- Hey everybody, this is Roberto Blake
of RobertoBlake.com helping you create something awesome
today with my good friend Derral Eves.
- From DerralEves.com.
- Yeah, there you.
I literally took that bit from you, bud.
- It's all good.
It's right branding, right?
- Yeah, absolutely.
So today we have some fantastic tips for small YouTubers
because, Derral, if there anybody that can help someone
grow from zero and make a big impact on their channel,
create awesome things, get 'em out into the world,
this guy can help you do it.
- Yeah, no, and too, first off I wanna thank you for having
me on your channel.
I just really respect the stuff that you do--
- Absolutely.
- One thing I love about Roberto is he's true,
he's passionate, he's authentic,
and he's the one take wonder.
Always in one take, right?
- Always in one take.
- That's right, but I know a lot of you are actually
looking to grow on YouTube and you're trying to figure
things out, you're trying to navigate the waters,
and the first thing that I look at when somebody comes
to me and says, "Hey, I wanna be a YouTuber,
"I wanna start this, or our channel's not performing."
And I'm like, well, what type of content are you creating?
What type of influence you actually have?
So, the first thing that I actually have them do,
believe it or not, is go find 25 different channels
that are within their niche.
Now, it doesn't have to be exactly like it,
but it needs to be around the topics like that.
So, when you started,
did you go out and kinda look what was out there
and get some ideas?
- I did and I didn't.
My thing was just a little different,
but I did have people who inspired me.
When I started with tutorials I liked stuff I was seeing
from Terry White--
- Oh, yeah, Terry, exactly.
- Howard Pinsky and Jared Polin
and so I like took inspiration
for the fact that I wanted teach other people, too,
how to do the things that I like and my style
and so I just saw that they were doing that
and more than anything I looked for them
not for how to do it, but to just like more--
- Be inspired.
- Encourage me, yeah.
- And I think, too, by watching their content,
so like if I watched Jared's stuff and I have a fro,
that I would, Fro knows me, right?
- Right.
- But no, seriously, like watching
and getting inspired also literally
helps you create content.
- It does so much.
- And it's like, okay, they did this
and I can do this, it just brings out ideas.
- And it made me decide, well, I wanna be different,
not a me too.
- Exactly, not a me too, but you're like,
I can improve this and improve that
or I can kinda cross to the that--
- Oh, wow, they do it really differently than I do
and I wonder why and let me like figure that out
because maybe people need to do it this different way
because maybe that's their skill.
- Absolutely.
So, that's then the first step is I do,
is I go see what the competition is,
the people that inspire you, make a list,
and literally start watching YouTube videos.
Now, most of the people that are making content
they're not watching YouTube videos
and I'm like, if you're gonna be in the industry,
number one, you need to watch videos.
- Would you say that part of that is just knowing
where the bar is or what the expectation in your niche is?
- Well, like, for the reason why for me it's like
you want to see success on YouTube,
you wanna experience success,
but if you don't know what success looks like,
how are you able to achieve it?
Like how, like I know for a fact that Casey Neistat
actually follows you and he engages with you,
why is that?
And too, you know we don't--
That's a video for another day.
But no, but seriously, it's like the community aspect
of YouTube is how you gain success and you know reaching out
and connecting with audiences is really important,
but too, you need to become an audience member,
you need to become a viewer because--
- We could all learn from each other.
- Oh, we can, but tit's taking these from learning from
people that are successful, but putting your own spin on it,
not a me too, but your own spin.
And then too, getting inspiration
or they had this issue and I'd never wanna do that.
And it gives you a lot of opportunities to really succeed.
Now, the next thing is once you're able to do that is like
what is your channel gonna be about?
And if you feel like you're channel's gonna be a shotgun
channel, I'm gonna do a little bit of this,
little bit of this, little bit of this, little bit of this,
you will never grow on YouTube.
- It's hard.
- No, I don't even know a channel that exists
that has that, we're doing gaming,
but we're doing challenges, but then we're also doing...
- Oh, yeah, the only person I've really seen get away
with it is like iJustine, but she's iJustine, she's amazing.
- But iJustine it's more about her life than anything else.
- Right, kind of like a vlog, so yeah.
- I really consider her like the first vlogger.
Not a lot of people do.
- I agree.
- You know, she was definitely out there,
but that's where it's at is like really identifying
the type of content that you're gonna make,
you know, what it's gonna look like,
but too, you need to be hyper localized.
You have to be niche specific.
So, for you it's all about creation.
It doesn't matter, creation in InDesign, or Photoshop.
- Photoshop.
- Or Illustrator or on your camera or with hardware,
it doesn't matter it's about creation
and it's the creative process.
But too, what I really love and appreciate,
it's like you know that it's not just creation
because you don't want the artist to starve.
- Exactly.
- And so, it's the entrepreneurs,
like making money while you're doing this, too.
So, it's a very clear theme and you can have topics
and discussions that does both creativity,
both workflow, but also making money
and so it kind of works together.
- The value proposition has to be clear.
You can do different things if they still have one
large purpose that is like very specific.
- Absolutely.
- So, I definitely agree with you.
- And too, so once you have that,
this is one that most people don't do,
but you should do every single time--
- Oh, so this is the big secret?
- This is the big secret, you actually need to plan.
- Who woulda thunk it?
Who woulda thunk it?
- Yeah, it's like I sit down and say,
let's do a whole year plan.
Let's figure out every tent pole opportunity,
what a tent pole opportunity is basically times in the year
that you know will be big in a specific topic.
So, let me give you a couple of examples
of a tent pole opportunity--
- Oh, please do.
- Fourth of July, back to school.
- Every season of Game of Thrones.
- Every season of Game of Thrones pretty much.
You have football, you have the Super Bowl,
you have Christmas, you know these are tent pole
opportunities, but too, you have things like Vid Con,
you have things like Playlist Live,
you have like CVX Live, you have like Vid Summit,
these are monumental activities that happen every year
and it's a tent pole.
So, it's identifying those, but also birthdays,
anniversaries, anything that affects your life
or the lives of others.
Now, I'll tell you a tent pole opportunity that I like
and I know that you like, too.
Which I'd the release of the next Star Wars.
We were talking about that a little bit earlier.
But those are things that you gotta plan around
and it's like, okay, identify those first
and then second would be,
okay, is there an idea or theme that I can do around
these tent pole opportunities?
And brain storm on that.
And so, you have a whole year's plan,
but it's a whole year's brain storm,
and then what I like to do is brain storm all
the different things that I could do,
all the things I wanna do if I had unlimited budget
and I could do anything I want,
I wanna put those ideas down
because once you get the ideas flowing
you never know who you're gonna run into
to facilitate those ideas.
- Absolutely.
- Once those are done, then you start to put together your
quarterly plan and the quarterly plan's like,
okay, I'm gonna be here, here's the tent pole opportunities
and also I want this content and then I look at trending,
what's trending and I'm like, hey, I really like this
or this new camera came out or whatever it may be
and you start identifying those
and you start putting together how many videos you
need to make and you start creating, like you said.
- Exactly.
Exactly, I mean, I did some videos when I bought my new
Panasonic Lumix GH5.
I was one of the first people actually to get a hold of that
that did get sent to them.
- And I was really sad when I didn't get mine.
- I preordered, I preordered it...
But like I did.
And then I was one of the first people to get it,
but I like was pretty up there when the Sony RX 100 Mark 5
and then like when there was the shortage on the Mavix
I got that and those things definitely helped
because I was in a position to get these newer products.
And the thing is even now because people didn't get them
at first and they saved up and they got them
my content's still relevant to those people.
- Yeah, and that's what I love is like proper planning
and you know it's gonna be coming out
and you have a good idea when it's gonna come out,
so you're like ready to take the moment that's there.
But the reality is is there's people that are watching
your content that aren't over tech or anything like that,
they might be in gaming or they might be vlogging
and they're like, well, this isn't relevant to us,
but it is.
Like, even vloggers, it's like you can plan your life out
and it could be activity based.
Gamers, you could literally do a lot of things
in gaming, believe it or not, even on tent pole stuff.
- Absolutely.
- And it's just amazing how you do it.
It's all about discoverability and also being relevant
'cause when you're relevant then you get out there.
- You gotta know what's going on in your niche
the same way that professionals know what's going on
in their industry.
- Absolutely.
- And they make a plan going according to this.
And so you gotta be able to think about it in the same way
that people think about a press cycle or a news cycle.
It's like there are no boring days.
Somewhere in the world something can happen--
- Something's goin' on.
- That matters to people like you.
- And I think next would be going out
and finding communities, forums, Facebook groups.
- Places for engagement and distribution.
- Exactly.
- Especially when you're small.
- Oh, when you're small it's like where I would spend
the bulk of my time.
I mean, creating content, yes,
but it's like engaging with other communities
that are already established.
- People who care about it, yeah.
- Exactly and so that's one thing that most people
don't consider, not like,
I like to figure out who the administrators are,
moderators, I like to contribute value to a community.
I know that I have a community
and you're a part of that community
and he brings a lot of value.
- I try.
- With people's comments and stuff
and all it does is it brings us closer together
so that we can collaborate,
we can do other things that are out there.
So, by doing that and you're bringing value to those
communities that content will either,
the community will either inspire you on content
to create, or things that people have a common question on
and that's where you can provide value in your content.
- Or they'll be able to give you an idea
that it wouldn't have even occurred to you
to go in this direction.
What you said to yourself, actually in one of your sessions
hat I was sitting in on, that community is ultimately
the secret of success on YouTube.
- It is, it is.
- Even beyond the algorithm, that's the real driver--
- And I'm here to tell you that--
- You got friends who don't care about the algorithm,
but they win on community.
- That's right, community will win 100% of the time
and what we look at, too, even in the most craziest ad
campaigns is creating a community around it.
So, if you've ever seen the pooping unicorn ad,
I was the executive producer along with the Harmon brothers,
the Harmon brothers and I, it was a Harmon brothers project,
but I was lucky enough to work with them.
We've worked on several projects,
but we looked for communities with unicorns
and we found these subreddits that had all these
amazing communities and we got a lot of ideas
and inspiration for the content.
But too, it resonated with them
that they wanted to share it.
And I don't know, you saw the video?
- Oh, yeah.
More than once.
- And I do apologize.
- Oh, no, you're fine.
- But no, it's good, it's good,
but that's what you're looking for is those communities,
you get ideas, you bring value to them,
and then also you find a way to give back.
Give back first of course, but--
- I don't even think of it as give back
so much as give.
- Yeah, give.
No, that's the best terminology for it
is to be a part of the community,
be an active member of the community for sure.
So, once you have that you're ready to almost
pick up a camera, caus we haven't picked up a camera
at this point, this is all planning,
this is all preparation, this is all understanding--
- I think everyone underestimates how much that's,
like the guys, I may do everything in one take,
but it's not an accident.
- No, and too, you've prepped for it, too.
And so it's like, okay, what I like to do is, okay,
what are we gonna do in this video?
What does it look like?
I like to figure out very first off some elements
and here's some elements for success
especially for small channels but also big channels.
What type of thumbnail am I gonna take?
What's gonna be the title?
What's gonna be the hook?
Like how am I gonna draw them in?
If I even have the most amazing thumbnail
'cause you can watch Roberto's tips on that,
but as you're like pulling them in
and what's that hook that's gonna get them to stay
and what value can I give them so they stay longer
and longer and longer and then what value can I give them
to subscribe and watch more content?
And if you do that before you actually pick up the camera
and you have some ideas,
you start brain storming on some ideas,
you're more prepared to actually shoot the content
that you're actually creating.
Now, if it's script driven, yeah you wanna do the scripts
and have that, brain storm,
and you'd also get people to give you advice and feedback,
maybe even before you shoot.
- Absolutely.
- You know, so anyway you think about that.
We talked about that in another video on my channel,
that you need to check out.
- Which you guys definitely need to see that video.
It is killer.
- Yeah.
So, anyway that's kinda where you're at,
then you start the production part.
And the production that I think the biggest thing
for small channels is make sure you have good sound.
You don't need the best camera in the world,
you don't need to have the best lighting,
but sound is everything for me.
It's just like--
- No, I agree. It ruins the whole experience if it's bad.
- Yeah and then once it's there and you shoot your content,
then it's about really getting the fill of the edit.
And we actually talked about that as well in the other video
but it's just like really getting that.
And then once it's done I don't like to just put it up
on YouTube, I wanna get some feedback
'cause maybe I could edit it a little bit better
and having that tight knit circle that we talked about.
- Facebook groups are great for that,
but you also brought up Frame.io.
I'm gonna link that down below if you guys wanna
check that out.
- They should check the video out of we did on my channel.
- It'll make more sense if they do.
- It'll put it into context.
- Oh, yeah.
- But this it all comes together
and once you're ready I like to do a series of videos
first because you could just pick one video is fine,
but what if you did five?
- They feed off each other, it's better.
- They do, they feed off each other
and the whole thing about it is you have a series
and then you're showing them and they're like,
"Hey, this is very interesting,
"I would actually subscribe to this."
And if people would say that,
then you know you have something.
Now, the biggest thing that most people get is very
depressed when they upload it and they have four views
and all four of 'em come from your mother or--
- People they know.
- People they know or whatever it may be.
But the reality is is that's where what Roberto talks about,
just creating, creating, creating.
You now have the formula, you know what kinda works,
and you're just getting better and better and better.
- Four years ago none of you knew who I was.
I don't think you knew who Derral was.
So, like, you know, that's not an accident
and it meant that we had to keep trucking
and keep going no matter how few people it was.
In fact, here at these conferences sometimes they're
overlapping sessions, we might have like what?
10-20 people in a room, and guess what?
10-20 people show up we still give them 110%.
- That's right.
- Tree falls in the woods and nobody hears it,
you still got firewood, you're still building a house.
- He has a saying for everything.
It's your grandma's influence, right?
Or is it your mom's?
- Probably both.
- Okay.
That's awesome, but anyway, the last tip,
and this is the endurance part,
you just gotta create, create, create,
is you have a great thumbnail, you have a great title,
you have a great hook,
you have great content that you can go from there
and then you're improving as you're creating content,
would be consistency, consistency, consistency.
Consistency of all those things,
but consistency of your upload.
If you will be patient and take 100 days
and say for 100 days I'm going to post three times
a week or twice a week or daily, whatever it may be,
and you're very consistent at that, things happen.
It's just magic.
- A body of work works for you.
- It does, it's just there's a lot of things that are
happening on YouTube, but too,
you're growing slowly in the community.
Now, how you grow on YouTube might shock you,
but it's this--
- Okay, wait, here it comes people, here it comes.
- It is, it's this, when a video pops,
that means it gets you more views, your channel grows.
It's amazing.
And the more consistently you can get your view count
you'll get more subscribers.
So, don't worry about subscribers.
Yes, say, "Hey, subscribe."
But what you need to do is focus on your content
'cause the content will bring you subscribers
and I'm here to tel you I've worked with,
like you said in every vertical
and got them over a million subscribers
and it's really, really amazing where at the end of
the day it's about people saying,
"Do you know what?
"This content's so good I need to share this with Roberto.
"He needs to see it."
- Exactly, the shares are real.
- And Roberto gets it, and he's like,
"Dude, I need to share this with you know..."
- Everybody.
- Tim Schmoyer or whoever, right?
- Absolutely, it's like, hey, you need to see this.
It's like, this is insane, I couldn't have imagined blah,
blah, no that's real and--
- And I wanted to loop it back to this
and that's why Casey Neistat follows you
'cause someone sent it to him, he engaged,
he had some questions,
and I did some social stalking on this,
and you engaged back with him and before you know it,
there it is.
- That's how like, you know, that's in real life,
that's how relationships are generated out of thin air.
- Yeah.
- That's real life.
And the thing you said about videos popping,
that's really interesting to me
because even the ones that don't necessarily pop
you pointed out that the content, the body of work,
doing something for like 100 days whether ended up
producing 30 videos,, 50 videos, 100 videos,
that gets you subscribers 'cause I see that videos
I did even a year ago still are getting me subscribers
sometimes more than stuff that I did a week ago.
- I got videos like five years old that are still,
I mean it's just cranking them out.
- It just matters, it just adds up, it's math,
it's compound interest,
it's like the greatest force in the universe
according to Einstein is compound interest.
- And too, if you've done it for 100 days
you can always figure out what your best
performing videos and you might wanna make another version
of that or another addition to that.
- Workin' on that now.
I think you guys see me doing some stuff.
- But that's kinda the secret from there
and it's really not, it's not rocket science,
it's really getting back down to do it
and being consistently doing the right things
and always trying to improve along the way.
And for me what I always like to do is see
my earlier work and I'm like, "Oh, I was really bad."
And realizing as you're making content you're evolving
as a creator and as you build a community,
you're really making content that
more people would actually like.
- I learned a lot of that as an illustrator growing up
and then when the internet was getting new
and like we had this thing called Deviant Art,
where I could post my drawings and get feedback
and engage and have a community there.
- That was a huge community.
- That was huge and it was so amazing.
It was so different as an artist to actually have people
care about my work because I, 33, I grew up in a world,
like pre-internet where you could do all this work,
all this creativity that no one,
you guys sometimes say, like I get so discouraged
'cause why am I doing this thing and no one's gonna see it.
I lived that most of my life 'cause we didn't have internet
the way we have it today.
- Yeah and it's great.
And I think too, it's just being consistent,
creating, going after it and having fun.
You gotta have fun.
- Yeah, you gotta enjoy it more than anything.
You know what?
Create an awesome experience for yourself every time
you put out the video.
If it's becoming a chore, you're probably doing something
not great, so just kinda keep that in mind.
Derral, thank you so much for comin' on my channel
and giving value.
- Yeah, appreciate it.
- Guys, if you are not subscribed to him yet,
which I can't imagine why you wouldn't be,
then you definitely need to do that.
It'll be linked up here, it'll be linked up in the info card
it'll be all the places all the things.
Derral, again, thanks so much.
- Thank you.
- Alright, guys, you know what to do.
Go out there, create something awesome today.
Take care.
- Awesome.
- Let's do some poses real quick for potential thumbnails.
- I like that one.
- Yeah.