The Art of Storytelling and View Retention
Summary
TLDRIn this insightful discussion, creators delve into the diverse YouTube landscape, exploring how advice from various genres doesn't always translate across platforms. They highlight the importance of storytelling in tech reviews, emphasizing the need for tension and release to engage viewers. The conversation also touches on the challenges of thumbnail A/B testing and the creators' relationship with YouTube, including common complaints and the platform's role in their business model. The creators advocate for a niche approach, stressing the value of community over broad appeal.
Takeaways
- 😀 The importance of storytelling in tech videos is emphasized, suggesting that even product reviews can benefit from narrative techniques.
- 🔍 The script discusses the challenges of applying general YouTube advice to specific genres, such as tech, where certain strategies may not be directly applicable.
- 🎥 There's a recognition that not all advice from successful YouTubers translates well across different content types, requiring adaptation.
- ⏱ The first 10 seconds of a video are crucial for engaging viewers, but the approach may vary depending on the content's nature.
- 📱 The conversation highlights the need to introduce tension and resolution in storytelling, which can be applied to tech reviews to keep viewers interested.
- 📊 The selection of products for review is a critical aspect of tech content creation, often focusing on the best or worst to provide value to the audience.
- 🤝 The dialogue suggests that spending more time with successful creators can lead to more tailored advice that better fits one's own channel's needs.
- 📉 A common complaint among creators is the inability to A/B test thumbnails, which are crucial for video discoverability and viewer engagement.
- 💰 There's a debate on the responsibility of YouTube towards its creators in terms of monetization, with some feeling that creators should focus on building a business beyond the platform.
- 🔄 The script touches on the stress of thumbnail and title creation, and how some creators frequently change these elements post-upload to optimize performance.
Q & A
What is the common theme discussed in the video script regarding YouTube advice?
-The common theme is that advice from creators about YouTube, such as how to make better videos, does not always apply universally across different genres, and there can be a lack of overlap in advice between creators in different fields like beauty, tech, or vlogging.
Why might advice from a creator like MrBeast not work for tech reviewers?
-Advice from creators like MrBeast might not work for tech reviewers because their content and storytelling approach is different. For example, introducing a storyline within the first 10 seconds might not be suitable for a tech review where immediate relevance to the product is crucial.
How does storytelling advice from creators like those from South Park apply to tech videos?
-Storytelling advice from creators like those from South Park can apply to tech videos by emphasizing the importance of causation and tension in the narrative. This can be achieved by presenting information in a way that builds anticipation and then resolves it, keeping viewers engaged.
What is the significance of choosing the right products to review in the tech niche?
-Choosing the right products to review is significant in the tech niche because it often determines the content's appeal. Reviewers tend to focus on products that are either exceptionally good or bad, as these extremes provide more compelling narratives for the audience.
Why is thumbnail design considered a stressful part of the YouTube content creation process?
-Thumbnail design is considered stressful because it significantly impacts video performance. A thumbnail can determine whether a viewer clicks on the video, and creators often feel the pressure to create a thumbnail that accurately represents the content and attracts viewers.
What is the main complaint from creators regarding YouTube's platform features?
-The main complaint from creators is the inability to A/B test thumbnails. Creators believe that having the ability to test different thumbnails could improve video performance and engagement.
How do the podcast hosts feel about YouTube's relationship with its creators?
-The podcast hosts appreciate YouTube's relationship with its creators, noting that YouTube provides a platform and tools, but it's up to the creators to build a business around it. They believe that YouTube's support, like Adsense, is a bonus rather than an entitlement.
What is the hosts' perspective on changing video titles and thumbnails after uploading?
-The hosts believe that if they are frequently changing titles and thumbnails after uploading, it indicates a mistake earlier in the process. They aim to have a clear idea of the title and thumbnail before starting filming or scripting.
Why might a tech review require a different approach to storytelling compared to other genres?
-A tech review might require a different approach to storytelling because it often involves evaluating a product's features and performance. This requires a focus on facts and comparisons, which may not always fit the narrative style recommended for other genres.
What advice do the hosts have for new creators regarding monetization on YouTube?
-The hosts advise new creators not to rely solely on YouTube for monetization. They suggest that creators should focus on building an audience and a business model that extends beyond the platform's monetization features.
Outlines
📺 YouTube Video Advice and Storytelling in Tech Reviews
The paragraph discusses the hosts' observations on the varying advice given by YouTube creators across genres and how it may not always apply to tech reviews. They explore the idea of introducing narratives in tech videos, contrasting it with the storytelling approach of creators like Mr. Beast. The conversation highlights the importance of storytelling in tech reviews, using examples to show how to create tension and release points to engage viewers. The hosts also touch on the challenges of applying broad advice to niche tech content.
🎥 Personalized Advice from Creators and Building Niche Communities
In this section, the hosts delve into the personalized advice they received from Jimmy, a fellow YouTuber, during an interview and subsequent interactions. They discuss the value of tailored advice over general storytelling tips and the importance of building a niche community. The conversation also covers the hosts' approach to content creation, emphasizing the need to cater to their specific audience's preferences and the challenges of editing videos to meet platform requirements without sacrificing valuable content.
📈 YouTube Creators' Challenges: Thumbnails and Monetization
The hosts address common complaints among YouTube creators, particularly the stress associated with thumbnail design and the desire for A/B testing capabilities. They also discuss the limitations of YouTube's autoplay feature and how it affects video click-through rates. The conversation shifts to the topic of monetization, with the hosts sharing their views on the responsibility of creators to build a business model around their content rather than relying solely on YouTube's AdSense as a primary source of income.
🗣️ Podcast with Colin and Samir: Engaging Creator Conversations
The final paragraph summarizes a podcast episode featuring Colin and Samir as guests. The hosts reflect on the value of having creator guests on their show and invite viewers to suggest other creators for future episodes. The conversation wraps up with a call to action for viewers to subscribe to the channel to access comments and engage with the content more directly.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡YouTube Creators
💡Storytelling
💡Thumbnails
💡AB Testing
💡Tech Reviews
💡Narrative
💡Creators' Advice
💡YouTube Algorithm
💡Niche Communities
💡Adsense
💡Content Strategy
Highlights
Creators discuss the varying advice for making better YouTube videos and its applicability across different genres.
The importance of storytelling in tech videos and how it differs from other genres.
How to introduce narratives in product reviews without compromising the review's purpose.
The creators of South Park's advice on storytelling and its relevance to tech video creators.
The challenge of creating engaging content for niche audiences versus broad audiences.
The strategy of deciding which tech products to review based on their potential for storytelling.
The tension and release in storytelling and how it applies to tech reviews.
The unique experience of receiving tailored advice from successful creators like Jimmy.
The difference between building a niche community and reaching a broad audience on YouTube.
The creators' perspective on the value of YouTube's support for its creators, such as milestone plaques.
Common complaints among YouTube creators and how they vary by genre and channel size.
The stress of thumbnail creation and the desire for A/B testing thumbnails on YouTube.
The impact of thumbnail selection on video performance and the strategies used by creators.
The process of titling and thumbnailing for different video formats, such as reviews and interviews.
The creators' approach to packaging videos and the timing of title and thumbnail decisions.
The view on YouTube as a platform and the responsibility of creators to build a business around their content.
The importance of confidence in the content creation process and the call to action for viewers.
Transcripts
i've been watching you guys videos on
creators and interviews on the youtube
landscape for a while you've been also
andrew you've been watching a couple of
them i've been telling everybody to
watch them just because they're really
good but also like let's find as many
different ways to tie these experiences
we've had together as we can
um
but one of the common things i've
noticed so we've talked about like
everything from like the mr beast of the
world to all the other tech youtube
creators and one thing that i keep
noticing that i always want to like
explore is
the advice that you can get from a
creator about youtube about the platform
about how to make better videos doesn't
necessarily always apply
and so watching so i'll just go ahead
and plug right off the bat it'll be in
the show notes the the video you did
with jimmy where you hung out with him
you're in his studio
get all kinds of this awesome
information out of him and about youtube
and about the way he approaches making
videos and i i want to listen to that
whole thing and just just take every
little bit of advice i possibly can to
make our videos better
but not all of it actually works and
applies to tech so i'll just give a
quick example you might say something
like
you really want to be
um
introducing people to a story line
within the first 10 seconds of a video
but that bit of advice might not work if
you're trying to review a product for
example and you have to talk to the
person considering buying the thing
immediately they would leave if you
start telling a story and it has nothing
to do with the product so i'm curious
when you guys talk to a bunch of
different creators in different genres
who have different
pieces of advice that they give
do you find that there's more overlap or
almost no overlap between let's say a
beauty creator or a tech creator or a
vlogger and all the different types of
youtubers you've talked to so i i
personally actually disagree about
what you just said about tech videos
interesting i actually think you can
introduce multiple narratives introduce
new stories when it comes to the product
it's just not the same way it's not you
telling a story but if you said like
there's two things i really like about
this and one thing i really don't
all of a sudden you've just introduced
something that i'm waiting for i see
that's a story what's the thing marquez
doesn't like about this and i'm waiting
for that and so i think actually a lot
of the advice that he's giving is
the way i take it is more of this just
general storytelling advice
and if someone's
you know you're introducing a product
and there's no tension there's no
nothing new that's gonna happen
um
then i might not stick around and i
think you know i think colin should
explain also this advice from the
creators of south park
when it comes to storytelling and i
actually think storytelling advice
applies to everyone who's telling a
story
yeah there's this
clip where the creators of south park
are speaking to a class and they said
that a really bad story will go like
this it'll go this happened then this
happened then this happened then this
happened
and you think like that's an extremely
boring way to intake information yeah
and what you want
is a story that goes this happened
but then that happened
therefore this happened
so you want some causation between the
beats in your story and i think that's
something that could exist completely in
a tech video where you're saying
here's this new phone that was just
launched history has shown us that it's
been really incredible it's been an
incredible line of products
but
this one is different
therefore you should think differently
right and if you can keep that going
throughout you'll hook people and keep
them longer i think one of the
interesting things about reviewing tech
products is a large part of what we do
is actually deciding which products to
review especially if i'm just like
narrowing it down to reviewers
and so it usually turns out that the
stuff we review is at the most extremes
it's either the best stuff and we want
to highlight it and show you
or it's like the worst stuff and it's
like i gotta warn you not to buy this
and then there's a whole bunch of stuff
in the middle that's like
most tech which is like fine
and
sometimes it can be really hard to pull
a story out of the stuff that's
fine like you'll you'll get to this
whole line of products has been fine
this one's
also fine
stay tuned
so i find like a lot of channels are
like trying to pull a story not even a
story but just trying to like exaggerate
things to create a better video which
may actually shift
the conclusion about the product yeah so
i think there's two things one it's like
the way you the way you reveal
information to the audience
is
you know part of that kind of retention
strategy that you can pull is like okay
i'm going to save this piece of
information for there but i'm going to
tell them i'm going to say
there's a little bit of like i can hook
them but i also think there's completely
different
tension and release points in different
formats so
all good storytelling is gonna build a
ton of tension in the viewer and then
release it right that's what it is it's
like i'm i wanna i'm curious about
something and then you let me know and
so i think a tech review is inherently a
bunch of tension because it's like i
wanna know marquez's take on this and so
that that's the tension the release is
watching it so i agree with you that
it's not apples to apples but i also
would say that i think that
some of the storytelling advice that you
can take from
you know someone who's able to capture
you know 100 million people's attention
then i think you can't apply small bits
of that and i think
the the thing is like jimmy on our
interview but then also jimmy uh
spending four days with him in north
carolina like the in-between moments
you get a lot of jimmy where he's just
speaking more directly to us at least
like about our content and being more
you know kind of understanding of what
our goals are and so i think the more
time we spent together the more
he started giving us advice that was
catered to our channel and i think
that's a pretty unique experience yeah
um but i think there's like general
storytelling advice and and at the same
time i would say that
you know he reaches an incredibly broad
audience
the most broad the most broad and i
think there's different tactics to
building a niche community and i think
the way i view the internet and how i
like to interact with it is through
niche communities i mean our first
business was
a network a sports network dedicated to
lacrosse yeah that's a niche community
that i'm a part of and the creator
community is another niche community i
feel a part of right and so now i think
we're creating content for that
community so i want to be a little bit
more narrow and i don't actually want
the most broad audience
yeah and we won't take his advice to the
fullest extreme because if we did our
videos would be edited down to six
minutes for retention they would take us
forever and we would leave out valuable
things sometimes letting someone speak
for us for four to five minutes
is valuable yeah right and so we need to
make that decision of yeah no our
audience because we know them because it
is niche wants to hear about that right
got it
do you think you would you think you
would last in a mr beast challenge
which challenge i'm trying to think i
feel like i'd be pretty decent keeping
your hand on something
i mean keeping your hand on a phone
that's his app i could definitely get my
hands on that
now i'm pretty i'm pretty
i'm decently like mobile and athletic
and i don't i don't know
like if i if you put me up against other
creators and editors i'd feel pretty
confident because most creating and
editing is like sitting down like
endurance yeah i feel like i have a
little bit of a
physical advantage but again it depends
on what the channel so you could sit in
a seat with poor posture for probably
the longest
i guess
um all right so a lot of what we've
talked about also
in the youtube world is youtube as a
platform has relationship with its
creators
in a way that not every platform does
like not every platform sends plaques to
its creators when they reach milestones
and has like creator you know teams that
work with us and things like that
um i'm curious from you what are like
the biggest complaints that you've seen
from creators to youtube
because i feel like here were i don't
want to say isolated but it seems like
every
gate or every like
big problem that youtube has
seemingly seemingly doesn't really
affect our channel very much whether
that's because we're a tech channel or
we're a pg channel or a friendly channel
to youtube whatever it is it seems like
we've been pretty safe from all of it
and i guess that's why but i'm curious
what sort of things you guys see that
ring true the most often among other
creators i think the number one
complaint from creators that i hear is
the inability to a b test thumbnails
because i think yeah thumbnails are this
like incredibly stressful um part of our
job do you remember when it was just
like the middle frame of the video
yeah you could game that system pretty
easily and totally became like you need
to be a partner to upload a thumbnail
yep and now everyone who is like
anyone can upload thumbnails now right i
think yeah i think so yeah but like
thumbnail designer is becoming it's
great that it's becoming like a job in
our world right that's like that's a
difference between
a million views and 100 000 views a lot
of times is your thumbnail but i think
that's the the most stressful part of
creating is that you make this amazing
video not only do you have to be like to
be a youtuber not only do you have to be
um
good on camera you also have to be a
good producer yes so just be a good
director a good animator good editor
like you have to be all these different
things and then on top of that you have
to be really good at packaging and
that's actually what you find out over
time is that actually the most important
part of the job then yeah and i think
the importance of that is really
positive because it
increases like the the barrier to entry
and makes the quality really good but i
think thumbnails today are causing a lot
of creators a lot of stress and are
the biggest complaint is like can we
just a b test yeah it seems like it's
such a simple fix
um but i would say that's the biggest
complaint it would be nice we were just
talking about this the other day but um
would you be uh open to being able to
change so when it kind of auto plays on
your say your smart tv or like when
you're hovering over something on the
web and you don't get to choose what
that auto plays like being able to now
change that similar to a thumbnail and
you think that could increase
click through yeah definitely you can
choose that on uh
on instagram reels and yeah yeah just
like being able to do that yeah because
we've had ones where we just released a
studio video where we had the rivie and
it has this like gear tunnel in the
bottom and the clip it shows was tim
crawling through that geared tunnel so
like super fun right we've had other
reviews where it chooses
like half of that one second is marquez
and a role and the other half is
switching to b-roll and looks terrible
when it like goes on yeah
well
[Music]
with the video yeah and i've chosen
stuff on my like smart tv because i
accidentally scrolled over it and that
one clip was like that was kind of
interesting i think i'm gonna watch the
video now yeah i believe that's uh ai
selected
at this point whether it's be from
retention or just from a random i think
they try and choose a face
usually yeah yeah i mean all of my
videos have a face in them sometimes it
doesn't pick a face and i find that odd
but yeah i i think so i see a lot of i
agree with a b testing thumbnails i
think that would be
great i would use that for sure um so i
agree definitely that a b testing
thumbnails would be fun i would love to
i would do that all the time but
i also am probably among the youtubers
that i know and associate with in the
tech world i'm probably the one that
changes my thumbnails the least i think
i see a lot of people upload a video
with a title and a thumbnail and then an
hour later change the title and then an
hour later change the thumbnail and then
change the title and the thumbnail and
i'll come across it a third time in my
home on my home feed or something i'm
like i think i've watched this already
but it has a different title and
thumbnail so maybe i haven't
um
would you do you guys play with title
and thumbnail at all do you find that
that's like a major
major part of how you package a video
and and manipulating it and changing the
way it performs or no we do play with
them but from my perspective if we're
frantically changing titles and
thumbnails we made a mistake much
earlier in the process
if if we have good ideas make titles and
thumbnails easy yeah so we try and make
sure we have that figured out before we
even make the decision to start filming
or scripting the video yeah it's kind of
changed our process to to just say hey
let's start that way in the beginning
and say okay we have this idea but wait
before we take any other steps
how do you package this idea yeah i
think one of the conversations i have
with jimmy was like when do you pick the
title and thumbnail and for him it's
before the video even gets shot at all
and for us we were like well that sounds
like great advice let's see how early we
can apply it but if we're reviewing a
piece of tech and we don't know how good
it is and we don't know if we're going
to recommend it or not i can't choose a
title and thumbnail before testing the
thing so i gotta test the thing
and then maybe at that point when i'm
starting to write the actual video i can
pick a title and thumbnail but that's
much later in the process and at that
point i don't know anymore if it's a
good title and thumbnail but that might
be with new formats because you have a
lot of formats too where you know first
impressions you're going to put that in
the title that is true yeah and so
that's what we're in the process of
finding or what are our formats where we
it'll make it easy for us and for our
audience that does they'll get kind of
annoying sometimes when we we know we
have to put galaxy s 21 ultra first
impressions now the actual title we give
it basically has to be three to four
words like where we have to limit
ourselves from that so
this checklist of like the process of
making a video and it's usually as i'm
uploading the video
then i am
finishing what i think the title should
be i have my last two or three options
for a title and we're shooting the
thumbnail at that moment
and i don't know if that's i mean there
are lots of tech topics and other ways
to come up with a title and thumbnail
first and craft a video around it but
specifically for reviews that's been a
challenge of mine is like packaging the
video
in an earlier than as i upload way
that's like us for interviews you know
we just filmed an interview with you we
don't know exactly what the title
thumbnail is going to be yeah we have
like a loose idea going into the
interview coolest guy ever yes that was
it yeah yeah yeah okay yeah that might
work
there's i think the other complaint
about
the other common complaint is like i
don't make enough money
you know adsense
you know this that or the other and my
perspective on that is for so many years
because we were in such a niche topic
adsense was not a part of our business
model at all
and i don't believe that youtube owes us
anything for uploading videos to youtube
i just don't believe it and and i think
my perspective is just that
it's our job to make a business out of
it if we can find audience that's that's
on us youtube gives us the platform and
it's a search engine and they give us
the tech
adsense i always look as like
it's a cherry on top of our business
luckily i think over the past
year our growth has been such that it's
a it's a nice cherry on top but i just
don't view it i think any creator who's
starting out and being like frustrated
that youtube's not paying enough yeah
it's like you you have to be doing this
for a long time for that to be a
significant source of revenue
thanks for watching that clip of the
podcast with colin sameer it's always
fun having creator guests on and that's
why i want to ask you now that you've
seen the clip who else do you want to
have in the comments section uh on the
waveform podcast i think other creators
would be great suggestions i love other
creators they don't have to be tech
creators but just like if you're on
youtube in general there's some sort of
conversation we can have yeah so let us
know on this clip we'd like to see
and we reach out comments aren't open
unless you hit the subscribe button so
press it very important just test her
out call to action having confidence
mirror on make sense
so i hit the red button good point do it
for colin and samir see you guys next
time
[Music]
you
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