Imagine creating a virtual spokesperson, you
know, a professional ad creator who's always
ready, always on brand, never needs a lunch break.
Right. Or a soundstage. Exactly. And this isn't
some far off future tech. It's actually happening
right now. You can do it with tools that are
pretty accessible. Specific AI video tools, yeah.
Welcome to the Deep Dive. So today, we're going
to unpack this really powerful guide. It's all
about using Google Flow and Google AI Studio.
Our goal is, well... pretty simple, really, show
you how to create that kind of high demand content
that businesses are actively looking for right
now. Yeah, and our mission here is super practical.
It's grounded in immediate revenue potential.
We're going to look at two main paths you can
take. First, there's the sort of longer term
play building an actual AI influencer business,
high control there. Right. And second, more immediate
practical thing, the UGC ad agency model. That's
what the quick money is, I think. Okay, let's
dig into that choice first then. Why focus on
one over the other if they're both potentially
profitable paths? Well, the opportunity is really
defined by demand. You know, the AI influencer
idea, creating these virtual people for brands.
It does offer amazing control. You skip all the
usual human influencer drama. Right, no call
times, no writers. Exactly. But it demands that
really high polish, kind of aspirational look,
doesn't it? And honestly, current video AI, it
still kind of struggles with that consistently.
That's the nail in the head. Yeah, the AI influencer
needs really complex, high fidelity stuff. And
that's why path number two, the UGC ad agency
model is just, well, vastly better for beginners
and for immediate cash flow. UGC. user -generated
content. Yep, user -generated content. So these
are the ads that look like a normal person just
talking about a product, maybe on their phone.
They don't look super slick or heavily produced.
Precisely. And that relatability, that's gold.
People trust these ads because they feel real,
not like a big commercial. And the kind of content
you need here, simple testimonials, talking straight
to camera, maybe some subtle gestures, it's much
easier for today's AI to do well compared to
complex movie scenes. And businesses, they need
like five to 10 of these short ads every week.
The demand is just huge. Wow. So UGC is the easier
way in because it lines up perfectly with what
AI video can actually do well right now. Exactly.
It offers immediate revenue. You don't need to
spend like two years grinding away trying to
build an influencer community from nothing. OK,
that makes sense. Let's get technical then. What
tools are we actually using here? The guide mentions
two core tools from Google. Yeah, you've got
Google Flow. That's the video generation AI.
Right. And then Google AI Studio. That's what
we're going to use for creating the character
images and keeping them consistent. And editing,
too. And getting access. Is it difficult? Not
really. The barrier to entry is like almost zero.
You can just search Google Labs. Everyone gets
some limited free credits for Flow to start.
Okay, so enough to try it out. Yeah, enough to
get your first few videos done. Test the waters.
See if you like it. But if you're serious about
this as a business, you probably need more power.
The guide mentions this student offer. Oh yeah,
that's the best option if you qualify. Look up
Gemini for students. If you can confirm you're
a student, you get a full year. a free access
to these really powerful AI models. That's like
the best deal going right now. A full year free.
That's significant. It's a huge power up. But,
and this is important, it's time sensitive. The
guide really stresses this, that student access
expires October 6th, 2025. October 6th, 2025.
Okay, so if you qualify, you kind of got to get
on it. Okay, so here's my question then. Why
is the UGC model inherently easier to start?
You mentioned the demand, but is it just that?
What's the demand plus the alignment with current
AI capabilities? It offers immediate revenue
potential without that long, slow community building
phase. Got it. Immediate revenue, less upfront
effort. Pretty much. All right. Let's move into
actually building this thing, architecting the
virtual persona. Before we even touch video,
we need this virtual spokesperson. Right. And
they have to look exactly the same every single
time. Consistency is everything. Absolutely.
We start this in Google AI Studio. And the key
step, the absolute essential thing, is writing
an extremely detailed prompt. Granular. You have
to lock down every visual detail of your character.
The guide had a great example, right? Minh, a
friendly 24 -year -old Vietnamese man. And the
prompt gave specific. Small dimples, enthusiastic
eyes, dark brown apron over a white t -shirt.
modern coffee shop background, that level of
detail stops the AI from just, you know, making
stuff up. Exactly. It removes the guesswork.
Now here's the secret technique for consistency.
This is what trips up a lot of beginners. Okay.
When you generate your second picture or third,
maybe you want to change the lighting or the
pose slightly, you must always attach the previous
good image to the new prompt. Ah, okay. So you
don't just write a new text prompt. You feed
it the last successful picture and the new prompt.
Yes. That attachment is critical. Explain why,
mechanically. Well, I guess the previous image
acts like a really strong guide, right? Like
a negative prompt override, almost. Precisely.
If you just type a new prompt, the AI introduces
these sort of hidden variables, latent variables,
to subtly change the face. Maybe the jaw gets
a tiny bit wider or the eye color shifts slightly.
By attaching that source image, you're basically
forcing the AI model, keep this face, keep this
geometry. Then you can safely just change the
lighting or the background. or the shirt maybe.
Okay, that makes sense. I have to admit, I still
wrestle with that prompt drift myself sometimes.
It's so easy for the AI to just subtly change
the eye color or the jawline between attempts
if you're not super careful about attaching that
source image. It's a bit of a constant battle,
even for me. It happens. But it's only fragile
if you skip that one simple step of attaching
the image. Right. Once you get your, say, five
to 10 really consistent images locked down using
that method, the process becomes pretty robust.
OK. So that's the Character Image Library. Then
we need a script. Yep. Use an AI writer. Gemini
is good for this. Keep it short, snappy. A UGC
script. Maybe like 10 seconds for a vertical
Instagram reel. Focus on one product benefit.
And then we go to Google Flow. And you go to
Flow. Choose the frames to video option. Upload
your best starting image, your best shot of Min,
for example. OK. And then write a prompt describing
the action in the dialogue. You're telling it
Min speaks clearly, makes subtle, natural hand
gestures, things like that. You want realistic
mouth movement. So we're essentially training
the AI model to be this specific spokesperson
using those consistent images as the foundation.
That character sheet, all those images, yes.
That's the absolute foundation for everything
else you build. Gotcha. So, probing question
here. How much detail is really necessary in
that very first character creation prompt? Can
you overdo it? It's hard to overdo it initially.
High detail ensures that brand consistency later
on and actually saves you time because you'll
have fewer failed attempts, fewer regeneration.
Less wasted effort. High detail reduces regeneration
attempts. Exactly. All right, now the core business.
Creating UGC ads for clients. Let's use that
sunscreen example from the guide. Okay, now this
step has a prerequisite and this is where most
people get tripped up early on. Okay. You can't
just generate the video. of your character talking
and then like stick picture the sunscreen next
to them in a video editor, it'll look fake. It
won't match the lighting or perspective. Oh,
right. So you can't just use simple video editing
software to overlay the product picture. No,
not. You want it to look real, photorealistic.
You need that integration. So you actually have
to go back to AI Studio first. Back to AI Studio?
Why? To combine three things into one single
new starting image. You need the AI character,
Min, the product itself, the sunscreen tube,
and the background, like a sunny beach, all baked
into one image. Ah, OK. So we'd prompt AI Studio
something like... Min standing on a sunny beach
holding this specific brand of sunscreen. Exactly.
And the AI will use its features, like inpainting
or outpainting, to make sure the lighting on
Min matches the beach, the shadows look right,
the perspective of him holding the tube is correct.
That is a key technical step, making that composite
starting image first. That's the nugget right
there. Once you have that synthesized starting
image, then you take it over to Flow. Generate
the vertical add, maybe 12, 15 seconds long.
And the script, again, focus heavily on the benefits,
how the sunscreen feels super light, not sticky.
when you're actually on the beach. Right, the
feeling, the experience. And this is where the
guide mentions something really interesting,
the AI's contextual intelligence, giving you
extra production value. Yes. This is the moment
of wonder, seriously. You prompt for Min on the
beach talking about sunscreen, and flow might
generate the video, and you notice subtle movement
in the ocean waves in the background, or Min's
hair is moving just slightly. gently in the breeze.
Whoa, stuff you didn't even ask for. Stuff you
didn't explicitly prompt for. But the AI understands
the context. It knows, OK, sunny beach scene,
there's probably a light breeze, waves move,
and it adds those realistic details automatically.
That's incredible. It's basically giving you
like a $500 location shoot for a tiny fraction
of the cost. That feels like the real arbitrage
here. That's the power. OK, let's talk money
then. We're selling digital output here, not
hours of labor. What should someone actually
charge for these UGC videos? Well, the pricing
for a UGC agency is pretty flexible, but it can
be highly profitable because your overhead is
so low. You could reasonably charge, say, $50
up to $200 for just a single short video. That's
a pretty big range, $50 to $200. What makes the
difference? Mostly complexity and usage rights.
$50 video might be just one take, 10 seconds,
no revisions, static background, limited usage.
Okay. But if a client needs like full buyout
rights, maybe three rounds of revisions, high
resolution output, dynamic text overlays, you're
easily pushing towards that $200 mark or more.
And what about recurring revenue, getting clients
on a monthly plan? That's the smart play for
stable income. Offer monthly retainers. Packages
could range from maybe $300 to $800 a month for,
say, four to eight videos delivered. Four to
eight videos, given how fast the AI can potentially
generate these. Exactly. Once you have your system
down, that's very profitable. So thinking about
scaling this, besides the realism issues, especially
around hands and fingers, which AI still struggles
with, what's the biggest technical hurdle people
hit? Honestly? time management and just burning
through credits unnecessarily. People try to
prompt for really complex, fast movements, and
current AI just isn't smooth with that yet. So
they regenerate and regenerate, wasting credits
on stuff that won't look good anyway. Okay, so
trying to make the AI do things it's not good
at, yet waste time and credits. Avoid complex
choreography. Keep it simple, especially starting
out. Stick to talking heads, simple gestures.
All right, that leads nicely into strategy. Before
you even jump into production, pre -planning
is critical. It's not just about saving time.
It saves those credits, too. The guide compares
it to, like, making a simple drawing before attempting
a big painting. Yeah, that's a good analogy.
Tactically what this means is know your goal
for the client before you touch the keyboard.
Write a simple script, scene by scene. Like scene
one, zero five seconds. Mint introduces the problem.
Scene two, five ten seconds. Close up on the
product showing the benefit. That kind of thing.
Exactly. And crucially, prepare a dedicated starting
image in AI Studio for each scene beforehand.
Ah. So if scene two is a close -up, you make
that close -up starting image separately. Yes.
That ensures the transitions in the final video
edit are smooth and the visual continuity holds
up. Don't try to make one long video do everything.
Stitch shorter scenes together. Makes sense.
What about other quality tips for success? OK,
number one, always use high resolution source
images. If you feed the AI blurry JPEGs, your
video output will look muddy, garbage in, garbage
out. Right. Also, experiment with your prompts.
Sometimes changing just a few words can make
a big difference in the final video's quality
or action. Iterate a bit. And content -wise.
Keep the script natural, conversational, like
a friend talking. And focus relentlessly on the
product benefits, how it helps the user, what
problem it solves, not just listing features
off the box. Benefits sell. Okay, benefits over
features. That's key for UGC. Now, this naturally
brings up the ethics side. We're creating synthetic
people here. Transparency seems vital. It's absolutely
essential. The guide is very clear on this. We
have to be transparent, right? Both with the
client and the eventual audience. Using something
like an hashtag AI influencer hashtag or a clear
disclaimer. Yes. You need to clearly signify
the content is AI generated. This isn't just
about, like, doing the right thing ethically,
though it is. It's also a critical business risk
management step. How so? Well, imagine a platform
like Instagram or TikTok cracks down on undisclosed
AI content. If your videos are flagged as misleading,
your client's brand takes a hit, maybe their
account gets penalized. Just not worth the risk.
So be upfront from the start. Build that integrity
into your process. Don't try to trick people.
Exactly. And definitely don't use this tech to
create false information or scam ads. That goes
without saying, hopefully. We also need to be
mindful of the impact on real human content creators.
Yeah, that's a big one. So for people ready to
move beyond just simple testimonial videos, what
are some more advanced techniques they could
explore? OK, first step would be creating a proper
character sheet. This isn't just five, 10 images,
but a whole library showing your character from
multiple angles, different expressions, happy,
thoughtful, surprised, skeptical. Like animators
use. Kind of, yeah. That library. Massively improves
consistency when you start doing longer videos
or multi -scene story arcs, like a classic problem
solution structure for an ad. OK, character sheets
for consistency. What else? You can get into
more careful brand integration for clients, making
sure the product placement feels natural within
the scene you generate, and just generally telling
slightly more complex stories across multiple
short video clips. So here's a tough question,
then. Given the incredibly low startup cost here,
how significant is that ethical concern about
creators potentially losing work. It's a valid
concern and one we need to keep in mind. Responsible
use means being transparent, yes, but also being
aware of the potential market impact. It's about
adding value, not just replacing humans wholesale
because it's cheaper. Responsible use requires
transparency and awareness, a good way to put
it. Yeah, you're still building trust even if
the creator isn't technically real. Okay, let's
wrap this up and reinforce the core takeaway
for everyone listening. The tools we talked about,
Google Flow, AI Studio, they're accessible, often
free, especially if you can grab that student
deal before it expires. The demand from businesses
for authentic -looking UGC ad content is genuinely
high right now. Extremely high. And so the potential
to build a profitable side hustle or even a full
agency is immediate. It's practical. This is
an actionable skill you can learn. Absolutely.
And the biggest advantage anyone has right now
is speed. Moving fats while the competition is
still relatively low while most people are still
just figuring out the basics get ahead of the
curve Yeah, the future here really does belong
to those who jump in and take action today Yeah,
leverage these tools while they're affordable
and the market isn't saturated. So here's a final
thought to chew on If the AI, like Flow, can
already automatically add things like subtle
wind blowing hair or moving waves in the background
without being asked, how long until it can automatically
adjust the script based on real -time viewer
engagement data? Maybe tweaking the call to action
or the benefit focus on the fly without you even...
needing to intervene. Whoa. That's the next level
automation potential right there. Dynamic creative
optimization done entirely by AI. Wild to think
about. But for now, the first step is much simpler.
Maybe dedicate just, say, three hours this week.
Go into AI Studio, create your first character
sheet, lock down those 10 consistent images.
That foundation is everything. Get started. Go
explore those free tools.