Making It Last as a Content Creator — Transcript

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1. 0:00Becoming a social media influencer is
2. 0:01the most desired career in the United
3. 0:04States. 90% of creators quit within 90
4. 0:07days of starting their channel on any
5. 0:09platform. Your success in content
6. 0:11creation depends on your ability to push
7. 0:15past fear and post consistently. Why
8. 0:18would people try when the creator recipe
9. 0:20for success is as follows? One,
10. 0:24view bot. Two, rely on celebrity guests.
11. 0:28Three, inflate your view count with the
12. 0:30celebrity guest. Four, pay for people to
13. 0:33turn out clips for you. Five, there you
14. 0:35have it. The recipe for every single big
15. 0:38streamer.
16. 0:40Wow, sounds impossible to have a career
17. 0:42as a content creator or a fake career
18. 0:45from the sounds of it. You have to
19. 0:47cheat, [music] you have to pay out the
20. 0:49nose for teams of people to turn out
21. 0:51slop for you, and you have to get Kevin
22. 0:54Hart to show up and guest on your
23. 0:55stream. If you can't do all that,
24. 0:57according to this guy, it's time to give
25. 0:59up. If you've had even a little bit of
26. 1:01success making content on the internet,
27. 1:03you might be wondering how you can make
28. 1:05it work for you long term. But
29. 1:07unfortunately, if you go out looking for
30. 1:09tips and advice from people who've made
31. 1:11it, you end up with a lot of
32. 1:13sensationalized nonsense like this.
33. 1:16Reductive advice that you can't relate
34. 1:19to as an average person. I mean, you
35. 1:21don't even know Kevin Hart's email. It
36. 1:23can be discouraging, but it's time to
37. 1:25cut through the nonsense because if
38. 1:27you've already got a following, even a
39. 1:29smaller one, a long-term gig isn't as
40. 1:31far out of reach as you might think.
41. 1:4150% of young people today aspire to be a
42. 1:44full-time influencer. And as a result,
43. 1:46the mainstream is finally paying
44. 1:48attention. There are academics out there
45. 1:51right now studying the math behind
46. 1:54becoming an influencer. But while
47. 1:56academia is burying their nose in books
48. 1:59trying to get uh you know, actual data,
49. 2:02if you're impatient, you can find tons
50. 2:04of like really awful advice on how to
51. 2:07become a full-time creator right here on
52. 2:09this very website. Because a whole
53. 2:11cottage industry has cropped up around
54. 2:14this now, [music] the gurus. And the
55. 2:16gurus make big promises. You can go from
56. 2:19zero subs to a million with this genius
57. 2:23advice from Mr. Beast. Here's how you
58. 2:26trick YouTube into growing your channel.
59. 2:29This guy, who you've never heard of in
60. 2:31your entire life, got 4 million
61. 2:33subscribers in 3 months with this genius
62. 2:36strategy. They love using the word
63. 2:38genius, especially to describe Mr.
64. 2:41Beast. Genius advice, genius strategy,
65. 2:44genius, genius, genius. Let me tell you,
66. 2:46I've admittedly hate-watched a lot of
67. 2:49these kinds of videos, and I have yet to
68. 2:51hear a strategy or piece of advice for
69. 2:54growing as a content creator that I
70. 2:56would consider genius. Regardless,
71. 2:59there's a lot of content out there
72. 3:01making big promises about how you too
73. 3:04can blow up and then act like you don't
74. 3:06know nobody.
75. 3:07>> [laughter]
76. 3:08>> Frankly, if you're that interested in
77. 3:09becoming a content creator, you probably
78. 3:11already have plenty of ideas of what you
79. 3:13want to make. And there's tons of guru
80. 3:16content out there aimed at guiding you
81. 3:18through the initial stages of making a
82. 3:21video that blows up or goes viral or
83. 3:23whatever. But, what about after that?
84. 3:26Let's say you've been grinding for a
85. 3:27while and you finally get a hit. You
86. 3:29made a video that's gotten
87. 3:31a million, half million, several
88. 3:34million.
89. 3:35Hell, let's say 10,000 views. Well, you
90. 3:38can sit back and enjoy it for a minute,
91. 3:40but then inevitably, the burning
92. 3:41question is
93. 3:43what next? How do you turn that
94. 3:45temporary viral moment into a career?
95. 3:50Once you have people's attention, how do
96. 3:52you hold it? And that's really the most
97. 3:55important part of the reservation, the
98. 3:57holding. Career longevity as a creator
99. 3:59is a topic that has always interested
100. 4:01me, mainly because when I started making
101. 4:03videos 15 years ago, a career as a
102. 4:06YouTuber just wasn't possible. There
103. 4:07were like, I don't know, a couple
104. 4:08hundred people at the top maybe, but for
105. 4:11the average person, it just wasn't a
106. 4:12career option. And even as things
107. 4:14started growing and changing, like I was
108. 4:17convinced it was a bubble and it was
109. 4:19going to burst in just a few years.
110. 4:20Well, egg on my face. Whoever's editing
111. 4:24this, have like a egg fly at my face.
112. 4:26I'll say it again. Egg on my face. No,
113. 4:29no, have it go That's way too fast. They
114. 4:31couldn't even tell it was an egg.
115. 4:39Yeah, never mind, you're fired. I've
116. 4:40been doing this full-time for 11 years
117. 4:42now, and it's arguably been going better
118. 4:45than ever for me. So, I was thinking,
119. 4:47you know, I might have some nuggets of
120. 4:49wisdom to impart on this topic. That's
121. 4:51right, I'm making my own guru content
122. 4:53now. Although, on that note, my first
123. 4:56nugget of wisdom is to take all content
124. 4:59creator advice, not only with a grain of
125. 5:01salt, but take the advice in the context
126. 5:04of the person who said it. Part of the
127. 5:06issue with guru content is that the
128. 5:08advice you often need for your YouTube
129. 5:10or TikTok channel or your Instagram
130. 5:12account or whatever your main thing is,
131. 5:14you your needs as a content creator are
132. 5:16niche. And the advice you give as a
133. 5:18creator is also niche. It's specific to
134. 5:22your experience. For example, uh
135. 5:24they love bringing up Mr. Beast's advice
136. 5:28for these guru videos, but frankly, even
137. 5:30though Mr. Beast lives and breathes
138. 5:32YouTube, uh to a fault, his expertise is
139. 5:36really just at making game show-esque
140. 5:38videos, the most mainstream content
141. 5:41possible.
142. 5:42His advice is probably perfect for that
143. 5:44kind of content, but does he know
144. 5:46anything about educational video essays
145. 5:49or movie reviews or even let's play
146. 5:52videos? I don't think so. His Mr. Beast
147. 5:54Gaming channel is literally nothing but
148. 5:57Minecraft videos. He doesn't experiment
149. 6:00even a little bit with a single other
150. 6:02game. So, like how would Mr. Beast go
151. 6:04about making a Civilization 2 Let's Play
152. 6:07series? Answer, he simply wouldn't.
153. 6:11He simply wouldn't make that video. He'd
154. 6:13be like, "This is a waste of time.
155. 6:14Nobody's going to see this." But beneath
156. 6:16that answer is the truth, and that's
157. 6:18that it's a style of video outside of
158. 6:21his wheelhouse. And if you, for example,
159. 6:24want to be a content creator who talks
160. 6:25about real-time strategy or
161. 6:27city-building video games, Mr. Beast's
162. 6:29super mainstream advice likely won't
163. 6:31apply to you. By the same token, if you
164. 6:34want to like get an art stream off the
165. 6:36ground over on Twitch, like you think
166. 6:39Kai Cenat, even though he's the top
167. 6:41streamer in the world, is going to know
168. 6:43how to do that? He'd probably like, uh,
169. 6:45"Have you tried getting Kevin Hart to
170. 6:47guest on your stream?" That would really
171. 6:48blow you up. My point is, if you want to
172. 6:50be a full-time content creator, you
173. 6:51don't have to optimize every second of a
174. 6:5520-minute game show like Mr. Beast does.
175. 6:58And you don't have to hire a team of
176. 6:59people or have celebrity guests on your
177. 7:02stream or podcast or whatever else these
178. 7:04other people are doing. You can make a
179. 7:06good living doing basically whatever
180. 7:09kind of content you want. And I'll break
181. 7:11it down for you into five easy bullet
182. 7:14points. But first, I'm going to yap. Mr.
183. 7:16Beast would ruthlessly cut all the
184. 7:18yapping out of this video if he were in
185. 7:19charge of my channel, but thank god he's
186. 7:21not because I love yapping. Let's set
187. 7:24the stage first. You've got a viral
188. 7:27video. Doesn't need to hit a million
189. 7:28views. Virality is relative. Let's say
190. 7:30it hits a a 10,000 views, like I said
191. 7:33earlier. You got plenty of new people
192. 7:35watching you for the first time. So, how
193. 7:37do you capitalize on that? Well, there's
194. 7:39three options. One, you make another
195. 7:42video intentionally similar to the one
196. 7:44that's getting attention, but slightly
197. 7:46different. You could consider this
198. 7:48option to be
199. 7:49uh the mythical branching out. Two, and
200. 7:53this is by far the most popular option
201. 7:55right now, you make the exact same video
202. 7:59again. Three, you never upload a video
203. 8:01again because you're too scared. Of the
204. 8:04two more viable options though, you have
205. 8:06a choice to make. Do you want to
206. 8:08maximize short-term growth? Then just
207. 8:11make the exact same video. You see this
208. 8:13strategy work all over TikTok, YouTube
209. 8:16Shorts, Instagram Reels, so it's more of
210. 8:18a short-form video thing, which is
211. 8:20probably why I don't like the strategy.
212. 8:22Short-form video is like candy.
213. 8:25It tastes great, but it's over too
214. 8:28quick, and you don't get anything
215. 8:29substantial out of just one. And if you
216. 8:32have too many, you feel sick to your
217. 8:34stomach. I was watching some Instagram
218. 8:35Reels, and I came across this viral joke
219. 8:37song about if PetSmart was supposed to
220. 8:40be PetSmart
221. 8:42or Petsmart
222. 8:44by a musician named Ben Lapidus. Ben
223. 8:47Latipus? Is it PetSmart
224. 8:51or Petsmart?
225. 8:55It was funny, so I went to his profile
226. 8:56to see what else he did, and it looks
227. 8:59like he asked the PetSmart question over
228. 9:01and over again. Here he is doing the
229. 9:03song with different footage.
230. 9:05>> I got a question. Here he is doing the
231. 9:07song outside of a PetSmart.
232. 9:09>> Is it PetSmart
233. 9:11Here he is doing the song on a desk. or
234. 9:13Petsmart?
235. 9:15Here he is doing it live for an
236. 9:16audience.
237. 9:19Here he is doing it just again.
238. 9:24Now just to clarify, I am not clowning
239. 9:26on this guy at all. He's trying to get
240. 9:28as much mileage out of a viral song as
241. 9:30possible. He's got to strike while the
242. 9:32iron's hot. And some of these videos got
243. 9:34a good amount of views, too. So, this
244. 9:36probably isn't his first rodeo having a
245. 9:39song go viral like this. But, what about
246. 9:41me? A guy who had already heard the
247. 9:43PetSmart song and came to his profile
248. 9:45wanting to see what other content he
249. 9:47had. There wasn't much there for me.
250. 9:49He's done a few variations on the
251. 9:50PetSmart song that didn't quite hit the
252. 9:52same. Uh he did it with Vita Coco and he
253. 9:56did a tongue-in-cheek one for Raytheon
254. 9:58and like the viral video isn't always
255. 10:00going to translate into similar content,
256. 10:02right? Interestingly, the one other song
257. 10:04I heard on his profile was about how
258. 10:07despite growing an online following, he
259. 10:09laments a lack of connection with them.
260. 10:11I have a growing online audience [music]
261. 10:15and
262. 10:16no community.
263. 10:18Unfortunately, that's kind of the nature
264. 10:20of viral musical comedy. It's really
265. 10:22hard to stretch that into other content.
266. 10:25You kind of have to just
267. 10:27go viral again.
268. 10:29Actually, I find it's also the curse of
269. 10:31short-form video in general.
270. 10:33But, it's a little easier if you're
271. 10:34doing a generalized bit or a character
272. 10:37or something like that.
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306. 11:55video.
307. 11:56Coming up next, I've got a special guest
308. 11:58joining me. It's Kevin Hart.
309. 12:03Oh, what's that? We couldn't get Kevin?
310. 12:06We could We couldn't even get him on the
311. 12:07phone?
312. 12:09Oh, we never even tried to contact him.
313. 12:12Well,
314. 12:13yeah.
315. 12:14I see the problem. Never mind, no Kevin
316. 12:17Hart. There's this woman on TikTok I
317. 12:19like named Caroline who has this viral
318. 12:21character of the Gen Z girl with no
319. 12:24personality. Your outfit is eating.
320. 12:27Wait, I'm screaming. Wait, same. Oh. And
321. 12:31since it's a character, she can make
322. 12:32more videos that are basically the same
323. 12:35video but in different scenarios and
324. 12:37with different jokes. The salad is
325. 12:39giving. It's giving leaves, it's giving
326. 12:41greenery, it's giving tea.
327. 12:44That part. There's a lot TikTokers out
328. 12:46there who would just milk this character
329. 12:49in every video and run it into the
330. 12:50ground, but she's also expanded beyond
331. 12:53just that one character into more of a
332. 12:56general comedy trope that I can only
333. 12:59describe as
334. 13:00cartoonishly annoying young woman. Okay,
335. 13:03F, marry, kill. Me, your mom, or Sabrina
336. 13:06Carpenter?
337. 13:07Isn't it so fun that we all live
338. 13:08together? Is it weird for you guys like
339. 13:10living with a girl?
340. 13:12Um What I think she's doing right here
341. 13:14in the long term is she's making more
342. 13:16content for people who find her funny
343. 13:19and not just people who find that one
344. 13:21character funny. Sometimes when you go
345. 13:23viral, you can get a little insecure
346. 13:26that maybe it was the topic of the video
347. 13:28or something about it other than you
348. 13:31that made the video work. But, instead
349. 13:33of trying to trick people to stick
350. 13:35around by
351. 13:36dangling the carrot in front of them
352. 13:39over and over, it's more than okay to
353. 13:41show them you and what you bring to the
354. 13:44table, too. But, hey, maybe you really
355. 13:47like the carrot. Maybe the thing that
356. 13:51made you go viral, you're fine with
357. 13:53doing variations on
358. 13:55forever. Sometimes that can work, but it
359. 13:57has to be an idea that you can iterate
360. 13:59endlessly on. A good example of this is
361. 14:01the YouTube channel ZeFrank, who's been
362. 14:04doing his True Facts series on animals
363. 14:07for over 13 years now. These are true
364. 14:10facts about [music] the baby a ch- ch-
365. 14:13ch-
366. 14:14How the hell do you say that? And he's
367. 14:15still doing it in virtually the exact
368. 14:17same format today. Now, I'm sure you've
369. 14:20seen a cockatoo, maybe browsing the web
370. 14:22or in a locker room. Sorry. So, if you
371. 14:24want, you can make the exact same format
372. 14:27work for you for over a decade. If you
373. 14:29want. It just has to be something that
374. 14:32you know for a fact you won't get burned
375. 14:34out on and something that you can riff
376. 14:36on over and over. ZeFrank can make a
377. 14:40True Facts video about any animal he
378. 14:42wants for as long as he wants. Now, it's
379. 14:44worth noting he did take a few years off
380. 14:47of making videos and over the past
381. 14:49decade the videos have had a lot more
382. 14:51emphasis recently on education, science,
383. 14:55and research than on just riffing over
384. 14:57footage of animals.
385. 14:59And I suspect that's how he's kept
386. 15:01himself interested in making the uh the
387. 15:04show for as long as he has. I mean, if
388. 15:06you ask me, he could make a True Facts
389. 15:08video about anything, not just ones
390. 15:09about biology. Uh if you make a
391. 15:12successful format, you can adapt the
392. 15:14format to a completely different topic.
393. 15:16And your audience is likely to follow
394. 15:18along simply because they like the
395. 15:20format that you've created. Here's a
396. 15:22great example, the channel Any Austin.
397. 15:25He has a format that he can iterate
398. 15:27endlessly. Basically, he looks at the
399. 15:29quiet, boring places and things found in
400. 15:33video games. It started with stuff like,
401. 15:35"Well, where do the rivers go in Skyrim
402. 15:39or Breath of the Wild?" Okay, well, what
403. 15:41about Liberty City's power lines? Do
404. 15:43they actually connect to anything?
405. 15:45They're fascinating questions and
406. 15:47they're great for one-off videos, but
407. 15:48there's only so much mileage you can get
408. 15:50out of looking at the rivers and power
409. 15:52lines in video games over and over. So,
410. 15:55Austin takes that same format and
411. 15:57expands it. He keeps things in the realm
412. 15:59of the mundane. Like, if you're playing
413. 16:02a video game where you're supposed to be
414. 16:03an outlaw or an action hero, can you
415. 16:06just hang out and enjoy the
416. 16:08environments? Is that a satisfying way
417. 16:10to still play the game? Or can you do
418. 16:12something really mundane, like conduct a
419. 16:15census? It may have started with
420. 16:17wondering where the rivers and power
421. 16:19lines go, but now it's about much more
422. 16:21than that. It's about Austin hosting an
423. 16:23exploration show where he wonders just
424. 16:27how immersive it can get in these
425. 16:29sprawling open-world games. And that's
426. 16:32an idea that has legs. Lots of extra
427. 16:35gimmicks scheduled. Okay, so legs isn't
428. 16:37an initialism. I just made that up. See,
429. 16:39Mr. Beast would have cut that joke
430. 16:42because it showed my personality [music]
431. 16:44and that kind of vulnerability might
432. 16:46make people click off and lower
433. 16:47retention. But I kept it in because I
434. 16:50know y'all think I'm really funny.
435. 16:54Y'all do think I'm really funny, right?
436. 16:55Sometimes you can schedule too many
437. 16:57extra gimmicks, though. You don't want
438. 16:59to get into a situation where you push
439. 17:01your luck and you try to do too many
440. 17:03things that don't make sense together.
441. 17:05You don't want to become unfocused. I'd
442. 17:08say the Hawk Tua girl is a pretty
443. 17:10notorious example of taking things too
444. 17:12far. You start off with a viral video
445. 17:15and then a funny joke.
446. 17:16>> You got to give that hook too and spit
447. 17:18on that thing. Okay, next you decide you
448. 17:21have a podcast. Well, okay, if it works,
449. 17:24it works. But then you try to launch
450. 17:26some crypto for some reason. Uh here's a
451. 17:30funny joke I made about that. Feel free
452. 17:32to laugh at it.
453. 17:34I'll give you a second to read it.
454. 17:37Funny, right? Okay. Anyway, you launch
455. 17:39some crypto for some reason and next
456. 17:42thing you know, you're streaming
457. 17:43Fortnite gameplay for nine viewers.
458. 17:45Here's a good question to ask. Would the
459. 17:48people who found your viral joke funny
460. 17:50listen to a podcast from you? Yeah,
461. 17:53sure. They find your personality
462. 17:55charming already. It's a relatively safe
463. 17:57bet. But would the people who found your
464. 17:59viral joke funny and like your podcast
465. 18:03also be interested in buying a meme coin
466. 18:05from you? That's a lot more of a
467. 18:06stretch, even if it didn't turn out to
468. 18:08be a scam. Now, would the people who
469. 18:11found your viral joke funny, who also
470. 18:14like your podcast, and also even bought
471. 18:17a meme coin from you, would they also
472. 18:21like watching you stream Fortnite?
473. 18:24You see, the Venn diagram for these
474. 18:26things gets further and further and
475. 18:28further apart the more unrelated things
476. 18:32we add in. But you can expand into
477. 18:34pretty much anything as long as it makes
478. 18:35sense with whatever else you do. And if
479. 18:38you understand why your audience watches
480. 18:40your stuff and why they like it. For
481. 18:43example, with me,
482. 18:45um one of the reasons why people liked
483. 18:46my horror game let's play video so much
484. 18:48is because I actually stopped and I gave
485. 18:51a review of the game. I gave critiques
486. 18:54of it. I looked at it as a piece of art
487. 18:57and I looked at its artistic merit and I
488. 19:00looked at the pacing of it. And I had
489. 19:02lots of comments about the game design.
490. 19:04And so, when I took that same idea and I
491. 19:07started making paranormal videos where I
492. 19:10analyzed ghost clips kind of the same
493. 19:12way, it was a natural transition and
494. 19:15that was because I understood that that
495. 19:16was part of the appeal of the let's play
496. 19:19videos. So, even though let's play
497. 19:20videos and analyzing ghost clips are two
498. 19:23completely different
499. 19:25>> [music]
500. 19:25>> genres of video, the reason it worked is
501. 19:27because I understood why people liked my
502. 19:30original videos in the first place. To
503. 19:32go back to Any Austin [music] for an
504. 19:34example other than me, he understands
505. 19:36that what his audience likes is him
506. 19:38standing in front of a green screen and
507. 19:40calmly explaining to you why he thought
508. 19:42a garbage can in GTA V was funny because
509. 19:46there was no way for the homeowner to
510. 19:48take it out to the street for the
511. 19:49garbage truck to take away. Hawk Tuah
512. 19:51Girl could try to do that same bit, but
513. 19:53it wouldn't land.
514. 19:55She simply doesn't have enough clips in
515. 19:56her hair to be able to pull it off. But,
516. 19:58on that note, while it makes sense to
517. 20:00post stuff that's at least in the
518. 20:01wheelhouse of what you posted before,
519. 20:04is it possible to get to a point where
520. 20:06you're just completely free to post
521. 20:09whatever you want?
522. 20:10Well, yes. When people ask me who my
523. 20:12favorite YouTuber is, I usually say Drew
524. 20:15Gooden,
525. 20:16who actually got his start with a viral
526. 20:18joke. Road work ahead. I Yeah, I sure
527. 20:23hope it does. Now, I'm unfamiliar with
528. 20:25Drew's work when he was a Viner, but I
529. 20:27imagine it would have been very easy to
530. 20:30just make that joke over and over again.
531. 20:33Ramp work ahead. Phew, that's a relief.
532. 20:37Well, that's hilarious. After Vine shut
533. 20:39down and Drew started focusing on
534. 20:41YouTube, at first, naturally, he started
535. 20:43doing short comedy videos, skits and
536. 20:46parodies. Makes sense. Not too long
537. 20:48after that, he started making commentary
538. 20:50videos, mainly about other YouTubers or
539. 20:52viral trends that were happening at the
540. 20:54same time. Now, he pretty much just
541. 20:56talks about whatever he wants, cooking,
542. 20:59sports journalism, Stranger Things,
543. 21:01corrupt billionaires. The common thread
544. 21:04in his videos now isn't any one topic or
545. 21:07even a theme, it's just him. It took him
546. 21:10years of posting videos that were kind
547. 21:13of in the same ballpark, but
548. 21:14incrementally more and more different
549. 21:16before he could get to this point. And
550. 21:18while at first, the big videos of his
551. 21:20that went viral were the ones about Jake
552. 21:22Paul, he didn't just stick on the Jake
553. 21:25Paul thing over and over. He did a video
554. 21:27about Jake Paul's live show, which is
555. 21:29how I found him. He made one where he
556. 21:31revealed a scam by Jake Paul, and he did
557. 21:34one last video where he prominently
558. 21:36featured Jake Paul's book. But it's been
559. 21:395 years now, and there's been no more
560. 21:41than a passing mention of Jake Paul. And
561. 21:43as someone who originally subscribed to
562. 21:45Drew for videos of him dunking on Jake
563. 21:48Paul, I am very disappointed. I'm not
564. 21:53getting what I subscribed for. I'm
565. 21:55getting something better. Like him
566. 21:57ordering weird cat toys for his cat to
567. 21:58try out. As far as I'm concerned, Drew
568. 22:01should never mention Jake Paul ever
569. 22:02again.
570. 22:04Nor should anyone else, honestly.
571. 22:06But change starts at home, so But yeah,
572. 22:09I think Drew Gooden's channel is a good
573. 22:11example of what long-term success as a
574. 22:13content creator can look like. It can
575. 22:15look like
576. 22:17freedom. To a lesser extent, this is
577. 22:19where I feel like I'm at these days with
578. 22:21my own channel. I can upload a wide
579. 22:24variety of topics here, and I feel
580. 22:26pretty confident that it'll do well for
581. 22:28me.
582. 22:29Uh I can upload a video debunking viral
583. 22:31ghost clips, and it'll do well. I can
584. 22:34upload a video of me just playing random
585. 22:37unnamed horror games, and it'll do well.
586. 22:40Hell, I can upload a video of me talking
587. 22:42about three-decade-old children's books,
588. 22:45and it'll still do pretty well.
589. 22:46I can upload a video talking about the
590. 22:48state of Let's Play videos, and
591. 22:52um
592. 22:53well, you know, point taken. Maybe I'm
593. 22:55not uh totally free just yet, but I'm
594. 22:57working on it. And it's been years and
595. 23:00years of slowly trying incrementally
596. 23:03more and more different videos to get
597. 23:05there. I think one thing that worked for
598. 23:07me was trying to keep a relatively
599. 23:09consistent format to my videos. Like if
600. 23:12you watch my Goosebumps retrospectives
601. 23:14and my paranormal video essays, they're
602. 23:17basically the same format. There's like
603. 23:19a 1 to 2 minute intro overviewing the
604. 23:21video. I usually pose a question that I
605. 23:24want to answer by the end of the video.
606. 23:26Uh the entire thing is scripted and has
607. 23:28a structure to it, but every few minutes
608. 23:30or so, I'll throw in a stupid [music]
609. 23:31joke to keep things from getting too
610. 23:33serious. Now, I don't always have time
611. 23:36to write a giant script for each video,
612. 23:38so sometimes I'll do like a reaction
613. 23:41video like when I watch Nuke's Top 5
614. 23:43clips or something like that. So, I'm
615. 23:44not 100% consistent with the format, but
616. 23:48I'd like to think that preserving a
617. 23:49similar format and style across most of
618. 23:52the recent videos helped a fair number
619. 23:54of people take a chance on a video they
620. 23:57may not have taken a chance on
621. 23:58otherwise. And that's the name when
622. 24:00you're talking long-term success as a
623. 24:03content creator. You want people who
624. 24:05watch you to trust that you're not going
625. 24:08to waste their time.
626. 24:10Maybe they don't care about Goosebumps
627. 24:11at all. I mean, it's a children's book
628. 24:14series from 30 years ago. But if they
629. 24:16trust you and they know that you've got
630. 24:19a style and a format that they like,
631. 24:21they're more likely to take a chance on
632. 24:22it.
633. 24:23It's the same reason why Drew Gooden can
634. 24:25cover sports journalism and in the next
635. 24:28video cooking. People trust him and they
636. 24:31know that he's going to preserve the
637. 24:33same style and format that they're
638. 24:35accustomed to from previous videos. He's
639. 24:37going to say "Hey guy" at the start of
640. 24:39the video. He's going to have an ad
641. 24:41read, but it'll catch you off guard
642. 24:43because it'll just seem like a natural
643. 24:44part of the video. And while he's going
644. 24:46to have jokes, he's also going to have
645. 24:48something to say about what he's talking
646. 24:50about. So, with all that in the back of
647. 24:52your head, you could see a new video in
648. 24:55your feed of him talking about like
649. 24:58I don't know uh how he took up pottery
650. 25:00for a few weeks or something like that
651. 25:02and you'll be like I guess I'm watching
652. 25:04this guy talk about pottery for 30
653. 25:06minutes.
654. 25:09All right, so we've looked at a lot of
655. 25:11examples of creators who have found
656. 25:13success online and I promised you I'd
657. 25:16have some snappy bullet points on what I
658. 25:18think the best practices are to make any
659. 25:21kind of momentum that you can get doing
660. 25:23this thing to last as long as possible.
661. 25:27They're going to sound corny, but it's
662. 25:29just so they're easy to remember. I'll
663. 25:30explain. One,
664. 25:32be yourself.
665. 25:34Two,
666. 25:35be interested.
667. 25:37Three,
668. 25:38be consistent and four, be cool. There's
669. 25:42no acronym, sorry.
670. 25:44I guess it could be YIC.
671. 25:46Be yourself. Put yourself on display in
672. 25:51your videos. Your personality, I mean.
673. 25:53You don't have to physically appear. But
674. 25:55you want the reason why someone decides
675. 25:57to watch a second video from you to be
676. 26:00you. Putting yourself in your video is
677. 26:03doing something other than just
678. 26:05narrating.
679. 26:06You can make a joke, you can do a little
680. 26:09dance, you can make a weird face, you
681. 26:11can do an impression. Do something
682. 26:13memorable in the video besides just
683. 26:15talk. And yeah, I mean, maybe if you do
684. 26:19a little dance,
685. 26:21people will cringe and click off.
686. 26:23Whatever. Mr. Beast quakes in terror at
687. 26:25the thought of that happening, but you
688. 26:28don't have to.
689. 26:29You may lose some people, but you'll win
690. 26:32someone else over a little bit.
691. 26:35And the more little things you do in
692. 26:37your videos that show your personality,
693. 26:39the more you'll win them over a little
694. 26:41more.
695. 26:42Think about anyone you become friends
696. 26:44with.
697. 26:44Are you friends with them because they
698. 26:46marched right up to you and started
699. 26:47monologuing about like icebergs or
700. 26:50something or is it because you found
701. 26:52their personality attractive in some
702. 26:55way? The more you can get people to like
703. 26:56your videos for your personality, the
704. 26:59less topic-reliant your content has to
705. 27:01be in the long run. Be interested.
706. 27:05Obviously, you want to make videos about
707. 27:07stuff you're generally interested in.
708. 27:08That's like YouTube guru 101. I believe
709. 27:11they say something like
710. 27:13interested is interesting. And that's
711. 27:16fine, but I also mean interested as in
712. 27:19be interested in the human element of
713. 27:21your channel, your audience. Be
714. 27:23interested in what they like about your
715. 27:25videos. Be interested in what they might
716. 27:28notice about things that you talk about
717. 27:30that maybe you didn't think about or
718. 27:32mention. Uh
719. 27:34be interested in the kinds of things
720. 27:36that get upvoted the most in the
721. 27:37comments. This is the only way that you
722. 27:40can build any kind of community with
723. 27:42your channels.
724. 27:43If you want long-term success doing
725. 27:46this, you have to stay in tune with what
726. 27:49people like about what you're doing.
727. 27:51Otherwise, you're flying blind.
728. 27:54Otherwise, you have to rely on all this
729. 27:55guru crap, and you have to live in the
730. 27:57world where everyone's terrified of
731. 27:59doing the wrong thing or they'll lose
732. 28:01viewer retention. Like, let the top
733. 28:030.0001%
734. 28:06worry about all that minutia. Think in
735. 28:10broader strokes. Don't overcomplicate
736. 28:13it. Feel it out. There are some
737. 28:14influencers out there like Clavicular
738. 28:17who do that looks-maxing thing where
739. 28:20they insist they know the the
740. 28:22objectively correct ratios for maximum
741. 28:26beauty in the face and all that stuff.
742. 28:28But when I look at Clavicular,
743. 28:30despite all that objectively correct
744. 28:33crap,
745. 28:34I just see those empty, soulless eyes
746. 28:36staring back at me. All that obsessive
747. 28:39fine-tuning and data analyzing to look
748. 28:41attractive on the surface,
749. 28:44and yet there's nothing appealing. Be
750. 28:46interested in the human element of your
751. 28:49videos. Three, be consistent. I would be
752. 28:52I would get I would get caught in
753. 28:53Inglourious Basterds. Be consistent. I
754. 28:56don't mean upload a video at 3:00 p.m.
755. 28:59every Thursday on the dot. I mean try
756. 29:02your best to make videos that people can
757. 29:04binge without getting whiplash. It's
758. 29:06like I was talking about earlier. Have
759. 29:08as many things consistent about your
760. 29:11videos as possible without just making
761. 29:14exactly the same thing over and over.
762. 29:16A familiar intro, a familiar outro, a
763. 29:19familiar structure, format, and style.
764. 29:22When someone finds one of your videos
765. 29:24and they say, "Hey, I really like this.
766. 29:27What else has he got?"
767. 29:29What do you want your Library of
768. 29:32Alexandria to look like to that person?
769. 29:35You want them to watch a second video
770. 29:37and within the first minute feel right
771. 29:39at home, like they're watching a
772. 29:41continuation of what they liked about
773. 29:43your content the first time.
774. 29:45At the same time,
775. 29:46sometimes you have to experiment a
776. 29:47little to find the consistency that
777. 29:49you're comfortable with. So, don't worry
778. 29:50too much about making changes as long as
779. 29:53you believe it's a genuine improvement
780. 29:56to the viewing experience. [music]
781. 29:58And also, you know, if you want to post
782. 30:00something a little off the wall,
783. 30:02go for it. I think there's a lot to be
784. 30:03said about satisfying a creative urge
785. 30:06that you have. But, if you want things
786. 30:07to keep rolling the way they have been,
787. 30:09it's probably best to stick with what
788. 30:12people are expecting from you in some
789. 30:14capacity. Finally,
790. 30:16>> [sighs]
791. 30:17>> be cool.
792. 30:19This is the toughest one for most
793. 30:21people, including me.
794. 30:23Uh in order to have long-term success at
795. 30:25this, you got to stay cool.
796. 30:27You can't freak out when things don't go
797. 30:30as well as you had hoped, whether it's
798. 30:32with a video or a sponsorship or an
799. 30:34event or a stream. If you lose it every
800. 30:37time numbers are down, you'll make
801. 30:38yourself miserable doing this. And
802. 30:40what's the point of having a dream job
803. 30:43if you're making yourself miserable and
804. 30:44depressed over everything? You may think
805. 30:46that the higher the numbers are, the
806. 30:48easier it gets. If you could just make
807. 30:51it to that next level, if you can get
808. 30:5410,000 views a video, 100,000 views a
809. 30:55video, a million views a video, then
810. 30:57you'll be happy with how things are
811. 30:59going.
812. 31:00You may think that a creator who gets a
813. 31:02million views per video or 20,000
814. 31:05viewers on their streams or whatever
815. 31:07you're looking at,
816. 31:08you might think that they've made it.
817. 31:10And from that point on, it gets easier.
818. 31:13But think about the creator who hits
819. 31:15their stride and gets a million views
820. 31:17per video.
821. 31:18What do you think happens when they put
822. 31:21up a video and it gets
823. 31:23only 600,000
824. 31:26views? They freak out. That's what
825. 31:28happens. Their video bombed. It only
826. 31:32made them $5,000 in ad revenue, and it
827. 31:35usually makes them at least 10. If you
828. 31:37don't stay cool, you too can freak out
829. 31:41and think your career is over even after
830. 31:43just posting something that astronomical
831. 31:45amounts of people enjoyed. You hear a
832. 31:47lot about creator burnout, and it's a
833. 31:50real threat if you end up doing this
834. 31:52long-term, but I'd argue a lot of it is
835. 31:55self-inflicted. I felt burnt out a few
836. 31:57times in my career, and in fact, there
837. 32:00was a time when it was happening almost
838. 32:03annually. And it's because I felt
839. 32:06trapped doing the same thing over and
840. 32:08over. Let's Play videos of indie horror
841. 32:11games at the time. And I felt all this
842. 32:13pressure that if I didn't keep churning
843. 32:16and grinding, that my career was over,
844. 32:19and it was going to be my fault. I was
845. 32:21going to lose it. It's true that if you
846. 32:23want to be a content creator for longer
847. 32:25than the average full-time career, which
848. 32:28is 5 to 7 years, by the way, then you
849. 32:31have to take it seriously. But if you
850. 32:33take it oppressively seriously to the
851. 32:35point where you're having a crisis over
852. 32:37view counts and you're obsessing over
853. 32:39like how relevant you are and what if
854. 32:42you already peaked? Well, what if you're
855. 32:44washed up? What if it's all downhill
856. 32:47from here?
857. 32:48Uh this constant self-interrogation
858. 32:52is going to end up sabotaging you.
859. 32:54You got to be cool. You got to stay
860. 32:56focused. If something isn't working,
861. 32:58why isn't it working?
862. 33:00Is the video or stream topic too niche?
863. 33:03Is it too far removed from what people
864. 33:05may expect from you? There's plenty of
865. 33:07reasons why something may not be meeting
866. 33:09expectations
867. 33:11other than uh everyone's tired of you
868. 33:13now and they never want to see you
869. 33:14again. Just relax. Look at the data,
870. 33:18figure out what happened, and make the
871. 33:20appropriate decisions moving forward.
872. 33:23And don't get too trigger-happy, either,
873. 33:24[music] especially when you're making
874. 33:26more niche content on YouTube. A video
875. 33:28that starts off as a total dud can have
876. 33:31a second life in the long run as it
877. 33:34reaches new audiences. I've had videos
878. 33:36that started off ranked 10 out of 10 in
879. 33:40YouTube Studio and that have gone on to
880. 33:43hit a million views much later. It
881. 33:46happens. So, don't ignore what's going
882. 33:49on, but don't freak out. Be cool. You
883. 33:52can make better decisions when you're
884. 33:54taking deep breaths and not reacting so
885. 33:56strongly in the moment. This might not
886. 33:58be what you want to hear, but
887. 34:01you're not entitled to anyone's time or
888. 34:03energy. And sometimes people just have
889. 34:05more important things to do.
890. 34:07>> [laughter]
891. 34:08>> Uh it's hard to believe, I know, but as
892. 34:11an extension of be interested that I
893. 34:13talked about earlier, think about what's
894. 34:15going on with them. Creators are always
895. 34:17asking, "Where are all my viewers?" and
896. 34:20not "How are all my viewers?" It's the
897. 34:24month of August and views are way down.
898. 34:28What's going on? Where did everybody go?
899. 34:31Well, they went back to school. Views
900. 34:33are down in December, they're in the
901. 34:35middle of finals.
902. 34:36You posted a new video at 3:00 a.m.
903. 34:38Central Time, they're asleep. Well, your
904. 34:42Australian audience is awake, but come
905. 34:44on.
906. 34:45They can't carry the analytics by
907. 34:46themselves. Slow down, take a deep
908. 34:49breath. Everything's going to be all
909. 34:50right. I promise thousands of people
910. 34:53didn't just decide overnight that you
911. 34:56suck now and they're never watching you
912. 34:58again. So, yeah, those are my easy to
913. 35:00remember bullet points.
914. 35:04Uh
915. 35:04what were they again? Be yourself, be
916. 35:08ignorant? Be cool?
917. 35:11Yeah, you get it. Big thanks to Factor
918. 35:12for sponsoring this video and an even
919. 35:15bigger thanks to all the people who have
920. 35:17no interest at all in being a content
921. 35:19creator, but still watch this entire
922. 35:22video just because they think I'm fun.
923. 35:24And if you watched this because it's
924. 35:26your dream to be a full-time influencer
925. 35:29all the way until you retire at age 65,
926. 35:33I wish you luck. And if I have anything
927. 35:35to say about it,
928. 35:37I'll be right there with you at the end.
929. 35:40Aching knees and all.
930. 35:45I'm already there.