---
title: '2 Billion View Creator Reveals His Secret Playbook'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=jE97pZuWXpI'
video_id: 'jE97pZuWXpI'
date: 2026-07-27
duration_sec: 3253
---

# 2 Billion View Creator Reveals His Secret Playbook

> Source: [2 Billion View Creator Reveals His Secret Playbook](https://youtube.com/watch?v=jE97pZuWXpI)

## Summary

Austin Armstrong, a creator who grew 1.5 million followers and generated over 2 billion views in 12 months, shares his playbook for using AI to go viral and build a business. He discusses tools like Perplexity Computer, AI video generation, and his software Syllably, along with strategies for LinkedIn, Facebook, and micro SaaS.

### Key Points

- **Perplexity Computer: Agentic AI** [01:14] — Austin uses Perplexity Computer, an agentic AI that can perform actions like scraping brand deals, sending cold emails, and monitoring responses autonomously. It ran for two weeks and was profitable.
- **Setting Up Perplexity Computer** [03:10] — He set it to find brand deals, scrape emails, log into Gmail, send cold emails, and negotiate. It cost credits but covered costs with free $400 credits on Max plan.
- **Cracking LinkedIn with AI** [05:47] — He used Perplexity Computer to scrape top profiles in his niche, analyze outlier posts, and create a plan of 15 posts. Gained 9 million impressions and 6 million unique reach in 90 days.
- **100k YouTube Subscribers in 3 Days** [07:11] — After getting banned on TikTok, he focused on YouTube shorts with Jeremy Vest. They studied top-performing TikTok videos and uploaded only the best ones (broad 'five websites feel illegal to know' series) three times a day. One video hit 22 million views.
- **Recurring Series Content** [09:30] — Using a consistent format (e.g., 'ChatGPT Secrets Part 1,2,3') creates episodic content that viewers expect, increasing view duration and compounding growth.
- **Syllably: AI Video Software** [11:50] — Syllably is a tool for creating videos from idea research to script generation, AI-generated faceless videos, and scheduling across platforms. It uses scene-by-scene generation based on script context.
- **AI Video Generation Overview** [15:03] — AI video models like Google V3 and Seed Dance (from TikTok's parent) are early but improving. Limitations include short clips (8-15 seconds) and occasional errors with hands/feet. Use for B-roll is recommended.
- **Ancient History Faceless Channel** [21:58] — Austin created a faceless YouTube channel about ancient history using Syllably. It uses AI voice and generated imagery, performing well as a case study for his software.
- **Facebook Professional Mode** [23:36] — Turning on professional mode on a personal Facebook profile unlocks page features like analytics and monetization. Austin gained 1 million followers and 1.4 billion organic views in a year.
- **Text-Only Posts Drive Views** [25:15] — 78.2% of his Facebook views came from text-only posts (no images or video). Examples include ChatGPT prompts. A single post on ChatGPT tips got 50 million views.
- **Call to Action in Comments** [27:46] — He places CTAs (e.g., newsletter signup, software link) in the comment section of every post. This drives conversions without cluttering the main post.
- **Threadmaster: Micro SaaS for Threads** [29:57] — Threadmaster.ai is a $5/month tool he built via vibe coding. It generates threaded posts for Facebook, replicating his viral formula of black background, white text, and numbered steps in comments.
- **Ebooks Are Dead – Micro SaaS Wins** [44:36] — Austin argues that ebooks are a one-way transaction; micro SaaS tools (like Threadmaster) provide ongoing value, collect emails, and generate revenue. They can be built with vibe coding for under $200.
- **Vibe Coding: Build Software with AI** [46:34] — Using tools like Replit or Lovable, non-technical people can create full software by describing it in natural language. His Threadmaster app cost under $200 and makes $10k/month at 98% margin.
- **Mom Using AI** [52:57] — His 60-year-old mom, who barely used computers, now uses ChatGPT, AI image generation, and music generator Suno to create and sell ebooks and songs on Gumroad.

### Conclusion

Austin Armstrong demonstrates that AI tools like Perplexity Computer and vibe coding enable creators to automate processes, generate leads, and build scalable businesses. The key is to treat content creation as a business, not just a creative pursuit.

## Transcript

board. >> Imagine growing 1.5 million new followers and generating over 2 billion views in just 12 months. Pretty much media platform. Don't be a content creator, be a business owner who creates
content. So everything that I do has a back-end system in place to drive subscribers, to drive brand deals, affiliate marketing. Nobody does this. help you convert more of those viewership uh into into traction.
>> He's the author of the book Virality, your playbook for how to use AI and social media marketing to go viral and get paid. And this might be one of the most tactical growth hacking episodes for your brand on the Think Media
back. How's it going? >> It's good, brother. Always good to see it's been a couple years, man. loved it. We got such good feedback. Well, you've been up to so many new
things. We're going to be talking about AI faceless content, AI video, AI avatars, vibe coding, and really practical tips for people to grow their brand across all social media platforms. Um, but I want to dive right into some
niche stuff that you've been doing to use AI to go viral on LinkedIn. Let's >> Yeah. Yeah. So, I got obsessed with this new tool, Perplexity Computer. Now, Perplexity before. They've been around for a while. It's kind of a uh rapper
that has access to all of the models, but just in February, they released their agentic workflow, kind of a competitor to Open Claw. It works in your browser. It works on your phone. You can continue workflows from one to
You can continue workflows from one to the other. And it is probably the best userfriendly agentic AI that I have found. And I'm obsessed with it. So >> define that in lab layman's terms what agentic AI means.
>> So if we look at how most people are using chat GPT, they type in a prompt, they get an answer, and then they have to do that action. Agentic AI takes it to the next step and does the action for you. So, a quick example of this, the
first thing that I ever told Perplexity Computer to do was go online, find potential brand deals for me, scrape their emails, log into my Gmail account,
respond or send cold emails on my behalf, and then monitor responses every few hours to see if there's a response, and then negotiate on my behalf. So it lives online in the background for months at a time, will turn itself off,
turn itself back on, and do that thing on my behalf. So it gives me more time, >> Yeah. >> How long did you run it? >> It's quite expensive. So I [laughter] ran it for uh about two weeks and I
>> Uh >> the amount of And this would be you >> Yeah, credits. Tokens. using these AI tools, there's going to be a cost to it.
>> So, setting up Perplexity Computer to reach out to do brand deals for you >> um for 2 weeks >> going back and forth doing these emails >> Okay. >> So, um now I will say upfront they have
a great sign up program uh depending on the time of viewership on this that they the time of viewership on this that they gave you about uh $400 in free credits to get started when you sign up for the the Max plan. Yeah. So, uh, that went
pretty far as as well, but, uh, I have it on recurring, uh, um, uh, payments to to recharge those credits. So, >> then did it lead to any brand deals? >> did it cover your cost or >> Yes. Yeah. Yeah. So, it was profitable.
>> Nice. So, so how do you know what roughly how much work did it do? it reach out to? >> Yeah, about 100. So, it it found scraped with. >> Y
>> Just the internet. It found the appropriate brand ambassador. Now, this is this is one thing that that blew my mind cuz it's it's a little nuance. So, mind cuz it's it's a little nuance. So, it got we got a response from the wrong
it got we got a response from the wrong person at that company. They said, "I'm not the we're interested. We work with uh brand ambassadors and influencers. Here's the correct email address to send out to." and Perplexity Computer wrote a
new email, referenced the original person and said, "So and so told me to conversation." >> Sounds like it's intelligent. Sounds >> Sounds like it's intelligent. Sounds like it's artificial intelligence.
[laughter] >> That's incredible. Okay. So, so is that uh which and and what where does LinkedIn come to this? Because we were Okay. >> Yeah. So, I have pretty much figured out
virality on every social media platform except for LinkedIn. Yeah. MX. And so, I wanted to see if Perplexity Computer could help me crack the code. And
could help me crack the code. And spoiler alert, it has. So, one of the superpowers of Perplexity Computer is it is fantastic at scraping profiles, is fantastic at scraping profiles, bypassing any uh um of of their APIs.
bypassing any uh um of of their APIs. And what I had it do was scrape the top profiles in my niche, look at their outlier posts, look at my profile, and see what has performed best for me. And it came up with a plan of 15 posts. I it
now it can log in on my behalf and post for me. I'm a little skeptical of logging into my social their assets for me. So I copy and paste them and then I give it real feedback in real time and it also looks at at the feedback of the
post and based on that performance it will go out and scrape new content, new ideas and continue to improve based on the performance of those posts. And I have gained uh I've done about nine million impressions. Uh it's about six
million unique people reached in the last 90 days doing this. >> Yeah. >> And then I mean listeners should also multiple different businesses and endeavors. So this is not just virality
back to business for you. >> Absolutely. That's one of the big thesis creator, be a business owner who creates content. So everything that I do has a back-end system in place to drive subscribers, to drive brand deals,
affiliate marketing, tickets to my conference, everything has a a business >> It's genius. And by the way, if you want to check out the book, we'll link it up in the description. Uh Austin Armstrong, Virality, your playbook for how to use
viral and get paid. Now, one of the first times though you went viral, AI wasn't quite as hot. You've been viral all over the place like you said, but 100,000 YouTube subscribers in just three days. How'd you do that?
Vest? >> Yes. >> YouTube coach. Jeremy's a good friend and we I was going viral on Tik Tok at the time and I had gotten t banned on Tik Tok uh for the the first time and it
And >> what'd you get banned for? >> They they never tell you. Frauds and scams is what they labeled it as. Just >> Yeah. [laughter] >> Uh but I went to Jeremy and I said,
>> Uh but I went to Jeremy and I said, "Let's figure out YouTube shorts." And what we did was every single day we got on a Zoom call together to study other videos, study each other's videos. We meticulously uh broke down the length of
opening hooks, the titles, what was working in my niche and in other working in my niche and in other people's niches. And what we ultimately found was that I was dumping all of my content that was a little bit too all
digital marketing focused Tik Tok strategy videos, Pinterest strategy strategy videos, Pinterest strategy videos, SEO. And when I looked at and started uploading only my top performing Tik Tok videos, which was a very broad
these five websites feel illegal to know type of series, three a day. It unlocked the entire YouTube algorithm. One video did uh it's now at 20 almost 22 million views, 49 second video, 300,000 subscribers. It unlocked every other
video uh all the shorts on that channel. And I was I I remember distinctly I was um on the beach in Tulum with my wife sipping mascalas and uh I'm being a bad
husband looking at the YouTube studio app on my phone and I said, "Honey, it >> Yeah. >> The It was just an amazing experience. like you're watching like views go crazy.
>> Yeah, that was the first big big experience. I'm curious what new lessons you've looked back in terms of how you think about coaching people to start channels to cut content. That's interesting. You knew your niche
>> and you knew that all this stuff was technically digital marketing. So by on brand for you. [snorts] Yeah, you could upload all that stuff. That's not could upload all that stuff. That's not you're niched down even like but
>> there you hadn't hit a format yet or you hadn't unlocked and so you yeah that and having done this over and over on multiple platforms have you learned in >> recurring series content >> has been the biggest gamecher for me
series if you're an entrepreneur or a creator that wants to scale their online media mastermind >> I have so much more clarity as to my
ideal target audience now, which means my content is about to be so much better person I'm trying to reach. >> Super intimate, highlevel strategy. >> I had the skills that I already knew sharpened. I feel like I went to my next
>> for entrepreneurs and creators that want to scale with YouTube. This was the first time that I was able to get in a room with a lot of other serious YouTubers and talk with other people who love creating content and love YouTube.
is really special. >> You can check it out at think mediamastermind.com. >> So for instance, I'll do a chat GPT secrets you should know part 1 2 3 4. The format is always the same. The
opening hook is the same. The buildup is the same. I drag it along. I play it with tonality of my voice a little bit too, but I drag it along. And so the video really starts at like 12 or 13 seconds, but I've hooked them to that
point so that I'm increasing view duration, but I'll take that same format across the board. So I can do Claude secrets, you should know, Gemini secrets, you should know, uh AI tools that you should know, part one, 2, 2, 3,
4, 5. It becomes uh a recurring pattern that people come to expect. It's like episodic television. We know the same the same format uh a cold open uh into the into the show and then there's a commercial break and then uh there's the
the the closing at the end. It's just uh our brains need our brains need >> um uh recurring processes, recurring series of content that becomes relatable. And so I do that in text
format. I do that in image format and carousels. I do that with video content. and it's been a gamecher still continues to compound. >> So you have yourself created a software.
software? The software is called syllably.io and uh what was the vision in starting that? I was in the marketing agency that? I was in the marketing agency space for a long time and I saw the
recurring problems of why a business was hiring us in the in the first place and what was preventing them from being successful online. And I wanted to solve that because there's still so many businesses out there that just or or
start startup founders or new entrepreneurs, soloreneurs that don't have the money to invest in an agency just yet. And my personal mission is is life. that's given me everything that I've ever wanted, learning from people
like you and being at conferences like this. And I just wanted to make it as simple as possible for people to create videos. And my mission vision with syllabi is I don't care how you create videos. I just want you to create more
videos because I think this is the biggest unlock for you. So from idea research tool to script generation following my frame my script frameworks to creating the videos however you want AI generated videos faceless videos we
have a video editor you can record videos in there URL to video audio to video and then schedule and publish and optimize it to every social media platform and I took at a very high level everything that I was doing for my
organic video marketing agency and I turned it into software and here we are four years later. M yeah that's amazing and you know I follow you everywhere so studies and the different things that happen with your software. What are some
examples of actually how it's being used in the real world? Yeah, we have um uh real estate agents that use it for lead generation locally. We've had uh law firms uh create educational content uh personal injury attorneys. Uh we've had
There's a lot of people that just want to uh grow their own monetized faceless YouTube has been around for for a long time. And uh yeah, Instagram channels,
Tik Tok channels, there's uh there's one really cool one that comes to mind um uh uh Tales of Irish History uh on Tik Tok. She's got about 47,000 followers on there. She's Irish. She just wanted to uh talk about her Irish heritage and so
of them have gone very viral. And is that like what do those videos look They're not her. It's technically faceless. >> So, describe a video. >> Uh, she'll it'll be, you know, the um
>> like the rolling hills of Ireland. >> Yeah, rolling hills of Ireland or the the potato famine or >> stuff like that. And it'll be uh imagery that's animated. So how kind of to take you behind the scenes a little bit, we
generate the script or you paste in your script and then every about 8 seconds it takes it looks at the context of the script and it will generate a unique scene for that. Y >> so it goes scene to scene to scene. Um
sometimes it's just images if you want just images. That was a very popular style of Faceless. You can add motion to all of those. You can add narration uh and characters to those that have lip-s sync and talking. Uh
>> Y >> yeah, it's wild. So uh if you're something you might want to try out. We'll put a link in the description to We'll put a link in the description to syllabi and uh and I'm curious to go a
little bit deeper and where you feel like AI video generation is and where it's going and define that of what I mean you kind of just did, but I you the same page. I'll define it and tell you tell me if I'm right. So AI video
you tell me if I'm right. So AI video generation is generating from scratch motion visuals. Um and it could look photorealistic or human realistic and then it could be sometimes it' be like studio Gibli or it
looks like anime or it looks like Pixar or it looks like and there's different models. So you understand this at a much higher level. You're super deep on it. higher level. You're super deep on it. what's like the overview of the AI video
also where you see it going in the opportunity. >> Yeah, I I still think we're very early in the spacees as well. So there, like you're saying, there's different models. Google has V3, which is uh probably one
of the best uh models right now for hyper realism or any art style that you want. Uh there's great models coming out of China as well. Bite Dance, the parent company of Tik Tok, has a model called Seed Dance. Seed Dance 2 just released,
arguably the best on the market right now. It's so good that they had to it. Maybe somebody has has seen some of the the viral Brad Pitt versus Tom Cruz
tell the difference. >> That's wild. >> That's wild. >> It's it's in insanity. Um, but there are limitations with it right now. Most of single video generation capabilities are
maximum of 15 second clips at a time which is kind of okay if you think about it because uh we we need to see like a a cut every couple of seconds in our brain and otherwise we get bored something that happens um it can't really generate
that happens um it can't really generate a long movie or a full ad >> in one go. What's happening behind the scenes is it will generate uh multiple eight or 15 second clips and stitch them together so it seems like a complete
project but it's generating behind the the scenes. There are still limitations the scenes. There are still limitations with sometimes hand movements or foot movements. The closer you look the more you can kind of tell. But we are getting
difference. >> Yeah. It's wild. And so I think I would encourage Think Media podcast listeners like on the one hand sometimes we either one are already into this and and you're doing it uh or the opposite extreme is
like I kind of want to wait this out or or let's see where this goes. And I least experimenting because you don't want to be like left behind. and those who are experimenting and testing
because they're going to be much more positioned to do it as opposed to sitting too much on the sidelines even if it doesn't mean they go all in on it. Yeah. And I I think another great use case as well is using it for B-roll in
your existing human content. That's another great way to start to incorporate it. So, if you can't find that hypersp specific B-roll shot that you're looking for, you can have AI generate that. So, you're still in front
of the camera being your authentic self. And I'm not an advocate for replacing yourself with with AI. Uh, use it as a tool to your advantage. As Mike was saying this morning, it is your army. Use AI as your army, as your
productivity tool. So, as you you have your opening hook, and then as you're saying your your script, you're talking about it, you can use AIB- roll to paint that perfect picture of what you're trying to to show and and and talk about
it. And I think that's an awesome way to include it and kind of blend what we're >> So, if people are using your tool, could they just up uh export one scene at a >> Yep, you can. You can do one scene at a time. We have a video editor in there so
you can upload your your raw videos and generate AIB- roll and then layer it on top of each other. Kind of a timeline editor in there. Uh or you can just download one clip at a time. Uh we just rolled out a storyboard feature uh that
allows you to create AI ads or longer uh AI videos that does that kind of that scene by scene approach. So you can enter a a single prompt and it'll spit >> Yeah. So I'm curious if those individuals want to start experimenting
individuals want to start experimenting with AI video, jumping into it. What do you see some of the use cases for where this is actually very much street level everyday content creators, everyday filmmakers? It depends what you're what
you're looking to accomplish. If you're looking for lead generation, you can um looking for lead generation, you can um use it to um uh take your audience to uh the the scene where you where you're at. If you want to if you're a realtor and
videos, there's only so many houses that you can actually tour, but you can use you can actually tour, but you can use it to create educational uh content in it to create educational uh content in the city that you uh sell houses in. um
or supplemental content, B-roll, like I mentioned, you can create entire advertisements now as well uh from a single image upload. There's great tools out there. Not to just like shamelessly plug mine, but Higsfield is an amazing
uh other AI video generation tool as well. You can upload a product of your, you know, upload your shoe and say create a cinematic video ad right now >> Yeah. If you have a physical product of some kind, some kind of product to show,
you can upload an image of it >> and turn into all kinds of crazy videos >> Yeah. Any aspect ratio. >> So you you could also deploy these assets across social media platforms. >> Do you think that AI video is still
underrated in that regard? Then >> I do I I think it's very early and I think there's so much opportunity. I've seen so many creators just going viral seen so many creators just going viral with really silly ideas like backyard uh
construction time-lapse videos where it's just from mud pit to perfect >> but it's totally AI generated. >> Totally AI generated. You can go on on Tik Tok, there's there's videos with tens of millions to 100 million plus
views on this or talking fruit uh talking about gut health and things along the lines of that. I mean, there were, you know, very silly, uh, somewhat aggressive chiropractor videos of a chiropractor throwing old ladies through
viral, but >> Okay. So, though. >> You have a story in your book on a back into AI video, but I don't know if that was AI over 1 million views with a
What was that case study? >> Yeah. So, um I I just I I think every founder should uh practice what they preach and and use their own tools. So, I have a ancient history facts uh channel that's on YouTube. I create long
form and uh short form content on there. A lot of uh biblical history, Bible A lot of uh biblical history, Bible facts, um uh looking at ancient China and ancient India. Uh just telling historical uh stories. People love
ancient history. Ancient history has always been a fantastic faceless uh History Channel, uh, it's like in between the the the person talking to the screen, they they show B-roll and they show faceless footage essentially.
>> It's all faceless. >> Is it AI voice? voice. >> Is it all with your software? case study I wanted to get out there. >> So, you could show like I can start a
views, you >> 100% from scratch. I don't share it at >> Wow. So, there's a lot there. And again, if software, that's link in the description down below. The thing that's interesting
you talk about going viral is virality doesn't just have to look like video. doesn't just have to look like video. >> And you've got a killer Tik Tok, YouTube happening, but perhaps your main platform is Facebook,
>> And not only Facebook, but a Facebook personal page. >> Yeah. and turned on to professional mode. a minute, I haven't logged into my Facebook or I just use my Facebook to
whoever." What is professional mode? >> Yeah. So, this is a a relatively new setting that Facebook released about three years ago. I I think now, know about it or >> Yeah. So, I I uh sacrificed my friends
and family to Zuckerberg for Reach. Okay. Uh, but what this looks like is in your settings, um, you click the little drop down and there's a button right there that says turn on or turn off professional mode. And what that does is
it gives you all of the features of a page. So you have full analytics. You can actually monetize. You can do anything that you you want. Check all um anything that you you want. Check all um uh go deep into top performing posts.
It has unlocked everything. As soon as I did that, it unlocked the growth potential of my profile, all of my embarrassing family photos and everything. Uh, it makes your profile discoverable.
discoverable. >> And last year alone, I did 1.4 billion organic views on my personal Facebook profile. I gained over a million uh new followers just on Facebook. >> And what were the type top three types
>> Text by far >> was number one. was number one. I think 78.2% >> text only no image posts >> Images. >> Images meaning like usually solo images.
>> Yeah. Image with um some accompanying text. And then what was number three? >> Reals short form vertical content talk we're isolating to Facebook here but for all the talk around video
content which was a piece of that by far you're saying text only posts on Facebook led to this 1.4 billion views. >> What kind of posts are these? >> ChatGpt prompts were very popular for me. So very tactical things like how to
me. So very tactical things like how to use chat GPT or claude to save money on booking flights or how to learn a new language or tutorials like Canva is now
inside chat GPT. Here's a step-by-step guide on how to do it. 50 million views on that one post. >> Okay. Now I also when I see you and others doing this it seems like sometimes the best practice is like the
>> Is that a thing? Explain that strategy. >> Yes. Yes. So uh colored background. So uh um and then in the comments. So what I will do is black background, white text, sort of a clickbait headline. >> Well so then the key though is at this
point in a way it kind of is an image. >> It it appears as an image. So what we're Facebook when you start typing, but you turn it into clear color like color with >> Yes. >> And then there is the text. Okay. So
you're saying like that's if there is like a type of post. >> If you do it right, this is the one. >> This is the one. And another like a little nuancing that I do is just downpointing emoji
text. You're doing black background, white text. downpointing emoji. >> Yes. >> And then your tip one or prompt one and threads in the comments. Is there a way
right order or are they just in the right order by name? >> No. And there and that's part of the glory [laughter] of it because Facebook is terrible at organizing them in the correct way, especially as you start to
get a lot of comments in it. So it actually fuels more engagement artificially because people will be like where's number two and four voted up or whatever but then the thing just taking its own okay that's
>> and they yeah because they sort the comments by most relevant not by all not by newest and so they will hide some of those comments and most people don't know to switch the view from most relevant to view all or newest.
>> Yeah. Okay. So is there any other points on that? Because again what we're talking your whole thesis is man you talk about that kind of viewership is your bio. Do you sometimes give call to
actions? What is like the real execution of this post how it maps to business? >> Great question. The comment section because we're already driving traffic there is the best place to put a call to action or an ad. So pretty much every
single post that I do will have a call to action to something. Subscribe to my email newsletter. Uh, PS, I created a software that helps you go viral on Facebook was a vi vibe coded app that I
launched or driving to syllabi or to my launched or driving to syllabi or to my AI community or to my conference. Um, every single time that you do any post, regardless if you're doing a thread,
just put a call to action in the comment section. Nobody does this. This is a single little tip that will help you convert more of those viewership uh into into traction. If you've been feeling stuck on YouTube or you wish we were
getting results faster, I recommend checking out viral videocoach.com. You know, years ago in my life, I was experiencing chronic pain in both arms. It was up to a level 10. It was so frustrating. My hope was actually going
down and I ran into a bunch of dead ends. I bought some books on it. I books were good. I bought some online courses and again did about half but still found my stuff unable to fully solve the pain. But then everything
changed when I hired a specialist. And that really is what viralvidecoach.com is. We have a coaching program here at Think Media that will give you the accountability and the support and the feedback so that you can see the things
that you can't see the opportunities on your channel fixing what's broken. and whether you want to start and accelerate or whether you're an expert and a business owner that wants more leads and customers and just wants the shortcut to
doing YouTube right. So just go to viralvidecoach.com fill out a short form and then we'll walk you through all of the next steps. could use that as well. And with that, let's dive back into the podcast. That's
powerful. Okay. What is And I mean you mentioned you vibe coded an app that >> just for yourself. >> No, I sell it. >> So, uh, Threadmaster. Okay. >> So, that's threadmaster.ai.
>> And because threads, >> we're not talking about the Instagram threading comments, which is the headline post and then the comments that >> Y. >> So, for listeners, it'd be like comment
number one or the comment you do is number one. Number one D. Number two, one of those is a comment. And the last one's usually a call to action. >> So, you're calling that thread master. If somebody didn't have your app,
though, or they just were using AI to come up with these ideas and write these po posts >> and not lose their voice, content. What What is like an AI workflow around that?
>> Yeah. So I would um whatever your LLM of choice is uh chatgpt claude Gemini choice is uh chatgpt claude Gemini create a project and train it on both yourself so your knowledge file maybe you have a book or maybe you have a
bunch of transcripts from interviews that you've done whatever your expertise is load your voice in there and then train it on those specific threads. So go to my profile or go to anybody else that's doing this and give it examples.
that's doing this and give it examples. Uh um you want like 10 to 20 of these >> and you're trying to give it the best ones, the most viral ones, >> the most viral ones. Absolutely. So that's the kind of project data, the
training data. And so I have a clawed project on this that I I interchange sometimes because claude can actually go out and scrape the internet for >> And I just type in a topic and because I have all of that data, it'll write the
thread for me. It has the clickbait headline. It has the downpointing emoji in there for me and it has one by one the the comments or or the steps and including the links. Uh, and so all I need to do is copy and paste that over.
>> And is what's your thought of how to come up with ideas? Maybe you answered okay, I'm looking at a blank page. What do I write on Facebook today? Pretend you're me. I wrote YouTube secrets with my friend Benji and you know, YouTube
stuff. So, if I was going to do a text post on Facebook, what might one of >> I'm going to go off of your keynote last year. And so, a headline could be something like, "This one single YouTube hack
hack just grew my client's channel by 100,000 just grew my client's channel by 100,000 new subscribers in in 30 days." And then new subscribers in in 30 days." And then step by step might be uh most people are
not doing YouTube search anymore because they think that that's saturated and they're only uh creating trending content. Well, my thesis now that I've now proved is that because of that mindset,
search is now an opportunity again because it's not saturated. So step one is to use a tool like Vid IQ or TubeBuddy uh or an AI tool to find a TubeBuddy uh or an AI tool to find a trending search uh keyword on a new tool
that has uh that has just come out or a new thing in my niche specifically. Step new thing in my niche specifically. Step two is to do this this use this prompt uh to create an outline uh for your video and AB test titles and and
whatnot. Step three actually record the content edit edit it this way. Step content edit edit it this way. Step four, have um a uh do AB video uh uh title tests and thumbnail tests. Use nano banana to create three thumbnail
variations that go with AB testing on titles. Step four, profit. >> Okay, genius. And you just freestyled that though, which shows your mastery of this whole thing. But if if we were going to what's the AI workflow that
maybe delivers ideas to us >> like that or to filter through? I love perplexity computer. Just going back to it right now. If you just don't know really where to find, use AI. AI will scrape uh the internet.
>> Will all the AI scrape? I mean, you're saying Perplexity is good at scraping, but can AI scrape someone's Instagram pro? Can chatbt $20 a month plan scrape >> Okay. >> Uh Perplexity Computer is really good.
And another reason why is because they Perplexity also has Comet browser. Uh, so like Google Chrome or Safari, whatever your browser of choice is. I use the Comet browser because I'm I'm kind of all in on Perplexity right now.
It can take over your browser window and do the actions on your behalf. So if you're logged into say Instagram, it already mimic you're already logged in. It mimics your natural behavior and that's how it's able to bypass and
mean it could even like click on the account and because it clicks on the actual video it can see the things or it could click expand to see more comments you wouldn't see any of that. >> Absolutely.
>> It's interesting. Is there any like I know there's some Google Chrome plugins like if you want to just move all the data from like a a page into a >> Does any of that work to integrate with AI? You ever do that?
>> Not really. I mean, uh, for particularly for Instagram and Facebook, uh, Manis is a great, uh, AI agent that Meta just acquired. So, they're doing a lot of integration things. So, you can have that plug into, uh, and look at your
analytics or even your, uh, Meta Ads account as well. Yeah. that data, and then do whatever you want with that data. >> Okay. So, talking a little bit more about AI video, where we see AI going
and the opportunity for listeners. Earlier on you said, you know, we see AI use AI video to give us B-roll in our real videos. But there's also a very real thing happening right now and that's AI avatars. What's your take on
AI avatars? >> I think when you are transparent that this is an avatar for yourself and you're using it alongside your regular content, it is great. A great example of this is Julia McCoy. I don't know if
you're familiar with her. Yeah. First Mo, CEO of of First Movers. She is Mo, CEO of of First Movers. She is probably the best example of a YouTuber creating expert long- form content with her AI avatar first. She's very
transparent with it. The first 30 seconds is, "Hi, I'm Dr. McCoy. I'm Julia's AI avatar, and hers is so dialed in and how they edit it with B-roll outside of the avatar." So, it's not you're just like um staring at that uh
uncanny valley avatar, which it's still it's still not. >> It's okay. >> I think it's fantastic to help you, your >> I think it's fantastic to help you, your voice, your personal brand, your look,
uh create more content when you are not in the office, feeling emotionally drained, um just not feeling creative. >> Did she have some health challenges? >> and was able to stay consistent because of an AI avatar.
>> Exactly. Exactly. So, as she's figuring out her personal health struggles, >> she had her avatar work on her behalf for her and she now has hundreds of thousands of subscribers. Her avatar is getting brand deals.
>> down I want to be able to say that about myself. My avatar is getting brand myself. My avatar is getting brand deals. My avatar is getting brand deals. >> Put some respect on the track. Okay. So, back to you. Uh, but there's
disclaimers. The downsides. >> Yeah. So you you should disclaim uh always add a disclaimer that this is AI generated content. Uh but an emerging trend it's been around for a little bit that I really don't like is AI UGC.
>> Userenerated content. >> Okay. What does that look like? >> Okay. What does that look like? >> A product review of a product that is paid for endorsement >> and but it's also when it's userenerated
a user technically userenerated content. I'm a user reading your book and I'm like, "Hey, I just read this book." And so it's a real person in the real world so it's a real person in the real world wearing a Patagonia jacket and being, "I
>> Okay. >> Exactly. Um, and you should >> Yes. You should disclose if you were >> FTC vi, you know, don't violate the FTC. You you will get sued.
You you will get sued. >> Um, there's problems with real UGC, too. >> Um, there's problems with real UGC, too. I mean, brands pay uh people to create reviews >> because they're being paid.
>> This is now taken to the next level where and I'm not going to poo poo on any uh individual tool that's doing this, but do your own research. There are tools pushing AI UGC, which is not even a real person. It's a fake It's a
AI avatar and you input a product image and that >> So we could do that with your book. We could upload a picture of your book, put random person >> that addressed however, looking however
being like, you know, what's the best book in the world and whatever. Okay. >> 100% AI generated. >> It sounds like 17 violations of the Federal Trade Commission. >> It is a Yes. Uh year a year ago, the FTC
put out an article that it it's literally illegal. >> And people are still doing it anyway. >> Um they're not enforcing it yet. But I think first of all, a lot of there are companies that are going to get a huge
slap for this. They're going to get made an example of. It's also just bad for your brand. I I think it's very shortsighted. If you have any product or service, anything, and you're putting fake product reviews out there with AI
audience? >> You know what's fascinating about that? headline story like we're going to see the first billion dollar uh company >> Yeah. >> And then the New York Times wrote an
>> Medi. >> But then if you dug deep, you actually went on their website and even they had like pictures, AI generated images of like pictures, AI generated images of doctors. Yeah.
could be seen on other websites and he had a different name. >> So it it speaks to the same principle like if you're at a place where you're uploading fake pictures >> AI generated or not fake regardless like
if you could also just take a random picture off the internet but it's a fake awesome. It made me lose so much weight. Even transformation pictures like before and after AI generated. Yeah. That seemed looks great, but like nothing of
nothing happened with nothing. Like that person ever existed, let alone did they story? I don't know if there's an update. That seems like >> Spotlight of scrutiny. >> Yeah. Yeah. There were there were some
ethical things that that were going down there. So, yeah, they were creating fake doctor profiles, creating fake doctor reviews. Uh the the the company's Medv and they basically were selling GLP drugs. uh they're like a basically it's
marketing platform >> which is interesting I mean to as we understanding was that they were to take orally which also doesn't even work >> apparently and the injections do but the oral versions and so even
oral versions and so even it's I mean unethical so so wrong also much >> yeah I mean 450 million uh ARR um which, over a billion dollars at a at a multiple.
>> Yeah, they were they were creating fake Reddit accounts and doctor reviews. Just >> Okay, so we're back on AI video though and talking about AI avatars. So, where forward of thinking about how we embrace that? What to be aware of, where you see
it going, opportunities. I think everybody needs to be aware of their own ethical and and moral compass of what do you feel comfortable with and are you okay with potentially losing everything if the FTC really cracks down? I think
with AI you should disclose if you are using AI and and how much if you're using AI avatar videos just have a little watermark say it in the description say it in the in in in the actual script. This sounds dumb, but
what if you put asterisks, this is a fake person? >> Because I guess in that in that point, >> yeah, make a joke out of it. and that that actually is funny and it would be closer to ethical or completely
>> Then kind of counterintuitive because you'd be like, why would I watch a fake review? But that transparency thing is huge. Obviously, transparency and buzzwords. They're like foundational
elements of building real brand and not being short-sighted. >> Yeah. AI is the level playing ground for for everybody now. Everybody can create content at scale in the voice of anybody. And what is the differentiator?
It's you. It's your authentic self. It's your expertise. It's how you show up, how you build your brand, what you care about, what you do for your customers question and it's one of your hot takes that's controversial and I think it
conversation, but before we get there, I'd love for you to do a quick roll call. I mean, I'll hit a few things to your stuff so people can follow you, >> but I highly recommend people check out your software. So, Syllabi,
>> um, it does all the different video stuff for you and there'll be a link in the description to that. >> Uh, very cool stuff you're doing there. >> Yes, >> link in the description down below. The
hear you've really done this and what's also cool is you've really done this >> Yeah. >> So, uh, great resource for individuals. else, where's the best place? >> Uh, Austin Armstrong across the board.
Uh, Facebook is my number one platform. If you search for me by name, I am the nerdy with, uh, glasses AI focused Austin Armstrong. I am not the defensive coach of the Florida Gator Austin Armstrong. Nor am I the 6- foot tall uh
Austin Armstrong. >> Good clarity. Okay, we lock that in. [laughter] Um okay, so you have a hot take and one of the a large percent of our audience very common in digital marketing
individuals um think about building an email list. They think about creating a lead magnet. Yeah. and they think about sometimes it's a checklist might be a free PDF might be a report it might be an ebook
and think of people and some people create ebooks to get an email some create ebooks to get an email some people write ebooks to sell um and convey information but you have a hot take that that has completely changed
approach right now in 2026 what's that >> yeah let me cook here for a minute ebooks are dead micro SAS is the new way to generate leads let me explain So, the
problem with ebooks is it's very much a a a one-way transaction, right? We create this this ebook with it's there's probably good information in there, educational information. We know, >> let's be honest with ourselves as
marketers that the point of that is to capture their their email. The vast that that ebook. >> Totally true. go to the spam folder. They never see it in the first place, but we still got
their email so that we can continue to market to them to sell to them down the road. That's uh helpful for us, but it's a one-way street. It's not helpful for the person that you're trying to reach. Micro SAS with vibe.
for? >> Um uh for? >> Software as a service. So um a tongue twister here is a single problem solved with a simple solution
>> is how I like to define microsass. So you can use out of the box tools like lovable or replets. Uh you can use cloud code if you're a little bit more technical to create software full landing page full user experience uh
user login you can charge for it and >> what's the overhead on that by the time >> well very little. So I'll give you max >> I'll give you an example. Threadmaster for instance text generation. It's just
built on top of uh open AAI and clawed API. Uh I can change >> what do you use to create it? >> Manis originally. Uh I mostly use replet now because I I like the all-inclusive uhness of it to deploy.
>> Is there a URL to the landing page >> of Replet or >> Threadmaster.ai. So, you bought a URL, you set up a landing page, you created your own software with what's called Vibe Coding,
which is basically what? Verbal coding. >> Yeah. Just as you would talk into chat GPT, um you talk into one of these tools and it creates the software for you. So, creates everything. >> And so, total cost to launch that
software, to host the website, to buy the URL, roughly approximately >> under $200. >> Wow. And Okay. Okay. And so people could check that out at threadmasterai to look at what that is. So go on.
>> I make $10,000 a month, 98% profit margin on it. >> anyone. Thanks everybody listening [laughter] to the podcast. Have a great Okay. >> So all right. So that's uh and that you
Threadmaster. >> Yeah. $5 a month subscription. >> Yeah. $5 a month subscription. >> Okay. unlimited use because the um the uh profit margin is ridiculous. >> Unlimited use because somebody could
actually exceed the $5, but not everybody will. So, it balances out. >> Yeah. So, in order to break even on that $5, they would need to generate about 8,000 threats, which is in a month, which is not
>> Yeah. Okay. Okay. So, so you found out a cool model. You put this thing out media activity helps growth hack that. >> Yes. And that's wild results. So, go back to what we're saying here. Uh, compare it to the ebook. They're getting
>> Yeah. >> Is there coaching? Is there any like tutorials that come along with it, too? >> So, in a way, there's like more ended up in their spam folder, >> but now they're logged in, you have
their information, they have a tool, >> and they're actually learning because or some videos or some other things. You got to onboard them to the tool. But experience than sitting down and writing an ebook. You're tech talking about
is this used to be impossible. Yeah. Or have cost $20,000 >> or more develop developers. >> Sure. [laughter] Develop. You have developers for that software. And so
micro SAS is there like a framework you've created like take a simple to figure this out. How do you figure that Microsoft? Uh >> yeah, I mean there's there's so many great ways to find solutions. I mean I I
would start with what are your own pain points. The the idea for threadmaster was I was doing manual writing and research for all of this and then I started using chat GPT and I I didn't have a place where I could organize all
of my uh threads and best performing threads and and templates. I built it for me >> and then I love results-based marketing. So, as we mentioned at the beginning of this episode, 78% of my uh views on
Facebook that were going viral for me were these text threads. And I wanted to create a software solution that helped me create more of those threads faster. say, "Hey, Facebook's paying me this much. This is what's working right now.
By the way, I created a tool for you that helps you do it as well. And it's $5 a month for unlimited use. Here's a screenshot of everything. It sells itself, but it helps them take action. Yeah. And it took really not much more
time to create the software than it would have created me to to make a a 50page ebook or >> ebook. Yeah. Because the the ebook would This is so much better. >> Software helps them take action. I'm
still collecting the email. I can still do email marketing and I'm charging for >> but it helps them do the thing that I'm teaching. Would you agree with the fact though that probably 95 to 99% of people listening
to this are like that's still going to be too >> Yeah. So just help as we land the plane with maybe I'll do that someday or that sounds too hard or that there so many
different softwares and stuff to like really embracing that." >> Well, everything's hard if you don't do along the way. >> I'm I'm not a technical person. I don't
>> I'm a marketer. That's all I've ever done for 21 years now. That's all I've done for 21 years now. That's all I've ever done. But now I can talk to a tool ever done. But now I can talk to a tool like chatgpt or claude and I can say
create me a software that does x y and z and it does it for me and then I can be natural language >> and you fix it you just keep working on >> and you just improve just as you would talk did you set up a separate business
business. >> Yeah so I have another company called uh fast products where we launch micro SAS tools at scale. Got it. Yeah. doing that. Yeah. >> But it's relatively a simple company.
>> Yeah. Yeah. We just we own uh we operate eight soft micro SAS tools right now. Uh we're launching more and more, but they all So all of the softwares upsell to each other as well.
>> Wow. Okay. Well, uh I just want to acknowledge thank you for coming back on tactics and value today and think media podcast. I mean I think some of the takeaways would be resources in the description whether that's the book
whether that's some research you know follow Austin you can see the stuff he's teaching but one thing is for sure AI is separating winners and losers and I almost feel like we're here at social media marketing world and that there's
always been a necessity for rapid learning in the creator economy in business and online business in social media but I feel like the necessity for rapid learning is accelerating like it's like a it's
like a season to lock in. It's a season to to say AI is changing the game so sometimes it's hard to teach an old dog new tricks talking to myself 42y old dad of a three-year-old and 5-year-old why do I want to learn something new but
it's a necessity and what's also maybe even better is the opportunity like regular everyday people with limited resources you're not exaggerating when someone who's smart enough to keep listening to my weird false outro that
lost a bunch of people and then went back into the conversation just realize like they could have life-changing impact, influence, and talking about. >> Yeah. I'll give you a great last
example. Uh my mom barely knows how to turn on a computer [laughter] a couple years ago. Yeah. She's now using chat GPT. So, she's uh she's an author. She's um uh she works with special educ special education students.
uh and she created a book series um using chatg image generation to help create all of that. She's using which is a a music generator to create musical songs that go along with that. And she's listing these uh these ebooks and and
listing these uh these ebooks and and songs on on Gumroad. And my mom who like a year ago didn't know how to do anything on a computer is using AI and >> Wow. >> Yeah. I mean, that's the best case study
I can possibly think of. >> That is crazy. How old is she? >> A woman never tells her age. [laughter] >> Roughly, she in her 60s. >> Yeah. So, she's in her 60s. >> Is now publishing music and songs using
>> Yeah. >> Well, Think Media Podcast, so many YouTube version, would love to know your takeaways or your epiphies from this anywhere else, like, [music] rate, share, review, wherever you watch or
Kel, your guide to building a profitable YouTube channel.