids. Here is a leader in OH in support of that effort. LINK
Nancy Younglove, food service director at New York's Hannibal Central School District, is concerned for families who closely miss the cutoff for free or reduced lunches and hopes the federal government will enact universal school meal legislation. LINK We share the concern. And, until the government is ready to buy all the food (even for the kids who can afford it) we’ll keep raising funds. Let us know if you know someone in food service. We’d be happy to help give them a reason to talk about this problem and to engage their community in raising funds.
A MN Senator (S. 4602) and a Representative (H.R. 8477) introduced the No Shame at School Act in July at the federal level. MN passed a bill addressing shaming at a state level last year. The next step in both cases is for the Senate bill to go to the Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry committee and the House bill to go to the Education and Labor committee.
On Your Way
I’m going to two baseball games this week. The team is no longer good but the company and the environment will be conducive to conversation and connection.
May you find some solid time and opportunities to relax and socialize with friends in the coming weeks. Maybe light a fire in the backyard pit one of these evenings?
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Follow @josephrueter on Instagram or Linkedin.
Order kitchen knives sharpened or give the gift of sharp at Vivront.com.