In 2009 Rasmus Albrechtsen started providing males’s hairstyling tutorials on YouTube. He referred to as his channel “Slikhaar TV,” as in “slick hair.” The channel scaled to over 2 million subscribers.
Then got here YouTube’s synthetic intelligence-driven browse characteristic, exhibiting viewers the movies that doubtless curiosity them. Suddenly, Albrechtsen’s 2 million subscribers appeared much less impactful. He’s now producing movies “for the browse characteristic greater than for the subscribers.”
Albrecthsen relies in Denmark, the place I’m vacationing. He and I just lately mentioned Slikhaar TV, By Vilain (his line of hair merchandise), and the influence of AI on video advertising and marketing.
The total audio of our dialog is embedded under. The transcript is edited for readability and size.
Eric Bandholz: What do you do?
Rasmus Vilain Albrechtsen: I co-founded two companies with my twin brother, Emil. We have Slikhaar TV, which is a YouTube channel with over 2 million subscribers providing males’s hairstyling tutorials and recommendation. We launched it in 2009.
Then we’ve By Vilain, the place we develop and promote hair merchandise for males, equivalent to waxes, pre-stylers, shampoos, and equipment.
Having a brother as a enterprise associate is sweet, though it has challenges. We are an identical twins, however we’ve completely different personalities. I’m extra into the artistic, imaginative and prescient area. Emil is extra into executing and operations. He’s additionally our CEO. We complement one another fairly properly.
Bandholz: Organic YouTube views will be arduous to come by.
Albrechtsen: It has been turbulent on YouTube. We can thank the browse characteristic for the turbulence. It’s getting smarter, utilizing synthetic intelligence to assist viewers uncover their distinctive pursuits.
We have 2 million subscribers, however we don’t have 2 million viewers. We have 2 million individuals who, as soon as in 14 years, selected to push the subscribe button. Their lives could also be completely different now.
So we’re attempting to produce movies round traits for the browse characteristic greater than for the subscribers.
Bandholz: Similar to the TikTook mannequin, proper? The variety of subscribers doesn’t have an effect on how a video performs.
Albrechtsen: Yes. TikTook is excessive in some methods as a result of viewers will overlook you tomorrow in the event you’re not feeding into the traits. If you personalize content material and construct your self as somebody that folk need to get extra of, they’ll keep in mind you and return to your channel since you moved them in a roundabout way.
To stand out, it’s principally a brainwashing course of. You entertain them, however they don’t keep in mind you. To be memorable, you retain at it.
I had an expertise in my health heart. A man approached me and mentioned, “Are you that dude that at all times pops up in my feed?” It’s tremendous fascinating when people discover you since you will need to have left an imprint in a roundabout way.
So the problem is producing memorable content material so viewers can discover you. Folks might browse 100 movies an hour, 10 to 20 seconds every. If your content material makes an imprint, you should utilize it in an advert in a while.
Then, in the event that they watched your content material a few occasions within the browse characteristic, they may reply to a industrial together with your product. They don’t know the place they noticed it, however they understand it’s tied to good content material, so that they belief it extra.
Bandholz: Have you accomplished endorsement offers with celebrities?
Albrechtsen: We have just a few endorsements. But if the query is, “Have we paid for endorsements?” the reply isn’t instantly. They occur by casual networks — some soccer (soccer) gamers, just a few celebrities — however it’s not on formal contracts. It’s often of us who use our merchandise. So it’s not a typical endorsement the place you pay Cristiano Ronaldo a few million {dollars}, and he’ll point out you, and you should utilize his identify within the advertising and marketing of the product.
A star endorsement could possibly be technique, however we’re not pursuing it due to the worth level. We would in all probability pay round 80,000 U.S. {dollars} for a 12 months’s contract with a high-end superstar.
I’d slightly persist with guys who persistently create professional content material inside a selected area of interest and supply worth in a selected space — not simply entertaining by exhibiting luxurious life.
Bandholz: Where can listeners comply with you?
Albrechtsen: Check out our YouTube channel, @Slikhaar TV, or see us on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTook. Our hair care merchandise are at ByVilain.com.
https://www.practicalecommerce.com/youtube-marketer-adjusts-to-ai
