[YouTube Creator Academy]
Do you know that a handful of creators on YouTube
have reached ten million subscribers?
That's more people than the entire population
of New York City for each of them.
How does one grow such a huge fan base?
[Matt Koval | Creative Strategist] I'm Matt Koval, a YouTube strategist and creator,
and I'm here to talk about some of the techniques
these top channels use to get so popular.
So sit back, and let's talk creative strategy on YouTube.
[10 Fundamentals of a creative strategy on YouTube]
I'm sure you've seen by now that some of the most creative people
in the world show their talents on YouTube,
and a lot of them have found success through a creative breakout idea.
It's not easy to come up with a hit video series,
but there are certain things YouTube's top creators do
to get tons of fans.
What I'm going to talk about today comes from over a year
of studying successful creators and talking to them about what they do.
The results of all this research— the Ten Fundamentals—
is a framework that can help you in the development of your own video ideas.
Whether it's a new idea for your channel or an existing series you've been uploading,
[01 Shareability, 02 Conversation, 03 Interactivity] run the idea through these ten
[04 Consistency, 05 Targeting, 06 Sustainability] to see how you might improve it.
[07 Discoverability, 08 Accessibility] [09 Collaboration, 10 Inspiration]
Did you notice I keep using the word series— well, one-off videos are great,
but what do you think happens after everyone's seen it?
Your views tend to look like this.
One huge spike, and then back to normal.
That's why to have long-term success with your channel,
it's important to come up with ideas that are repeatable,
and one way to do that is in the form of a show or series, which I use interchangeably.
So let's jump in— just keep in mind one thing.
This is not meant to be a checklist or scorecard.
None of these are absolutely necessary, but each can help
grow that loyal fan base that comes back again and again.
All right, are you ready?
Bring an idea to the forefront of your mind, and let's start at the beginning.
[1. Shareability] Fundamental number one—shareability.
Will viewers share your videos? [repeated in onscreen text]
Word of mouth is powerful because people are learning
about you from the people they trust the most, their friends and family.
[Richard Wiseman | Quirkology] I think the key thing is to actually make videos
that people want to share with their friends,
and it is as simple as that— that if you make a video that somebody watches
and that's the end of it, well, that's going to get X number of views,
but if they go, "Oh, hold on a second, so and so will like this,"
then they start to send it around, you build up people.
So I think just videos that people want to share.
Now, it's easy to say, "Yes, they're going to share my videos
because they'll be awesome," but to really predict
if your viewers will share, ask yourself why.
Will they relate to it, is it about a topic or trend
that people are currently talking about?
Will it make viewers laugh or move them to tears?
Is it really useful somehow?
It's good to consider all of these questions.
Also, try this—take a look at the last thing you shared on social media.
What was it, and why did you share it?
I love to share videos that I think
[Kevin Lieber | /vsauce2] are frankly amazing—
things that you haven't seen before. Something new.
Something fresh and something exciting.
Something that you're going to want to share after I do.
My old pals Rhett and Link are two very successful creators on YouTube,
and when they're brainstorming ideas for a really shareable video,
they put each idea through a pretty tough test.
They ask themselves— [Rhett McLaughlin, Link Neal | /rhettandlink2]
Can we summarize what this video is all about
in one sentence that is easily understood
and also compelling in a way that people will want to share the video.
The point is, if you can't summarize it in one sentence,
then it's going to take someone longer to explain it when they're trying to share it.
You want to create a video that, from a concept standpoint,
is easy to share. - So before they've even written a script,
they try to get into the heads of viewers and figure out why they might share it.
What will your audience write when they share your video?
Take a few minutes to brainstorm and write those share statements down,
because if you can make your videos shareable,
it can really help grow your audience.
[SUBSCRIBE] [WATCH NEXT: 02 Conversation]
[10 Fundamentals: 01 Shareability, 02 Conversation, 03 Interactivity, 04 Consistency, 05 Targeting]
[06 Sustainability, 07 Discoverability, 08 Accessibility, 09 Collaboration, 10 Inspiration]