by Brooks Borden
7MS Editorial
Preface:
Last week, I emailed Aaron to ask about one of his viral short stories—now at 17 million views. I wanted to know what he learned from the experience.
He wrote back with his thoughts, and I’ve organized them below.
Story Matters
The approach was simple: find a new way to connect with an audience through my storytelling. Instead of overcomplicating things, I told and recorded a one-minute adaptation of an episode from my audio podcast 7 Minute Stories and put it out there. No elaborate setup, no gimmicks—just me, a camera, and a story.
The result? A new platform to share my storytelling with and an undeniable truth—it’s not about the platform, it’s about the story. When you focus on authenticity, your audience will find you. It might take 7 minutes, 7 days, or 7 years—but they will.
The “What”
The short story I shared on YouTube has now accumulated over 17 million views. The video itself is just over a minute long, but what stands out is that over 90% of viewers watched it all the way through.
It was a simple story I titled: “He Laughed After He Ate This”—about my grandfather and me, a dandelion salad, and a memory from his childhood. No gimmicks, just a family story, a camera, and my spoken word.
Why Numbers Matter—and Why They Don’t
It’s easy to let views, likes, and shares dictate what you create, but don’t let surface-level metrics drive your decisions.
These platforms? They have their own interests. They are just an intermediary between you and your audience, shaping how content is seen and consumed. Just because a story, video, or piece of content doesn’t take off ( Trust me I have hundreds of videos and stories that don’t hit or go viral) on one platform doesn’t mean it won’t connect elsewhere.
But here’s where numbers do matter—under the hood. Look at consumption rate, retention, and watch time. If people stick around until the end, even if it’s a small audience, that’s a good sign. It means you’ve created something worth staying for.
The Forgotten Truth
I feel like in a world full of expert strategists, marketers, jargon, and know-it-alls telling creatives how to do it 'correctly,' things can get overwhelming. Advice can be useful—but also confusing. As a storyteller—naturally, originally, just a storyteller—I think I’m uniquely positioned to remind creatives of one simple truth: beneath all the noise, there’s just story. How you think of it, how you catch it, how you craft it, how you frame it, and ultimately, how you tell it. Only then should strategy come into play—helping to frame messaging, drive communication, and uplift products or services across different platforms.
I say this bluntly because it’s a truth that gets lost. And the little story I’m referencing in this blog? It’s proof that if story is the priority in your creative strategy, you’re in a good spot.