11 Lessons on Content Success from MrBeast
If you’ve never heard of MrBeast… just kidding. You’ve obviously heard of MrBeast.
The most famous YouTuber in the world keeps on getting bigger in his larger-than-life stunts and over-the-top giveaways. He pushes the boundaries of what’s possible and he seems to have a savant level of understanding of what works on YouTube.
While not all—or even most—content creators aspire to make the kind of content that MrBeast makes, what content creator wouldn’t love to replicate his success in their own niche?
With that in mind, here are 11 tips for aspiring creators, pulled from MrBeast’s undeniable content creation expertise.
Looking for more inspo? Check out our chat with Ian Eastwood in the BENlabs Creator Spotlight.
MrBeast Says: Find Your Passion
MrBeast made his own luck by figuring out what he cared about and then grinding. So do that.
MrBeast Says: Make Good Friends
Look for opportunities to squad up. Creating content can be lonely. Try to find people you want to team up with to learn, share, brainstorm, and support. Give and receive honest, constructive feedback. Honest feedback from other creators can help you improve your content. By building a small but tight network, content creators can learn from each other’s mistakes and successes.
MrBeast Says: Think Viral
MrBeast clearly understands that virality doesn’t just happen. However, “going viral” doesn’t have to mean creating the next dance craze or filling a backyard with 100M Orbeez. Think about what virality means relative to your niche.
Create compelling content that audiences want to watch and share. Think about what you can do to capture attention in your niche. According to MrBeast, “I like bananas” isn’t strong enough. “Bananas are the best ******* food on the planet” is more like it. Fruit probably isn’t your content niche (or are bananas berries?) so think about how this advice pertains to your content and be bold.
MrBeast Says: Reinvest
MrBeast puts a ton of money into his channel and his content. He’s acquired all kinds of new gear. His giveaway and experience videos have gotten bigger and more expensive. Today he’s plowing millions of dollars a month into his content, but that’s just because he’s pulling in more millions a month.
He’s always made a point to reinvest a good chunk of what he earns into his content… the numbers have just gotten a lot bigger.
MrBeast Says: Thumbnails Matter
What viewers see before they click to watch a video is key. The time you spend to create a compelling still image or thumbnail is well spent. Think like a viewer; what would make you click or tap?
Remember that your thumbnail will be shrunk way down for mobile… so go big (and therefore short) with copy. Make stills and thumbnails visually appealing and easily understandable.
Try stuff. Play with brightness and color. See what works.
A/B test thumbnails and get the benefit of AI learning with TubeBuddy and Thumbnail Analyzer (disclosure: TubeBuddy is a BENlabs thing).
MrBeast Says: Set and Exceed Expectations
Hook viewers off the bat and don’t let up.
A great video title and a great video thumbnail grab attention, but you have to deliver on any promises you make. Consider your thumbnail and description as setting an expectation. Your content should consistently exceed—or at least meet—the expectation you set. If not, you’re clickbaiting and no one likes clickbaiting.
MrBeast Says: Audience > Algorithm
Algorithms are a weird, nebulous concept. You can’t please The Algorithm (The Algorithm is good. All hail The Algorithm) but you can please an audience. Especially when the audience is people like you.
“Anytime you say the word algorithm, just replace it with audience,” MrBeast says. “The algorithm didn’t like that video? No. The audience didn’t like that video.”
All content algorithms want to do is connect people with the content they want to see. By thinking about people instead of algorithms you can save yourself a lot of trouble.
Get viewers to click then keep them interested and The Algorithm will reward your efforts.
MrBeast Says: Be You
MrBeast is MrBeast. Profound, we know. He found his thing and he went with it. It took a lot of work and more than a few missteps. If you look back at his earliest content you’ll see that it may not be terribly sophisticated, but it’s pretty damn smart. Even as he grew his content empire and acquired a bunch of incredible gear, his overall video style hasn’t changed.
No other content creator can be MrBeast but any content creator can look at MrBeast’s content creation playbook and adapt it to their own content. So go ahead and do that.
MrBeast Says: Konnichiwa, Hablo Deutsche?
Given that we wrote this in English, we’re going to assume English is your native tongue. If so, cool. If not, apologies for what we’re sure is a bad translation.
As a content creator, consider catering to a broader audience by creating content in different languages. YouTube will do its best to offer closed captions in other languages but we all know how hit-and-miss AI generated subtitles can be. If you’ve got a hit video, consider translating it to other languages to hit otherwise untapped audiences. The Algorithm The audience will appreciate the effort.
No other content creator can be MrBeast but any content creator can look at MrBeast’s content creation playbook and adapt it to their own content. So go ahead and do that.
MrBeast Says: CTR + Retention = Win
Click-through rate (CTR – how many people saw your stuff and decided to click or tap) and audience retention (how many of those people stuck around to watch) are the key metrics every content creator should watch. CTR speaks to how attention-grabbing your title and thumbnail are.
Audience retention speaks to how engaging your content is.
When you boil it right down, these two metrics are what determine how successful a content creator is on a given platform. Consider all data but don’t get stuck in analysis paralysis. If you’re hitting good CTR and retention numbers, you’re doing it right.
MrBeast Says: Learn from your mistakes
Mistakes are inevitable but they only become failures if we don’t learn from them. Some quotable historical figure probably said that better. The point stands.
Extract every available lesson from every video. If you’ve got a hit on your hands, great; do more of that. If a video barely made a dent, think about why, considering all the points above. Figure out where people are dropping off and ask yourself why. Then fix the problem.
All of MrBeast’s advice to aspiring creators really boils down to try stuff, learn, repeat.
BENLabs Says: We’re Here to Help
Hitting it big in content requires creativity, perseverance, and a bunch of other admirable qualities. Remember what you care about. Learn from successes and non-successes. Think about audiences before algorithms but above all, aspire. And remember us when you’re famous.
Where Creators Get Paid
Take the guesswork out of influencer partnerships. The BENlabs AI matching program analyzes your content and audience, and suggests your profile to brands looking for the right creators to promote their products and stories.
