Episode 237
Lessons Learned from a Viral Video Phenomenon
In a thought-provoking exchange, we delve into the complexities of content creation within the digital landscape, examining the often counterintuitive nature of audience engagement and the phenomenon of VIRALITY. The conversation is catalyzed by an unexpected success story—a video featuring playful interactions with convention attendees that garnered significant viewership despite the absence of elaborate production values. This narrative serves as a springboard for a broader exploration of the relationship between effort and creative authenticity, as Speaker A reflects on the irony of producing a video with minimal effort that resonated profoundly with viewers.
Takeaways:
- The unexpected success of a carefree video led to a reevaluation of content strategy.
- Engaging authentically with an audience can yield greater results than overly polished content.
- The importance of consistency in content creation has evolved significantly over the years.
- Interacting with viewers through comments enhances engagement and positively affects channel performance.
- Navigating negative comments is a common challenge, but developing resilience is essential for creators.
- Creating a family-friendly space on a channel requires diligent comment moderation and filtering.
Transcript
And I had a video of me playing to, you know, cosplayers, people who dress up in costume and just have fun and everything at conventions.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:And I put that up and it just, like, got a million in, like, two weeks.
Speaker A:I was like, oh, okay, this is like the video that I put the least amount of effort into.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:Just blew up.
Speaker A:Just every single other video was like, okay, I have to make this, like, perfect so people will think I'm really good.
Speaker A:And this video is, like, just gonna have some fun and no one's gonna care about it except for me and, like, maybe one other nerd, but, you know, and then.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Did that make you rethink your strategy for putting up videos?
Speaker B:Were you just like, let me just try and have more fun, or were you still like, that's a fluke.
Speaker B:Let me stick to the script?
Speaker A:Oh, no, absolutely.
Speaker A:Just because so many people were like, oh, wow, this is so cool.
Speaker A:There's.
Speaker A:There.
Speaker A:There isn't a lot of production that went into it.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker A:So all people could see was, oh, this is you.
Speaker A:And just a camera just doing, like, capturing whatever's going on instead of, oh, I've edit.
Speaker A:I've edited the sound and post and put effects and everything because, I mean, it's really easy to make beautiful videos for sure now with the technology.
Speaker A:So I think it was.
Speaker A:Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker A:I just had a lot of fun doing it and luckily I've been able to do it lots more since.
Speaker B:That's amazing, the traction that you got from that.
Speaker B:Have it.
Speaker B:Has it kind of been sustained or has it kind of.
Speaker A:Yeah, Yeah.
Speaker A:I was kind of slated to do six Comic Con and fan expo type conventions this year, you know?
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:So, I mean, it definitely got me to 150,000 followers faster than anything, anything else I was doing.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker A:Yeah, it turns out if you have fun, sometimes other people might have fun watching you.
Speaker A:For sure have fun.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:That's amazing.
Speaker A:Yeah, it's weird.
Speaker A:I never would have expected it.
Speaker B:Yeah, no, it's like you said, the one that you tried the least turned out to be the most successful.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:It's hilarious.
Speaker D:Wow.
Speaker E:When did you notice that YouTube could kind of be a thing for you?
Speaker E:Oh, that's.
Speaker C:That's an interesting question for me.
Speaker C:I was kind of confident in YouTube early on.
Speaker C:Like, once I knew that people were watching, I just thought, oh, you know what, let me do this.
Speaker C:And I learned that people were making money, so I'm like, why not see where this can go?
Speaker C: at was actually like, back in: Speaker C:And I did a cover of Love the Way youy Lie, Rihanna and Eminem, and that jumped up to 150,000 views.
Speaker C:And for me, that was really good because my subscriber count was, like, 100, so that was cool.
Speaker C:And then I deleted my channel and just didn't do YouTube for a little bit.
Speaker E:Oh, he took a little break.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C: And started up again in: Speaker E:Okay.
Speaker C:At that point, I just.
Speaker C:I had a feeling that I could get back to where I was and even past it, so I just kept working.
Speaker E:So it's basically you kind of understood what it would take to.
Speaker E:To get back to that point, and you just repeated the same steps, Sort of.
Speaker C:It might have been a case of overconfidence, where it's like, I'm just like, I'm good at YouTube, so I can do it.
Speaker C:But I would make maybe eight videos week after week and then lose interest or burn out and then not play for another year and a half.
Speaker C:And I would do that for a long time until maybe just last year, where I'm like, if I'm gonna do YouTube properly, this is what the experts are saying now.
Speaker C:I should be consistent.
Speaker C:So I've been doing that since last September and haven't missed a beat.
Speaker E:Wow.
Speaker E:What about you, Bridget?
Speaker E:How are you as far as, like, post consistency?
Speaker E:Is that a thing for you or is it kind of?
Speaker A:I, like.
Speaker A:As you know, I, like, messed up my arm last year, last November, so I had to take, like, a couple months off playing and even doing computer things, just, like, replying to comments.
Speaker A:I make sure to do that every single day, especially because I have to kind of weed through the comments.
Speaker A:That got past my word filters.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker A:And I don't.
Speaker A:I want to keep my channel a bit more family friendly.
Speaker D:Could you tell us more about the word filter?
Speaker B:Yeah, I was gonna ask.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:Am I allowed to say swear words on this podcast?
Speaker A:Oh, okay, cool.
Speaker A:So since there are, you know, a bunch of, like, different fandoms in my videos, people be like, wow, that person's, like, too fat to play this character.
Speaker A:Like, how dare.
Speaker A:Or like, oh, this.
Speaker A:This character.
Speaker A:Like, sorry, sorry.
Speaker D:You know, fandom's characters.
Speaker A:Oh, sorry.
Speaker D:Explain to the layman what's going on.
Speaker A:So I will be playing maybe to Spider man, and someone will say, like, oh, you know that Spider man character?
Speaker A:That.
Speaker A:That guy playing Spider man isn't, like, fit enough to play Spider Man.
Speaker A:He shouldn't be doing that.
Speaker A:And I'm like, well, that's not very polite of you.
Speaker A:Like, yeah, okay.
Speaker A:I'm not gonna, you know, you just delete that comment.
Speaker A:But then of course you have other comments just like popping up.
Speaker A:Just like F words, C words, all the, all the things you could imagine.
Speaker A:Like, oh, you didn't play my song right.
Speaker A:I'm gonna kill you and find you.
Speaker A:And I'm like, thanks.
Speaker A:You're probably 12.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Cool.
Speaker A:Yeah, people.
Speaker D:Yeah, but 12 year olds in the States have guns.
Speaker A:You know what?
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Too bad they can't get upsemen now.
Speaker A:So I don't know, I just.
Speaker A:I just don't like that kind of stuff on my channel, so I try to find it quickly.
Speaker A:So I.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker D:So word filter.
Speaker D:How does.
Speaker D:Is it just command F and then delete the bad ones or.
Speaker A:No, I.
Speaker A:I have to go through it myself.
Speaker D:Oh, oh, you're the filter.
Speaker A:I mean, there is an initial word filter that's like, okay, if someone has these words, take them out, like, put them in a separate folder where I have to approve them going back.
Speaker A:So sometimes someone will be like, oh, this, this video is awesome.
Speaker A:I'm like, thanks, mom.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker A:So that, you know, that's okay.
Speaker A:Yeah, it has a.
Speaker A:It has a no, no word, but let's put that in there.
Speaker A:But you know, other times we'll be like, oh, this sucks.
Speaker A:And this is why I hate it.
Speaker A:And it ruined my life forever.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker D:You can, you can moderate those.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker D:Okay.
Speaker A:Yeah, so it's a lot of work.
Speaker B:But yeah, I was gonna say you must spend a lot of time doing that, like going through comments and filtering out all the crap that's in there.
Speaker B:Because I could imagine, like any YouTube channel I look at, it starts with good intentions and then it just gets nasty real quick.
Speaker B:Do you spend, like most.
Speaker B:Like, how much do you think of your time do you spend going through the comments?
Speaker A:Honestly, if it's.
Speaker A:If I do it every single day, it's only about like 10 minutes on an average day.
Speaker B:Does it ever bring your energy down?
Speaker B:Like, when you read some of this stuff, you're like, who's saying this stuff?
Speaker B:Like, you're so mean.
Speaker B:When I read other people's stuff, I just go like, I can't believe they're even saying this to someone.
Speaker A:Used to.
Speaker A:But I've gotten so just like used to it, right.
Speaker A:On a daily basis.
Speaker A:I'm like, what?
Speaker A:Whatever.
Speaker A:Like, it will.
Speaker A:It will hurt me if another violinist or musician comes on and they're like, well, you're not good.
Speaker A:And here are the reasons why.
Speaker A:And I'm like, oh, no, I should practice more.
Speaker A:But if it's like someone just spouting stuff.
Speaker B:It's like, has that happened the violinist?
Speaker A:Oh, yeah, just classical, like people who are like, I'm a classical musician and I have a degree in fancy and you're garbage.
Speaker E:That's the voice.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yeah, that is a fancy.
Speaker A:I have people come on your channel and been like, your saxophone playing isn't as good as my six year old daughters.
Speaker B:And you're like, does that happen to you too?
Speaker C:Yeah, it happens to pretty much every YouTuber, I think.
Speaker C:But YouTube really thickens your skin.
Speaker C:So.
Speaker C:Yeah, it bothered me at first, but not, not at all at this point.
Speaker B:Yeah, I don't know, I just, that's especially just like, because, you know, they're talking about you guys.
Speaker E:It's just like, it's hard not to take it personally.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:For me, I don't know how I would be able to handle like not getting emotional when I read some of the hurtful things that people are saying.
Speaker B:But then I guess like you said, you know what they're trying to do and after a while it's just whatever, they still watch the video.
Speaker A:Usually I'll say like, wow, thank you so much for the comment.
Speaker A:Like, it really helps my channel the more you comment.
Speaker C:That is true as well.
Speaker E:And you also mentioned you try to respond to comments every day.
Speaker E:I guess that does help then.
Speaker E:Is that something that people should be trying to do on YouTube as well?
Speaker A:I mean, you, you should reply to comments as much as you can.
Speaker A:I'm much better at being active on YouTube and replying to comments than I am on Instagram and replying to comments.
Speaker A:Because Instagram's more like, you should be putting up a new post every like two or three days or else the algorithm's like, hey, bye.
Speaker B:Really?
Speaker A:But I'm really not good at consistency on YouTube at the moment.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker A:What do you think about that?
Speaker A:Instagram versus YouTube comments?
Speaker C:Oh, well, I just prioritize YouTube, so maybe I'm the opposite there.
Speaker A:That's fair.
Speaker C:Yeah, definitely.
Speaker C:Each of the platforms want you to be interactive as much as possible with the audience.
Speaker C:So like on YouTube, if you're replying all the time, it makes your videos look good to the platform and their algorithm, but also it gets your fans really engaged, so that makes them come back.
Speaker C:And for those two reasons, it's really good.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah, that's fair.
Speaker A:So it's kind of like whenever you have the time and as you already said, you shouldn't burn yourself out whenever.
Speaker A:Whenever is good for you.
Speaker A:But also it's A tiny bit of a job as well.
Speaker D:Have you ever let yourself go and just argue with trolls for days?
Speaker A:Oh, man.
Speaker A:That's more of a Facebook thing for me.
Speaker C:Okay.
Speaker D:Have you ever let yourself go on Facebook and argue with trolls for days?
Speaker A:One time.
Speaker A:One time.
Speaker A:Back.
Speaker A:Back two years ago, it was like something like, oh, you know, why are these.
Speaker A:Why are these electric violinists coming out, thinking they can, you know, play violin like it's an instrument?
Speaker A:Like, you do realize that this same argument was said, like, a hundred years ago when acoustic.
Speaker A:When electric versus acoustic guitars was, like, a hot deal.
Speaker D:Some people still make that argument alone in their basement.
Speaker A:Oh, yeah.
Speaker D:No, but you see that argument be made too, that anything electronic is cheating.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker D:What about light bulbs, then?
Speaker D:Can you play a real violin in the dark?
Speaker D:That's electronic.
Speaker C:Interesting.
Speaker A:I mean, that's why my electric has frets.
Speaker D:Your electric has frets?
Speaker A:Yeah, because.
Speaker D:Serious.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker D:Like, drawn on.
Speaker D:Or is it like metal frets?
Speaker A:It's like very light metal frets.
Speaker A:Because I'll often play with a DJ or a drummer or.
Speaker D:So cool.
Speaker A:Just anyone loud in a.
Speaker A:In an amplified scenario.
Speaker A:You can't really hear yourself half the time.
Speaker A:So I want to make sure I'm.
Speaker D:Playing in tune, especially not at every gig.
Speaker D:Some gigs, if you have your own monitor engineer.
Speaker A:Yeah, that's definitely not all.
Speaker D:I would like to see this fretted violin.
Speaker D:I've never seen one of those before.
Speaker D:Yeah, that's cool.
Speaker E:So I have some questions about.
Speaker E:I guess just about YouTube.
Speaker E:And then I guess we'll go kind of a little bit more into your individual journeys on there and trying to get some people some information.
Speaker E:Because everyone wants to know how this YouTube beast works and how to conquer it.
Speaker E: how has YouTube changed since: Speaker E:Or, like, when you actually first began a little bit before that?
Speaker C:I could talk about that.
Speaker C:2013, the biggest change would be the algorithm, I would say.
Speaker C:And that just means that it's the way that YouTube recommends certain channels over others or certain videos over others.
Speaker C: And: Speaker C:These days.
Speaker C:They sometimes say one a week is enough, but they really try to get the most they can out of creators.
Speaker C:So it ends up being two a week at minimum these days for YouTube to really push you.
Speaker D:Two a week.
Speaker D:Or else what happens?
Speaker C:Or else you just wouldn't gain the traction from videos that don't naturally go viral.
Speaker D:Oh, I see.
Speaker C:You can get to the same place either by getting a really viral video or by posting a lot of videos that never go viral consistently.
Speaker B:Wow.
