You're doing content wrong.

What nobody tells you about viral video.

1. 01

   Content > timing. Stop obsessing over what time to post. If the video is good enough, the algorithm finds the audience. I've had videos go viral hours, days and weeks after posting.

2. 02

   The first 3 seconds decide everything. Nobody cares who you are. Give them a reason to stop scrolling. A strong hook is the difference between 500 views and 5 million.

3. 03

   End in an unexpected way. People rewatch because they think they missed something.

4. 04

   One great video a week > seven mediocre ones. The algorithm rewards engagement, not your posting schedule.

5. 05

   If nobody disagrees with you, nobody cares. The videos that go viral split opinions.

6. 06

   Predictability kills creators. One day lowball offers over the phone, the next visiting houses in person. Surprise keeps people coming back.

7. 07

   Every viral video earns you the right to experiment. Don't copy your last success forever. Use the attention to test new formats.

Full thread on X ↗

João Santos, Lisbon. AI engineer. Founder of Explorador, the platform helping 10,000+ people buy a home in Portugal without accepting unrealistic prices. Known for visiting absurdly priced apartments and making lowball offers on camera.

In the press · Dinheiro Vivo / NiT / SAPO

One month. Four calls. A plan your team can actually ship.

I spend the first week on research. Then we work in a weekly rhythm, because the rhythm is what makes companies actually post. A document on its own gets read once and forgotten.

1. Week 1

   Call 1 · 90 min

   I present the market analysis and the angle. We lock positioning and the three formats. You leave with 30 hooks and a shooting plan for week one.

2. Week 2

   Call 2 · 45 min

   We review what you filmed. Fix delivery, hooks, pacing. Almost everyone is bad on camera the first week; this is where you get saved.

3. Week 3

   Call 3 · 45 min

   First data. What overperformed, what died. We cut the formats that aren't working and double the ones that are.

4. Week 4

   Call 4 · 45 min

   I hand over the next 60 days: calendar, refreshed hooks, benchmarks. This is a closing call, not a check-in.

10 to 15 pages, delivered within 5 days of the first call.

• Competitor teardown. Your top 10 competitors' content: what they post, what formats they use, and which posts overperform. More importantly, what they never touch.

• Your angle. The one thing your founder can say publicly that competitors won't or can't. This is the whole product. Everything else is execution.

• 3 repeatable formats, with a full example script for each, built for your team to film without a producer.

• 30 hooks, ready to shoot.

• A 30-day calendar with posting cadence, platform priorities, and what to do with comments.

• Benchmarks for what results should look like at 30 and 90 days, so you know if it's working.

1. 01

   You send access to your accounts and a short brief. I spend a week on the research: your market, your competitors, your reviews, the forums and groups where your customers actually complain.

2. 02

   Four weekly calls, fixed slots. I present the angle and we pressure-test it against your business; then we correct based on what you filmed and on the data.

3. 03

   You get the document within 5 days of the first call, and the next 60 days on the last one.

• Fixed weekly slots. A missed call is a used call.

• No async support. Feedback happens on the call, not on WhatsApp.

Companies where a founder or a real person is willing to be on camera consistently. That's the requirement. Faceless brand content is a different game and I'm not the right person for it.

It works best if you can commit to 4 or 5 videos a week for at least two months. I give you the strategy and the scripts. You still have to ship.

Filming, editing, posting, or account management. I hand you the plan; your team executes it.