If I Wanted to Grow An Audience in 2024, I'd Do This

Summary

In this insightful video, the speaker, drawing from six years of experience, shares expert advice on growing an online audience from scratch. They discuss the importance of identifying a niche, understanding the target audience, and providing value. The speaker emphasizes the strategy of 'viral replication' to create successful content, and the concept of the '10% Edge' to guide the audience. They also delve into the systematic approach to content creation, the necessity of patience and consistency, and the evolution of a content pipeline from a solo endeavor to a team-based operation, highlighting the power of systems, processes, and repurposing content across platforms.

Takeaways

• 📈 Start with a Niche: Focus on a specific target audience and the value you can provide them, combining the 'Target' and 'Value' to define your niche.
• 🔍 Viral Replication: Learn from successful content by copying the title and thumbnail of viral pieces and creating your own version to leverage their success.
• 🎓 Leverage Your Expertise: Use your personal experience and knowledge to create content that adds value to a very specific audience, like teaching med school applicants based on your own experience.
• 📚 The 10% Edge: Be a guide for an audience that is 10% behind you, illuminating the path for those you can genuinely help.
• 📝 Document, Don't Create: Share your personal processes and systems, like study techniques, as content, rather than trying to be a general guru.
• 🔑 Productivity Focus: Identify a key area, like productivity, and build your brand around it, becoming a go-to source for that topic.
• 🎨 Packaging Matters: Invest time in creating compelling titles and thumbnails to ensure viewers click on and watch your content.
• 🔄 Systemize Content Creation: Treat content creation as a systematic process with defined structures and processes, rather than relying solely on creativity.
• 🎼 Use Royalty-Free Music: Utilize platforms like Epidemic Sound for high-quality, copyright-safe music for your videos.
• 🔗 Affiliate Marketing: Explore affiliate income as a revenue stream, leveraging products and services you genuinely use and recommend.
• 🚀 Consistency is Key: Commit to a long-term plan, like posting weekly for two years, to see significant growth in your audience.
• 🛠 Build Systems for Scalability: Develop systems and delegate tasks to avoid burnout and scale your content creation effectively.
• 🌐 Repurposing Content: Maximize the value of your content by repurposing it for various social media platforms to reach a wider audience.

Q & A

What is the main topic of the video?

The main topic of the video is sharing advice on how to grow an online audience from scratch, based on the speaker's 6 years of experience with growing their YouTube audience to over 6 million followers.

What does the speaker mean by 'Niche' in the context of building an online audience?

In the context of building an online audience, 'Niche' refers to a specific target audience and the value they are seeking. It's about identifying who you want to reach and what kind of content will be valuable to them.

What is the technique of 'viral replication' as mentioned in the video?

The technique of 'viral replication' involves copying the title and thumbnail of a piece of content that has already proven successful, and then creating your own version of that content in a unique way, without plagiarizing the original.

How did the speaker initially start making niche videos?

The speaker initially started making niche videos by teaching people how to get into medical school in the UK for specific universities like Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial, and UCL, leveraging their own experience as a medical student at Cambridge.

What is the concept of the '10% Edge' as introduced by Amy Porterfield?

The '10% Edge' concept by Amy Porterfield refers to the idea of being a guide for an audience that is 10% behind you in a certain area. You can illuminate the path for them because you are slightly ahead, rather than trying to be a guru who knows everything.

How did the speaker transition from making niche videos to becoming known for productivity?

The speaker transitioned by first focusing on their niche audience and providing value in that area. As they gained trust and their audience grew, they started to receive questions about productivity. This led them to expand their content to include productivity tips, eventually becoming known for it.

What is the importance of the title and thumbnail in YouTube video packaging?

The title and thumbnail are crucial in YouTube video packaging because they are the first things potential viewers see. If they are not compelling, viewers may not click on the video, regardless of the content's quality.

What does the speaker suggest for systemizing video content creation?

The speaker suggests treating video content creation like a systematic process, with defined steps for idea generation, writing, filming, editing, and publishing. This approach reduces reliance on 'creative energy' and increases consistency and efficiency.

How does the speaker describe the role of music in their videos, and who provides it?

The speaker describes music as an important element in their videos, provided by Epidemic Sound. They offer a large library of royalty-free music that can be used without the risk of copyright strikes, enhancing the production quality of the videos.

What is the main strategy for consistency in content creation according to the speaker?

The main strategy for consistency in content creation, as per the speaker, is setting input goals that are within one's control, such as committing to creating and sharing content regularly, and focusing on the process rather than the outcome.

How does the speaker approach the idea of systemization and delegation in their content creation process?

The speaker approaches systemization and delegation by creating a content pipeline with defined processes for each step of content creation. They delegate tasks to a team, allowing them to focus on their strengths while the team handles other aspects of the process.

Outlines

00:00

🚀 Growing an Online Audience from Scratch

The speaker shares insights from their 6-year journey of growing an online audience to over 6 million followers. They discuss the importance of identifying a niche by combining a specific target audience with a valuable offering. The speaker emphasizes the strategy of 'viral replication,' where one can capitalize on successful content by others by recreating it in their own unique way. They also touch on their personal experience of starting with very niche content related to medical school admissions and expanding into broader topics like productivity, drawing from their own expertise and experiences.

05:01

🎵 The Power of Music and Consistency in Content Creation

The speaker discusses the role of background music in video content, highlighting a partnership with Epidemic Sound, which provides a vast library of royalty-free music for creators. They explain the benefits of using Epidemic Sound's service to avoid copyright issues and the convenience of their diverse music and sound effects catalog. The speaker also delves into the challenges of maintaining consistency in content creation, advocating for setting input goals and the importance of patience and faith in seeing results. They share personal strategies for building systems and processes to ensure scalable and sustainable content production.

10:03

🛠 Systemization and Delegation in Scaling Content Production

The speaker outlines the evolution of their content creation process from a solo effort to a team of 14, focusing on systemization and delegation to avoid burnout and scale efficiently. They describe the initial challenges of managing all aspects of video production and the realization of the need for a systematic approach inspired by 'The E-Myth Revisited' by Michael Gerber. The speaker details the current content pipeline, which includes specialized roles for idea generation, research, filming, editing, publishing, and repurposing content across various platforms. They emphasize the importance of focusing on one's strengths and delegating other tasks to build a sustainable content creation empire.

Keywords

💡Online Audience

The term 'online audience' refers to the viewers or followers that engage with content creators on digital platforms. In the video, the speaker discusses their experience growing an online audience to over 6 million followers across various platforms, emphasizing the importance of understanding and catering to this audience to achieve success in digital content creation.

💡Niche

A 'niche' in marketing terms is a targeted segment of the market that has specific needs or interests. The video speaker explains that a niche combines both the target audience and the value provided to them. The speaker uses their own experience as an example, focusing on very specific niches like medical students applying to UK universities, which allowed them to become an authority in that area.

💡Viral Replication

Viral replication in the context of content creation involves mimicking successful content to increase the chances of one's own content going viral. The speaker mentions this technique as a strategy for creating content that has a higher likelihood of success, by copying the title and thumbnail of successful content and presenting it in a unique way.

💡10% Edge

The '10% Edge' is a concept by Amy Porterfield, which suggests that creators should focus on being 10% ahead of their audience, guiding them rather than trying to be an all-knowing guru. The speaker relates this to their own journey, where they were a guide for medical students, sharing knowledge and strategies that were slightly ahead of what their audience knew.

💡Productivity

Productivity refers to the efficiency and effectiveness in which tasks are completed. The speaker mentions that they were not initially known for productivity but gradually became associated with it as they shared their methods for balancing studies, video creation, and other activities, which resonated with their audience who were curious about their efficiency.

💡Systemization

Systemization is the process of creating systems and procedures to standardize tasks and increase efficiency. The speaker discusses the importance of systemizing content creation to reduce reliance on individual creativity and to ensure consistent output, drawing a parallel to the standardized processes of successful franchises like McDonald's.

💡Consistency

Consistency in the context of content creation means regularly producing and publishing content. The speaker emphasizes the importance of being patient and having faith in the process, suggesting setting input goals that are within one's control, such as creating content every week, as a strategy for maintaining consistency.

💡E-Myth Revisited

'E-Myth Revisited' is a book by Michael E. Gerber that the speaker credits with changing their approach to business. The book introduced the speaker to the idea of systemization and delegation, which they applied to their YouTube channel, transforming it from a one-person operation into a more structured and scalable business.

💡Delegation

Delegation involves assigning tasks to others to manage workload and increase efficiency. The speaker shares their experience of delegating various aspects of content creation, such as idea generation, research, editing, and publishing, which allowed them to focus on their strengths and scale their content production.

💡Repurposing

Repurposing content means reformatting or adapting existing content for different platforms or formats. The speaker discusses the strategy of repurposing their video content into various forms like Twitter threads, LinkedIn posts, and Instagram carousels to maximize the reach and impact of their work.

💡Epidemic Sound

Epidemic Sound is a music service provider mentioned by the speaker as the source of the background music for their videos. They highlight the benefits of using royalty-free music from Epidemic Sound, such as avoiding copyright issues and having access to a wide variety of professionally produced tracks and sound effects.

Highlights

The speaker shares 6 years of experience growing an online audience to over 6 million followers across platforms.

Emphasizes the importance of identifying a niche by combining target audience and value proposition.

Suggests using the technique of 'viral replication' to create successful content by modeling successful pieces.

Shares personal experience of growing an audience by targeting very niche markets like med school admissions.

Introduces the concept of the '10% Edge', guiding an audience that is 10% behind you in knowledge.

Documents personal study methods and exam preparation as a way to add value without being a 'guru'.

Transitioned to focusing on productivity as a key theme based on audience interest and personal expertise.

Mentions the importance of the 80/20 rule in content creation to maximize impact with minimal effort.

Stresses the significance of title and thumbnail in attracting viewers on YouTube.

Advocates for systemizing content creation to reduce reliance on creativity and increase efficiency.

Endorses the use of background music from Epidemic Sound for video content.

Provides an affiliate income opportunity through the Epidemic Sound affiliate program.

Discusses the challenge of consistency in content creation and the need for patience and faith.

Recommends setting input goals that are within one's control for consistent content creation.

Advises committing to a content schedule, like posting weekly for two years, to see significant results.

Shares the evolution from creating content solo to building a team and systemizing the process.

Introduces the idea of treating a YouTube channel like a franchise for scalability and consistency.

Details the delegation of various content creation tasks to a team to focus on core strengths.

Highlights the importance of repurposing video content across different social media platforms.

Transcripts

hey friends welcome back to the channel

so in this video I'm going to take my 6

years of experience of growing an online

audience to over 6 million followers on

YouTube and across all the platforms and

I'm going to share what I would do if I

was trying to grow an audience

completely from scratch today this is

something I've learned absolutely loads

about over the years and people always

ask me about it and so I wanted to share

my best advice and conveniently a few

months ago I was interviewed by my

friend and fellow YouTuber and

entrepreneur Noah Kagan and he and his

audience asked me a bunch of questions

around how to build an online audience

and so this video is going to be the

best advice from that

interview ideas kind of stem from Niche

and for me Niche is sort of a

combination of two things there's the

Target and the value who is the Target

and what is the value so for example as

a marketing agency owner I could be

targeting other marketing agency owners

and teaching them how to grow their

business that would create very

different content to for example

targeting dtoc consumer brand managers

and trying to teach them how to use Tik

Tok ads to level up their d2c campaigns

and one once I've nailed that at that

point I would start thinking okay cool

what are all the different content

buckets of ideas what's popular on blogs

that are targeting that audience what

are the other YouTube channels in the

space let's sort them by most popular

views and let's see what are their

videos that have gone viral we call this

technique of viral replication just kind

of funny basically like the easiest way

to get content that works is to copy the

title and thumbnail of another piece of

content that has worked and then just do

it in your own way so you're not really

plagiarizing them that would be how to

approach it if we were to zoom out a

little I was making very Niche videos

teaching people how to get into med

school in the UK for specific University

Oxford Cambridge Imperial UCL those were

the only things I was targeting very

very very Niche audience but I had an

unfair advantage in that space cuz I was

a medical student at Cambridge and I'd

been running courses teaching people how

to get into med school for like 5 years

at that point so I was making videos

about what I knew I wasn't trying to

make videos trying to be a general

productivity self-help Guru cuz that

wasn't even on the radar it was

literally just how do I add value to

people that I'm comfortable I can add

value to Amy Porterfield has a concept

she calls the 10% Edge who is the

audience that you're 10% ahead of that

you can illuminate the path for you can

be a guide rather than a guru so I was

being a guide for medical students

helping them get into med school and

then they got into med school and people

started asking me for advice on how to

study study for exams and I was like

okay I can do that so I read a few

papers I studied psychology as part of

my medical degree and I started sharing

the Gary ve model of document don't

create I was documenting the stuff that

I was doing to study for my own exams so

again I don't need to be a guru here I'm

just literally like hey here's how I

take notes here's how I study for this

exam here's what I discovered about how

to build a study timetable and again

this was this quite Niche I I think it

took me about 80 videos to get 4,000

subscribers 50 videos to get the first

1,000 and then from that point on people

started asking me questions about

productivity they were like huh you're a

medical student SL doctor and you

managed to make videos and you managed

to do other fun stuff on the side and it

seems like you've got a social life how

are you so productive and i' never

really thought of the word productivity

before then this was around 20 like 19

or something 2 years years into the

journey where I started thinking huh

maybe I should make videos about

productivity and now if you ask people

like Ali abdal what's the one word that

comes to mind the word that that word

would be productivity I think it's it's

interesting it's like Ryan holiday

started out making content from

marketing and then he kind of did some

journalism type thing and then he

stumbled on stoicism with the obstacle

is the way and now the one word that

Ryan holiday is known for is stoicism

and he's just doubling down on that so

similarly I decided I want to double

down on productivity we're trying to go

adjacent into Tech and into books and

just anything associated with helping

people be more

productive we really just need to figure

out what is the 820 like how do we

really 8020 the hell out of this stuff

so how do I put in a small amount of

time to get the maximum bang for my buck

in terms of content now when it comes to

YouTube in particular that comes from

basically title and thumbnail in terms

of the packaging of the video if no one

clicks on the title and thumbnail no

one's actually going to see the content

so spending a decent chunk of time on

the packaging is super helpful but then

when it comes to the content I I think

the hook plus the structure is the main

thing so for the hook it would be the

first 30 seconds and for the structure

it would be the sort of rough three-part

structure of video content creation can

be systemized I think people think of

content creation as like a creativity

thing it's not really a creativity thing

it's more like systems and processes and

Sops thing and actually oh there was a

sick quote I read creativity is a

systematic process and I always thought

creativity was like some mystical thing

I was like I don't think I'm very

creative it's like I need Creative

Energy left brain all of that stuff but

actually it's a systematic process it's

like that that quote from some famous

writer that I only write when

inspiration strikes luckily it strikes

at 9:00 a.m. every morning and I found

that the more I can systemize my content

creation the less I need to worry about

me being a creative person and the more

I can actually just get results of my

business oh and by the way if you

wondering about the absolutely sick

background music that we've been using

this video and that I've been using on

my YouTube channel for the last 6 years

that has been provided by epidemic sound

who are very kindly sponsoring this

video epidemic sound are absolutely

amazing they provide a huge library of

royalty-free music that you can use in

pretty much whatever way you want in

your videos epidemic owns 100% of all of

the music they provide so there is zero

chance that you'll ever get hit with a

copyright strike and epidemic sounds

library has over 40,000 tracks and

990,000 sound effects with new tracks

added every single week the music is

also professionally produced and it's

all original music they've got a

commercial plan and a personal plan now

the personal plan is the one that we as

a team use personally and that's perfect

for YouTubers and podcasters and

bloggers or anything like that and it

works on YouTube and Instagram and

Facebook and all these other platforms

or alternatively if you happen to be a

freelancer or an agency or a brand then

the commercial plan let to use

background music in your client videos

without ever worrying about a copyright

strike also just as an aside one of my

many income streams as a result of

having this audience has been affiliate

income and actually the epidemic sound

affiliate program is also a great way to

earn money as a Creator and also earlier

this year the epidemic sound team

invited me over to Sweden to visit their

offices and we took a trip to like the

Arctic North and was absolutely sick and

they're super super friendly and their

music studios are absolutely incredible

and so I'm just like epidemic sound fan

booy for life basically anyway if you

want to try out epidemic sound which is

literally the thing I've been using for

the last 6 and a half years and you can

check out the link in the video

description and you can sign up to a

totally free trial of their personal or

commercial plan and in those days you

can browse their library to your heart's

content and you can use any music that

you want from that library and then even

if you don't want to become a paid

subscriber you can still use any of the

music that you used during the trial and

not worry about copyright strikes at all

so thank you so much epidemic sound for

sponsoring this

video there's no there's no easy answer

to this um everyone I think wants a

Magic Bullet for consistency but really

it's about patience and it's about faith

it's about patience that it takes a long

time for this stuff to see results and

it's about faith that if you do the

right things and show up consistently

that eventually the results will come

and that's why personally for me I find

that the main strategy for consistency

is to set input goals goals that are

within my control like it's not within

my control whether I hit 10,000

subscribers it's not within my control

whether I get a million views on a video

but it is within my control can I show

up every week and share something

authentically that I feel would add

value to my target audience and if the

answer to that is yes and I can find a

way to make that process at least Vue L

enjoyable and just know that I'm going

to do it for 2 years is the thing I tell

my students if you want to do YouTube

commit to posting a video every single

week for 2 years that's the kind of time

Horizon you need to basically guarantee

that it's going to change your life the

problem is when people do it like oh I'm

not seeing any results 2 months later

I'm still I'm still terrible at making

videos I've never talked to a camera

before in my life but for some reason

I'm expecting results from day one

that's just completely absurd it takes 8

years of training in the UK for a

medicine to get someone even remotely in

front of a patient If You're Expecting

six figure results seven figure results

in your business you you canot not put

in the work and yeah of course people

are busy but if it was easy everyone

would have seven figure businesses based

on organic content marketing it's not

it's going to start off feeling like a

really heavy lift where you're like oh

my God I'm recording for an hour and I'm

getting 10 minutes of content out of it

it's not worth it it takes too long to

edit but if you push through that pain

just like you did when you were starting

your business and you start building

systems and processes and using

templates hiring people to do the things

you don't want to do that's ultimately

the thing that makes it consistent cuz

time management only gets you so far

like you can't time manage yourself to

getting you know two videos a week out

on YouTube while you have a full-time

job while you have a family and kids and

a life that's just not going to happen

you've got to build the systems and

tools you've got to use the knowledge

that businesses use to leverage yourself

so that you can create content at

scale early on like first like one year

or so literally flying by the seat of my

pants thinking H okay it's a new week I

need a new video what's the video going

to be this week uh come up with ideas

okay cool let's make the video write it

film it edit it like trying to do that

all well in medical school in a week hit

upload as the video is uploading

figuring out the title and the thumbnail

and just being like all right cool slap

some text on the thumbnail using Adobe

spark at the time upload the video let's

move on to the next one that was the

very rough process and then I realized

fairly quickly a few months in hang on

this is a recipe for Burnout this is not

sustainable I need to systemize the

whole thing and then I read an amazing

book called The e- Myth Revisited by

Michael Gober uh which is I'm sure you

guys some of you guys have read that

book completely changed my life because

it introduced me to the idea of

systemization and delegation and I was

like oh I get it I need to think think

of my YouTube channel as a franchise as

the Prototype for a franchise so you

know how you can walk into any

McDonald's anywhere in the world and you

get an identical experience the same

food the same experience they can put

any random ass 16-year-old with zero

qualifications into one of those jobs

and the 16-year-old will follow the

process and will get the result for the

customer that's amazing so how do you

therefore create systems and structures

in your own business that make it a

theoretical franchise what is the system

that I would follow to franchise out my

YouTube channel okay cool there's a

process for idea generation there's a

process for writing there's a process

for filming there's a process for

editing there's a process for publishing

etc etc and initially I was doing all of

these things myself and then very slowly

over time I started delegating small

bits of that so now someone else does

the idea generation someone else does

the research for some of the videos I

still do the writing because I've tried

Outsourcing it and it's really hard to

Outsource writing for your own videos

obviously I film my own videos but then

someone else edits someone else

publishes someone else repurposes

someone else looks at the analytics then

takes takes the footage and they will

turn it into like Instagram and Twitter

thread and a LinkedIn Carousel and an

Instagram Carousel and a Tik Tok and

we've got the whole repurposing process

as well cuz what we found is that we've

put in all the effort to make the video

we might as well chop it up and turn it

into a Twitter thread a LinkedIn thread

a kind of Carousel we might as well make

it sweat and repurpose it across all the

different social platforms that is what

the six years later the evolution of the

content pipeline looks like with a team

of 14 people 10 of which are basically

focused on the content side where we

have a coures business that supports the

whole thing and we have a general

manager in Angus so that I don't need to

worry about the day-to-day management

starting off with me as a doctor trying

to hustle to make videos one at a time

to this whole like production Empire

where now I don't even know what happens

on the YouTube channel I see a video

being uploaded I'm like damn that's cool

I watch it I give feedback to our

editors while recording a loom and it's

just it's just great so I can focus my

time on the thing I actually care about

which is drawing drawing diagrams on a

page and talking to a camera which is

the thing I'm good at everyone else does

everything else which is all the things

that I'm bad at

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