From the Pitch to Viral Stardom: Lucas Ivkovic’s Social Media Success Story

Meet Lucas Ivkovic, Moonee Valley’s own social media sensation, boasting over 6 million followers across TikTok, YouTube, and Snapchat. From his days playing junior football on the soccer fields of Moonee Valley, his high school and involvement in local theatre to creating viral comedy sketches that resonate worldwide, Lucas’s journey is a testament to creativity and hard work.

In this episode, we explore:

• Lucas’s roots in Moonee Valley and how the local community shaped his creativity.
• The story behind his iconic character, "Kevin," and how musical theatre influenced his sketches.
• Insights into the world of content creation, from viral growth to navigating brand deals.
• Fun rapid-fire questions about his favourite local spots and hangouts.

Tune in for an inspiring chat about staying authentic, building an audience, and making it big in the digital world! Don’t forget to like, subscribe, and share your thoughts in the comments.

Also on YouTube!

This episode was filmed at Content Hype's Moonee Ponds Podcast Studio. Learn more here:
https://contenthype.com.au/
https://contenthype.com.au/content-hype-studio/

🎧 Don’t forget to subscribe for more inspiring local stories.

Transcript

[00:00:08.880] - Matthew Galea

Hello, and welcome to another episode of Moonee Valley Voices, the new local podcast where we're talking to local characters from the Moonee Valley who are doing amazing things. And today, I'm very excited to have a special guest, a guy I met over 10 years ago. He was a a junior in my, Essendon Royals under 13 soccer team when we first met, and he's gone on to amass almost 6,000,000 followers on social media. I'm talking, of course, about Lukas Ivkovich. Welcome to the show, Lukas.

[00:00:34.720] - Lucas Ivkovic

Thank you so much, Matt. Thank you for having me.

[00:00:36.560] - Matthew Galea

See you. And,

[00:00:37.360] - Lucas Ivkovic

it's taking a long time.

[00:00:38.160] - Matthew Galea

And to reconnect, mate. I know.

[00:00:39.440] - Lucas Ivkovic

I thought you're gonna make me run laps.

[00:00:41.910] - Matthew Galea

Well, to be fair, I try to make all the sessions as much with the ball as possible, but every now and then, you know, your boys needed a lesson. You need to do some laps.

[00:00:48.790] - Lucas Ivkovic

So Especially me. Especially me. But, no, it's really good to see you.

[00:00:53.190] - Matthew Galea

No. They were great times. I remember, you know, you were if I was thinking, you know, when we were talking about getting you on, I I sort of remember you were sort of a shy kid at the start when I first took over the team and but in the year, you know, you sort of really found yourself and were expressing yourself on the park, off the park, and, it were sort of my trusty winger by the end of the year. So Thank you. It was a great great season, and, it's been amazing to see, you know, what you've gone on and and done with your, you know, social media career and the way that you sort of presented present yourself.

[00:01:24.760] - Matthew Galea

So congrats on on all that. But let's start with the basics. This is obviously a a local show. We like to sort of talk about, you know, people's memories of growing up in in Moonee Valley, and I know you've sort of I think you've pretty much grown up here the whole time. So, you know, talk to me about, you know, what Moonee Valley has been like for you as a community and, where you went to school, that sort of stuff.

[00:01:45.590] - Lucas Ivkovic

Yeah. Sure. So I was born in Glenroy first.

[00:01:50.310] - Matthew Galea

Yeah.

[00:01:50.630] - Lucas Ivkovic

And then when I was maybe 5 years old, I moved into the Moonee Valley, council. And, yeah. I grew up in Essendon all my life, basically. And not only that, played out outdoor, soccer with you as a coach. Yeah.

[00:02:05.720] - Lucas Ivkovic

Played at Royals. Grew up playing for Strathmore as well. Yep. I also did outside of school musicals as well. So I was a part of, this outside, amateur theatre company in Avondale Heights.

[00:02:19.440] - Lucas Ivkovic

Yep. So I was doing that, once a year. And, yeah, Clock Tower as well, performing there. So, yeah, I I've done a lot, in the Moonee Valley Council, and, yeah, I really loved it. And I don't see myself leaving, to be honest.

[00:02:33.370] - Lucas Ivkovic

Yeah.

[00:02:33.930] - Matthew Galea

You you were a Burnet's boy? Is that right?

[00:02:35.610] - Lucas Ivkovic

Yeah. Sorry. Yeah. I went to, Saint Bernard's, for high school, and I also went to Saint Teresa's in Essendon. Okay.

[00:02:41.910] - Lucas Ivkovic

Yeah.

[00:02:42.070] - Matthew Galea

No. Kippetal all pretty local.

[00:02:43.910] - Lucas Ivkovic

Yeah. Very local.

[00:02:44.950] - Matthew Galea

No. Very good. And, so obviously, we we connected through sport, and and soccer in particular. Was that a big part of your your childhood growing up? I mean, I only coached the 1 season I had to move after that.

[00:02:56.800] - Matthew Galea

It was a bit

[00:02:57.360] - Lucas Ivkovic

of a shame, but, That's alright. That's alright.

[00:02:59.120] - Matthew Galea

That was Have you haven't hold it against me too much? No.

[00:03:01.360] - Lucas Ivkovic

That was honestly probably the best year as well. Yeah.

[00:03:03.760] - Matthew Galea

Yeah.

[00:03:03.920] - Lucas Ivkovic

In my soccer career, that was so No.

[00:03:05.440] - Matthew Galea

We had a good group.

[00:03:06.120] - Lucas Ivkovic

It was really Yeah.

[00:03:07.200] - Matthew Galea

It was. It was. A bunch of boys. So, yeah. So talk to me a bit about your involvement in in in the sport, local sport.

[00:03:12.780] - Matthew Galea

How how was that, you know, growing up?

[00:03:14.780] - Lucas Ivkovic

Yeah. It was amazing. Like, when I was since I was was born, really, my dad just put a football in front of me, and I just started using it. And, yeah, I I when I was 4 or 5, I I don't know, whatever age you are able to play, start playing. Mhmm.

[00:03:31.760] - Lucas Ivkovic

I played at yeah. Moved to Essendon Royals. Yep. And, yeah, it was it was just a lot of fun. I actually started Auss Kick.

[00:03:39.270] - Lucas Ivkovic

Okay. Yeah. But I it wasn't really for me. I could just tell, like, I was I was also shy. I didn't really wanna go up.

[00:03:45.430] - Matthew Galea

And Yeah.

[00:03:45.990] - Lucas Ivkovic

A lot of a lot of the kids are a lot taller than me as well. So when I started soccer, I'm like, yeah. This is this suits me more. So the only thing is that my school, primary school weren't really soccer kids or football kids. So Yeah.

[00:03:59.310] - Matthew Galea

Yeah.

[00:03:59.550] - Lucas Ivkovic

They were all playing Aussie rules.

[00:04:00.750] - Matthew Galea

Rules. Yeah.

[00:04:01.550] - Lucas Ivkovic

So I didn't really have much friends from school that were playing soccer. Only myself, really. Yeah. But, yeah. When I was outside of school, I was meeting all these, like, kids and stuff like Jordan and stuff.

[00:04:12.540] - Lucas Ivkovic

And, yeah. From there, I I loved it. I played every year. And then later on, I played squash. Oh, right.

[00:04:20.260] - Lucas Ivkovic

Okay. So that that was a lot of fun. So every now and then, I'll play at the, Essendon squash Yeah. Which is really cool. So yeah.

[00:04:27.700] - Lucas Ivkovic

And, every now and then, I did try it out some other sports as well. I did tennis at my school, at Saint Teresa's. And I also did some other school sports and stuff. But, yeah, soccer was something that I grew up playing with. And, yeah, I only stopped when COVID happened, actually.

[00:04:43.760] - Matthew Galea

So Right. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I've always found sport, you know, whatever sport it is, is always sort of a good way to connect with people outside of that local you know, the kids that you go to school with and all that sort of stuff.

[00:04:54.630] - Matthew Galea

So, obviously, sounds like you made some pretty key friends along the way that, you know, if you weren't playing sport, perhaps you you didn't make. Do you think that's sort of something that it was important in sort of helping you maybe find yourself in a way outside of just the the school

[00:05:08.180] - Lucas Ivkovic

the school life? Absolutely. Because I wasn't really close with my primary school friends, and I was actually more closer with my soccer friends.

[00:05:15.540] - Matthew Galea

Yep.

[00:05:16.100] - Lucas Ivkovic

Because more I had something more in common, and Yep. I loved watching soccer out, like, the the a league and the premier league. And I had something to talk about when I was with my friends and stuff that I was playing soccer with. Yeah. But then when I moved on to high school, they all my friends that I was playing soccer with were going to to Saint Bernard's.

[00:05:33.930] - Lucas Ivkovic

So I was getting excited for that because I was like, now I can be with my friends as well. So that was really cool. But, yeah. I'm still friends with them until this day. Yep.

[00:05:43.530] - Lucas Ivkovic

As as as, Jordan Yeah. We were just talking about Yeah. We're talking about. So

[00:05:48.180] - Matthew Galea

Yeah. Yeah.

[00:05:48.660] - Lucas Ivkovic

He he I still talk with him almost every single day, and, yeah. It's it's just awesome. And also seeing him around the area and just saying, oh, what's up? How are you?

[00:05:57.620] - Matthew Galea

So Yeah. No. Perfect. Totally cool. And, you know, with with the, you know, post school sort of stuff, you mentioned you you did, some some theatre as well.

[00:06:08.820] - Matthew Galea

Yes. So what sort of role did that obviously, now you've moved into social media space. Was that theatre sort of something that was super important in in Yeah.

[00:06:16.800] - Lucas Ivkovic

On that? Definitely. Well, as you said, I I was a shy kid. And, yeah, I wouldn't really be open to speak and stuff. And definitely in primary school, I was really quiet because majority of them played Aussie rules, and I wasn't really a part of their clique.

[00:06:30.710] - Lucas Ivkovic

So I was shy, but because of musical theatre, I grew my confidence. Mhmm. And I also did acting classes and stuff, and I learned how to, like, speak a little bit better publicly and, to people. And also, yeah, I I just managed to, get a bit more confident. So when I managed to hit high school and during my teenage years, I was able to speak better with people.

[00:06:57.230] - Lucas Ivkovic

I wasn't as shy anymore. And, yeah, I I it opened myself up to, yeah, become who I am now. So yeah. Nice. Yeah.

[00:07:04.270] - Lucas Ivkovic

It was very important.

[00:07:05.390] - Matthew Galea

With the, so so tell us through talk us through how this whole social media thing started for you because I'm I'm assuming it's been a complete whirlwind. How long have you been at it?

[00:07:19.070] - Lucas Ivkovic

So it all started during COVID, actually. So when we were all at home, the only thing we had was social media, really, to go on and entertain ourselves and contact our friends and stuff. So during that time, it was in 2020, TikTok was, like, new, sort of new. Everyone was downloading the app and getting onto it, and everyone all my friends were posting videos.

[00:07:42.070] - Matthew Galea

I

[00:07:42.230] - Lucas Ivkovic

was actually 1 of the last people to download TikTok. But anyway, what happened was I was like, you know what? I might might I might make myself some videos. So that's what I did. And after maybe 15 videos or so, I had 1 video that did crazy.

[00:07:57.690] - Lucas Ivkovic

Yeah. And it was me in the pool. I was just doing some relatable content of playing Marco Polo. Yeah. And, anyway, it got a good engagement.

[00:08:07.060] - Lucas Ivkovic

All these comments were like, do more. Do more. So I was like, alright. I'll do more. And then Yeah.

[00:08:10.660] - Lucas Ivkovic

Yeah. Eventually, I I I stuck with it. I was posting once a day. And then, my friends were catching on going, oh my god. You're you're growing and stuff.

[00:08:18.790] - Lucas Ivkovic

And

[00:08:19.190] - Matthew Galea

Yeah.

[00:08:19.510] - Lucas Ivkovic

Yeah. Mumps went by, and then a few years went by. And, yeah, I've just reached some milestones. And now, it's slowly just taken over my life, become a full time job now. And, yeah.

[00:08:31.330] - Lucas Ivkovic

I've now I've been doing it for 5 years now. So posting every single day, and, yeah, I've just made, yeah, brands working with me now, and getting moving on not only just TikTok now, I'm on YouTube, I'm on Snapchat. All these other platforms as well posting my same thing. And, yeah, it's now a full time job now. So

[00:08:49.930] - Matthew Galea

So It's crazy. 2020 I'm guessing this is roughly 2020? Yeah.

[00:08:53.760] - Lucas Ivkovic

Yeah. Yeah. So when COVID happened, I'm all at home. Yeah. So

[00:08:57.130] - Matthew Galea

Yeah. And, you know, what was the I know you're probably just thinking we're mucking around, make something fun, you know, something that the boys can laugh at or whatever. Yeah. Yeah. But because what's it's a specific philtre that you use on those ones.

[00:09:09.310] - Lucas Ivkovic

It was a philtre.

[00:09:10.350] - Matthew Galea

I feel old as Yeah.

[00:09:11.310] - Lucas Ivkovic

No. No. No. It was a philtre. No.

[00:09:13.430] - Lucas Ivkovic

No. No. No. It was a philtre. So, yeah, it was interesting because I didn't expect myself to make videos, especially have a philtre on every single day.

[00:09:22.470] - Matthew Galea

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:09:23.350] - Lucas Ivkovic

It was it it just worked for me on my foot. Like, 1 of the videos that I just did for fun, it was it was just supposed to be a 1 off thing. Yeah. And, yeah. The philtre just stuck with me, and they're and they're like, we like this character that you're doing.

[00:09:36.120] - Lucas Ivkovic

Yeah.

[00:09:36.600] - Matthew Galea

Yeah. Yeah.

[00:09:37.080] - Lucas Ivkovic

Another thing is theatre actually helped me. Yeah. Especially doing my acting and my face expressions and making it's more for, like, kids and teenagers.

[00:09:45.850] - Matthew Galea

But Yep.

[00:09:46.890] - Lucas Ivkovic

Yeah. They they loved it. And yeah. It was, yeah. It was it was just really cool.

[00:09:52.250] - Lucas Ivkovic

And especially when COVID started, like, making it a little bit easier where we could walk around our area and stuff. So I was walking around Woollens Park, Queen's Park, and I was getting recognised. Yeah.

[00:10:04.240] - Matthew Galea

Yeah. Yeah. I was

[00:10:04.640] - Lucas Ivkovic

like, how would you recognise me if I've got, like, this massive big head philtre? Yeah. Yeah. But, yeah. People are like, are you Lucas?

[00:10:11.040] - Lucas Ivkovic

And I'm just walking around the fountain of Queen's Park and Yeah. Getting photos. And I'm feeling like a celebrity. And it's just weird because when you leave the house, you just don't think of it. Yeah.

[00:10:21.890] - Lucas Ivkovic

And after all that, yeah, it's just really weird how that happens.

[00:10:25.180] - Matthew Galea

So Yeah.

[00:10:25.890] - Lucas Ivkovic

Yeah. It just felt like I was like I was, well, TikTok famous. That's what they call it.

[00:10:30.640] - Matthew Galea

They call it. Yeah.

[00:10:31.680] - Lucas Ivkovic

But I don't like saying that, but, yeah, that's it's just funny. No.

[00:10:34.640] - Matthew Galea

It's just that's just

[00:10:36.880] - Lucas Ivkovic

famous. Yeah.

[00:10:38.480] - Matthew Galea

So, yeah, talk us through the so there's obviously the Lucas character, which is obviously, like, maybe an exaggerated version of yourself. Yes. And it's Kevin. Right?

[00:10:45.260] - Lucas Ivkovic

Kevin. Yes.

[00:10:46.780] - Matthew Galea

Yes. What's the inspiration behind Kevin?

[00:10:48.860] - Lucas Ivkovic

Kevin. So I was just making more characters come in. And I don't know where Kevin came from, but it was just I think Kevin was just supposed to be a 1 off video as well. So anyway, I just made someone to wear Lucas. Lucas is a cheeky character.

[00:11:05.550] - Lucas Ivkovic

So I was trying to find a character where Lucas can pick, like, not pick on someone, but also have a little joke with and become best friends.

[00:11:13.510] - Matthew Galea

Yeah. Yeah.

[00:11:13.830] - Lucas Ivkovic

Yeah. And eventually, from 1 video, it turned into another video with Kevin and Lucas. And then slowly, it turned into a little storyline where they've, like, grown up together with at school. And then crushes came in with high school crushes. So I took so Dolores came in, and that's Kevin's crush.

[00:11:33.360] - Lucas Ivkovic

And you had the teacher involved. So then later on, like, there was different characters. And, yeah, they all have different, like, storylines and different personas and stuff. So

[00:11:43.200] - Matthew Galea

Yeah.

[00:11:43.520] - Lucas Ivkovic

Yeah. Kids followed on, and my followers did. And, yeah, it's it's just crazy how it all started from 1 character to multiple now. So

[00:11:52.010] - Matthew Galea

Yeah. Yeah. Because I remember, like, I roughly remember the first time, you know, when I was probably scrolling TikTok or Instagram. Yeah. I come across and I'm like, is that Lucas?

[00:12:02.080] - Lucas Ivkovic

Luke? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:12:02.800] - Matthew Galea

And I'm like, what the hell is he doing? Like, yeah. And then I'm like, oh, wow. He's actually picked up a bit of a follow-up. Right?

[00:12:09.060] - Matthew Galea

So at what point in the journey because it sounds like, you know, it it really is like Mhmm. 1 video gives you, I guess, that opportunity, and then you've gotta build on it. But at what point did you sort of think, well, you know, this is getting a lot of traction. Mhmm. Obviously, we'll keep making this sort of content because there's an audience for it.

[00:12:28.640] - Matthew Galea

Mhmm. But when did it start the the needle moving before something that we're just doing for a bit of fun and, you know, to see how big this can get to while it's pretty big now Yeah. We can probably turn this into a bit of a business.

[00:12:40.080] - Lucas Ivkovic

Yeah. So what happened was when I was when my first viral video in 24 hours, I think it hit maybe 20,000 views. Yeah. And I was like, wow. This the most I've ever had in, like, the whole thing.

[00:12:51.810] - Lucas Ivkovic

And what happened was, eventually, as I was doing them every day, they were getting consistent views. They were staying over 10,000 views, and then eventually, they would hit over a 100,000. They were growing. And I'm like, wow. Like, how long can I ride this for?

[00:13:05.660] - Lucas Ivkovic

I'm not sure. So COVID did help because everyone at home and stuff, it everyone's on their phones. So that was really good. But it wasn't until when I was walking around and people were noticing me, I'm like, wow. Like, this is pretty, like, serious and stuff.

[00:13:21.610] - Lucas Ivkovic

And, my first brands that emailed me actually, so, randomly I I put my email in my, bio because I was seeing other people do it. So I was like, alright. I'll I'll just do it and see what happens. Anyway, after that, maybe a few days later, I got my first brand deal, and, a brand reached down there, like, hey, we love your videos. We'd like to pay you, and and you just promote our product.

[00:13:47.940] - Lucas Ivkovic

Yeah. And I was, like, alright. Well, why not? I mean, we're not really working at the moment. Well Yeah.

[00:13:53.300] - Lucas Ivkovic

Yeah. So I'm, like, sure. And I filmed a video for them, and I got paid. And then eventually from there, you had brands like Nintendo, like crazy companies reaching out to me, and they were paying me a lot of money more than my how much I was earning, like, a month on on a part time job. I'm like, wow.

[00:14:13.400] - Lucas Ivkovic

This is crazy. So, yeah. It it I was like to my mum I I my dad was a bit like, oh, I don't know about this.

[00:14:20.460] - Matthew Galea

Yeah. Ask. Like

[00:14:21.500] - Lucas Ivkovic

Yeah. Because my dad wasn't really a supportive person at the start. My mum my mum was with me the whole way. Yeah. She knew that I wanted to do something in the acting industry.

[00:14:36.050] - Lucas Ivkovic

Yeah. But, yeah. Never social media, but it was something similar, like, where I could act and stuff. But when that brand deal came in, I was telling my mum, like, look, I'm getting paid this much from these brands and stuff. I'm not too sure how consistent it is, but it's growing and I'm reaching milestones with over a 1000000 followers at the time.

[00:14:56.640] - Lucas Ivkovic

So a lot more was happening. So I was so what I did, I did a bold move and deferred from my uni. And, I

[00:15:07.000] - Matthew Galea

What what were you studying?

[00:15:08.040] - Lucas Ivkovic

I was studying film and television. Okay. So what actually was cool about that is that my film and television uni course, I was learning how to edit at the time. Right. And what was cool was that I was taking those skills into my filming for my TikToks.

[00:15:22.670] - Lucas Ivkovic

Yeah. And I was able to edit it a little bit better than what most people could do. Yeah. And, yeah. It it was just a big helpful thing.

[00:15:32.010] - Matthew Galea

And you were shooting all this on just a phone?

[00:15:33.770] - Lucas Ivkovic

Just on my phone. Yeah. And then eventually So

[00:15:35.930] - Matthew Galea

like the pool 1, was someone holding the camera, or you rigged up a tripod?

[00:15:38.730] - Lucas Ivkovic

No. I I just went to, well, at the time, I had a tripod, but it was the $5 1 at Kmart or something because it's a very cheap 1. And I would just put it on, like a little, yeah, just on the surface floor Yeah. And try to get my face to get a philtre on.

[00:15:53.510] - Matthew Galea

Yeah.

[00:15:53.670] - Lucas Ivkovic

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I would just go from there. So, yeah, I didn't really have a lot of equipment.

[00:15:58.510] - Matthew Galea

But So using the front camera the selfie camera, basically,

[00:16:01.480] - Lucas Ivkovic

to see if

[00:16:01.950] - Matthew Galea

the philtre was on?

[00:16:02.680] - Lucas Ivkovic

Yeah. The front camera. And that yeah. I still do. So, yeah, everything that I was filming was just on the app.

[00:16:08.440] - Lucas Ivkovic

Yeah. I don't need any, like like, crazy cameras and stuff. But, Yeah. I I did that. But what happened was with the editing, I moved that to my laptop, so my computer.

[00:16:18.920] - Lucas Ivkovic

Sure. So I went from editing on my phone to my computer and elevated my editing. And, yeah, just my mum was like, alright. Well, if I this is doing well, let's keep going and stuff. So, yeah.

[00:16:32.730] - Lucas Ivkovic

Yeah. Then more doors opened and, yeah. It's now yes. I've managed to leave. I was working at Smiggle on Puckle Street.

[00:16:41.150] - Matthew Galea

Oh, right.

[00:16:41.710] - Lucas Ivkovic

So yeah.

[00:16:42.270] - Matthew Galea

Not too far from where we were.

[00:16:43.230] - Lucas Ivkovic

Not too far. Not too far. So yeah. And, I I told Smiggle, I was like, look. I mean, they knew what was happening because I'm working at Smiggle.

[00:16:52.890] - Lucas Ivkovic

It's a kids store. I've been having kids coming and recognising me. And there was a there was a shift where I had to go to the back because they wouldn't leave me alone. So it was getting crazy. Yeah.

[00:17:04.090] - Lucas Ivkovic

And, yeah, I I told them it they understood what that when I had to leave, the reason why. Yeah. But, yeah, I was basically saying, like, look. It it's doing really well, and I would like to continue it full time. So yeah.

[00:17:17.610] - Matthew Galea

Surely Smiggle would have got you on board, man.

[00:17:20.160] - Lucas Ivkovic

I, bro. I was hoping that. And they did it. They they were actually doing stuff as well, and they just never really got me to come around. And I even pitched them.

[00:17:29.920] - Lucas Ivkovic

I'm like, why don't, like, look what's happening? These kids are coming off to me. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:17:34.800] - Lucas Ivkovic

But, no, they they did it, but they lost, I guess. Crazy, man.

[00:17:38.000] - Matthew Galea

That's such a natural sort of, brand partnership for me. Well, I'm just think looking at it from the outside.

[00:17:43.840] - Lucas Ivkovic

Exactly. Yeah. Exactly.

[00:17:45.280] - Matthew Galea

But, you know, I guess I I I guess the influencer marketing thing, it's something that even though it's so well established now, there's still probably a lot of brands that shy away from it. They see it as something maybe not the traditional marketing that they would usually try and do. Mhmm. What have you noticed about the brands that are more open to it versus the ones that aren't? I guess, hard for you to talk about ones that aren't because they don't deal with you.

[00:18:07.070] - Matthew Galea

But Mhmm. You know, like, from that first email from the first brand deal you ever got to the ones you're sort of working with now Mhmm. How has, I guess, the relationship changed? Like, are there more expectations on influencers now in terms of the deliverable? Mhmm.

[00:18:21.580] - Matthew Galea

Do you get given, like, a strict set of you know, it has to be on brand or they trust you? Mhmm. Because that's always that's another thing I see. Like, people wanna do influencer marketing. Mhmm.

[00:18:32.130] - Matthew Galea

They go and contact an influencer and then they give them all these strict, really rigid, like branding guidelines. Like, well, but people are watching their content because it's their content. It's this style. Yep. Maybe it would be better if you just let them do what they think is the best with your product.

[00:18:46.070] - Matthew Galea

But it's a tough 1 for brands. I can sort of see have you sort of seen that relationship evolve?

[00:18:50.710] - Lucas Ivkovic

Yeah. So my 1 of my first, like, big deals was, Lego. And, I was shooting my Lego, stuff, and I had to send it to them to get it approved. Yeah. And when I got my feedback back, it said, can you please film where there's nothing in the background?

[00:19:09.830] - Lucas Ivkovic

And in the video, I had my dad's alcoholic, like, beer rack right behind me promoting Lego. Oh, yeah. And you got little, like, stuff from Dan Murphy's around and stuff. So I'm like, well, okay. So that was my first lesson of being, like, learning about how it all works.

[00:19:28.200] - Lucas Ivkovic

And then, from then on, I was, like, okay. So make sure in future brand deals not to have anything not so, like, well, not in Sticking

[00:19:37.640] - Matthew Galea

like a kid's product and stuff.

[00:19:39.240] - Lucas Ivkovic

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And, like, anything, like, that could, like, interfere. So I was doing that, but then I realised it was important to have your clothing.

[00:19:48.730] - Lucas Ivkovic

No no fits. No, like, Nike Adidas or

[00:19:51.680] - Matthew Galea

Yeah. Right.

[00:19:52.090] - Lucas Ivkovic

Whatever you're wearing, it has to be all plain and stuff. Yeah. So I would make sure to, yeah, make sure everything's all clean and there's nothing, like, sponsors wise or anything that could be, yeah, affecting the brand deal. So that was 1 thing that I learned, and now I'm aware of or aware can't even speak. I'm aware aware of.

[00:20:14.030] - Lucas Ivkovic

Yeah. But yeah. So another thing is, yeah, that you got the do's and don'ts. So obviously, you can't swear, and, yeah, you have to make sure things are happening. But some brands go a little bit over the top, and they're like, please say this.

[00:20:29.210] - Matthew Galea

Yeah.

[00:20:29.770] - Lucas Ivkovic

And this is the thing, though. If you make it more of an ad type of video, they usually don't do that

[00:20:35.930] - Matthew Galea

great As well.

[00:20:36.570] - Lucas Ivkovic

Yeah. As well. So that's The consumers know now.

[00:20:40.070] - Matthew Galea

Yeah. Like, they understand even probably, you know, the demographic that you're dealing with, I'm sure they can tell the difference between this is something organic versus this is something that's sponsored, and everyone gets that's part of part of business and and life now. But I guess when it's super structured, the the creative Yeah. You know, it's it's sticks out. Right?

[00:21:02.070] - Matthew Galea

Because it's not like something that you would normally post.

[00:21:04.150] - Lucas Ivkovic

Exactly. And then you even have people commenting and go, this is an ad or, like Yeah. Oh, we don't care. We would just wanna see something more original. Yeah.

[00:21:12.880] - Lucas Ivkovic

So some brands have actually been a bit smarter, and what they've done is said, you know what? You have the all the control. Like, come up with the script yourself, and, yeah, just try put our brand in, like, involved in a most natural way where Sure. You can still make your same story lines and stuff, but do it in a way where our brands are also to be shown and to be heard of. So yeah.

[00:21:39.730] - Lucas Ivkovic

And and that's cool. So, yeah, sometimes I make a story.

[00:21:43.090] - Matthew Galea

Work the product into this storyline between Kevin and Dolores or

[00:21:46.040] - Lucas Ivkovic

something like that. Right? Yeah. Exactly. So 1 of them was maybe a school, application to help, like, get better grades or something.

[00:21:56.050] - Lucas Ivkovic

And Yeah. What I did was made a story line with Lucas and Kevin competing about grades, but Lucas is the 1 that's Kevin is the smarter 1 at the moment. And then Lucas gets this downloads this thing, and then, he all of a sudden he gets it becomes better has better grades and stuff. So I did it in a way where it was a storyline. People can be, like, watching something, and then kids then and, whoever's watching will just be like, oh, what's this?

[00:22:23.720] - Lucas Ivkovic

Like, how did Lucas get so smart? Yeah. And that's how Yeah. How it happens. So, yeah.

[00:22:29.000] - Lucas Ivkovic

It's more natural ways, and making it more into a storyline with my and that suit fits my content. It's just yeah. It's it's the best.

[00:22:38.850] - Matthew Galea

So broadly, what's the audience now? I know in the intro I said close to 6,000,000, but I didn't even think of Snapchat. So it's probably

[00:22:44.210] - Lucas Ivkovic

Yeah. I reckon it's around, yeah, just over 6,000,000. Yeah. Snapchat, well, Snapchat I've grown all the platforms pretty good. But, yeah, Snapchat's on 300,000, followers.

[00:22:57.570] - Lucas Ivkovic

But

[00:22:57.890] - Matthew Galea

Yeah. Okay.

[00:22:58.530] - Lucas Ivkovic

Yeah. It it it is still growing to this day. But, yeah, not many people know much about Snapchat. But, yeah, Snapchat,

[00:23:07.340] - Matthew Galea

they It's the survivor. It's just always just been there.

[00:23:09.500] - Lucas Ivkovic

Yeah. It's always just been

[00:23:10.460] - Matthew Galea

There's been TikTok. There's been, you know, now Instagram reels, etcetera. But Snapchat's just hung in there.

[00:23:14.800] - Lucas Ivkovic

Yeah. Exactly. It was more just for just people to use and, like, just for friends and stuff. But they've eventually The whole Discover feed. Yeah.

[00:23:23.360] - Lucas Ivkovic

Yeah. Discover feed. You got Spotlight, which is their

[00:23:25.760] - Matthew Galea

forms of,

[00:23:26.720] - Lucas Ivkovic

reels. Yep. And, yeah. They've they're now trying to compete with all the other social media apps. And what they're doing is they're all paying creators to be, like, come if you if we you've post on our stuff, we'll pay you.

[00:23:39.490] - Lucas Ivkovic

And then they're and then the other apps are, like, we'll pay you more. So it's like a

[00:23:44.020] - Matthew Galea

a There's really 2 sides to this. There's the brand stuff that you're getting directly from brands Mhmm. And the platforms are obviously monetized as well. Right?

[00:23:51.060] - Lucas Ivkovic

Yes.

[00:23:51.460] - Matthew Galea

What's your you know, for people who maybe don't understand, how do different platforms monetize Yeah. For their creators?

[00:23:58.760] - Lucas Ivkovic

So I'll start off with YouTube. Usually, you've got that, you know, when you watch a video.

[00:24:03.000] - Matthew Galea

Mhmm.

[00:24:04.280] - Lucas Ivkovic

There's a little advert that you have to wait, and then you have to wait for 3 seconds. Yeah. So they are placed on my videos, and, yeah. That's how I get my, revenue from YouTube is ad revenue. Sure.

[00:24:16.260] - Lucas Ivkovic

And they pay monthly. Yep. And then on Instagram, it's with Facebook. They've got Meta.

[00:24:22.180] - Matthew Galea

Meta. Yep.

[00:24:22.740] - Lucas Ivkovic

So, you don't get paid on Instagram. You get paid on Facebook. But what I do is I upload on Instagram, and it automatically goes on to On Facebook. Facebook. And Yep.

[00:24:32.520] - Lucas Ivkovic

Then they've got ads on there. So Yeah. Yeah. That's, how you get paid on there. You also can get gifts, like, people might send you gifts, but not really as common.

[00:24:41.480] - Lucas Ivkovic

Sure. Yeah. That's that's just another thing. Yeah. TikTok is the only 1 that don't pay.

[00:24:46.600] - Lucas Ivkovic

They pay in America, and they pay over the world, but they don't pay in Australia.

[00:24:51.430] - Matthew Galea

Right.

[00:24:51.670] - Lucas Ivkovic

So

[00:24:52.150] - Matthew Galea

Fuck. Could've sworn that that they paid.

[00:24:53.990] - Lucas Ivkovic

Yeah. No. No. They they they pay if you were doing live streams, and people were gifting you, but TikTok themselves don't pay. So Right.

[00:25:03.310] - Lucas Ivkovic

It's it's yeah. So it sucks because that's probably the platform that I have my most following and stuff. But, yeah, they've never paid. So I've never earned anything from TikTok.

[00:25:13.140] - Matthew Galea

Yeah.

[00:25:13.470] - Lucas Ivkovic

But the way you you make your money on TikTok is brands reaching out to the creators on TikTok Sure. To to work with.

[00:25:20.350] - Matthew Galea

Because TikTok's got actually a very good, like, creator marketplace almost where Yeah. They'll connect you with

[00:25:25.470] - Lucas Ivkovic

Yeah. Yeah.

[00:25:26.180] - Matthew Galea

Creators in whatever niche you're sort of looking for.

[00:25:28.940] - Lucas Ivkovic

Exactly. Yeah. So yeah. I think that's how they, get paid. But, yeah, it's usually just brands, working with you on TikTok.

[00:25:36.380] - Lucas Ivkovic

Yeah. And then, yeah, Snapchat is actually the 1 that pays, the most, well, more opportunities wise. Yep. So you can get if you're a creator, you can get paid doing just stories. You know, Snapchat stories was, like, 24 hours.

[00:25:50.100] - Lucas Ivkovic

Yep. People, like, I don't know if you

[00:25:52.770] - Matthew Galea

know because that was really Snapchat first, wasn't it? Yeah. Then it ended up on

[00:25:55.790] - Lucas Ivkovic

Instagram. Yeah. Snapchat had its own stories. But, I don't know if you know this massive American, YouTuber, David Dobrik.

[00:26:04.030] - Matthew Galea

Okay.

[00:26:04.590] - Lucas Ivkovic

He, was known to make vlogs. Eventually he stopped them and just started to do Snapchat stories. And that's because Snapchat was offering David Dobrik an opportunity to just post on stories. Right.

[00:26:17.600] - Matthew Galea

So everyone has to go there to get their stuff done.

[00:26:19.040] - Lucas Ivkovic

Yeah. And everyone's yeah. Now everyone's that was watching his vlogs are on to Snapchat now. So There you go. Now what they've done is yeah.

[00:26:25.480] - Lucas Ivkovic

They're they're paying creators on stories. They're now in from February onwards, they're paying Spotlight, on Spotlight. So that's another revenue stream. Yep. And then there's another thing called Snap Shows.

[00:26:39.230] - Lucas Ivkovic

Yeah. And that's a thing on the same discovery page where you might see some, like, football episodes and stuff. Yeah. So I was lucky, because they don't do them anymore, to get a show. Yep.

[00:26:50.760] - Lucas Ivkovic

And what it is, it's just basically a 3 minute, episode, and you upload them. So what I do is, because I've been doing it for 5 years now, I just get a a a compilation

[00:27:00.200] - Matthew Galea

of my vision. Make them

[00:27:01.240] - Lucas Ivkovic

cut them into 3 minutes and bang, an episode. So yeah. And, yeah. Then that's another, revenue stream, and they pay per 1,000 views. Right.

[00:27:10.360] - Lucas Ivkovic

And, yeah. They they're the ones that actually, their their dollar per 1,000 views are are crazy compared to all those other, platforms on YouTube, like YouTube, Facebook, and stuff. So yeah. Not many people know about Snapchat, but yeah. It's a it's a

[00:27:26.220] - Matthew Galea

definite because it's just the just hangs in there. It's just like the cockro not not in a bad way. Right? Yeah. Yeah.

[00:27:31.070] - Matthew Galea

You know, just survives everything. Doesn't matter what competitor comes out.

[00:27:34.180] - Lucas Ivkovic

No. Exactly.

[00:27:35.140] - Matthew Galea

Yeah. No. Fair enough. And, so at the moment, how you post every day. So do you, like, create a bunch of content at once?

[00:27:43.470] - Matthew Galea

Mhmm. Do you have, like, a so are you writing concepts and filming them and editing you batch it all, or have you grown to the point now where you got someone doing edits for you and and that sort of thing?

[00:27:53.260] - Lucas Ivkovic

Yeah. So I like having the control with my short form content. So I like

[00:27:59.150] - Matthew Galea

being This is organic content.

[00:28:00.110] - Lucas Ivkovic

Yeah. Yeah. So I like, making the scripts myself and editing it myself because I have a certain way that I like to do. Yep. So anyway, yeah, what I do is I'll try to film a few in 1 day, so then that way I'm not needing to film every single day.

[00:28:16.300] - Lucas Ivkovic

Mhmm. And especially there'll be times where, like, you had Christmas recently, New Year's Eve. Sure. So you're gonna have a lot of, like, family gatherings and stuff, and you might not even have time to film. Yeah.

[00:28:24.620] - Lucas Ivkovic

So that's why I like to film a few in 1 day. Yeah. So then that way I have some in the backups already ready to go if I'm if I know I'm gonna be away or gonna do something. So Yeah. Yeah.

[00:28:34.450] - Lucas Ivkovic

So I make sure to post once a day, but maybe on 1 day film 2 videos, and then the next day maybe 3 videos. So then that way I've got a little backlog. So then

[00:28:44.700] - Matthew Galea

Yeah.

[00:28:45.020] - Lucas Ivkovic

If I wanna go away or something, I've I've got maybe 2 weeks worth of content to be put out still. Yep. And, yeah, I can still, yeah, go on my holiday and relax and but just monitor and schedule all my videos.

[00:28:58.050] - Matthew Galea

Yep. So use a scheduler because sometimes even with my clients, sometimes I find the performance can be very different versus, like, if I use the scheduler or if I go into the app and post manually.

[00:29:08.930] - Lucas Ivkovic

Yes.

[00:29:09.170] - Matthew Galea

Yes. Have you found that?

[00:29:10.460] - Lucas Ivkovic

I have. I have. And I only schedule it for a few, a few apps. I schedule them for YouTube because Yep. They work for me, but I don't schedule them for Instagram

[00:29:21.930] - Matthew Galea

Yeah.

[00:29:22.170] - Lucas Ivkovic

And, basically 1. That seems

[00:29:24.410] - Matthew Galea

to punish you big time.

[00:29:25.530] - Lucas Ivkovic

Exactly. So, yeah. So but what I mean by scheduling is I actually manual schedule. So what I'll do is I'll have them in my draughts ready to post, but have them all, like, ready

[00:29:36.490] - Matthew Galea

or With the captions. And stuff. Yep. Yep. Yep.

[00:29:38.730] - Lucas Ivkovic

And then what I'll do is I'll have, like, an alarm at, like, maybe my posting time is usually, like, from 6 PM onwards. And then

[00:29:45.370] - Matthew Galea

So on Instagram, it saves as a draught in the app? Yes. And then you just

[00:29:48.650] - Lucas Ivkovic

And then once it hits the time to post, I'll go open the app, go on my draughts, and then, yeah, just click post. So that way it's manual because, yeah, I've had those

[00:29:56.320] - Matthew Galea

problems before.

[00:29:57.280] - Lucas Ivkovic

I don't know why, but

[00:29:58.480] - Matthew Galea

Yeah.

[00:29:58.790] - Lucas Ivkovic

It's a I

[00:29:59.120] - Matthew Galea

think it's like, you know, if you're in the app and you're using their music and all that sort of stuff, they seem to just reward. It's just about keeping you in the app as much as possible, I guess. And TikTok, similar story?

[00:30:09.010] - Lucas Ivkovic

TikTok is similar. Yeah.

[00:30:10.210] - Matthew Galea

Draught feature on

[00:30:11.010] - Lucas Ivkovic

TikTok? There is a draught feature on there. So, yeah, what I will do, yeah, similar to Instagram, I'll make the video, have it all ready. And then when it hits, like, 6 PM or posting time, I'll make sure to upload it on there. So, yeah, it's just a it's just a posting part where I'm on Instagram post, TikTok post, and then, Snapchat post.

[00:30:29.890] - Lucas Ivkovic

And then, I'm like, alright. I'm sweet for YouTube because that's already

[00:30:33.170] - Matthew Galea

That's already done.

[00:30:33.890] - Lucas Ivkovic

You go. So

[00:30:34.670] - Matthew Galea

Yeah. And the creative doesn't change much between the the platforms, or there's a lot of different

[00:30:39.690] - Lucas Ivkovic

No. No. No. They're all the yeah. They're all pretty, the same, but, I've realised they all have their moments.

[00:30:46.970] - Lucas Ivkovic

So you'll have a you'll have a month where TikTok is the 1 that goes crazy, and then the other ones don't really do as much. And then the next month, it might be YouTube. So Yeah. It's weird how the algorithm works for all the apps. But, right now, what's working, Snapchat's the 1 that's doing good.

[00:31:02.800] - Lucas Ivkovic

And then, I think my TikTok has slowly got back up again. Sure. But, I think the 1 that's lacking now, I think, is maybe Instagram now.

[00:31:12.090] - Matthew Galea

So Okay. Yeah. It's it's It fluctuates a

[00:31:15.050] - Lucas Ivkovic

bit. It all goes different.

[00:31:16.330] - Matthew Galea

So Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And and in terms of that workflow, so you shoot and edit at on the same day, basically, you'll you'll you'll bank a lot of shots, and then you'll edit them all together later? Or

[00:31:26.760] - Lucas Ivkovic

Yeah. So I like to edit maybe 1 or 2. I don't like to burn myself out and just go, oh, I need to finish them all. So what I'll do is whatever's, I'm usually maybe 2 days ahead. So I'd like to edit, for so today's, Wednesday.

[00:31:45.540] - Lucas Ivkovic

So I'll edit today for Friday. So Sure. I'll I've already got those 2 videos all ready to go. Yeah. I will have to just make sure I'm posting at 6 PM onwards for for today's videos or whatever.

[00:31:56.440] - Lucas Ivkovic

Yep. So, yeah. I'll I'll make sure to edit them. But if I'm going away, like, somewhere I wanna go to, Queensland or somewhere away, I'll make sure to have all of them all ready to go because, yeah, sometimes I never know when I'm when I'm gonna get up to on holiday

[00:32:11.730] - Matthew Galea

Yeah.

[00:32:11.970] - Lucas Ivkovic

And stuff. So, yeah, I I make sure to have them all ready to go. So in that way, I don't need to stress and be like, oh, I need to go back to the hotel, get my laptop, and Yeah.

[00:32:19.890] - Matthew Galea

Yeah.

[00:32:20.130] - Lucas Ivkovic

Get some work done and stuff. So yeah.

[00:32:23.250] - Matthew Galea

Nice. And and, like, we spoke that we touched on a little bit with the smiggle example, but how has life changed in that in that respect? You know? Like, obviously, you go out, you get recognised, all that sort of stuff. Mhmm.

[00:32:36.800] - Matthew Galea

Well, how how has that sort of been?

[00:32:39.760] - Lucas Ivkovic

With the way Smiggle's like,

[00:32:41.910] - Matthew Galea

Well, no. No. Like, just in general, when you're out and about and you get recognised, like, what's that

[00:32:45.990] - Lucas Ivkovic

being like? Yeah. Yeah. Well, it it doesn't happen as much now, but it happens a lot, especially when COVID like, after COVID and stuff like 20 22, 2021 time. Yeah.

[00:33:00.040] - Lucas Ivkovic

But it it it is weird because growing up around this area all my life, going to, like, shopping centres, the DFO or something

[00:33:08.920] - Matthew Galea

Yeah. Yeah.

[00:33:09.400] - Lucas Ivkovic

Like that. I mean, I just see it as, like, everyday life. You know? But then after when TikTok happened, I was like, oh, I need to make sure I'm wearing I'm not wearing anything, like, too baggy or anything just in case I like, someone recognises me or, like Yeah. Yeah.

[00:33:26.370] - Lucas Ivkovic

Or, yeah. And, I always I always have to make sure I'm not behaving how I used to behave as, like, a teenager and

[00:33:33.980] - Matthew Galea

stuff. Or Yeah.

[00:33:34.940] - Lucas Ivkovic

So, yeah, it's it's weird because now going outside, I'm still representing my brand.

[00:33:40.800] - Matthew Galea

Sure.

[00:33:41.040] - Lucas Ivkovic

Because if I do something if if I'm trying to, like, if I muck around or something with my friends and be silly, then if someone, like, someone that recognises me could be a bad thing and bad reputation. So Yeah. Yeah. It's it's always like I need to make sure I'm I'm always making sure that I'm I'm not doing anything that's, like,

[00:34:02.300] - Matthew Galea

Could be perceived the wrong way.

[00:34:03.660] - Lucas Ivkovic

The wrong way. Yeah. Exactly. So Yeah. Yeah.

[00:34:06.620] - Lucas Ivkovic

I have to make sure that, yeah, everything's all fine. And, yeah, I'm I'm I'm not doing anything that makes yeah. That just makes it look a bit, oh, what's that's Lucas. What the hell is he doing? Yeah.

[00:34:17.140] - Lucas Ivkovic

It's not like that or what's he wearing or yes.

[00:34:19.780] - Matthew Galea

And, like, the yeah. Because how old are you again? You're

[00:34:22.420] - Lucas Ivkovic

20 24.

[00:34:23.220] - Matthew Galea

24. Right? So, like, going at like, do you go out on the weekends and stuff like that?

[00:34:28.360] - Lucas Ivkovic

Not as much as I used to. I mean, when when it all happened, I was 20 well, 20. So and just out of COVID. So I just wanted to go out and see friends and and muck around and Yeah. Yeah.

[00:34:40.060] - Lucas Ivkovic

Because I've been at home all the time. So

[00:34:42.220] - Matthew Galea

Yeah.

[00:34:42.620] - Lucas Ivkovic

Yeah. And then sometimes when I'm out maybe drinking or something, then people will be like, are you Lucas? I'm like, gosh. Oh, no. No.

[00:34:50.300] - Lucas Ivkovic

Sober up or something like that. Yeah. But yeah. I mean,

[00:34:53.430] - Matthew Galea

it's just a normal part of being a 24 year old.

[00:34:55.350] - Lucas Ivkovic

24. Yeah. Exactly. But, yeah, now I'm 24, I'm more focused on my content. And, yeah, I'm I'm not really I don't really do what I do a few years ago where I'm, like, wanting to go out.

[00:35:06.680] - Lucas Ivkovic

Go out. Yeah. I feel like I've slowly become an introvert. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:35:10.440] - Lucas Ivkovic

But, yeah, it my going out now is just maybe go see a movie or,

[00:35:15.560] - Matthew Galea

Yeah.

[00:35:16.040] - Lucas Ivkovic

Go go to a restaurant with friends and stuff.

[00:35:18.280] - Matthew Galea

Yeah. No. Nice. Yeah. Alright.

[00:35:21.210] - Matthew Galea

Cool. And, so so in terms of the demographics of your audience, have you found that the the demographics have sort of aged up with you?

[00:35:30.730] - Lucas Ivkovic

Yeah. It's weird. I don't I don't maybe, I feel like some people that watch me still do watch me till this day. But it's also a lot of people that used to watch me, they don't follow they don't watch me as much anymore. Yeah.

[00:35:46.340] - Lucas Ivkovic

Only, like, a certain period of time. Yeah. So for example, on my TikTok, I have 4,000,000 followers, but I don't get 4,000,000 views or millions of views anymore. Like, I still I still get great views, but it's not as much as how it used to be. But Yeah.

[00:36:02.380] - Lucas Ivkovic

Yeah, I think it's because followers have grown up and have sort of, like, maybe moving on to a different type of niche that they're into and Sure. But there are always, like, kids coming coming up and Yeah. Starting to watch my videos. So and what's cool about that is that I can go back to a video that I made in 2021, 2020 Sure. And remake that same video, but make it a little bit different Yeah.

[00:36:27.160] - Lucas Ivkovic

Than last time and and a little bit more better because you get you got a new phone now and Yep. New different types of things. So you can elevate your video from what it was back in 2020. Yep. And you'll still have people that are, like, new to it that have never seen it before.

[00:36:41.980] - Lucas Ivkovic

So it works. So it's

[00:36:43.080] - Matthew Galea

Something about kids. There's always new kids. Yeah.

[00:36:44.680] - Lucas Ivkovic

There's always new kids. Exactly. So, yeah, it's that's the great thing. It's, like

[00:36:48.720] - Matthew Galea

that something you think about long term, like Yeah. So because the thing with social media is right? Yeah. You like, you it's amazing following, but how do you capture that audience? Because you know, like TikTok is maybe a good example because there's talk.

[00:37:02.860] - Matthew Galea

I mean, been talk about it for years, but, about a potential band of TikTok and then, you know, like that, that audience is gone. Right? So how do you capture that audience beyond the platforms? Is that something that you think about? Or

[00:37:16.230] - Lucas Ivkovic

Yeah. So I always had a scare, especially when TikTok I always hear rumours TikTok was gonna get banned. And at the time, I only had TikTok. I didn't have other, social media platforms. Sure.

[00:37:27.430] - Lucas Ivkovic

So I was I was freaking out. I'm like, oh, no. Here goes my I had a fun run,

[00:37:31.430] - Matthew Galea

I guess. Yeah.

[00:37:32.080] - Lucas Ivkovic

Yeah. But, yeah. It it's still here, which is great. But that made me go, okay. I need to if I need to now prepare myself in case it happens again.

[00:37:42.140] - Lucas Ivkovic

So that's why I explored and went on to other platforms and grown a following on there. So at least if 1 goes, at least I have other platforms to still do my thing. The only thing is that the philtre video that I make is on TikTok. So

[00:37:56.290] - Matthew Galea

you have to film it

[00:37:57.240] - Lucas Ivkovic

on there. Yes. I have to film it on there. So if TikTok does go, it means I'll have to make a I'll have to change it up, I guess, because I don't have my philtre anymore. So I will have to make some skits where I now have to make it just my my normal self.

[00:38:12.000] - Lucas Ivkovic

Yeah. But as you said, like, when you get older and long term, I don't wanna make these videos when I'm, like, 30

[00:38:18.400] - Matthew Galea

or Yeah.

[00:38:19.040] - Lucas Ivkovic

In a few years time because I feel like I will slowly get over it in a short minute of time. So what I've done is actually prepared what what should I do, because obviously this what I do makes money, and it's made me a full time job. And what am I gonna how am I gonna continue that when I'm 30? Obviously, I can always just repost these videos, but they can only get to a certain point. Sure.

[00:38:43.700] - Lucas Ivkovic

But what I'm now working on is animation. So Alright. I'm now high I'm now looking for animators, and I've already tested it, but we're now making the videos that I make into animation. So then that way, I'm out of the picture Yeah. But the the storyline continues in an animation way where Okay.

[00:39:03.150] - Lucas Ivkovic

It can still go. I can now move on, do something else while having this my brand still live on. Yeah. So Cool. There's there's been times where I've been making sure long term that it's still going ahead, and I'm able to move on, continue where I'm not burning myself out, and, like, why am I stuck doing this Yeah.

[00:39:23.780] - Matthew Galea

For the

[00:39:24.020] - Lucas Ivkovic

rest of my life?

[00:39:24.900] - Matthew Galea

Yeah. No. And and on the brands front, like, it seemed like last year in particular, because I'm a avid follower now, but, you know, you got to do some pretty cool stuff with pictures overseas. There's a picture of you on your profile with Tom Cruise

[00:39:37.340] - Lucas Ivkovic

and stuff.

[00:39:37.820] - Matthew Galea

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Bike.

[00:39:38.700] - Lucas Ivkovic

Yeah. There's been

[00:39:39.580] - Matthew Galea

a lot of stuff. What's that been like? Yeah. Crazy.

[00:39:41.820] - Lucas Ivkovic

That that has been crazy. So, yeah, over that's that's the cool thing about my job is that I get to experience some really cool perks. So Tom Cruise was really cool, so I get invited to a lot of premieres. And Yeah. There'll be some premieres where the actors fly over to to, see it and Yeah.

[00:39:59.160] - Lucas Ivkovic

To also meet everyone. So, yeah, there's been opportunities where I've been on red carpets, and right next to me is Tom Cruise. I'm like, oh my god.

[00:40:06.460] - Matthew Galea

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:40:07.180] - Lucas Ivkovic

And, yeah. I'm just getting an interaction with him. I've been on Ricky Stenicky, which is a movie with John Cena and Zac Efron. And Right. I got to meet John Cena, which is crazy.

[00:40:17.920] - Lucas Ivkovic

I wasn't supposed to because they the the directors were like, if you were to mingle with with any like Zac Efron, John Cena, you're out.

[00:40:25.920] - Matthew Galea

Yeah.

[00:40:26.240] - Lucas Ivkovic

But I had a little chance to meet him. And, yeah.

[00:40:31.000] - Matthew Galea

You were on set?

[00:40:31.640] - Lucas Ivkovic

I was on set.

[00:40:32.360] - Matthew Galea

So Take care.

[00:40:33.160] - Lucas Ivkovic

I was I was a waiter, and, they were they were on a table. And, the cool thing about a waiter was that I got to walk around. I wasn't I I wasn't a person on another table. So I got to move around pretend to offer drinks. Of course, I'm gonna try hover as much as I can around them.

[00:40:50.360] - Matthew Galea

Yeah. Of course. Yeah.

[00:40:51.240] - Lucas Ivkovic

But, there was a period where the director said, take 10. We're having lunch. So all the crew cast that weren't the a listers, they they were they had their own space. Anyway, I was in the in the other cast. We're all having pizza Yeah.

[00:41:09.800] - Lucas Ivkovic

Around the corner. Anyway, my friend went missing, and I'm like, I don't know where he is. Yeah. So I went out looking for him. I went back to the area where we were shooting.

[00:41:18.780] - Matthew Galea

Yeah.

[00:41:19.420] - Lucas Ivkovic

And he he wasn't there, but John Cena was at that he wasn't at that exclusive area. John Cena was sitting down in the, Yeah. In in the where we're filming.

[00:41:30.500] - Matthew Galea

At the set.

[00:41:30.900] - Lucas Ivkovic

And he's just sitting, and he's staring at me now. I'm like, I've I've I've I've I don't know what to say anymore. So my because I grew up watching him as a child, he was my childhood hero. Yeah. So I've just, like, become a spirit and just, like, it just I just went out I had to go up to him.

[00:41:45.410] - Matthew Galea

To, yeah.

[00:41:45.960] - Lucas Ivkovic

And then, yeah, I had a moment with him, and, yeah, it was really cool being able to speak to someone like him, and it it was crazy. I actually teared up getting emotional, and, yeah, started crying in front of him.

[00:41:57.540] - Matthew Galea

Yeah.

[00:41:58.020] - Lucas Ivkovic

And then I'm like, alright. I I'm sorry, but if I talk to you, I'm gonna be in trouble, so I have to get out of here. So I had that little interaction, but it just made my whole whole year, basically. So that was really cool. And then especially, I I wasn't able to have a photo because you weren't allowed to have your phone with you.

[00:42:14.350] - Lucas Ivkovic

Yep. But to have the movie out, and I've got a little, like, screen shot of me in the same frame as Zac Efron or something. And, I don't think it was with John Cena, but Zac Efron, at least. Yeah. But it shows that at least I was in the the movie, and and it's a little thing that I can always show.

[00:42:30.730] - Lucas Ivkovic

But, yeah. Tom Cruise, John Cena, Tyson Fury is another 1. 0, right. Okay. I've I've I've got it on my phone.

[00:42:37.900] - Lucas Ivkovic

I can show you. Yeah. And I can show the camera as well. Yeah. But, yeah, it's basically he was here in Melbourne do it promoting some sort of, boxing pay per view.

[00:42:47.980] - Lucas Ivkovic

And I had the opportunity to interview him, but also go a little 1 on 1 photo with him. This is true. Shortly. Yeah. So that was really cool.

[00:42:59.790] - Lucas Ivkovic

So, yeah, I've I've had all these cool opportunities and stuff, and they suddenly still come to me, which is really cool. Recently was the Wicked premiere.

[00:43:08.290] - Matthew Galea

Oh, yeah?

[00:43:08.690] - Lucas Ivkovic

You had Ariana Grande and, the Elphaba girl Yeah. Come by. So, yeah. It it was really cool with all these, like, cool opportunities and stuff.

[00:43:19.010] - Matthew Galea

So Yeah. Awesome. Have you done, like have you had, a lot of brand deals that have, like, sent you overseas or or anything like that?

[00:43:25.620] - Lucas Ivkovic

Yeah. So, Spain was a really cool 1. So what happened was, Virgin Voyages, it was a new cruise line. It's only been around for a few years. And, I said to my manager, over time I got a manager.

[00:43:39.090] - Lucas Ivkovic

That's another thing. Yeah. But I said to him, hey, there's this new cruise line, and me and my family, we love going on cruises. Yeah. Tricking us a chance we can try to reach out.

[00:43:49.290] - Lucas Ivkovic

Yeah. So we did. And we were just, like, hope for the best. Anyway, a day later, we got an email back, and they said, oh, yeah. We'd love to have you and your family come by and promote Yeah.

[00:43:58.810] - Lucas Ivkovic

All our else what we have on board. Yeah. I'm like, oh, okay. So, the we had to do the flights ourselves, but we had the opportunity to, go on a 10 day cruise around Europe and stuff all paid for. And it wasn't just the the 4 wall rooms.

[00:44:15.980] - Lucas Ivkovic

It was the balcony rooms, and and we had perks with it. Went to the VIP areas and free drinks and stuff. It was it was awesome. And, yeah, I remember me and my dad, me and my mum, dad, and my brother, were loving it. And it was just cool seeing their faces have fun.

[00:44:31.710] - Lucas Ivkovic

I'm like, well, it it it just all started from me making a Marco Polo video. Yeah. Yeah. So now I'm I've got my family on a cruise and stuff.

[00:44:38.510] - Matthew Galea

So It must be good to be able to give those experiences to

[00:44:41.710] - Lucas Ivkovic

your your family. Exactly. Especially movies. Like, they they love movies. So there'll be some times where I get invited, but I can't attend.

[00:44:48.880] - Lucas Ivkovic

But what's awesome is that I can say to my family, hey, I've got premieres and surprise them. I've got premieres for this movie that you wanna see. And they're like, oh, no way. Yeah. So it's cool going with them.

[00:44:59.040] - Lucas Ivkovic

They all get dressed up, get their media wall photos and stuff. So it's really cool. And being like, wow. Like, if it just happened on social media, now I'm I'm having all these experience, not only for myself and my family as well. So

[00:45:12.380] - Matthew Galea

Yep. You obviously didn't set out for this to happen. No. But, you know, what if if there were people out there looking to achieve something like what you've been able to achieve again, I know it was a lot of it was organic. But what sort of tips would you give to people to start on that journey?

[00:45:30.190] - Lucas Ivkovic

Definitely, the number 1 thing is consistency, and posting every single day. Another thing is that when you're starting out, it's important to put as much content as you can. Not sometimes not 1 is just not good enough. Maybe posting maybe 2 a day is is better. Mhmm.

[00:45:49.780] - Lucas Ivkovic

Because when you think about it, just say you've got the app, and then you got 2 creators that wanna get, grow. Mhmm. 1 of them is only posting 1 video, and then 2 weeks later, maybe another 1, and then maybe another, and then a week later, another 1. Or you got the 1 that's posting 2 days, and then the next day 2 days, and the next day 2 days. The app is gonna realise that this creator is posting a lot is offering a lot more for their app and producing more people to, more videos for people to consume.

[00:46:20.230] - Lucas Ivkovic

Yeah. And they're gonna push out this creator instead

[00:46:23.110] - Matthew Galea

of the

[00:46:23.270] - Lucas Ivkovic

Reward them. Yeah. And reward them, instead of the other 1. So it's important to be in the app's face and be like, hey, I'm posting for you. I'm posting for you.

[00:46:33.910] - Lucas Ivkovic

Because eventually they're gonna see you and then go, okay, this one's an upcoming 1. Yeah. So because I was posting every single day, that's I think that's why I got the reward, and and it worked. Because obviously, like, it depends also what you post and stuff.

[00:46:49.920] - Matthew Galea

Yeah. Obviously, people sharing it

[00:46:51.280] - Lucas Ivkovic

as well. Yeah. Exactly. So but because it was so niche, it worked. So, yeah, definitely put post and put yourself out there as much.

[00:46:59.670] - Lucas Ivkovic

And, make sure your, first 3 seconds is important because people have got very short, attention spans these days. So Yeah. As soon as it's not interesting, I mean, once it's the next video

[00:47:13.600] - Matthew Galea

What about your covers? Do you do, like, custom covers? Is it just a a frame? Yeah. Sorry.

[00:47:18.080] - Matthew Galea

Yeah. Like, is it just a frame from the video, or is it as another piece that, like, almost its own ass?

[00:47:23.120] - Lucas Ivkovic

Yeah. Usually, it's just the frame from the video. So sometimes it will just be a massive face expression that I'll do. It'll be like a be like like a Yeah. Like a big mouth open face, and I'll usually be like that.

[00:47:32.380] - Lucas Ivkovic

And then I'll have like a, whatever the video is about. I'll have like a little text on it. Yeah. So people can be like, oh, what's this 1 about and stuff. Yeah.

[00:47:41.310] - Lucas Ivkovic

On my Snapchat shows, I do have a thumbnail where I make it like sort of like how Mr. Beast makes it.

[00:47:47.550] - Matthew Galea

Sure. So Yeah.

[00:47:48.830] - Lucas Ivkovic

Yeah. It it is important as well to have, like, a hook, not only for the first 3 seconds, but also the the cover so that people are gonna click.

[00:47:57.430] - Matthew Galea

That's right.

[00:47:57.910] - Lucas Ivkovic

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:47:59.510] - Matthew Galea

And what about when you're analysing? So you you're looking at the last week of content or last month of content. What sort of things are you looking at to determine this worked? This has potential? Maybe I tweak this because you've got such a big library of content now.

[00:48:12.650] - Matthew Galea

I guess you've sort of understanding what works better than not, than than it doesn't. Right?

[00:48:17.610] - Lucas Ivkovic

Not for sure. Definitely the videos that I make about a sibling sibling fights and stuff, they usually do really well. So what I'll do is I'll usually go on my analytics and see what's the most popular, what's the most trending. And it's usually, for me, that's working at the moment is Lucas and his sibling.

[00:48:35.980] - Matthew Galea

Mhmm.

[00:48:36.220] - Lucas Ivkovic

So what I'll do is I'll make a lot of videos that are both you and your sibling that would things that would happen as a childhood with your sibling. You'll be having fights over food, over whatever it is, trying to get the first the the front seat of the car. So Yeah. Yeah, there's all there's always these, new different things. But also chat gbt is a new thing that's Yeah.

[00:48:57.170] - Lucas Ivkovic

Happened recently. Yeah. That's a good thing to have now because what I can do now is I can instead of trying to burn myself out thinking about ideas, I sometimes ask the AI to help me come up with a script and stuff, and they can provide me something. Sometimes I might not like it, but sometimes I'll be like, oh, that's good.

[00:49:14.590] - Matthew Galea

It's just a good brainstorming, like, ideation type part.

[00:49:17.550] - Lucas Ivkovic

Yeah. Exactly. So

[00:49:19.230] - Matthew Galea

Even if only 20% is is is good. You know, it's 20% that you didn't have before.

[00:49:24.150] - Lucas Ivkovic

So Exactly. So

[00:49:25.190] - Matthew Galea

No. Definitely worth looking at those tools. Alright. Cool. So normally, to wrap up the episodes, what we do is we sort of pick out some of your Moonee Valley favourites.

[00:49:33.110] - Lucas Ivkovic

Right?

[00:49:33.670] - Matthew Galea

So

[00:49:34.150] - Lucas Ivkovic

Alright.

[00:49:34.910] - Matthew Galea

Yeah. We've spoken a lot about your connexion to the area. So, what's your what's your favourite restaurant in the area?

[00:49:40.990] - Lucas Ivkovic

Woah. My favourite restaurant? There's a lot of good ones. My favourite will probably be 3 it's new. It's 3 salamis.

[00:49:52.550] - Lucas Ivkovic

It's a it's a lunch place on Napier Street. Yeah. That's really cool. That's gross. Yeah.

[00:49:57.030] - Lucas Ivkovic

Another 1 that's just opened is next door to it. It's called Le Smash Burgers.

[00:50:01.740] - Matthew Galea

Okay.

[00:50:02.220] - Lucas Ivkovic

So that's owned I think it's owns both with

[00:50:05.240] - Matthew Galea

the salamis.

[00:50:05.960] - Lucas Ivkovic

But, yeah. That's good. A lot on Napier Street. I'm I'm always around Napier Street. So Yep.

[00:50:11.320] - Lucas Ivkovic

You got there. You got, 2 Fat Greeks.

[00:50:14.600] - Matthew Galea

Yep.

[00:50:15.070] - Lucas Ivkovic

That's a really good 1.

[00:50:15.790] - Matthew Galea

I think that's part of the same group as well?

[00:50:17.550] - Lucas Ivkovic

Oh, yeah. Yeah. I think so. Yeah. They're all around the same group.

[00:50:19.950] - Lucas Ivkovic

And, yeah. There's there's, DeMarzis as well. Oh, this is good. Yeah. For sure.

[00:50:24.990] - Lucas Ivkovic

Yeah. There's a lot of really good ones.

[00:50:27.150] - Matthew Galea

Yeah. We're pretty sport here.

[00:50:28.430] - Lucas Ivkovic

Yeah. I love it.

[00:50:29.150] - Matthew Galea

You a big coffee drinker?

[00:50:30.870] - Lucas Ivkovic

I've I've actually have now been. My girlfriend actually introduced me to to me a year ago. So I actually started having coffee recently, and now I'm now I'm having a You

[00:50:41.030] - Matthew Galea

can bust all the spots. Yeah. But have you found a favourite coffee spot in the Moonee Valley?

[00:50:45.540] - Lucas Ivkovic

Oh, a coffee spot? Prob or I don't know. I usually go around. I don't really have 1. Maybe Revitalise Cafe, which is on Oh, yeah.

[00:50:54.900] - Matthew Galea

Napier as well.

[00:50:55.460] - Lucas Ivkovic

Napier as well. Yeah. But on the other side. Yes.

[00:50:57.500] - Matthew Galea

I had

[00:50:57.780] - Lucas Ivkovic

a mate that worked there. So I would always go up and not only have my coffee, but I also see him when he works, and he'll come up to me a little bit. So Yeah. Yeah. It'll be really cool.

[00:51:07.340] - Lucas Ivkovic

So, yeah, Revitalise Cafe probably with the coffee.

[00:51:11.420] - Matthew Galea

Yeah. Yeah. Favourite local, hangout?

[00:51:14.370] - Lucas Ivkovic

Local hangout? Oh, there's a lot of good ones. I'm gonna have to say Woodlands Park. Just having the stroll around and going up to 7 especially these days, going summer days, going to 7:11, get a slurpee, and then just walking around and just seeing all the nice nature. You got ducks going around.

[00:51:31.560] - Lucas Ivkovic

Yeah. Yeah. Kids playing on the playground. But, yeah, it's just really cool to just sit down and

[00:51:35.640] - Matthew Galea

because a lot of works gone into that park too.

[00:51:37.320] - Lucas Ivkovic

Yeah. Yeah. It's so much. Compared to when I was growing up there. Like, all you had was maybe a rock wall climbing thing, but now that's gone because, obviously, it's probably a little bit dangerous there.

[00:51:46.810] - Matthew Galea

Yeah. They got the full playground now.

[00:51:48.090] - Lucas Ivkovic

They got

[00:51:48.330] - Matthew Galea

a full play

[00:51:48.970] - Lucas Ivkovic

not only that, you got a gym workout play, like free weights and stuff. So there's a lot of really cool things around there. So yeah. And And also the the events they put out, they they had the Road Traders, which is Yeah. Lincoln Park.

[00:52:02.830] - Lucas Ivkovic

Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Lincoln Park. I was there, and I was like, oh my god.

[00:52:06.270] - Lucas Ivkovic

I I love these guys. So it's really cool how they make all these events happen. Yeah. Especially in our community. It's like, wow.

[00:52:14.280] - Lucas Ivkovic

I've got this band is performing right next to my schools. Yeah. It's just really cool. And the great thing about it is that you you link up with and see old faces Yeah. That you used to see when you'd have all these other events from school and stuff.

[00:52:27.890] - Lucas Ivkovic

So yeah. It's really cool.

[00:52:30.050] - Matthew Galea

Alright. And, is there a it's not necessarily a local question, but is there a collaboration you'd you'd love to do or someone you'd love to work with, maybe another creator? Or

[00:52:39.150] - Lucas Ivkovic

Probably I'm probably gonna be go a bit more crazy, but mister Beast would be awesome. Yeah. Yeah. He makes some awesome content, and, yeah, doing something with him would just be a dream come true, honestly. So, yeah, definitely mister Beast.

[00:52:55.000] - Lucas Ivkovic

And also, I'm I'm loving WWE, so John Cena as well.

[00:52:58.360] - Matthew Galea

Yep.

[00:52:59.240] - Lucas Ivkovic

Reunite with him. Yeah. And, yeah, maybe a football player. I grew up loving Messi Ronaldo. So Yep.

[00:53:09.090] - Lucas Ivkovic

Obviously, Ronaldo's on YouTube now. So

[00:53:10.850] - Matthew Galea

Yeah. He's, he did a big thing with mister Beast.

[00:53:12.930] - Lucas Ivkovic

Yeah. Mister Beast, there you go. So, like, obviously, who knows what he's gonna get up to in the next 10 years. But if he's onto social media now, you never know. Like, that would be really cool.

[00:53:21.860] - Lucas Ivkovic

So, yeah, having an opportunity to do something with them would just be, oh, on top of the world.

[00:53:26.580] - Matthew Galea

So Have you have you done much in the sports space or given you, you know, you had a big I did some background.

[00:53:30.980] - Lucas Ivkovic

I did some stuff I did recently was, David Beckham, the new fragrance. So what they did was they hide out a Melbourne Victory, box. Yeah. And, yeah. We got to watch a game, which was really cool.

[00:53:43.880] - Lucas Ivkovic

Yeah. Essendon, the win oh, you're actually doing some stuff at Windy

[00:53:48.940] - Matthew Galea

Hill, actually.

[00:53:49.500] - Lucas Ivkovic

So You're

[00:53:49.980] - Matthew Galea

a Bombers fan, aren't you? I am

[00:53:50.940] - Lucas Ivkovic

a yeah. Bombers fans. Yeah. So, obviously, we haven't had the best, success since all 4.

[00:53:55.500] - Matthew Galea

But you did something at the, AFLW.

[00:53:57.660] - Lucas Ivkovic

Is that right? FLW. So, yeah. I, got to interview the women, players and also the fans that are around, Windy Hill, which was awesome. So, yeah, doing showing the community how great it is, especially at Windy Hill when the women's play and the VFL team play.

[00:54:12.630] - Lucas Ivkovic

It's just really cool to, have local football, but also in the highest level around our community as well. So, yeah, it's really cool. I hear that they're growing it, I think.

[00:54:23.660] - Matthew Galea

Yeah. They're trying to, redevelop it a a little bit and get some more, you know, more AFLW there and Yeah. The VFL team there and stuff a bit more.

[00:54:32.660] - Lucas Ivkovic

So That's awesome.

[00:54:33.620] - Matthew Galea

Yeah. No. It should be good. Great for, Essendon, Duffy's like yourself. So, who do you support?

[00:54:38.660] - Matthew Galea

Yeah. Mate, I'm I'm never really been big on the footy. My dad's massive Collingwood.

[00:54:43.450] - Lucas Ivkovic

So by

[00:54:44.260] - Matthew Galea

association, I'm I'm Collingwood. But Yeah. Yeah. You know me, man. I've always been a big soccer, football Yeah.

[00:54:49.900] - Matthew Galea

Football guy. So that's

[00:54:50.700] - Lucas Ivkovic

sort of been my jam. That's it. Yeah. Definitely the 2 AM wake ups or something watching watching Premier League and a league. Yeah.

[00:54:57.180] - Lucas Ivkovic

That's right.

[00:54:58.220] - Matthew Galea

Well, obviously, this might be watched by a bit of an older demographic than what you're used to. But, you know, give a shout out to your socials. Where can people find you?

[00:55:06.220] - Lucas Ivkovic

Sure. So it's just my full name. It's Lukas Ivkovic. Sorry about the surname, Croatian surname. It's probably hard to spell.

[00:55:13.000] - Lucas Ivkovic

But, yeah, it's, Lukas Ifkovic. So altogether and, yeah, you'll see me on any social media platform, Instagram, Facebook. So

[00:55:21.800] - Matthew Galea

yeah. Perfect. Alright. Well, that wraps up another episode of the Moonee Valley Voices. Thank you very much to to Lukas for coming in this week.

[00:55:30.160] - Matthew Galea

If you're a local and you're doing great things, maybe you're at a local sports club, maybe you're raising money for a great, initiative, I'd love to hear from you. You can get in touch with me, matt@contenthype.com.au. Thanks for tuning in, and we'll see you again next week.