Making Content That People Love

Welcome to YouTube’s world where videos go viral and creators become stars overnight. Let’s explore the secrets behind viral videos and successful campaigns. Our hot topic today is short form versus long form content. Which one is better? We’ll uncover why creating great long form videos is complex and needs a solid plan, especially in the competitive English speaking market. We’ll compare this to the more improvised often outrageous tactics seen in the Russian speaking market. And why these don’t always work in the West. We’ll also discuss the effectiveness of short form content, why it gets more views but less engagement and the challenges of running ads on these videos. Plus, we’ll talk about how our attention spans are changing due to bite sized entertainment, from creating strong content plans to choosing between paid ads and organic growth. This episode has valuable tips for all YouTube creators. Tune in and learn what it takes to make your content stand out on YouTube. Let’s get started.

1:01  

I’m Igor Kheifets and this is the List Building Lifestyle, the podcast for anyone who wants to build a wildly profitable email list working from home. If you’d like to make six figures, travel the world and help people improve their lives in the process, this podcast is for you. I also invite you to claim a free copy of my best selling book, the List Building Lifestyle Confessions of an Email Millionaire at igorsbook.com. Get the free book plus $3,000 bonus package that includes my best capture page templates, email swipe files, and traffic blueprints, visit www.igorsbook.com for details. And now it’s time to claim your list building lifestyle.

1:47  

What I learned posting Short form versus long form is, long form is a lot more complicated to make work, it has to follow a certain structure, you can’t just improvise it. At least not in the English speaking market. I see a lot of people in the Russian speaking market improvising things and they just kind of, say outrageous ideas. But I don’t think it flies anymore in the West, because the West is a lot more competitive. So there has to be a really good solid content plan for the video you’re putting out. And it has to also be accompanied by really great video editing, preferably so it’s a little bit funny too. So it’s not so much about the high quality of your video production as much as it is about the editing that makes it more enjoyable to watch it.  

2:00

With short form content, it’s just literally about celebrity or outrageous ideas, or maybe big news, big announcements. That’s what I’ve noticed. And of course, short form content does get more views, you know, as opposed to longer form. But that’s only natural, because people just sit there and swipe. So it’s not as engaging. It’s not as engaging of an audience for sure. I’ve also tried running paid ads into the short form content section on YouTube. And that did not work really well. My assumption is it’s because it’s mostly mobile traffic, and it’s mostly unengaged. So it’s just mindless sort of flipping through trying to, you know, consume entertainment value and short bursts. And I actually don’t really like the fact that we’ve now moved into this frame as a society, that we now have to deliver something in such a short bite, you know, like, people just can’t sustain tension, they can’t sustain focus on like, even a five minute video. 

And I say this with a bit of shame and guilt because I’ve become like that too. Seriously, it’s embarrassing. Like now it’s harder for me to read a book than before. And I think it’s because my brain is now used to just consuming ideas really fast. The only time when I’m able to read books really well is actually on planes. Because on the plane, I often choose not to get WIFI, even though most planes and you know today have it, but I will choose not to get WIFI. And because I really don’t have anything else to do, I’ll read and I can read and I don’t feel the need to escape. I don’t feel the need to switch to something like YouTube or something. Now as far as running, organic versus paid, paid has been much better for me. But it’s also much more expensive. But I think that we’re seeing more and more people and companies get paid but they don’t do it well. 

3:02

And they do it for a short time before they have to quit and lots of good eaters try to do organic instead, which takes a lot more time and a lot more effort. For me, I mean, I’ve now amassed probably over 10 million views on my ads on YouTube. And it’s, you know, I can’t complain, it’s expensive, yes, but it works, which is something that I’ll take any day of the week over something that is unpredictable. Don’t know if it’s going to work, but it’s supposedly free, which is not because you need to put a lot of time and effort into video editing, you need to put a lot of time and effort into creating content plans. And that’s not easy. I got a team of exactly five people behind my content, my free content, which isn’t producing amazing results, I’ll be honest with you, while I have a team of exactly me, behind my ads, and it’s producing results every day. 

4:01

So that’s kind of been my experience, for sure. But there are niches out there, that are just easier to get views. Like in the relationship niche, you can get 50,000 views in a day very quickly, by stating a controversial idea, something that’s out there, then I also noticed that the media is becoming more of that now. It’s like, who can come up with a more controversial thing to say, to get the views, right? It’s like people are now sitting there thinking of different ways to just say something that will trigger people to become social media famous. 

5:05

I got a buddy, I was just talking to him last week. So he’s black, and he released a video where he started the video off by saying something about black people. But he immediately paid it off maybe in the following 20 seconds to switch it and kind of explain it. So in reality, he wasn’t dissing black people. But he explained to me why he did that, because that’s how you get people to watch the video in the first place. You need to trigger them with your title, or with your initial hook to almost make them go and be like, what? I can’t believe this guy’s saying that you know, like, going to elicit this reaction, and then you pull them in, and then you kind of bait and switch on them. 

6:17

Which again, I don’t know, doesn’t sit well with me, I can’t see how that can be a sustainable practice. But I see it done all the time. And I also fall victim to the same marketing, where you know, I’ll be scrolling through my YouTube feed, and I’ll see a video, you know, just with a title so controversial, I’d be like, I can’t believe they’re saying that in public, I can’t believe they’re actually openly stating that and then you start watching the video and they kind of pay it off in a mild way and then say it in the less offensive way but the thumbnail makes you believe as if they’re saying something extremely controversial. So yeah, that’s what I’ve been sort of experiencing on social media. Paid traffic has definitely been better for me than free. But there’s nothing new there, I’ve been saying that for years. So maybe that’s my unconscious limiting belief. 

8:09

Thank you for listening to the List Building Lifestyle, get access to the previous episodes, transcript of today’s show, as well as other exclusive content at listbuildinglifestyleshow.com. Also remember to claim your free copy of my best selling book at www.igorsbook.com. It explains how I made millions with list building starting from scratch. Plus, I’ll give you $3,000 worth of free bonuses, including my best landing page templates, email swipe files, and traffic blueprints. Go to www.igorsbook.com now to claim your free package.