Drew Michael Scott got his start on YouTube as a teenager in 2013. Over the 13 years since his first scrapbooking video, Scott has amassed 1.78 million subscribers on his Lone Fox channel, launched in 2018, where he posts about DIY and design. “It’s probably the fourth YouTube channel that I had. So I’ve gone through iterations, which is fine,” he tells host Dennis Scully on the latest episode of The Business of Home Podcast. “Your first thing doesn’t have to be what [you keep]; you can always change things up. I realized after my first three channels [that] I wanted [my focus] to be something that was more branded as its own thing, not branded as my name. Foxes typically travel in packs. They follow the masses. So Lone Fox is the one that kind of steers away from what everyone else is doing and does their own thing. I think that also comes with the nature of DIY. I love doing things by hand, and I’m very hands-on with my projects—doing all the woodwork and painting and swapping the knobs and [even] the plumbing as well. I really like sharing that knowledge on YouTube with my audience, so they can feel more comfortable with their own projects.”
While Scott does use other social media—he has amassed 1.5 million followers on Instagram—YouTube has been his bread and butter, and the platform he likes the most. “[It’s] definitely my strongest audience, and it’s where I feel like I get the best response and the most fulfilling comments, and the people are most engaged with my content,” he says. “You’re sitting with that person normally for around, like, 10 to 20 minutes per video, whereas [with] short form you really are just with them for 20 to 50 seconds, and then on to the next thing, and it’s so easy to forget about what you were just watching. But there’s something about YouTube that you build more of a connection with that viewer than if you were to watch 10 different TikTok videos.”
Elsewhere in the episode, Scott discusses how to maximize short-form and long-form content, how you make money on YouTube, why he opened up a brick-and-mortar shop, and why he edits every video himself.
Crucial insight: While YouTube’s algorithm has been pretty consistent over Scott’s time on the platform, TikTok is less forgiving. “I don’t love [how] those [short-form] platforms kind of control what you do; whereas YouTube’s never been like, ‘Oh, we’re not going to let you put links in your description anymore, and you’re not allowed to do this, and [we’ll] make sure that only this many percent of your followers that subscribe to you see it.’ That’s what I don’t get about TikTok,” he says. “I cannot understand that I have 1.5 million followers on TikTok, and I could post a video that gets a million views on Instagram, but I could post the same one on TikTok, and it will get 1,400 views. I’m like, How did it only send to 1,400 people? But that’s just their algorithm. If the initial people do not engage with it, they just stop sending it to your following. I don’t exactly know how it works, but I think Instagram and YouTube are friendlier platforms.”
Key quote: “I’ve never used AI in elements of video [editing]—I don’t even know how you would. I’ve just always been so at the forefront of editing my own videos that I couldn’t imagine popping in an AI editor and having it give me something. But it could be beneficial, for example, with [producing metadata and captions for] our products. We’re listing 100 new products a week, and do I really need to sit there and think of 100 descriptions for all 100 vintage items, or can I have AI help me write a two-sentence description based on what it sees in the photo? So that’s where I feel like it’s beneficial, and it can just help in flows and processes a little bit, but I think with the creative side of it, I don’t want it to generate my end product photo.”
This episode is sponsored by Ernesta and Kohler. Listen to the show below. If you like what you hear, subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
The Thursday Show
Host Dennis Scully and BOH executive editor Fred Nicolaus discuss the biggest news in the design world, including Charles Cohen’s great escape, Bed Bath & Beyond’s third acquisition in three months and the rise of the owner’s rep. Later, CEOs Andy Singer and Rohan Blacker join the show to talk about why Visual Comfort bought Pooky.
This episode is sponsored by Loloi and Newport Brass. Listen to the show below. If you like what you hear, subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
