How Pasta Sauce Can Grow Your YouTube Channel (and more)

Believe it or not, but you can learn a thing or two from Prego Pasta Sauces on how to grow your YouTube channel. And it doesn’t involve going to the supermarket.

When most online gamers create a YouTube channel, they often start by solely creating the one channel. They think that the one channel is the end all be all for how to communicate with fans.

A problem arises when you have different fans on different platforms (like TwitchTV, Facebook, instagram etc) looking to reach out to you, but can’t because you simply aren’t there.

And if you want to grow your YouTube channel (as well as the others) you need to get involved.

To explain more, let me share Malcolm Gladwells research on Howard Moskowitz:

Different Content for Different People on Different Platforms

Malcolm Gladwell, best selling author and New York Times staff writer, shared the story of Howard Moskowtiz and his pasta sauce via TED Talks

In the mid 80’s Moskowitz (a psychophysicist – like Gladwell I have no idea what that is) had the job of reviving the Prego brand against the giant of the time Ragu.

He believed that in order for Prego to compete they would need to stop thinking in terms of “the perfect pasta sauce” and start thinking about “the perfect pasta sauces”

This shift in thought lead to Moskowitz and Pregu creating the new Pasta sauce lineup of: Plain, Spicy & Extra Chunky sauces.

This discovery was a game changer and brought Pregu to the forefront of the Pasta Sauce revolution.

Moskowitz & company uncovered 3 false assumptions about people and the decisions we make.

#1 People don’t actually know what they want
#2 There are different kinds of pasta sauces for different kinds of people
#3 Breaking your customers into clusters results in more qualified leads

There is No Perfect Channel. Only Perfect Channels.

Building a YouTube Channel can be mentally and physically tiring. There isn’t a “definitive guide” to help out. Often times what’s supposed to be easy is way over our heads. Not to mention that keeping up with the rest of YouTube commentators is a nightmare.

Everyone seems to pump out content like its nobodies business. And you have to keep up. If you don’t your fans will lose focus.

Almost too much work to even want to try. You try to create a page that everyone is going to like, but remember…

…there is no perfect channel, only perfect channels.

This type of perfectionism can lead to the failure of your channel. By trying to solely create the perfect channel you will be ignoring thousands of subscribers elsewhere.

You can see this at work with Moskowitz and his pasta sauce research. When Prego tried making the perfect sauce they were failing, but when they started making the perfect sauces they climbed to the top of the sauce mountain.

But the question remains…

How Many Channels Should I You Use (and How Do I Use Each One?)

All of them. YouTube, TwitchTV, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, SnapChat etc.

The list goes on and on and you should bring your presence and gaming brand to each one. Your time should be spent different on each and you should focus more time on specific platforms.

In my experience and research I have found that earlier adopters and “first to market” results in success.

Now I believe this to be true for a couple of reasons.

#1 You get on early and you learn how to use the platform. You make mistakes and you have success stories, but in the long haul you figure out the best way to use the platform to reach your fans.

#2 In the beginning of a platforms life cycle the “noise” is much quiter. For good reason, there are less people using the service. This gives you a better chance at being found. Consider this as being a big fish in a little pond. As opposed to being a little fish in a big pond (think Facbeook).

So, how exactly should you be using these platforms?

(I’m going to skip YouTube in this instance and spend more time on other social networks that you might not know much about)

Facebook: Storytell with Pictures and Short Text

Creating a Facebook page (insert article here) will help you reach over a billion users and close to a billion active users.

Last I checked 1/7th of the Worlds population was a good amount of people.

When using Facebook you want to evoke emotion of your gaming brand through updates. The best way to do this is with photos and specifically memes.

A meme (pronounced meem – I literally thought it was may-may for the longested time) is a picture with text displayed on top of the picture. The words should motivate & inspire your fans and they can even poke fun at yourself.

Think of funny moments from your videos that gained notice from your fans and think about using that on your Facebook page to rehash the old memory. You want to connect with your fans here in a way that connects with them emotionally.

TwitchTV: Live Events = Celebrity Status

TwitchTV and live streaming is the next big thing in the online world and has been for sometime for the gaming community.

You need to get on TwitchTV and start building audience for the simple fact that Live Events = Celebrity Status.

Why?

Think about the last time you went to a Concert or Sports Event. I’m willing to bet you $1 that you took at least one picture and shared that one picture with friends on social networks.

Live events empower fans to feel like they are in the know. It gives them a chance to show the world that they are cool and hip.

This type of emotion is something you can’t miss out on when growing your gaming channels. Live streams also give you a chance to connect with your fans in a much more “real” way.

I like to say that ANYTHING can happen on National Live Internet and that’s the truth. During live shows you can’t edit abd you can’t perfect every last detail.

What happens lives, happens live and the beauty of the transparency will grow your brand and your online celebrity status.

Twitter: Listen. End of Story.

Twitter is a tool to listen.

Contrary to popular belief you shouldn’t be using it to tell people that you just picked up a gallon of milk at the grocery store.

Nor should you be spamming links to your YouTube videos either. No one wants that crap and no one cares.

Twitter is the most powerful real time search engine on the planet. Not even the great Google can compete.

This is valuable to you because it gives you the chance to engage with fans that are talking about the games you care about in real time, without being creepy.

For example: using the search feature on Twitter you can lookup anything you want and see who is talking about it. By simply going through each tweet you can decide or not if you want to tweet back to that person and start a conversation.

If you both have more in common you will have just created one fan that wasn’t watching your videos to start with. Do this a few times a day, 365 days a year and you do the math.

It adds up quickly.

Instagram: Swag. It. Up.

Have fun with Instagram. This should be more about your personal style.

Your taste in fashion (if you have any – I know I don’t let loose with fun filters and really let your personality shine through here.

One of my favorite ways to spice things up on instagram is to lay a music bed on each post. Tie everything back to the videos that you create.

The most important thing you can do with this platform is to let your creativity run free. Take off the training wheels and roll down that hill full speed.

SnapChat: Insider Information

SnapChat is new to the game and in most peoples eyes its only a platform for college aged kids.

I see a huge opportunity with it to make your fans feel special. Have them follow you and make sure to send them “SnapChat ONLY Videos”.

This will have a lot of the same feel as a Live Stream but it’s much more intimate and will help create even more of a bond with your fans.

SnapChat could be huge for you in the future and they are going to be a big player moving forward. Don’t miss out on this opportunity.

Brands and big business have yet to find a way to use this tool productively, but they soon will. You have the chance now to jump in and take advantage of the “Insider Information” for the benefit of your brand.

The Bottom Line

I’m not telling you that you need to be posting and updating on each platform every single day, but I’m showing you how you can use each platform to your advantage to really stand out from the crowd.

I’m actually showing you a way to create less content & have a bigger impact because of it.

Think of it like this. You might be creating less content, but you will be communicating in more places. Communication is the key. The more places you show up to your fan base the more you will be front and center to them.

This will help make you stand out from your competition. The average YouTuber is simply uploading videos and forgetting about the rest.

Let me tell you one last secret to really streamline this entire process.

Create ONE Piece of Content & Re-purpose it on Each Platform

The key here is to re-purpose the content properly on each platform in the ways I explained above.

This is important so I will say it again. Don’t just post a link to twitter linking to your YouTube video. Don’t just post a link of your video on your Facebook page.

Create the main piece of content for your YouTube channel and then re-create that same content for each social platform. This will give you content for days and make you super active in each community.

Making you the go to gaming celebrity.

And don’t forget.

If you want me to breakdown more gaming research and give more real life case studies showing you how to grow your YouTube channel and beyond, sign up for the email list.

So, here’s what I want YOU to do:

First, do you believe that there is a perfect sauce (channel)? If so, how have you made or crafted that sauce (channel) to work for you. Share your opinion in the comments.

Second, I’d love to hear how you plan on using these new channels. What are some of the ways you will use these social platforms? Be concise and specific.