We've Made Mistakes on Memberships...

We were at the Uscreen Connect event in LA and it was an incredibly insightful experience (Thanks Rob Balasabas!). Here are the important lessons we learned from this event.

Note: The Uscreen link is an affiliate link. We may earn a small commission if you make a purchase through this link, at not extra cost to you.

Having an email list is very important!

It's one thing to subscribe to a channel, it's another to sign up for a creator's newsletter. By subscribing, you've decided that this creator is interesting enough for you to watch from time to time. However, when you decide to join their newsletter, you're committing a little bit more effort in getting to know this creator and what they do.

You may not always get a notification when the creator uploads because of YouTube being YouTube, but you'll most certainly see their email in your inbox (unless you have hundreds of unorganized emails sent daily).

In the event, we learned from Chris Sharpe of Yoga With Adriene that this funnel is what works best for them. He'd bring their viewers from YouTube into their email list, then after a while, he'd try to sell them something digital or physical that is affordable. Then he would segment the people who do buy and do a follow up email to check up on them before sending an offer to their membership.

If you don't know, Yoga With Adriene has over 40,000+ members on Uscreen who are all paying $20 a month. This is the method that works for them. Obviously, all of this may not work for you, but it is something that you should keep in mind and consider. For us, we find that it's easy funnel viewers into our Discord server, but we're still figuring out how to get them to become a Member. It's a learning progress!

There are multiple ways to make money through YouTube that doesn't include the YPP.

A lot of creators we talk to often only mentions making money through YouTube adsense, which feels like they put all their eggs into one basket. There are many other options outside of being a part of the YPP. You can even make money without being a part of it.

In this slide from Chris Sharpe, he mentions that YouTube is the top of their funnel which attracts people from all over the world. This leads them to be able to introduce their audience to digital products, live events, merchandise, and memberships.

Simplify your tiers and the offers that comes with it.

When we heard from the CEO and Co-Founder of Filmmakers Academy, Brendan Sweeny and Lydia Hurlbut respectively, talking about how they had too many tiers, we realized we made the same mistake. Having too many tiers can give you choice overload, making it difficult on what tier you should take. It's like going to a restaurant with 50 items on the menu versus a restaurant with only 1 or 2 items.

Don't make it difficult for your audience.

At that time, we had 4 tiers, but even we felt overwhelmed by them. The distinctions between the tiers were starting to blur and it became difficult to keep track of who had access to what benefits. After the panel, we immediately began discussing ways to simplify our tier structure. The very next day, we decided to condense it down to just 2 tiers.

By having two tiers and offers that are distinct, this will help users choose the tier they think they'll need.

Create for your audience, not just for you.

When Uscreen did their presentation, they had a slide that resonated with us.

If you create for yourself, don't be surprise when you're the only one watching. Use YouTube's Inspiration tab or Google Trends and learn what your viewers are interested in. If you get a video that is highly received, figure out your next plan on making similar videos.

You could even consider going to comment sections of other channels from the same genre and check the top comments to see what they want. Some top comments have over a thousand likes of an idea they'd love to see, but the creator either doesn't see it or doesn't want to make it. This could be your moment to shine.

Now, some of you may groan at certain videos that does well for your channel and you say, "I don't like making these kinds of videos anymore" or "I didn't even put that much effort, why did it get that many views?". We understand the frustration. Ultimately, it is up to you on whether you want to create another video, but know that you don't have to make the same thing for the rest of your life.

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