YouTube’s Algorithm Change and What it Means for Personal Branding

YouTube recently announced a new algorithm change that forced many vloggers to “spin-off” their personal videos into a separate channel. In simple terms, YouTube will reward channels that have a clear focus so it’s good to separate your personal content from your specialized “business” content — whatever your niche may be.

To be clear — I’m not producing any content for YouTube and maybe you don’t too. This algorithm change just got me thinking about personal branding and how to structure your projects in general. Why?

Because Google-owned YouTube has most certainly done the math behind their decision. Providing a more intuitive and satisfying user experience has long been Google’s top priority in all the products they introduce. People likely prefer to consume content from specialized sources and this is why they’re taking it into account when showing search results. Consequently, this is why vloggers are splitting their channels if necessary.

Of course, growing two channels is harder than growing one. Should you:
a) Focus on one thing and achieve progress there faster?
b) Focus on two things and have it take twice as long?
c) Do as much as you planned in one area?
d) Do half as much as you planned in 2 areas?

Well, in some ideal world there may be perfect synergy between your personal and work projects so you don’t do duplicate work and things run just as smoothly.

However, more often than not you will want fewer things on your mind at any given time. That’s why this seemingly irrelevant (to my life) YouTube change got me thinking about the bigger picture.

Do multiple things slowly or drill down and move quickly? Ideally, you’d want to sequence your life’s projects in such a way that each one is a pre-requisite to the next or makes it easier to fulfill (there’s enough time for everything, as Derek Sivers says).

Keeping this in mind, what’s the implication for personal branding and building a business at the same time? Should you focus on building your image and following first or spend time on your business and staying more “in the shadows”? The answer comes from Jeff Bezos and his golden tip:

“… You earn reputation by trying to do hard things well.”

So this suggests an elegant solution in my view - do hard things and the reputation will take care of itself.

What’s Elon Musk famous for? Tesla.
Zuckerberg? Facebook.
Bill Gates? Microsoft.

The list goes on.

So does it make sense to invest time and effort into building your image? Maybe it can add value to your business, that’s true. But in the early days, it’s probably a good idea to prioritize your business and let your accomplishments do the talking.

Your personal brand will grow with your business. So why spend time on building a personal brand instead of building a business that embodies who you are?