We should maybe also talk about people trying to build followings or "audiences" on youtube this way. Whoever told you that this works, may have roped you in as well...
First off, being a youtuber doesn't make you any noticeable money, unless you are in the top percentile of accounts. What that means, is basically being one of the top two or three guys in your niche (localized niches count), unless your niche is "pewdipieism" (every boy wants a cool bigger bro) or "fashion blogger" (every girl wants a cool girlfriend) in which case it is bigger.
People will follow you because of you offering "fake" (pseudosocial) relationships in the majority of cases. People do not follow "that one guy with knowledge", unless they tend to paint themselves in similar strokes.
People will want to watch "explain the world to me, but easy" videos, to solve their "very individual" needs, but thats it. They don't like to read. They'd love someone to explain their problems away for free - but they then dont follow and like out of gratitute.
You are much better off presenting you as the random "dudebro" that lives an interesting life (visiting suicide forests and such (if you dont get the reference, be glad)), because that will be more attractive to the majority - people don't want to learn, they want to be entertained. If that entails learning, so be it..
Now lets talk about "manufactured hits" - if you can get more eyeballs, thats great - but thats not how you make audiences stick and thats still different from "sustained viral growth", the people you are addressing as a youtuber must be able to draw constant, mostly "emotional" value from what you do, thats what makes them come back to you - and not the other guy of which there are thousands of. Or the next hit thing.
If you cant promote yourself as "interesting dude" or "fun gal" (and yes, I know the subtext coding here is different), all manufactured attention grabs will only ever be spikes in your analytics graphs. Stunts are necessary to broaden your reach and reach new audiences, but they are not the mechanism by which you grow your audiences.
Taking in those concepts, lets look at "I help you non toxic, long time" dude again. You will mostly be percived as a poor and lonely sole trying to buy friends with "favors" by one part of the audience, and as "calculating idiot - that doesnt know, that the way he's trying to do stuff doesnt work", by another 10 percent, and the remaining 40% that might show actual interest will dwindle away, once they realize, that the stuff you put out isnt interesting to them to begin with.
That called the youtube economy - and yes, it is "toxic" as hell (to borrow an unspoken phrase
), so is the concept of "judging your worth based on virtual friendcounts", or trying to make money by selling the attention you could gather as "influencers" to advertisers that show interest in your specific audience. You are literally selling your peers out. Most people will not care, because of the "I'm immune to it" fallacy, for the others its a mixed calculation if the value you provide to them outweighs all other considerations.
If you present yourself as a shady, calculating individual - chances are, that thats how people will perceive you as well, at least the part that can.
Promoting youtube (or whatever) channels in established forums is a lost cause for the most part, as the "mindshare" is already established. People think that people are interesting who they perceive as "better than themselves" in some kind of way. Those roles will be filled (thanks to fake social reputation graphs, look left) at the very outset of "forming a community". Being first, has a real benefit here. The people who fill those roles are usually very dedicated, and even "good" at what they (if their peers demand any reasonably standard of quality, which they usually dont..
) do. So you as a youtuber trying to daw away attention with "exclusive news" works in stints, but ultimately you are not becoming "that guy" - people would actually like to listen to.
"Solution" to that is to be there, when a community starts to grow exponentially. Problem is, they dont often do - to the point youtubers need for their "add on" monetization.
So even if you have reputation ("brand recognition"), and consistent entertainment value you might not have reach. Viral growth (word of mouth) happens if you have all three. Rope them in, stick them, hope you have a growing social movement on your hands - is the basic formula.
Also - I have never tried to do this on my own - I've just looked at this panning out more times than I'd have cared to.
Fun new streaming channel, gbatemp - btw. You have brand recognition, you are lacking in the other two departments..
People who do "I help you non toxic, longtime" schemes on youtube much more often have a better monetization option folded in - because they know, that the stuff they do has no sustained mass appeal. So - f.e. they might sell you tools or parts, or partner with retailers who do. Or they are sitting in third world countries, where economies of scale still work in their favor.
Visibility and reputation models on all those "mass interest" platforms is broken as well, so the stuff thats being swept to the top - never is the "harder to understand, quality stuff" to begin with. Thats why linkbaiting, is a thing - and all the popular youtubers do MTV style cuts (one every 6 seconds) to hold attention.
To bring it back in - whenever people like me see a (first and foremost) youtuber, with an unestablished track record, try to jump on communities like this one with "value add" or "exclusivity" proposals, I cringe. Mostly because I know, that that approach wont take them very far. Unless something very unexpected happens.
Now - next up, lets talk about how forums work as business opportunities, and who makes the money there... Or lets not.
And if you don't do it for the money, please dont do it for "attention by numbers". I understand, that this is a thing in younger generations, because everyone wants to become "hit youtuber" these days - but thats a recipe for desaster for 99,99% of all folks willing to take that road.
@
DragonMals:
