work in public

youtube djs know what's up

Imagine this: you get paid to do your job. As part of doing your job, you’re allowed to record yourself doing the work.

You take that recording and share it on YouTube where your work is amplified to the max -- no surprise, given Youtube’s 2 billion+ monthly logged-in users.

I listen to a bunch of different music, but when I’m working it’s usually some form of lofi or this (recently new to me) house DJ-who-plays-a-coffee-house mix.

There are a few YouTube channels I go back to because the algo shows them to me. But for the most part, it’s a random collection of channel like MAIN KID above:

Low subscribers > > > Massive relative reach

These DJs have cracked the distribution code. And it’s all a 5x-win.

The café owner is happy. Customers have cool, live music. The DJ shares his work. YouTube gets long listen times. Viewers get to work with something nice in their ears.

Quick rant. Anyone else bothered by the little twist knob flicky thing DJs do? Like, dude, whatcha doin’ there? What does that little knob do, because I noticed nothing.</rant>

This model is amazing. Do your work. Share your work. Grow your reach. LinkedIn’s 2022 Global Talent Trends report showed that people who regularly shared their work or insights publicly saw up to a 10x increase in profile views and job opportunities. 10x!

Show your work + Distribution is the play here and I love it.

What’s the lesson here?

As user-generated content (UGC) takes hold on platforms like LinkedIn, I think the lesson is to experiment with more open and honest “Show Your Work” style content.

There are lots of benefits of this. Here are three I see:

1. We like buying from people we like. The Edelman Trust Barometer (2022) reports that nearly 60% of consumers say they are more likely to purchase from brands (or people) that share transparent, relatable content.

2. Trust and transparency. We like to feel like we know people. When you listen to a podcast, do you feel like you know the hosts really well? They’re not friends, but you know a lot about them and you trust them, right?

3. Feedback loops and fast iteration. Sharing work publicly creates tighter feedback looks. I don’t know about the quality of feedback, but it’ll be fast and probably directionally accurate.

Instead of obsessing over the right content and full content plans, I reckon faster production with more “Live DJ” vibes will continue to capture eyeballs and grow not just personal brand, but company brand and awareness.

Peter

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