I'll get back to part two of the double opt-in series next week. I just really needed to talk about this TikTok series while it was relevant so pause on the DOI (double opt-in) and let's dig into Reesa Teesa and Legion.

I don't sleep very well. Two weekends ago I think I clocked a handful of hours over the whole weekend. In fact, a friend saw me on the following Monday and asked me if I was okay. I grumbled my reply and because I was sleep-deprived and menopausal, then I barked at her and she quickly retracted her statement to avoid the eruption she could see was coming.

That night I vowed to myself that I was going to bed early and setting myself up for sleep success. And then I watched Brighton Walsh's stories where she had described her descent into the TikTok black hole that is now known as the Reesa Teesa effect and I kissed my early night goodbye.

Don't know who or what Reesa Teesa is?

In short, Reesa Teesa is the name on the TikTok account. Real names of those involved are mostly unknown, but also, totally known if you love following a good TikTok trail. (this may have been me) This account is owned by a woman who was grifted by a man and who slowly and methodically laid out the entire story over 50+ 10-minute videos on TikTok.

If you're doing the math, that's around 8 hours of video watching if you watch your TikToks on regular speed. Which I do not. But even at 2X the speed, I was looking at hours, not minutes. And away went my visions of sugar plums dancing overhead. I got sucked in by two things.

The viral hype around this account and her ability to tell a story.

And this story was so clearly laid out, with a beginning (their meet cute) a middle, (things are starting to not add up), a dark moment (she kicks him out but he keeps coming back) and an ending...ish, but mostly the HEA we were all waiting for. The story is still ongoing. Just yesterday she had another update with new information!

And this was all recorded over a 3 or 4-day time frame.

There's merch. There are brand deals. There are late-night comedy references. There are memes.

Reesa Teesa and Legion are viral social media stars.

Side Note: She calls him Legion. That's not his real name. But he is referenced many times as the legion of doom.

What can we as email marketers learn from this crazy case study? A LOT! But the biggest takeaway is the storytelling piece.

None of us need to go into the kind of detail she's gone into but the millions of followers who are obsessed with her story are proof that we connect through storytelling.

There is one comment that happens over and over and again with Reesa Teesa and it goes something like:

"I can't concentrate for more than ten minutes at a time, but here I am, 4 hours in and I can't stop watching, but she's such a great storyteller. She's speaking very clearly, breaks the story up into juicy bits and leaves us wanting more."

We're writers. We write books for a living. So why are we so afraid to tell stories inside our emails?

I have a lot of authors tell me weekly how surprised they are when they hit on a subject matter that resonates with their subscribers and they get a flood of emails from them inside their inbox.

People buy from people they KNOW, LIKE and TRUST and the fastest path to know, like and trust is through connective storytelling.

Storytelling inside emails does not have be the Reesa Teesa vs Legion 50 part story. What if you told a story about...

your favourite TV show

your favourite reality TV show

your favourite travel destination

your favourite podcast

your favourite actor/actress/artist

your current read

the insane dog you brought into your family (this one's my personal fave)

your funniest sex scene writing experience

what your current search engine looks like

your favourite murder weapon

what you'd put into a potion if you could make one

the best character name that you haven't been able to use

your weekly happy news

your mundane tasks

I don't know...but clearly, we are great storytellers...so take one of these prompts and make it a story. Starting next Monday, over inside the Facebook Group, I'll be running a storytelling project. You'll see these prompts over there again. Make sure you've joined the group to have some fun and write some emails together.

And until then, I've got one small challenge for you. Write a story for an email. Use it or don't use it, but put it down for future use or send it off into the universe immediately. And then hit reply to this email and let me know what you wrote about! You just got my storytelling email for the week. Reesa Teesa and the Legion of Doom and how I watched TikTok for 4 hours.

Happy Emailing,

Holly

PS Want to learn the basics of storytelling inside emails? I've got a quick course for you! Learn With Me Lessons: Storytelling With Ease is only $47 USD!

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