E1080: Sarvesh Shrivastava grew a new Instagram account from zero to almost 300,000 followers using AI videos of himself.
He has not recorded a single video for that account.
The face is AI. The voice is AI. The scripts come from his existing ideas, Loom videos, 𝕏 posts, and team research. The editing is handled by his team. And the account has reached millions of views per month.
Sarvesh breaks down exactly how the system works.
We talk about:
- How Sarvesh grew to almost 300,000 Instagram followers with AI videos
- Why he started with a new account instead of using his personal Instagram
- How he uses HeyGen to create an AI avatar of himself
- How he uses ElevenLabs to clone his voice
- Why he still uses human editors instead of trying to automate everything
- How his team hides imperfect AI moments with B-roll, screen recordings, and fast edits
- The three-second rule his editors use for short-form videos
- Why most viewers do not notice or care that the videos are AI-generated
- How he structures the team behind the account
- How he uses Claude to turn Loom videos, Twitter threads, and past content into new video scripts
- Why generic AI scripts usually fail
- How to make AI scripts sound more like you
- Why he recommends using your own past content as the source material
- How he is testing long-form AI videos
- Why editing is still the hardest part to automate
- How often he posts
- Why he does not use a VPN to post
- What changed when he shifted from general business content to SEO content
- How YouTube Shorts helped grow his YouTube channel
- Why YouTube videos can also rank on Google
- How descriptions and keywords help videos show up in search
- Why local business owners, agency owners, and camera-shy founders should pay attention
The main workflow:
- Record a short training video of yourself for HeyGen
- Record voice samples for ElevenLabs
- Write or generate a script from your own ideas
- Create the voiceover in ElevenLabs
- Upload the voiceover into HeyGen
- Generate the AI avatar video
- Send the raw video to an editor
- Add B-roll, screen recordings, captions, sound effects, and music
- Hide the moments where the avatar looks unnatural
- Post manually to Instagram, YouTube Shorts, TikTok, LinkedIn, or other platforms
Sarvesh explains why this works especially well for people who know they should be making video content but never actually do it.
This includes:
- Founders who are too busy to record
- Clients who refuse to get on camera
- Local business owners who want more content
- Agency owners who want a repeatable content system
- Creators who are camera shy
- People with useful ideas but no time to film daily
We also talk about the risks. If you already have an audience that knows you personally, posting AI videos of yourself without testing first could feel strange or inauthentic. Sarvesh and I discuss why starting with a separate account can be a safer way to test the idea before using it on your main profile.
Resources:
- Sarvesh got his first editor from Fiverr and his second one through his first editor's referral
- For more editors and thumbnail designers - https://ytjobs.co/
- HeyGen - https://www.heygen.com
- ElevenLabs - https://elevenlabs.io
- Descript - https://www.descript.com
- Reuse Video - https://reusevideo.com
- Exactly how to post across social platforms - https://edwardsturm.com/articles/social-media-posting-strategy/
- How to get video ideas - https://edwardsturm.com/articles/content-creation-ideas/
- How to edit with Descript - https://edwardsturm.com/articles/15-minute-no-thinking-video-system-500k-views/
⭐️ Sarvesh on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/marketingwithsarvesh/
⭐️ Sarvesh on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@bloggersarvesh/
⭐️ Sarvesh on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/bloggersarveshseo/
⭐️ Sarvesh on 𝕏 - https://x.com/bloggersarvesh
⭐️ Sarvesh on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarvesh-shrivastava-blogger/
⭐️ Sarvesh's agency, Alventra Marketing - https://alventramarketing.com/
💎 Compact Keywords - My SEO Course - Get paying customers through SEO - Clear step-by-step video breakdowns - SEO templates to be copied and adapted for your products and services: https://compactkeywords.com/
00:00 AI Avatar Goes Viral
01:46 Why This Matters
02:28 YouTube Shorts Expansion
03:07 AI Labels and Disclosure
03:49 Next Step Long Form
07:08 Origin Story and Audience Reaction
09:10 Team Roles and Workflow
15:47 Posting Strategy and Geo Reach
18:32 Tool Stack HeyGen ElevenLabs
24:36 Who Notices AI Videos
25:08 Getting Fooled by B Roll
26:22 Scripts from Looms and Threads
30:33 Editing Captions Tools
32:19 Ranking on Google SEO
33:06 Descriptions Keywords Strategy
34:33 New IG Account Viral
35:16 Retention Three Second Rule
36:25 Music Workflow Reposting
38:41 Posting Frequency Growth
41:03 Authenticity New Accounts
44:05 Manual Posting Crosspost
44:49 Thanks and Outro
The Edward Show. The #1 digital marketing podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/
#artificialintelligence #digitalmarketing #socialmediamarketing #viralmarketing