How Dr. Mona Vand Grew 200k YouTube Subscribers In Only 1 Year: The YouTube Power Hour Podcast 176
“It’s exhausting to be somebody that you’re not.” – Erika Vieira
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Want a super simple way to grow your channel to hundreds of thousands of subscribers? We’ve got the goods for you today. It’s so simple you’re gonna wonder what the catch is, but our guest, beauty and wellness YouTuber Dr. Mona Vand, will be breaking down her explosive growth to over 200k subscribers in 1 year and give you real actionable steps to follow! So get ready to take some notes ladies!
Dr. Mona Vand started in a place where a lot of us start out. She was very hesitant to jump into YouTube because she felt it was too saturated. But after building her brand on Instagram and Snapchat, and wanting to give even more value and go into even more details on what she was teaching – going into detail is what she loves more than anything – she decided to try it out. For her first set of videos, she did everything wrong and barely grew at all. But in December 2017 she scrapped everything and started over. She dropped the persona she was trying to be and embraced her flaws and all. That’s when she started to grow. One of her new videos hit 5k views and after that, she was off to the races and hasn’t stopped growing since!
“Create really good quality content. Even if it takes a while, it will come.”
What’s unique about Dr. Mona’s experience is that she started already comfortable with being on camera, after having done so many lives and stories on IG and Snapchat. One hack she used was to not reinvent the wheel. She was already doing well with her lives, so why not record her YouTube videos like she does her lives? If you watch any of her videos, you can tell how well that works! She is a lot more calm and herself than in her older videos, and she’s gaining resonance with her audience because of it. She is a big supporter of just being yourself and focus on creating your best quality content and you’ll grow. Tune in to the episode to hear all her other amazing lessons.
“If you have the means to hire an editor, it’s the best money spent.”
7 Key Interview Takeaways
- Consistency is super important. Consistency is the name of the game. There is nothing more crucial to your growth than that. If you’re a bigger channel with huge demand behind your brand, then you can have more flexibility, but if you’re building, you want the momentum and you want the new stream of viewers coming in. So put out content and do it at the same times each week. A good idea is to start with a batch of content or ideas. Have 4-12 videos in the bank or fully fleshed out ideas so all you need to do is hit record. Anything you can do to stack the deck in your favor and remain consistent.
- You have to be yourself. Another thing you can’t get around. Dr. Mona started with a partnership that didn’t fit her, making video choices that weren’t her – she’s more reserved and she was trying to fit a loud and flamboyant persona. Her audience saw right through that and she didn’t show up 100% because she wasn’t congruent with herself. So she didn’t grow. But when she shed all of that and did what was truly her, her channel exploded to over 200k in a year. If you take anything away it’s this: always be yourself.
- Outsource the parts you’re not great at or excited about. If you have the means to pay people to help you, or the passion and drive to convince people to help you out for free, you won’t regret that decision. Dr. Mona knew that editing her own videos was not something she was energized to do, so she outsourced that entire process and it’s working really well. What parts of the process drain you instead of giving you life? Take on help and outsource it.
- Upgrade your audio. You can start with less than great video, but you cannot get ahead with bad audio. Wear a lav mic, get one for your camera or set up a shotgun mic, whatever you do, be sure to prioritize your audio because bad audio can tank your channel.
- Don’t script your videos. When it comes to showing up authentically and being yourself, it’s hard to do that when you’re reading a script. How many script readers have you seen on TV or YouTube? Is there anyone doing it really well that feels natural and engaging? Maybe if you’re a professional broadcaster, but when you’re starting out with video on YouTube it’s an uphill battle that isn’t worth it. Instead, you can get good practice being in the moment and thinking on your feet. Have a plan of what you’ll talk about and outline your videos for sure, but instead of reading from a script, freestyle and wing it. You’ll show up better.
- Mix organic content with branded content. YouTube success and traction can come quickly. Along the road of Dr. Mona’s career, several brands came calling. But instead of filling her channel with sponsored content, she felt it was better to still have a lot of organic content and tutorials and very few sponsored videos in between. That’s because she didn’t want to alienate her audience by becoming fully commercial. That sends the message that maybe you grew only for the money and not for them. So when brand deals come your way, weigh the pros and cons and consider doing a mix of organic and sponsored content, instead of fully maximizing on the monetization.
- Collaborate to grow. A huge growth lever for your channel is to collaborate with other YouTubers. The magic behind it is the ability to get your channel exposed to your partner’s audience and vice versa. That exposure can really explode your growth. But pick the right partners and go into each collaboration with both eyes open. How will you two benefit? What will the collaboration be about? And how will both audiences be helped by the content?
Dr. Mona’s Favorite Item Mentioned in The Podcast!
Resources
My favorite free SEO tool for YouTube: TubeBuddy
(Discount code ErikasBuddy for 20% off the paid version)
PR Guide: How to Get onto PR Lists and Get Lots of Free Product
Getting Started on YouTube: The #1 Downloaded Free Niche Discovery Workbook
Connect with Dr. Mona
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Podcast Music Credit: Boop by x50 @x50music
Music provided by Free Music for Vlogs youtu.be/o52xQkQWzyU
