Twenty-five year old Yousef Saleh Erakat, also known by his stage name FouseyTube, is a Palestinian American entertainer who produces parodies, vlogs, comedy sketches and pranks on YouTube to an audience of more than 6 million subscribers.
What makes him so successful on Youtube? What's the secret sauce? Here's what I learned when I went Behind the Brand with fouseyTube.
Trait #1
There's a familiar theme among the most successful Youtuber's and it has to do with being yourself. The audience can see right thru someone who isn't being genuine and we've seen several young creators with massive audiences fall hard lately because it was discovered that they were not who they pretended to be.
Trait #2
There is a steady flow of content that airs on a certain day once per week. The magic combo seems to be publishing videos weekly but it's also about knowing what your people want. For other social platforms like Twitter or Pinterest, more frequent posts might be appropriate. Best practices are all about following the etiquette of that particular network. Do your homework, observe and listen, then jump in the game.
Trait #3
They don't risk it all at first. Fousey described how he got started. He was working at Chili's putting money in the bank while making videos on the side for cheap. Once one of his videos hit it big, he quit his day job and never looked back but still spends very little on production costs. He does all of the work which includes the writing and editing.
Trait #4
They don't give up. Sometimes Fousey's videos don't go viral and that's okay with him. He creates what he thinks is entertaining content and keeps trying to please his audience. You're only as good as your last video so you have to keep on going.
Trait #5
They care. Author Gary Vaynerchuk wrote in his book, The Thank You Economy, "The person who cares the most wins." Fousey listens to feedback and tries his best to react to what he thinks will be entertaining for his community. That could include pulling horrible pranks on some of his best friends but it's always fun to watch.
What did I leave out? Tweet me @BryanElliott or leave a comment below. Want to watch more Behind the Brand videos? Check out my Youtube channel here: http://bit.ly/GetBehindtheBrand