- So you wanna do a collab video.
Hey everybody, this is Roberto Blake, of robertoblake.com,
helping you create something awesome today.
So today is another YouTube tips video,
and we're gonna talk about collaborations.
One of the most popular topics on YouTube for a good reason.
They help channels grow and they're a lot of fun.
Now, here's the thing.
Since 2013, July 2013, when I started doing
weekly YouTube videos,
I hadn't really done a lot of collaborations.
I did a few interviews and then this year
is when I really started doing some collaborations
mostly with friends of mine
and people that I met in the real world before,
or that I hang out with in other social media channels.
And the reason I bring that up is because
I wanna point out that my goal in that
was that I wanted to do fun videos
and I wanted to bring the people on my channel
that can help my audience.
So those were my reasons for doing the collab video.
It's not really as much about growing my channel,
and I think that it might have helped
their channels a little bit,
but I don't think that I've seen significant huge growth
out of the channels that I've done collabs with,
even if there is a much bigger gap in our subscriber counts.
Even with us sharing very similar audiences.
And that's kind of a little interesting to look at.
But I do know that it's helped a little bit
and every little bit helps, right?
I think over time, doing multiple collaborations
would have more of an impact.
But let's get into some tips for you guys
about collaboration videos that could
help grow your channel.
One of the biggest challenges is that you guys
tell me that you can't get people to collab with you.
And I think that part of the issue is
you might not have enough content.
Majority of the people who tell me that they
can't get other YouTubers to collab with them
have less than 30 videos on their channel.
And they're not super consistent.
You have to be doing at least weekly content.
It's better if you're doing multiple videos a week
and you have to have a substantial amount of videos
for somebody else to decide that you're
worth an investment of a video that they could make
for your channel and do a swap with you, or whatever,
instead of just making another video on their channel.
Because the truth is they probably would get more
in the long run making another video for their own channel.
And you know, also they'd be in control of everything,
versus having to cooperate and collaborate
with someone else, and it may not work out very well,
or it may not get them nearly as much
as if they did their own video.
Now again, I think collabs are cool,
and I like doing them with friends
and people I actually know.
Even if there's a YouTuber with a much bigger
followig than me,
if we're not doing similar content,
or I don't think that I can help their channel
or their audience, I don't know how interested
I'd be in doing a collab with them.
And a lot of you say, "Oh, you say that now,"
but the reality is that I really don't follow
as many big YouTubers as some people do.
I follow people that I'm really interested in
and I follow people that I would want
to be friends with in real life.
And I think a lot of those people are also
the types of people that follow me.
At least that's what the people that I've collabed with
have said because a lot of our relationships
were before my channel grew.
Some of them had bigger channels than me for years
before we ever collabed together,
or before my channel grew ahead of theirs.
So we did our collaborations not based on
anything we'd get out of it as YouTubers,
but also just because it was about our friendship.
And so I would encourage you that if
you're gonna do collaboration videos,
reach out to your friends and people you know first.
The other reason you wanna do this
is because if you can show someone else
that you aren't tight with yet
the collaboration video you did and how awesome it was,
then guess what, that's your sales pitch.
It's all these other collaborations you've done.
So when you go to my playlist, and I'll link it up here,
and you see the collaborations that I've done in the past,
you can see how they fit into my channel.
I haven't done collaborations with anybody
that hasn't fit with the themes of my channel
and type of content that I do.
So I've done collabs with other designers,
especially other designers.
I've done collabs with other marketers,
like my friend Amy Schmittauer.
I've done collabs with YouTubers who believe
a lot of the same things as me,
and I have more collabs like that coming.
And the thing is there are a lot of YouTubers
that ask me to shout them out or do collabs with them.
But we have no relationship.
We have no friendship.
And I wouldn't necessarily be interested
in that type of content, or my audience wouldn't
be interested in that type of content.
But the other thing is I would want to do the videos
that I could do with all of my friends
and the people I know first.
I would wanna do videos with people
that I hang out with in Facebook groups with,
or I'd wanna do videos with people that
I talk to everyday in Twitter,
or people that I know, like my best friend, Malcolm.
I would wanna do those videos,
and I would want to help those people
before I help anybody else,
because we have an actual real relationship.
So if you're gonna ask someone to collab with you,
if you're going to ask somebody to give you a shoutout,
if you wanna do any of those things,
I really think it should be built on
you guys having a relationship.
You don't start a relationship with asking for a favor,
or for somebody to help you do something.
You start a relationship by being genuinely interested
in somebody and bonding over something
you guys both enjoy.
So I think that the real theme of how to do a collaboration
is to start small, lower your expectations,
and work with people you like,
that like the same thing as you,
and that it's a way for you guys
to get closer and for you guys to just enjoy something,
and if that helps grow your channel, then that's awesome.
And one of the reasons it can grow your channel
is because you're now associated with them,
you'll get like related video stuff
that shares off of each other.
Your videos might show up next to each other
in a YouTube search ranking,
you guys can share each other's content in social media.
I think you should do those things with your friends
and for your friends anyway.
A lot of my friends, they don't have to ask me
to share their videos or to comment on them,
or to mention it or something like that,
because if I think it's useful,
if I think it fits my audience,
then I have no problem mentioning it.
It's not the same thing as a shoutout.
It's me giving you guys the opportunity
to check out a channel that actually will help you
with something that you want to do,
or that you would enjoy and find entertaining,
and it's not me doing them a favor.
It's me just trying to add more value to my audience.
So I'm really only interested in promoting things
on this channel that add value to you guys.
'Cause that's what this is for.
This is for me to help you guys do whatever
you're trying to accomplish,
especially if you are creative,
'cause that's something I really wish
I'd had 20 years ago.
That would have mattered.
Now in terms of finding people to collab with,
you could collab with people who are subscribed to you.
There's a tab in the YouTube Dashboard
that actually shows you who your subscribers are.
You can even filter it by their subscriber count,
and then you can reach out to people.
Like for example, I should definitely hook up
with Travis from DevTips.
I think we could definitely do some stuff together.
He has some amazing content.
And I would love to collab with him.
We've actually talked about it.
We even missed each other at VidCon,
which is you know, a real shame.
There's Shameless Maya.
I think we could definitely do a tech collab sometime.
I think that next time I'm in New York,
if we wanted to do something like a field trip to B&H,
we could talk about and geek out over camera gear.
So these are people that I, she's super cool,
I actually saw her at VidCon while I was there.
So again, these are people that if you
are talking to them in social media,
if you've met them in real life,
or you've been to the same events together,
that that's something that you can do.
Or if they're subscribed to you,
maybe you reach out to them,
and that's a good way to build a relationship.
So that's what I would look at if you want
to do YouTube collaborations.
Also, if you happen to have
the subscriber count necessary,
I think a 1,000 to get into Grapevine Logic,
not sponsoring this video.
Or 5,000 to get into Famebit,
also not sponsoring this video.
Then you can use those platforms,
they have tools for you to find people to collaborate with,
and you can reach out through that
because at least the thing you have in common
is that you're both in the same community
in the same platform.
So that's another way for you to find
people to collab with and to reach out to them.
Anyway, I hope this video helped you guys.
I actually have a collaboration video
with my good friend Owen Hemsath coming out soon
about YouTube collaborations,
and he will give you guys his tips and advice on that.
He is a cool guy, he is a friend in real life,
and he's one of the other smartest
YouTube marketers out there.
Or you wanna learn about Facebook video marketing,
then Owen's definitely your guy.
Anyway, like this video if you like it.
Don't forget to subscribe.
Check out the other awesome content on the channel.
Remember YouTube tip videos are usually on Fridays.
As always you guys, thanks so very much for watching,
and don't forget, create something awesome today.
Take care.