Kevin Hu of Metaplane uses mmhmm video to increase engagement with his product announcements by 121%

Kevin Hu, CEO and Founder of Metaplane, isn’t afraid to do what it takes to help his team do their best work. Sometimes that means working on machine learning models, joining customer calls, or securing funding from investors for his growing 12-person team.

Other times, it means pretending he’s at a theme park for his amusing product announcement videos using mmhmm.

“I love mmhmm. I look forward to making these videos,” Hu said. “They get more and more unhinged over time. And I plan to keep it that way,” he laughed.

“mmhmm helps us break through the noise.”

Kevin Hu

CEO and founder of Metaplane

The humor and personality he brings to his product announcements is intentional. “B2B marketing sucks. B2B data marketing really sucks,” he said. “People are flooded with low-effort content trying to grab their attention. But from my perspective, there are levels to this game.”

Hu understands that his company’s messages need to rise above not just the cacophony of drab communication from competitors, but also the high-quality, compelling marketing done by household name brands like Netflix and Nike.

“mmhmm helps us break through the noise. That helps us get more exposure and more engagement,” Hu said.

Hu has seen a marked increase in engagement with his product announcement posts since he started adding his creative mmhmm videos. Compared to write-ups he shared without mmhmm videos, Hu has seen a 121% increase in overall engagement on his announcements, with a 109% lift on overall impressions.

The videos offer real ROI for a low level of effort. A video clip that might have taken up to five hours to pull together in the past (not including the time spent learning how to use various tools and software) can be completed in a fifth of the time. “Every single video takes me about an hour from end-to-end,” he said.

Hu, who has a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has built much of his career and scholarship around data-driven decision-making. However, he knows that putting a face on his company’s communications can help customers make a connection with his company. “These videos give us a comparative and competitive advantage,” Hu said.

It helps that he thinks mmhmm videos are “10X” more fun to make than non-mmhmm videos.

“Part of why B2B marketing is boring is because all of these CEOs have ghostwriters for them,” he said. “What can't a copywriter do for a founder? They can't record a video for them.”