Brock, my son, recently polled his Twitter following — asking content creators if they would rather have 10,000 subscribers on YouTube or 100,000 followers on Instagram? Interestingly, most people said they’d prefer to have the YouTube subscribers (even though it was one-tenth of the number).
And I think that’s because there’s an inherent value to views on YouTube.
Why YouTube Is Better (for Creators) Than TikTok and Instagram
Sure, YouTube asks for a lot — specifically, in terms of quality of production and content. But the return of investment can be high.
On Instagram you can post a 6-second Reel and it might do incredibly well. TikTok, too (though it’s not called a Reel, but I digress). Go viral, even.
That said, your virality on those platforms — most likely — won’t result in new followers for life.
On YouTube, though, people are more likely to want to come along on your journey.
This may be due to the fact that YouTube channels, generally speaking, require more:
- niched content
- production
- forethought
- keyword optimization/SEO
- energy
- time
- effort
Meaning, when you capture a new viewer on YouTube, there’s a sense of appreciation and respect for the content just watched.
Consistency.
While it’s not a necessity, most influencers/business owners — who are growing big accounts and growing rapidly — post multiple times a day on IG and TikTok.
However, on YouTube, you don’t see multiple videos per day. You’re actually not super likely to see content creators putting out more than a couple videos a week, at most.
Hence, you can really hone in on your content and give it the attention it deserves.
Caveat: Because of the sheer amount of production that goes into (most) YouTube videos… they will take much more time to execute.
Evergreen and discoverable content.
Another huge upside of YT is the fact that your content is evergreen!
Benefits of it being evergreen:
- You could post a video today and, say, seven years from now, someone can still find it and learn from it
- When monetization and AdSense are turned on, you can get paid years and year later
- If you had an affiliate link, for example, in your episode description, people can click on that whether they watch the video today or in 10 years
Keep in mind, that YouTube is owned by Google. They are both search engines — allowing you to get discovered by people who don’t already subscribe / know who you are.
So, in general, discoverability is easier on YouTube.
Now, all the above certainly doesn’t mean that YT comes without challenges. For what those challenges are, plus:
- How/why Instagram beats Facebook
- What Instagram’s and TikTok’s algorithm is designed to do
- Which platform my son prefers most and why
Then, you must check out this episode of Build Your Tribe:
And don’t forget to subscribe to BYT for weekly shows dedicated to your social media growth!