I asked MrBeast how to grow on YouTube in 2024

Summary

In this illuminating video script, the creator shares seven insider tips to skyrocket YouTube growth in the wake of recent platform changes. From optimizing thumbnails with the '18% test' to drawing inspiration from unconventional sources like TV shows and billboards, the advice is both fresh and practical. Leveraging YouTube's new linking feature, the script delves into strategic methods like the 'flood method' and 'short to short' linking. It also emphasizes the importance of clipping videos before others do, using mainstream music, visualizing ideas with T-sheets, and preparing for potential 'link apocalypse' scenarios by diversifying traffic sources. With a blend of insight and actionable strategies, this script promises to equip viewers with a competitive edge in the ever-evolving YouTube landscape.

Takeaways

• 😄 Keep your YouTube thumbnails simple and clutter-free, with no more than three main elements, to make them easily recognizable and engaging.
• 🔍 Look for inspiration beyond just other YouTube videos, such as TV shows, movies, and billboards, to create unique and attention-grabbing thumbnails.
• 🔗 Utilize YouTube's new linking feature strategically by either flooding your shorts with links to your latest long-form video or linking your shorts to each other in a series.
• ✂️ Clip your own long-form videos into shorts before others do it, so you can direct the views back to your channel and potentially gain more exposure.
• 🎵 Use mainstream, trending music in your videos to make them more familiar and engaging for your audience, while staying protected from demonetization and copyright issues.
• 📝 Sketch out your video ideas using T-sheets (title, synopsis, and visual sketch) to better conceptualize and gather feedback before production.
• ⚠️ Prepare for a potential "link apocalypse" by diversifying your traffic sources and building your own platforms, as platforms may restrict external linking in the future.
• 💰 Consider creating additional revenue streams, such as a newsletter or a course, to build a sustainable business as a creator.
• 🤝 Collaborate with and learn from other successful creators to gain insights and strategies for growing your channel and audience.
• 🧠 Stay informed about platform updates, algorithm changes, and industry trends to adapt and optimize your content strategy accordingly.

Q & A

What is the first tip discussed for growing on YouTube?

The first tip is to limit your Lamborghinis, which refers to keeping your thumbnails simple and not overcrowded with too many elements, based on Mr Beast's approach of using one clear focal point instead of multiple distracting objects.

What is the second tip related to?

The second tip is to look off YouTube to succeed on YouTube. It suggests drawing inspiration from traditional media like TV shows, billboards, and movie posters for thumbnail designs and video formats, rather than solely relying on studying other YouTube content.

What are the two methods discussed for using YouTube's new linking feature for Shorts?

The two methods discussed are: 1) The flood method, where you link all your Shorts to your most recent long-form video, and 2) The short-to-short method, where you link your Shorts together, especially if they are part of a series.

Why is it important to clip your own long-form videos before others do?

With YouTube's new linking feature, you can only link your Shorts to your own videos, not to other channels. If others clip your content first, they can get the views from those Shorts, whereas if you clip your own content first, you can drive those views to your own channel.

What is the recommendation regarding music usage in videos?

The tip is to use better music, specifically mainstream music from popular artists, as it can make your videos feel more familiar and engaging to viewers. The sponsor Licked is mentioned as a service that allows using mainstream music while being protected from demonetization and copyright strikes.

What is the purpose of using t-sheets, as recommended by Zach King?

T-sheets are a simple tool to visually brainstorm and sketch out video ideas, including a synopsis, thumbnail sketch, and title. This helps to better visualize and refine ideas before fully developing them into videos.

What is the potential 'link apocalypse' discussed towards the end?

The 'link apocalypse' refers to the possibility of YouTube banning external links on long-form videos, similar to how they removed the ability to add links in Shorts. The recommendation is to diversify traffic sources and prepare for this potential scenario.

What is mentioned about Elon Musk's statements regarding social media platforms?

Elon Musk (formerly Twitter CEO) had suggested removing accounts that promote other social media platforms and content with links to platforms like Facebook and Instagram. While he later deleted the post, it highlights the potential for platforms to limit cross-promotion and external links.

What is the recommendation for diversifying traffic sources?

The recommendation is to sprint to diversify your traffic sources in the next few months, such as starting your own newsletter or other owned platforms, to prepare for the possibility of fewer external links being allowed on platforms like YouTube in the future.

What is the 'Insider Accelerator' course mentioned at the end?

The 'Insider Accelerator' is a course being launched by the speaker, where they will share more tools, tips, and templates to help creators build a real business, going beyond just growing on YouTube.

Outlines

00:00

🎥 Setting Up Successful YouTube Video Thumbnails

This paragraph discusses effective thumbnail strategies for YouTube videos. It highlights the importance of simplicity and limiting elements in thumbnails, using the example of Mr. Beast's process. The '18% test' is introduced, which involves shrinking the thumbnail size to identify visibility issues on mobile devices. The paragraph emphasizes having three elements or less in thumbnails for optimal clarity.

05:02

🔎 Drawing Inspiration from Diverse Sources

This section encourages creators to look beyond YouTube for inspiration, citing examples like TV shows, billboards, and movie posters. It discusses how Mr. Beast's team drew inspiration from the Apple TV show 'Severance' for a thumbnail idea. The paragraph emphasizes the importance of studying traditional media formats and adapting successful concepts to YouTube.

10:02

🔗 Leveraging YouTube's New Linking Feature

This paragraph explores strategic ways to utilize YouTube's new linking feature for Shorts. It introduces two methods: the 'flood method' (linking all Shorts to the most recent long-form video) and the 'short-to-short method' (linking related Shorts together). It also highlights the importance of clipping long-form videos into Shorts before others to retain viewership. The paragraph mentions tools like Opus Clip that can assist with this process.

Keywords

💡Thumbnails

Thumbnails are the small preview images that represent a video on YouTube. The script emphasizes the importance of effective thumbnails, providing examples from Mr. Beast's creative process. It suggests using simplicity, limiting elements to three or fewer items, and drawing inspiration from various media sources like TV shows, billboards, and movie posters to create eye-catching thumbnails.

💡Shorts

Shorts are short-form vertical videos on YouTube, typically under 60 seconds long. The script discusses strategies for leveraging YouTube's new feature that allows linking Shorts to longer videos. It suggests methods like 'The Flood Method' (linking all Shorts to the most recent long-form video) and 'The Short to Short Method' (linking related Shorts together to create a bingeable series).

💡Clipping

Clipping refers to the practice of creating short clips or excerpts from longer videos. The script advises creators to 'clip before you get clipped,' meaning they should proactively create and publish short clips from their own long-form content before others do it for them. This allows creators to retain control over the distribution and monetization of their content.

💡Music

The script emphasizes the importance of using the right music in videos to enhance their appeal and familiarity with the audience. It recommends using mainstream, chart-topping tracks from popular artists through services like Licked, which can help avoid demonetization and copyright issues. The script also provides an example of how using mainstream music can significantly improve the impact of a video clip.

💡T-Sheets

T-Sheets are a simple visual brainstorming tool described in the script. They consist of a sheet with a title, a picture or sketch, and a synopsis, allowing creators to quickly visualize and share video ideas with others for feedback. The script cites Zach King's use of T-Sheets as a collaborative process for developing video concepts that resonate with his audience.

💡Link Apocalypse

The 'Link Apocalypse' refers to the potential scenario where platforms like YouTube and Twitter remove or severely limit the ability to include external links in videos and posts. The script discusses Elon Musk's comments about removing accounts that promote other social media platforms and the implications of such a move. It advises creators to diversify their traffic sources and build their own platforms (e.g., newsletters) in preparation for a potential 'Link Apocalypse.'

💡Engagement

Engagement refers to the level of interaction and involvement between creators and their audience. The script emphasizes strategies to increase engagement, such as using familiar music, creating bingeable content through linked Shorts, and utilizing visual tools like T-Sheets to solicit feedback and collaboration from viewers. Effective engagement can lead to increased viewership, subscriber growth, and overall success on YouTube.

💡Monetization

Monetization is the process of generating revenue from content on platforms like YouTube. The script discusses the importance of retaining control over monetization opportunities by proactively creating and publishing clips from long-form content before others do it. It also mentions services like Licked, which can help protect creators from demonetization and copyright strikes when using popular music in their videos.

💡Inspiration

The script encourages creators to draw inspiration from various sources beyond just studying other YouTube content. It cites examples like Mr. Beast's team finding thumbnail inspiration from the TV show 'Severance,' and the script's author taking ideas from billboards and movie posters. This broader approach to inspiration can help creators develop unique and attention-grabbing content that stands out on the platform.

💡Collaboration

Collaboration is highlighted in the script as a valuable process for creators. It discusses tools like T-Sheets, which allow creators to share and receive feedback on video ideas from their team members, families, or roommates. Collaboration can lead to better concept development, execution, and overall video quality by incorporating diverse perspectives and utilizing collective creativity.

Highlights

Limit your Lamborghinis in thumbnails - keep it simple with three elements or less to pass the '18% test' for visibility on mobile devices.

Look beyond YouTube for inspiration - study traditional media like TV shows, billboards, and movie posters for fresh thumbnail and video format ideas.

Use YouTube's new linking feature strategically with the 'flood method' (link shorts to latest long-form video) and 'short-to-short method' (link shorts together).

Clip your long-form videos into shorts before others do, to drive views back to your channel using the linking feature.

Use mainstream, trending music from services like Licked to make videos more familiar and appealing to new audiences.

Brainstorm video ideas using 'T-sheets' - visual sketches with titles, synopses, and concepts, to get feedback before production.

Prepare for a potential 'link apocalypse' where platforms restrict external links, by diversifying traffic sources like newsletters.

Study internal drafts and thumbnail revision history of successful creators to understand their thought process and evolution.

Draw inspiration from unexpected sources, like the opening scene of a TV show sparking a unique thumbnail idea.

Recreate successful formats from traditional media, like reality shows or late-night segments, and adapt them for YouTube.

Use AI tools like Opus Clip to automatically generate short clips with proper styling from long-form videos.

Hire storyboard artists or use T-sheets to visualize and refine video ideas before production.

Diversify traffic sources like newsletters to prepare for potential restrictions on external links by platforms.

Leverage trends and legislations around linking practices to stay ahead of platform changes.

Subscribe to the channel and consider the 'Insider Accelerator' course for more creator tips and business strategies.

Transcripts

I just interviewed Mr Beast about his

latest tips for growing on YouTube right

now with all the recent changes to the

platform so in this video I'm going to

break down what we talked about on and

off stage as well as what I've learned

from 5 years working inside YouTube and

interviewing top creators to share the

seven best tips we've used to see a

massive jump in this Channel and no

these aren't the obvious and outdated

tips we've all heard it's stuff I'm

genuinely shocked more people aren't

talking about you're very good at what

you do

[Music]

so the first of the seven tips is to

limit your Lamborghinis and I'll explain

what that means in a second but it comes

from this fascinating moment from my

interview with Mr Beast which by the way

make sure you subscribe CU you're not

going to want to miss the full video

when I drop it but basically he showed

me all these internal drafts that it

took to go from an initial idea to a

final thumbnail take me through what is

this that we're looking at here Jimmy

these weren't AB tests OB some of the

first ones are kind of terrible but it

just shows all the different ones we

went went through until we landed on the

the one we ended up uploading help me

roast the earlier versions like cuz I

think for you maybe it's intuitive like

how you got from point A to B like what

are some of those most obvious changes

well the top middle one you know in in

theory your gut would be like having six

Lamborghinis look school but then it's

like hard to process it and you can't

see it I'm a big fan of Simplicity just

get it across where they instantly

understand it and so like to me one big

Lamborghini in the middle which

obviously is what we went with so much

better than like a driveway covered in

lamborghin cuz it's not it's so much

harder to process I like to like just

make it where your brain could be off

and you don't have to think you get it

click you know what I mean totally in

the real world obviously six Lambos are

better than one but in a YouTube

thumbnail less is more and one thing I

like to try is to see if my thumbnail

passes what I like to call the 18% test

so shrink your Photoshop canvas or

whatever you're using to design your

thumbnail down to 18% which helps you

identify what a viewer will actually see

especially on mobile and most times you

should have three elements or less in

your thumbnails just like Mr be so that

could be a face car Castle or face train

pit or you know a face money safe just

like Jimmy does and I say this with love

because we have a Discord where over

3,500 creators are there giving feedback

to each other and most people share the

thumbnails for me to roast and I want to

share three examples where if you zoom

them down to 18% you can't see the three

elements clearly and there's way too

many Lambos stuffed in there so by

looking at it at a smaller scale you can

make better decisions on what to cut

keep or enlarge the second tip is to

look off YouTube to succeed on YouTube

now look I'm not saying you shouldn't

study other YouTubers but if that's all

you do and you dismiss content from

Hollywood because it's too traditional

then you're losing out on so many ideas

that could set you apart case in point I

was shocked to learn that actually this

thumbnail idea for Mr Beast video was

actually sparked from his team watching

a scene from an Apple TV show called

Severance how did this go from a

thumbnail idea to final what have I

thumbnail guys Chucky watched Severance

and one of the opening shots is that uh

image in the top middle he's like we

should do this for a thumbnail and I was

like what does that even mean and he

sent me that Snapchat with a circle in a

human and I was even more confused the

image on the top right and I was like

Chucky I I don't know maybe you're

drinking alcohol even though he doesn't

um and uh and somehow that led to this

thumbnail we ended up doing here in the

bottom right which actually worked

pretty well and it was kind of nice cuz

usually my thumbnails have my face and

the left side um and I've been looking

for ways to not have every thumbnail be

the exact same that was a good Breakaway

that people seem to like you can draw

inspiration from anywhere it's not like

we got that from a different YouTube

thumbnail like he was literally just

watching

sance you know and you know ever since

hearing that I've looked at three things

differently TV shows Billboards and

movie posters and in fact this thumbnail

I made is actually from a billboard for

the Spy Kids movie I me I'm not even

ashamed to say I was driving and I

literally made a u-turn parked and took

a bunch of photos of that billboard to

add to my ongoing thumbnail Hall of Fame

folder so I could later adapt it and and

if you think about it it makes perfect

sense on every Hollywood set there's a

Director of Photography whose entire job

is to create a stunning shot that tells

a story just like we saw in Severance or

graphic designers who spend their

careers making Billboards and posters to

catch your attention in a nanc while

you're speeding on the highways and this

even goes beyond thumbnails I mean for

actual video formats think about what

creators like arach are doing they're

really just recreating big brother from

t

or the Sid men's Tinder in real life

that's really just MTV's next recreated

or even my on the street videos which

have gotten millions of views those are

just Tonight Show segments like Jay

Leno's jaywalking recreated so basically

what I'm saying is study traditional

media past and present because there's

so much opportunity to apply to YouTube

before others catch on all right the

next tip is this one drives me crazy

it's to be smarter about YouTube's new

linking feature okay so this is a hot

take but I think nearly everyone is

oversimplifying YouTube's recent update

which lets you link your shorts to other

videos because there's so much more you

can do with it so here's two ideas which

I like to call the flood method and the

short to short method the flood method

means you take every single one of your

shorts and have them linked to your most

recent long form YouTube video even if

it's unrelated meaning you flood one

long form with your shorts and then when

you put out another long form video you

change all the links on your shorts to

flood to that one and people aren't

talking about this but it's actually

what Mr Beast has been doing if you pay

close attention to the links on all of

his shorts they all go to the same long

form video and it's usually his most

recent upload and then when he uploads a

new long form all those links change so

the second method is the short to short

which is exactly what it sounds like

because most people use this tool this

new linking tool only to link their

short clips to the respective long form

that they came from which is what you

see with most podcasts but what most

people don't realize is that you can

also link your short to another short

which I would do with every single short

on your channel especially if your

shorts are part of a series for example

I have a series called creators versus

celebrities where I ask people who's

more famous and at the end of each video

I tease the next one so I linked all

those shorts together now if you're

thinking John all my shorts are all

unrelated there's no format there's no

theme well I made a video of how you

could create structured experiments to

figure out how to make your content much

more bingeable and find those formats so

YouTube takes your viewers down a rabbit

hole all right the next tip is to clip

before you get clipped and to explain

that here's a quick story my hourlong

interview with Danny Duncan got 1.9

million views and a ton of people CLI

that into shorts that got their Channel

16 million views 6 million views 1

million views each and before YouTube

made this update most people would just

say yeah okay that's all right it's cool

people are taking your long form they're

turning into short they bringing you

exposure and a lot of that is still true

but with this update it actually means

you may be losing out on a ton of views

because had you clipped your long form

before others did then you could have

gotten those views and linked right to

your own video because the key here is

this this this new feature only lets you

link your shorts to your own videos not

to other channels so even if people clip

your content and they want to drive

views to you as a source they can't so

you really have to beat them to it and

now you may be thinking all right John I

can barely edit my own long form videos

how do I edit a bunch of shorts too and

that's what I thought and there's a lot

of great AI tools out there and and one

one that my team loves is Opus clip

because you could simply enter your long

form video link and boom Opus generates

a bunch of Clips with your style

subtitles suggested headline description

and even ranks them with a virality

score so you can prioritize which ones

to post bottom line you got to clip your

videos before others clip them for you

because you never know when one of those

clips get 16 million views and you could

have brought even a portion of those

views back to your channel which could

have been massive the next tip is to use

better music and for this one I have to

thank our sponsor licked because I know

this one sounds simple but if there's

one thing you've probably seen across

our channel is that we are obsessed with

finding the right music and sounds and

personally I love using lick because it

lets use Main stream music in your

videos while being protected from

demonetization and copyright strikes and

I'm talking about huge chart topping

tracks from artists like Bruno Mars

Charlie poth Oliver tree cardi B and not

to mention with over 1 million

mainstream songs and a full library of

stock tracks your options are basically

endless it's a great way to use trending

songs your audience already knows and

loves and it helps your videos just feel

that much more familiar to newer

audience perfect example of this um if

you take a look at my clip from my 24

hours with Dan Duncan video that got 2.8

million views um we'll just watch a few

seconds of it with no mainstream

music now watch that same clip with

mainstream

[Music]

music and again licked protects against

demonetization so I I don't have to

worry about it as a Creator I mean if

you're interested or curious you could

check out this link below you'll get 14

days of freestock music and 50% off your

first mainstream track which brings me

to the next tip which is use t- sheets

to brainstorm videos now Jimmy talked

about how he's hired storyboard artists

to draw his ideas out but I want to talk

about how we could do that even if we

can't hire or have the budget we have a

full-time sketch artist is like before I

even put an idea on the calendar we

sketch out what the thumbnail will be

like usually we'll sketch out a couple

versions and and figure out what the

title is this helps make sure what I'm

envisioning isn't just dumb you know

okay so a much more budget friendly way

to do this is something I learned from

my interview was Zach King who explained

this amazingly simple tool called t-

sheets that helped him grow to 20

million subscribers and I'll let Zach

break it down here in a second but

basically it's a way to quickly

visualize your ideas and share with

others for specific feedback it's

essentially like picture um an 8 and a

half by 11 paper with a t written across

and then you've got a synopsis on one

side and a picture on the other and a

title on the top and that's just to help

all kinds of Learners you have people

who read you have people that just for

me a visual learner I see see like an

image and I get the concept A little

easier and then you also come up with

like that memorable Topline title that

is almost like it's not YouTube title

ready but it's just to give you an

Essence and sometimes it's very

memorable from there Zach has his team

vote on their favorite t- sheets to turn

into videos which makes it so much

easier than talking about their ideas

and generalities like most people do and

if you don't have a team don't worry you

can do this with your roommates or

family members the point is it makes it

so much easier to have a concrete ask

which is hey what do you think of this

specific t- sheeet with a headline

sketch and concept already on there

versus what do you think of this

ambiguous idea that you send over a text

and that brings me to our last tip which

is to prepare for a potential link

apocalypse let me explain part of

YouTube's recent update is a removal of

hyperlinks in shorts right so no more

links to external sites outside

affiliate links and so forth instead we

now have that linking feature in shorts

that we discuss and YouTube is giving

you more prominent links on your channel

page where you can link up to 14 links

customize the titles and so forth for

and for now I got to say this actually

seems like a decent trade for us as

creators but the big question is this

could this lead to a link apocalypse

where YouTube bans external links on

long form too and and what's the most

extreme case scenario here and how

should we prepare to answer those

questions we have to talk about Good Old

Elon Musk because back in December he

said this quote we will remove accounts

that promote other social media

platforms and content that contain links

or usernames for the following platforms

and listed out Facebook Instagram

Macedon and so forth now he quickly

deleted that post after a ton of

backlash but then X or Twitter's at

safety account put out this poll asking

a very similar question so regardless

the cat was out of the bag and you know

what Elon said is pretty harsh but it

actually makes business sense for

platforms like Twitter and YouTube and

Instagram to not play nice and to not

link to one another I mean do you ever

wonder why putting a YouTube link in

your Instagram stories leads to this

crappy mobile web EXP experience opening

up instead of bringing you right to

YouTube's app it's the same thinking I

mean apps don't want to donate traffic

to one another and now elon's tweets and

YouTube's updates are just accelerating

this so if I were you I would Sprint

these next few months to diversify your

traffic and that's actually why I've

started my own cartoon newsletter a few

months ago because we've all heard this

whole thing you know rented Land versus

own land and I think now is the time to

really take action on it because there

could be a world where you get less

links on long form next year I'm not

saying it'll happen I'm just saying

shouldn't be caught off guard and of

course there's actually legislation that

prevents big platforms from removing all

links so you could rest easy and YouTube

is probably going to start prioritize

even more traffic within their platform

like they're doing with shopping all

right if you found these tips helpful it

mean a lot if you subscribe and I'm

actually launching a course called

Insider accelerator while I'll be taking

you under my wing to share even more

tools tips and templates to build a real

business as a Creator so check out the

link below I'll see you next time