How a Minecraft YouTuber took over the platform
Recently, a Minecraft YouTuber has been breaking record after record and one question everyone has is — why!?
This gamer has been taking over YouTube and Twitch, pulling in millions of views and hundreds of thousands of live viewers. Dream, or Clay… something, his last name isn’t public and neither is his face. That brings up another question, how could a faceless, no last name, Minecraft personality start eating away at the views of personalities the general audience could relate to?
The obvious answer is his content is good. And it really is. But I believe the most important part to every video is his intro.
A YouTuber’s intro is that little “Hey, what’s up everyone, in this video we’re going to [blank]”.
What’s so special about Dream’s intros? It’s some of the best copywriting on YouTube.
To those unfamiliar with that term: copywriting is words used to advertise something. At least, that’s what Google says it is. For example, “Get this car because you can go really fast,” or, “Buy now before we run out of stock and you miss out.” But I feel like this definition on Google kind of misses the point. Copywriting is writing that is designed to make someone do something.
Those commercials encouraging you to donate to a children’s hospital, that webpage begging you to sign up for their company newsletter, that ad telling you to stop drinking and driving — it’s all copywriting!
So how does Dream’s copywriting in his intros take him from a YouTuber in a supersaturated field with probably millions of content creators, to one of the fastest-rising YouTube sensations?
Let’s take a look at this video and analyze the first twenty seconds of the viewer’s experience.
This video is called “Minecraft, But It’s a Zombie Apocalypse”.
First off, someone scrolling through YouTube would see that thumbnail and think, “How the hell did they get in that situation?” The title also entices people to click on the video because of how it’s set up. Minecraft, the game we all know and love… but, there’s a zombie apocalypse? What!?
And so the video loads and plays, the first three seconds is Dream’s friend running from dozens of zombies and screaming about one being on his head, which can’t even happen in the game. So now people want to know again, why are there so many and how did it even get stuck to his head?
Dream speaks, “This video, a zombie apocalypse tries to stop me and my friend from beating Minecraft. There are tons of different types of zombies. All with different abilities. And zombies. spawn. everywhere. Some zombies blow up, some zombies can pick us up and throw us, and much more. This was crazy! Also, according to YouTube statistics, only a small percentage of people who watch my videos are actually subscribed. So if you end up liking this video, consider subscribing. It’s free, and you can always unsubscribe. Enjoy the video.”
Okay, so at first glance it looks like a generic YouTube intro with tons of nerdy gamer talk. Let’s dissect it piece by piece, then.
“This video, a zombie apocalypse tries to stop me and my friend from beating Minecraft. There are tons of different types of zombies. All with different abilities. And zombies. spawn. everywhere. Some zombies blow up, some zombies can pick us up and throw us, and much more. This was crazy!” Okay, so here, he’s telling us the goal of the video. He’s also telling us how it’s different from typical Minecraft content because of what these zombies can do and how abundant they are. This is all set to the backdrop of him and his friend running away from dozens of zombies in an empty field, so when he says that it’s crazy, you believe it cause you can see it.
“Also, according to YouTube statistics, only a small percentage of people who watch my videos are actually subscribed.” Here he shows the viewer this:
His own YouTube statistics. This encourages the viewer to tip the scales and subscribe. Contributing to a goal with no effort is so instinctively satisfying to us as humans.
“So if you end up liking this video, consider subscribing. It’s free, and you can always unsubscribe. Enjoy the video.” We love things that are free. Dream is so nice and polite when asking viewers to subscribe that he says we can do it if we like the video. Most people will, considering how interesting they really are. The nice reminder that we can always unsubscribe lets us really know that there’s no risk or cost to us for subscribing. Why wouldn’t you?
That’s how Dream took over YouTube. Powerful copywriting can help you, too. Next time you read something telling you what to do and you actually do it, consider why it worked and try to learn something from it.
