Connected Countdown: 10 Things You Need To See This Week

Every weekend I break down the 10 things I think you most need to see this week, including a mix of posts on this site and other stuff from around the web that I think should be on your radar. Here’s this week’s countdown… →

25 Things Most Comedians Do (And One Question For You To Think About)

Here’s a few observations I’ve made over the past few years about how most comedians treat their careers, and one question at the end for you to think about. →

Why It Works: The “Epic Meal Time” Web Series

In today’s edition of Why It Works, I’m going to take a look at the insanely popular Epic Meal Time video series and break down some of the reasons that I think the show has been so successful.

In case you’ve never heard of it, Epic Meal Time describes itself by saying, “We make your dreams come true, and then we eat them.” Basically, the show consists of a bunch of guys who make crazy food concoctions (usually involving a LOT of bacon) and then eat them – or get hot girls to eat them. You can think of it as the world’s most hardcore cooking show.

But the unique mix of attitude, comedy, cooking, and madness that is the recipe for Epic Meal Time has proved to be a huge hit online. Since debuting in September, the crew’s YouTube videos have generated a whopping 71 million views and attracted 607,000 subscribers. →

5 Short Videos That You Can Learn Something From Today

One of the greatest things about the Internet that I don’t think enough comedians take advantage of is the fact that there’s literally world of information at your fingertips that can educate and inspire you. A quick browse through YouTube can reveal tons of valuable information that can further your career and change the way you see things.

I often learn a lot from videos featuring various people that I consider to know a lot more than me, and I thought today it might be interesting for me to share a few videos that I think will be helpful to you as you continue to grow your career. I know you’re busy, so in this case I’ve pulled together five videos that are each less than five minutes long so you can watch them quickly and get something out of them. Here they are… →

Facebook’s Sponsored Stories: Your Secret Weapon In Facebook Promotion

As you know, I’m a big believer in the power of Facebook advertising to grow your fanbase and promote your content. But what you may not know is that in addition to regular Facebook ads, the social network has recently allowed you to run a new kind of ad called Sponsored Story ads, which I’ve found to be incredibly effective so far.

Sponsored Story ads can be run just like any other ad on Facebook – you set up an account and set a daily budget for the amount of money you’re willing to spend on the ad and the amount of money you’re willing to bid per click. The ads appear on the sidebar of pages throughout Facebook as your targeted audience surfs the site. But here’s the two things that make Sponsored Story ads different from typical Facebook ads: →

Connected Countdown: 10 Things You Need To See This Week

Every weekend I break down the 10 things I think you most need to see this week, including a mix of posts on this site and other stuff from around the web that I think should be on your radar. Here’s this week’s countdown… →

A New Way To Measure Your Success – The 10% Goal

As you try to grow your comedy career, one of the things that will inevitably be tricky (and potentially frustrating) for you is trying to figure out if you’re actually making any progress or if you’re making as much progress as you feel like you should. There’s a lot of reasons for this of course, but one of the biggest is that there’s not really a set of concrete metrics you can use to determine if you’re actually growing your career or if you’re stagnant.

Most people judge their career progress based on whether they’re getting more gigs, whether those gigs are in front of bigger crowds, how much they’re getting paid for those gigs, and whether or not Hollywood has come calling to them yet. Those are all valid ways to measure your progress to a certain extent, but they don’t necessarily give you an accurate reading of where you’re at with your career. →

3 Examples Of Comedians Using Social Media In Creative Ways

It’s very easy for comedians to fall into the trap of thinking that they can only use social media to create and distribute the same kinds of content. Just about every comedian with a YouTube channel either posts clips of their standup act, or maybe the occasional sketch or rant. And just about every comedian with a podcast invites some of their comedy friends to come by and sit around and shoot the shit for an hour.

There’s nothing wrong with these things, but it’s amazing how few people ever really try to do something different, to use all these tools to really be creative and try something new or different. To help inspire you to think outside the box (to use an obnoxious term) with your content, I want to highlight three recent creations I’ve seen that are unique, effective, and really clever. Here they are… →

Two Major Developments At YouTube That You Need To Know About

In the past couple weeks, YouTube has announced a couple different things that illustrate the direction that the biggest video site on the web is headed and that I think will ultimately have a big impact on your career if you embrace them. The first is that YouTube is rolling out live streaming on their site, and the second is that YouTube is embracing a new channels format designed to make the site function more like a traditional television viewing experience. Here’s the details… →

The Best Time To Tweet (And More Secrets To Social Media Timing)

Last week I came across an article that detailed the results of a recent study conducted by social media “scientist” Dan Zarella, through which he analyzed millions of tweets, Facebook updates, and email newsletter blasts to attempt to figure out if there are better times of the day or week to get the most out of your social media promotion. You can read the full article about Zarella “Science of Timing” study here, but in the meantime here’s a breakdown of the key points that I think will be most relevant to your interests. →