Transcription
It's true, changing your Niche or your YouTube channel topic could absolutely save your failing channel and even explode your growth. However, sometimes it ends in disaster. And so, in this video, we're going to be talking about how to do it successfully and a few things to consider. So, let's get into it. You've got to just press record.
All right, so I've got seven tips for this. But, uh, if you're new here, my name is Sean Cannell, and this is Think Media, helping you with the best tips and tools for growing your influence with online video. We've been looking at your questions shared on the community tab, and John asks, "Hey Sean, what is the best way to begin to shift your Niche gradually or abruptly?" Now, I looked up John's channel. He has almost 7,000 subscribers, and that's going to play a part in this conversation. But here's kind of the big idea: the effects of changing your Niche. So, you're making one kind of content. If it was extreme, you're doing like gardening videos, and then you're like, "You know what? I'm going to do Minecraft tutorials or like playthroughs." That's pretty drastic, but, you know, that could be a niche change. And so, I think it's not only how fast do you change your Niche, but how dramatic is the change? One of the big ideas, if you, is you've got to ask yourself, is your YouTube channel more topic-oriented or is it more person-oriented?
If you're building a personal brand, well, if they're subscribing for you, and you start to evolve, they still might leave, but that's the reason they subscribed. Your personal brand. You know, our channel, Think Media, where this video is living, is certainly maybe somewhat connected to my personal brand, but we've had multiple creators on this channel. We've had people that are incredible over the years contribute to our content here. Many have started their own projects. We have new creators. Shoot, maybe someday you want to be a creator at Think Media. Uh, let us know. But ultimately, this is a topic channel that has made a promise of helping you with the best tools, video gear, software, how to edit, create content, cameras, and tips, how to get views, and then relate those tools to YouTube specifically, but social media in general. So, I would say that it's kind of a hybrid, but it's topic. Like Think Media is topic.
Now, a personal brand. Here's one of the examples that did this successfully: PewDiePie. Any PewDiePie fans? When, like, he was really in the flow and he started shows like Meme Review and Pew News, and he was going like five days a week, and he became more like, kind of cultural commentary, humor. I wouldn't watch his gameplay videos, but that whole era of PewDiePie, I was pretty into. You know, another example is Catherine Manning. She said that changing my Niche was the best thing I did. And so, you hear examples where this can really be done successfully, but if you do it wrong, it could spell disaster. So, let's dive into some tips to consider.
So, these are just a few things to think about, and the first one is: never upload videos your subscribers didn't subscribe for. Ask yourself, why did people subscribe in the first place? What is, what videos, or what topics, what was the reason that motivated them to subscribe? The problem with changing your Niche is if they clicked subscribe for tech videos for content creators, that's this channel, Think Media. "What's the best camera for YouTube?" "What's the best lens for YouTube?" Now, if we were to upload a video on how to, you know, really clean your tires or do your car maintenance and make your car super shiny, it's kind of off-brand. You know, that would be a video that the subscribers on Think Media did not subscribe for. And so, I think that's a big principle to think about. Where did you get your 7,000 subscribers? You know, John, who asked this question, why did they click subscribe for what? And how radical is the pivot going to be into the next thing?
The second tip is: did they sub for you or did they sub for a niche topic? We kind of talked about that at the big idea. I looked at your channel, John, and I think people are following you for your commentary. Your channel's named after you, and so there's a personal brand, your perspective, your way of thinking. If you only have a couple hundred subscribers, maybe even a couple thousand, like, I don't think the stakes are that high. But if you have 7,000, it's pretty significant. If you've got 10,000, 50,000, or beyond for a topic, you might want to be careful changing the topics. Like, if you had a, if we called Think Media like "Think Camera Reviews" and got to 50,000 subscribers on videos about camera reviews, and then just decided, "You know what? I'm sick of it," and I'm going to start reviewing bikes and giving tips for people that are cycling around the world. It's different. It's probably needs to be a new channel.
Let's hit number three: how related is the new Niche? So, what's interesting about this, if you go from narrow to broader, but it's related, I think, absolutely just change. You know, that works because it's still aligned. Using Think Media as an example, we do a series about social media. It's on-brand. But you might think of this channel as like heavy YouTube. Well, YouTubers should do social media at some point, perhaps, if you want to. And so, it's related. You could say that online marketing is related, and even maybe building an online business. So, there's maybe sort of staying in line of what is your intent? Why are you here on Think Media? Actually, I'd love to know in the comments.
Now, number four: your first option is to just rip the Band-Aid off abruptly. Cuz you asked, "Should I do it gradually or abruptly?" Abruptly. I think you just rip the Band-Aid off. And some of this is a self-awareness question, cuz we could debate all day long about like, why did your subscribers just, you know, subscribe and what do they want next? But there's a point in time where content creators sometimes burn out. You just burn out. You're sick of it. You're tired, and you're sick of your previous topic. You're just ready to change. Well, then who cares about everything else? I mean, even if results suffer, you have lost all passion for your previous niche. You might as well go to the new one. You could just do it. You could just rip the Band-Aid off and see what happens. And so, uh, I also think that testing and experimenting is not a bad idea. So, why not upload a political video? Just rip the Band-Aid off. Just do it. Like, don't overthink it. That's your first option.
Your second option is to transition into to the new Niche gradually. And this could potentially just be good branding. Like, I have a background in church. I got to see, like, sometimes you have like maybe the lead pastor, a senior pastor, and he's going to transition to his son or a new pastor. And that's a big transition, especially if you've like been learning from somebody and maybe they did your wedding and all this stuff. It's like, "Whoa, dude, there's somebody new. It's a different style." So, what they will do is they will maybe have the new person overlap while the main guy is still the lead pastor. There's somebody else who starts teaching every once in a while, and people get to know them over a period of time. It's just up to you to potentially maybe like bring your audience along with you, educate them. "I'm going to try out a new series." "Maybe you try it out." "Maybe you stop doing it." "You experiment." Like, "Hey, you know, in the video, you, you go, typically we're talking about this on the channel, but we're going to try this on Fridays." Like, and depending on how you gauge your audience, you just kind of see what happens. That would be the transition mindset.
This is actually one of my favorite topics in the sense of what is your Niche? What is your channel topic? What is your channel theme? We actually have a, a course called Niche Finder, and a lot of the people in our community that have taken it, it's been their favorite thing, even if they're more advanced, because it's just a big deal to nail your Niche. I think even before, "Do I just change my Niche?" Really think it through. What are you trying to achieve? Who are you trying to reach? What are your bigger goals? Why are you changing? And what would be the most strategic way to do this?
The third option is you could start a new channel. Like, I really started getting into running and marathons, and so that's what I want to talk about on YouTube now. And like previous to that, you were doing personal finance, and you got 50,000 subscribers in personal finance, or 5,000 subscribers. Like, it's like running is radically different. In your case, since contextualizing this advice, John, I'm good with you going abrupt and really just doing tests. But if you're watching this thinking about should you pivot your Niche, and you do have momentum, and you are established, and it's going to be kind of radical, you might want to just start a new channel.
And so, I do have one more tip, number seven: and that is unlist or private your old or unrelated videos and then lean hard into your fresh new brand. One other thing to consider here is if you're going to go a new direction, and you filtered your decision by everything we've talked about, then potentially clean up your channel. Rebrand your channel. Unlist all or just any unrelated videos. Especially, by the way, one of the most biggest mistakes I see people make is they actually do kind of rebrand their channel, but there's this one or two or three videos that like still get views and still get subscribers. The problem is, you finally got serious about YouTube and you branded your channel right, but there's that one video in your real-time views, and it was you like filming a Backstreet Boys concert 10 years ago, and like people still watch, watch the clip, and you're like, "That video still gets views and it gets me subscribers." But you go, you got to ask yourself, like, are those the subscribers you want? Like, is that what your channel is about now? And so sometimes, if you're going to pivot, you might want to unlist or private your old videos that are attracting the wrong subscribers for the new thing and clean up your channel.
Bottom line, when you said, "Should I transition my Niche gradually or abruptly?" In my opinion, two things: Get fierce clarity on your vision. What are you trying to achieve on YouTube? Who is your channel for? What problem does it solve? What does winning look like for you? What is your YouTube money plan? What is your YouTube business plan? If we were having this conversation three years from now, what would have had to have happened on your YouTube channel, in your online business, and in your personal life for you to say, "Sean, I'm blown away with the results. Like, I set all my goals and I hit all of them." What would have to have happened from three years from now if you just crushed all of your goals? Most people aren't sure, which shows how much lack of clarity there can often be. There's something about being clear about, "This is what the YouTube channel is about," and this is, and and being clear in your branding and your marketing, and that's hard work. It takes a lot of hard work to to to get that fierce clarity.
So, if I was going to go between gradual and abrupt, step one: get fierce clarity about what it is you want to achieve and what your YouTube channel is about. And then step two: run after that thing as hard as you can. Once you decide to do it, no matter how painful it is, you just got to rip the Band-Aid off. You just got to do it. You just go hard after the clear vision that you've set. And then consider that it might suck and be painful for week one, week two. It might be painful for six months. But where do you want to be in three years? What's the brand that you want to build in five years? That's what I want to encourage you. And if you're watching this and you got value, like, get clear on where you're going, make those strategic decisions, and then just go hard. Go as hard as you can on the new niche, new message, new brand, and dial in that branding and run with it.