🕵️‍♂️ Fake podcasts and stealing from TikTok

Hey thieves,

It’s been a minute! The baby just turned 2 months last week (time flies), and life has been full, to say the least.

My new obsession for the coming months: short-form video.

It’s a format that’s already taking off—and it will only get bigger. So I’m diving deep.

Today’s two tactics come straight from my short-form video research, but they work on almost any platform. Let’s dive in!

Stolen Tactics

#1 - TikTok is a content idea gold mine (how to exploit it)

TikTok might not be on your radar (it definitely wasn’t on mine), but as one of the fastest-growing social media platforms, a lot is happening there.

As I dive deeper into short-form video, I came across a pretty cool feature called Creator Search Insights—shoutout to Greg Isenberg for the tip.

This TikTok tool basically lets you see:

→ What topics people are searching for
→ Trending topics by category (like sports, science, food, etc.)
→ Content gaps → things people are searching for but where there’s little to no content supply

That last one is especially powerful. It highlights content opportunities you can jump on next—whether on TikTok or elsewhere.

Here’s an example:

I did a quick search for trending topics in the Science category. The top two results?

Random? A bit. But if I were creating animal-related content, I’d know these are highly searched topics to consider for my next video, guaranteed to be relevant.

I’ll explore this feature more—it’s too good to pass up (plus, it’s free!).

*******

#2 - Fake podcasts clips

Okay, this one blew my mind when I found out.

While exploring short-form platforms, I kept seeing these “podcast” clips where someone is supposedly being interviewed and answering a question.

It turns out that a lot of these are fake.

People are recording themselves as if they’re on a podcast, but it’s just them, solo, answering questions with a mic and camera. No actual podcast involved!

So, why should you care about this? Here’s why this fake podcast format is genius:

→ Easy to record: You can batch these and knock out 10-20 clips in a day.

→ Optimizable for long-form content: These clips work perfectly as teasers for longer videos.

→ Unlimited takes: You can re-record as much as you want to get it right.

But above all, they hold people’s attention way better than a standard “talking to the camera” video. Why?

→ Podcasts feel trustworthy. If you’re the “guest,” it seems like you must know your stuff.

→ Third-person POV adds intrigue. Watching someone answer questions feels more engaging than a straight-to-camera monologue.

Since I learned this trick, I see it everywhere—and now I can’t unsee it.

Would you give this format a shot?

🕵️ Idea stolen from Kallaway

The Stash

🕵️‍♂️ Very useful Audience Research ChatGPT prompts

👉️ Learn how to create stop-scrolling, viral visuals. Course students (me included) have generated 76M+ content views.

🕵️ Youtube’s algorithm exposed (by the guy who runs it)

👉️ LinkedIn is the place to be right now. I’m getting more impressions there with 3k followers than on X with 30k 😅 . Justin Welsh’s course is the perfect place to start (50% off today!)

🕵️ Lessons from re-launching an already successful digital product

I hope you enjoyed today’s email and found it steal-worthy!

See you soon with more thefts.

Alex Llull, Chief Thief