Someone subscribed to my new YouTube channel on the day after the launch. One subscriber doesn’t sound like much, but it’s MUCH, and here’s why…
You’ll remember in my last post, I mentioned there would be:
- no help from family or friends.
Not even you, kind reader, have a link to this fun new YouTube channel of mine.
Why I won’t let you see my YouTube channel
I’ve seen many YouTube expert types go on about how fast they just finished growing a new channel to 1,000 subscribers in only 3 weeks, and how you can too blah blah…
Here’s what some of them (conveniently) fail to mention…
They:
- opened the channel under the same Google account as their other super-established channels
- told their existing and loyal subscribers all about the new channel, including where it is
- posted links to the new channel on their existing, high-follower Twitter, IG, and Tik-Tok accounts
- told their huge email subscriber list to check out the new channel…
Tell me, how is any channel growth result they get relevant at all to someone starting a YouTube channel with none of those advantages?
A deeper reason…
My family and friends have gotten pretty used to my not letting them see any new stuff I’m doing online.
I call it, The Embargo… and, even if they have to be reminded sometimes, they understand (also, what other choice do they have? 😇).
I usually lift The Embargo nine months to a year into the project.
Am I just being secretive? No, i’m training the algorithm.
I’m not aware of any hard data on this, but it just makes sense — the YouTube algorithm decides who to serve your video to next, based on the:
- demographics, and
- past habits
…of the viewers currently watching and liking your stuff.
When you send even a small bunch of family and friends to your latest video, aren’t you skewing that audience data?
The people closest to you are usually:
- not actually into what your video is about
- just curious
- just doing you a solid
- the wrong audience target age…
Why would you feed YouTube that inaccurate information?
My first subscriber
So yah, one subscriber is a big deal. (When you do it this way.)
It means someone saw a ’0’ next to your Subscribe button, and didn’t care. They subscribed, anyway.
It means a total stranger is like, ‘Count me in — I wanna see what else you do.’
It means your stuff’s good — to someone who has no reason to be nice to you.