I hate this YouTube strategy but it works

Have you ever scrolled on your IPhone to the Apple News?

If you have, you’ll notice one thing about the news

It’s 99% negative…

It’s wars going on here

Economical decline happening there etc…

Do you know why this negativity is used?

Because fear sells…

If they report that nothing bad happened on a particular day

It doesn’t invoke a large emotional response

But if you mention a newly oppressed group or corporate scandal

All of a sudden you have people’s attention

Well, the same principle works on YouTube

And it works so well it should be illegal

Take for example the channel Vitazen Health

They are masters at using fear to drive views to their videos

And they are leveraging the most fear-inducing subject of them all: your health

Above is the thumbnail to one of their recent videos: This ONE Food Feeds Cancer

Pretty compelling, right?

You see that a particular food “feeds” cancer

How can you not click, eager to stop eating that food right away (btw it’s sugar)

So you can now see why this strategy would work so well

But how do you use it on your own channel?

Great question…

The formula is quite simple:

Action + negative consequence

So in the productivity niche:

This one habit destroys productivity

Or in the finance niche:

This one stock will cripple your portfolio

As long as the negative outcome is painful it will get people to click and watch

Now, do I completely condone this packaging strategy

No

I really try and keep my own life as positive as possible

And adding more negativity into the world is not ideal for many reasons

But damn does this strategy work well

So use at your own discretion…

Until tomorrow,

Adam