K atie c ouric

Use Multiple Channels
Chris Williams of pocket.watch explains that having reach isn’t the same as
having a brand. Getting a million followers on Facebook or getting fifty
thousand views on a video doesn’t mean you have a brand. Even eight
hundred million views a month doesn’t guarantee name recognition.
To turn a large number of followers into a brand, Williams recommends
reaching people in multiple places. He thinks that YouTube star Jake Paul
has transcended his digital brand because he went on the Disney Channel
show “Bizaarvark.” He didn’t do it for the money—he did it because he
knew that it would build his brand by getting out on more platforms. When
people start seeing you in multiple places, you start building your brand. If,
on the other hand, they associate you with a single platform, it’s usually not
enough.
Ray Chan of 9GAG agrees and says that your goal is to build a solid
brand as you gain new users. Educate them and get them up to speed on
what the brand is about. Let them know that you’re on other channels so
that they can engage with you in multiple ways.
Create Your Opportunities
Wade decided to create his own comedy show because although he wanted
to walk into the BBC and Comedy Central to get a deal after graduating
from theater school, he knew this wasn’t realistic. Instead, he took the
creative control into his own hands and made a show that he distributed
online himself. By doing so he created a proof of concept—he had social

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proof in big numbers by getting the content seen online. Because his
content performed extremely well it gave him validation and credibility to
later go into big networks and get big deals.
He explains that you have to prove to the large channels that your
concept will work. “Create your own buzz and the bees will follow,” says
Wade. When you create something for yourself, everyone else starts to
show up—there’s an influx and flurry of people that will get behind you and
your ideas.
Wade got millions of views on his digital skits and shows before he
went to the BBC and showed them that what he created was working. They
gave him a show. He feels that anyone starting their own brand should take
it into their own hands. No one owes you anything, so work hard to make
your opportunities yourself.