Weekly interviews with educators don’t bring the biggest views, so why bother?

I’m a passionate education leader and content creator.

• I love writing blog posts about education.
• I love facilitating conversations with other education leaders.
• I love recording helpful video content and tutorials for teachers.

These activities give me joy and fulfillment.

Maybe you enjoy creating some of the same, or maybe you’re simply a consumer.

Or maybe you’re a consumer who would like to become a creator.

Either way, I think you’ll find this exploration helpful.

My YouTube journey

YouTube has been a fun hobby for me over the past six years. My content has slowly evolved and improved over time, and it still has a long way to go.

I’ve experimented with a few different kinds of content.

Back in 2018, I began with audio-only content: still images with audio versions of the Teachers on Fire podcast running behind them.

Weirdly, these “videos” attracted some views (really listens), encouraging me to keep going.

From there, tried some vlogs — direct speaking to camera.

Then I tried edtech tutorials.

Then COVID came along, and I started experimenting with livestream conversations on a platform called StreamYard.

My 337 videos have been viewed over 300,000 times, earning me the trust of more than 2,540 subscribers. These numbers are teeny-tiny in the world of YouTube, but they also represent levels of success that I once considered impossible.

Most of my content today consists of livestreamed interviews with other education leaders. I try to go live every Saturday morning at 8am Pacific and 11am Eastern with an educator who inspires me in some way.

But here’s the tension, and the reason for the title of this piece: in terms of growing my channel through views and subscribers, these interviews offer an absolutely terrible ROI.

Horrible.

Confused? Let me explain.

Why edtech tutorials make excellent YouTube content

To start to understand why K-12 education interviews perform poorly on YouTube, let’s contrast them against another kind of YouTube content that I create: edtech tutorials.

All my heavy-hitting videos on my channel are edtech tutorials. ALL of them.

Why?

It comes back to a YouTube strategy that I first learned at Think Media: ASQ.

Answer simple questions.

When I take the time to answer teacher questions by creating simple how-to video solutions, those videos inevitably perform well.

• They solve some sort of an immediate, practical problem. Problem → solution.
• They have great SEO (search engine optimization), meaning the titles of these videos are highly searchable.
• They are evergreen, meaning views can often continue and in fact grow larger as weeks, months, and even years drag on.

The best of these videos never die — they just keep going and going and going, because demand continues over time.

And the best part?

They’re easy to make.

They don’t take much time. They don’t rely on anyone else. They require no booking, no communication with another party, and little preparation.

Just screen record, edit, and publish.

All told, I can make these videos in about 20% of the time it takes me to publish a conversation with another education leader. Conversations, by comparison, lack the powerful features (solution, SEO, evergreen) that make tutorials so popular.

So why bother with interviews?

Why do I continue to record conversations with other education leaders every Saturday morning, even when they require more time to plan, prepare, execute, edit, and publish?

Am I wasting my time and energy?

I think not, and here’s why.

5 reasons why I’m livestreaming conversations every Saturday morning on YouTube

1. It’s fun.

Going live remains a thrill.

My streaming service, StreamYard (not sponsoring this post), allows me to stream live on YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook, and X at the same time.

It allows viewers to interact live with the show, my guest, and our conversation in the live chat. I can display comments on screen.

It’s a ton of fun, so that’s reason number one.

2. Forced consistency of output

I actually quit recording and publishing interviews on my YouTube channel for close to two years between September 2021 and September 2023.

My thinking at the time? Focus less on my podcast (think audio-only content on podcast apps like Apple Podcasts) and more on the YouTube channel.

Quitting weekly interviews gave me a lot more discretionary time, that much is true.

No longer did I need to wake up early on Saturday mornings to meet other educators online. I was free to sleep in and get up on my own schedule. Free to create the content I wanted when I wanted.

And that strategy wasn’t a complete disaster. To an extent it worked, and I was able to create some good content during this period.

But I wasn’t consistent. I could go weeks at a time without creating a video.

During those creation droughts, I wasn’t offering value. I wasn’t visible. I wasn’t consistent.

As a result, I wasn’t building the views and subscribers I needed to grow. In my periods of silence, my viewers and listeners were turning to other creators they could count on to create consistently, and rightly so.

There’s also a rule in the world of content creation that the longer you go without creating, the harder it is to create.

This might sound silly or insignificant, but creators know what I’m talking about. It’s like building a psychological wall between you and the content: with every day that passes, another brick goes up.

Resistance strengthens, and two weeks become four.

In contrast, when I schedule weekly interviews with other educators, I’m making a non-negotiable contract with myself.

I MUST show up. I MUST get in the chair. I MUST hit Record and create.

Because if I don’t, I’m not just letting down myself. I’m letting down another educator that I respect a great deal.

I’ll do everything in my power to avoid that, and consistency is the result.

Thanks to weekly interviews, I’m never silent on YouTube for more than seven days.

3. These conversations build relationships with other education leaders

Podcasting is twenty years old now, but there’s still a magic in this space that remains a secret to most of the general public.

Imagine being able to speak 1:1 with just about any leader, author, or thought leader in your space. For free.

This is the power of podcasting.

If I call a high-profile education author and ask if we can chat on the phone for 30–40 minutes for free, that’s a pretty steep ask.

But if I invite them to join me on my podcast, I usually get a very different response.

They inevitably say yes. We chat. I publish and promote the content in video and audio forms.

And in the process, we build some know-like-trust with each other. We have some memories, smiles, and personal exchanges to forever match with the name and face.

If I do my job, I support my guest’s work by shining a light on their content.

And if I serve my guest well, they are more likely to speak well of me and my podcast in their circles.

It’s a win-win, and it often leads to relationships that last for years to follow.

4. Weekly livestreams build community for teachers — a weekly meeting space

By scheduling these conversations every Saturday morning, I’m creating a reliable time and place for educators to visit that allows them to connect with other like-minded professionals.

I’ll be there. Another education leader will be there. And viewing educators will be in the live chat.

It takes time, work, and consistency to build this kind of weekly gathering, but it’s a beautiful thing when it happens.

To see two shining examples of this on YouTube, check out Principal Baruti Kafele’s AP and New Principals Academy or Real Rap with Reynolds by C. J. Reynolds.

Both education leaders have been hosting weekly livestreams for years, and the communities they’ve built are incredible.

Teachers value community spaces that meet consistently and bring reliable value.

That’s what I’d like to build, too.

5. My weekly professional development

I love to read books written by educators, but conversations spark my thinking in ways that reading simply cannot.

Each guest has inspired me in some way before they come on my show. I select most of them myself — I’ve learned to deny the vast majority of appearance requests.

I choose guests that I know are knowledgeable, generous, good communicators, and bring a particular expertise to the conversation that I am sure to benefit from.

As a result, my thinking is sparked, my views are challenged, and my understanding is expanded every single week.

No weeks off means no mental or professional atrophy. I’m always growing, reflecting, and learning.

It’s a virtuous cycle that makes me a better podcast host and blogger for Teachers on Fire. Even better, it allows me to contribute more to my own community.

Imagine a hobby that makes you better at your Monday-Friday job. That’s exactly what this is.

I know that’s not for everyone, and no, not every hobby should support your primary work. I’m a huge believer in creating for the intrinsic fulfillment of the creative process.

But there’s a symbiosis here that I find deeply satisfying.

My contractual work gives me more to offer my podcast audience. My podcast work gives me more to offer my elementary school community.

I’m not just growing a YouTube channel. I’m growing my impact and influence.

Final thoughts

Look, weekly livestreaming is a serious commitment.

Guests don’t just appear. Connections and arrangements must be made. The stage must be set. Research must be done and questions must be planned. Episodes must be promoted before and after the event. Editing must be completed. Publication and distribution take time.

But for the time being, I like the equation. I see how this habit serves me and the educators around me.

These conversations won’t produce big-time views and subscribers for my YouTube channel.

But they’re worth it.