🔑 Summary
– [00:00] Hyper-niche content has a low likelihood of going viral; creators often face issues with low views and reach, especially with the rise of YouTube Shorts.
– [01:14] Defining what “winning” looks like for your business is crucial, as pursuing views may not always align with your true goals, such as leads or community impact.
– [03:19] The Mass Appeal method suggests that content with broader appeal is more likely to attract views. Successful creators often focus on relatable topics that maintain brand relevance while appealing to wider audiences.
– [08:58] Utilize the reaction strategy by responding to trending or popular videos in your niche, which can significantly increase view counts and engagement.
– [12:06] Effective clickbait should be ethical: it’s compelling, accurate, and engages viewers without being misleading, ultimately enhancing viewer trust.
– [17:02] Triggering emotional responses in titles and thumbnails increases engagement; using curiosity, surprise, and suspense in your content can elevate interest.
– [27:10] Titles that include the idea of change resonate with audiences due to loss aversion and human curiosity about new developments, often leading to more clicks.
– [34:50] Culture surfing—leveraging well-known brands, events, and influencers—enhances relatability and broadens reach, making your content more engaging.
– [39:53] Crafting punchy, concise titles with specific numbers boosts interest and perceived authenticity, as titles that are too long often detract from viewer engagement.
– [45:20] Establishing a peer network for sharing insights and feedback can accelerate learning and growth, allowing creators to benefit from collective experiences and mistakes.
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[00:00] Hyper niche content generally has a low likelihood of going viral. A lot of people are seeing low views and low reach, and they’re wondering what’s working now. We’re going to be talking about little-known secrets top creators use to trigger the algorithm and go viral. One of my favorite stories is about Mary; she just hit 1 million subscribers. Mary started YouTube when she was 60 years old, and she just turned 65 and received that gold play button. In fact, if you want big reach, implement these strategies. I have eight of them for you. Let’s hit number one.
[00:33] We’re going to be talking about little-known secrets top creators use to trigger the algorithm and go viral. If you’re a marketer, business owner, or entrepreneur, there are going to be nuggets for you. If right now you’re working for a business or an agency but are even thinking about making some of your own content on the side, I really believe that our time together will be valuable. The power of YouTube is significant, and I truly believe that with some of the tips we’re going to learn today, you can apply them to what you’re doing. We’re going to be discussing the secrets and insights of the top 1% of YouTube channels.
[01:07] A disclaimer: I’m going to deliver on this exact promise. There are many different reasons you should approach YouTube, and you want to define what winning looks like for your business. This is worth writing down. Often, we chase views when maybe that isn’t the most important metric. It could be leads, sales, community, impact, or attracting the right type of people as opposed to just anyone. That said, we are going to be talking about virality today. If you want more views, implement these strategies. I have eight of them for you.
[01:39] Let’s hit number one: the Mass Appeal method. Here’s the problem: hyper-niched content has a low likelihood of going viral. In fact, there are a lot of problems we’re facing right now. Views are down across the platform for most people. YouTube Shorts have disrupted the platform, creating a love-hate relationship with them. Regardless, they’ve divided attention, and many people are seeing low views and low reach, wondering what’s working now. Hyper niche content generally has a low likelihood of going viral. It’s not that you shouldn’t make hyper niche content, but if you want big reach, then you need to use the Mass Appeal method.
[02:09] Some of you may have heard of Noah Kagan, who just launched a cool new book called “Million Weekend.” You may have heard of the website app Sumo; I believe he’s the founder of that website. He was employee number 23 at Facebook or something like that, and he started YouTube like a lot of people do. Here’s a video that’s six years old: “How to Hire Right the First Time.” It’s a search-based, practical how-to video—cool, great. But if you look at it, it got 10,000 views. Now, a lot of us would be like, “I’d love to have 10,000 views,” but that was over six years. It’s just a hyper-niched, specific pain point; it does not have mass appeal.
[02:42] If you focus on what some of the stuff he’s doing now, here’s a video he did: “Meet the Billionaire That Works a Normal Job,” which got 5.6 million views. Think about this—it’s a mass appeal topic. Now, he’s not off-brand here; he’s teaching entrepreneurship and business, but compared to just hiring someone versus telling a story and having a powerful thumbnail, he made 600 million a year doing this. It’s much broader in appeal. Let’s look at his top four most viewed videos: “Asking an 80-Year-Old Millionaire: Was It Worth It?” “Asking Millionaires How to Make a Million Dollars,” “Asking a Billionaire How to Make a Million Dollars,” and “The Billionaire That Works a Normal Job.” We’re talking between 4 and 5.5 million views.
[03:18] Here’s the thing, though: this is a lot more views than that hyper-niched video. So if you want to start getting more views on YouTube, there’s something you need to think about: broad appeal, mass appeal. Now, your objection might be, “So do I just follow some trend? Do I just make content that’s unrelated?” That’s not what I’m saying. You should ask yourself, “How can I package this video, or what topics could I hit that would be on-brand for me but could also have more mass appeal?”
[04:18] I think there’s another insight here: we’re seeing this kind of man-on-the-street interview style or tapping into other people’s stories or interviews as a big opportunity. I don’t recognize that person at all; in fact, his name’s not on there. I don’t know who the billionaire is, but getting that guest on instead of giving a name that nobody would necessarily know makes it more interesting. This is Lila Heros. There’s a video of hers that’s getting great views and has a strong YouTube channel. The title is “How World-Class Leaders Hold Employees Accountable.” Sounds amazing; a lot of us should watch that video, but it’s hyper-niched for a very small group of people who want to learn how to hold employees accountable.
[05:22] If we click over to her most viewed video, it’s using the Mass Appeal method: “How I Brainwash Myself to Success.” Again, she’s teaching business and entrepreneurship, which is very specific, but as far as getting broader views, she has a much broader video. On screen, there are some pretty tactical things we can learn as well. Transformation is one of the most powerful things you can do in a thumbnail—from this to that. She took an older photo of herself and paired it with a new photo of herself. There’s tension between where you were and where you are now. In fitness, this is incredibly powerful. You see the tension in makeup before and after; it could be in cars or repairing something before and after.
[05:55] Very powerful. So, she saw 56 times more views when she used the Mass Appeal method. Your goal is to find the sweet spot between staying true to your niche and offering valuable content that resonates with a broader audience. When it comes to social media marketing, I think some of us will do a lot better this year when we tap into broad appeal and start experimenting with topics. Just ask yourself, “Would this apply to more people?” It really rubs against us when we think, “I have to stay niched; I have to stay in my niche.” There’s an argument for that, but the Mass Appeal method is where the views are, so use it wisely.
[06:29] Now, if you study Roger Wakefield’s channel as a service provider, as someone teaching plumbing, he has had incredible videos that are how-to and search-based, and they’ve done well. However, those are more hyper-niched. In fact, looking at a couple of his recent videos: “Toilet Wax vs. Rubber: Which Works Better?” and “How to Service a Water Heater: Plumbing 101.” Let me make the point that these videos should be a part of your content mix, but if all we’re solving for is virality or getting a lot more views, then we need more mass appeal.
[07:02] So what happens when we study some of Roger’s most viewed videos? We see “Real Plumber Reacts to the Biggest Plumbing Scammers,” which got 2.3 million views, and “Real Plumber Tries Awful Plumbing Hacks,” which got 840 times more views when using the Mass Appeal method. He’s still on brand, still the expert plumber, but he’s tapping into broad appeal, making things more entertaining, and making them more shareable. In fact, one of our students did this—who is a chiropractor.
[08:06] Here’s the formula for you: can you find a viral clip, a viral video, something on TikTok or another platform? Can you react to it? Tom, here, is a chiropractor, and he reacted to a “Y-Strap Treatment.” Have you ever seen these videos trending? They like break the person’s back, crack their neck, or pull it with a tractor. You’re like, “Dude, why is this chiropractor using a tractor? This is ridiculous!” So this Y-Strap treatment was a video that he reacted to as a chiropractor, and for him, he got 590 views.
[08:38] I want to encourage you, as we’re using these methods, to write this down: VFM. VFM stands for “Viral For Me.” There’s too much comparison that happens in social media, and we look at some of the biggest channels and compare our numbers. VFM is what you’re after. So if you’re normally getting 50 views on some practical content in your niche, then 500 or 5,000 would be really interesting to you. You’re not sacrificing reaching the right people; maybe a few of them will sneak in there when it gets a little more entertaining. But the goal here is to use the Mass Appeal method to get more views, more top-of-funnel reach, if you will. This strategy is incredibly powerful for that.
[09:11] Number two: the reaction strategy. We already touched on it, but now we’re going a little deeper. This is exactly what Roger started to do here: “Real Plumber Reacts to the Biggest Plumbing Scammers.” You should steal that title, insert your niche, and insert two people who don’t know Roger yet. So you’re also titling and positioning things that a total stranger would be interested in clicking on. Good thumbnail, good positioning—2.3 million views
[10:01] three-year-old videos, and so this is powerful. But what is he doing? He’s reacting. One of my favorite things is tapping in and using OPC. Now, not OP, Naughty by Nature—some of you will get that. OPC is other people’s content, and based on fair use law, you’re allowed to use other people’s content if you’re transforming it, if you’re being a comedian around it, providing news around it, or reacting to it. So how do I use other people’s content? You just use it, but you transform it.
[10:33] You’re on there; it’s the react format. So you’re getting 2.3 million views by sitting there and reacting to a bunch of crazy stuff that you downloaded from this YouTube channel or from that TikTok. All of you can do this—it’s super powerful. In the video, you can see him there; he’s looking and reacting to a news clip and reacting to some different things. It’s simply using the reaction strategy. This isn’t a new strategy; it’s one of the biggest formats on YouTube. The React channel, Mr. Beast, has a React channel, Kids React, and so on.
[11:06] What would happen if you started thinking about what you can react to that’s related to your business, your agency? You could make reaction videos that could start reaching a whole new level of people and getting more views. This channel, Camut, has 20,000 subscribers, but the views on this video he got were 150,000 views. You know you’re doing well when your views exceed your subscriber number, and he’s using reaction. Though it’s “Filmmaker Reacts to Halo Reach,” all the cut scenes—wait, I didn’t even know I could use Halo! Yeah, OPC—other people’s content through fair use.
[11:38] Now you’re tapping into all kinds of things—people that are interested in Halo, people that don’t know you but know the intellectual property of Halo. Him reacting to that has his views punching way above his weight class compared to his subscribers. So think about this: imagine an agency owner reacts to bad car dealership Facebook ads in 2020—common mistakes to avoid. You could pull this all the way down, and that’s why viral for me matters. Viral for me is like, “Well, I’m not going to necessarily just jump onto some mega trend; let me pull the react strategy into my business world or my world as a marketer.”
[12:10] Here’s one: “Doctor Reacts to Is Obesity a Choice Debate”—1 million views. So he pulls a debate that’s already a separate YouTube video, jumps in; you know it’s already getting a little polarizing. It’s interesting—what does the doctor say about it? You see the thumbnail there. So here’s the question: what content could you react to, and what is related to your niche but would also appeal to a broader audience? Again, as we use these strategies, these are secrets of the top 1%, and these are secrets to going viral. You very well could be one video away from 100,000 views or maybe millions of views as you start using the appeal method and the react method.
[12:42] Number three is ethical clickbait. Ethical clickbait—so let’s define this because a lot of us may be guilty of it. Look at your neighbor and say, “I know you’ve clickbaited before. I know you’ve done that for sure; I’ve seen you do it, and it was wrong. But you got views; I know it worked.” So clickbait is kind of a weird term because we don’t want to—here’s really what clickbait is: clickbait is misleading; it’s deceptive; it hurts trust. You might get short-term views, but it hurts trust; it overpromises. That’s kind of what you think about clickbait—it’s like, “Okay, I clicked on the video, but it tricked me, and it let me down.”
[13:12] But ethical clickbait—we don’t want to throw the baby out with the bathwater. If you’re a good marketer, you’re good at baiting clicks. What are you trying to do? You’re trying to get people to click on your videos. Like, “I just don’t want people tapped into my email list.” So the right way to do it: ethical clickbait is engaging, compelling, honest, accurate, and it over-delivers. It’s understanding these principles that we’re going to discuss and using them in an ethical way.
[14:14] One of the biggest video podcasts right now is called “The Diary of a CEO,” and Stephen Bartlett is a British entrepreneur and podcaster. The YouTube channel is getting 25 million views every single month. Here’s his social media director, Grace Andrews; she’s like his content manager. Here are some of the tactics the top 1% are doing: “The Diary of a CEO” tests 100 thumbnails for each episode to optimize click-through rate—100!
[14:49] What they actually do is take three facial expressions, typically of the guest, and then they’ve got about 30 quotes. They try the different quotes on the different facial expressions to see which one has the highest click-through rate using paid ads. They also have a pre-research phase where they come up with different topics. They use three different facial expressions across the thumbnails, and then they do a pre-research testing phase implemented to determine the topics that interest viewers most, and that influences the conversation that Stephen eventually has with the guest.
[15:20] And you’re like, “Cool, Sean, sounds nice for them. I do my social media job by myself. I have a team; I’m definitely not split testing 100 thumbnails. I don’t even know how to make a thumbnail!” Okay, respect. Of course, you do, though—AI can help! But I think there are a lot of takeaways here. What are they doing? They are obsessed with what is going to get the highest click-through rate. How can we get people intrigued? How can we get them to click?
[15:51] Now, here’s some of their best, most viewed videos. They have powerful titles. Now notice on the left side, “The Harvard Professor Reveals the Seven Biggest Lies.” Again, they didn’t say his name because you probably don’t know who that professor is, but Harvard has the authority. So interesting—these details: “You don’t need 8 hours of sleep.” What they split test would be the facial expression; they split test the quote that’s in the thumbnail. Notice over here, “They’re Lying About Calories.” Now we’re talking to a weight loss scientist, and this is ethical, but this is clickbait because I’m thinking, “Wait a minute, you’re lying? Who’s lying? Am I being lied to?” This starts triggering—
[16:24] in fact, check this out—”You’ve Been Lied To” triggers curiosity and an emotional response. It triggers intrigue, anger, and disbelief, and confirmation bias. Like, “You’ve been lied to” implies deceit; it implies potential injustice. You’re angry—”Wait, I’ve been lied to!” Emotions of anger and disbelief, confirmation bias is like, “I knew they were lying to me about calories! I knew it!” Sure enough, I clicked on this even just to affirm. Confirmation bias would be to affirm a belief you already had, but this is ethical because this person’s a real quote from the video, a real conviction of that weight loss scientist, and it was up to “The Diary of a CEO” to package the video in such a way as to trigger the click and get massive views. Very powerful! This is what the top 1% are doing; this is the level they’re playing at.
[17:29] I would argue this: if you would consider that modern marketers are ultimately psychologists and people who study human behavior, and if you’re actively not studying psychology and human behavior, totally fine; you’re welcome, but you’re barely getting into the marketing game. Anybody who’s really doing marketing at a high level thinks about this stuff all the time. They’re thinking about psychology, human behavior—where are people coming from?
[17:59] Here’s what else: “You’ve Been Lied To,” and I’m not saying this is the only one—this is one of so many powerful positioning strategies that this one video happens to tap into. It taps into more; it taps into the victim mentality. Viewers connect with the feeling of being deceived, putting them in the victim’s role in seeking resolution. It taps into the Justice Seeker. The title positions the viewer as the potential hero that can start to expose the lie and bring justice. This appeals to the desire to be informed and to make a difference.
[18:30] “Sean, take a breath, bro! I had no idea this is how much is going into thumbnails! What are we trying to make a video about, bro?” Like, what are the secrets in the top 1%? When you start thinking about the level of architecting title-thumbnail combos, what does the text in the thumbnail say? This is all ethical clickbait. This is kind of cool: “I Spent $11,000 on Pinterest Ads for My Small Business—Was It Worth It?” This is opening up a curiosity loop, and I’m applying this to a business context here to show you this.
[19:03] There is a video called “How to Do New Pinterest Ads”—good, great video—but how much more interesting is this? This is “I Spent My Own Money,” which is stakes. Good storytelling includes stakes. There’s my money on the line; there’s stakes on the line, and there’s a big curiosity grab: “Was it worth it? Was it not worth it? Did it work? Did it not work?” So here’s a little bonus tip: the challenge strategy is something
[20:03] Next-level views that we can get, which brings us to number four: stir emotions and spark interest. You might notice these are stacking, almost as if you mass appeal and you do ethical clickbait. In doing so, you’re going to stir emotions, which you want to spark the audience’s interest. You know, one of the greats in advertising, which many marketers study, is David Ogilvy. In his book, *Confessions of an Advertising Man*, and other works, one of his core strategies was emotional appeal. He understood that people are more likely to be persuaded by emotions than by logic. This could be humor, sentiment, or different emotional appeals.
[20:39] So let me ask you a question: Are you ready to start your YouTube channel but don’t know where to begin? Or have you been posting videos but are frustrated because you’re just not getting the views and nobody is seeing them? For a limited time, you can get the number one bestselling YouTube strategy book, *YouTube Secrets*, for free at yts.com. This book is the proven blueprint that has helped thousands of people go from zero subscribers to a thriving channel. All I ask is that you pay for shipping, and then I will mail you the brand new updated second edition of *YouTube Secrets*.
[21:09] When you place your order today, there are a couple of other super cool things that I’ll hook you up with. First, you’re going to get instant access to a free deep-dive masterclass where I will break down the exact strategy I’m currently using to generate over 120,000 views per day, every single day on YouTube, and generate over $100,000 per month on the platform. I will also cover the three biggest mistakes that most creators make when starting and trying to grow their channel. That class is free to watch instantly when you pick up this special offer.
[21:42] Now, you’re also going to get my video series called *The Perfect Video Recipe*. One of the updated chapters in the second edition is titled *The Perfect Video Recipe*. It’s actually a formula for how to structure YouTube videos to get maximum views and how to break through in the YouTube algorithm. This is the exact formula that readers of the book and our students are using to generate millions of views, and again, that will just be included when you jump on this limited offer. Third, you’re going to get access to our 1,000 Subs Club email newsletter, which delivers actionable weekly tips to your email inbox that will help you get to 1,000 subscribers fast. We also do really cool weekly giveaways that include lighting, microphones, and YouTube equipment, plus software that will help you on your creator journey.
[22:15] But here’s the thing: supplies are limited on this free book promotion. So if you want to grab this offer, go to yts.com right now and just place your order covering shipping, and I’ll get this book in the mail to you right away.
[22:47] In your content and in your social media marketing, are you just using logic, or are you also crafting content in such a way as to appeal to people’s emotions? I shot an interview recently with Patrick Bet-David from Valuetainment. The amount of hate we got in the comments was surprising; they said, “You guys rented a fake jet to film this interview.” It’s kind of a weird story because I DM’d him on Instagram. He chartered a jet to fly and speak at this event. I was like, “He’s in Vegas; maybe we can shoot an interview.” He was like, “Hey, I only have a couple of hours; literally, the plane is running, and I’m speaking at this event. I’m going back. Could we do it on the jet?” I was like, “That’s the weirdest thing I’ve ever heard in my life.” It seems, you know, it’s going to make people uncomfortable, whatever. But I was like, “Yeah, I guess we could do it.”
[23:19] It’s 4 in the afternoon on a Friday, and then I think to myself, “Yeah, that sounds great, but I have some people that work for us who think media, but they’re off; they have plans, and I don’t want to mess with them.” I asked them, but they’re like, “No, I have plans.” I’m like, “Fair enough, okay; you know, work-life balance is great.” So I hit up a couple of contractors and said, “Hey, can you film with Patrick Bet-David on a jet in like 2, 3, 4, or 5 hours? That’s how much clarity I have for you, and it might not happen. Would you be available?” I asked Art and Brandon, these guys in Vegas, some freelance videographers I work with, and they’re like, “Dude, what are you talking about? This is the weirdest thing.”
[24:22] So they then committed. Art was like, “I have to go out with my girlfriend; actually, she’s not feeling well.” So I ended up connecting with Art and Brandon, and we ended up shooting this video—the weirdest night of my life. And then, sure enough, even just for people to say, “I can see the videography and the reflection in the window,” I’m like, “I know.” I mean, bro, we just… anyways, the story doesn’t really matter. What’s the point? The final result, though, was this: stir emotions and spark interest. As we put out the final video, it’s doing very well. In fact, by our standards, it would apply to this kind of top 1%.
[24:56] Now, of course, you may have never heard of Patrick Bet-David, but he’s pretty well-known in certain circles, so he’s a part of it. I think there’s something to be said about hustling when necessary. You see an opportunity; shoot your shot. You know, I just reached out in the DMs, and he was like, “Yeah, in this weird situation, if you can get here to the tarmac or whatever.” So we got there and shot the thing. But then it came to packaging and thinking about what the content was. I shot the interview, and after the fact, the title ended up being “Changes Are Coming for Content Creators.”
[25:32] Now, this was not by accident because I apply these principles of stirring emotions and sparking interest. One of the things that actually taps into human brains at a huge level is this idea of change. Our human brains are wired for novelty. You know, if we think about keeping our family safe and our kids safe, and if you were living in a rural community a couple of hundred years ago, you might be worried about bears or people attacking. A lot of times, if your environment just stays the same, it doesn’t trigger anything. That’s a good thing—no bear footprints, no danger on the horizon, no storm coming. Everything looks good, whether you think about it consciously or not.
[26:06] So when everything in your environment is saying the same, you don’t pay attention to it. But if you then go outside and see storm clouds on the horizon, you say, “Oh shoot, something’s changing! Close the roof, pull down the tarp, get ready!” You see bear tracks; now we’ve got issues. You see, change in your environment causes your brain to turn on. As marketers, you’ve got to know this. This is why even though toothpaste hasn’t changed in 50 years, Colgate always says “new and improved.” By the way, that is impossible. How can it actually be improved if it’s new? It can’t be. Yet it’s on there, and you believed it. You’re like, “It’s new and improved.” No, it’s not even possible. That’s the way our brains work, though.
[26:40] So actually, our brains scan. As soon as we see the word “change,” 9 out of 10 videos, we’re not going to click on. But “Oh, a storm’s coming!”—that’s the video I have to click on. There’s a guy named Tom Bilyeu, and he has a podcast called *Impact Theory*. Check out these videos; they have 200,000 views, a million views, 3 million views, 182,000 views. Look at how often he puts “change” in the title: “How to Completely Change Your Life in 2024.” Mass appeal, by the way. I mean, I don’t know if that’s ethical clickbait, Tom. I mean, that completely changed my… but I mean, whatever. We’ll leave it to… if you want to completely change your life in 30 days, “People Don’t Know What’s Coming: Prepare for the Changing World Order.” “Civilization is About to Change Forever.” That’s my favorite one! Oh my goodness, like that’s a big idea—like, “Civilization is About to Change Forever.”
[27:44] “The Truth About Immortality,” “Rich vs. Poor,” “AI and Ending Disease.” Some scientists… anyways, so this is not by accident. He uses this idea of change in his titles a lot. You start catching some of these power principles and apply them to your videos, and you’re going to get more views. One of the reasons why this works is loss aversion. Loss aversion is something every marketer needs to know about. People are always more motivated by losing $10 rather than gaining $10. Change is why I click. “What changed?” Because I don’t want my family to be taken away by a vicious bear. So I’m worried. You know, I love my kids. I’m happy to see my kids a little bit more happiness with my kids. They’re fine; we’re just trying to get through
[30:08] My goodness, this person was riding this bike down, you know, like a GoPro Red Bull commercial. They jumped off the moon! It got shared, awe, laughter, amusement. But if you look on screen, you want to be thoughtful about saying, “What emotion is this post going to trigger?” I know for me, in my career, I made so many mistakes and have been so frustrated often by not getting reach or not getting views or things not working. I didn’t ask that question at all; I didn’t even think about it. I actually lean more logical, so being more thoughtful about which emotion to trigger is important.
[30:40] This is worth looking at, and you can look this up later. It’s called Robert Plutchik’s Wheel of Emotions. Use this tool to plan and position your content; you can grab it on Google. What they do is provide a string of emotions that you’ll tie together, like terror, fear, and apprehension, or amazement, surprise, and distraction. You might have felt, by this time, that ethical clickbait is looking at some of those changes coming. All of civilization is going to change. You might be like, “Bro, that’s not the level I’m going to play at.” Plus, I have no idea about that stuff. Obviously, sometimes it seems clickbait goes more negative or feels like you’ve been lied to, but you can also go positive in a business context, and it has a lot to do with what brand you want to design.
[31:10] I think about the top 1%, like Ed Mylett. He actually is more viral but positively, like “Design Your Dream Life.” Are you happy with your life right now? Unlock your mind. So it’s just about which emotions you want your brand to represent the most. Tapping into emotion and sparking emotion will absolutely help you go viral and get more views.
[31:40] This was a video I did—shout out to Nido AI, who’s one of the sponsors here. We actually collaborated with them and did a video. This AI tool creates videos in seconds, no editing, which it does. It’s an amazing tool, and the video is doing incredibly well. If you look at the blue line, that just means this video keeps getting views. I want to say it’s been one month, two months, three months—all organic, right? Four months, five months—it just keeps going. That’s the dream of YouTube as well; it’s the most highly leveraged platform. You make content, and that content works for you when you’re not working.
[32:10] This video taps into curiosity: “What is the tool?” A couple of different ways to title your videos could be “A Review of a Tool” or “This Tool.” Notice some of those tactics—there’s mystery, surprise, interest, anticipation, and then there’s also tapping into awe. Imagine being able to create a whole video in seconds and not have to edit it. That would be amazing!
[32:42] Thinking about even this software—our channel is about cameras and lighting—you could, in a way, make not-so-exciting stuff exciting by stirring emotion and tapping into emotion.
[33:16] Number five: Ride trends with culture surfing. So that video interview I did with Patrick Bet-David, “Changes Are Coming for Content Creators: How to Prepare for 2024,” is one of the ways we are tapping into culture surfing. What is culture? Culture is going to be music, media, logos, brands—it’s all those touchpoints that make up the culture we live in. In a place for content creators, you’ll notice the thumbnail: what do you see? You see the social media platform logos in a creative way—known platforms. That’s culture surfing. Oh, I recognize Instagram; I recognize Facebook.
[33:48] Now, mind you, my podcast would be a really good podcast to subscribe to if you want to grow on YouTube. It’s a niche podcast; we touch on some of the other platforms, but that’s my value proposition: YouTube. If I want the mass appeal method, what do we do in the thumbnail? Broader appeal, still narrow, because content creators would definitely be my demographic, but broader appeal. You have the known platforms, and he certainly spoke in that context of ethical clickbait. It’s not like you don’t ever use one of these tactics if it’s not true; you want the video to deliver on that promise.
[34:21] Known people, for the people that recognize him—known brands, the logos, known events—could be the time of 2024, right at the beginning of the year. So this is culture surfing all packed into one video. This is Dan Martell. Dan Martell is the founder and CEO of SaaS Academy, and he’s built a lot of software as a service businesses. He’s an investor doing some different things, crossed 100,000 subscribers recently, and here’s one of his non-viral videos: “The Five C’s of SaaS Metrics.”
[34:51] Now, again, please have a mix of content, but we’re talking about the secrets of the top 1%. This video got 20,000 views, is seven years old, and the thumbnail is not that great, of course—it’s a little bit older. He’s been improving. So what would it look like for Dan to tap into a more viral strategy? Well, here’s one of the videos he did: “The Only Four Skills You Need to Build a $1 Billion Company,” which got 205,000 views. You might not know Dan, but you might recognize Elon Musk or maybe Steve Jobs.
[35:23] Culture surfing—there are two niche things under culture surfing: influence surfing and trend surfing. Culture is just broad; it could be logos, brands. Trends would be like times of year; influence would be people. Now, here’s the thing: back to fair use in other people’s content. If he’s breaking down case studies, you have all of that happening in this thumbnail. You’ve got the Facebook logo, the Microsoft logo, the Tesla logo, you’ve got their pictures, you’ve got his picture, you’ve got the $1 billion dollar companies, and then you’ve got “The Only Four Skills.” There’s some curiosity; he’s stacking all of this stuff up.
[35:54] Another powerful thing he’s doing is what’s called borrowed authority. Again, some of you probably don’t know Dan, but you recognize some of these other people. As I step into this video, he’s going to elevate his own authority, provided he actually delivers value and the video is good and all of that, which is our responsibility to do.
[36:25] Here’s another culture surfing and specifically influence surfing: “I Tried Andrew Huberman’s Morning Routine: 30 Days Plus Blood Tests.” You might not know the other guys or this other character in the thumbnail, but I recognize Andrew Huberman and his big viral podcast. His morning routine is ridiculous. Remember our bonus strategy challenge: what could you challenge yourself to do? Tap into culture surfing. Notice this video has 3.5 million views.
[36:56] So about now, if you’re like, “Sean, this actually sounds like it’s going to take work,” well, yeah, this is actually what we all have to do. We have to get up every day and go to work, but it’s worth the work. Imagine what a million views or 3.5 million views could do for your leads, sales, your awareness, your brand. A little bit of extra thought, a little bit of extra strategy, a little bit of extra packaging and positioning on your content can lead to next levels as you are publishing.
[37:29] One of the videos I did was “The Joe Rogan Podcast Formula: How to Start a Video Podcast the Smart Way.” I took one of my talks that I did for my friends Neil Patel and Eric Siu, and I packaged it in such a way as the video podcast formula has been pioneered by Joe Rogan, which hints it means like turn the camera on. Because it’s not just audio; it’s 2024. I recommend having a video podcast so you can leverage YouTube. YouTube is the number one podcasting platform. YouTube is absorbing Google Music and Google Podcasts into YouTube Music. They want to take out Apple; they want to take out Spotify.
[38:04] I’d really be betting on YouTube for your podcast and turning your podcast into a video podcast. But saying that, you don’t know Sean, but you might recognize Joe. What are we doing? Culture surfing. Using Valuetainment and Patrick Bet-David as an example, they recently leaned into more politics, and it’s working great; it’s blowing up for them. They have the gift and grace to do that. But saying that, their model is trending too; it’s the trending topic reaction strategy. Write that down.
[38:39] So what video could you make this week based on headlines in the news or in the media related to your niche? Go to Google News, look at blogs, look at articles, and react to them. Now, this is different than what Roger did when he reacted to a video. What Roger did is they just read the article; there’s actually really no visuals to it. They just have articles printed out, and then they discuss them on a podcast with four people.
[39:11] Here’s the bottom line, friends: they’re getting 45 million views a month on Valuetainment. I mean, you cross-channel, cross-platform, and it’s like hundreds of millions of views. These strategies work as you kind of master them and learn to implement them with your own unique style. I’m not saying you have to get political or do anything, but you can implement every single one of these
[40:10] Then did affiliate marketing—that would be cool. But you notice this doesn’t say that this is the Mass Appeal method. Who doesn’t want free stuff on Amazon? I actually, this is seven years ago, like I’ve learned a lot since then. I just look back and I realize I was doing these strategies without knowing it. Mass Appeal method: short, punchy title, seven words or less. “Best Cheap Smartphone Accessories for Video”—six words, 1.5 million views. “Best DSLR Settings for Video”—four-word title. If this video would have been for a specific camera, it would have been 5% of the views. But I taught it in such a way that it’s like, whatever camera you have, let’s set your ISO, your aperture, let’s set those different details.
[40:42] Five words: “Camera Lenses Explained for Beginners”—five words. A trending creator right now, much more entertainment, is Ryan Trahan, crushing it right now with 118 million views per month, top 1%. Look at this title: “I Tested One-Star Camping.” Pretty cool and compelling. Now, he’s probably not your cup of tea; you might not watch Ryan. But one of the things you’ll see on his channel is simple, easy-to-understand ideas—very interesting. Genius YouTube advice for 15 minutes straight. This would be culture surfing, influence surfing. Short, punchy title creates an open loop of curiosity—a simple promise, seven words.
[41:15] This is on our channel. Number seven: use odd and specific numbers in your titles. So one of the videos we did, “From Zero to 1,000 Subscribers in Just Nine Days,” seems like clickbait, but it’s a true story. Nolan did this and then taught on it. It’s almost got a million views: “Zero to 1,000 Subscribers,” but not ten days, not eight—I mean nine days. A weird number, but it’s an honest number. So you have an emotional appeal, punchy title, audience desire, and a specific number. Nine is a weird number. “How I Get 100 Subscribers Every Single Day”—this particular video for me on our podcast channel did incredibly well.
[41:45] Instead of—and let me skip to it for this—you can take whatever result and chop it different ways to make the number interesting. So what if this many email subscribers, this much on Facebook ads, this much—whatever. And maybe per week is not as interesting as per minute, or per day, or per week, or per year, or per month, or whatever. So for example, when I was like, okay, “How to Get 100 Subscribers Every Day” was a result that I got, then I taught on how I was doing that. Specificity in titles, like specific earnings and outcomes, can increase interest and perceived authenticity.
[42:16] I just want to correct—again, you’re not trying to fake authenticity; it’s just that people are like, “Oh yeah, it’s probably not going to be a round number.” All the way back to Noah Kagan: “How I Turned 20,000 into 4.5 Million” or “5.1 Billion.” Those, again, are the honest numbers, but it’s just a little bit more—it’s an odd number, it’s specific. And Ali Abdaal, one of the great creators right now, top 1%, his most viewed video is “Nine Passive Income Ideas and How I Make 27K Per Week with It.” And then even his typing video is “How I Type 156 Words Per Minute.”
[43:21] So I just want to encourage you—it’s also great for your email subject lines and other social media. Use specific numbers. And as I land the plane, number eight for a YouTube Jedi Council: highly recommended. In fact, in this room, there might be a few people you should add to your YouTube Jedi Council. Here’s the point: create or join a peer network of like-minded YouTube and marketing enthusiasts. This is actually a secret of the top 1%.
[43:53] So Mr. Beast goes on Joe Rogan’s podcast. He says a lot of his growth came after high school. What happened was he found four other—he said it—YouTube lunatics. He said, “I just found four other YouTube lunatics, small YouTubers.” Check this out: we talked every day for a thousand days in a row. He called them daily masterminds on Skype, and we did nothing but hyper-study what makes a good thumbnail, good video, good pacing, how to go viral. We had like 10 to 20,000 subs at the time, and we grew to over a million in a short time—1,000 days.
[44:24] He says the reason this is powerful is if you learn from your own mistakes over a couple of years, it’ll take this long. But if you learn from five other people’s mistakes at the same time, you could go five times faster. Man, you got to link arms with people here at Social Media Marketing World, make some connections, and keep talking—maybe every day for a thousand days straight. Maybe take weekends off—come on, work-life balance! We got families, we got kids. And so this could be incredibly powerful.
[44:54] This is just kind of a screenshot of what happens. Now, I understand we’re a scaling team, but how we—Takashi will give us different thumbnails, we debate about them, different thumbnail and title positioning. We do what’s called title crew. I know you don’t expect you to read it, but you just see—we’ll write 10 titles, five titles, we’ll chop it up, we’ll go, you know, and we’ll debate it. Iron sharpens iron. But you might say, “What if I am just starting? I don’t have a peer network yet.” By myself, I will never write just one title.
[45:25] So here’s a tip as we end: brainstorm five titles and then choose the strongest one. So I just wrote this by myself: “Four Ways to Improve in Public Speaking.” And then I was part one and part two for a podcast. At least challenge yourself, use AI and different tools, and get five, six, seven, eight titles—different things—and then pick the best one. Mastermind with yourself—debate with yourself. You already talk to yourself, and you got voices in your head, so you might as well leverage that, right?
[45:59] And then you can also ask your community to vote. Come up with five titles, throw it on your community tab, throw it on Facebook, throw it somewhere. And I not only did this with this video; the most highly voted-on title was the one that did well. So here’s a screenshot recapping the eight ways that top 1% content creators go viral. Three, two, one. If you actually want the slides, though, you can screenshot this. Happy to send you the slides—happy to send you my deck slides at thinkmedia.com. If you have any questions, if you want to follow up, hit me with an email there.
[46:31] And then also, you know, one of the most important things we didn’t get to talk about is actually, then what do you do in the video that follows up the title and the packaging? If you want my perfect video recipe PDF download for free, you can hit the QR code or just go to perfectvrecipe.com. I really go through the four ingredients and the ten spices that make a great video, and so you can grab that for free on the QR code. My name is Sean Kelleher, your guide to building a profitable YouTube channel. Thank you so much.
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