YouTube Live: How Joe Wicks Reached His Global Audience

So, after what feels like an eternity of hearing about only the coronavirus over the last week or so, did you manage to catch ‘PE with Joe’ on Joe Wicks’ YouTube Live? Hello, I’m Uzair and thanks for watching this video, where I’ll share some of my thoughts on YouTube videos and YouTube Live. So, this morning I came downstairs to find my wife and 8 year old daughter watching Joe Wicks on his first ‘PE with Joe’ session, aimed at children, but anyone can watch it really to exercise at home.

It was absolutely amazing to see that Joe had around 790,000 people watching him, from all around the world, including Brazil, Australia, New York, Dubai and many more. Even Joe sounded totally taken aback by the numbers and the reach of his audience, for an idea he only had last week, not because he needed to do this for his business or livelihood, but because he wants to help people at this difficult time.

As a YouTube marketer myself, I’d like to congratulate Joe on his amazing achievement and I hope he continues with his online success. But before we all go running off to try to copy Joe, we have to remember that Joe’s online presence has been steadily growing for at least the last 5 years or so, perhaps a little longer, and his brand is well established, consistent and authentic.

In my own business, I've received a more than normal number of messages and calls from people panicking to create videos to start transferring their business to an online model, mainly because they can’t now reach their customers physically at the moment. All I would say is - stop. Really, just stop and breathe for a moment. Instead of panicking, you need to create a strategy, however small, to make sure that if you are planning to take things online through video, you are not just looking at short term gains.

Do the work once, so that you can get rewards again and again. If you are planning to put classes or tutorials online for free, how about at least capturing an email, so that you can reach those people again in the future? Or if you are a tradesman with no work now, how about sharing basic tips and tricks from your industry, so that you become the best known ‘expert’ in your field locally, ready for business when people need you again?

Now more than ever before people are going to be scrolling on their devices, so why not put yourself and your business in front of them? If you’ve avoided video marketing because it's too far much out of your comfort zone, now is the time to expand your comfort zone, take on some new learning with guidance and support. Let’s face it, we are pretty much having to stay at home, so we may as well do something really useful to help survive this unprecedented time.

Don’t be an ostrich and bury your head in the sand, as I say, stop, breathe, and take some steps for your business not just to survive, but to thrive when things get back to normal again. I sincerely wish you every success in your endeavours and thanks again for watching this video. I look forward to seeing you in my next video soon.

Bye for now