That Sarah Huckabee Sanders might be a PTA president much less a state governor terrifies me. That she would declare a state of emergency over a solar eclipse? Not so surprising. She is the daughter of a Baptist preacher after all. And this son of a Baptist (though not one myself) is not here to bless her mess.
To cleanse my palate and put this “news” story into perspective, I chose to revisit one of my favorite scenes from Six Feet Under, one of my favorite shows. Dorothy Sheedy, played by Beth Grant, is one of the characters I love to see go in the series.
So of course I had to clip and share it. Because that’s what content creators do, right?
I’m new to this creative role, so please forgive me if I missed a class or a step. But like I’ve been reminded recently…there are as many ways to do your thing on YouTube as any other medium or platform.
PREACHERS, NOT TEACHERS
To help our YouTube channel grow, I’ve been watching lots of explainer and how-to videos…on YouTube. While made by a diverse group of content creators with much bigger followings, they mostly say a variation of the same thing: Do. What. Works.
Only a few are brave enough to share what works for them. And most of those only tell you so much, doing their best to get new members to their exclusive, once-in-a-lifetime clubs, communities, and/or courses. Of course.
The grifts and struggles are real.
So are the clickbaiting grifters.
Always over-promising.
Rarely over-delivering.
Much like Sister Christians and the Clutch The P/Earls Clown Posse.
”Do or do not. There is no try”
Yoda
Long story short, I’m ending my literal search for signs of intelligence in the Google-verse (it’s there, but tends to find me…not the other way around) by remembering what screenwriter William Goldman famously said: “Nobody knows anything.”
To “do what works,” one first needs to “just do it.”
CREATIVITY + DATA = BLISS
What does “just do it” look like for me/we? Well, it’s a motley mix of:
Curating more of what makes us genuinely happy (example)
Experimenting with new formats and techniques (example)
Iterating on thumbnails and titles (see above)
Listening to comments (some)
Making it work (for me/we)
YouTube is the first platform where we have both enough data and followers to see what is and isn’t working. For audiences anyway. Art and merch sales can and do too, but not at the same scale as click-through rates and watch hours.
What’s working for those scared of a solar eclipse? Lord only knows.
Frankly, I can’t be bothered to even bless their mess.
If you wanna see it, watch it on tv. Or YouTube.
The sun was here before us and will be after us.
We revolve around it. Not the other way around.
To die-hard Christians and other puritanical purists, responding to the audience’s wants and desires is a mortal sin. But to those of us who have evolved (and revolved around the sun), realizing the audience is not only listening…they’re also the customer (which makes them usually right) is just common sense.
Common sense is something I have more faith in than people like Ms. Sanders.
Well, In case of rapture, great pâté…and thanks for reading!
Clint
WORDS OF WISDOM
“Some people say, "Give the customers what they want." But that's not my approach. Our job is to figure out what they're going to want before they do. I think Henry Ford once said, "If I'd asked customers what they wanted, they would have told me, 'A faster horse!'" People don't know what they want until you show it to them. That's why I never rely on market research. Our task is to read things that are not yet on the page.”
Steve Jobs
CREATIVE NEWS + VIEWS
Early sales at the Dallas Art Fair prove even a solar eclipse can't overshadow Texas's hot market (Carlie Porterfield/The Art Newspaper)
50 Rare Historical Photos That Might Change Your Perspective On The Past
(Gabija Palšytė and Rokas Laurinavičius/Bored Panda)Eavesdropping at the Dallas Art Fair
(Angella d'Avignon/Hyperalleric)
That's a pretty hysterical clip, I don't think I watched all the episodes of the show... I've only just started watching Dexter for the first time ;)