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YouTube

Growing a channel​

Most of this is based off of Ali Abdaal videos

Levels​

Ali describes growth on YouTube in three levels:

  • Level 1 is under 100 subscribers and under 20 videos. The goal here is to get going and just start the process, building momentum.
  • Level 2 is where you get good. This can be based on both your internal metrics (does it feel cringy to watch yourself?) and external metrics (are people watching or interacting with your content?).
  • Level 3 is where you get smart.

Moving between levels 1 and 2, in addition to the metric counts, involves making a decision about how committed you are to YouTube content creation. Is this casual for you, or is it serious? If it’s casual, then you are not interested in actually growing. You might want to grow, but you’re unwilling to put in the effort to make that happen.

Moving between levels 2 and 3 involves making a decision about whether YouTube is a hobby or a business. Is this for yourself, or to make value for others (and make money)?

Ali suggests only deciding on a niche as you move between Level 2 and 3.

Time Management​

There are roughly five steps to creating a YouTube video:

  1. Idea
  2. Title/Thumbnail/Hook
  3. Writing
  4. Record
  5. Edit

Editing often takes lots of time, and Ali recommends outsourcing this as soon as possible. It frees up lots of time. Someone can often do this better for you, and editing gets in the way of the rest of the content creation.

Writing is usually the second largest amount of time. For education content creators, you can save lots of time by using bullet points and talking naturally to the camera. Scripting can feel inauthentic, and since you’re an expert on what you’re teaching, you can talk to it with prompts rather than an exact script.

Educational videos should only really cover about three points per video, otherwise viewers will get distracted. Another potential approach is to go to really long-form content (i.e. Hbomberguy)

Fleshing Out An Idea​

The HIVEs method is a good starting point:

  • Hook
  • Intro
  • Value
  • End screen sales pitch

For educational content, the hook is often similar to the title of the video.

An intro is introducing yourself and provide some credibility. Why should they spend their time watching your video? Prove your social credibility (which means you should probably get some social credibility if you don’t have any!).

The social credibility can come from you not understanding how something worked beforehand and now you do. It provides a way for viewers to relate to you.

References​