I notice that there is bad performance when the title is kind of vague and the thumbnail is also vague, low quality and not aspirational. I have sometimes seen that people are able to get away with vagueness like building brands that people remember. That guy is able to get away with it because you can see kind of social proof and like that aura and lifestyle. Because I think that guy is in a expensive car. Everything looks very authentic and legit. So it’s like you can afford to be vague if you are like attractive, pretty, in a really luxurious position, larping in a sense.You cannot afford to be low time, highly vague, not really relevant and not visually attractive. Visually attractive can be a hot person or really premium place, really cool colors or something like that. I notice that about Alex Paskett’s videos is that visually his videos look very ordinary. There is Nothing cool looking or or a farming type, and the titles are also vague. So he will always be under that one thousand view jail. A lot of times I am seeing that the vagueness or overwhelmingness of things has. To be supported by a good looking person or a good looking location. And another thing I notice is the titles also determine the type of audience. Like, okay, there is a lot of sloppy software going on. People are turning into bad software engineers. The YouTube video is just titled “How to write excellent software.” And thumbnail also is just that. So I think it is targeting a inherent demand that exists, as well as it is going to attract really technical people who are willing to get better in this craft. Like it can be made more high tam if he just said how to write software that prints, then a lot of like business people would also get in their entrepreneurs would. Get there, but he won’t get that same audience. So it’s like you can niche down or apply filters, but it will only work if your video is like hitting the nerve properly. If you niche down or apply filters for no reason, then it is just going to choke the video. For example, I had seen one guy. Did really well on a video that said ten free video editing software and the same video didn’t perform well with the title ten free mobile editing software. So it’s like adding a qualifier or adjective kind of shrunk the market a lot. So it’s like if you’re shrinking the market, you better have a good reason for it.And a lot of things sound very clever but don’t work at all. Like there is this page called Elevator Goods, and they are saying we are building the Y combinator of e-commerce. First of all, not a lot of people give a fuck about Y combinator outside the tech niche. And how many e-commerce people even respect Y combinator? It’s like the personal ambition of these. People who are running the company leaked onto their creative strategy as well, and nobody fucking gets it. Who gives a fuck you are building Y Combinator of e-commerce? E-commerce people don’t really resonate with Y Combinator. It just doesn’t translate. It’s not, it’s really vague and not relevant at all. And the time is really low as well because not many people know Y Combinator. Outside of the tech bubble, and you know we can see the effect of time and relevance everywhere. Like for example, let’s go to this page called Geography now, right? I can bet that countries that are not really high population and famous don’t really have a lot of views. Okay, let’s go here and see the hidden country of Inca. See, for some geography nerds, this might be really really attractive, but. I really don’t know what Inca is, nor do I have a reason to believe. If I don’t know, I will be in any danger or loss. Another is the strangest administrative division on Earth. Why the fuck would I care about that? Same thing with Zomia or whatever they are talking about. Another is the same channel talking about the seven sisters part of India, the Northeast, and it has a lot of views because people from Northeast it’s like really cool for them to get acknowledged in some video and it’s a video about India. Of course the audience is huge, people are gonna. Bombard that video, and right below that they have a video called Regions of Italy Explained. So of course there is not much interest in that. Another really vague situation is he has a title called No One Can Explain This Island, and it’s a really random looking. Island and flag. So it’s like I have no reason to click on it. I don’t know about it. It is not relevant to me. It is really vague, and I have no reason or urgency to click on it right now. So basically, geography channels can teach you a lot about this thing that hey, how you can spot things like this, how to not be vague, how to be relevant, how to go for a high time. And how to have some urgency. another is really highly specific videos that would do really well if they were behind landing page after running ads. Like these are like really explosive and. Cool videos that might convert a hot lead into a customer, but uploading them on YouTube will just make you feel disappointed because YouTube is not going to be able, YouTube or YouTube is not able to figure out who the audience is and if it’s not high time enough, I don’t think they even try. So if you upload a video like easy framework for making SASS ads, zero marketing skills needed, it is so specific, it is so niche that. This does not belong on a mass media platform like YouTube or Instagram. This belongs behind a paid ad campaign, through which you sell consulting or whatever. So I think I realize the difference between media that is supposed to be shown to mass audience versus shown to really really hot and warm leads. Another really good video I just saw is three ingredient lemon pasta at 1:40 AM. That’s so cool because a lot of people might be hungry during that time. It is really less amount of ingredients. And it’s really specific, and a lot of people face it. Like tomorrow there are going to be millions and hundreds of and millions of people who are going to be up at like 1:30 AM at night and feel hungry and they don’t have much in their pantry. Videos like this just hit the sweet spot. Like when I was saying that we should figure out what are people going to want tomorrow and make it today so that we can make money tomorrow, this is the type of shit. That hey people are going to stay up late and need something easy to make. This is awesome.
all right, let’s explore more videos. There is one travel video that is really really specific in title. The title is horrible, but the thumbnail is so good that I guess it overrides it all. It says exploring Yamagata Prefecture in winter. Ginza onsen Yamadera and Zao onsen Japan vlog, and the thumbnail is really nice, snowing street. God damn it, it’s so beautiful. I guess it’s just that the place is so beautiful in thumbnail that you are just curious that where is it? Okay, another video that is really vague. Low time and not relevant, okay? This guy David Rayner has made a video called Why I bet everything on him. First of all, what do you mean everything? That’s too vague. Second of all, why should I care what you are doing? Thirdly, why would it be relevant to me what you are doing? You are not like something I am really close to or have a parasocial relationship like PewDiePie. Ali Abdaal has made something interesting where the title is how I read hundred books a year. Eight tips for reading more. I think this is like establishing yourself as an authority or someone who has done something crazy, and if it is aspirational enough. You can say hey, you can do it as well. So I think this is the first time I’ve seen someone talk about themselves, but position it well enough that people are like, okay, this is relevant for me. Like I I’m pretty sure if the video title was just how I read hundred books a year, nobody would have given a fuck. Like why would I care? Like this is the difference between the previous video that I was talking about by David and this one. Another one can be if you are really into a niche and you don’t actually move out of it, then Buzzword Maxing can be really good. For example, Greg Eisenberg, he is into the tech AI. Niche. He has made a video called Building Software Factory that actually works. Software Factory is a really big buzzword there, so that video did well. So it’s like a high time keyword. Even though it’s vague, at least since the people in his niche know what is up, they get to kind of latch onto that. It’s like vague, but not for his audience. So for his audience, technically that is high time. If you know what I mean.
So I think vagueness and stuff like that is a privilege for people who already know you or you are in an established niche where the contract is established that if you are saying something, they get why it’s shared or what it is. For example, if the guy I usually watch for tutorials, if he makes some emotional videos, I won’t watch it. But if PewDiePie makes an emotional video, I will go watch it. On the other hand, if PewDiePie makes a weird tutorial about something that I’m not interested in, I will skip the video. I have done that a lot of times. But the tutorial guy, if the tutorial is relevant to me, I will go for it. So it’s like a balance of things, right?
As there is like Brian Proctor’s video I’m seeing on my feed, it says episode 47, five things my father Bob Proctor taught me. Respectfully, it might be really valuable and stuff, but it’s not relevant to me. It’s really vague. I don’t know what the advice is even about. Is it life advice? Is it money advice? What even is happening? So yeah, I won’t touch it. Another is like validation or calling out people that they actually feel really exposed by or noticed by in a good way or a bad way. For example, I see a video where it’s saying, “Looky, you never really tried.” So it’s like I guess this is a niche effect as well that the guy has like really personal improvement type audience, and they really just understand what he means by that. So yeah, it’s like the audience mindset that okay, do they even understand what I mean? Because of the niche they are in or the lack of niche is is a awareness that you should develop. Another is Nikhil Kamat this podcast that says social media is broken the thumbnail is really weird confusing and out of scale and the title says the eleven billion dollar bet that voice will replace everything. What do you even mean? Replace what? What voice? Are you talking about AI or what? What? Nothing is clear. I understand that it most probably means that generative AI and the voice capabilities of voice models is going to change everything. It’s going to kill social media and stuff like that. But how I I had to think about so much for so long to get to that, while the video beside it is just a fortnight gameplay video that I would rather click on
Another cool trick I saw where you are doing something but you are making it relevant for your audience is Noel’s video where he say his title is POV you try viral fitness breakfasts. Of course he is the one who is going to try it but yeah it sounds cool and he has the niche the fitness community. Yeah, I think that’s that’s good. I just saw another video that says the M&A rules every business owner should know. My brother, many of the business owners never think about M&A, and you are telling them they should. the the audience just doesn’t exist. You are talking to a wall. Another Alix pasqet video where the title is Predator Pre Dynamics and a video and the thumbnail is just a zoom screenshot. Like come on the title is so vague, the thumbnail is so vague. Put some larp behind it bro. No one is going to click on that
I think there are clear trade-offs here that you can go high time, low vagueness, and stuff like that. But you won’t really be targeted. You won’t really be talking to your niche that way. You went talking to no one that way. To be honest, it’s like if you want to sell, you have to make it really, really specific about a single person and their emotions, their life, and their circumstances and their problem. And if you want to go mass market, then you have to be like really high time, really low weakness, really relevant and stuff like that. It’s like you can get the eyeballs or you can convince someone, and the eyeballs part should happen on YouTube. You should not put the video that is supposed to sell on YouTube, and vice versa. Otherwise you are just wasting your time and money. If you put a mass market video and run ads on it, it’s not going to really speak to the persona or the pain and desires of the earner. On the other hand, if you put a really good niche targeted video on YouTube, then the algorithm just does not have enough time to. Go after and do all that bullshit for you.
Have the awareness of are you on a mass market platform or are you on a web page where you are getting warm leads? Have awareness about your audience and the inherent context they have and how much influence they can make in an instant. So you can get away with a little vagueness, and of course the relevance and the now part of urgency is not something that you can ignore on either mass market or on hot leads.
Oh, I just saw a really cool addition you can make to make something not really relevant, relevant to someone. Like the video title is how the world’s most dangerous drug lord was caught. Okay, sure, but I don’t really. Care about it, right? It’s not relevant to me. But in the thumbnail we see a man in a pool of blood, and the text about him says betrayed. Now it’s really human for me. I am interested. I’m actually interested. Somehow stirring up emotions or finding emotions. When things are not really relevant is is cool as fuck. I just realized this tactic. God damn that’s cool. Like, what the fuck? Why didn’t I think about this before? Are the people on this platform not stirring up enough emotions when they don’t have relevant material? And emotions also help you deal with the vagueness a bit. That okay, I might not know how this guy got betrayed, but that’s also the hook of it. This is awesome, nice.
So there can be the subject relevance and the human relevance. Okay, I get it now. That okay. I see another video on my feed that says your TV and phone are harming your soul. Now that has personal relevance for me. Okay, this guy is stirring up some emotions in me. I don’t see this technique being used a lot. Maybe because it doesn’t work or maybe because people haven’t discovered it. But damn, that’s good.Emotions are still underutilized I guess we will have to experiment.
And I realize the more complex your solution is, the more specific you have to be, and the less mass market you become, and the more you lose your eligibility on social media platforms and have to go behind. Paid ads and warm leads. But there are definitely things that are simple enough, mass market yet commercial that even just staying on social media is enough for them. I think those are the brands where you can have organic traffic. Like for example, yesterday I was talking about. There are going to be millions of people doing a lot of activities that are similar. Like a lot of kids tomorrow are gonna want toys. A lot of builders tomorrow are gonna want steel and cement. A lot of startups tomorrow are gonna want AI usage. So it’s like it’s kind of predictable. The point I’m making here is that there are things that are mass market appealing media wise and yet can be commercialized without the complexity that consulting offering like how to get first hundred paying customers for your healthcare SaaS. So I think if you are trying to make money via organic traffic, your product offering should be such that mass media is compatible with it, and commerce can happen just over it. If it is anything more complicated, then you should just switch to ads and stop wasting time here. Only for brand awareness should you be around on social media. It’s not really something that is going to get you sales. So it’s like the more vague it is to mass market, even if it is like commercially really valuable, you should not stick around on social media. You should run ads. If you are selling lubricants or really specialized ball bearings, you you should not be here. You should directly go for paid ads. Of course, I gave you the extreme example, and there can be something in between like okay, Qoves, who have a technically complex offering, but still it’s really mass market because it’s about beauty and face after all.
| Simple purchase | Complex purchase | |
|---|---|---|
| Mass desire | Organic-commerce heaven | Organic attention → warmer conversion |
| Narrow desire | Search/targeted distribution | Paid/outbound/warm-lead territory |
The top-left is what you’re hunting.
Something like toys is ridiculously compatible.
Tomorrow millions of parents will have essentially the same problem:
Kid wants something fun.
The product can be understood visually in three seconds. The buyer doesn’t need a 45-minute discovery call. A Reel showing a kid losing their mind over the toy can simultaneously be entertainment, demonstration, desire generation and sales material.
Same with food, drinks, clothing, beauty products, many fitness products, home products, consumer software, etc.
The media and the commerce can almost be the same object.
See if it is something that is like painkiller for a woman in menopause type product then maybe you can make an organic channel where you talk about their pain and mostly mass market thing there where you are talking about pain. And then maybe you have a funnel where you take them to your offer, or you can just run targeted ads to get to that. So this is like something in between. If your product is totally visual, then of course you are in heaven. And if your product is like really narrow. Then brother just just go for ads stop wasting time.
Basically, the more complex and narrow the product, the less it will benefit from social media. So if you want to make money via social media, have the most simplest and broadest product possible.Sure, your backend can be complicated, but the product has to be as simple and broad as possible.
But one thing is important that the more content you watch around it, the more purchasing desire should keep compounding or the habit should keep forming. Like okay people are going to watch a detergent ad and then buy it or whatever. But they are not gonna like basically there are diminishing occurrences where they would keep coming back for videos. But on the other hand, you might notice there are things like gambling or pawn or whatever where people keep coming back regardless of the purchases they have made.
I think this is where the part kicks in where solution to a problem may not keep giving you recurring demand, but a person wanting to be someone or something can. For example, if you Make content related to stain removal. Of course, people are going to watch it, buy your detergent, and then that’s all. They’re not going to come back for much of your content. But on the other hand, you can see even after you buy one handbag, you might want the other watch, you might want the other earring. You want to become like the person in the magazine, right? This is one of the examples.
Well, whatever. Back to dunking on YouTube titles and thumbnails. One lady has made a video with title Watching football in the lower division in England, and the thumbnail said it is different. Different from what? And why should I care? Why? How is the lower division in England even relevant to me? I’m not into English football scene. Definitely not the lower division one, nor the upper division one, nor am I watching too many football videos. So I guess you have too many filters for me to care.