- As YouTubers,
there's one core problem we're always trying to solve.
How do we get people interested
in watching our videos in the first place?
Say you have a great idea
for a video and you know exactly the kind
of person who needs this information.
And you are certain
that as long as people click on this video,
they are going to find it valuable.
Well, this happened to me recently.
I had a video idea that I knew people would love,
but I was almost certain they weren't going to click on it.
Well, today I thought I'd show you an example
of how I personally overcame this problem
in the hopes that your next video could also get hundreds
of thousands of views.
So, here's what happened to me.
YouTube had this brand-new update, right?
Handles. I won't bore you with all the details.
Because by now this is kind of old news,
but here in a little bit everybody on YouTube is gonna
be known by a unique at Handle,
kind of similar to the way Instagram works.
Now, there were two things wrong
with me wanting to cover this topic on our YouTube channel.
The first is that we were kind of late to the party.
You see, everyone was covering this update already
by the time we were able to finally get to it.
The second reason is that this was a big YouTube update,
but also one that didn't really need much explaining
beyond the headline, at least on the surface.
Here's what I mean.
Let's say I just gave you the title
of this potential video, right?
Update! YouTube Adding Handles.
When you see that title,
do you instinctively feel like you need to click
on that video and learn more?
Of those of you watching,
I imagine maybe half of you would click that video.
I don't know.
Let me know in the comments.
With those two big concerns kind
of buzzing around in my head, I had to ask myself,
is this a video that is even worth making anymore?
Here's the thing though.
The YouTube Handles update is going to make a lot
of fundamental changes to the way YouTube functions.
I saw a number of people covering this update,
but missing a few really key details
that I felt I could bring to this conversation.
But I just had to answer one question.
Is there a way for me to get you to care?
Enter. Clickbait.
What if I took just one
of those really interesting details that other creators left
out and made it the entire pitch of my video?
And what if I leveraged one of the most popular creators
across YouTube to prove my point?
You see, after researching this topic,
I actually relearned an interesting fact.
Did you know that Mr. Beast doesn't actually upload
to the website youtube.com/mrbeast.
Mr. Beast's real YouTube name is actually Mr. Beast 6,000.
In terms of branding,
I have to imagine the handles update is kind of a nightmare
for him.
But again, this was just one detail, but it touches
on so many things that I wanted to talk about in my video
about YouTube Handles.
So, I made the video and I implemented clickbait
to get our viewers to watch it.
And you know what?
I don't have any regrets.
And now, you're watching this thinking,
Is VidIQ seriously telling me right now to use clickbait
and all my content?
No, no, no, no, no.
Never. No.
Yeah, kind of.
Okay, definitely.
Here's why.
The title of the video was
"YouTube Update EXPOSES @MrBeast?!"
The thumbnail implies that the Mr. Beast channel is
actually fake.
And after just a little bit
of soul searching, I decided to roll with this
for a couple of reasons.
The first is that I knew the value
of this video would be delivered
upon as soon as the viewers clicked into it.
And also, I mean, it's kind of true.
This YouTube update literally exposes
Mr. Beast as Mr. Beast 6,000, meaning the fact
that we all know this channel as Mr. Beast is actually,
technically wrong when you account
for YouTube Handles.
Listen, argue all you want.
What about our comment section
of that video though, and the dislikes?
Surely we got disliked
into oblivion when this video is posted.
Right? No, not really.
In fact, we even got comments like this one.
I love how clickbaity and almost misleading the title
and thumbnail are, but still accurate to the video content.
The key to using what I like to think
of as good clickbait is delivering
on the promise of your title and your thumbnail.
And like I said,
this is really important information.
Because up till now you could take
whatever name you wanted on YouTube.
But what happens if you call yourself Mr. Beast,
and you start getting a bunch of subscribers
and YouTube handles come out
and all the good Mr. Beast handles are taken?
Branding on YouTube is super important
for your long-term success as a YouTuber and business owner.
So, what I love about this update is it's going to have
YouTubers actually thinking twice
before coming up with a channel name.
It needs to be unique, easy to spell out and memorable.
So, even though the news of this had died down,
those are the reasons I felt I needed to do something
dramatic to get people to watch this video.
But the other thing that's happening right now is
that YouTube is actually updating a lot
of things across the entire website.
For example, one change coming soon could get creators
into so much trouble
if they don't watch this video right here.