🎥 The Magic of Keith Lee

Keith Lee is a husband, father, MMA fighter, and TikTok food critic based in Las Vegas.

Over the last 3 months, Lee has picked up over 4 million followers for his food reviews, but his success unfolded from something totally unexpected:

Keith harbored a lot of anxiety for his pre and post-fight interviews, and started creating content to get over his own social anxiety. There’s no better way to become comfortable speaking on-camera than to practice:

Lee’s now been posting on TikTok for several years, but started focusing on food-related content in September of 2022.

His wife was pregnant and he thought it would be entertaining to document and share some of her odd cravings. This quickly turned into a series where he rated popular snacks, and eventually he moved onto reviewing local restaurants and food trucks.

Now, Keith has over 7 million followers on TikTok and has single-handedly changed the lives of many restaurant owners in Las Vegas.

Several restaurants have reported over $50,000 in sales within the first 12 hours of Keith posting a review of their food.

Keith’s format is simple:

He sits in front of the camera and explains where the food is from, all of the items he got, and how much everything costs. Then, he works his way one-by-one through each item, trying it and rating it 1-10.

Is it Keith’s monotone delivery that makes people stick around? Or the fact that he is perched on his daughter’s Paw Patrol chair? Or maybe it’s his genuine reactions to all of the food he tries?

It’s probably a little bit of everything. Keith is an extremely likable creator, and the longer you follow him, the more relatable he is.

Keith has implemented 3 major strategies in his content that assisted him in his growth.

#1 Consistency

Yeah, we’ve all heard, “you gotta be consistent.” But there’s a reason why it’s such a prominent cliche in the content game.

Keith uploads every day, sometimes multiple times per day. Not only is he consistent with his publishing schedule, but he is consistent in his video format, delivery to camera, and setting.

People like predictability. In the same way you know what to expect from the structure of your favorite game show or talk show, Keith has built a structure for his TikToks in the same way.

He also has endless merch opportunities because he has about 15 phrases that he repeats all the time in his reviews.

His consistency across the board is worth being studied.

#2 Stitch Incoming

This technique is fascinating.

Many creators will use the Stitch feature on TikTok, where you can clip up to 5 seconds of another video and then record the rest of your video after it.

Keith uses it in almost all of his videos. He stitches videos from the restaurant he’s about to review, he stitches other creators talking about specific foods, and he also stitches himself.

He always grabs the attention of the audience by including the text “Stitch Incoming” during the first few seconds of the video:

He uses this feature so consistently that I believe the algorithm has rewarded him.

The same way other creators always include trending sounds, Keith always includes a stitch.

The TikTok Gods love folks who utilize their features and keep people engaged for longer.

If he wants to stitch MORE than 5 seconds, Keith will take the cut from one of his previous videos that he wants to include, and edit it in so that it appears to be a stitch, when really it’s just some basic editing:

There’s no “#stitch with ▶@keith_lee125” in the caption, which means it’s not an actual stitch. His audience won’t really tell the difference because they’ve been primed to stick around once they see the “Stitch Incoming” text.

It’s a clever way to continue with his predictable format while tweaking the content to exactly his liking.

What started as a tool to help him overcome social anxiety has turned into a full-blown career - a career that is directly impacting many hard-working small business owners.

Keith is using his platform for good, and not asking anything in return from these restaurants. He has been very vocal about refusing to take compensation for reviews, because he wants to remain unbiased and honest in his content.

He has limited contact with larger corporate brands, which brings me to the final part of his secret sauce:

#3 A Common Enemy

Everyone loves an underdog, and everyone hates corporate greed.

Keith beautifully articulates that having a large platform is a privilege, and while he doesn’t want to be paid by the mom n pop shops he’s reviewing, he absolutely expects compensation from national brands who want to collaborate with him, because they have a marketing budget specifically set aside for it.

He has shared several interactions that he’s had with large brands that’ve been…underwhelming.

For example, he recently caused a craze over Cinnabon’s chocolate chip cookies (I for one had no idea they sold anything other than cinnamon rolls). Lee expressed that he doesn’t like the brand’s cinnamon rolls, but loves the cookies.

The cookies started selling like hotcakes after his recommendation, and when Cinnabon reached out to work with him, they asked to send him some cinnamon rolls to review. He proceeded to explain again that he doesn’t like their cinnamon rolls, but would be happy to do another post for the cookies.

This time however, he expected compensation, since they are a national brand and have a marketing budget set aside for influencers and video marketing.

Cinnabon ghosted him.

Keith positions himself as the hero, encouraging his followers to support their local businesses. He has elevated his platform past just a food review account - it’s now the marketing arm of every restaurants’ dreams.

I want to fly to Vegas solely to try some of the restaurants Keith has reviewed.

In the meantime though, I’ll be keeping a close eye on his content to see how his strategy further unfolds.

Have an ELITE Week,

Hannah

Elite Video of the Week:

Hannah shares 3 quick and easy video ideas for you to stay consistent in your posting schedule. Each of these videos should take 5 minutes or less, and you can save them as drafts and publish them in the future.