I've been creating social media content for about two years now. I'm not going to pretend to be an industry expert or a millionaire influencer. If I was, I'd be too busy driving my brand new Tesla, financed through the shilling of questionable crypto to an impressionable youth, to the spend time to write this. But I'd like to share some things I learned from my success and many failures.
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I built a small, but moderately successful brand. I had ~9k subs on YouTube (with around 1.2m views) but was more successful doing short-form content with ~50k followers on TikTok (I don't know my total views, it's several mil, but 1.5m likes). My niche was gaming, which I know is a niche many people would like to grow in. I decided to leave my channels behind because I lost my passion for making the content, despite the fact it was becoming more lucrative for me and could have been a full-time job with some hard work. I'll talk more about this later on.
My channels aren't linked to my Reddit account, but if anyone wants proof in DM, I'll oblige. I don't go around sharing my old content anyway because as a 23-year-old man, telling people you played Fortnite for a living doesn't get you quite the same look of respect as if you tell them you're a lawyer.
These are some things I learned along the way that I don't think the average 'how to grow' video really tells you.
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The hidden metric
Every metric, (likes, views, comments, etc.) is subservient to the one true metric. It's very hard to measure, but whether you have this quality is the single most important question to ask yourself: Do my audience expect every video I produce to be so valuable that they have to watch it? If the answer is no, you will not succeed.
To succeed as a creator, you need a unique brand. A brand is that expectation, and your audience must know what they're going to get, when they're going to get it.
I know penguinz0 will post daily. Anyone who watches penguinz0 knows exactly what he's going to post. Hell, you even know the shirt he is going to wear. Even though his videos are often vaguely titled (like 'I made a mistake'), with very low production value, include no call-to-actions or attempt to boost views, his community will follow him to the ends of the Earth
Likewise, Internet Historian posts once every 13 years, but you know you're going to get such high quality, unique storytelling that you will watch anything he posts. I don't care one slightest bit about the Costa Concordia, but I watched the video and Q&A the minute they were uploaded, and I loved them. To call Internet Historian just a commentary channel would be insulting. If his face was ever leaked online, I'd refuse to look at it - Internet Historian is Hide the Pain Harold
Why
A huge part of that brand is the why. It astounds me how many people don't consider this when making a channel, but the second question you need to ask yourself is: Why would people even watch my video? The answer to you is obvious, because that will gratify your ego and hopefully make you that sweet, sweet YouTuber $$$. But your audience don't care one bit about that, especially when they have no relationship to you. You need to create content for your audience, not yourself.
A big example is so many people want to make let's play's. Why? Because it's fun to play games and looks pretty easy to do. People will not watch you. Stop. You can do that after you build a reputation. You first build your reputation by providing value (the why)
Your value can be anything, but you can either teach people something worthwhile, challenge their assumptions about something, move them emotionally, or make them laugh a lot. I started in gaming by teaching people, because I'm not funny and couldn't carry commentary. I built an audience by coaching people for free one by one, made tutorials and built a community that way. Go out of your way to help people and then they will help you back.
The hidden cost of making content
As a content creator, you are a business that has to make a product that outperforms other products. Some niches are very oversaturated and difficult to surface in; some require a lot of investment; and some require a significant amount of skill to produce the content. You either have to:
Be the first to make the content in your niche
or, make the best content
When I was doing gaming, my niche was so oversaturated that the only way to surface was to be the among the first to make the content. An event or game update would come out, so I'd stay up at night to make the video. This is the hidden cost of gaming and short-form content - your videos are so easily replaceable that you have to constantly make more. Gaming videos often don't have a long lifespan, unless you make humour content like Let's Game it Out. Over time, this can burn you out hard. Think carefully if games should be your job and not just your hobby. There are other niches and videos to make.
If your method of production is slow, such as highly animated or well-researched commentaries, you must make the best content in your niche. There are many who make mystery and true crime content pieces, but Nexpo stands head and shoulders above many because of his dedication to aesthetic and production quality. His videos feel found and creepy. The advantage of content like this is there is a high skill barrier to entry, and people will often watch multiple videos about one topic. So 'best' is flexible.
On the other hand, high production videos can take a long time. And if you get it wrong, you will feel it when months of work yields little return. It will take longer to get these kinds of channels up and running.
In summary, every creator's content fits somewhere on the quality-quantity spectrum. There is no rule of what your content has to be or look like, but it has to fit the niche. If your channel isn't working, consider if you're making the most optimal product.
So, how often should I put videos out?
People who answer this question with a single timeframe are misguided. There is no rule, but I a good guide is to know that the longer it takes to make your content, the more your audience's expectations must be met with a very high quality piece.
My channel is dead, help
There are two main arteries that provide bloodflow to the channel. One is the click-through rate, (CTR), and the second is the audience retention (AR).
You're either:
Not getting views
or, the people who do view your content think it's trash and don't continue watching
If no one is clicking on your video, people either have no interest in the topic or you're not hooking them in with the title and thumbnail. I appreciate saying 'have good titles and thumbnails' is the same as saying 'just be more likeable and people will like you', but that's honestly the long and short answer.
A big mistake people make is to use their title text as their image text. No. Only use thumbnail text to communicate extra detail. SomeOrdinaryGamers' video "I'm being blackmailed" uses an email subject field saying "Video of you [doing private things]" as his thumbnail text. This promises you the topic of the video and makes it much more interesting because now you know the stakes are high: a personal video could be leaked online. It's intriguing.
If people are watching your video and clicking off, you're boring them. You have to hone your craft more. I can't help more here without seeing your specific videos, but again, willing to help in comments or DM.
You're just a copywriter
As a creator, your main job is a copywriter. (an advertiser, essentially) You have to produce content that drives views. You are not an artist, a gamer, a locksmith, a teacher, a critic, or an influencer. You are an advertiser who writes scripts, titles, copy, descriptions, comments. People only watch your content because it's advertised to them either through the algorithm or your own efforts. If you research anything, it should be marketing. This is how MrBeast 'won' YouTube.
Discoverability
Every social media site has a discoverability rating. This is a score of how likely if you post content on a platform, it will get viewed. Why do the majority of Twitch streamers have 0-5 viewers? Because they are wasting their time on a platform with zero discoverability. Use the platforms you will be seen on.
Social media is not luck. Luck is simply when opportunity meets preparation. You must prepare your brand for success by using the platforms you are most likely to get discovered on.
TikTok: 10/10. You post something good on here, it will get seen
Twitter: 9:10. Great sharability. Launched many content creator's careers
Reddit: 8/10. You can literally find people who already want your content. Do it right and Reddit will reward you
Shorts: 7.5/10. Still in infancy, has big potential
YouTube: 6/10. Hard to get seen, but very worth it when you do
Instagram, Facebook, niche sites 4/10. Some mixed results, niche dependent. I also have limited experience. Instagram Reels has similar potential to TikTok, however
Twitch: 0/10. If you are a streamer right now who streams to less than 10 viewers, don't stream for more than an hour a day. Use to time to make videos and content
What should I make?
Take your top five creators. Write five adjectives to describe the content each creator makes. For example, I made Fortnite content. I wrote out my top five creators and none of them made Fortnite videos. I left Fortnite.
If you predominantly watch video essays on true crime that use a humorous tone narrated by a person in front of a camera, punctuated by B-roll footage, you've just described the content you want to make.
This trick may not fit everyone, but it's a good place to start.
What tricks do I need to use?
We all seek the coveted optimal upload time, tags, keywords, avoiding shadowbans, etc. Be sceptical of anyone who gives you the kind of advice that sounds like, "You can't post any earlier than 17:35 EST because the New York City office workers are still travelling through the subway at 17:15, so they won't see your video."
YouTube's algorithm is highly sophisticated and can't be gamed. Make good videos, nothing more, nothing less.
Pay no one who offers something that's too good to be true
Scammers everywhere are looking to prey on small YouTubers with promises of increased viewership, massive channel growth, success, fame, etc. They are all scammers. Pay no one. I've never found a single person who offered a paid course on social media growth who knew what they were talking about, and they'll often charge thousands for information of little to no use. If someone can't demonstrate their own big success, then they can't do it for your channel either. Be sceptical of everyone's advice, including my own.
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I don't know if any of this was helpful or made coherent sense to anyone, but I hope so. Feel free to ask anything below for advice. I will endeavour to reply to anyone who asks.
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