Jeff Wong

0 to 1 is a term that we use in early stage companies, expressing what it takes not just to get users, but to find an audience that is genuinely engaged with the product (either through retention or a person that pays). This is one of the hardest things to do, and there seems to be some symmetry on YouTube.

As I’ve tested out creating different kinds of content, I believe I need to start with creating content that is tied to my passion—things things that I could talk about indefinitely. The second part is finding trends that are growing and and audiences that are relentlessly searching for more content around those topics.

Over the last videos I’ve published, I’ve covered topics around weight loss, fitness, diet, and some unboxing/product reviews. The ones that have performed the worst are vlog videos, most likely because people are not searching for it… and the things I’m vlogging about are not really viral or trendy. The ones that have performed the best are my reviews around running hats and the Tonal.

👆 This from one of my vlogs recently. Blue line that’s flattening is where it grew from a facebook post I did in a Maryland hiking group. This enabled it to grow above my typical video engagement, but it flattens out after a week since it’s not something that people are actually searching for on YouTube. This is content that I enjoy creating and editing because I feel like it connects with my friends and family (and hopefully new people)… but the reality is that this kind of content (for me) will have a hard time reaching thousands of views. I’ve done vlogs in the past, and the most they’ve ever reached is a few hundred views. I’m grateful for the engagement, but it’s not enough to make YouTube an actual “thing” for me.

👆 This is a video I made two weeks ago that’s a 35 minute workout video about Tonal. It not only has become one of my better performing videos, it has the longest watch time. When I first posted the video I was very discouraged because it didn’t have any viewers… but after a few days, it started to organically gain traction through YouTube searches. The most interesting thing is that people are actually watching the entire work out. Yes, people are actually watching 35 minutes of me using the Tonal.

👆 This an unbox review of Ceile Hats I bought about 2 months ago, and the vews are still growing. I initially published it to Facebook (for my friends to see), but no one really liked or cared about it. As you can see, the audience that’s watching it is certainly there as the line graph continues to grow up and to the right. There aren’t too many people creating content about Ceile or specilized hat gear, which begs the question:

Is YouTube how people shop for expensive things? My hypothesis is that people want to see other people (like themselves) give an unbiased review of a product that they’re considering buying. The videos help them justify the product’s high price, as well as understand the pros/cons of the purchase. All is not to say that YouTube is only for product reviews, but it seems that the search algorithm is pushing my content to new viewers.

The next step for me is to continue testing more content around reviews, products, and potentially different styles of delivery (like comedy, no punctuation, ASMR, etc). As I create more content, I’ll be able to hone in the trends and align them to what I’m passionate about.

More on this soon. To watch these videos, you can go to http://youtube.com/jeffwongdesign

I was doing a longer hike at Little Bennett State Park on friday, but it started a little on the late side. I ended up getting caught in the woods with 3 miles to go. Fortunately, I brought a head lamp and was able to run back to the car with the remaining light, though it was getting pretty dark. You can’t really see how dark it was in the video because I set the ISO to 12,800 with my f2.8 lens. The results are amazing though, and I’m pleased with each new video I’m able to create.

Here are some screenshots of the video. It’ll be up in a week or two—I’ve gotta throttle the amount of videos I put out so I’ve got a constant stream of content for the peoples.

Yesterday evening I went for nice walk around Little Bennet Regional Park. I had a late start because I had… bathroom issues… let’s just say I was driving there, and I had to turn around because I drank too much coffee. After getting to the park, I was able to walk around for several hours, but the hike bled into the evening which honestly got me a little nervous. I was pretty deep in the woods, but fortunately I had all the gear needed to push through and finish up quickly.

I have this little el-cheapo head lamp that I used, and fortunately I had enough cardio to run through the woods for a couple of miles without a problem. What was once a easy stroll became a evening trail run. As I completed this hike, I really appreciated the amazing low light capabilities of the FX3, but to be honest, I felt like I probably could have done most of the hike with either my phone or a go pro. While the quality of the FX3 is superior, the stabilization of the new go pros are just rock steady.

Whatever it is, I just love the visual quality of the FX3… it has that film-like quality. But it’s without a doubt a pain in the ass to vlog with… and even harder to do a trail run with.

As I create more videos on YouTube, I’m testing out more content and directions. I just published a 30 minute long form video that shows off a Tonal Workout. The goal was to ride the Tonal search terms and give people an authentic look at the Tonal workout before buying. It’s too early to tell if it’s working or not, but it’s definitely not breaking out yet. You can watch that video here.

To experiment further, I’m testing the other end of the spectrum, creating shorter form content about Tonal, more focused on sharing learnings. I just created a video last night about 3 things I wish I knew about the Tonal before installation, which ended up being 2 minutes long after editing. In some ways, I hope that the shorter form content will perform better because it takes less time to plan/edit/render. Less time is also better because most of these tests will probably fail.

When I was working on AddThis, I learned that testing variables meant that you needed to understand what levers you’re “pulling” to trigger different results. In addition, I learned that most test variants were disposable, so it’s best not to waste too much time and test things that are wildly different. I’m hoping to apply this learning to my YouTube videos because on average, it takes at least an hour to plan/edit/render each minute of video.

This is a screenshot from my latest video talking about the Tonal. It has 3 tips and includes on additional tip from one of the viewers. The talking head style videos are the easiest to create because I have a setup that doesn’t require any building/tearing down. The lighting is controlled as well, so I don’t have to worry about messing with the settings. The background/set is pretty bland, but I want to focus on delivering content first, and then I’ll add additional things to the stage for visual interest in the future. I’ll be publishing this content in a couple of weeks, since I have a bunch of other videos scheduled for release.

In addition to testing my own content, I’ve been helping Annie create her YouTube channel as well. She is focused on talking about plants from a overhead view. In her latest video, we experiment with a shorter video (2 minutes) that talks about the availability of the Monstera Peru at Home Depot. I’m hoping that it does well because of the search term and the seasonality of the topic. The goal is to have the video grow organically from search. You can check out her latest video here.

Hopefully one of these tests works. I’m going to keep playing around with YouTube for a couple more weeks and see what happens. I don’t think it’ll turn into a paid career anytime soon, but I’m learning a lot.

As I create new content on YouTube, I realize that I have a lot of skills that I’ve learned over the years to help me test and find an audience. Since I have a little more time on my hands right now (by choice), I’m going to be publishing more videos. While I want the general direction to focus on health and fitness, I think it’s easy to try new things while my channel is still very small.

My latest video is actually a long form video that demonstrates an entire work out on the Tonal Smart Gym. I created another video about Tonal that performed better than average, and it was just me talking to the camera. The funny thing is that I didn’t spend much time on that video. I simply talk about things that would have made the Tonal smarter. You can watch the video here.

This newer video was a little more complex because I used 3 cameras to shoot it. This required me to edit a little more to make sure that the angles captured what I wanted as well as getting the audio right. I had two microphones (one pointing at the Tonal, and another lav mic on me wired to my iPhone). If anything, this took more effort to put together, in addition to taking the thumbnail photo at the top.

I’m not sure if this video will perform well, but I certainly enjoyed making it. I’m going to test out some more content around the Tonal soon, so stay tuned. Until then, check out some of the screenshots below—you can get an idea of the angles I used.

A Cam, cropped in

You can watch my latest video about Tonal here.

I was avoiding trying to buy a new camera, but I had to do it. While gear doesn’t help make better content, I think it can help you with inspiration and explore. Similar to buying Porsche or Ferrari, it won’t necessarily make you a faster driver… but there’s nothing wrong with owning it and appreciating the sport.

Since getting this setup, I have shot about 5 videos, mostly in a vlog or studio format, and I have had phenomenal results. At first, I was using the stock cinetone 10 bit settings, but I’ve now gone full Slog 3 with cinema grading… and I have been so pleased with the results. The FX3 punches way above its weight class and rivals images that come out of an Arri. I definitely don’t need anything this powerful, but it’s just so much fun to use.

We’ll geek out on the specs a little more in a future post, but I just wanted to express how amazing this machine is. It takes a little work to get the look I want, but I am very satisfied. Now it’s time to focus on story telling.

In the mean time, make sure to watch my latest vlog on YouTube that was shot exclusively on the FX3. It documents a recent walk around Glenstone. These are some screenshots pulled from the video.