“Start creating,”
Caya, both an entrepreneur and a YouTuber, has created exceptionally inspiring videos, sharing his experiences and knowledge on technology, traveling and startups.
So, if you’re someone pursuing to be an entrepreneur, or simply a tech or travel enthusiast who loves a wide range of engaging content, Caya will provide you with tips and reviews that you just might be searching for!
In this week’s Pixlr Spotlight, Caya talks about his start on YouTube, his engagement with the audience, how he keeps up with the trends, and advice to aspiring content creators.
What made you start your YouTube/Instagram career?
YouTube has become a killer acquisition channel for us, and it all worked out thanks to a bit of a coincidence. We’ve always been big believers in content marketing, our first big breakthrough in customer acquisition was in Google (SEO) back in 2016, and we spent the next 3 years growing that SEO.
However, we came to a point where SEO stopped growing. We simply couldn’t get more traffic through there, so we started experimenting with YouTube.
The coincidence then was that we had 4 people in our team with backgrounds in video production. They weren’t hired for that reason, but they were part of the team- so we took YouTube as a little side project.
We used our own cameras and the cheapest lights we could find on Amazon, and for a long time it sucked. Our content wasn’t good and it obviously didn’t get a lot of traction. The only reason we kept going was because we were having fun making the videos, and we weren’t spending any money making them.
Did you always know you wanted to do this?
Personally… I was one of those employees with some filmmaking background: so I guess I knew I wanted to tell stories visually.
Company wise.. no. This was one of the many marketing experiments we do all the time. Most don’t work well, but every now and then we find something that works out!
How do you keep your audience engaged?
We’ve found that asking is a fantastic way to promote engagement. Asking what they think, or what content they want to see… it’s simple, insightful, and it feeds the hungry YouTube algorithm.
From a business standpoint, we try to have a call to action in all of our videos, either subscribing to YouTube, trying our product, etc…
What do you think is most important when you’re looking for ways to engage with your audience?
I think it’s about understanding who they are and ‘speaking their language’.
Our success comes from the fact that we are a startup ourselves, talking to other startups. It feels natural, our experience is genuine (not just internet research).
If you understand the audience well enough, you should be able to speak to them. As CEO, understanding the audience requires getting your hands dirty: getting involved with your customers in different steps of their journey.
What do you love most about working in this industry?
It has to be the ability to create products and content that impact people’s lives. We get millions of eyes on our content every month. If one of those viewers can use this knowledge or these tools to improve their business, then I think our work is done.
The current position we are in also allows us to invent and release new things, without having to start from scratch.
How do you stay current on all the shifts and innovations?
A lot of the content I consume I consider it part of my ‘leisure’ time rather than work, especially YouTube. That’s the easy part.
Twitter is probably second in line to stay on top of startup trends.
Have you noticed any positive or negative changes in your work since the pandemic?
Positive, for which we are very thankful.
Crises are fertile ground for entrepreneurship and we are seeing that with the growth of our customer base.
What’s the funniest story that comes to mind ever since you started working more indoors due to the pandemic?
For our Paypal Mafia video we had to watch a bunch of Mafia films. I used my work hours to watch a movie and didn’t feel guilty about it. Dream job!
What advice would you give for aspiring creators?
Start creating. You will be ashamed of the first piece of content you put out there, but the only way to learn is by failing. I am haunted by the poor production of our early videos, but they were absolutely key to getting the content to the level we are producing now.
Want more on Caya’s work? Check out his YouTube for other videos on technology, traveling and startups!
