π Why AI influencers are pulling millions of views right now
π The IP Play: how to use one without losing your audience's trust
π AI Alley: Nano Banana 2.1 + a prompt for your first carousel
and more... lets go!
Sponsored by: Lions Behavior is the creator ecosystem operating system for creators and small teams ready to turn scattered ideas, content, and tools into something real.
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π° What's Poppin
A man with perfect blonde hair is shadowboxing in front of the camera to a trending song.
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That's it. That's the whole video.
36.8 million views on Instagram.
He has a bunch of these. 9 million here, 15 million there. Sometimes he's shadowboxing with a croissant.
And he's not real.
I pulled him up on Wednesday's live and the chat had the same reaction I did. Instagram's own account was in the comments of one of his videos. Real people have spent years building and haven't seen a fraction of those numbers.
I know what that does to you. You spent four hours on your best video this week. Researched it, filmed it, edited it, posted it.
And a guy who doesn't exist out-viewed your whole year in one afternoon.
It makes you wonder if real even matters anymore.
So let me tell you what happened next, bc this is the part that matters.
The day after his first video went up, his account started promoting a meme coin in his name.
There it is.
The views were never the business. The views were the setup.
A month ago I told you what replaced the influencer was credibility. This is the other side of that same coin (pun intended lol). AI made attention cheap. Anybody can generate a character that pulls 30 million views by Friday.
What it can't generate is trust. And the second you point borrowed attention at a meme coin, you show everybody exactly what you were.
Gary Vee has been saying this for years: "every human is going to be in the IP business." He's right. But most people heard "make an AI influencer" and skipped the IP part.
The winners of this wave aren't going to be the weirdest characters.
They're going to be the characters that point back to something real.
Let me break it down:
π₯οΈ The IP Play
πΉ Step 1: Own it, donβt rent it. Build your character from YOUR world: your niche, your sense of humor, your inside jokes. A random viral face is rented attention. A character only you could have made is IP.
πΉ Step 2: Point it home. Every post your character makes should lead somewhere real: your channel, your newsletter, your product, your community. If it doesnβt lead anywhere, itβs just more AI slop.
πΉ Step 3: Say itβs AI. In the bio, in the captions, out loud. Hiding it is a short-term trick that turns into a long-term trust problem.
πΉ Step 4: Measure trust, not views. Track replies, DMs, saves, and clicks. A character with 2,000 views and 40 people asking where to learn more is beating the shadowboxer.
I built one live on Wednesday to test this. Took a few minutes in Higgsfield. His name is Hector, and his first job is going to be pointing people back to the real stuff.
So email me back and be honest with me: would you follow an AI influencer? And have you made one yet?
π AI Alley
Nano Banana 2.1 dropped this week and I put it head to head on the live with ChatGPT Images and Muse. Same prompts, four real creator tasks.
The receipts:
πΉ Fastest of the three, every round.
πΉ Spelled every word on my flyer right.
πΉ Kept my lion logo on the thumbnail but drifted on my face.
πΉ Only gave me one carousel slide.
Now, can I be honest? I'm not impressed yet. ChatGPT still has my crown for images.
But 2.1 is built for exactly this week's topic. It can hold up to 4 characters consistent across up to 14 reference images, which is the thing every AI influencer account struggles with. And you can brush over one part of an image to change just that part.
Here's a prompt that gives you a ready-to-post 4-slide carousel of your own character. Fill in the brackets, run it in Gemini:
Create one 4:5 vertical image split into a clean 2x2 grid with thin white borders. All four panels show the SAME original character: [NAME], [age range], [build], [skin tone], [hair], [eye color], with [ONE signature detail]. Personality: [3 words].
Panel 1: [NAME] doing [your weird hook moment, e.g. shadowboxing in a laundromat at 2am], mid-motion.
Panel 2: close-up reaction, [expression], looking straight into the camera.
Panel 3: [NAME] holding or using [your product, tool, or niche object].
Panel 4: candid selfie angle at [location], soft smile.
Shot like phone photos a friend took: slightly off-center, natural mixed lighting, light grain, real background clutter.
Keep the face, hair, build, and signature detail identical in all four panels. Do not beautify. No text anywhere.
Crop the four panels and you've got your carousel. Love one of the panels? Upload it as the reference for everything after so your character stays the same person.
Let me know if you try this. I have more prompts inside of Lions Behavior.β
π£οΈ See Me Live
Here are the next spots that I'll be speaking at. Hopefully, I see you at one.
November 13-15 Detroit - Creator Con Click hereβ
So you already know you have to email me back about your biggest takeaway from this week's Content Corner. Take a screenshot and tag me in your stories (or Threads/Substack) so I know you liked this week's content. If not, I'll see you next Friday. Same time, same corner.
I'll Holla,
Nicky S
Creators who last don't rely on motivation. They rely on behaviors. ~ Lions Behavior
P.S. Whenever you are ready, here's how I can help you
Watch my YouTube channel for full tutorials and walk-throughs on content tips, AI, and brand strategy that go beyond this newsletter.
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Finally, join Lions Behavior. It's where creators who build seriously come to actually do it together - Join hereβ
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