The Videos that Turn Small Channels BIG

There are really only three kinds of videos that a small channel needs to get the creator an audience, and to grow big.

Now, this can be different if we're talking about a personal channel vs. a professional channel, but I'm focused on professional channels where you're trying to build authority as someone in a specific field with some kind of experience.

This is because, as a small channel:

So let's say you were an economist who worked in a government for decades.

Or maybe if you were a PhD scholar in some way, or a research scientist, or CEO or executive of a large company.

These are the types of videos that you need to make before anyone really knows who you are to gain that authority and gain that traction.

The case study video is a way of leaning on someone else's expertise and someone else's authority to basically borrow their authority and interest to get your own message out there.

This should be someone who's well-known or a company that’s well-known.

For example, if you are in finance, you might break down how a specific company grew from $1M/year in revenue to $1 Billion/year.

You’d pick a company that's very well known to your ideal audience (presumably other C-suite executives), so it's a case study of someone else, and add your analysis.

Very standard for a case study, however, the key is to make it entertaining enough to be a blend of education and entertainment. This is because your audience won’t be looking for this video. It has to jump off the page at them when they’re browsing their YouTube feed (where most initial traffic comes).

This is much much higher on the funnel than the case study, and this is the top X list.

So, let's say you’re a CTO, your video topic might be, "The top 5 technologies that I'm using to transform our business in 2026." Your title could fall along the lines of “Top 5 AI’s We’re Using to Double Our Revenue in 2026” if you’re going for an ambitious goal.

And the reason that you're doing this is it's going to catch a lot more popular attention. Traditionally, that's what those top lists do. However, a lot of that attention is very specifically with people who are interested in that sort of thing.

So if you're the CTO and you're trying to create your own authority as someone on the cutting edge of new technologies, then this is a really good way to put yourself out there.

People who are interested in the topic itself will click. Some will be your ideal customer. Regardless, you’ll gain your authority through their interest.

The reaction video is another way, very similar to the “Top [X] List”, of using interest from something to pull in your audience and increase your own authority. The “Reaction” is usually focused on pop culture, however.

Let's say you're a lawyer. An excellent case study of this would be to look at Devin Stone's YouTube channel, which is called Legal Eagle. Basically, he blew up when he started doing reaction videos for suits and other TV shows and movies.

What's really good about these is that you'll actually gain a lot more visibility and a lot more interest — and you'll be able to take it in whatever direction you want. You can do somewhat of a case study, but make it more entertaining and bringing that broader audience.

Essentially, all you do is watch a portion (or clips) of some video, movie, or TV show while recording yourself stopping the video at certain points and commenting on it.

If you’re not sure how to do this, you can use a free software called OBS Studio, or just do a screen recording with QuickTime (if you’re on a Mac) for free as well.

This is especially useful often with kind of like your if you're in a B2C kind of business, or again if you're building your professional authority.

You're going to attract a lot more people to the top of the funnel than who would take advantage of your services, but it's going to really increase your perceived authority and introduce you to new opportunities.

And if you’re a professional or running a company, that's exactly what YouTube is for!