Hello Insiders!
This week we have something real special.
We have a collab with Tim Schmoyer from Video Creators channel
and Tim and I are doing something
that should be pretty interesting hopefully to most of you.
I asked Tim a bunch of questions about how he built his channel
as well as to give us a consult on our channel
on how we can make it better
and then asked for some feedback about YouTube Creator Tools.
So what follows is Tim's answers to my questions.
Hey, Tom. Thank you so much for having me on your channel.
I'm really excited to hang out with you here
and answer some of these questions that you have for me.
So let's just go right into them.
The first one is...
How did you get from zero to your first thousand subs?
I know that was hard for us
but really curious what strategies you used.
The first 1,000 are the hardest, I think.
I had a bit of an advantage here in this channel
because I was actually doing YouTube education
and YouTube tips and training and things
on another channel prior to coming to this one
for a company that eventually got sold to another company
and I didn't go with the acquisition and so I launched Video Creators
and I did an announcement on the other channel
and I started with this one with a few hundred subscribers actually.
So within the first few weeks
I hit close to a thousand subscribers.
Alright next question, similar...
How'd you go from 1,000 to 100k?
Was it different?
Did you do anything special?
Or was it kind of the same strategy, but just more?
Going to 100,000 subscribers took substantially more work
than the first thousand did.
I did a few things: one is I cranked out a lot of content.
I think I was doing three or four videos a week at that time
which gave me more opportunities to rank and be positioned for more things
and be discovered by more people looking for different things.
Another that thing I did is
I also interviewed a lot of people in the space.
A lot of bloggers, a lot of other creators
and other faces that people would know and recognize.
And their tribe, their audiences would end up watching the interview
and then be introduced to me.
I like doing the blogger route because a lot of the time
bloggers are also always looking for content.
And so when they're writing about things happening in the industry
they don't always get to put themselves on camera.
So when I interview them, put it on my channel
it's a piece of content for their blog
and so that collaborative nature worked really well.
I think it also helped that there wasn't as much competition back then
as there is today.
There was just me and maybe one or two other people
making videos about how to grow on YouTube
and how to get more views and subscribers
and how to develop a community online and things like that.
And another thing I think really helps
was that a lot of people told me
that I was giving them information that they couldn't find anywhere else.
information that was valuable to them and they liked that.
They said that it felt like I was coming across as very genuine
like I really did care; because I really do care.
And they felt that.
And so it wasn't just about the raw cold hard facts
but it seems like it was also if people felt like they connected with me
and they felt like I cared about them, and their projects
that I really genuinely wanted to help and I'm glad because I genuinely do
so I'm glad that comes across but I think it made a difference.
Looks like you're aiming for 1 million. What you gonna do?
Getting to 1 million subscribers is tough.
Especially in this niche.
I don't know how many active YouTube creators there are.
You would have a better idea and understanding of that than I do.
But some niches have millions of people in them already.
Look at gaming, you look at beauty, you look at vlogging and things like that.
But how many active YouTube creators are there?
It's a much smaller niche relative to a lot of the others on YouTube
that from what I've seen and dealt...
Please correct me if I'm wrong; I'd love to hear stats on that.
To get to one million subscribers in this creator niche
I think is very aggressive.
I think it's going to take a lot of time
to get an active subscriber base of one million creators
because I see a lot of creators start
and they're excited about it, they're passionate about it
they go really hard for a few weeks or months
and then if they start realizing like
"Oh! This YouTube thing is a lot harder than it looks."
They just look at the big guys who look like they're growing fast
with relatively little effort but they don't see the backstory.
So I feel like there's a lot of creators who get going and then quit.
And they subscribe to channels like mine
and then quickly become inactive subscribers
when they see how much it really takes
to grow a successful YouTube channel.
So I think one of my biggest struggles and challenges
is keeping people on board who actually care long-term.
So to get to one million subscribers
the things I'm really focusing on are a few things.
One, I'm realizing it's not enough anymore
to just stand here as a talking head
and give "Three ways to grow your YouTube channel"
or "Ten tips for your next thumbnail" or something like that, right?
Those videos worked great in the past but the barrier of entry
to giving that type of content is very low.
Anyone and lots of people now are just jumping on and just sharing like
"Here's three things..." and "Here's what you should do"
and things like that.
To get that one million, I need to take it up a notch.
I need to step up my game.
And the thing that I'm really focusing on is...
To summarize it all is: storytelling.
>From what I've seen, the channels that have blown up recently
in a relatively small amount of time in their subscriberships and views
are the creators who are telling amazing stories
that get people's emotions involved and with a strong human connection.
And so I spent the last year really studying a lot about storytelling.
I've been reading storytelling books. I've been going to storytelling workshops.
I even hired a storytelling coach to help me with some of the stories
that I want to tell on multiple channels that I have
but especially on Video Creators.
How do I tell stories about creators that are inspirational,
that are heartwarming, that get your emotions involved
but are also educational and teach you something in the process?
And you come out not just having a few facts in your head
but now you understand why those facts are important.
And now there's like emotions and connections built into them
and far more meaning with a story than if it was just a few bullet points.
I measure how good the storytelling is by looking at my audience retention graphs
looking at the watch time, looking at the engagement around the video
and using those metrics to analyze: how well is this resonating with people?
How well is the story holding someone's attention?
Storytelling is one of the things that...
People who do it masterfully, they make it look so easy, right?
But the more I get into this
the more I'm like, "Wow! This is really hard."
And that's probably a big reason why going from a hundred thousand subs
to a million subs is a really big jump.
You gotta learn like a lot of different skills to get there.
And I think storytelling's the biggest one I'm gonna be working on.
OK, now looking at Creator Insider, our channel.
Could you take a look and give us some advice?
We're trying to get to maybe even a million subscribers.
What would you do to help us grow faster if you were in our shoes?
I think at Creator Insider, Tom, you have a unique advantage
in that you work at YouTube.
You have access to a lot of information that people like me
and creators would love to know
and I know that you might not be able to share all of it publicly
but I think you're uniquely positioned to give a perspective
that no one else is able to give.
And I would love to hear that from you.
I have thoughts and opinions
but you have actual data
and I would love to hear more about that data.
And I think that would separate you from me and all the other channels
talking about YouTube growth development and things.
It's kind of getting it from the horse's mouth, so to speak.
I also think doing some more visual things could maybe help in your channel.
On television, they tend to cut to a different angle, different camera
different something about every two to seven seconds.
If you're MTV, they hyper-cut really fast
because they're just trying to keep you visually engaged.
Because every time the image changes, people are like, "Oh!"
The brain's like, "Something's changed!
"What am I looking at?" And then it changes again.
And so I know, and yours isn't the only channel doing it
even my channel, lots of channels do it, but they'll just go uncut
for like a long period of time
and in that case, like a lot of vloggers do that especially
if all the value is in the audio.
So they really keep the eye engaged
and keep people from sending that video
to a background tab and just listening.
Or something like, I just think the visuals...
Whether that's b-roll on top of what you're saying
that's like examples, or that's just like a second camera angle
that you're cutting between.
I think that type of thing could really keep people engaged
and see audience retention and thus watch time go up.
But again, you're the data guy.
You have more data than any of us or access to it, I assume.
Maybe you don't, but someone there at YouTube does!
A third thing that I think could help you is improving your titles and thumbnails.
And I know you know that; you work at YouTube
but a lot of the thumbnails look the same.
There's not much difference
It's just kind of a picture of your face
and then some text on it that says the same thing as the title.
And the titles aren't really teaching a story or pitching as much value
as much as they're just, like, making a statement.
Like the video being categorized as...
This video would go in the Partner Program bucket.
And this video would go in the Interview bucket.
Or something like that.
Doing more to pitch the "what" and the "why" in the title.
This is what we're talking about and this is why it matters.
This is what we're talking about
and the difference it will make on your channel.
Sometimes you talk about the "what" and people don't know,
"Why should I care?"
So, like: "We're talking about watch time so you can get more views."
Now people know why to care about watch time.
I think you understand that principle, but...
Titles and thumbnails are OK.
But sometimes there's nothing even really too strong visually
in the thumbnail
that would really make a strong emotional connection
that represents the actual content of the video that well.
And I see ONE_shot_GURL.
She's from near me. She lives about...
I need to watch this video. I missed that one.
She lives...
Julie lives about 45 minutes from me.
We have a collab coming up actually, so I need to watch that.
We'd love to learn about your experience as a YouTuber.
What are the things that you find personally most challenging
about being a YouTuber and being successful on the platform?
Oh man...
A lot of things actually.
I think one of the hardest things
though for me
is the negativity of some people on YouTube.
Like, I pour my heart and my soul, just like every creator does
into creating a piece of content
that I really hope impacts and serves people very well.
And then you get the trolls
and you get, like, the people
who just say the most cruel, hurtful, and ignorant things.
And I know how it feels
when you get a thousand positive comments
and then there's that one that just cuts.
And the thousand comments kind of seem to disappear.
Unfortunately, now my next video, my video after that, like...
That comment's in my mind.
And I feel like I need to justify myself and stand up for myself.
I feel like I need to set them right and get into an argument.
And all that is pointless.
And sometimes it's hard to keep serving the thousand people
who are getting tremendous value and are having their lives changed.
Because it's so easy...
They're just focusing on the person, that one person
who's just ignorantly said things with having no idea
about your character or the backstory or anything like that.
So I think for me, there are times when you just feel like you wanna quit.
And I have to remind myself
that I do this for the thousand people
who are being changed and impacted,
and not let that one person get to me.
But that is much easier said than done.
I also find it kind of difficult to stay on top of the YouTube game.
This platform is just always changing.
There's always new creators appearing.
And there's always more content being uploaded.
And there's always changes in technology and policies and updates and things.
So, I don't mean just staying on top of it from an information level.
I mean staying on top of it as a creator, staying on top of my game
always continuing to improve.
Because it gets very easy to get in a rut of making the same style of content
over and over and over again.
And after like a year, two, maybe three
I start to get bored with what I'm doing.
Like it's no longer a creative expression for me.
I feel like my audience starts to get bored
and I see things start to flatline a little bit.
So, always challenging myself creatively to push myself to try new things
and to learn new skills that would improve my videos and my content
and how I'm serving my community
I'd say that's a never-ending thing.
How do you keep reinventing yourself
every year or two or even more frequently
depending on the channel?
But, for me, how do I keep reinventing myself
so that I'm still interested in what I want to do
as well as my audience?
I see the creators who have done that well
like Philip DeFranco
Grace Helbig and a lot of these creators who have been at this for a long time
and are still relevant today and growing, I see that's what they've done.
It seems what separates them from creators who eventually plateau and die
is that every year or two
they reinvent themselves
and up their game creatively.
And that is hard to do.
Now you probably use a lot of our tools and spend a lot of time on YouTube
Are there specific feature requests or things that really bug you
or things that you wish you had
about Creator Studio
and specifically the YouTube Studio Beta?
I actually started using YouTube Studio Beta when it first released
and I quickly switched away from it
since there were lots of features missing and things broken.
I went back and tried it again and I still found some annoyances.
Like, there's still things missing from playlists and live streaming things
which I know you guys know about.
And I just found a lot of little quirks, so I just kind of stopped using it.
And checking it out again now, some of those things have been fixed
which is great.
One of the main things, though, that I would really love would be
in the comments section
when you're looking at all the comments across the channel
there's some videos on my channel that just get a lot of comments
and some of those videos I just kind of want to filter out
and I know there's a filter option here, which I'm really glad that's there
but I want to filter out my...
I want to see all of my channels except for five or six different videos
where it's just a lot of people going like "sub4sub" and things like that
and I don't want to see the comments on those videos anymore.
Those are all the questions I have, Tim! Really appreciate it.
Tom, thanks so much for having me on Creator Insider
This is awesome. It has been awesome hanging out with you and your audience
and bring me back any time you like.
It's been fun! Thank you!
And now I'm going to start shooting answers to your questions.