The Hidden Opportunity in Tutorial Channels (Thomas Frank Interview)
Summary
TLDRThomas Frank discusses his decision to abandon his successful 2 million subscriber YouTube channel to create a new channel focused solely on teaching productivity software Notion. He explains how this singular focus helped the new channel quickly gain traction. Topics covered include optimizing videos for browsing versus search traffic, relying too heavily on outside platforms, prioritizing teaching over production value for tutorials, embracing impermanence when new software updates invalidate old tutorial videos, using analytics to find content gaps, and determining if first-mover advantage matters when choosing a niche software to cover.
Takeaways
- 😊 Thomas abandoned his 2M sub channel to focus solely on Notion
- 👌 Creating a niche destination channel leads to clearer perception
- 📈 Long-tail tutorial videos bring in views over time
- 🔀 Generalized productivity videos need more convincing upfront
- 🚀 Relying on platforms has risks but provides fuel for growth
- 🌊 Accept constant change when covering changing tech platforms
- 🎥 Production quality depends on video purpose and viewer intent
- 💡 Make what you’re interested in first rather than strategy
- 📚 Think in content pillars when building a tutorial channel
- 🚪 Bring in wider audiences with broadly useful niche content
Q & A
Why did Thomas originally create the Thomas Frank Explains channel?
-He wanted to create a destination that people would immediately associate with learning how to use the productivity software Notion. By separating the Notion tutorials from his main channel, he hoped to establish a clearer brand identity.
What misconception did Thomas have about the Thomas Frank Explains channel initially?
-He assumed the channel would get most of its traffic from search, but it turns out browse features and suggested videos drive more traffic than search.
How does Thomas view reliance on software platforms like Notion for his business?
-He sees it as a necessary evil and rocket fuel for the business. There are risks, but the rapid growth enabled by platforms like Notion outweigh those risks in his view.
How does Thomas decide what topics to cover in his videos?
-He focuses mainly on what he finds interesting personally. He also looks at search analytics to identify knowledge gaps he could fill. Balancing personal interest with meeting audience needs is his main consideration.
How does video production differ between the channels?
-The Thomas Frank Explains videos focus on clarity over high production value. The main channel videos are more cinematic with unique branding per video suited to the topic.
How does Thomas deal with changes to Notion's interface over time?
-He takes a philosophical view of impermanence. Tech and interfaces change constantly, so he has accepted the need to update old videos as part of producing tech tutorials.
What are the content pillars that structure the Thomas Frank Explains channel?
-Fundamentals, build tutorials, feature releases, common mistakes/tips, and wider interest topics that introduce people to Notion.
What made Thomas' AI voice notes video successful?
-Originally focused just on Notion, feedback made him recognize it would appeal to anyone wanting automated voice transcripts. Removing Notion from the branding widened the video's appeal.
Does Thomas think you need to be first to cover a software tool on YouTube?
-No, he thinks that as long as a tool has a growing audience you can find an subset of that audience interested in your particular style and topics.
What's the main advice Thomas would give someone starting a tutorials channel?
-Don't worry about strategy early on, just create content about what interests you and be consistent in publishing videos.
Outlines
😁 Why Thomas Frank stopped creating on his 2M subscriber channel
Thomas Frank gave up his successful 2 million subscriber YouTube channel to create the TF Explains channel focused solely on teaching Notion. He wanted to build a destination known as the place to learn Notion and have a focused perception. The main channel was for more general productivity content.
🤔 Tutorial strategy: browse vs search views
Thomas explains the different strategy for tutorials on TF Explains vs generalized productivity videos on his main channel. TF Explains prioritizes long-tail evergreen tutorials not reliant on initial views, while the main channel videos focused more on early sponsor-driven views and conversions.
💰 Notion's symbiotic relationship with TF Explains
Thomas discusses the symbiotic relationship between Notion's growth and passionate user base constantly creating/sharing content, and channels like TF Explains focused on Notion tutorials and templates. However, other niche tools like Coda can also enable financial success.
🚀 Balancing platform risk and reward
Platform risk is a tradeoff for the rapid growth enabled by building on top of an existing platform. Entrepreneurs must continually evaluate threats and opportunities to decide on diversification vs full commitment. The goal is to maximize risk for outsized rewards.
🎥 Prioritizing clarity over fidelity for tutorials
TF Explains prioritized clear, good-looking tutorials over high production value because the goal was knowledge transfer. Easy thumbnail templates, consistent assets and formatting created an effective video "textbook" to learn Notion.
💡 Advice for starting a tutorials channel
The key advice for starting a tutorials channel is to not worry about strategy, just create content you're interested in and consistently add to your video library around specific tools or topics. Content pillars and replay value build authority.
😎 Using AI and broader topics to attract viewers
A video on taking AI-powered voice notes attracted views beyond just Notion users by focusing on the broader appeal of hands-free notes. This demonstrates using interest in popular topics to bring in viewers and introduce them to new tools.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡YouTube strategy
💡notion
💡startup
💡platform risk
💡production value
💡tutorial channel
💡Evergreen content
💡search vs. browse
💡notion API
💡content pillars
Highlights
I wanted to create a destination that people immediately thought of as the go-to place to learn notion
I wanted to have this experience where people find a video they click over to the channel and they realize like I want to learn notion and this is the place for it
We have more traffic from browse features and suggested than we do from search
On the main channel I don't really feel like there's a specific library I'm building it almost feels like I'm constructing a textbook on Thomas Frank explains
Notion is in this very enviable position where it has a very passionate user base that is constantly talking about it constantly creating free content about it
Your job as an entrepreneur is to constantly survey the landscape to constantly sort of do that SWOT analysis on your business
Don't worry about the strategy just make what you're interested in and put it up on YouTube
I wanted to make software tutorials so good-looking that people are like why would he put this much effort into it this is stupid
On Thomas Frank explains I know who I'm serving I'm serving people who want to learn notion so there are things that just need to be in the online video textbook
I bring that story up because that is the mindset that I have tried to adopt when it comes to making content about tech there is no such thing as permanence
Despite my online veneer of business business strategy mogul or whatever people want to call me my primary driver for what I make is what I'm interested in
Don't worry too much about the individual results because again you're if you're creating an entire channel that is a tutorial channel you're creating a library of content
I wanted to have the best looking software tutorials ever made I want to make software tutorials so good-looking that people are like why would he put this much effort into it this is stupid
If you're creating an entire channel that is a tutorial channel for either a specific tool or a specific purpose you're creating a library of content and you can always remake videos
If there is a growing audience for something and you're passionate about it and you're building skill in that area that's a good spot to be in regardless of whether or not they're other players
Transcripts
two years ago Thomas Frank made the
seemingly crazy decision to abandon his
2 million subscriber YouTube channel
that he spent a decade of his life
building to make software tutorials I
wanted to create a destination that
people immediately thought of as the
go-to place to learn notion I want to
make software tutorials so good-looking
that people are like why would he put
this much effort into it this is stupid
his decision paid off big time the
Thomas Frank explains channel has grown
to 220,000 subscribers done over 10
million views and doubled his Vue just
by teaching people how to use the
productivity and notetaking software
notion in this episode you'll learn how
to design the perfect viewer experience
I wanted to have this experience where
people find a video they click over to
the channel and they realize like I want
to learn notion and this is the place
for it how to think about browse views
versus search views I naively thought
that TF explains was going to be a
search only channel that turned out to
be wrong actually we have more traffic
from browse features and suggested than
we do from search the pros and cons of
Rel rying on outside platforms for
Success you're never going to get to
space by riding a bicycle you Bill
yourself and what every person starting
a tutorial Channel needs to do don't
worry about the strategy just make what
you're interested in and put it up on
YouTube it's Been probably a year more
than a year since we first recorded on
the Channel I want to hear how you're
thinking about your YouTube strategy
generally right now I'm going to leave
it that open and ambiguous I have to
give some context because my YouTube
strategy is being informed by a bigger
strategy and that is that we are
launching a new startup we are calling
it Fly lighter and it is starting out as
the best Web Clipper for notion but
eventually will be just the best idea
capture and knowledge capture tool that
you've ever seen that also lets you take
things uh from the web or from your head
and get them into whatever app you're
using instead of it being an app where
you browse that data so that makes my
strategy change quite a bit because for
the past year couple of years years I've
been almost entirely focused on teach
notion sell notion templates be like the
king of that n well now we're kind of
taking the next logical step in building
a tool that serves those users but then
we also have to build brand affinity and
awareness for the tool itself so rather
than just relying on notion content to
do that I'm launching my main Channel
again and I don't just want to make
productivity content again but I realize
that there is a very strong strategic
reason to create productivity content
there's still stuff I want to teach
around that so we're going to be doing
some more productivity videos uh that
may not just feature an oce as the app I
talk about and then uh I think I also
want to you know give myself permission
to talk about some of the things that I
am interested in and have developed
skills in over the past couple of years
on the channel like building my no code
skills even my coding skills uh talking
a bit about Business and
Entrepreneurship and I think people like
Ali abdall have sort of demonstrated
that once you've built up that Affinity
around your own personal brand the
audience is interested in the things
that you are doing as well it was kind
of like a refreshingly simple goal to
have in the past of just like I want to
become the recognized personality and
expert for this growing tool that isn't
mine now things are more difficult
because we're trying to balance that
with Al also building up our own startup
and and building brand Affinity around
that I was jealous of the Simplicity of
that goal I was like man what's what's
my thing I just want to do the one thing
I thought I thought it was great I feel
like there's grasses greener syndrome
with that no matter who you are no
matter where you are because I feel
jealousy around that with our mutual
friend Justin Welsh who basically has
his singular thing uh being Sol
preneurship I'm over here with like well
I've got my singular thing it's notion
but boy that thing over there is like
singular but also applies to a lot of
different things whereas like mine is a
specific tool and I have to convince
people they want to like learn about
formulas in that tool so there's you
know strengths and weaknesses no matter
what Niche you're in no matter what sort
of balance you have with uh regard to
Broad versus narrow Focus uh so it's
funny to hear you say like you have
experienced that kind of the same
jealousy because I feel it with Justin
help us understand why you split in the
first place why create Thomas Frank
explains versus produce the notion
content on the main Channel The Main
Idea here is I wanted to create a
destination that people immediately
thought of as the go-to place to learn
notion for me it wasn't necessarily
about how is the algorithm going to see
this content because we've probably
talked about this in the show before the
algorithm doesn't
necessarily uh penalize your entire your
entire channel for having variety
content it'll just sort of push out the
content that people want to see to those
people and then the rest of it might
just not get pushed out but it was more
a perception play more than anything
else I wanted to have this experience
where people find a video they click
over to the channel and they realize
like I want to learn ocean and this is
the place for it and if it's on the main
Channel mixed in with a bunch of General
productivity content it's not going to
sell that perception quite as fast it's
not going to set that first impression
the other thing was on the flip side the
main channel was supposed to be
productivity tips life advice personal
finance like all that more General stuff
so if I have a video that's like here's
how to change your URL Handler for an
ocean link and then put it into a
shortcut like nobody cares about that
it's super Niche so uh again it's just
like it's all semantics it's all on me
at the end of the day but I thought it
was going to be the best strategic
decision for building the perception
when you create CH uh videos on the main
Channel versus Thomas Frank explains are
you thinking about the way views will
happen differently because I would think
that on Thomas Frank explains we're
doing a lot of tutorials is the strategy
for a tutorial video the same as the
strategy for a more generalized
productivity video on the main Channel I
don't think so
and I have to speak from my experience
here more than my plans for the future
because the main Channel's goals are
going to be different going forward but
for the past six seven years uh I've had
sponsorships on the main channel so
there was very much a we want to see
good conversions within the first 30
days Thomas sort of like pressure
hanging over my head so there was very
much like we want to see uh good
performance views wise in the early days
of the video on TI explains originally I
did not care about the views at all in
fact uh I naively thought that TF
explains was going to be a search only
Channel and it would never get any sort
of organic promotion in the homepage or
the browse features uh that turned out
to be wrong actually we have more
traffic from browse features and
suggested them we do from search but
those videos are very very longtail I've
seen multiple times videos that start
out as like a 10 out of 10 eventually
become one of the higher performing
videos on the channel I think our notion
databases tutorial was like that it was
a 10 out of 10 for the first week or two
and now it's like maybe sixth or seventh
from the top it has nearly 300,000 views
which is great for the notion Niche so
yeah it's more just like I'm going to
put out an evergreen piece of content or
as Evergreen as it can be with a a tech
app that changes a lot and I'm just
going to let it do its thing it's just
another it's like another piece of the
library that forms the channel whereas
on the main Channel I don't really feel
like there's like a like a specific
Library I'm building it almost feels
like I'm constructing a textbook on
Thomas Frank explains and on the
longtail videos on Thomas Frank explains
does that longtail come from search or
is that just YouTube getting better at
recommending to specific viewers who it
thinks the time is right for them to
learn this thing uh actually don't think
I've checked about the longtail
specifically uh split what I do know
about the algorithm is it will
continually try new audience out new
audience segments out over time even as
the video becomes older and older and
that's why you will often and see random
spikes in your videos sometimes months
and months after the fact a lot of
creators are like where the heck did
that come from sometimes it was just
like the algorithm finally found the
right pocket for this video because
you've had some very very specific
videos you know I think about your your
fairly recent video about how I use AI
to take perfect notes without typing uh
over 600,000 views on a long tutorial
that seems like a very specific thing
that somebody would want to do and it's
just really awesome that this level of
like I know that started for you as just
this curiosity can I do this for me that
you spent like what days on maybe weeks
on getting to work oh not not days or
weeks
months that video I mean and I just
published a new one uh that's
unfortunately not doing as well in fact
maybe we could talk about why I shot
myself in the foot with the newest video
but I spent like an additional three
months working like nights and weekends
often full day sometimes uh making a
much better version of that workflow
that's like very plug andplay it takes
the setup time from like half an hour
down to five minutes for the user it's
much easier so I'm thinking like oh it's
GNA be another viral hit no it's it's
not doing nearly as well uh and I think
part of the reason is maybe it's the the
AI hype is down died a little bit but uh
I think I really shot myself in the foot
by being like hey there's a full guide
that I wrote for all three versions of
this workflow Google Drive one drive
Dropbox and uh I've noticed the the
watch time on that video is really low
so I think it's people going oh the
written guide is even easier than the
video let me just click on that and
leave the video interesting so like
there's almost like this hm maybe I
should have waited until the end to tell
people there was a written guide and
just had them sit through the tutorial
yeah do you see do you see that in the
retention curve uh yeah definitely it's
like the most clear-cut case between
between like serving the audience is a
bad thing for retention in this video's
case and I almost wonder if it like if
it lit Lally worked out better to be a
kind of pain in the butt tutorial the
first time after a quick break we talk
about how big of a role the software
itself plays in your Channel's success
so stick around we'll be right
back this video is sponsored by notion
the most essential tool in my business I
know that's a bold statement but it's
absolutely true all of my notes projects
tasks experiments and research for this
channel is done right inside notion if
you're not using notion yet I encourage
you to give it a try their person plan
is free and it's one of the best free
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rolled out notion calendar which is a
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connect notion docs directly to events
so everything lives in the same place
and you have all the contexts that you
need if you're a Google Calendar user
like me and you get nervous about making
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commitment now I'm actually on a paid
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I'm thinking about the role of the
platform you choose how how big of a
role do you think notion being the tool
that you chose played in this Channel's
success a big rule I think I would
describe this as a symbiotic
relationship part of why notion is so
successful and continues to grow uh to
grow is kind of like that Ikea effect it
gives people this basically Set of Legos
to play with and that makes people
really proud of what they build and they
want to go share it so notion is in this
very enviable position where it has a
very passionate user base that is
constantly talking about it constantly
creating free content about it uh and
then they've they've developed this even
more enviable position where creators
have realized uh as in my case you can
literally sell what you've created so
that now further incentivizes people
like me and other notion creators to
constantly talk about notion not just
our product prodcts but also their
product in general because that helps to
build up our audiences I think if I had
picked a tool that was sort of on the
decline in terms of user base maybe this
is unfair but I'll just pick ASA out of
the air um I don't know if Asa has quite
that cultural interest right now I don't
know if it's growing in quite the same
way uh especially from a large
user-based perspective so I'm not sure
that I would have been able to grow to
the same same levels however uh as I'm
thinking about this I do want to bring
up a Counterpoint and that is another
Channel called the Koda guy now I think
Koda is not in the same boat as AAA it's
a newer app it does have a growing user
base it is much more Niche does not have
quite the same following as notion so
when you go look at the Koda gu's
channel it's not quite as big he doesn't
usually break 10K views on a video but
he's on track to make like half a
million dollars this year in Revenue wow
and I think a lot of what he's doing is
like Consulting helping companies build
up their internal Koda docs so instead
of selling like a $50 template it might
be like a $5,000 Consulting session or
something like that I'm not quite sure
but yeah he has found similar financial
success in covering a tool that doesn't
have sort of like the same media
attention as notion in like Venture
Capital investing there's this this idea
of platform risk like is the thing that
you're building on top of another thing
so there are potential existential rings
to your risk to your thing based on that
thing do you think about platform risk
or should somebody watching this who's
thinking about making their own
tutorials Channel How should they think
about platform risk I do think about it
a lot actually just yesterday notion had
downtime and I was just like well yeah
this is annoying cuz our products don't
work and people are buying our products
and can't use them and we have to email
them be like hey try again later it's
you know not really us to a degree I
think there's a lot of platform risk
even if you're not covering one tool
like I have platform risk on YouTube I
think if that went away I don't know how
much I'd be able to leverage Twitter to
get the same results I kind of think
about this like a rocket ship so like if
you want to get to space you need a a
lot of fuel a lot of thrust a lot of
power and that means you have to rely on
the work of a lot of other people and
then you get up there and eventually
have to jettison Parts the rocket you're
never going to get to space by riding a
bicycle that you built yourself I love
that so yeah I guess like the philosophy
here is like platform risk is a
necessary evil but it also often
functions as like rocket fuel for a
business and so your job as an
entrepreneur is to constantly survey the
landscape to constantly sort of do that
like SWAT analysis on your business
strengths weaknesses opportunities and
uh threats and and and decide you know
kind of on a momentto moment basis like
how much platform risk is acceptable
right now should I be diversifying or
should I be totally buckling down I
think there was like an Alex Heros tweet
a while ago this was like this is stuck
in my head a lot he said you don't get
rich by diversifying you stay Rich by
diversifying you typically get rich by
striking it out of the park on one
really big thing so a lot of
opportunities we have these days are
building one really big thing on top of
another platform and it's just part of
the risk that you uh take on as an
entrepreneur you know that's what we do
we take risks right I've always had this
I think is probably an irrational fear
of creating videos around a tool or even
even if just part of the video features
a tool because I worry that even changes
in the UI of just how it looks will
frustrate me to know someday like the
thing that is shown in that video is no
longer the way things look that has to
have happened so many times in the
course of doing uh notion tutorials
what's your relationship to uh platform
changes that uh you know relate to
videos that you've made in the past I'm
going to tell a philosophical story to
hit to kick this one off when I was a a
college student uh one year these
Buddhist monks came to our college and
they set up a gigantic Round Table in
our big Memorial Union area they spent
an entire week very carefully pouring
this like finely colored sand to create
what's called a Mandola it's this
beautiful piece of sand art that takes
them five full days eight hours a day
just pouring sand to
create and so they make this and then
when it's done they do a little ceremony
and they sweep it
away and it's basically an exercise in
appreciating the ephemerality of life I
bring that story up because that is the
mindset that I have tried to adopt when
it comes to making content about tech
there is no such thing as permanence uh
and I think on the internet we can
convince ourselves that if we pick the
right Niche we do get permanence and we
can create this Evergreen content that's
just never going to go away uh but the
fact is even if you pick something that
is like if you're talking about stoic
philosophy right I can go talk about
Marcus aelius all day long and then next
year Ryan holiday is going to make a
better video and mine's out moded and I
need to go make a new video because the
meta shifted so there's there's just no
such thing as uh permanence and I have
accepted that as somebody who makes
content about notion eventually I'm
going to have to completely re-shoot
notion fundamentals I'm going to have to
completely re-shoot my uh tutorials for
my products and I just Embrace that it
kind of sucks like it does get
frustrating sometimes especially when
it's like a small change but it's
important but you know that's just sort
of the trade-off that I accept for
getting to create content every day
about a tool that I'm a huge nerd about
how do you vet what you create videos
around then because I imagine like
you're doing so much stuff all the time
how do you decide like what is too
specific and nerdy is there a too
specific in nerdy is that actually a pro
so I will say despite my online veneer
of business business strategy Mogul or
whatever people want to call me my
primary driver for what I make is what
I'm interested in this can often lead to
me making a two-hour video about the
notion API it can lead to me making like
spending three months programming
something and then releasing a video
where I accidentally killed the watch
time but beyond that there is some
strategy and I think it is especially
clear for Thomas Frank explains I know
who I'm serving I'm serving people who
want to learn notion so there are things
that just need to be in the online video
textbook that is that channel there
needs to be a video on the API there
needs to be a video on um database
features there needs to be a video on on
just building pages and linking all that
kind of stuff in many cases you can
literally just go into your YouTube
analytics and see what your viewers are
searching for they have that research
tab in analytics and you can see where
your content gaps are on the main
Channel you have this cinematic
aesthetic uh in the videos in the
thumbnails on Thomas Frank explains
these aren't cinematic videos it's not
the word I would use for them how do you
think about
production like Fidelity b-roll all
these different things that you probably
spend a lot more time thinking about on
the main Channel than you do in Thomas
Frank explains yeah so Thomas Frank
explains had a very very strong Mission
from the get-go and I think that really
helped me to get clear on what needed to
be prioritized and what didn't if people
are coming to a video with the intent of
learning how to build a task manager
notion they probably don't need 120
frame per second slowmo b-roll of me
drinking coffee in it they just need a
good-look video that primarily sounds
good and makes very clear what needs to
be accomplished and what they're going
to get at the the end of it that sort of
led me to making the decision early on
that a lot of TF explains was going to
be very templated I'm going to stand in
front of my camera 60 frames per second
make a bunch of facial expressions and
get a folder of thumbnail poses I can
use forever I'm going to use the same
color background for every thumbnail uh
I have the same bundle of assets every
thumbnail is going to have the notion
logo in it that's just it's just what it
is and that made thumbnail creation way
way easier for Fidelity I did have this
sort of egocentric but I think sort of
strategic goal of I want to have the
best looking software tutorials ever
made I want to make software tutorials
so goodlooking that people are like why
would he put this much effort into it
this is stupid so that's why I'm sitting
in like a th000 SQ foot studio with all
this stuff around me it's just like I I
I wanted to do that just to see if I
could do it but also I think it's going
to make people talk and then beyond that
it's just like make sure that everything
is clear I have a lot of uh uiux graphic
design experience from over the years
that helped me figure out like how much
should we Zoom the screen in when should
we actually do a full zoom in should we
highlight the mouse show the keystrokes
all that kind of stuff uh on the main
Channel there was never a super specific
mission right like it started as this is
the college infogeek Channel I'm going
to teach people how to be awesome at
college and there's a lot to that grades
Career Fairs extracurriculars everything
relationships and then that morphed into
well now I'm older I guess I'm teaching
the same kind of tactics and techniques
but to people who are not in a defined
four-year period of their life so now
it's even more General every video is
helpful but every video is almost like a
standalone project so that sort of
brought the focus down from Channel
level to video level and made me focus a
lot more on the artistic elements of
each video and making it like a unique
work but we also have more defined goals
as far as the business goes I still have
things I want to do on Tiff explains I
want to build fly lighter I have like a
startup to to Market so we're probably
going to see less like Mountain Lake
videos and a little bit more of that
let's create a show format so we can uh
better highlight the lessons we're
trying to teach instead of focusing on
slick b-roll and cool animations and
stuff yeah I highlight that because I
think it's an opportunity for people a
lot of times when I talk to aspiring
YouTubers they get really caught up in
production and Aesthetics and all these
features that make something look and
sound really really great but when you
when you're focused when the when the
goal of the video is actually knowledge
transfer and uh comprehension you know
it seems like that set of considerations
is secondary to accomplishing the goal
which is really good knowledge capture
which I or knowledge transfer which I
think is a a really helpful starting
point for folks who are really
interested in doing tutorials or doing
uh in-depth breakdowns on something very
specific Yeah the more specific you go
uh I would say the less work you have to
do to sort of like convince a viewer to
click convince a viewer to sit down and
keep watching it's not to say there's
nothing you can do but if somebody's
like I really want to manage my tasks in
notion I don't know how to build a task
manager and then my video pops up it's
like Master Class how to build a task
manager in notion from scratch I don't
have to do a lot of work to convince
that viewer to click the video they
already want that I just presented them
exactly what they want and from there I
just need to show them how to build it
whereas if it's like we're going to do a
video on uh you know how to get out of a
rut or or like how how to get up a
creative red or something like that um
that is almost a I don't know if it's
like too broad but it's much broader
then I need to use specific software
tool to get specific result so making it
almost like a let's sit down and watch
this as my lunchtime video versus
anything else I could choose uh that
comes more into play for people who
watching this and they're like okay I
have tools I like I have things that I'm
interested in I think I might want to
play around with doing a tutorials
Channel anything else we haven't covered
that you think they should think about
or be aware of if they're going to do uh
uh a tutorials channel the main thing I
would say is most people listening to
this probably aren't yet creating
content or they're not doing it
consistently so don't worry about the
strategy just make what you're
interested in and put it up on on
YouTube and also don't worry too much
about the individual results because
again you're if you're creating an
entire channel that is a tutorial
channel for either a specific tool or a
specific purpose like say graphic design
or ux you're creating a library of
content and you can always remake videos
and if you make a video then your
ability to remake it in the future and
make it 10,000 times better is going to
be there because you've gotten the first
rep in beyond that uh I think a lot
about content pillars on Thomas Frank
explains so I have like the fundamentals
pillar which is like somebody wants to
learn how to use notion so that's all
the notion fundamentals videos from the
basics of creating Pages all the way up
through databases then I have like the
build guides and tutorials pillar that's
like the task manager tutorial the
tutorial on building a habit tracker
personal portfolio website on notion
those are typically I think if you take
outliers out those are typically the
most successful videos on the channel
long term because they actually Teach an
outcome that people want whereas the
fundamental is like here's how to use
the tool it's almost like a um you know
here like here's how to speak French
versus here's how to like actually go to
France and and have a great life there
that kind of thing I also have like the
feature releases so this is a big thing
notion is very communicative with their
ambassadors about new releases so we all
make content about those new releases as
if they're Tech videos those videos do
really well in the short term tend to
pet her off after a month or so which is
totally fine um but they are a great way
to bring in new interest to the channel
and sort of solidify your channel as a
destination to do information about the
tool when new features release and then
I have like your typical like 10
mistakes people make when they start
using notion or 10 ways to make notion
faster like your kind of popcorn content
that would be like the fourth U pillar I
would say I love that I love the idea of
I want this to be the destination for
people to learn this content because I
think if you have that goal in mind even
if you don't see the results and
analytics that you hope to early on you
can ask yourself intellectually is this
serving that goal because I think in the
beginning probably especially on a
channel like this where maybe
recommended won't be as fast to hit if
you're doing a very specific tutorial
you need to have a long-term View and
really be willing to invest the time to
creating the videos hopefully one of
them hits but if you're hitting that
goal of is this making this the best
channel on this topic I think you can
know you are doing the right things
before you may see results hey if you're
publishing content but you aren't really
making any money doing it then I've got
something for you check out my free
professional Creator crash course in
just a few days I'll teach you how to
earn a living as a professional Creator
just to click the link in the
description oh and I I will say there's
one more pillar I didn't think about
this but with the AI voice video that
came out a few months ago that video
went through multiple rounds of feedback
with my friends and colleagues over at
nebula we have like a whole feedback
channel in our Slack which is probably
the best thing we we offer originally my
idea with that video was to call it like
how I take notes with my voice in notion
with chat GPT or something like that we
went through a bunch of different
thumbnail revisions for that idea and
then my agent Dave Pops in the chat and
just says one thing would this be useful
for people who don't use
notion and I'm like well yeah because
you get to just talk to your phone
record a voice note and it becomes
perfect transcript in summary it just
happens to be using notion as the
notetaking tool but yeah I guess a lot
of people would like that even if they
weren't using notion so we pivoted I
didn't put notion in the packaging at
all thumbnails just perfect notes no
typing me holding up my phone with a
note behind it and then the title is how
I take notes or how I use uh AI to take
notes with my voice without typing or
something like that but no no mention of
notion that's the video that now has
600,000 views I think it's top three or
four on the channel and that sort of
acts as a wider net that is cast that
brings in a bunch of people interested
in this certain out come and then
introduces notion as the tool to help
them solve that problem and get that
outcome uh and I remember noticing that
zapier was very good at this type of
marketing with their SEO strategy so for
people who don't know zapier is
automation tool like a no code
automation tool where you can sort of
connect apis together so like uh I got a
new Google forms submission and now it
sends me an email that's what you can do
with zpp here all of their content is
like the best email apps in 2021 or the
best to-do apps in 2021 or um you know
here's how to manage your calendar like
very very broad because they're going to
get a certain percentage of people who
are interested in those broader topics
who also are going to be like well I
really want to connect my Google
Calendar up to my notion for some reason
oh I can use zaap here to do that so
there is a sort of like fifth developing
pillar on TF explains of creating these
sorts of videos like the AI voice notes
video that bring in people who may not
might not even use notion or even know
about it yet but then we'll be
introduced to the tool
in the video about this really cool
broader thing that they're interested in
so smart especially if someone's
choosing a relatively new tool that may
not have name recognition yet which I
think is a good last question if I'm
thinking about the strategy of creating
a channel around a tool do you think
that I need to be concerned about uh
first mover advantage or is it better to
choose a tool that already has some
momentum uh that's a good question I
don't know if it matters I'm kind of
doing both I would say with notion I was
not first mover um maybe I was one of
the first big YouTubers to create like a
mainstream video on it on the main
Channel but in terms of like building TF
explains August Bradley already had a
ton of content Marie pulin already had a
ton of content uh red Gregory already
had some content I was definitely not
the first player uh but the cool thing
is like notion has a growing audience so
there's a growing subset of that
audience who wants to hear from someone
like me and likes my style uh there's
also subsets of the audience that want
to hear about the topics and subtopics
I've chosen to cover that maybe August
Bradley or Marie pulin didn't really
cover already I'm not sure that they had
like how to build a simple task manager
on their channels so I did that and my
video did really well uh they have other
videos that talk about other things and
their videos did really well for that so
I don't think it matters too much if
there is a growing audience for
something and you're passionate about it
and you're building skill in that area
that's a good good spot to be in
regardless of whether or not they're
other players to learn how you can
Master the YouTube algorithm like Thomas
check out this other interview I did
with him where we talk about how he
built his first channel to 2 million
subscribers
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