Why Brands Need To Launch A Social Show
Let’s take it back. 15 years ago, you turned on the TV, you checked out the TV guide, then you put on a show you were familiar with.
Let’s take Fear Factor for an example… You went to NBC and binge-watched a few episodes. And you binge-watched because you always knew what to expect from an episode. Sure - the challenges and characters changed from episode to episode, but the core theme of each episode was the same.
Because of this expectation, watching Fear Factor became a habit.
That same consumption habit is getting created by the most socially forward thinking brands. They’re not coming up with social ideas - they’re coming up with social shows.
Because social media is the new TV, and there are endless channels.
The attention is scarce, but the content is unlimited.
Why are Social Shows what you should focus on in 2025? Because shows create familiarity. Familiarity creates expectations. And meeting expectations over and over again forms a habit.
Let’s start with an obvious example…
Hot Ones
Yes, it’s a YouTube show, but we’re using it to prove a point. Anyone who’s ever watched an episode of Hot Ones knows what to expect every time.
Why?
There’s a consistent location/setting, theme, format, and character.
Cold as Balls
Same thing. If you’ve watched one episode - you know what to expect in every other episode.
But Bringing It To Short Form
Now, the key is taking the same ideas applied above and bringing them to life via short-form video, and there’s levels to it too.
But first, let me share an example to paint the picture…
When I was at the Kollective, I launched a social show (in 2022) called “Cold Hard Truth,” where we took members, influencers, and athletes that trained at the Kollective and ran them through a “Cold Hard Truth” episode.
In each episode, we asked rapid-fire questions to the individual while they sat in a cold plunge for 4-5 min.
The result? Our best-performing content by a landslide every time. It didn’t matter if it was an NFL player or a regular member - the content crushed, and people wanted more of it.
So, Where Do You Go From Here? And How Do You Replicate?
Well, there are levels to social shows:
- Beginner
- Intermediate
- Advanced
Which level you decide to tackle is based on your brand’s narrative and your content team.
Beginner
At the basic level, you can create social shows around:
- Challenges
- Interviews
- Trivia
Think man on the street interviews. They check all the boxes, but they don’t require pre-production or extensive post-production, multiple characters, setups, or a ton of logistical factors.
La La Land Kind Cafe
La La La Land Kind Cafe created a simple show called “Drive By Kindness” where they drive around giving random people compliments.
Why does this make sense?
They’re a cafe “spreading kindness.”
So, through their show, they’re able to scale this narrative while creating a specific content expectation because it’s episodic.
Intermediate
At the intermediate level, you start to introduce a higher production cost, sometimes different characters, and there’s typically more logistical factors to tackle or even product integrations.
Immi Eats
Immi Eats created a social show called “Ramen on the Street.”
It’s a bit more on the medium level side because of the production level.
But nonetheless the concept is simple and does a great job of integrating the product.
They interview people on the street and go into deep convos.
The interviewee wears a branded ramen suit while they share a cup of ramen together.
Simple, repeatable, and scalable.
Advanced
At a more advanced level, you’re recreating variations of successful shows and leveraging them as content pillars within your strategy.
Social shows like:
- Docu-series
- Reality TV
- Gameshows
Which include larger productions, more characters, and higher levels of pre and post-production.
But the same rules apply: Repeatable and scaleable.
Brooklyn Coffee Shop
So, this isn’t technically a real coffee shop, but they created an IG account where they have a dedicated social show, and the account blew up to 52k followers off 29 episodes.
They’ve got a core concept - This is the theme for every episode, and this is imperative because it sets the exception for viewers.
Then you have a specific location - Every episode is shot in the coffee shop with the same angles - the baristas behind the counter and the customers placing the order.
But another key is the characters - You’ve got two main creators, you’ve got the main characters, and then you’ve got guest characters who star in different episodes.
But every episode follows the same format and theme which is why it’s been a 10/10 hit.
