Growth Newsletter #108

Social media is ephemeral. A post is lucky to last 24 hours. Yet YouTube videos can build in traffic for years.

Wish you could crack the code to YouTube growth?

A lot of gurus and experts make it more complicated than it really is.

Growing on YouTube is just a matter of:

1. Creating videos that people find valuable
2. Posting them on YouTube at least once a week
3. Repeating this for at least 2 years

The issue is a) it’s hard to do it alone, b) it takes a ton of time and c) you often don’t know where to start or what to do next.

That’s why less than 1% of all YouTube channels have over 100,000 subscribers and the numbers are even more brutal for brand channels.

So, what’s the solution?

Ali Abdaal, an educational YouTuber with 3.8M subscribers, has just opened the enrolment for his last-ever live cohort of the Part-Time YouTuber Academy.

It’s a 4-week live online course where you'll learn to grow your channel from 0 to 100,000+ subscribers and transform it into a sustainable, income- and awareness-generating machine.

Join me (Neal) in the cohort. I’ll be doing it this year to learn how to bring DC to YouTube.

Since enrollment opened last Monday, 80% of available spaces have been taken.

Grab one of the remaining spots here or read more about the course, when it starts, and all the things that Ali and his team have prepared for you.

LinkedIn is getting hotter and hotter each year.

And one of the great things about LinkedIn (unlike other social platform) is that you can bootstrap your first followers by sending connection requests.

Databox’s Nikos Ntirlis shares how:

#1) Make a list of the people you want to connect with—potential customers, influencers, partners, affiliates, etc.

Pro tip: Choose people with a similar audience size as you. If you have 1,000 followers, someone with 3,000 is way more likely to accept than someone with 300,000.

#2) Read their posts and check out their website. The goal is to identify the topics that interest them and their communities.

#3) Thoughtfully engage with them. That includes commenting on their posts, responding to their comments on someone else’s, and quoting and tagging them in your own posts.

Do this several times over the course of a few days or weeks.

Pro tip: Prioritize commenting on viral posts. You'll get more organic followers.

#4) Send a connection request after your targets respond.

They'll be way more likely to accept than if you did it cold. Why?

Because they recognize your name, have started to develop a relationship with you, and want you to keep engaging with their posts (so you help amplify their reach).

Note: you can also comment on people commenting on their posts, and send connection requests to them. Just be careful to only send up to about 20 per day to avoid being suspended by LinkedIn. 

And even if your targets don’t accept your connection request, interacting with their content can get you exposure to their audience.

Want more insights about growing your LinkedIn presence organically? Check out our comprehensive playbook.

Good copywriting isn’t about glorifying your product or exaggerating its features.

It’s about getting people to understand your product's core benefit. Only then can they consider becoming a customer.

You can reach that core benefit through dimensionalization. That involves identifying a key feature and then asking, “So what?” not just once, but again and again.

Keep asking, “So what?” until you reach one of these desires:

1. Physical: Food, drink, warmth, and shelter
2. Safety: Security and safety
3. Belonging and love: Companionship and intimacy
4. Esteem: Feelings of success and superiority
5. Self-actualization: Achieving one’s full potential

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs describes our fundamental needs as humans.

Dimensionalizing helps connect the dots between a product feature and at least one of these underlying desires.

Here’s an example of dimensionalizing:

Product feature: A fine art print that comes in extra large dimensions

• So what? The XL sizing makes the print the focal point of any room in your home.
• So what? The print commands everyone’s attention.
• So what? It becomes a conversation piece whenever guests are over.
• So what? You can show off your knowledge about the artwork.
• So what? You’ll impress your guests—earning you esteem from their social approval as well as your own feelings of success.

Figma has quickly become one of top design tools. Partly because it was the first Sketch-like design tool to double-down on web.

And it's inherently viral. I send you a link to our Figma file, we start collaborating immediately.

Figma makes this process even smoother with their permissions and billing.

#1. Editors (basic users) can add new editors to their team at any time and at no upfront cost. This allows folks to share designs, get feedback and move quickly without admin approval.

#2. If the number of editors exceeds the current plan, admins get an email a few days before the next bill is due, and highlights any new editors that joined.

#3. The admin can then decide to remove these new editors before the next billing cycle. BUT they're way less likely to now for two reasons:

1. Loss aversion: It's psychologically harder for them to remove access from someone than to say no in the first place. 
2. Effort: It requires the admin to actively remove someone. Often, people are busy and don't get to it—or don't bother since it's only $12/mo.

This makes it:

• Easier for users. They can invite folks without waiting for admins.
• Easier for admins. They don't have to invite everyone. They can batch remove people as needed each month. And they get a free month for each user.
• More revenue for Figma.