Advice For Youtube Channel: Should I pivot?

[integral]

Hey guys I started a YouTube channel and im trying to figure out if its still worth continuing or should I pivot the content so its more similar to other channels. 

I learned that I needs a 35% to 85% retention for the Youtube algorithm to start pushing it significantly enough to be successful. The 2 videos that I made only have a average retention of 28%. 

Latest Video

All of my traffic is from reddit so that might be playing a role.

Should I continue making content like this and incrementally improve or should I pivot to more basic content that is "proven". Like James Jani doing documentaries? 

[CARDOZZO]

@integral I don't understand YouTube mechanics but you should create content that you love and care about.

If you're doing it as a hobby, keep going with your heart.

If you need money, that's another game.

[Danioover9000]

@integral

10 minutes ago, integral said:

Hey guys I started a YouTube channel and im trying to figure out if its still worth continuing or should I pivot the content so its more similar to other channels. 

I learned that I needs a 35% to 85% retention for the Youtube algorithm to start pushing it significantly enough to be successful. The 2 videos that I made only have a average retention of 28%. 

Latest Video

All of my traffic is from reddit so that might be playing a role.

Should I continue making content like this and incrementally improve or should I pivot to more basic content that is "proven". Like James Jani doing documentaries? 

   Let's think this through:

1. If you choose to continue making content like this, and incrementally improve, that depends on many factors including if your YT Channel serves your LP, type of content you like making(Not love, like. Reserve that love for hobbies and other interests as trying to commercialize that, and applying hard work and the grind would probably make you love it less. At least with a like, even if it becomes too boring and you're disinterested money is being made), market research the target audience you want to target, market research your competitors in terms of content made and consumer base targeted, market research the niche you're developing into. Refer to the Ikigai modal, and a strategy wheel for this regarding your position in that niche relative to other content creators and customers you want to serve.

2. If you choose to pivot to more proven, basic content made, be aware of the barrier to entry to that market, if there's low or high competition or saturation for that type, and again market research.

   In each route, or if there's more choices, always try to understand that market, target audience, words of value, and align it to what you can do well and to your passion/interest if possible, generally speaking. There's SAO and other marketing strategies to consider, maybe you're not getting more views because you're not using keywords and tagging them properly? What about advertising your videos? I heard this is a trick used by some rap channels trying to sell their music, they basically will advertise their music video, sometimes parts of it, onto another similar music genre that's more popular, onto some other Channel again more popular in YT, but they don't age restrict it yet because age restricting that content limits the range of that ad reaching to more listeners. So say if you're a remix person who does old school rap, you put an ad to a music genre that matches that, but you can also put a video ad to a related and more popular music genre like mumble rap, without age restriction, and that exposure can quickly earn you more views from people checking you out. YT will later age restrict your ad, but for the short term you can take advantage and gain exposure quickly and get listeners quicker.

[Danioover9000]

@integral  Also, it always comes back to marketing and business principles, like for example if you want to make a small business, general rule is never expect exponential returns within 4-3 years into your small business, but after that returns could be exponential. Especially if you're feeling desperate a bit, always ask yourself how you can improve your marketing, but also your content making, and think like a bamboo plant, actually spends roughly 3-4 years saving nutrients in it's root system, then experiences exponential growth and within weeks to a month grows rapidly. Something like that.

[Dauntment]

"The biggest mistake an artist can make is looking at the audience".

"Do you", unless you have business/monetary expectations, then yes, Pivot.

Constructive criticisms: The titles and thumbnails could use improvement, "Its not it."

[universe]

If you don't make fast paced easy entertainment videos you won't get millions of views that easily on YouTube. You have to be clear on what you want. Be it views or artistic expression of your core values.

That being said, there is always room for improvement. See if you could sprinkle in some humour. Tell your audience to engage with a graphic that they will see. Make chapters that show in your video.

Add more context. Tell me what I'm going to get when I keep watching (and what I'll miss out if I click away).

Personal connection is hard to build with the kind of video you posted but greatly valued on YouTube. See if it would feel right for you to play with this dimension in your videos.

 

I would try to find a way to generate more views from within the platform.

Keep it up!

 

 

 

[The Renaissance Man]

In terms of content, you must cover what you love, otherwise you're never going to have the drive to do enough to succeed. But you can do that in a smart way.

Then, understand doing Youtube well is hard as fuck. Don't underestimate what goes behind the videos that make millions of views. The theme, the charisma, the editing, the lighting, the storytelling. In media you have one or more professionals for each. Here you have to do everything yourself, and you have to become very good at it.

Finally, a lot of consistency is required. Years of going on trying to master your craft relentlessly, posting video after video and every time improving.

If you skip a single point, you can say bye bye to your Youtube success. If you don't, in a few years you may be surprised.

Don't expect people to just watch your videos because you made the effort of making them lol. Would you actually watch your own videos, with the sea of competition that there's out there? You've got to find ways to be unique, otherwise I'm always going to choose the Youtube that does the same thing you do, but with 1 million subs.

[Brandon Nankivell]

Great effort mate.

Been growing YouTube channels for 7+ years and immersed daily in YT culture - From what I can see, you've got the some of the basics down which is great.

Creating a different style video (documentary) would give you more data to play with, and now is the perfect time. With that said, documentaries can take 10's of hours to create.

@Mike-Clum posted his first documentary video and now has nearly 150k subscribers, 4M views: https://www.youtube.com/@Mike-Clum

Tonnes of work put into it but the quality is very obviously there.

So I'd say if you do try a documentary, spend a good deal deciding what to do your documentary on, and then make every single second engaging. Go all out.

Otherwise, stick to optimizing what you've got, pretty sure I've seen some successful channels doing the style you're doing.

I've posted YT videos to Reddit before and get similar results retention-wise. My thinking is that a reddit user is in 'reddit-mode' and so they are quickly going through threads, they aren't in 'sit on the couch mode and watch long-form content' frame of mind. But reddit is still good in early stages for getting your channel exposure, so I'd keep promoting there.

Keep it up.

[Juan]

  You got this bro. I also make Youtube videos but also for TikTok, Instagram and other socials. In my experience Youtube Shorts helps a lot! Just be consistent if you want to see faster results. Sharing it on places like you said Reddit is helpful, I share it also on Twitter, etc. 

  About keeping people watching your whole video, it’s not something that I think a lot since I make sure that every second is worth to watch, maybe choose some specific songs and words could help. 

Edited December 1, 2023 by Juan

[Juan]

12 hours ago, integral said:

Should I continue making content like this and incrementally improve or should I pivot to more basic content that is "proven". Like James Jani doing documentaries? 

  For me personally I prefer subscribe to people who put their own voice and ideas/insights into their videos. Sure using celebritie’s voices or clips could give you some boost, but I prefer to follow a channel that is entirely unique, still your content can be quite helpful! 

[bebotalk]

Having a niche is important and perfectly valid. People want to see unique channels, and not just those apeing others. 

But you might need to increase exposure. Post vids on forums, facebook groups, start an X account, or post on instagram. Post vids in related Discords, and in as many places as possible. 

Make friends with a bigger content creator in a similar niche. This isn't about leeching or using them, but then if they can share or talk about your vids, then it gets more traction. 

The golden ticket is obviously to get viral. But then to get viral, there needs to be the highest amount of exposure possible. 

[Danioover9000]

@bebotalk

1 hour ago, bebotalk said:

Having a niche is important and perfectly valid. People want to see unique channels, and not just those apeing others. 

But you might need to increase exposure. Post vids on forums, facebook groups, start an X account, or post on instagram. Post vids in related Discords, and in as many places as possible. 

Make friends with a bigger content creator in a similar niche. This isn't about leeching or using them, but then if they can share or talk about your vids, then it gets more traction. 

The golden ticket is obviously to get viral. But then to get viral, there needs to be the highest amount of exposure possible. 

   Exactly.

[mr_engineer]

@integral Here are some important questions for you to answer. 

• Do you know your target audience? Who are they and why should they click on and watch your videos? 
• Who's watching your videos and what do they think of it? What kind of comments are you getting? 
• Most importantly, what do you have to offer to your audience? Will they receive it? If so, why? If not, why? Answer this one in as much detail as you can. And do not bullshit yourself for this question. 

Business is not about you and what numbers you want. It's about the marketplace and what they want from you. The whole reason you get into business is that you can choose your marketplace based on what you have to offer. But, marketing and selling is its own thing. 

I watched your video. It's deep philosophical content about AI. About this content, here are some further questions: 

• Who are you, what are your credentials? What gives you the right to talk about the future of AI?
• Everyone is talking about AI, that's not extraordinary in and of itself. Why should people listen to you, of all the people talking about AI? 
• Why should what you're saying matter to your audience? Where will they see changes happen in their life due to AI and what should they do about it? 
• Most importantly, what is the purpose of what you're doing? On youtube, you get your own channel, your own space to discuss whatever you want. What is the point of your channel, what is the point of what you're discussing? Is it entertainment? Is it armchair-philosophy? Why does your work matter? 

If I were in your position, I would answer all of these questions before worrying about numbers. 

P.S. Relatability is the biggest key to success on youtube. People come home from a hard day at work, they switch on youtube and they watch their favorite youtubers. And, their choice of youtuber to watch corresponds very heavily to relatability. 

Edited December 1, 2023 by mr_engineer

[Thought Art]

Did you only make 2 videos? I would make a few more instead of pivot. 
 

Could be worth looking into your presentation style, better understanding your audience, etc. People are finishing your videos which is pretty good. To me, that looks like some promising stats honestly. 
 

[Thought Art]

I watched the first half. I think the visuals look good, and what is there is high quality. 
 

I personally found it a bit too fast, like it’s rushing. I also found it a little hard to follow. I suspect improving the writing to be more easy to follow and digestible could improve retention. What’s there is pretty good, but I think it can improve. 
 

I also didn’t want to feel all those things at once. 
 

Also, it is a bit over stimulating a little. I think you have a solid base to build on. I think as you improve with your scripts, editing etc you’ll see the views and retention go up. 
 

Keep creating and refining your craft.
 

 

Edited December 1, 2023 by Thought Art

[flowboy]

I think the style of video is fine, and can really work well.

It's just that the hooks are not working and the questions that are being asked at the beginning are either unclear, or not compelling.

Therefore, I'm not compelled to keep watching to find out the answer to something.

For example:

• Clip of Steve Jobs being fired. Starts with the words: "In 1985, Steve jobs got fired blah blah blah". Then the clip.
  During the clip, I still have no idea why I'm hearing about this.
  That's a long time watching/listening to something without knowing why, or where you're going with it.
• Then the narrator goes: "The real reason why he got fired was because he was authentic"
  That should have been a hook in the beginning, starting with: "Most people still misunderstand why Steve Jobs got fired". Or: "There is a real cost to authenticity that is often overlooked". I'm not good at creating hooks myself yet, but I can sense that both of us need to hone that craft.

Then there is the title/concept of the video: it's unclear. Are we answering the question of what being authentic means? Then the title should clearly say that, like "What is authenticity really? (not what you think)"

Or is it about what the downside is of authenticity? Then the title should say that, like 'The darkside of "being yourself"'.

Lame title examples because I'm not good at this either yet, but you get the idea hopefully.

 

The Rise of the Real You: The Untold Truth about You

This title doesn't do anything. It's unclear: what about me? What do you mean by real? Why should I care? What's rising?

This unclarity is not curiosity invoking because it doesn't imply that this has anything to do with my survival.

A title should invoke a strong emotion, like fear or greed (can I get a good feeling, solve a pain point in my life or avoid pain by having this question answered?)

AI will destroy us in a good way also doesn't do this.

If it was: AI will destroy us all unless we do this... , then my fear / survival need is being triggered so I might get click.

Or: Are YOU set up to be destroyed by AI or will you thrive

Lame examples but you get the picture.

I once heard really good advice: Let the titles sit in a list of potential videos to make, for a week. And every day look at the list and feel which one you are compelled to click. Only make that video, and tweak the other titles or ditch them until they give you the same compulsion to click.

 

Also, there's too many topics / tangents being thrown together which makes it hard to follow. The script feels like someone with a very creative and somewhat ADD brain tried to connect as many dots as possible. The consequence of that is that it is hard to follow and not very engaging. As a viewer, each side tangent needs to be "sold" to me with a compelling hook, a problem that needs to be solved or a question that needs to be answered to answer the main question, and the fact that we need that subquestion answered needs to be abundantly clear to me.

One way to do that is to hit a "wall": a problem along the journey that is seemingly unsolvable.

Off the top of my head: Authenticity is just a feeling. Humans are bad at controlling their feelings, you can not decide to feel something at will. X % of people does not know what to do to "feel authentic". So, the road comes to an end: authenticity is something you either have, or don't have, and there's no way to change that.

(wall)

And yet, some people managed to regain their sense of authenticity again and again, and seem to be becoming more and more authentic as their life progresses. While others seem to never find it, and as their life progresses, give up hope and get depressed.

(hook)

Now I'm wondering: what gives, how are they doing that then??

Lame example because like I said, I'm still learning this too, but I hope you get what I mean.

Edited December 1, 2023 by flowboy

[integral]

WOW! thanks guys that was some great feed back! I can see a lot of the issues in the videos now and points to work on. The script is a disaster that's clear. Alright I'm going to really take my time to level up all the pain points for the next video. The weaknesses are so clear now. 

Dam I have rose colored glasses on, my own content super stimulates me. Its like being in love with your own creation and cant see the real world. 

Edited December 2, 2023 by integral

[Princess Arabia]

On 12/1/2023 at 8:43 AM, mr_engineer said:

@integral Here are some important questions for you to answer. 

• Do you know your target audience? Who are they and why should they click on and watch your videos? 
• Who's watching your videos and what do they think of it? What kind of comments are you getting? 
• Most importantly, what do you have to offer to your audience? Will they receive it? If so, why? If not, why? Answer this one in as much detail as you can. And do not bullshit yourself for this question. 

Business is not about you and what numbers you want. It's about the marketplace and what they want from you. The whole reason you get into business is that you can choose your marketplace based on what you have to offer. But, marketing and selling is its own thing. 

I watched your video. It's deep philosophical content about AI. About this content, here are some further questions: 

• Who are you, what are your credentials? What gives you the right to talk about the future of AI?
• Everyone is talking about AI, that's not extraordinary in and of itself. Why should people listen to you, of all the people talking about AI? 
• Why should what you're saying matter to your audience? Where will they see changes happen in their life due to AI and what should they do about it? 
• Most importantly, what is the purpose of what you're doing? On youtube, you get your own channel, your own space to discuss whatever you want. What is the point of your channel, what is the point of what you're discussing? Is it entertainment? Is it armchair-philosophy? Why does your work matter? 

If I were in your position, I would answer all of these questions before worrying about numbers. 

P.S. Relatability is the biggest key to success on youtube. People come home from a hard day at work, they switch on youtube and they watch their favorite youtubers. And, their choice of youtuber to watch corresponds very heavily to relatability. 

Nice. 

[theleelajoker]

There was already some great feedback in the posts before, so I just want to share one little thing in the style of storytelling that you probably can implement easily - breaks. Just a few moments that give me space. Personally, one of the main reason why I did not feel like finishing the video was bc it was "too much informaton too fast".

Breaks to give the viewer / listener time to process the content you just presented. Alan Watts does IMO a great job of presenting information. Inspired by him, this is how I like to present ideas and information:

1. Starting with "easy" information that audience is likely to be familiar with (activation)
2. A open question
3. Then a short break for audience to look for their own answer
4. Then the idea or content I want to transfer (new, unfamiliar information on abstract level)
5. Then a concrete example of no 3. that a) relates with audience b) is easy to understand c) ideally creates a vivid picture in people's mind (when using video, now you could show the picture or video content illustrating this example)
6. Again a break for audience to process
7. ....

Flowboy made some points re "hooks" that goes in a similar direction. I am typically careful to present ideas ("could be like that") rather than dogmatic statements ("will be like that"), as in my experience it increases the openness of people towards this information I want to introduce.

Hope the post it is useful in some way for your further content.

 

 

Edited December 13, 2023 by theleelajoker

[integral]

40 minutes ago, theleelajoker said:

Personally, one of the main reason why I did not feel like finishing the video was bc it was "too much informaton too fast".

Great feed back, its so tricky actually, when making the video because I already know the topic to me its "not fast enough". Then in the back of my mind im stressed that the subject is "to slow" and people will loss interest. Like if we look at Mr Beasts content there is 0 pause between anything. But there is also nothing to learn or think about so there is no need to slow down. 

Edited December 13, 2023 by integral