Rachel Jackson: Formulas for Artists to DOMINATE YouTube

First things first, YouTube shorts. You need to utilize it. It is the growth hack. Understand what's working. And when you see something that works, double down on it. So what's like the most underrated feature? It's a function that are you vaping in front of me? Not in front of you, but like next over here. Adjacent? Yeah, adjacent. Am I present? Yes or no? A choice. Thumbs up, thumbs down. Hate it or love it. Keep it simple. And they and the people will interact. They want to win on YouTube and they know that you know when they get in with me, they win. With almost 3 billion monthly active users, YouTube is arguably the best platform when it comes to building and nurturing a fan base. Even if you don't see yourself as a YouTuber, we believe that there should be a strategy in place for growing on this platform. On today's episode, we sat down with the manager of artist and live stream partnerships at YouTube, Rachel Jackson, aka Rachie Baby. And she gave us an inside look straight from the source at how to grow your channel the fastest. We're talking about the types of content that work best, the most slept on features, the artists that are really crushing it on the platform right now, and much, much more.

This episode is a must watch if you have any plans of winning on YouTube as a musician, which every musician should. Let's dive right in. But it was it was cool. Oh my god. Well, folks, we have Rachel Jackson, aka Rachie Baby, podcast. She is the artist partnerships and live stream partnerships manager at YouTube and YouTube Music. I am. Mhmm. I've heard of it. I've heard of it. Oh my god. This is one that I've been Thank you for coming on the podcast. I've heard of it. Oh my god. This is one that I've been I've heard of it before. small company. Yeah. Little tiny fish. Yeah. Um but no, so appreciate you coming on because I think that, you know, our audience uh really could use a crash course on just like how to leverage YouTube, which should be in every artist's mix when it comes to like content strategy, marketing, promotion, like getting their brand out there. So I think that this is like huge for you guys.

So please, please take notes, rewind this shit as you're hearing gems, because there's gonna be plenty of them. Um but I think just you know, setting the stage for everyone, what does your role actually entail? Just so we know, you know, what we're dealing with here. For sure. So I have the opportunity to work with artists and their management teams or their managers on creating the best case scenario that they are looking to achieve on YouTube. So that entails laying out content strategies, marketing and promotion, also connecting them to other opportunities within the Googleverse, as we say. The Googleverse. That's nice. Fancy. So just partnering with Pixel and Chrome, Android, just all the things that lie around that intersect properly. We put them together and make it fun. On that note, how much is it artists and their teams maybe like bringing requests or ideas to you, and then vice versa. Obviously, you're probably constantly bringing them ideas on ways that you know they could partner with you guys.

But are they bringing y'all stuff too? The artists that I work with, they are sick of me all the time. I call it every week, like, hey, we should do this, oh, we should try this. And a lot of the artists, when I work with them, I make sure that I approach them with things that make sense for them. I really do the most to try to make sure that I'm understanding the psychology of my artists and the teams that I work with, because I wouldn't just go to a soldier boy and say, hey, do this one thing, and you we know that that's our brand. You know, I wouldn't go to Moneybag Yo and say, hey, try this, and it just doesn't work. Because a lot of artists that I work with, I've noticed that they're not all the way into just casual talk to camera style content. So I wouldn't bring anything like that. I meet, I'm very intentional about meeting artists where they are and bringing them ideas that align with that. And on the flip side, they come to me and ask me my opinion on every little thing that involves or that's involved with their content strategies because they want to win on YouTube and they know that you know when they get in with me, they win. Oh, hell yeah.

Who doesn't want to win on YouTube, man? So what is it about the like talk to camera style content that artists just fucking Hate it. A lot of my artists just find it corny, but at the same time, if there is an artist that is a personality, or we have more of the triple threat types that don't really care what anybody thinks or says, or they just have a lot in their mind that they are used to getting off and they've built a fan base that gravitates towards that, it's K. It's it's easy for them to do. But you know, some artists are naturally quiet, they're reserved, they also are focused more so on being politically and communally correct more than we give them credit for, and they don't want to have a misstep in any communication or conversation that they're having on social media, which tends to have them draw back. And then just keeping it 100, it's real mean out here in these social media streams. Oh man, you're not lying.

Oh, the ego takes a hit. It's not a safe space. The comments sections are war. Negativity is loud. Negativity is speech. A lot of people out here that just thrive on wanting to critique their work and their speech so much, so they just feel that they want to stick to the music and disengage. That's fine. And they're, and I make sure that, well, I pride myself actually on making sure that I'm not only meeting artists that engage that way or choose to disengage that way with the energy of support, regardless of what a lot of managers and a lot of labels say. Cause you know, when you think of YouTube, you think of short form content, you do think of, okay, like I gotta up my phone and I have to talk to it to be successful. When really it's not, you can shoot your video, do your BTS. Do your thing, be who you are in your space, and people will gravitate to it if it's edited, packaged, and you know, a little thought is put behind it to make it work on YouTube. And so Do you think an artist can make it big without getting comfortable with the phone to like do you think that?

absolutely, absolutely? And I tell my artists all the time not to let the internet rush them or pressure them into performing or showing up in a way that is inauthentic to them. Because being an artist and having that pseudonym that is your performing name, that's a dual personality in itself. So having to manage multiple personalities can get very tiring. So I encourage them to just be who they are, and the people that really deal with that and that resonate with that will stay. And that's who matters most. Yeah, and and I think in general, too many artists think that content is corny because they see the examples of things that are corny, maybe to a lot of people, and they're like, oh, you know, to your point, they pull back. They disengage, they're like, fuck that. I can't do what that fucking cornball did. Well, when TikTok came out, everyone thought you have to do dance trends and do all that. It's like, no, it's just a it's an empty vessel.

You can fill it with whatever content you want to fill it with. For sure. So is that like the biggest myth that you're like constantly having to debunk with artists in their teams? Absolutely. It's just like you don't have to do it this way that you think is the way. Yes, yes. A lot of artists that will remain nameless, you know I'm talking to you. Oh shit. If I say it, you know that I'm talking to you. Say it. She knew which camera even to look at. She's a pro, bro. She's a shiver, bro. Just another day. Artists tell me, like, stop trying to turn me into a corny YouTuber. Like really get it into it with me. But it's cool because I'll go toe-to-toe because I have your best interests at heart. So we we misunderstand each other a lot. And it takes time to build relationships and work with artists in a place that they feel comfortable. And once they realize, like, oh yeah, like Rachie and I don't know corny shit, so I can trust her, then that's when we start going places. But you have to break that first barrier. Absolutely.

Especially with newer artists. I feel that I'm at an advantage because, you know, just being from Atlanta, being outside for a long time doing this thing. You know, I'm still young in the industry, but I've I've grown up with a lot of everybody's favorites, favorite in music. And if they're not performing artists, they're managers. They're content directors, they're people that have their hands in the mix of what the artist is doing. So I'm able to have that ear and I don't have to really work too hard or sell it too far to make it work or to make them understand why it makes sense. But I like a challenge sometimes. Yeah. Yeah. So sometimes I'll be like, you know what? I don't even know anybody on this team. Let me assert myself to them because I want to help them and then, you know, we we have a good time. That's gotta be fun. It is. Like being the new, you know, the new kid on the block to an artist in their, you know, in their team, and then like watch what I'm about to do. Especially, I love it. Especially when they don't necessarily like aren't bought in to YouTube, they're like, ah, that's just where I put my music videos. up. Or it's third place. Or it just isn't a priority for them.

And those are my favorite. Oh, those are my favorite because it's like I already know what I'm about to do, just let me cook. And then they're like, oh, it was this simple. It was, yeah, here's your checklist. Just keep doing that, you'll be fine. So, what are some of the things on the checklist? Let's talk about like just the you know, new team to you. They're not like fully bought in on YouTube. What are like the quick wins? Like just like the let's let's just get this off right off the bat. Absolutely. First things first, YouTube Shorts. Oh. You need to utilize it. It is the growth hack. Yes. There is no way to cheat success, especially when you want to grow a YouTube channel. YouTube Shorts is the gateway to search and discovery on the app. So after you understand that YouTube Shorts is something that you need to treat like a garden, it's evergreen, it's always moving, it's working for you when you're not even doing anything inwards in between releases. You get a good rhythm on YouTube Shorts, you post there three to five times a week. After that, you work backwards on what that strategy or that schedule looks like from your long form content, i.e., in this case, we'll say your official music video.

So if you have a music video that you've shot already, I'm also hoping and I direct my teams and let them know hey, have another camera, do your BTS, do all of your fun things on the side because you're gonna need that to also support the longevity of the content or the official release. Sounds so basic. But they're not doing it probably, right? I know, but it's such a layered, tried and true way to win. So you have your YouTube shorts, you have your official music video, incorporating visualizers, lyric videos, your BTS week after week after week after your official release date, that's how you win and you stretch it out. And a lot of artists, well, the main thing that I find myself having to talk artists out of is just dropping videos multiple times a week or multiple times a month. Because your analytical data that comes along with the energy and time and content that you post to YouTube is the most important thing. You want to make sure that you are putting your content out and you're giving yourself the ability to measure the behavior of who's paying attention.

Because once you look at that, and YouTube analytics are very, very detailed. Oh good. Yeah. In your YouTube studio, you look at those analytics, it'll tell you someone's age, their demographic in terms of where they live on the earth. It'll tell you. What they have for breakfast. How long they watched the video, it'll tell you if you if they found you from an ad or from another external app. It's very, very good information. And once you understand and incorporate reading it and understanding it, because all of these resources are on YouTube.com backslash help. And also on artists.youtube.com. So when we talk about checklists. There is one. And it's a multi-format release strategy checklist. And that's that's the thing: multi-format, multi-format. At YouTube Avenues, if anyone watching this is there, you heard Brittany say it, you heard me say it, you heard AJ say it, you heard everybody say it so many times. Multiformat strategy.

And what that means is that you have multiple touch points when you do release your music. Like I was saying, it's multi-layered. You have your YouTube shorts, you have your official music video. I also preach to my partners all the time that they have to use premieres. Premier it. Premier the video, build some hype, build the hype around it. That's how you fill the room before the show starts. Oh. And then you're in the premiere with them, chatting with them, being there live. Hello. Experiencing it with them. What do you know about this, bro? What do? you know about this? He knows. I'm on YouTube. Okay. You're in there. You're in there. So back to the best practice on the release strategy, your YouTube Shorts. Yes. Your official music video. Let's go. Your ancillary content that supports it. So that's your lyric videos, your visualizer. So those work. Your BTS. Absolutely. Really? Because when people fan out over something, they want to go through that rabbit hole that everybody talks about. Like, oh, I was in a YouTube rabbit hole about tying my shoe.

Well, if I like a song, I'm gonna go down a rabbit hole. I want to see the BTS, I want to learn the words. I just want to be immersed in it. And that's how you create that slide that continues that flywheel and that has the behavior going in the direction that you want to when you're an artist looking to be successful. I hate to interrupt this episode, but guys, I got one thing on the mind right now, and it's data. I can't stop thinking about it. All the artists in 2024 are winning because of data. They know who their fans are, they have access to their fans. Do you? Spotify's not telling you who your fans are. Apple Music ain't telling you who your fans are. But our friends over at DistroKid created a feature called hyperfollow. Every single release, you can set up a pre-save campaign with a HyperFollow and get access to every single fan's email address. Now you can let them know when you have a show coming up, when you're dropping exclusive merch, when you're going live. And without the data, you're just bound by the algorithms of TikTok, Instagram, YouTube. No more relying on those platforms. We're going straight to our fans.

DistroKid is the best DIY distributor. You can upload unlimited music for a ridiculously low rate. And you're gonna have access to features like hyperfollow. OMTdistro.com, You're gonna get 30% off when you sign up for DistroKid. And you can start collecting your fans' data today. Henry, let's get back into it. Is there any artists out there that are really killing it outside of those more traditional avenues of like official music video, lyric video, BTS video, et cetera? Like, are any of them taking the more like content creator approach that you see? And is that like a conversation you're having with your partners? All the time. Toosii does it best. Okay, in my opinion. Yeah, what's Toosii doing his song, favorite song? Of course. Trended on shorts for week, not even weeks, months. Months. Months. And not because he just dropped the music video. No, absolutely not. Because he took his time. He connected with his fans, he teased the music on shorts, interacted with the fans.

He's of course all for the talk to camera vibes. So he just was clowning around with people, premiered all of the content, and then released in that multi-format way that we spoke on. And it really, really helped mobilize that song. And still randomly to this day, we'll just kind of look at the charts and it's like, whoa, favorite song is just trended upwards five spots this week out of nowhere. And it's in line with newer releases. And artists, I don't think they understand what that type of consistency will turn over for you because it feels like a monolith. It feels as if it's unachievable. But once you get that moment where the artist finally just met that trifecta and they did all of the things and they see the success, then it's like okay, cool. They have their rhythm and they're rolling. So watch out for Toosii. Damn. Yeah. Yep, that's my cousin too. I don't know if y'all knew that. Oh shit. Is it your cousin who's in here's cousin?

Yeah. Because there's a cousin over there. All three of our dads are cousins. Like my dad, her dad, and Toosii's dad. Wow. Okay. Yeah. Small world. Favorite song is one of my favorite songs. I'm definitely trolling. No! How that's going? Are we the dumb white people that just y'all gotta tap in? Everybody's Toosii's cousin. Is that a meme? That's a thing. It's a thing. Really? It's a thing. Tune in to the crew league. We didn't tune in. Oh, shit. And just listen to that man. We didn't tune in. We just got got, bro. That was. I was like, oh, I'm really, getting y'all. Edit that out. Edit that out. edit that out. Yeah, no, I got you. I mean, we told you we had full edit control. I don't know if we mentioned that, but um, but no. So um so what's like the most underrated feature that artists are just constantly sleeping on? Premieres. Premieres. Believe it or not. Really? Mm-hmm. Because the premiere acts like a pre-save. It is an it's a function that allows you to not only fill up the room. Are you vaping in front of me?

Not in front of you, but like next over. Adjacent. Yeah, am I present? Why should I not? So happy. I won't do it. No, I don't watch. I want you to live a long, fruitful life. Don't vape. Thank you. Watch this, watch this, right? You're there we go. Let's go. We're vaping. God, it took Rachie Jackson on here to get that thing out of your hands. Actually, I need to go get that. No. I'm kidding. He's gonna start sweating and like fiending during the episode. Please continue. Anyways, yeah, yeah. So they act as a pre-save. Yes. Get your community in there. Absolutely. Not only fills up the room before your show goes on, but it allows you to promote it. It allows you to build continuity in behaviors. Because when people think about oh, cult followings and reactivity, that's how you do it. You have to build those behaviors by teaching and training and guiding your audiences on what to do. So if they can expect to be told and you tell them what to do, when to do it, how to do it, then they'll action on it. So you utilize social media as, well, as an artist and artists will utilize best practice-wise, social media as their promo team.

Yeah. Utilize, put drop your links there. Tell everybody, hey, hit the bell to receive notifications. Because when they do that, they can do that and forget about it. And then once your official music video is available, then that's when they'll be notified. So does it actually help in the algorithm too? If you have a bunch of people in your premiere, absolutely. Just like Spotify will push your song out. You got a lot of pre-saves. That helps the algorithmic relationship. They're like, oh, okay. Well, clearly, people are interested in this thing. Let's push it out there. Makes total sense. So I do want to get back to the Toosii thing, right? So how many pieces of content do you think that he made with favorite song as the audio? Oh my gosh. Countless. How many? Like I'm like just rough estimate. I can't even, I'm not even gonna try to do it. I'm not even gonna try to do it because what matters most when we talk about the success of favorite song is the number of creates. Because he got in the forefront of the trends.

He created content that other people then decided to replicate and then share, et cetera, et cetera. So when people start doing that, or when they start meeting the artists where they are, they and then the artist, another thing that he did was he created a playlist of all the content that his fans made. See, that's cool. That's fucking genius. And how hyped are those people that made the playlist? to be on the Toosii playlist. Exactly. He comments back, he'll like comments. Yes. The fan's dream. He's present. He's there. So when you do that, and your following and your fans feel that they're actually getting some sort of payoff by interacting with you. Yes. And you're creating and making memories with them. They'll always be there for you. Bro, your cousin is the GOAT. Isn't he? Toosii is the YouTube. The penis runs in our family. God dang. No, but I I just think it's important because I feel like a lot of our audience, uh, and just artists in general, um, are afraid to like be annoying by posting content with the song too much. Like, is that like a common thing that you hear from your your partners?

And I just tell them to turn it down? That's an option. You could turn it down and talk, or you can just have it in the background and it'll be on mute, but it'll still populate on the pivot page where the proper attribution is for the song. See, that's where I think we need to just use trending sounds under our content. Yeah. Because that because that does help. algorithmically, right? I should drop a song. Oh, that too. How about that? Let's do it. We want to make an album. You should. Can we partner with you? Absolutely. Okay, let's do it. I'm doing the content strategy. Let's go We're going to win. Let's go. Definitely going to win. all right. So do you have any influence on like the ads side of things, like paid ads? I do not, but I share a lot of information on ad strategy. Okay, if that makes sense. All right. So, like once again, do you recommend to your artist partners that they should run ads? Yeah, okay. Run ads because that's a way for search and discovery to be in your front yard. It's another gateway, it's a tool.

But I do caveat when they should utilize that. So with an artist that is developing, I would say utilize it at the end of your content cycle with that particular song because you want your when you're a developing artist, that's the most pivotal time to read your analytics and figure out what's working and what's not. And when you incorporate ads, even though they do carry their own separate analytics, you're you just have that dopamine payoff of all of those views. But when you're an artist like Meek Mill, you can run ads out the gate and incorporate ads here, there, and everywhere whenever you feel because you already understand the reactiveness of your audience. You've been doing this for a long time. The strategies are working, and the stars align for ads to be incorporated in a myriad of places rather than one. How much of a selling point is the fact that you can make money on YouTube? It's a no-brainer.

It's either you want to or you don't. Yeah, it's like one of the best paying platforms. That's what I'm saying. I'm like, hello. I'm like, why would I not? You want to make money or not? Yeah. You want a million views on TikTok, Instagram, or fucking YouTube? Yeah, I'll take YouTube. Yeah, let's just go ahead and throw shots at the other two big ones. I mean, TikTok's being banned anyway. Um, you know, you've been instrumental in uh kind of developing some like key programs, I feel like that are like educational and like helping artists and just creators in general better utilize the platforms. Like, you know, basically just doing like live activations of the types of conversations we're having. So one of which I know is you know, I guess it's YouTube Avenues. Yes, and then future insiders. I want to just give you a platform to kind of talk about like how important those programs are, what they're meant to do, how people can get involved, what they're gonna get out of it, just kind of like walk us through, you know, the high-level overview of those two. Absolutely.

So both YouTube Avenues and Future Insiders are our pride and joy. They're scaled education programs that allow our audiences to try on what success looks like in a in a more intimate space. So with future insiders, we're talking to collegiates. So, like 18 and up, that's where we're going, 18 to 25 is that demo. So anyone within those programs that are looking to understand YouTube from a content creator space as an artist manager or an artist themselves, is anyone that has a hunger or a need for understanding and scholarship within the intersections of music, entertainment, and content. That's where we meet them and we provide them with resources. We link them up with industry talent as well. We expose them, so to speak. We expose them to a lot of different facets of the music industry so they can understand how to utilize YouTube, add that to their mix and run it like a proper business.

And is that on like college campuses or like so we do we do a mix? So we've activated at Morehouse College. Okay Shout out Morehouse. Yes, yes. shout out to Spelman College and the illustrious Clark Atlanta University. The illustrious. Yes. That's my favorite HBCU here. I'm gonna just call it what it is. Do you have a ranking of HBCUs? It's just because she and uh Steve O are Clark Atlanta people and they're two of our favorite people. Yeah, so it's like it's just by default. Like, I don't know. Makes sense. I don't really actually have a favorite, but like that's great, great reasoning. Yeah. So we got future insiders. That's more of the like, you know, collegiate uh, you know, educational, getting them excited about the intersection of music, content, entertainment, et cetera. Yes. What's the avenues program? YouTube Avenues is led by Wallow267. Gotta love them love him. Yep. Love him. I love him so much. Yes. Million Dollars Worth of Game is like it's unmatched. Yeah, he approached Lior Cohen and Tumabasa with a very outstanding and compelling pitch that executed on the need or that executes on the need for us to share the promotional power of YouTube beyond just doing live streams and just limiting our scope of who we talk to as partner managers with the music industry. So this is our love letter to the communities that we know need it most that are often overlooked when it comes down to useful information.

So we've gone to cities across these here United States, just not only sharing the good news of YouTube, but breaking it down, talking about monetization, content strategy, copyright, all the things that artists need to know and managers need to know in order to be successful. Have you heard the good word about YouTube? Good word. So can anyone go to the Avenues? Yes, it's public sessions. Yes, it's free and open to the public every time we activate. Okay, and are there any coming up? Anyway, so we're still cooking. Okay. We're still we're still cooking. We there will be an avenues season three. Okay. This year. But just stay tuned for the info. I'll make sure y'all get an invite. So so literally he he just fucking Wallow just said, like, hey Leo and Intooma, I got this idea. This is what we need. This is my idea. How can we do it? I would have assumed y'all brought him on just as like a you know kind of face of the thing, but no, it was literally something that he Wallow identified the need first and he just enlisted his heavy hitters to bring it to the streets. And he just left Gilly like over there.

No, Gilly shows up. I was like, damn, that's like me cutting Henry out of her. Shit, bro. Gilly is there. Okay. He shows up. Gilly was just like, you just go to this YouTube Avenue. thing. He get on stage, They clown, they moderate conversations with artists and prominent community leaders. Yeah, they're definitely there as a tandem. What's been one of your most uh recent, you know, I guess like topics or panels or like conversations that was had at a recent YouTube Avenues event. So my favorite one was YouTube Avenues New Orleans. Ooh. When Wallow moderated a very in-depth conversation with Coach and Pee from QC. Okay. All right. Yeah. And that room was so hot. I'll never forget. because I really thought I was too. Like temperature wise. Yes. Okay. I didn't know. it was like personality types. Fights were breaking out. No, no. People were vaping everywhere. Like.

Okay. Anyways. There were so many people there. It the room was sweltering, but the information share. And you could have, it's like you could in that room, you could have heard someone sweat coming down their face. Because everybody was hanging on every single word that was said. Yes. Everybody was super locked in. Oh man. Yeah. And then the way that Coach P pivoted their schedule to show up for us too is just top tier. So what kind of game were they, you know, dropping? They were talking about how they incepted QC. Okay. And a lot of questions from the audience were around them demystifying how not only they built that business structure, but how they identify and develop talent. Because they're an institution. You know, everything QC touches goes platinum. It goes down to history. Pretty much true. Exactly. And they are building careers. QC is an institution that is very intentional on the longevity of artists and the way that they run their business. So for whatever reason, the audience was very, very drawn to that.

So they were able to really get into the crux of how they built their business, how they identify talent, what they find useful, documentaries, how they plan and execute those. And it was just a really real conversation because Wallow is gonna keep it real now. We know that. He does do that. It was a very real conversation and it was very impactful because there were a lot of other artists too, like from the New Orleans community there. Like, for example, currency was there. Shout out to Hot Spitter. The Hot Spitter. The Hot Spitter in the building. He was in the building. He's playing actually right over there. Literally, that's what we were listening to. Pilot talk is on right now. Yeah, I love that for y'all. Currency's a good guy. Yes. Yeah. Um, I'd love for you to just touch on maybe some of the ways that um artists are engaging with their community on platform, and then maybe even how that translates into off-platform stuff too. Because I feel like that's something that we're trying to be better at, that we've like started to hit a stride where it's like if you really understand your community and can engage with them in a in a meaningful way, that's when like you you build super fans. You build people who are gonna fucking ride or die for you.

So I guess what's your, I guess, perspective on community building? How are you talking to your artist partners about it, ways they can do it, et cetera. Like just let's let's let's get some thoughts. Community building is key because without a community, there is no you. And you want to provide an opportunity for community building, and you have to give them something to support. And that starts first by being authentic. Just be you, do you put whatever out there into the world, and then people that like it will gravitate towards it. We're also in a very vocal era on the internet where the community is telling you what they want to see. They want to see you do that dance the same way in a blue shirt. They want to hear that same song, but then they want it chopped and screwed. You know who does that very well? Flo Millie and Money Long. Oh the goats. Those women listen to their audiences. Not the critiques in the BS now, you know, they're clocking out and throwing it away. But when it comes down to community feedback and it makes sense, they incorporate it in their content, in their music, and it shows, it resonates.

And when your community feels that they are heard, when they feel that they're included, that's when you know that you've reached a place where you've built a powerful fan base. How important is YouTube community posts? It's very important. We don't do any. I think it should. We fucking sleep on it. You and really, there's a little trick to that. So let me give you a best practice. There we go. Here we go. Please. What performs well. So when you ask your community or your subscribers, rather, your audience. When you ask your audience questions that are yes or no or things that they can react to, it's free research. That is how you get that interaction going in your community tab. You post a picture, ask them how they feel about you vaping, and see what they say. Okay. And then from there, we're doing it. it's provocative. It's gonna get the people going. I'm so happy that Henry Vaping is a is like a meme on this episode.

Yeah, I love it. This is so good. But and it and it's free research too. Like you could ask a question that might help you a future decision that you have to make. No, but honestly, do you not hear what she's saying? This is what I meant by when we're putting the like easy to answer questions in our captions too. Yeah, people love just like a is it this or is it that? Yes or no? A choice. Thumbs up, thumbs down. Hate it or love it. Keep it simple. And they and the people will interact. Exactly. So true. Versus when I I literally tried to get people to like submit questions for our interview. And it's like an act of Congress to get our community to like thank come up with a question. What do I what do I want to ask her? But if I would have just been like, should we ask her this? Yes or no, guarantee it would have been like story views off the charts. So when you do like a poll and a story, do a poll, we get super engagement. We do an Instagram poll. For sure. NFR Podcast is one of our, you know, kind of peers, right? And they're amazing and they crush it on YouTube. Yeah and they do so many community posts. And the ones that go like viral as fuck, almost like crazy, they'll get like 42,000 votes, right?

And they they have like 200,000 subscribers. It's like they're getting like 40,000 votes on a single community post. 20% of their audience. Exactly. Like it's nuts. And it's because they're asking very like easy to digest questions, right? It's like who's the best rapper alive? And it's just like dun, dun, dun, or dun. And it's just four fucking guys and you're girl or gals, and you're just fucking choosing and that's it. Yeah. And then you can let them argue in the comments if they want to. And they do. Damn. Oh, every time. Bro. Every time. Community posts is like a huge thing for us. And we have to step our shorts game up. Yeah. No, we actually just got you on so we could get game for us. Yeah. We don't actually care about it. No, no, no, no. Um, so I guess strategy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I guess going back to to shorts, I mean, um, is there is there anything that are just kind of like components or like fundamentals of shorts, right? Because you really seem to stress on shorts. And I know you kind of gave some ideas, but like, is there any like high-level breakdown of like, you know, the ways to actually make shorts or like the the like types of videos the artists are making that really work or like the components of it. I'm not really sure if I'm like asking the question the right way. I know what you mean. Yeah, I can pick up on that.

Yeah, that was English. So it was. So the easiest way for any artist that has music videos or has a content release idea happening, is for them to take pieces of the video out and utilize that as promotion. So say if you have, we'll say, for example, three YouTube shorts that are gonna come out, or five YouTube shorts that are gonna come out before you release your official music video. Use one to preview the song, a clip or a snippet of the song. And that's really its sole purpose, just to get the song out there so people can or so that so that audiences can create to it. The next one is promotional, let your audience know what's happening and when it's happening. The next one after that is it could be a casual, hey, this is what I'm doing. It's you. You bop into your song.

That's if you want to. Because some artists don't want to up their phones on themselves. But you should. But you should. Definitely should. And from there, it's just a rehash of those of those moments from it just being edited content from the official music video that's already there. It's already shot. Then for the purpose of promotion after that, then your casual content. And then from there, repost and interact with other fans or subscribers or other creators that have created to that sound as well. Yeah. And then from there, is it similar to a TikTok where, like, if you notice that I posted this part of the song and people are reacting really well to like just this part of the song, are we doubling down, tripling down, quadrupling down on like making more content using that part of the song, aka like the TikTokable part of the song? Is that a thing that you see really? I don't notice it as much because the attribution still goes to the song. Right that is the anchor.

But anytime this goes back to reading the analytics and reading the room, understand what's working. And when you see something that works, double down on it. One of those things that I love to share, and that we've noticed is that when artists release songs that are sticky, they're viral, and they tease it. The first thing that you automatically do is slow it down and speed it up. Mm-hmm. Because for whatever reason, the sped up versions are doing numbers. Numbers. And creators just love it. So then when it comes out in full, you also have those alt versions of the song. You got the sped up version, you got the slow down version, and then you have the normal-paced version, and you're allowing your community to choose their fighter. They're able to choose what they like, and then from there, read the analytics, decide what works, decide what doesn't, and double down on that again. I've gotten in so many fights with artists that are friends of mine about this topic. You want to shoot my shit up. Hell no.

It's insane to me. Mm-hmm. That's like just being so set on selling only one color of the t-shirt that you're making. Like, why not give us at least another version that's ugly, bro? Someone else might like it, bro. Right. It's insane to me. When you do that, you allow your audience, or you're shooting your best shot, rather. As an artist, when you release multiple styles of a song that is reacting well in the marketplace, you're shooting your best shot. You're allowing that song to live its best life and have its best potential met by what the audience wants. And there's no downside. I just I don't understand, I can't comprehend the downside. Either the other two versions, the sped up and the slowed down, flop. Okay, then you were perfectly right. The only right version was the normal one.

Yeah. Or to your point, the sped up or slow down goes crazy with creators and your shit pops off, and then it translates into obviously just streams for that song, you know, add revenue for that song or that version, or it goes back to the original one, and then it flows through the music. I just don't see the downsides in that one. Just Try it. Try it. Try it. Do you get pushback on it? I don't really get a lot of pushback on a lot of things that I say because the work speaks for itself. The roster speaks for itself. You see black joy and expression winning on YouTube every single day. So you know that I am in the mix somewhere, influencing success. So it's like, you know, if you want to go back and forth with me, you can do that. We'll find somebody else. I love it. So you know, it's I don't I don't really get too much pushback. I have to explain things a lot of times because YouTube is a very high hill. It's not something that you can just easily pick up, learn, and just do it every single day.

It's like riding a bike. You gotta get on, try again, try again, try again, and then change the tires, try again, try again, try again. Is it also is it a platform where like too much success too fast can be bad? No, I don't think so. I believe that when you have success, you already know what you did to get there because it's in the analytics, and you just repeat it. Cool. Yeah. Well, Rachie, we've entered a final segment of the podcast. All right. My favorite part. Yes. Everyone's favorite part. When Ben shuts up. Let's go. We'll see. Yeah, we'll see. Good point. Rachie, this is the rapid fire rampage. Okay. It's gonna be a three-part rampage. We're just gonna start with some simple short answer questions and go from there. I love a little chaos. Let's get it. That's exactly what this is. I want to start off rampage with a little YouTube trivia. We had the 19th anniversary of the first ever YouTube video. Uh I think last week. Do you know what it is?

Do you know what it is? Is this multiple choice? Um, I can't come up with them probably right now. I don't think so, but well, okay. Okay. Panda sneezing, guy at zoo, um, three cats, or guy eats taco. Panda sneezing. Panda sneezing. What is it? No, no, that was that was the that was the red herring. Okay. It was guy at Zoo. Just guy at Zoo. Yeah, me, man at the zoo, uh, San Diego Zoo. Okay. That was the first video I ever just wanted to throw that out there. A little YouTube trivia for you guys. The first YouTube video I ever watched was Chocolate Rain, I think. Yes. Yes, Tay Zonday. Yeah. Okay. No idea what the first one was. Yeah, they had me and all my friends in a chokehold. Chocolate. That one is Scarlet Takes a Tumble. Yes. Classic. No. Oh my God. Now I know the ones that I would watch. And I think they were YouTube, but they might have even been another platform. Unforgettable. Oh, who knows?

Yeah. Unforgivable. Unforgivable. free. Free. Yeah, unforgivable. Sorry. Yeah. There was like part 12 or something. What is that guy up to now? Oh my God I want to know. We all want to know. Was that YouTube though? It was, I saw it probably on like a albino black sheep or Newgrounds. One of those websites. Albino Black. Sheep. But it was on YouTube. Sure. Okay, let's get into the real. Sorry. Um, okay, Rachie. Yes. I was so convicted. And my first wrong answer, I didn't need y'all to catch that. That was just a little trivia. I don't usually do that, but so Ben just started his rap career. Okay. Yes, I love these hypotheticals. You do. Hottest in the city. And you make a the horrible, horrible decision to start managing him. Oh. What are the first steps you take immediately to utilize YouTube in his blossoming career? What are the first few things? I'm the hottest shit in the city right now. Yeah. Face of the city. The face of the city. Just started your career. Yeah. Move move move over, Anissia. Ben is here.

That is hilarious. So, of course, we're starting off on YouTube Shorts because we have to scale that channel to 1k subs. There it is. So we're gonna blitz until you get there. Okay. So whatever you're comfortable with, whatever you like to do, we're leaning into that. Are your hobbies? You like cars, you like shopping, you like jewelry, everything you like. Is that what you think I like? I mean, duh, look at you. I don't think I look like I like any of those things. Cars, shopping, and jewelry. Okay, move on. Keep going. I don't mean this is great. Hang on. So you like all those things. I do. It's so obvious. but you're the face of the city right? I'm the face of the city. Right. So we're gonna scale the channel. We're gonna blitz to 1K. subs. We're gonna doubling down in that content on that stretch that we're running. No matter what it takes. Yeah. Everything that you like, whatever does not feel like work to you, that's what we're doing. How many shorts is he posting a day? A day, two. Okay. Yeah. We're blitzing, bro. Yeah, yeah.

We're in here. Yes, blitzing. We're doing that. So after we get to a monetizable place, that's when we're gonna drop our first official music video. Don't even drop until then. No, because you're the face of the city. People love you. They buy with you. We're gonna be dropping other content. Sure. That's three to five minutes in long form. We're gonna probably tease the BTS. Wow. Okay. But we're gonna do everything that we can to work everyone up to that shining moment. Because I'm the face of the city. Because you're the face of the city. You can stop saying that. No, but she said it a few times. I started to believe it. It's her question. That's my job as your manager. I know. I was like, yo, are you taking new clients right now? Like, are you still managing any artists right now? Are you? No. Are you allowed to? Okay, we're moving on. Okay, wow. So just blitz. Blitz to the one blitz to monetization. Yeah. Like that's that's it. And then and then we start talking about all the things that you know we touched on earlier, I guess. Yes.

And then what we're also gonna do, we're gonna do a little movie magic. We're gonna pre-record multiple live performances from you. We're gonna do acoustic. We're gonna play with different melodic genres, and we're gonna intertwine it that way. I can do that. And we're gonna release it weekly as if it were live on your channel. Shit. That's what we're gonna do. God, I knew she was good, Henry. I knew that was a good question. That's what we're gonna do. And then on the face of the city. After we do that, after we do that a few times, you're gonna utilize actual live. Yeah, we didn't even touch on it. to interact with your community that you've built. Yes. So every week on Wednesday, we're gonna do something. And it's gonna be fun. You're gonna invite your audience to call in or video in with you, because those capabilities are there. And you're just gonna keep that up.

That's gonna be your weekly series. In between whatever else we're doing. We're gonna do vlogs. We're gonna do the whole day in the life, not the YouTube route, because you know we gotta keep the face of the city, face of the city. Because the face of the city. But we're just gonna, again, double down on everything that you like to do, but we're just gonna monetize on that content because you're gonna be living your life, and your music is your life. So why not show it on YouTube and do it right with a little strategy and get paid. Damn, if only you were talented. If only I was actually the face of the city. Yeah, this would be you'd be out of here. I would be gone. With that strategy. Oh my god, move aside, Drake. Right. Ben is you. Yeah, moving right along. That was. I might start rapping. If you'll take me on. No, don't. Okay. Okay, well, anyway. The support. He's a dream killer, Rachie. You must choose one song to play every time you walk into a room. What song are you choosing? Oh.

What's your walk-in song. Theme song. Hmm. Hmm. Don't tell me you haven't thought about this. You seem like a type of constantly thinks about this. Yeah, because I have the song playing in my head anytime I do walk in. So what is it? I'm just mad that I only get to pick one. I want to have a mixtape that just surprises me. But for the sake of the exercise, I'll pick one and it'll be walk through by Rich Homie Quan. Okay. You can't get wrong with RHQ. Because I'll be looking like a man when I walk through. Yes, all right. I'm listening to that on the way home. It's a good one. It is a good one. Wow. Rachel, I have $5,000 to spend on my YouTube presence. I want to get bigger on YouTube. How should I spend my $5,000? Okay, so a portion of it should go to the content creation. So the production. We need to figure out and list out what those itemizations are. Because depending on what the goal is, we're gonna have to budget for that. Sure.

So we'll make sure that if it's budget, we'll make sure that it's edited properly. So you spend money on that. And then if you don't understand YouTube at all, you need someone to manage your channel. There are channel managers out there that are actually in network with us that will help you plan your content and then also deploy it for you. And that kind of takes the pain out of it. That's like a side note. But to stay on track here. That's what you're spending your money on. Possibly a channel manager, the production, making sure that it looks good, feels good. And then from there you can spend the rest on ads. I love that. So good. Because it's literally free to use. YouTube is free. The barrier is. Let's break it all the way back down. Let's just like Do you have an email address? Let's hit that home. Do you have a Gmail. If you have a Gmail, you have a YouTube channel. And if you don't have a Gmail, that's free too.

Very free. And like, what do you have? You know? Yeah. Let's not use it. We don't want to be friends with you. All right. And Hotmail. Get the fuck out of here. Oh, I know two people that still have Hotmail. No. Oh, I give them shit about it. Are we friends with them? Are you friends with them? I mean, I am, yeah. I work with one of them. Oh wait. Mm-hmm. No big thing. Big Tiff. Yeah, you are. You're allowed to work at YouTube. Wait, no, not at YouTube. I was like wait, what? We work on projects. Okay. All right, big Tiff. Big Hotmail. Join the 21st century. Tiff. Grow up. Welcome to the Gmail. era. I need that as an asset so I can send it to her. She's going to die. Oh, we'll clip that for you. Yeah, Tiff, you can post it too. Yeah, sure. Some self-deprecating humor on your page. That Hotmail. Oh, God, bro. Rachie, it's 3 46 p.m. You're alone in your car. Okay. You're on a long drive. There's no buildings, no scenery, just a plain road. There's no music playing.

You're just driving. What are you thinking about? I'm thinking about my next move being my best move. Ooh. Wow. I consistently exist in a place where I don't want to be too far ahead of myself, but I want to make sure that my steps are ordered properly. So I'm constantly just going through scenarios. I'm going through my own best case scenarios in my head. I try to keep the worst out of the way because you know it's like. Because why? What if I fail? Who cares? What if I fly? Mm. Mm. God, that's a fucking bar. That's where I that's where I exist. So I'm just thinking about my next move, how I show up, making sure that I'm leaving it all on the floor every single time and taking it one day at a time. I love that. Damn, bro. Last one of the short answer. If you were an emoji, which emoji would you be? I would be.

She got so happy. So excited. Yeah, because I love emojis. And anybody that knows me knows those and gifts. Oh, I will tear a text conversation up with those. Bro, gifts are the greatest. invention. On the point. I love them. We need to put Rachel onto my gifts. I have gifts on Instagram. Do you? Yeah. Oh my gosh. Maybe if you didn't vape, she'd be a fan of your gifts, but. You just used one of mine today. Can you get excited for me, please? You've been my enemy all episode. Excited. Okay. supportive. Thank you. Sorry, sorry. So if you were an emoji. What would you be? I would be the blushy. Oh. Okay. That's so cute. That's my favorite one. That's a good one. With the eyes kind of squinted. I love that. Okay. We're moving on to the this or that. This is part two. I'm gonna give you two choices. You just gotta pick one. All right. Here we go. Starting with Netflix or YouTube.

YouTube. Fuck you, Netflix. I didn't say that before. I said it. Until we have someone from your company on the show. Team YouTube, baby. Why are you always trying to like I love your intentions? That is not the way to get someone from Netflix on this show. Yeah, like I love your intentions. We don't need anyone from Netflix on this show. We don't need them. I just like, yeah. But if you guys want to come on the show. Nah, you can't do it now. Like. In what world does that strategy work, bro? Moving on. I love your intention. You're trying to like pipe her up, but like. I'm here for Rachie. I don't know about you. Well, Netflix won't be here for us. Yeah, exactly. Well, can we move on? That's his style. We're moving on. Can we move on? He said we're moving on. That's my style. Okay. We're moving on. Cats or dogs. Cats. No, no. I liked you so much. I know that's controversial. I've never owned a cat. I've never owned a cat. until then. I've never owned a cat ever. But I just like cats. How can you say this? I just love cats.

It's everything that they are. It's just, I feel like I've aligned more with them. With cats, I think people like dogs because you don't really have to do much to earn their respect. But cats. You don't have to earn that shit. You have to be consistent with cats. They also are very self-sufficient. Yes. They rule the animal kingdom. Yeah, cats are for lazy people that don't want to have to take the dog out. No, but still. And don't love loving and joy. But I love dogs too. Cats love. I love dogs. I love dogs too, but I just I like cats. But the only reason why I don't have a cat is because all of my friends pretty much said they would never come visit me if I owned one. So I don't have one, but if I were to have one, I'd have a Sphinx cat. Ooh. Is that a hairless one? Oh god. Yeah. Those are kind of crazy looking Yeah. Okay, moving on. I love them. Movies or podcasts. Podcasts. Let's go. Let's go. Thank you, thank you. Cocktail or glass of wine? Glass of wine for sure.

Guitar or piano. Mmm. Mmm. This is hard. I'll say guitar. Guitar. Meditate or skydive? Meditate. Constantly. Get me out of the sky unless I'm on a plane. I'm with you. Fly in private, probably. What's the one? Maybe it depends on the day. Sitting courtside, flying private. Like God. Fight one horse-sized duck or a hundred duck-sized horses. I'll fight one horse-sized duck. Yeah, just keep it all in front of you. My hands are still on deck, so I think I'll take my chances with one. Okay. She is from Atlanta. Delicious food with no calories or delicious alcohol with no hangover. Food with no calories. And finally become a full-time singer-songwriter or leave YouTube in the music industry altogether. I mean, I'm already the best rapper alive, so singer songwriter. Let's go. And I'm the face of the city. I'm just gonna keep it.

I'm gonna put that in my Instagram bio. Face of the city. Uh huh. May lose some followers. Okay, can't win them all. This is the last portion. This is the word association. I'm just gonna say one word, and you give me the first word that you think of right off the top of your head. Okay. This is how we bring it home. Let's fucking go. Starting with hip hop. Elite. Library. Underutilized. Curse. Word. Fuck. I'm just kidding, that wasn't the same. I was gonna say inappropriate. Yeah. Uh lemon. Pepper wings. Mr. Beast. The goat. Utah. Estate. Salt Lake City. No, no. Sorry about that. Twin. Where have you been? AI. Taking over. Pie. Apple. Viral.

Movie. Lil. Baby. You. Two. Let's go. Let's fucking go. Let's fucking go. What a rant. This has been Rachel Jackson, aka Rachy Baby. Rachy Baby. On the one more time. podcast. As always. Please like, comment, and subscribe because you are on YouTube watching this. The greatest platform on earth. You're on YouTube right now. Hit that bell notification. Yeah, we should start that. Unless you're listening, then we fuck with our audio guys too. Okay, you had to just kill it again. How's that killing it? I'm just playing. I'm in love for the audio. guys. This has been the Artist Relationships and Livestream Partnerships Manager at YouTube and YouTube Music, Rachel Jackson. Appreciate you for coming on the podcast. Thanks for having me. Yes. Thank you. As always, follow us on Spotify Podcast, follow us on Apple Podcasts. But most importantly, subscribe on our YouTube channel. Boom. Until next week, Henry, what are we doing? Getting out of here. Getting the fuck out of here. Peace, y'all. Bye.