Sometimes we get it in our heads that we need certain things to grow our channel. But honestly, there are a lot of things that contribute to channel growth that creators overlook. And these things are far more effective in the long run. We are going to talk about those things today.
Want: Exposure
People think their channel is awesome and all they need is exposure. So they start talking about paying for ads, etc. But, exposure is not actually what you need. What you need is better content. (Ouch! I know.)
Start by thinking about what your audience is actually struggling with and not just what you want to talk about. We help a lot of businesses that don’t watch a lot of YouTube. They show up on YouTube to promote their business, but they are not a YouTube consumer. The best authors read the most books and the best YouTubers watch the most YouTube.
So if this is you, go watch some videos! Pay attention to what your viewer signals are. When you see that title/thumbnail combo that you HAVE to click, ask yourself why? Why are you dying to click on it? Then as you are listening, what is keeping you there? Are you laughing? Are you connecting? Are you getting to the end? If not, what made you leave? We want 30% of our audience to watch 80% of our videos, not the other way around. Are you hooked into watching more videos? If so, why? This is what we want for your viewers, too. Apply these discoveries to your own channel and see what happens.
If you need some channel recommendations and think we might have similar tastes, my current favorites are Viva La Dirt League , Ryan George, The Comments Section with Brett Cooper , Dude Perfect, and Jordan B Peterson.
Ingrid’s current favorites are Johnny Harris, CaseyNeistat , and his brother Van Neistat .
Sam is really loving Colin and Samir , Stephanie Wittek (his wife -shameless plug), and Joshua Weissman .
Need: Make Better Content
So what does this mean exactly? Better Editing? Fancier Production Value? – No. Look at your metrics and compare what you’ve been doing recently. Are you losing people half way through your hook? Shorten it up. Are people getting lost in the middle? Maybe you need to incorporate better storytelling. Group your videos by months in the analytic sections and compare month over month if these things are getting better.
Want: Quality – Need: Connection
Google did a lot of research into what makes “good content.” It all boiled down to content that makes you feel something is good content. Of course people want to learn, but what they really want is a connection. Editing skills are great, but what we really need is the skill of eliciting emotion. Storytelling and primal branding will be huge in growing this skill. Having the best information is great. But if you want to really grow, you must connect with your audience. The faster you can establish that connection, the better.
Your brand is not about your marketing and logo. Brands are all about the value you propose and the feeling people get when they come in contact with you. So when creators feel like they have the best quality videos in their niche, what they should do is look at their channel from a birds eye view. What is the feeling that a new viewer gets when they get to your channel. What connection points do you have for your first time viewer. Primal branding plays a key role here. What is your creation story? This is a great way to connect with your viewers. Can you build this into your channel trailer? Building a Story Brand is a great book to help businesses understand branding from a story perspective. Go check it out.
Want: Growth – Need: Strong Storytelling Skills
A key to developing this is to understand your ideal viewer. You can’t solve their issues if you don’t know what their issues are and how they feel when dealing with them. What does your audience want? If you’re an entertainment channel this can be tricky. But maybe your viewer wants an escape. Sometimes it’s a perceived relationship that they are looking for. You don’t need to say this outright on your channel, but knowing this information will be huge in actually meeting this need.
Keep it simple. Storytelling is really just about showing change. Ultimately it’s going to come down to who are you talking to. Do you have crystal clarity in that? Revisit your target audience and why you are crafting content in the first place. Name them, know them inside and out before you turn the camera on.
Storytelling can feel overwhelming. But it doesn’t have to be. If you’re a vlogging channel, you can show what you want today, why don’t you have it, what happens if you don’t get it, and what are the guides to get you there. To help with this, Storyworthy is a great resource. It is extremely practical in terms of how to actually tell a story.
Power Tip
Go back to episode 279 , Steps for Using Story. This is a longer interview with Matthew Dicks the author of Storyworthy and I found it extremely helpful. Hopefully you will too.