The YouTube Strategy NO ONE is Talking About

You ever been on YouTube and saw a video that seemed pretty intriguing and then kept scrolling and then happened to notice another video that looked just like that video you just saw? This is something called content hacking, and it's a strategy that a crap ton of people are using, but no one's really talking about. YouTube will never look the same to you after watching this video because content hacking is like that thing where once you see it, you can't not see it. But this is a very powerful strategy that you can use to grow your own YouTube channel and your audience and ultimately your business. Hey friend, this is James, the Profit Your Knowledge. You're looking to grow your income, work fewer hours, and make a big impact by sharing your knowledge, passions, and skills on the internet, this is the channel for you. And if you're really serious about turning your knowledge into a passive income stream, I put together a 5-step action guide that's gonna walk you through how to earn your first $500 per month of passive income teaching stuff online. It's totally free, it's step-by-step, it's actionable, and it's in the description. Or you can always visit profityourknowledge.com/guide to pick it up. So on the surface, content hacking can seem like stealing, and it It is, but there's a good way to do it and a bad way. I'm gonna show you the good way. One of my favorite books of all time is Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon. I think any creative person should read this book. Inside the book, Austin shares a story about Kobe Bryant. Kobe admitted that all of his moves were stolen from watching tapes of his heroes, the people he looked up to and admired. Now initially, when Bryant stole those moves, he realized he couldn't completely pull them off because he didn't have the same body type as the guys he was thieving from, so he had to adapt the moves to make them his own. Austin also talks about how Conan O'Brien tried to be his hero David Letterman, but ended up being Conan O'Brien. And Conan even said, it's our failure to become our perceived ideal that ultimately defines us and makes us unique. Thank goodness our failure to copy our heroes is where we discover where our own thing lives. That's how we evolve. Austin goes on to say that everything that needs to be said has already been said, but since no one was listening, everything must be said again. What a good artist understands is that nothing comes from nowhere. All creative work builds on what came before, so nothing is completely original. But then what is originality? Undetected plagiarism. So when I first read this book and I was focusing on growing my business and creating content and that sort of stuff, I started to notice this undetected plagiarism everywhere. Video after video, I saw creators putting out content 5 months, 2 months, sometimes a couple of years later than another creator that I follow. And the content looked and felt the same. But what was unique about it is that they brought their own unique perspective and stories and examples and teaching stories and all that sort of stuff to the table. So this got me thinking, rather than create videos that I think people would want, what if I could steal video ideas that are guaranteed to get views? Now I know what you're thinking, James, isn't that copying? It is, but there's a right way to do it. Like Austin said, nothing comes from nowhere. All creative work builds on what came before. So even if something seems to be totally original, it's because they got influence from other outside sources. And that's what we want to do here when it comes to content hacking. So this is a video that came out from Alex Hormozi where it said, adapt or die, get rich in the AI revolution 2023. A few months later, I was scrolling on YouTube and then I saw this video pop up that also said adapt or die with the robots and colorful background. And I thought, hmm, that's interesting. Fix credit with AI revolution 2023. In my opinion, this is a little too aggressive when it comes replicating somebody's content that is performing very well. Now because this is in a different niche, it's business versus credit, the creator probably thought that who's gonna know. Even when you watch both of these videos, the opening hook, the editing style, the feel is very similar, and that's content hacking. I think the packaging here was just a little aggressive. In "Steal Like an Artist," Austin Kleon says it so well. The reason to copy your heroes and their style is so that you might somehow get a glimpse into their minds. That's what you really want. To internalize their way of looking at the world. If you just mimic the surface of somebody's work without understanding where they're coming from, your work will never be anything more than a knockoff. Copying is about reverse engineering. You don't want to look like your heroes. You want to see like your heroes. So think about the thinking behind the style. A great example is if you type in, I quit my job after 3 things, you're going to get a huge list of these videos where the titles look relatively the same and the thumbnails even. But the people who make those videos have unique stories and lessons learned. They're just replicating a type of content that is performing well on the platform, and that's what we're going for. The question is, how can we use this strategy ethically and pull it off? Start by making a list of your heroes, the people that you look up to and that you admire. We also want to think about heroes that have a similar audience to us. So when I make a list like that, a hero for me would be Pat Flynn. I love Pat Flynn. I've been following for a very long time and we have a similar audience, which is creators. So when you have this list, you wanna go to each person's YouTube channel, go down to videos, and then click on popular. What this is going to do is organize their most popular content that they've ever created in the history of their channel from top to bottom. Now what's important to think about is when you're gonna content hack a certain type of piece of content, you want to think about how many views it's accumulated in how short of a time frame. The shorter the time frame and the more views, the better. For example, if it has a million views from 10 years ago versus a million views from 1 year ago, you know the 1 year is going to be a better piece of content that you could put your time into replicating. So if I scroll down on Pat's content, I found this video, 50 Podcast Tips in 15 Minutes. So I took the idea here of 50 Tips in 15 Minutes. So it's a lot of tips in a short period of time that I can share with my audience and make it be like rapid fire. That was the feel of this content. So I took this video and then created my own, but I called it 20 Copywriting Tips in 6 Minutes for Your First Sales. And as for a thumbnail, I got inspiration from these two guys. Austin Kleon says, if you have one person you're influenced by, everyone will say you're the next whoever. But if you rip off 100 people, everyone will say you're so original. Now another example is Sunny Lenarduzzi. So I can go to her channel. We share a similar audience. She's someone that I definitely look up to, and I was studying from when I first started as an entrepreneur as well. So I definitely enjoy Sunny's content, but I'll go to her channel, go to videos, then go down to popular. And then this was a really good video that she came out with, How to Create an Online Course That Sells from a 7-Figure Course Creator. This came out 3 years ago, and of course I watched it a long time ago. What was interesting I was scrolling on YouTube and I saw this video come out from Jillian Perkins with the title, How to Create an Online Course That Sells from a 7-Figure Course Creator. So let's think about a couple things in these two pieces of content. It is the same title and Jillian's came out over 2.5 years after Sunny's video. And what's even crazier is that both videos are about 20 minutes long and both have a paper whiteboard. And what's even crazier than that is that when you watch the opening hook in this content, they're pretty much the same. That is content hacking. Now, despite hearing this, you should still create original content, but 80 to 90% of your content ideas should come from using data that you already know works on the platform and modeling what already works. It's not about just ripping people off. It's finding videos that perform well and thinking, why do they perform well? You don't want to just steal the exact script that someone put a bunch of time into building, but there's a pace to the way that they speak. If they open up with a story, you can open up with your own story. And if you completely rip someone off, at least give them credit. Say, "I saw this video, it was super awesome, and I wanted to make my own kind of version of it, but you should definitely go check out that other creator." Collaboration is how we win in this game. Now that you know about this strategy, you're gonna start to notice it online if you haven't already. But when you see a video that looks like something you've already seen, I challenge you just to click on the video and bring up the other one, play them side by side, and see what the look and the feel is, the pacing, the editing style. See how similar they really are. Then start using this strategy in a way that feels right to you to grow your own channel. Because the truth is that small creators and big creators are all using this strategy. But please use this with respect and give credit where credit is due. And you'll be fine. If this video was helpful, give me a like and let me know your thoughts or questions in a comment below. And if you haven't already done it yet, make sure you pick up the 5-step action guide to earn your first $500 per month of passive income teaching stuff that you already know online. Now, if you're thinking about growing your online business and your YouTube channel, you're gonna have to learn about marketing, which is why you should check out this video where I share with you 3 marketing principles I wish I knew earlier. Take what you learned here, get out there, make something happen, and I'll see you in the next one.