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What's Actually Working on YouTube Shorts in 2026? — Transcript

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0:0030 days into the 60-day experiment, I
0:02wasn't getting very many views.
0:03Normally, I would have given up by then,
0:04but the whole goal, again, wasn't views
0:06or subscriber counts. It was to count
0:08uploads, not views.
0:11>> Right now, you're getting 12 million
0:13views per day on YouTube Shorts.
0:15>> And climbing. Day 35 rolls around. One
0:18of those videos hits 750,000
0:21views. All those previous videos all
0:24started to climb as well. When a person
0:26says, "I'm too busy to do this," is it's
0:27just not a priority for you.
0:28>> Total time every day it takes then right
0:30now?
0:30>> 20 minutes, cuz I'll open a pack, right?
0:32>> And hitting it on every platform.
0:34>> And hitting it on on every platform.
0:35>> Oh my goodness.
0:37One of the biggest opportunities for
0:39growing a following right now is YouTube
0:41Shorts and short-form content. And we
0:43have really the leading expert on the
0:45podcast today breaking [music] down
0:47tactics, breaking down the mindset, the
0:48philosophy. So, if you want to get
0:51views, if you want to grow subscribers,
0:53and if you also want to earn more money
0:54in your online business or get known if
0:56you're starting from zero, lock in
0:58because this podcast with Pat Flynn is
1:01an absolute game-changer.
1:02>> Pat Flynn is an entrepreneur, author,
1:04and content creator who's built millions
1:06of subscribers and generated billions of
1:07views across his platforms. And today,
1:09he's breaking down how you can apply the
1:11lessons he's learned to grow your own
1:12brand.
1:13>> Pat Flynn, right now, you're getting 12
1:16million views per day on YouTube Shorts.
1:18>> And climbing.
1:19>> It's crazy.
1:19>> And climbing.
1:20>> It's crazy.
1:21>> And this is on a new channel that you
1:22started just a year and a half ago.
1:23>> Yes.
1:24>> So, I need to know all your secrets, all
1:26the things you've never shared, and your
1:28whole short-form playbook.
1:29>> I'm ready, man.
1:30>> But first, tell tell me the story. What
1:32is this channel? What's the vision? How
1:34did it start?
1:35>> Yeah, so I have a Pokémon YouTube
1:36channel that was all long-form. In fact,
1:38I was here at this event a couple years
1:39ago and talked about how short-form is
1:41kind of a waste of time, right? You
1:42can't build a relationship 60 seconds in
1:44in just 60 seconds, but I was wrong.
1:46You can do that
1:48if 60 seconds happens every day, right?
1:51Across an entire month, that's a whole
1:52half hour of time with somebody, and
1:54you're building a routine, you're
1:55building a habit of showing up daily.
1:57And if you can do it right, you become a
1:58part of a person's daily routine, and
2:01you show up in ways that you never
2:02thought possible. So, although I had a
2:05long-form channel already, it would have
2:06made sense for me to just insert shorts
2:08into that channel, but again, I wanted
2:09to experiment, and myself, I always use
2:11myself as a case study to try to teach
2:13other people. So, I created a separate
2:15channel, didn't link to it from anything
2:17I had, didn't even put my face on it,
2:19and it was just the whole goal was to go
2:2160 days of opening a pack of Pokémon
2:23cards daily, and I recorded the
2:25voiceovers after, and whether it's a
2:26good card at the end or a bad card, I
2:28always just shared anyway. You know, a
2:29lot of other creators, they'll only show
2:31the good hits, but I wanted to be
2:32relatable. That was a big part of this.
2:34The R word, relatable, is so important
2:36today because everything is so fake and
2:38manufactured, right? So, I said, "Okay,
2:40no matter what happens, I'm just going
2:41to go daily." 30 days into the 60-day
2:43experiment,
2:44I wasn't getting very many views.
2:46Normally, I would have given up by then,
2:48cuz I'm like, "Oh, this is not working."
2:49But the whole goal, again, wasn't views
2:50or subscriber counts, it was to count
2:52uploads, not views.
2:54>> Mhm.
2:55>> buddy Alex says. And so, day 35 comes
2:57around. Now, by the way, day 30,
2:59although I didn't get a lot of views,
3:00there were a lot of things that were
3:01already happening. My editing time for
3:03these videos went from 45 minutes per
3:05video
3:06to about 15.
3:08>> How'd you do that? Go deeper on that.
3:09>> Just the more you do something, the more
3:11you learn how to be more efficient with
3:12it and optimize that. I learned the
3:14shortcuts. I started to build a library
3:15of all the sound effects and all those
3:17kinds of things. The other thing that
3:18was really helpful in this case versus
3:20the other experiments that I tried on
3:21TikTok and in Reels and in Facebook is
3:23that I had a format that was repeatable.
3:27I had a structure, and I made it
3:29episodic, and that is the secret. The
3:31secret is in the series.
3:34In fact, this even goes back to the
3:35first time I really got interested in in
3:37in a weird TikTok, and it was this guy
3:40named um a guy kicking rocks,
3:44or guy who kicks rocks, I think is the
3:45name of the channel.
3:47I saw a video, and it was literally a
3:48guy just kicking a rock and said, "Day
3:50one of kicking a rock until it becomes a
3:52sphere.
3:53I was like, this is the stupidest thing.
3:55Little did I know, 60 days later I was
3:57watching this thing transform and I was
3:59so emotionally invested in this rock
4:01becoming a sphere and he would kind of
4:02track its weight and all this stuff and
4:04it's just like, what is happening here?
4:05Why am I so interested in this? It's
4:07because there was something to look
4:08forward to, because there was
4:09anticipation, because I wanted to see
4:11what the end result was. And that's
4:13something I wasn't incorporating into my
4:14previous shorts, but this time, I mean,
4:16kind of inherently in a pack of Pokémon
4:17cards there is a mystery in each one.
4:20You don't know what you're going to get.
4:21So, that was kind of helping me. But
4:22[snorts] again, I wanted to continue to
4:24try to get to 60 days. Also, by day 30,
4:27I had 30 pieces of data from 30 previous
4:31uploads to tell me, well, what kind of
4:32worked and maybe what didn't. What could
4:34I
4:34>> Such as?
4:34>> Such as, I noticed that when I was in
4:36person at a card shop and I had that
4:40transaction to purchase the pack that I
4:42was going to then open, those videos
4:44often performed a lot better because
4:46there was something different. Most
4:48people would just start at their desk.
4:49Me, I was starting in an interaction and
4:51you were kind of there with me as it was
4:53happening. And then we go and see if it
4:54was worth how much I ever spent.
4:56Usually, by the way, spoiler alert, it's
4:58not worth it to open it, but it's
4:59entertaining and and it's fun and I love
5:01Pokémon and and and deep in that space.
5:03Day 35 rolls around.
5:05One of those videos hits 750,000
5:09views. Kind of just
5:12I mean, it wasn't like anything drastic
5:13that I changed. It just so happened to
5:14catch that day and it did incorporate
5:16those changes that I made previously. It
5:17was done in a card shop and I, you know,
5:19started to get familiar with getting
5:21quicker to the hook and retaining
5:23people. 750,000 views. All those
5:25previous videos all started to climb as
5:28well because a person would find that
5:30new one and then they'd go back and find
5:33the older one.
5:33>> And it's very scrollable. It actually is
5:35a short show you could watch daily, but
5:36you also could binge the show
5:38>> right.
5:39>> really easy.
5:39>> And people were telling me they were
5:40doing that.
5:41After a couple days later, they said,
5:42I've watched every single one of these.
5:44I want I can't wait till tomorrow,
5:46right? And that is the secret to growing
5:47followers and subscribers
5:49on these channels. It's
5:51what happens next. I wasn't providing
5:53that to opportunity to wonder what was
5:55going to happen next or that curiosity
5:56before. This time it was baked into
5:57this.
5:58And then by day 60, I was like, "Okay,
6:00I'm going to keep going with this." And
6:01today I'm on day 647
6:05straight.
6:06And we are seeing about 12 million views
6:08per day across all platforms cuz it's
6:09not just YouTube Shorts anymore. I take
6:11that same video
6:13and I publish it on Instagram as a reel.
6:15And that same video also goes on now
6:17Facebook. It also goes on TikTok. It
6:20also goes on Snapchat. And across all of
6:22those platforms, it's funny because
6:24sometimes a video will do really well on
6:25one and kind of not perform extra well
6:28in the others.
6:29Sometimes it goes well in all of them
6:30and sometimes it bombs. But that's the
6:33cool thing about Shorts and short-form.
6:35Every day is like a new opportunity,
6:38right? Whereas before, especially with
6:40long-form video and I'm creating one
6:41video per month or one video every other
6:43week, it's like if you miss on that
6:44video, you kind of have to wait a while
6:46till you get another chance. Not to
6:48mention you were slower to collect that
6:50data that then tells you what's working
6:51and what's not. So that's why for
6:53anybody starting any short-form content,
6:55I say go daily because that's going to
6:57teach you faster what's working and
6:58what's not. I wrote about that sort of
7:00effort in my book Lean Learning. You
7:01just like the learning comes from the
7:02action you take. So in the world of
7:03content, publish faster. You'll learn
7:06faster. You know, you can adjust.
7:07There's very little risk in publishing a
7:09video that bombs because you have
7:11tomorrow and then the next day and the
7:12next day. And then over time optimizing
7:15the storytelling within these 60-second
7:17videos. Actually, I think a big thing
7:18that happened was I took a lot of my
7:19podcasting brain and my kind of episodic
7:22show brain and put it into this series.
7:25And I created a little jingle at the
7:26beginning. And it's should I open it or
7:29should I keep it sealed? Very inspired
7:31by like the Empire theme song or you
7:33know, all those like little old 50s kind
7:36of jingles.
7:37Um shout out to Music Radio Creative, by
7:39the way. I gave them that tune. It's
7:40it's a audio file that nobody will have
7:42ever hear cuz it's terrible, but they
7:44made it sound great after my after my
7:45little wave file I gave them.
7:48Uh and that is at the beginning. So,
7:50I flip the pack in 1 second. Should I
7:52open it or should I keep it sealed? A
7:54question that I now propose to the
7:56viewer that sticks them around that
7:58keeps them stuck to wonder, well, should
8:00you have opened this or
8:01>> Totally.
8:02>> Right? So, so the long-form storytelling
8:04that I've learned is now shortened and
8:07compacted into a 60-second
8:09>> And the show name itself, the concept
8:11itself, the idea itself is a question
8:14that creates tension.
8:15>> Yes, and it's a question that a lot of
8:17collectors ask ourselves all the time.
8:20But, it's also relatable for anybody
8:21who's maybe not even into Pokémon.
8:23That's the other thing. It hits a
8:23general audience because it's so quick
8:26that you're not, quote unquote, wasting
8:27time watching somebody open Pokémon, but
8:29it opens a question that then I deliver
8:31on and that and and I yield that result
8:33for them at the very end. Right? The the
8:36the secret is in the series and and I
8:38have an acronym. It's it's easy. Right?
8:40It's episodic, it's authentic, right?
8:43Just like right now. You're you're
8:44seeing me struggle with this, but it's
8:45real life. Um it is something that is
8:47structured. So, that format again makes
8:49it very easy for me. I know what
8:51tomorrow's going to be like because it's
8:53the same video, just a different pack
8:54every time. It's the same structure.
8:55People are expecting
8:57that. And then uh why? It yields a
9:01result.
9:01>> I got so many questions and so many
9:03strategies to get into, but
9:05first, for listeners that
9:09would be like, okay, cool. I want to
9:10follow that format, but I'm in
9:13insurance, I'm in real estate, I'm an
9:15online marketer,
9:17you know, I'm a coach. What would you
9:19recommend? How could that look or how
9:21has that looked for anybody you coach?
9:22If you give a couple examples. If we
9:24just now get stuck, like I see the idea,
9:26but you're tapping into giant IP,
9:28Pokémon, and you you tap into a lot of
9:31deserves all the respect in the world,
9:32but there's a certain level of scale to
9:34it. So, what is the format to get
9:37business owner, entrepreneur, or content
9:40creator all the way to their concept for
9:42what they might do daily for short form?
9:44>> I got you. So, you want to think about
9:46what is your target audience? Cuz that's
9:48important. You don't just kind of create
9:49randomly. Cuz it's one thing to go go
9:51viral and get millions of views, but
9:52then like so what?
9:53>> Yeah.
9:54>> Right? So, for your target audience,
9:56think about what is a goal that they
9:58have. What is an urge that they that
9:59they that they have? Um and how do you
10:02reverse engineer that into a challenge
10:04or a series? Right? For example, I know
10:06somebody who's teaching people uh how to
10:08public speak.
10:10So, he's got students of his
10:13recording themselves daily talking to
10:15the camera, and the hook is day one of
10:19speaking or of trying to learn how to be
10:21a public speaker without any filler
10:22words.
10:23>> Mhm.
10:23>> Day two, day three. And it gives you
10:25something to look back on to see like
10:27>> And is he the speaker or he's got videos
10:28of his students?
10:29>> Okay.
10:29>> But he's got his students there, and
10:30then he gives a tip at the end, right?
10:32Whereas traditionally, a person who is
10:34maybe teaching that would start a video
10:36by saying, "Hey, my name is so-and-so.
10:37I'm a professional speaker, and I'm
10:38going to give you a tip on how to be a
10:40better public speaker and remove filler
10:41words." And then they go and like by
10:43then, people are gone.
10:44>> Yeah, that's such a long
10:45>> Right?
10:46>> Yeah.
10:46>> Start the video in the middle of the
10:48story.
10:49>> Mhm.
10:50>> That is the big secret with educational
10:51content. Don't set it up. Just go right
10:54into it. So, already you're seeing
10:56somebody going through a transformation
10:57and maybe struggling cuz it's in the
10:59early days. Or especially with that
11:01hook, it's like, "Well, let me see. Are
11:03you going to add any filler words
11:04today?"
11:04>> I don't know.
11:05>> Yeah.
11:05>> So, now I'm stuck, and I'm going to
11:07stick to the end because I'm going to
11:08see if this person's doing what they say
11:09they're going to do. And then the
11:11educator comes in at the end and says,
11:13"Oh, you did a good job." and those
11:14kinds of things, right? So, that's a
11:15really cool way to feature a student to
11:17then come in with some education in the
11:19middle of a story that it that builds.
11:21Right? And then after 30 days, they they
11:23can go back to the content from day one
11:26and go, "Here's how much you've
11:27improved."
11:28>> Yeah.
11:28>> And now, of course, with any marketers,
11:30we want to show the transformation. It
11:32just took 60-second spurts for 30 days
11:34to show it versus one long video which
11:36people don't have the time and attention
11:38for.
11:38>> Interesting. So,
11:40I'm curious. Your story is so cool, but
11:44you went in with a lot of clarity. It
11:46became like a second channel. You
11:47started multiple YouTube channels.
11:48You've got the whole Smart Passive
11:50Income business side of things you've
11:51all done. This whole new era you're like
11:53taking over the Pokémon world. You have
11:56your long-form channel. You start your
11:57short-form channel. You go into it
11:58though with the name of the show.
12:00>> I didn't No. Oh, you didn't? No.
12:03>> So,
12:03>> 6 days to to discover the short I open
12:06it format.
12:07>> So, what did you name You named it all
12:09short pocket monster?
12:11>> Yeah, cuz I have deep pocket monster
12:12which is my main channel.
12:13>> the same brand.
12:14>> And then it was like, well, these are
12:15shorts
12:16>> related to that.
12:17>> I'm kind of short.
12:18>> Got it. So, so the channel name the show
12:20name was discovered actually after some
12:22experimentation. 6 days you're figuring
12:24it out. Uh but I guess my question is
12:28how would you recommend somebody who
12:30already they have their pre-existing
12:32social media or accounts? Maybe their
12:34channel is named Pat Flynn, their first
12:36and last name Sean Cannell. And I'm
12:39seeing some people do like 100 days. So,
12:41also maybe like I don't know if I want
12:42to commit to this for 655 days of the
12:44same show. Do you recommend like spurts
12:47of common themes to open loops and close
12:50them?
12:50>> a that's a great idea and often what I
12:51recommend because, you know, you don't
12:52want to commit forever. And again, I
12:54didn't know I was going to do this for
12:55this long. Just so happened that it
12:57worked after the 60-day experiment. But
12:59you do need to give something an amount
13:00of time. And the time is a tool that can
13:04help you and your audience know again
13:06what's coming and and what to do at
13:07least within that certain time frame.
13:09So, perhaps you wanted to try to lose
13:11weight, for example. Like and and then
13:13I'm going to I'm going to I'm going to
13:14work out every day for 30 days. Come
13:16follow me on this transformation. But
13:18again, you don't start by saying that.
13:20You were literally on the treadmill
13:21sweating.
13:23All right, guys. I'm going to be I don't
13:25know. This is
13:26People are very bumpy on [snorts] on my
13:27treadmill. But you know you're in the
13:28middle of the story what's happening and
13:29then now I have to to see what's what
13:32this person's going to do right it could
13:33be something like that something
13:34transformational it could be kicking
13:36rocks right whatever it is
13:39you just have to do it for a period of
13:40time and let your audience know that
13:42you're going to be
13:43you know documenting this journey.
13:45>> So we've helped thousands of people go
13:46full-time on YouTube here at Think Media
13:48and one of the things we discovered from
13:50analyzing their channels is that there's
13:52five stages of YouTube success. So our
13:55team got together and we actually
13:57created a free resource you can check it
13:59out at mycreatorquiz.com
14:02and what it does is it will walk you
14:03through a series of questions that will
14:05get you fierce clarity on where you're
14:07at on YouTube right now what's holding
14:10you back and what you need to do next to
14:14unlock that next level of views and
14:16subscribers. So it only takes about
14:18three minutes it's entirely free just go
14:20to mycreatorquiz.com
14:22or click the link in the show notes. All
14:24right let's dive back into the podcast.
14:26>> Are you a proponent of starting fresh
14:30channels if somebody's debating if they
14:32want to start a new channel or not you
14:35started a second channel?
14:36>> I did for experimental purposes because
14:38I knew if I put it on my existing
14:39channel people would go well this is
14:40only successful because your other one.
14:42What's really funny is I started the
14:43second one and that one is now out
14:45performing the long form in terms of
14:47views and subscribers were at 2.7
14:50million subscribers now in a year and a
14:51half
14:522.2 on the long form one it's different
14:54audiences though. There there there is
14:56some overlap but there is a large number
14:58of people a large population who do not
15:01even know I have a long form channel.
15:02>> Interesting and that makes sense.
15:04>> Because there are people who will only
15:05consume the short form stuff.
15:07Right and this is really really
15:08important to understand the content
15:11especially for educators who have long
15:12form content you take these clips out
15:13and right you're trying to get people to
15:15watch these clips and then subscribe to
15:16the bigger thing at the long form
15:18podcast whatever it might be that is the
15:20wrong way to think about why you do
15:22those clips. You do those clips because
15:24you're able to now get parts of your
15:25show in front of people who would have
15:26never listened to the full thing
15:27otherwise. Who who who can discover you
15:30from that clip, right? The content is in
15:32the clips now. When I get recognized in
15:35public now,
15:36most of the time it's like, "I I watch
15:37your shorts." Not the longs.
15:39>> But hang on though,
15:40are you doing shorts of your long-form
15:43videos as well?
15:44>> Uh
15:45I am now. I am now. So, like any special
15:47moment
15:48>> What do you mean by the content is in
15:49the clips? Meaning the special moments
15:51of long-form content is where people
15:53could discover you, but your show of
15:54opening packs is different than that.
15:56>> It's different than that. Yeah, I just
15:57went on a tangent for those who maybe
16:00have an opportunity to do short-form
16:01with
16:02pulling from existing long-form content.
16:04>> And and the big idea is that if we want
16:06to reach new people and strangers,
16:08strangers need like a low
16:10commitment. That's why 30 seconds.
16:13That's why these short-form This it
16:14gives And And if you do it well at
16:17scale,
16:18not everyone's going to move over, but
16:19it's a chance for them to get to know
16:21you.
16:21>> For sure. And again, they wouldn't have
16:22found you otherwise. You have that
16:24content already. You could publish a
16:26clip daily and maybe use a tool like
16:29ManyChat to grab those people who are
16:31interested in what you have to offer and
16:33on the platform to email or something.
16:36Yeah.
16:36>> Exactly.
16:36>> Okay, so I'm curious if you were to do a
16:39case study with your advice, algorithmic
16:41advice to me, and I think that every
16:43listener
16:44I'm shocked how much I get this
16:45question. It happens a lot. Okay, Sean,
16:48I already have a YouTube channel. It's
16:49been 3 years. It's been 5 years. It's
16:51been 10 years. I haven't really done
16:52anything with it. The channel's maybe
16:53kind of confused. And And do I start a
16:56new channel? I've already uploaded 400
16:59videos on the other channel though, and
17:00I started it. Do I start it there? And
17:02then my traditional advice is kind of
17:03like, well, if you were going to start,
17:05you you were doing like gardening
17:07channel and now you've moved into real
17:10estate and you're trying to and you have
17:11subscribers. It's two different. The
17:12algorithm would definitely be confused
17:14there. But if it's a personal brand or
17:16something, so like you've always kind of
17:18talked about the same thing, the channel
17:19is aligned.
17:20But, now if we use me as a case study,
17:21I'm curious.
17:23And this kind of is a tangent into
17:24short-form in general.
17:27Do you think I should start a new
17:28channel if I was to start focusing on,
17:33let's say, something like something
17:34related daily to the Bible. I'm a Bible
17:37nerd, read the Bible all the time,
17:39leadership principles from the Bible,
17:41the faith principles.
17:43And
17:44I have a YouTube channel that has over
17:46100,000 subscribers that is my first and
17:48last name, Sean Cannell.
17:50It is total chaos. Like, it's what it's
17:53like cooking videos, I interviewed
17:55Benji's daughter, Juliana, went viral,
17:57it's like all over the place.
17:58>> Not Bible-related stuff.
18:00Those things.
18:00>> There's one or two Bible videos on
18:02there, there's random I vlogged for 60
18:05days, it is a lot of things. And it's,
18:08um, you know, 16 years old. Okay, so
18:11there's that channel. Then there's like
18:13my personal Instagram,
18:15um, that
18:17you know, bio is like I help people grow
18:19on YouTube, get my book YouTube Secrets.
18:22And I do personal stuff there.
18:24And so, the the question then becomes
18:27is, um, I don't want to launch anything
18:29new at this exact second, but that what
18:31I'm describing is something I will 100%
18:33do someday.
18:35And
18:36my thought would be, would you start
18:38like a new feature account if you were
18:40me? And if you were to start short-form
18:43or long-form, but the the interest
18:45Actually, you got me piqued. I would do
18:46short-form videos cuz that makes a lot
18:48of sense and I think people would take
18:49short hits of maybe what does the Bible
18:51really say or like something from the
18:53Bible, okay.
18:55You have a maybe enough context to say,
18:58yeah, you could build it up on your
18:59personal brand channel, you could go all
19:02in on your Sean Cannell, you might want
19:03to do something else with that, or would
19:05you start a fresh account? And for
19:06listeners, it's also kind of dovetails
19:08over to how you see algorithms and how
19:11algorithms learn now
19:13if they've got baggage from the past
19:15versus fresh accounts.
19:16>> Uh I'm not anybody who works at YouTube.
19:19I know and I happen to be in a Discord
19:21with the people who work on the
19:23algorithm, but I don't have access to
19:25that like what
19:27and how that works exactly.
19:29From everything you've just told me, it
19:31would be a new channel 100%.
19:32>> And it And it would be like a new
19:33Instagram account.
19:34>> account.
19:35>> new YouTube channel.
19:35>> Correct. You can reference this new
19:37account on your existing platforms,
19:39right? For those who within that group
19:41are interested in that. And I think
19:42that's the way to go about it. The major
19:45thing to think about here is from the
19:47audience's perspective and how like you
19:49can just replace the word algorithm with
19:51audience. Would the audience be confused
19:53if you talked about all these kinds of
19:55things, especially when it comes to
19:57growth?
19:58You can't expect a person to go in and
20:00start to like read your history and look
20:01at everything, right? They're just
20:03seeing what's popping up now.
20:04>> Yep.
20:05>> And so a new channel, Sean Cannell
20:07Faith,
20:07>> Yeah.
20:08>> new video every day, I'm going to And
20:10And for 30 days, I'm going to pull out a
20:12verse in the Bible and I'm going to ask
20:15a random person on the street what they
20:16think that means.
20:17>> Yep. Oh, yeah.
20:19>> Right?
20:19Boom. You have 30 days of content, you
20:21have this interaction, it's different,
20:23we're getting you to help a person or
20:26the audience understand maybe or how to
20:28interpret these things, and then you can
20:30relate it to something personal if you'd
20:31like.
20:32>> Yeah.
20:32>> That's how I'd go about it.
20:34>> Yeah, that's a genius idea. Now,
20:36on my Sean Cannell channel, there's
20:38probably there'd be subscribers that are
20:40disengaged, there'd be subscribers that
20:42actually would be interested in that cuz
20:44they did just subscribe to me and they
20:45would either unsubscribe or not, but
20:47there also is a lot of confusion. So,
20:49even if you replace algorithm with the
20:50word audience,
20:51I feel like in some cases, there's
20:53almost this argument like subscribers
20:54don't matter. They almost become like
20:56inactive. And And then I guess my point
20:58is if you wanted to leverage that asset,
21:01like as that sits there, I sometimes
21:03wrestle with and I think this is the
21:04exact thing people feel,
21:07even if it's 300 subscribers or 300,000,
21:10I've already posted hundreds of videos.
21:11It's already a personal brand channel.
21:13And if I just push it hard, do I unlist
21:16videos and pivot that channel to
21:17leverage that as an asset to build from,
21:19or would you still say start fresh?
21:21>> I would still say start fresh. I I
21:22wouldn't do anything with older videos
21:24and trying to remove things to kind of
21:26like change
21:27the perception in most cases. I mean,
21:29there's going to be edge cases and maybe
21:33opportunities to do that in some some
21:34cases, but in general, I think not only
21:37for the audience and the algorithm, but
21:38for you.
21:39>> Yep.
21:40>> Having a separate channel where you know
21:41these kinds of content exists,
21:44structured videos about this particular
21:45topic, it's just going to help wrap your
21:48head around where that goes and then
21:51silo that in terms of production and all
21:53those kinds of things.
21:54>> Okay, I really want to get into some
21:55tactics still, and there's so many
21:57already, but continuing on that a little
21:59bit with people starting second
22:00channels,
22:02this might be news to you. I'm just
22:03curious your take.
22:05I caught that Gary V was doing some kind
22:08of a talk, and then they screenshotted
22:10some B-roll, and he talked about there's
22:12a reason why we started Gary V Wine on
22:14Instagram and Gary V Jets, as in the
22:17football team. And he started these
22:19niche accounts even at the expansion of
22:21his personal brand. Do you think that's
22:22an extension of
22:25what you're describing here to build up
22:26like fandoms or audiences around niches?
22:28>> Potentially. Gary is an anomaly.
22:30>> Yeah.
22:31>> I went into his office a couple of years
22:32ago and I saw like 40 people who manage
22:36his social media accounts. So
22:37>> So there you go.
22:38>> You know, you see how many people are
22:39working behind the scenes there and
22:40you're like, oh, he's not actually the
22:42one doing all of this. So he
22:43>> He can cast the vision, but then he puts
22:45somebody on it, lets them go through
22:46footage all day long, do their full-time
22:47job.
22:48>> like to try to attempt to do a
22:50percentage of what he does, which is
22:52actually not just him, is
22:54you're going to drive yourself nuts.
22:56So I would focus on one thing at a time,
22:57but to your point, creating separate
23:00siloed
23:01platforms for different audiences or
23:04different messages may make sense, but I
23:06think
23:08I would only worry about that after
23:09figuring out one.
23:11>> Yeah.
23:11>> And you might not even need the others.
23:12>> And would you when we first talked, when
23:15I first heard about this Shorts Pocket
23:17Monster channel, you said you shot this
23:20all by yourself, edited it all by
23:21yourself, you were a one-man team.
23:23>> Still.
23:24>> And that's still true.
23:25>> Still true.
23:26Only me. That's important for me for a
23:28couple of reasons. One, to continue to
23:30be able to share an example of somebody
23:32who's busy and who is, you know,
23:33managing all this stuff and has a
23:34family. It's like I'm still able to find
23:36time to do it. And this is why
23:38optimizing the production of it was
23:40really important to me because I don't
23:41have a lot of time.
23:42>> Yeah.
23:42>> Yet I was still able to make it happen
23:44and I'll get to a point 600 episodes
23:45later where I've kept up daily. And I do
23:47batch process, that helps me too.
23:49>> Well, hang on. Hang on. Hang on. Hang
23:50on. And now do you
23:52take that final export and you're
23:54personally posting it on all those
23:56platforms?
23:56>> Correct.
23:57>> does that take?
23:58>> Not very long.
23:59Very quick. I've gotten it down to 2
24:00minutes.
24:02>> And you upload it to Snapchat and title
24:04it and you upload it to YouTube Shorts
24:05and title it and upload it to Instagram
24:07and do the captions.
24:08>> Like I wish I could just show you.
24:09>> Do you just do it on your phone?
24:11>> Uh I do it on my laptop.
24:13>> Okay.
24:13>> I edit on my laptop. I use ScreenFlow
24:15just cuz it's it All these editing tools
24:17eventually get you to the same result.
24:19It's just what works for you. Does it
24:20look clean? Does it, yeah, whatever. So,
24:23I have my library of sound effects, my
24:25library of of GIFs that I use. I have
24:27the jingle with the text that pops up in
24:30a master template that I just copy and
24:32paste into the new one. I have the
24:34structure down. It's kind of the same
24:35thing repeated every day. But, that's
24:37what people want.
24:38>> Totally.
24:39And so then
24:41so total workflow, now that you know and
24:44you've built momentum and it's actually
24:45insane. The headline of like
24:48solo
24:49busy dad business owner builds,
24:53you know, 12 million view a day channel.
24:56>> 40-year-old opening cardboard with hard
24:58work.
24:59>> 40-year-old opening pieces of cardboard
25:01with no AI,
25:03>> None.
25:04>> no help,
25:05and a simple phone and laptop,
25:08um
25:08>> and a passion and a dream.
25:09>> and passion and a dream, and grit and a
25:12and the hustle
25:14and the love builds channel. So, it's
25:17kind of inspiring and it I mean, it
25:18proves it done like for anybody who
25:20said, you know, I'm too busy to start a
25:22YouTube channel. I'm too busy to do so
25:23social media. You are really are It
25:25actually is inspiring to hear your
25:26story. I can see why you're doing that.
25:27Like, you're finding a way to do it.
25:28>> Yeah, I just interpret when a person
25:30says, "I'm too busy to do this." is it's
25:32just not a priority for you.
25:33>> Sure.
25:34>> That's it. That's really what that
25:36means.
25:36>> Yep.
25:36>> How can you make it a priority?
25:38How can you get yourself to get off your
25:41butt
25:42and just do it?
25:43>> Total time every day it takes then right
25:45now to do your
25:45>> 12 minutes.
25:46>> Total time for the whole No, the whole
25:47show?
25:48>> Oh, uh 20 minutes cuz I'll open a pack,
25:49right?
25:50>> And hitting it on every platform.
25:51>> And hitting it on on every platform.
25:53>> It takes a total 20 minute turnaround to
25:54do your daily show that's getting 12
25:56million views a day.
25:56>> Before I came here to Social Media
25:58Marketing World, I recorded three
26:00episodes because I'm going to be gone
26:01for I was gone from home for 3 days, or
26:03I am gone home from home for 3 days, and
26:05I just scheduled them. So, they're all
26:06they're all ready to go. They're going
26:07to go up every platform every platform
26:098:30 p.m. Pacific.
26:10>> Oh my goodness. If you've been feeling
26:12stuck on YouTube or you wish you were
26:14getting results faster, I recommend
26:16checking out viralvideocoach.com.
26:19You know, years ago in my life, I was
26:20experiencing chronic pain in both arms.
26:23It was up to a level 10. It was so
26:25frustrating. My hope was actually going
26:28down, and I ran into a bunch of dead
26:29ends. I bought some books on it. I
26:31didn't actually read them. I'm sure the
26:33books were good. I bought some online
26:34courses, and again, did about half, but
26:37still found my stuff unable to fully
26:39solve the pain. But then everything
26:41changed when I hired a specialist. And
26:44that really is what viralvideocoach.com
26:47is. We have a coaching program here at
26:49Think Media that will give you the
26:50accountability and the support and the
26:53feedback so that you can see the things
26:55that you can't see, the opportunities on
26:57your channel, fixing what's broken. And
26:59whether you want to start and accelerate
27:01or whether you're an expert and a
27:03business owner that wants more leads and
27:05customers and just wants the shortcut to
27:07doing YouTube right. So just go to
27:10viralvideo.com,
27:12fill out a short form, and then we'll
27:13walk you through all of the next steps.
27:16There's a link in the show notes, you
27:17could use that as well. And with that,
27:19let's dive back into the podcast. So
27:21okay, I mean there's a lot of that the
27:23systems you're breaking down, the
27:25simplicity, the time it takes to get
27:27there. It's cool to start and tweak it
27:29in. I want to hear now then
27:31uh tactics for anybody that wants to get
27:34views on shorts, any platform, maybe the
27:37nuances of different platforms. And you
27:38recently did a 30-day challenge and you
27:40did a 14-day challenge
27:42for short form.
27:44Uh you could take this however you want
27:45to start it and I just want to pull it
27:46apart, but like what what is working?
27:48What are the tactics for getting views
27:50with YouTube shorts and short form
27:52videos right now?
27:53>> Uh hook is everything.
27:54>> Okay.
27:55>> I mean it's the most important thing.
27:56And with the students of mine we had
27:58thousands
27:59>> hook?
28:00>> Attention-grabbing moment.
28:03>> Cuz it's not just what you say. It's not
28:05like a hook is necessarily a sentence,
28:06although it's part of it.
28:07>> could be what you see or what's
28:09happening or some interesting kind of
28:11part of the middle of the story that
28:12then you kind of go, "Well, here's how I
28:14got here." Right? You share those
28:16moments that are interesting up front
28:17because people are literally flipping
28:20and instantly moving on until they find
28:21something that captures their attention.
28:23>> What have you learned that makes a great
28:24hook?
28:24>> Uh curiosity,
28:26visuals, right? I had a friend of mine
28:27who was opening packs two of Pokémon in
28:30in his own way. And he was just starting
28:32by showing the pack and talking
28:36and then opening it. And it took him
28:37like 12 seconds to get to the point
28:39where he was opening the pack, which is
28:40what we all want to see. But we said,
28:43"Well, what can you include visually up
28:45front that would stop people and then
28:48give you permission to now talk for 12
28:49seconds and then open the pack. Well, he
28:52started filming himself going to Target
28:55and every video starts with him pulling
28:57something off the rack.
28:59And now that very relatable moment, the
29:01thing that we all hope to see at Target,
29:03that pack coming off, becomes the start
29:05and he uses a voiceover. The voiceover
29:08is a very big
29:09uh tool that we could use to fine-tune
29:12and craft that story and insert a hook
29:14after the fact.
29:15>> You're a big fan of voiceovers. That
29:17show is a voiceover.
29:18>> That show is a
29:18>> That you do.
29:19>> entirely a voice voiceover.
29:21Um all my long-form videos, much of the
29:23video is voiceover. It's like voice in
29:24my head, kind of Dexter style. Less
29:27bloody, but yeah.
29:28Uh
29:29and that is great.
29:30>> Different target audience.
29:31>> Different target audience, yes. That
29:33allows us to craft the story after
29:36everything's captured. On the long-form,
29:37which I know is going to be a separate
29:38topic or discussion, you know, we
29:40capture hundreds of hours of content
29:42across multiple cameras, right?
29:44Then it's about pulling out those best
29:46moments and putting them into a story.
29:47The voiceover becomes the glue
29:49>> Yeah.
29:50>> between that. So it's less vlog and more
29:53you're with me here and you get a voice
29:55inside my head. With the voice inside my
29:57head. Anyway, going back to shorts,
29:59the hook, right? So practice the hook
30:01every day until you get that framework
30:03and structure that is repeatable because
30:05that is when a person will start now
30:07start to follow because they follow not
30:09because they liked the video. I think
30:10there's a big confusion here. A lot of
30:12people go, "Hey, if you liked the video,
30:14please follow and subscribe." It's like
30:16that's what a like is for. People follow
30:18a video because they want to know what's
30:19coming next or they want the same thing
30:21that's going to happen tomorrow. And
30:22this is why daily is important, too. I
30:25love shorts because it's to me like
30:27fishing. I love fishing. I love to go
30:29fishing.
30:30Imagine going fishing, you put the
30:32perfect bait on the perfect hook and you
30:34cast the perfect cast in the perfect
30:36conditions with a perfect retrieve and
30:38then you don't get a fish, which is
30:39pretty often. What do you do? You pack
30:41it up after that one video? Then cast
30:43again. You cast over here. You maybe try
30:45a faster retrieve, a slower retrieve.
30:47You never know that next cast could be
30:49the lunker, right?
30:51>> Yeah.
30:51>> And that is what is so fun to me about
30:53short-form video. Every day is a new
30:55cast to potentially catch the big one.
30:58And then eventually you in fishing, for
31:00example, you learn the pattern. Oh my
31:01gosh, they're biting the uh purple
31:04margarita colored Robo Worm today.
31:07Okay, I'm going to stick with that here
31:08because that's what's working in these
31:09conditions. And then you just
31:11like you're just crushing it.
31:12>> Yeah, okay. So, do you have any favorite
31:15business examples or just of of hooks
31:19um that could inspire listeners?
31:21>> There's a guy who in our challenge he
31:23he's a Canva designer.
31:25>> Yep.
31:25>> Uh Drew, I think is his name. He started
31:28a series was like bet you didn't know
31:30you could do this on Canva. And and he
31:31also did a little jingle he got inspired
31:33by my stuff. And it just starts with him
31:35showing bet you didn't know you could do
31:36this on Canva. It takes 2 seconds, which
31:38opens up a question like bet you didn't
31:40know what. What do you What are you
31:41going to teach me?
31:41>> It's a good That headline is the hook
31:43itself. The show name is a hook.
31:46>> So,
31:48after starting that series in our
31:50challenge, he's getting an average of
31:52about 150,000 views per video. Some of
31:54them have gotten millions, right? Cuz
31:56sometimes you get the lunker. And every
31:58video starts the same. You scroll
32:00through, it's just like bet you didn't
32:02bet you didn't bet you didn't bet bet
32:04bet bet bet It's the same hook every
32:06time.
32:07But the education comes after that. And
32:09it's masterful. It's great. And now he's
32:11getting clients. And now Canva knows who
32:12he is. And it's like all this stuff is
32:13happening as a result of that. Right?
32:15It's just removing the complication not
32:17just in production and what to film,
32:20but for the consumption, it's easy to
32:22know what's coming. So, therefore you
32:24subscribe, especially if you're in that
32:25world and that's something
32:27>> It's great.
32:27>> you want.
32:28>> Okay, so what would be the next thing? I
32:30mean, is it what comes after the hook or
32:31is there other tactics for crafting
32:34>> Yeah, I mean, there's a there's a lot of
32:36you know, adding visuals when it makes
32:38sense, right? Not going overboard, sound
32:39effects, and little like
32:41pop like when I put a price on the
32:43screen, it goes
32:44right?
32:45>> Yeah.
32:45>> And then I've built this bank of like
32:47sounds that people recognize, and they
32:48didn't come right away, right? I've
32:49slowly added over time. I've I've just
32:52continued to refine
32:54daily.
32:54>> If your videos take you
32:5620 minutes to edit, you put the price of
32:59every single card you show.
33:00>> Uh not always.
33:02>> On a more vintage pack that's slower to
33:05open, yes.
33:06>> Okay, yeah, those are the ones I was
33:07thinking of.
33:07>> But if I'm opening one that's like $3,
33:09$4, the last one, yeah.
33:11>> So, does that take a little bit longer?
33:12You have to use some sort of way to
33:13source the info?
33:14>> an app, and it just I mean, I even This
33:17is an app called Collector where you can
33:19kind of track your collection and stuff.
33:21Um I'm friends with the founder, and I
33:23was like, "Hey, can you build uh a
33:24screenshot feature for me that you can
33:27like just take the price and put it on
33:28the screen? I think a lot of other
33:30creators and myself would enjoy that."
33:31>> Nice.
33:32>> They built that in 2 days, and it's like
33:33what I use now. It's just like
33:35>> That's so good. That's cool. That's like
33:36a detail working on your workflow to get
33:38an element dialed in.
33:39>> Yeah.
33:40>> Okay, if you describe one of your
33:42shorts, and you were to just say, or
33:44maybe you could say, "What am I
33:45missing?"
33:46What we're talking about here for those
33:47who haven't watched the channel, and
33:48they should just to even get inspired
33:50for their own niche, their own content.
33:52But you've got a music jingle.
33:55Does music play under in it it?
33:57>> Uh it does. And I have
33:58three songs that I use every time. One
34:00is more of like
34:01>> stickiness to that.
34:02>> to it, yep.
34:03>> Not just a jingle, but there's music.
34:05>> There's sound effects.
34:06>> Sound effects.
34:06>> There's visuals if when necessary, what
34:09I would see, the price. Price pops up on
34:11a certain card. What other visuals or
34:13words, I'm not sure.
34:14>> will also So, I again, I learned this
34:16over time. It's like, "Okay, well, I'll
34:17talk about what I hope to see, right?"
34:19There's often like a very expensive card
34:21that I hope we get, right? Again, that
34:23opens that loop.
34:25I then learned to show that card so that
34:27people can see it and look out for it at
34:29the end. So, in the middle, when I'm
34:30like, "Oh, I hope we get the Mega
34:32Charizard." or whatever.
34:33>> Which is a screen grab from somewhere
34:34else of the card you're hoping for.
34:36>> Yes, from Collector now.
34:38But, yes, I mean, I would just pull that
34:39from eBay or
34:41>> that cuts in.
34:42>> That cuts in, then it swoops out, and I
34:43have
34:44>> Yeah.
34:45>> like little swooping noises that I
34:46started to add, and all this kind of
34:47stuff. Um
34:48eventually, one day I randomly added
34:50this meme sound from a Vine long time
34:53ago, where a guy was doing this Who's
34:56That [clears throat] Pokémon game, you
34:56know, if you've ever watched Pokémon,
34:58they show like a silhouette of a
34:59Pokémon, and then you have to guess who
35:00it is. There's a There's a meme from a
35:025-second Vine of a Clefairy [snorts]
35:05being shown, but the guy goes, "It's
35:07Pikachu!" It's like really loud and
35:09obnoxious, and it's funny.
35:11Um I I added that when I pulled a
35:12Pikachu one day.
35:14And then, the next day people were like,
35:16"You should always do that." Like the
35:18commenters. They're like, "Where's the
35:19It's Pikachu?" So, I just now
35:22I add that sound effect whenever I pull
35:24a Pikachu. And when I forget to do it,
35:26people get upset. They get pissed off.
35:28>> Wow.
35:29>> Because they expect that, right? When I
35:31change the song to something completely
35:33random one day, they notice that.
35:35>> Yeah, why is the song different?
35:36>> the song Like some other things happened
35:37like over time. This is This is going to
35:39be really important for those who might
35:40be a little scared to do this and put
35:41themselves out there. So, the the camera
35:43is really close to my hands, right? Cuz
35:44I'm opening these packs, which means you
35:47can see my fingers.
35:48>> Yeah.
35:48>> And I have very weird, strange-looking
35:50thumbs. They're club thumbs. They're
35:52like I just saw your eyes go down real
35:53quick.
35:54>> curious. I was checking them out, yeah.
35:55>> Uh there I call them Megan Fox thumbs
35:57cuz they look a little That That makes
35:58me feel better. I call them Nintendo
35:59thumbs as well cuz I'm like, "Oh, they
36:01It's from all the gaming." No, they're
36:03just club thumbs. It's a thing.
36:04>> Okay.
36:04>> Um they're short and kind of fat.
36:06>> Okay.
36:07>> And then, in the beginning days of this
36:08video series,
36:10people started making fun of them.
36:11>> Hm.
36:12>> They're like, "Oh, this guy's thumbs are
36:13nasty." Puke emoji. And I was like, oh,
36:15like wanting to hide, right? Um but I
36:17was like, "You know what?
36:19I want to embrace this cuz this is me."
36:21That like, "Great, you're pointing out
36:23something that's uniquely me. I'm going
36:24to I'm going to lean into that."
36:25>> Yeah.
36:26>> So, I literally call them out one day
36:27and I say, "Yeah, I know I got nasty
36:29thumbs. They're kind of like Diglett
36:30thumbs." Diglett is a Pokémon that kind
36:33of looks like my thumbs.
36:34>> Okay.
36:36>> Fast forward to today, when I go to a
36:38card convention, I am signing Diglett
36:40cards all day long.
36:43>> It's like a common
36:45uh Pokémon that nobody really cares
36:46about, but now when they see a Diglett
36:47card in a pack, they think of me.
36:49>> Yeah. That's deep.
36:50>> Um and like people are you should tattoo
36:52Diglett on your thumb and it's just
36:54like, you know, one time I was at an
36:56event and they're like, "Wait, are you
36:57the should I open it guy?" That's what
36:59I'm called now. The I'm not even Deep
37:00Pocket Monster. I'm like, "You're the
37:01should I open it guy?" And they're like,
37:03"Let me see your thumbs."
37:05>> To to verify.
37:06>> Yeah. To verify. [laughter]
37:08>> That's amazing. So, I mean, there's so
37:11much there like I I would recommend
37:13listeners that are new to you uh your
37:16book Superfans
37:17>> Thank you. Yeah.
37:18>> because
37:19there's so much genius that you do,
37:22things you've learned in terms of
37:23community building. What would you
37:25almost call those? You'd almost call
37:26them like uh lore.
37:27>> It's uh it's it's part of the culture of
37:30our brand, right?
37:31>> of your brand.
37:32>> the brand language.
37:33>> Brand language moments, audio. And what
37:35I want people to hear and I don't know
37:36if I'm missing anything, but it's like
37:39over time that and that's another layer.
37:42It's not just sound effects, jingle,
37:44music, the editing, sometimes some other
37:46things, but you're making the short-form
37:48show
37:49also have reoccurring themes or
37:52reoccurring elements.
37:54>> Characters, like the thumb.
37:55>> your thumb becomes a character.
37:56>> Right. Exactly.
37:57>> Yeah.
37:57>> Exactly. Um it is it is amazing to see
38:00what has happened and
38:02the elements and principles of
38:03storytelling still mattering here. The
38:05other thing that uh
38:08there's so much to unpack with just the
38:09six 60-second short, right? Um
38:13>> Are they always 60 seconds or less?
38:14>> sometimes they're longer. In fact, they
38:16they
38:16>> Cuz platforms allow you to go 90
38:17seconds.
38:18>> 3 minutes now.
38:203 everywhere now. Yeah.
38:22>> It's
38:24>> hour, but Instagram's three.
38:26>> Yeah, just all three. Yeah. So I mean
38:27I've done 90 seconds, 120 seconds
38:30sometimes if there's more packs to open,
38:31but generally speaking it's 60 to 90
38:33seconds.
38:34>> Yeah.
38:34>> Um, I've I then started a sub-series
38:37within this series.
38:38>> Okay.
38:39>> So on Sunday, I have what's called
38:42Burning Shadows Sunday. Burning Shadows
38:44is a
38:44is a set of Pokémon from 2017 it was
38:46released. It has like the worst pull
38:48rates.
38:49>> Okay.
38:50>> And it has a particular Charizard, a
38:52rainbow rare Charizard in that that is
38:54very hard to pull. And I got inspired by
38:56a creator from a long time ago who did
38:57the same challenge but not in short
38:59form. It was like at the end of every
39:00video he would try to open one pack to
39:01find this Charizard.
39:02>> How much does one of these packs cost?
39:04>> Uh, like 20 bucks.
39:05>> Okay.
39:06>> Um,
39:06>> That's expensive though so you
39:07>> It's expensive in the world of Pokémon,
39:08yeah, but everything
39:09>> $80 a month to do it every Sunday.
39:11>> $80 a month for so 20 * 4?
39:14>> Well, I'm opening like four to six packs
39:15per week.
39:16>> Of the black guy though?
39:17>> Of of the uh, the Burning Shadows guy.
39:19>> Burning Shadows people.
39:20>> Uh,
39:21so
39:23it is now I'm on pack 416
39:2716
39:28>> Of Burning Shadows.
39:30>> without yet having found this Charizard.
39:32>> Sure.
39:33>> Every Sunday.
39:34>> But how rare is the Charizard? Super
39:35rare. You might be doing this for 10
39:36years.
39:36>> That's what a lot of people may never
39:38pull it. But I'm doing exactly what I
39:39want to do. I'm building anticipation.
39:41>> Yeah, I'm
39:42here.
39:43I need to know
39:44>> It's a disappoint People have renamed it
39:45Burning Wallet Sunday.
39:47>> Yeah.
39:47>> They say it's never going to happen.
39:50>> Like 400 bucks. It's like 900. I could
39:52have bought 20 of them by now.
39:53>> Interesting.
39:54>> Right? And yes, I know I have a little
39:55advantage because I have access to these
39:56cards and I can pay for them, but again
39:58the whole point here being a sub-series
40:00>> Yeah.
40:01>> that people can expect on Sunday that I
40:03got to tune in to my show. Like hey
40:05honey, my show's on.
40:06>> Yeah.
40:06>> Right? I literally get that comment. My
40:08show is on.
40:08>> So good.
40:09>> Um, the other thing about this and and
40:11and something in a brand and in
40:12storytelling is you have a rival.
40:14>> Yes. have
40:15>> rival.
40:16>> Okay, hang on. So I've also heard like
40:18there's a good book from Patrick Bet
40:19David of called Choose Your Enemies
40:21Wisely. And it's been said in marketing
40:23that you should have an enemy. Is that
40:25the same as a rival?
40:26>> Uh a rival is maybe a friendlier enemy.
40:29Right? Where with a rival you might have
40:31beef with
40:32with a
40:33>> This is different then. This is a
40:33different concept than what I'm saying.
40:35>> Yes.
40:35>> A marketing enemy or the thing that
40:37you're against is not the same thing.
40:39>> enemy is AI, right? So, that's your
40:40positioning.
40:41>> When I watched one one of your recent
40:42long form videos which recommend people
40:44subscribe and and and that'll be coming
40:46out on the channel as well and we'll
40:48have a whole separate conversation. But
40:49I feel like your rival is your son.
40:51>> Uh he has become a rival, yes, on that,
40:53right? Cuz he's he's quote-unquote stole
40:56uh Charizard from me and we're just go
40:57passing it back and forth.
40:59Uh another rival on the long form
41:00channel is time.
41:01And we personified time by buying a
41:03kitchen timer and putting googly eyes on
41:05it and naming it Steve.
41:06>> Yes.
41:07>> Why Steve? Because that's kind of a name
41:08you can get angry at, right? Steve. It
41:10has that like sting on it. Sorry to
41:12Steves out there.
41:13>> this character around with you.
41:14>> Right. Yeah. And now we have merch. But
41:15Steve merch.
41:17We sold out in an experiment 500 plushy
41:20Steves, which again is just a soft
41:22version of a kitchen timer with googly
41:24eyes and eyebrows.
41:25>> What time did you set since they were
41:27printed all the time?
41:28>> 2:31, which is 151 minutes, which is a
41:30callback to our
41:32finding 151 Pokémon challenge.
41:34>> Okay.
41:34>> They sold out in 2 minutes.
41:36>> Yeah.
41:36>> The plushy Steves.
41:37>> Crazy.
41:38>> Another part of the brain culture in the
41:40in the character. Anyway, on the short
41:41form channel I have a rival, which is
41:43sort of like a friendly enemy. Um where
41:45with an enemy you might have beef, a
41:47rival you might have pork. And that's
41:49what we call it, my buddy Alex and I.
41:51We kind of go back and forth and we kind
41:52of dig at each other in our own cuz he
41:54does a daily channel as well.
41:56>> So, you're just you're any reference to
41:58him would be like an insider reference.
41:59He's not actually on the channel.
42:01>> He's not on the channel at all. No, but
42:02the reason why we have this
42:03quote-unquote pork, if you want to call
42:05it that, is there is a set of Pokémon
42:07out there called uh team up. And in this
42:10there is a very, very expensive card
42:12called Latios Latias that they these two
42:14Pokémon make like a heart shape. So,
42:16we've He's He's named this card the
42:18lovebirds card, right? That's just like
42:19the nickname for it. Um and he's like,
42:22"I'm going to get it first." And I was
42:23like, "No, I'm going to get it first."
42:25Well, I ended up getting it first, and
42:26he still has yet to get it. So, every
42:28time I reference anything related to
42:30that set or this card or those Pokémon,
42:32I I do a little dig at him. I put a
42:34screenshot of his face crying, or I just
42:36kind of mention it, and then he has now
42:39called me deep Diglett monster and talks
42:42about my thumbs in a kind of kind of
42:45not a really nasty way, but like he just
42:47Again, we pass it back and forth. And
42:49the comment that the the crowd loves it.
42:51They love this back They're like, "I
42:53live for this rivalry. It's like the
42:55this is the friendliest rivalry, and I
42:56can't wait to see what the next part is
42:58going to be, right?" And we've even gone
43:00on stage in person together now because
43:01of this rivalry. We've been invited
43:03together to speak and talk and teach
43:05about YouTube and shorts, and we talk
43:07about our rivalry. And again, we'll do a
43:09little digging and kind of elbowing each
43:11other when we're there kind of thing.
43:12It's just become a friendly rivalry that
43:15people can enjoy and another
43:17insider thing for people who watch
43:19daily, right?
43:20>> It's powerful. I mean, I think I think
43:22I don't know if you'll love these
43:23examples, but I think they they they
43:25illustrate I think uh
43:27Jake Paul and Logan Paul
43:29as controversial as they are have used
43:32rivals rivalries against each other to
43:35hack
43:35>> Casey KSI, right?
43:37>> Yeah.
43:38>> And then they went together in the
43:39prime.
43:40>> And then if And then you start thinking
43:41about that, you think like
43:42you know, uh I'm sure there's a level of
43:45authenticity to it, but they're also
43:46master media people that they sometimes
43:48pressure. And And UFC and WWE has
43:52thrived off that. That as people start
43:54ramping up to a fight, how Yeah, so then
43:56there's that rivalry or even in like
43:58maybe Drake versus Kendrick, and any
44:00kind of rivalry makes both
44:03you know, it gets people invested, it
44:05gets people interested.
44:06>> A minor detail is that See what I did
44:09there? That's a test. Uh it it is that
44:12it doesn't have to be a rivalry. Just I
44:14think the important thing are these
44:16the the the the brand language that you
44:18create over time that people who are on
44:20the inside know about. People on the
44:22outside wonder about.
44:23>> Interesting.
44:24>> It's just like the secret menu at
44:25In-N-Out. If you ever come to the West
44:26Coast and you somebody takes you to
44:28In-N-Out, they're going to tell you
44:29about the secret menu because they want
44:31to be the one to tell you about the
44:32secret menu.
44:33>> Yes.
44:33>> And getting your fries animal style with
44:35onions and cheese on it. Like all that
44:37kind of stuff. Those things help the
44:39brand because people talk about it
44:41because they know something that others
44:42don't.
44:44Which is a chapter out of Super Fans.
44:45Like this whole Pokémon thing is
44:46literally a case study for everything
44:48that I taught in Super Fans. Super Fans
44:50was written before I even got into
44:52Pokémon. I'm just I'm just
44:54>> And you had already done it, but now
44:55you're doing it like a hundred X. You
44:56just keep building on it.
44:57>> Yeah.
44:58>> It's powerful. Okay, uh kind of
45:00lightning round talking about short
45:01form. What's the biggest mistake most
45:03people make that's killing their views
45:05on short form content?
45:06>> Uh paying attention to the views too
45:08early.
45:08>> Mhm.
45:09>> You think, "Oh, I'm I'm a failure. This
45:10is never going to work." You have to
45:12stick with it. You have to give it time.
45:14This is why a 30-to-60-day experiment
45:16works really, really well because
45:18doesn't matter what happens to the
45:19views. You keep going cuz that is what
45:21you can control. You can control the
45:23uploads. You can't often control
45:25how those uploads get seen or perceived
45:27or how the algorithm treats them, right?
45:29And if you base your success on
45:31something that you cannot control,
45:33I mean, that's a that's not a great
45:35place to be.
45:36Right? So, you can control how much you
45:38upload and then give yourself a chance
45:39at least to get to the point at which
45:41you can then assess whether you want to
45:42keep going or not because you've stuck
45:44with it for that many days. And like I
45:46said, day 35
45:48is when things took off for me. Um so,
45:50just get started. Get out of your own
45:51way. And the other thing is over
45:54perfecting and trying to make it look
45:56really nice, right? It's like that's a I
45:59need the best camera. I I the perfect
46:00editing. I need like the some of the
46:02stuff that goes most viral
46:05and sees the most discovery or is just
46:08the most raw
46:09>> It is super raw.
46:10For sure.
46:11>> There's a guy
46:12uh
46:13who had a a channel called Sailing with
46:15Phoenix. This guy who worked a corporate
46:17job at a tire company quit.
46:20And his first video is like I'm I'm
46:21quitting my job. I hate this life. I'm
46:23going to cash out my 401k and I'm going
46:25to buy a sailboat. I don't even know how
46:26to sail and I'm just going to I'm just
46:28going to sail to Hawaii.
46:30>> And he did that.
46:30>> [laughter]
46:31>> And he had the whole world watching. He
46:33gained 2 million followers in a week
46:35>> Yeah.
46:35>> cross-platform because day one of
46:38sailing to Hawaii with my cat.
46:42Day two, his cat's name Felix.
46:43>> Snarla. I mean it the thing too is like
46:46uh
46:47you know, at some point that's no longer
46:49a shorts tactic. It's like just an
46:52incredible story.
46:53>> Correct. Yeah, and everybody was so
46:55inspired. They were following him.
46:56>> the clearly took the risk and the time
46:59and the energy for him to do it. He
47:00actually did it.
47:01>> But his videos weren't perfectly
47:03produced. Whether you're kicking rocks
47:04or literally having a life-changing
47:06moment,
47:07that could all be captured in short form
47:09and as long as it's consistent, right?
47:12You can't build a relationship with
47:13anybody if you're not consistent.
47:14>> Yeah.
47:15>> Uh
47:16and you have that courage to show up,
47:17then you have at least a chance for
47:20things to happen.
47:21>> Genius advice. If people want to build a
47:23relationship with you,
47:25where can they find you? I'll put links
47:27in the description everything.
47:28>> cards. You can
47:29if we want to start a relationship with
47:30me, just
47:31uh send me over some Pokémon cards. No,
47:33I'm just kidding. Um long walks on the
47:35beach. Um Deep Pocket Monster and Short
47:38Pocket Monster on YouTube probably the
47:39best places to go to literally see a lot
47:41of this in action, right? Um and then
47:43Pat Flynn on all social media channels.
47:45>> Amazing. And Think Media Podcast, like,
47:48rate, share, review this one for sure.
47:51Subscribe because there's going to be a
47:52future conversation with Pat Flynn all
47:53about long form and he crushed it in the
47:55short form here. I want to just thank
47:57you for being a part of this community.
47:58Until next time, my name is Sean
47:59Cannell, your guide to building a
48:01profitable YouTube channel. Keep
48:02crushing it, and we will [music] talk
48:03soon.

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