How To Build An Audience With Zero Followers (6 Beginner Strategies)

Summary

The video script offers an in-depth guide for aspiring social media influencers and content creators, particularly those aiming to succeed on platforms like YouTube and Twitter. The speaker shares their personal journey and the lessons learned from years of trial and error. Key takeaways include the importance of understanding writing as a foundational skill for content creation, leveraging the power of persuasion and psychology to engage audiences, and the necessity of building a unique personal brand that resonates with followers. The script emphasizes the value of starting with platforms like Twitter to control growth and then funneling that audience to other platforms. It also provides practical tips on creating compelling content, such as mastering hooks, choosing the right topics, and treating social media growth like a strategic game. The speaker encourages creators to see social media as a platform for personal and professional evolution, where the right approach can lead to sustainable growth and success.

Takeaways

• 🚀 **Persistence is Key**: The speaker emphasizes the importance of not giving up, as they failed for years before achieving success on YouTube.
• 📈 **Growth Strategies**: Discusses the best ways to grow on social media, especially for those starting with zero followers, highlighting the lack of knowledge as a common issue.
• 🤳 **Leverage Your Strengths**: Suggests using other people's authority and one's unique identity to build a personal brand, leading to faster growth.
• 🎮 **Social Media as a Game**: Treating social media like a video game is crucial for success, as it encourages a mindset of continuous learning and adaptation.
• 📝 **The Power of Writing**: Writing is a fundamental skill that can be used to structure messages effectively and persuade an audience.
• 🧠 **Understanding Your Audience**: Recognizes the importance of knowing your audience and creating content that resonates with them on a personal level.
• 📱 **Twitter as a Testing Ground**: The speaker shares their experience of using Twitter to test ideas and build an audience before transitioning to YouTube.
• 📉 **Control Your Growth**: Advises controlling your growth by understanding and leveraging social media features rather than relying solely on algorithmic recommendations.
• 🌟 **Be a 'DJ' with Ideas**: Encourages users to remix and synthesize ideas from various sources to create unique content that reflects their individual perspectives.
• 🔄 **Leverage Authority**: Suggests starting by curating others' ideas to gain authority and then building on that to create original content.
• 📉 **Master Hooks and Topics**: Stresses the importance of crafting compelling hooks and selecting the right topics to attract and retain an audience's attention.

Q & A

What was the main reason the speaker failed at becoming a YouTuber initially?

The speaker failed initially because they didn't understand the importance of skills like persuasion, psychology, copywriting, marketing, and sales in creating impactful content.

How did social media influence the speaker's life and perspective?

Social media served as a powerful tool for the speaker, changing their life by providing role models and ideas that they couldn't find in real life, shaping their identity, and influencing their views on self-improvement, business, and other domains.

Why is writing considered a crucial skill for success on social media according to the speaker?

Writing is crucial because it allows creators to structure messages persuasively, making their content more interesting and engaging to audiences. It's also a way to pass down information and shape human evolution.

What is the significance of using Twitter for building an audience before moving to platforms like YouTube?

Twitter allows for easier manual control of growth due to features like DMs and reposts. It's simpler to use, focusing on writing, which can then be repurposed into content for other platforms like YouTube.

How did the speaker overcome their limiting beliefs and start growing their audience on Twitter?

The speaker overcame their limiting beliefs by observing others who were successful on Twitter, realizing they had similar knowledge, and then taking the leap to start posting their own content.

What are some strategies the speaker suggests for leveraging other people's authority to grow one's own social media presence?

The speaker suggests writing about others' ideas and tagging them, creating threads with multiple ideas from different people and tagging them all, and using authoritative figures' ideas to create high-performing posts.

Why is it important to master hooks and topics when writing for social media?

Mastering hooks and topics is important because they are key to attracting readers' attention and making them want to engage with the content. Without a compelling hook and a relevant topic, even valuable content may go unread.

What does the speaker mean when they say to treat social media like a 'global video game'?

The speaker means that social media is a platform where you must continuously improve your skills and collaborate with others, much like playing a multiplayer game with individual missions. It involves building a tribe and working with others towards common goals.

How did the speaker's approach to growing on social media change after understanding the power of writing?

The speaker started to focus on writing as a core skill, using persuasive structures, and creating content that resonated with their audience's interests and goals. They also began to leverage Twitter's features to control their growth before expanding to other platforms like YouTube.

What is the 'holy trifecta' the speaker refers to for social media growth?

The 'holy trifecta' refers to the combination of the right topic, a compelling hook, and directing traffic to the content. When these three elements align, it can lead to significant growth in followers.

Why is it beneficial to have a broader audience on social media rather than just focusing on a niche target audience?

A broader audience increases the potential for more people to spread the content to the target audience, thus increasing reach and opportunities. It's more advantageous to have a large following, some of whom are the target audience, than a small following that is exclusively the target audience.

How does the speaker define the term 'DJ with ideas' in the context of social media?

A 'DJ with ideas' is someone who takes various ideas from multiple sources and combines them into a unique blend, much like a DJ mixes different sounds and music. On social media, this means curating and synthesizing ideas to create original, personalized content.