in that experimentation, we had a really awesome viral hit, got 5.5 million views. And at of that, we were able to play around with this other kind of experimental content that we were doing and really make this a repetitive thing on her page, making her own signature style series, that 5.5 million viewed video happened in 2023. It's 2025 and it's still going on to be her strongest performing content across the board for both Instagram and TikTok. I'm Alyssa and welcome to the Inspired Media Podcast, a space for creators, creatives and entrepreneurs who know they're meant to do more than just stop the scroll. So we're putting the spotlight on the unspoken truths and unconventional takes on how to truly build a standout brand online. Now, let the show begin. Hey, Vestee. So this has been one of my most highly requested episodes. So I'm so excited to go full detail, go so, so deep on this topic and whether you've been around here for a while or you're new, I know you've been hearing all about starting a signature series that you need one to grow, that so many creators are blowing up with a signature series. And maybe now you're thinking, OK, I want one for myself. Like, what should my signature style series be? So today, I want to give you an in-depth step-by-step breakdown of how you can create your own signature style series that you can be known for. And we'll get into why that style part is so important in the episode, coming from someone that has crafted countless amounts of signature style series for my creator and entrepreneur clients. First things first, let's talk about inspiration, because I hear creators say all the time that they need ideas from this person. They want to know what this person's doing. They want to know what that person's doing. And then they want to replicate it. They think that that is the way that they need to go. And I'm going to stop you right there. Your inspiration should not come from other creators, but from TV shows. Like, think about it. These are the originators of a good series. Think about your favorite TV show growing up. Mine, personally, OK, Disney Channel kid. I grew up on Disney Channel, was raised by Disney Channel. One of my favorites was That's So Raven. So every single time That's So Raven came on, they showed a silly clip of the episode. And then the That's So Raven theme song that I used to belt in my living room, especially the last part when she goes, yeah, that's me. And then it would go into the beginning of the story. Another example, keeping up with the Kardashian, it starts with a juicy clip, some hot tea, a fight, some drama, and then the show's intro, and then the beginning of the story. Another example, another childhood classic, because I'm feeling very nostalgic right now with these examples, is Avatar, the Last Airbender. It would start with a snippet of the episode and then the most iconic intro ever known to man. Like literally I can still recite at 25 years old. I can recite that entire intro word by word because they repeated it every single time. Like I'm going to do it right now. Like it's just iconic. It is Earth, fire, water, air. Long ago, the four nations lived together in harmony. Then everything changed when the fire nation attacked. Only the Avatar, the master of all four elements, can stop them. But when the world needed him most, he vanished. Like I could go on. Like please, please let me know if you also grew up watching Avatar, the Last Airbender, because that intro was iconic, and then it would go into music, and then this white screen that kind of looked like a scroll and it would have the title of the episode, and then it would go into the beginning of the story. And I'm sure you can name other examples that we can also learn from. So just like a traditional television series, a good and strong social media series has a consistent structure that we can remember and predict. Our brains love pattern. We love predictability, and this is why these shows are so memorable. This is why 25 years old I can recite the entire intro of Avatar, the Last Airbender, because every single time they played it, they would play that intro. It was memorable. So consistency in structure is one part of a good series, but the second part of a good series is excitement and anticipation. So you have the structure that is consistent and predictable, and then you have the mystery, the drama, the anticipation, the excitement, the story, and that's what keeps people wanting to binge. So just those two parts right there, that's the foundation of a good signature style series. Now, if you've listened to that first part, and you're like, "Alissa, wow, we're going full production road, okay, scripting, editing, like now we're pulling from TV shows, like all for our silly little videos." And to that, I say, yes, welcome to content creation in 2025, but I swear it is worth it. And I swear to you, it's worth it through experience. And I want to give you some examples of some of my clients' wins after starting their own signature style series, okay? Client number one, she is an injector and a beauty influencer. And after just five episodes of posting her signature style series, a brand reached out to her wanting to work with her and integrate their product within her signature style series. And this was extra, extra cool because, one, when you do a brand deal, you do not want to have a jump scare brand deal, or you don't want to have that brand deal that sounds so robotic and scripted and salesy, and having a signature style series that a brand can just easily be integrated within is so much better, not only on the community sense of like, oh, okay, yeah, like this is already something I'm so familiar with. Like, she posts this content all the time. Now it totally makes sense for a brand deal to just be integrated within here. So then when the brand deal is posted, her audience is going to engage with it more. It's not going to be this like weird salesy thing. And then she can go back to the brand, say, hey, brand, look, this worked. My audience loved it. The engagement is up, the reaches up. Like, she can really use those analytics because as a creator, you know your audience best. So even though you're doing a brand deal, you should still be able to feel like you, and this is such a good way to do that. Like, you know the saying, I want to get paid to be me. Usually most of the time when someone says that, I'm like, okay, like what do you really mean by that? Like it really just sounds like a big empty promise, but this truly is one way that you actually can get, quote unquote, paid to be you because it's something that is original that you've created. And now the brand is being integrated within it. You're not changing yourself for the brand. The brand is now being a part of your content. So that was really, really cool. And then I had another client, wellness lifestyle creator and a founder and she grew 40 K in three days because of her signature style series. And she also got a brand deal from her signature style series. A brand noticed her series. It was doing really well and they said, hey, can you create this content, but with our brand instead? I'll give you another example, fashion creator. Okay, she was very comfortable with the short, trendy aesthetic content. And I really wanted to push her to create original content. We started a signature style series. She was averaging about 40 K views, which was really good for her, positive signature style series, 400,000 views in that one episode. And if you know me, you know, it's not just about the views. Okay, yes, that was awesome, but the depth and engagement was so much better, like so much better than just the OMG queue or like love your fit. Like yes, we do appreciate those, but when someone is sending you like a paragraph, like deeper DMs being like, oh my gosh, I had no idea. Like I wanna know more about this part of your life. All of that people don't track enough. And I'm so happy that we were able to get that depth and engagement for her. Okay, here's another one 'cause I wanna give you multiple different niches and industries and backgrounds, wedding service provider. Okay, she was averaging three to five K views, started her signature style series, one episode already 60 K views. And again, weight deeper engagement. And I'm gonna finish this off at this last one 'cause this last one is really, really cool. So she was down with her content for about a month. This creator is a family creator, mom lifestyle creator, and her analytics were down for a month. So we really had to embrace experimentation, trying new things, trying things that she's never tried before. And in that experimentation, we had a really awesome viral hit. Got 5.5 million views. And out of that, we were able to play around with this other kind of experimental content that we were doing and really make this a repetitive thing on her page, making her own signature style series, that 5.5 million viewed video happened in 2023. And the reason why I wanna share these examples with you is because yes, these are not silly cute little lip sinks. They are not low effort. For the majority of the signature style series that I've worked on with my clients, it does range from low effort to high effort, but it will say that all of them are original content. They're not silly little trends, you know what I mean? So they do take more time, they do take more effort, they do take more production, more editing, more intention, but the payoff is so worth it. Ever single one of these creators come from different industries background sizes, levels of experience and they were able to do it. So yes, this is for anyone that is willing to not take the easy route, okay, take that risk, do the trial and error, put in the time and effort, fail, fail again, fail in public and learn from that because once you nail down your signature style series, this original content,
that you can be known for, you one, get to front load your work. So yes, maybe it takes more time and effort and energy to create these videos, but that means these videos are so easily repostable on Instagram, on TikTok, instead of looking at both platforms and trying to catch whatever's trending on both platforms. Instead, you're creating something that is so you coded that is so rooted in your lifestyle and your personality and your style that people are now remembering you, not just off of a trend, but something original that you came up with and the effort is so, so, so worth it. So I don't want you to be discouraged. I want to actually set like a honest, intentional setting here and I'm just like, la, la, la, like here, start a series. Here's a list of ideas and like you can go out and do it. Like I do want to be honest as someone that has worked in the background of these. Yes, they take a lot of time and effort, but they are worth it. So now I know you're probably like, okay, Alyssa, like I want to get to the building part. I want my own signature style series. I want my own reality TV show. I love these case studies. I'm inspired. I want to jump in. Okay, before we get to that, I just want to say there are 101 ways to make a signature style series, but I'm at least just going to give you my thought process, my breakdown, just give you foundation so that you can play with it and make it your own. Earlier in this episode, I mentioned that you should be taking inspiration from TV shows and this is really where I pull so much of my inspiration from. So here's the step by step that I want you to follow. Number one, think of something that's already happening in your life. It could be a routine, a habit, an event, something that you do on the weekend. You don't have to show off your entire life like an actual reality TV show where they're documenting every single little part. It doesn't have to be that way because this is social media. It's not our long episodes, but think about the things that you're doing constantly because if this is going to be your signature, if this is going to be your signature style series, you are going to have to repeat it over and over and over and over again. So I want to start with something that's already happening so that it is sustainable for you to be creating this content. So let me give you some examples. This could be going to the grocery store, it could be a weekend activity. Maybe you're someone that loves to try out different drinks. Okay, we can make a series out of that. It doesn't necessarily even have to be anything impressive. I just want to get you into creating content from your life and not changing your entire life to create content. Step two, add the structure. And what does this mean exactly? Well, let's go back to the reality show example we were talking about. When you are filming a reality show, like let's say you're a cast member, you are aware that you're being filmed. Cast members live a life being filmed. There's camera people walking around, they're aware of the camera, they're aware that they're being filmed, that this is going to be broadcasted. So for you, you need to get really good at documenting your life, getting comfortable in front of the camera, interacting with the camera, and getting the right shots for your series. So that it's not just chaotic and all over the place, just like randomly documenting your life, but there is some structure that's easy to follow. And the second part is understanding that, yes, this is your life, this is your reality, but it will most likely be edited in a way for your audience to best understand it. So in a reality TV show, yes, it's real people. It's real places. It may even be somewhat of real circumstances, but the producers and the editors will add things and reorder things and really choose the best parts to feed the story. So for you, while yes, I want you to be good at documenting your life and getting comfortable in front of the camera, you also need to understand that it's not just about listing all the things that you're doing, but it's about using the part of your life and shaping it in a way that feeds the narrative and the story that you're trying to tell. Just stick with me, I'm gonna give you a really good example so we can tie this all together. So Nora Smith is a really good example of having a strong signature style series with a repeatable structure that balances that consistency and predictability in her structure, but also the excitement and anticipation for ever single episode. So her signature style series is her cooking videos. Okay, now on paper, it is basic. Okay, it's boring, it's nothing special. Anyone can do a cooking series. The idea itself isn't that special, but it's her style that makes it so unique and why I emphasize signature style series, which brings me to a really important point when it comes to these. The idea isn't special, but it's the way it's executed, which brings me to a really important point. The idea isn't special, the way that it's executed is. And that's why getting a ton of ideas or reading a post of all of these content ideas might not really be helpful to you because more ideas isn't the thing that you need. It's learning how to execute the ideas that you already have in your style. So back to Nora Smith, the idea of cooking videos, the idea of making food for her kids and husband. Pretty basic, pretty copyable, pretty standard. But let's add on her glamorous outfits that tie in her fashion background because she's a model. So if you're listening to this and you're like, hey, I'm multifaceted, there's so many things about me. This is such an amazing way to integrate so many different parts of her. She likes cooking and she's a model. So she cooks in these extravagant clothes, such a good way to blend those two together. Her soft tone of voice, it's giving elegant, it's giving soothing, it's giving the vibes she's going for. The music that she uses or what I like to call a quote unquote audio trademark adds to this like soothing elegant style that she's going for. And then also the satire and ridiculousness of some of these recipes like making her own gum and making her own Capri's son. Like that is so silly and ridiculous. And honestly, I think it makes a lot of people mad, which just boosts her engagement, which I think is just genius of her to do. But she adds on these very specific elements that really feed the entire thing and really show her style. Pulls from her authenticity, pulls from her personality, pulls from her lifestyle and the other parts of her life and it all works together. And that's what makes this quote unquote basic idea into something so special, so memorable, so her coded because she knows her style and we remember her for that, which brings me to step three. Add elements of your style. And this could be the type of editing, common catch phrases, the music, the text, the colors, the fonts, all these elements should reflect your style so that even if somebody else has the same idea or a similar topic, it doesn't matter because it's your style that we're coming back to. Again, that is why I say signature style series. So wrapping this all up, I want you to start with something that's already happening in your life. Add the structure, this is key to have that repeatability and consistency, just like your favorite reality TV show, we need something repeatable and consistent that people will predict because we love to predict that has that comfort effect on us. And then I want you to focus on your signature elements that reflect your style because just like a real signature, like you actually signing your name, it is your signature because you repeat it. Now like I said earlier in this episode, there are 101 ways to make a signature style series, which why signature style series is so fun because we have so many options, we have so much space to explore and really stretch our creative, but it's also one of the reasons why these are so challenging because we have so many options. So if the reality TV show vibe isn't really hitting for you or it seems a little bit too high production, I want to give you some examples of some lower effort formats. And in fact, the creator that I talked about before, that's my client who got the 5.5 million views on her very first iteration of her signature style series. It was actually a very easy and low effort format. So I just want to give you options just to get your brain thinking about different ways to do this. Example one, strawberry milk mob has a series called Reason Number 175, why I like men. Every single time she does it, she starts with Reason Number, insert number here, why I love men. It's always just her straight up face to cam close up. It's quick, it's straight to the point and it's funny. Another example, madmitch has her classy insult series where she goes in constantly giving these classy insults. She has a list of them in a green screen behind her and she goes to the list. Again, low effort face to cam, she's quick, witty, she's entertaining. Both of these examples aren't really giving that entire like story or reality TV show vibe like the other example I shared, but it doesn't matter because again, there are so many different ways that you can do this, but they still balance that consistency, that structure, that repeatability in the format. It's just a shorter format, it's just quick, it's face to cam, it's straight to the point. But then we have that excitement and anticipation of, well, what's this reason gonna be? Or what are these classy insults gonna be? I want more of them, it still balances the structure and the excitement and anticipation. Just in a different format. So for you listening to this, and if you're still trying to figure out what your signature style series can be, ask yourself these questions. What's something I'm already doing or saying? What's something I can repeat? And what elements can I add that are my style? And I gave some examples of elements, but another example that is so underrated is your tone and cadence. And I have to go back to Mad Mitch for this, because why?
Watch any of her videos, her tone and cadence and the way that she talks makes the videos memorable. Like nobody talks like her. Nobody has the tone and the cadence and the isms of her. That's what makes her so unique and that's what makes her so memorable. I just love, love, love this topic so, so much and I wanna yap about it forever and ever and ever. But I do wanna leave you off with some rapid fire last tips to help you. Okay, number one, your series doesn't always have to say series in it. The two examples, actually the three examples that I listed, they never say, welcome back to my series where we go, (imitates singing) yes, you can do that, but it's not always necessary and sometimes I feel like people just add that in just because they see other people do it and sometimes it just fluffs up the hook and leaves me uninterested. Second thing, your series doesn't have to be super like high production, just like the two examples I gave you as long as it's repeatable, original and consistent, that can still be your signature style series. Third thing, signature style elements can be hand gesture as well, think about Keith Lee, he always has his hands with his fingers touching. It's such a small thing but it is still really impactful and it's something that people can parody, which is really where you know that it's working and that people remember it. This can also be catchphrases, you're editing style, the tone of voice, those can be signature elements. Stop in "Spo Scrolling", I told you at the beginning of this, I always yell at you for "Insposed Scrolling", I do it literally on my stories, feed literally everything I'm doing here, do not in "Spo Scroll", okay? You have the ideas, you have something in your head already stopped looking for external validation or external whatever, you just get lost and you know it. And you know it too and you still do it. So don't do that. Stop reading 10 point, bajillion, bajillion ideas, you don't need more ideas, you need to learn how to execute your ideas in your style and do it well. When you consume content that is so much in this, here's my ideas, here's more ideas, here's more ideas. You're clouding your own thought and it's so disrespectful to the ideas that you already have. It's so disrespectful to your creative, to not give your own ideas a damn shot, so you need to stop disrespecting yourself. If a series isn't hitting, you need to try and try and try and try and try again. It's not gonna work out the first time or if it does, that's awesome, but if it doesn't, expect that and try again and refine or fine or fine or fine, because that's the way that you are going to get better over trying to always do everything all at once. If a series isn't in your capacity right now, like you're listening to this and you're like, okay, I love these ideas, I love the idea of having a signature style series, but it's just not in my capacity right now, that is okay. I at least want you to find your signature style. And I have a confession. I am a social media strategist. I work with creators, I have a social media agency, I'm making this video right now, I help other creators do it, but I do not have my own signature style series. However, I do have signature elements, so you know me for my face to cam, my setup, catch phrases like you code in niche down within yourself, it girl, unsolvable vlog. And that is enough for me right now. So if that's you, that is totally okay. You can still be known for being you and have original thoughts and concepts and ideas and ways we can remember you without it being a series. But as long as you're super refining your style, we can grow into that, but you really need to have those signature elements first. Or I should say, you should have those signature elements first right now, even if you're not going to be moving forward to a series. And last, last, last thing. And I get a lot of DMs from people sending me signature style series things, other content talking about signature series. So I just want to set the rockered straight, just you and me, chit chatting, okay. I don't know if I am the first person to ever talk about signature style series. Or the concept of a series has existed way, way, way, way, way before me. But I also really appreciate that you're here and that you are listening to me and that you valued my advice. Like that is such a huge honor. And I never want to take that for granted. So I want to let you know where I'm coming from, where my ideas are coming from, where I pull inspiration from. So let's just set that straight. So signature style series, where did this even come from for me? I had an old director in university, give me this idea actually. And he told me that if I went into a casting room and I did not have a signature style, that I would never get cast because I wouldn't be memorable. And that really, really stuck with me because all the people that those casting directors were watching and reading and all the things, like they have so many faces that they need to go through, that if you're not memorable, or if you don't do something to be memorable, you will be forgettable. And that's so true on social media as well, which is why I also say signature style because my director also said signature style. And that's how signature style series came about. That's how the concept came about. I started experimenting with my clients with this and they found results. And then of course, I mean, any time, anything works with my clients, I'm like, oh my gosh, I need to share this with everyone, I need to share this with you. So that's how signature style series came about in my world. Also shamelessly, I watch a lot of media. I watch a lot of reality TV, musicals, plays, media, Hulu Netflix, whatever. So I take a lot of inspiration from traditional media, which is why I opened up this episode talking about reality TV. I've also done this and seen this and really been able to refine this when working one-on-one with my clients, which is really the power in this and why I say, if it doesn't work the first time, try, try again, there have been times where we have tried out a concept like for a month or a few weeks before it actually really, really hit. Or one of my clients that I was talking to you about before the injector client, we worked with each other for, oh my goodness, maybe a year before we even hit this signature style series, not even just the idea. Like we always had the idea, but it wasn't being executed until this year. So because we got to work together for a long time, we got to understand with another, understand her schedule, her strengths, where this could really work, where we can refine. So some of this stuff truly does take time, but you have to be in it and do it in order to see that growth. And I can now say with so much confidence after doing this with my clients and seeing the results and even seeing some of your results from people that are consuming free content that are just in the community, this is truly something I love, love, love to do because it is one of my strengths. And this is such a blessing 'cause this is one of those full circle moments where I feel like my failed acting career and one of the passions that I have, which is acting in theater and all that is really coming into play and blending together so beautifully on social media. And I get to help my clients now come up with their own signature style series. It kind of makes me feel like I'm in my director era, my producer era, riding this out and storyboarding. And I just get to use my other passions and my past experience and in a way that is able to serve my business and serve people. So I think that's so, so, so cool. And now I've gone into a little bit of a YAPFEST, a little bit of a rant, but I wanted to address something that I've been getting in my DMs when you send me content that may be similar or this person's talking about signature series, this person's talking about that person's talking about it. And I just want to say how incredibly grateful I am that you think of me and I even get videos where people will tag me like, oh, this advice sounds like Alyssa inspired mediocre, like this sounds like Alyssa, check out Alyssa. I have no words, like literally why you're so cool. Like literally it's like when I say bestie, like I truly, truly mean it. I value that you think of me in that way. And I really value like when you send me things and you're like, I don't know, like when you have a real, like I just love you so much, like seriously, like when you have a real community that actually cares about you and sometimes like that my DMs and my emails, like sometimes you're like protective of me. And I'm like, oh my gosh, wow, like it does make me feel so special. And it kind of like brings me back to like middle school and high school where I didn't really have a lot of that. I didn't really have a lot of people looking out for me or defending me or thinking about me in that way. It was kind of just like, okay, like don't really have too many people in my life. So I am just gonna, you know, do everything on my own. I'm strong on my own. I can, whatever, whatever. I'm not gonna go so deep into it 'cause we're gonna be here for like 20 hours. But anyway, I appreciate when you bring that up to me. And what I will say is overlapping concepts, copying as sucky and like, and like annoying as it feels. It is part of what we do and it is a name of the game in the sense of what will happen. And it is one of those things where it is a learning experience. But it's also when that stuff does happen. And when you bring it up to me, it just makes me more grateful to have you because I can't stop someone from copying. Or I can even if someone wasn't like exactly copying me or copying you, like overlapping concepts where something could look a little fishy or look a little weird or just not feel right. Like that unfortunately is the name of the game. And I think for you and me, the mentality that I want us to have is, you know what, at the end of the day, if this is reaching the person that needs to reach and if it is fulfilling the mission and if it is helping someone, if it is doing its job, like that outweighs the annoyingness of the other side of content creation. And I really,
try to hold on to that. But yeah, I mean, I'm not gonna pretend like I'm so the colier than thou. Like I've never been upset or I've never been bothered or I never like rolled my eyes to the back of my head being like girl. Are you serious right now? Like, that's looking a little suspicious. Whatever. Like how those feelings, but you know, at the end of the day, again, like if this has happened to you, that's kind of the mentality that I want you to have of like, sure, okay, it's inevitable. I can't control it, but here are the things I can control. And you know what? If that happened, that means it is reaching more people. And the more right people that it reaches, like I am content with that and I'm happy with that. And that's the way that I want you to be thinking too. And again, I'm so honored that you're here and that I know the sea of people that are probably on your FYP that you're here. And that you, you know, want to take advice from me. I think that's awesome. And that you value my opinion in some way. And now I'm yep being a yep as a professional leopor. I hope I got my point across. So I'm just going to let's move on from that. But I appreciate you. Thank you for your DMs. Thank you for thinking of me. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Oh my gosh, that was a lot. I hope you got a lot of good gems and notes and inspiration from this episode. And if you did, please, please share with me on Instagram on TikTok. TikTok, right? TikTok @inspiredmediaco. You can send me an email,
[email protected]. Keep me updated on your progress or even just share this with your community with your audience, your followers, even if you don't have followers, put it out there. Keep yourself accountable to what you want to do if you really want to create a signature style series. I love, love, love featuring your wins as well with your signature style series success story. So please keep me updated. Maybe I can make a post about you. We can collaborate in some way there. But I'm so excited for you to create your own signature style series for you to really focus on your personal brand on creating content that really shows you when you're lifestyle and your personality in a way that is so fulfilling to you and that people can connect with you and know you and all the fun things and for you to just like have your own reality TV show too like we love it. Just remember signature style series and as always break a leg.
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