The Prompt:
“I am thinking that I really need to make more videos, but I have never enjoyed sitting and talking by myself, and I have never been good at editing. If you could help me to put out increasingly professional videos on targeted weekly basis (Q&A format, polish as needed), then that could go a good ways to covering GBW.”
(SEO)
- Does not enjoy talking by himself (I’m not sure if we can fix this problem completely, but we can discuss this further)
- Needs help editing
- Needs to produce more (weekly)
What are the goals of your YouTube channel?
(This is just my analysis please make corrections or addendums)
- To funnel people to the academy
- To educate on useful and interesting things.
- To express yourself and further your own education
Existing systems that we want to make more productive.
- Telegram (students)
- Maybe make a ‘Video Ideas’ chat on Telegram where your existing students can recommend video ideas. This would work well because they are your core audience and their questions and interests would have s good sense of the broader audience’s wants.
- Newsletter
- Musings
- You could write it formally and then turn on the camera and summarize
- or You could Muse in front of the camera and then formalize that through writing
- Book Recommendation
- You can simply take the same book you recommend in the newsletter and make that recommendation a video
- Discuss why you are recommending the book, what your favorite bits were, why other should read it, &c.
- Student Spotlight
- You can take the student spotlight section of the email and turn that into a live Q&A video, where you let the student ask you any of their questions. This would be a free one of your 1 on 1 consultations that you gift each month to a new student.
- It would also be an incentive for joining the academy.
- It would help build relationship to existing students which would increase customer satisfaction.
- Go through every student of Academy that would like to participate.
- Q and A on website (past writings)
- Similar to what you after Shaun’s recommendation, you can go through and summarize the key points from your answers to peoples questions on your website. You answers there are great and useful, but lack exposure due to their written format.
- Academy’s lectures (Comparative History of Religions, Path of Polyglot, Great Books)
- You can definitely use these to funnel people to the academy
- You can sometimes post entire classes for free to show off the discussion format that people would get to be a part of. (A lot of times showing off the product is the best marketing.)
- Other time particularly with more lecture heavy classes like Path of Polyglot, I could go through the lecture and distill it down into a 10 minute video of its key points (once again we would do a pitch at the end for the academy)
- With Great Books you can maybe (after reading each work in preparation for the class) summarize your reading, say what you liked, what you disliked, you favorite parts, why you recommend it, it value historically, its value to a potential reader, a mini lecture to those who are thinking about reading it for what they may want to know.
- This would further and solidify your own self-education
- And it would spark interests in the great books and funnel people towards the academy
Video Ideas:
To funnel people to the academy
- I think it would be great advertising for the academy if you exposed the reading-lists of your existing courses. Most Important: Show where each class is heading
- Basically, show everyone the reading lists of all your classes. Show what has already been read and where you are planning to go (I think this is the most important part because if people see that the curriculum, if followed, leads to a very desirable place they will be very likely to join the academy so that they can be lead through that journey to that desirable destination.) ( Also videos like this do very well on YouTube, when people recommend a bunch of books that would give you a well-rounded knowledge of a subject. So it would give you even more exposure and funnel people to the academy)
- Basically give out a well-rounded curriculum for all you classes beginner to advanced, and use it as a funnel to the academy. A lot of people will just be happy to have the curriculum, but many others will think “if He has helped me so much with free materials how much more helpful will he be if I join his academy.”
- More videos like you did with Steve. I felt that was very great marketing.
To educate on useful and interesting things
- Do something as informal as a podcast style Q&A or a formal dialogue inspired by Chapter 35 of Lingua Latina and the Socratic Dialogues in Plato
- Less formal Q&A: You and I (or you and anyone you choose) go into a discussion prepared to discuss a particular topic.
- For example, you pick a topic or concept you want to teach on. Then you say this is what we will be discussing to the ‘student” before hand. Then, that student takes on the role of the humble enquirer and you answer their questions live on the spot. The goal of this discussion would be to eventually hone in the discussion to a very thorough explanation of the concept.
- The Advantages of this method: Takes Less time and is more effective
- The longest and hardest part of teaching is not knowing what to teach but how to teach it. You probably spend the majority of your time figuring out the proper way to structure your lectures for students
- This method allows the one student to represent all students and he will ask questions that naturally allows the content to fold in a way that is best communicated.
- Y’all would peel onion on any given topic live
- Most Formal: You write out a formalized Socratic Dialogue and you and a student play the roles of Student and teacher.
To express yourself and further your own education
- You talking about your favorite books
- What you are currently learning
- What you’ve recently learned (Best lessons)
- What you are currently readings
- Etc. Etc.
- People do just want to hear where your own self-education is taking you, and hear you talk about the things that are exciting you most at that current moment.
Audience of 1: What I want to see you make most
(These are videos I have always wanted to see you make. Typically if you serve an audience of one you will also be serving a much broader audience.)
- I have always wanted to see you make videos of how you would go from beginner to advanced in every language you feel conformable giving such advice on.
- For example you’d make a video on how you’d go from beginner to intermediate and just give every possible book that you think would be useful for someone to work through.
- Then a video taking people from intermediate to advanced, using the same method of recommending every possible material that would take people from point A to B.
- Finally, you would conclude each series with your favorite pieces of literature in that language and you favorite authors you’ve had the pleasure to read in that language. You would greatly inspire people by showing them the treasure that awaits them and by giving them a detailed path for getting there
- This would also be a great funnel to the academy because you can say if you wznt to read the great works with me here is the link.