Road to 1 million subscribers with Howieazy
Sep 14, 2022 – [[read-time]] minute read
Creator and gamer Howieazy has built his career making short videos. He started his YouTube channel in 2015, and is known for his high-energy, comedic skits and the different characters he plays in them. He now has over three million followers with some of his Shorts receiving over 20 million views – and one actually attracting more than 50 million views.
We talked to Howieazy about his success and creation process, and he shared four tips that can help creators on their road to reaching one million subscribers.
Be consistent
While Howieazy’s Shorts seem fun and off-the-cuff, they’re actually a result of serious dedication and commitment on his part. “Consistency is a really big thing,” he says, noting that he is constantly checking Analytics in YouTube Studio. “I like seeing my graphs moving in a healthy kind of way.”
Consistency is a really big thing ... I like seeing my graphs moving in a healthy kind of way.”
HowieazyWhile he the type of Shorts he creates lend themselves more easily to daily uploads than longer, more elaborate videos, he still had to train himself to be consistent. “It’s kind of a muscle, or a habit. I think a habit can develop if you do something for 60 seconds every day.”
Even after achieving millions of subscribers, Howieazy still tries to post daily. If he hasn’t created a new Short on a particular day, he might upload something he created in the past that he hasn’t shared before, or he might re-post a really popular Short.
Be relatable
Howieazy admits that the first eight videos he uploaded to YouTube didn’t get that many views. But he finally found success when he created a skit about siblings.
“Most people can relate to the experience of having a sibling,” Howieazy says. “And if somebody relates to it, they're automatically going to share it with a friend or with somebody who has been in a similar situation. So relatable content always does really well for me.”
To come up with ideas, he takes notes on things that happen throughout his day. “When I'm doing something or something just happened to my friends, I’ll think, ‘This happens with a lot of people. I can turn this into something.”’
Howieazy also believes that sharing relatable content from his life helps him show his true self to fans, which in turn helps him grow his audience. He advises other YouTuber creators, “People are following you for the type of person you are. So you want to be authentic.” He adds that getting new subscribers “all comes back to you. If you resonate with somebody, you gain their trust and their following.”
Build on early successes
When Howieazy saw how many views his first sibling video received, he realized he needed to make more just like it. He tells newer creators, “When you upload something that goes viral, keep following up with similar things just to build your audience.”
Follow-up content can also benefit from YouTube’s algorithm, which will recognize the new video as similar in theme to the original viral video and thus amplify it to a wider audience. “You open up to a fan base of people that want to see your stuff.”
However, Howieazy reminds creators to eventually move past content that might become too repetitive and limited. “I don't want to be trapped just doing the same sibling videos,” he says. Once Howieazy gained a healthy amount of subscribers due to his sibling videos, he trusted that his audience would be open to different kinds of funny ideas from him. He likes remixing things and putting up new ideas, but then going back to the siblings sometimes to satisfy his audience.
Time your posts to match your audience
Creators often want to know when is the best time to publish something; for Howieazy, he says it all depends on when your audience is online. “If you're posting a video related to people in school, you don't want to be posting during school hours because they're going to be in class. Or if you're posting a video for working adults, you don't want to be posting during times when people are working.”
Analytics shows you what your audience likes, what kind of demographic you have. If it wasn't for Analytics, I wouldn't know that.”
HowieazyFor his part, Howieazy knows his fans are gamers, just like him. “I don't post in the morning. None of us are up early because we're gaming all night.” Instead, he normally posts at either 4 pm or 8 pm. “4 pm is generally when people are getting off school, looking at their phones and that’s the time they’re on the internet. At 8 pm, people are just laying down. It’s not too late where they’re asleep, but it’s not too early where they’re busy.”
Howieazy adds that if you need help figuring out your audience, check out your Analytics in YouTube Studio. “Analytics shows you what your audience likes, what kind of demographic you have. If it wasn't for Analytics, I wouldn't know that.”