Strategy Sunday is something anyone can do.
If you’ve been following my blog/vlog, you know that there have been a lot of false promises. Like everyone I have a million things I want to do, but working a nine-to-five leaves me with little time or energy. How will I make it out of the rat race and live fully with my dreams and passions? I don’t know, I’m still figuring out how to make it work.
Strategy Sunday is an idea I’ve had for over two years now. I had the idea when I was struggling to build my social media and YouTube following(It’s still a struggle). The concept is that I try to break down where I am now, what I’m doing that is working, and what I plan to do to improve. The only two days when I have ample amount of free time to do such is on Sunday. Therefore Strategy Sunday was born. If I ever “make it” it will be a testament to hard work and an example for others.
Pregame: Before the First Strategy Sunday
Since I moved from America almost five years ago I’ve struggled. Having little to no success in my personal pursuits nosedived my confidence. Looking back, I silently quit on myself. The effort wasn’t the problem, I tried really hard to have good camerawork, sound mixing, and stories in the content I was producing. I fell into the trap of not placing my effort in the right places. I found that I was beating on an indestructible door when I could have just unscrewed the hinges.
It’s a little ironic that one of the things that attracted me to Japan, I had forgotten when I moved here. The Zen mindset of being okay with where you were, the art of enjoying the journey. I think anyone stuck between Gen Z and Millenial has trouble with things not working out right away. As I drove to a drift event to record a video for my YouTube channel I played an audiobook by Mark Shafer.
“KNOWN: The Handbook for Building and Unleashing Your Personal Brand in the Digital Age”
The book sounds cheesy, but it’s got some good ideas in it. It was just my birthday last week. What happened to that firey, passionate, and ambitious kid who relentlessly chased his goals? Had age or life gotten to him?
No, he was buried in there somewhere. It was upon hearing those words that I had first listened to almost four years ago reminded me of what I wanted out of life. How would I become known? My mind raced for ideas. If other people online could figure it out, I sure as hell could. It was time to make Strategy Sunday a reality.
Stategy Sunday: Time to Play the Game
When I first started uploading videos to YouTube, I uploaded whatever I wanted. The topics on the channel all have to do with my interests and technically all have to do with me, but the algorithm has no idea what to do with my content or channel. I upload stuff about cars, gaming, music, and vlogs, the channel like my life and organization skills is a jumbled mess. I used to think that I could be different, but I’m maturing to the point now where I want to play the game.
Playing the YouTube algorithm consists of going by best practices on the platform. This usually means sticking to one theme or topic. I’ve made it very clear that I’ll still be uploading almost everything in some way to my main channel “LaidbackMarco”. But I would also be experimenting with splitting my content into concentrated channels.
Creating a Second Channel
I created a second channel using a spare Gmail account laying around and quickly learned two things.
- YouTube Shorts is a way to get eyes on your content, I mean just look this channel is brand new.
- YouTube indeed favors channels that have focused content.
Even with nothing on the channel I was able to get over fifteen hundred views and collectively 6 hours of watch time with one short. I had plenty of content that I could apply Gary Vee’s content pyramid technique. One long edited video followed by slicing the video into little bite-sized segments.
Applying Things I Know
With this repurposed content Idea, I took the video above, but edited in some VHS effects as well as throwing some Royalty-Free Lofi Hip Hop over the top. I tried to appeal to people who have a sense of nostalgia for VHS tapes because I don’t have a modern camera, the rapid zooms and handheld shakes complement the style. I’ve always been a fan of hip-hop, and when things are made in that lofi style they carry a sense of loneliness, longing, and nostalgia. As someone who is a fan of engine noise, I’m hoping I can leverage those interests to find other people who enjoy the mixed soundscape.
Learn from the Pros
A YouTuber I watch called Chris Williamson does a similar thing with his Modern Wisdom podcast taking the best segment of his podcast and turning them into shorter clips.
Taking Action on My Main Channel
I don’t want to give up on my main channel. These two pieces of content are applying what I learned from Chris. Taking a birthday vlog and repurposing a segment to focus on a Ramen Restaraunt on the inside of Tokyo Station. While the results aren’t exactly what I want, one view from a “Ramen in Tokyo” search showed some growth.
Action Steps Moving Forward
Strategy Sunday is about improving so here are the things I’m applying moving forward.
- Improve/Learn About Sound Mixing
- When I was mixing the sound I realized I know a little about
- Learn More about Youtube’s Platform and Tools that You can Leverage.
- YouTube provides a lot of free content about what tools you can use to stand out.
- I need to set up LaidbackLifestyle’s links, channel page, and all that.
- Chop up long drift video into bite-sized shorts
- Taking advantage of YT shorts while there is still some discoverability on it is important.
I wanted to make an influencer strategy guide. Future Strategy Sundays will go here.
