“Social media is so much about timing and so little of that timing is in your control...and I just happened to get really lucky.”
The internet is a pretty crazy place. You can buy anything from shamwow towels to assault weapons, watch anything from adorable cat videos to genre defying porn (these account for 97% of the internet's overall use), and have video conversations with people across the globe. One of the less touted feats of the internet is that it allows us to be anyone we want to be. Today’s guest was one of the first people to really tap into this concept and use it on social media. Andrew created a parody twitter account called Annoying Actor Friend that assumed the role of, well, your annoying actor friend. It completely stuck a nerve with the Broadway community and suddenly Andrew became the Bruce Wayne to his Twitter account’s Batman.
“Why one thing hits and another doesn’t I don’t know, that’s why I always say be prepared for at any moment anything you put online to go viral because you just don’t know. You could tweet something and get on a plane, and get off and you’ve lost your job.”
“I would see people in the community that I didn’t know as Andrew Briedis, but I had interacted with as Annoying Actor Friend, and I would go to say hi to them and then realize I don’t know them.”
Interview Contents
3:30 - The genesis of Annoying Actor Friend.
6:00 - Personifying the annoying actor.
11:00 - Launching the feed.
12:00 - Expectation vs. reality.
14:00 - Using AAF for activism as well.
15:30 - The growth of AAF.
16:30 - Strong vs. weak followers.
18:00 - The actor hustle vs. the entrepreneur hustle.
22:30 - The randomness of going viral.
24:00 - Having a secret life that you can’t talk about.
27:30 - Influencer marketing.
31:10 - How repeatable is this process now?
32:30 - People’s new social media behavior.
35:20 - Marketing lessons that Andrew learned.
38:40 - Social media advice.
