Tuesday, May 2nd was the day that Two Button Crew uploaded its 500th episode.
This monumental milestone dwarfs everything that has come and gone before! It’s hard to believe that we’ve made a show every weekday for the last 500 weekdays. Just amazing.
Simeon and I (Scott) are almost two years older than when we started, and we’ve grown from a team of 2 to a team of 7 (don’t worry if you can’t name everybody – we’ll introduce them properly soon).
The show has stayed largely the same, although the set has changed, we’ve witnessed the launch of a new Nintendo console, and we’ve changed day jobs.
Oh, and YouTube has changed a dozen times or so.
Here, I’m going to take a few moments and share the things I’ve learned over the last 500 episodes:
You Can Attract the Right Viewers and Build A Community
TBC doesn’t have a huge following, but the quality of our viewers is astounding. There are all kind of stigmas about YouTube comment sections, but none of them apply to our viewers. By avoiding growth shortcuts, follow-for-follow techniques, and by engaging with Nintendo fans, we’ve collected a tight-knit group of like-minded Nintendo fans. Our patience has paid off! We wouldn’t change the connections we’ve made for a big number of mysterious subscribers.
You Can Help People By Providing Entertainment
Our daily show is a mixture of information, entertainment, gameplay, competitions, and the like. But the source material is consistently one thing: video games. Sometimes it’s tempting to feel like all the time we pour into this effort is frivolous compared to more altruistic endeavors, but we’ve found something surprising along the way: we have helped people. Our viewers have chaotic and sometimes difficult lives, and our channel has proved to be a safe-haven of positivity for them. We love making consistent, top-quality content that you can count on, no matter what’s going on in real life.
You Have to Serve Others to Succeed
There are no benefits for creators to reap without helping others. At first, becoming a YouTuber seems like a pretty grand gig. Make content, people will watch, numbers will go up, and you’ll gain credibility and perks in the industry. Right?
No.
Those motives aren’t sustainable. Attach your motivation to helping your audience, and then you can wake up every day, put others before yourself, and make something truly great while improving others’ lives.
You Have to Be Ready to Adapt
YouTube changes the rules constantly, tinkering with their algorithms to keep viewers engaged and to increase their own revenue. Sometimes these changes are in the favor of creators, and other times they’re not. It’s important that we don’t rely on YouTube too much, but that we diversify our sources of support.
Persistence Pays Off
Things that we have invested in for years are just now starting to pay off. It’s all about the long game. I’ll look back on this post another 500 episodes from now and smile at how things have changed.
Here’s to 500 more!
