How I Gained 7.8 Million Followers In 40 Months (6 Key Lessons)

Summary

In this inspiring presentation, the speaker shares their journey of growing a digital brand from zero to millions of followers across various platforms in just 40 months. They reveal six key strategies that contributed to their success, emphasizing the shift from edutainment to education, tailoring content for the target audience, and focusing on quality metrics like ad revenue instead of just views. The speaker also discusses the importance of creating content that resonates with business owners and the value of reintroducing oneself to new audiences, providing actionable insights for anyone looking to build or expand their online presence.

Takeaways

• 📈 The speaker's social media platforms experienced significant growth in a short span of 40 months, emphasizing the effectiveness of their content strategy.
• 🎯 They shifted their content focus from a mix of entertainment and education to purely educational content, targeting business owners and those interested in learning.
• 🔍 The speaker discovered that 'all views are not created equal', highlighting the importance of attracting the right audience for business growth.
• 📚 The presentation outlined six key changes observed to be effective in growing a brand, including moving from edutainment to education, and from views to revenue focus.
• 👫 The importance of creating content 'for you' (the audience) was stressed, rather than for the creator's own interests, to better serve the target audience.
• 📹 A significant insight was the move from overproduction to effective production in content creation, focusing on enhancing the educational message rather than distracting from it.
• 📉 The speaker shared that ad revenue became a key performance indicator, as it reflects both the quantity and quality of the audience attracted to the content.
• 📊 The strategy of moving from short-form content to long-form content was identified as more effective for conversions, as long-form viewers tend to be more engaged and likely to become customers.
• 🤔 The final change emphasized was to 'assume nothing' in content creation, meaning always introduce oneself and explain context to ensure new viewers can follow along easily.
• 📈 The speaker's success was attributed to a combination of creating high-quality content, learning from data, and iterating strategies to better serve the target audience.

Q & A

How did the speaker's YouTube channel grow in the last 40 months?

The speaker's YouTube channel grew from zero to 2.23 million subscribers in the last 40 months.

What was the growth of the speaker's Instagram following during the same period?

The speaker's Instagram following grew from 7,000 to 2.5 million followers in the last 40 months.

How did the speaker's LinkedIn follower count change?

The speaker's LinkedIn follower count increased from zero to 324,000 followers in the last 40 months.

What was the growth of the speaker's TikTok following?

The speaker's TikTok following grew from zero to 856,000 followers in the last 40 months.

How many Twitter followers did the speaker gain in the same time frame?

The speaker gained 17,000 Twitter followers, going from zero in the last 40 months.

What was the growth of the speaker's Facebook page?

The speaker's Facebook page grew from zero to 2,500 followers after just starting.

How did the speaker's podcast downloads increase?

The speaker's podcast downloads increased from 3,000 to 25 million downloads in the last 40 months.

What was the growth in the speaker's email subscriber base?

The speaker's email subscriber base grew from 0 to 700,000 in the last 40 months.

What is the speaker's strategy for content creation?

The speaker's strategy for content creation includes making good content, posting it everywhere possible, and learning as much as possible.

What are the six changes the speaker observed that actually worked for content growth?

The six changes observed are: 1) Going from edutainment to education, 2) From 'for us' to 'for you', 3) Wide to narrow focus, 4) From views to revenue, 5) Shorts to longs, and 6) Assume more to assume nothing.

What did the speaker mean by 'All views are not created equal'?

The speaker meant that not all views have the same value; entertainment viewers tend to want more entertainment, and educational viewers want more education, with little crossover between the two.

How did the speaker's approach to introductions in videos change?

The speaker changed the approach to introductions by focusing on 'proof promise plan', which involves proving their knowledge, promising what the viewer will learn, and setting expectations for the video.

What is the significance of the speaker's shift from 'edutainment' to 'education'?

The shift signifies a strategic decision to focus on content that educates and changes behavior, as it was found to be more effective in engaging the target audience of business owners and self-educators.

What is the main takeaway from the speaker's experience with ad revenue as a metric?

The main takeaway is that ad revenue is a real-time, leading performance indicator that reflects both the quantity and quality of the audience, making it a more effective metric than just views.

How does the speaker plan to approach content for different platforms?

The speaker plans to maintain a focus on long-form content for platforms like YouTube while ensuring that short-form content on platforms like TikTok is also business-focused to attract the right audience.

What is the speaker's advice on reintroducing past successful content?

The speaker advises to reintroduce past successful content to new audience members who may not have seen it before, as it can still perform well and is familiar to existing followers.

What is the speaker's final recommendation for those looking to grow their brand?

The speaker recommends starting with free resources like the courses on school.com/games for beginners and acis.com/training for those further along in their business journey to practice and apply the lessons learned.