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1. Start!
This is important! Start! You can’t do anything until you start. Don’t overthink it or over-prepare. Do a little research, enough to get you started and just get right in there and make it happen. Don’t get hung up on looking like a beginner because, you are a beginner! Don’t think for one minute that seasoned YouTubers don’t look back at their first video(s) and not cringe, of course they do! It’s a marathon not a sprint and everyone starts somewhere. Everyone was a beginner once. Bite the bullet and just go for it! Don’t suffer from analysis paralysis.
2. Make It Easy
When starting out, keep it simple. It’s hard enough to start so don’t make it harder by making things complicated. I filmed my first video on a camera and would need to transfer the footage onto my computer. I had tried out this complicated editing software and got discouraged. I knew immediately that if that was what I had to do, it wouldn’t happen, especially being new. I then opted to record and edit on my phone using simple (and not fancy) software and it allows me to edit on the go if I get a chance, which makes it easier to fit this hobby into my daily life. From here, as I get more comfortable, I will eventually upgrade my equipment and use better technique, but until then, this serves me well right now. Obviously it does, because I’m doing it.
3. Be Realistic
Don’t get into YouTube (or anything for that matter) thinking it will happen overnight. You will end up disappointed. Like everything else, good things take time, work, dedication and this is no different. If it were easy, everyone would be doing it. Sure there are viral videos that come up from time to time, but the odds are more likely that that will not happen. You will need to promote, network, be consistent, work hard, and create good content and give it time for success to happen. So keep your expectations in check.
4. Technical Aspect
Obviously, to start a channel, you need to love or have knowledge in whatever topic you’re covering on your channel and make videos. That’s usually the most fun part, but that is only the tip of the iceberg. You will also need to find a way to like marketing, typing, video-editing, taking and editing pictures, learning programs to create thumbnails, researching, and networking. You will need to learn what certain technical terms are and how to implement them into your videos and onto your channel. Watermarks, transparents, analytics, thumbnails and other terms will become things you never knew you needed to become familiar with but they will be an essential part in your success.
5. Tell Your Friends
This was a hard one for me. I am a very private person by nature and especially private on social media. However, at some point, I had to tell the people I’m closest to. I couldn’t promote my videos on social media (more on that later) without my friends knowing first. After all, you don’t want to hurt the feelings of people you love by keeping them out of the loop about something so awesome. I waited a month or so before I made that plunge to tell my closest friends and, once I did, I felt a whole lot less lonely. Not to mention, I got a bump in subscribers and a few people have helped share my videos with others they know. So when you’re ready, and I suggest sooner rather than later, tell your friends and family!
6. Use Your Social Media
Once you have told your friends and family, it is now safe to promote on social media so that your acquaintances and (hopefully) people outside your circle will catch on to what you’re doing. I have a healthy group of “friends” on Facebook, but my Instagram is still in its infancy, but I use both platforms. You can even use other forms of social media if you have them. Use it all if you want. That’s they best way to get seen until you build a little momentum in YouTube itself.
7. Be Involved With the Community/Network
Make friends within YouTube and network with them. There are so many people starting out and trying to build their channels too and it’s not wrong to ask for support and support others in the process. Isn’t that what “social networking” is? So use it! My channel is beauty oriented and it benefits me to watch other people who are doing something similar and learning from them, improving my technique, seeing what works and what doesn’t and genuinely commenting, liking, and sharing videos that I like. You will find fans this way because the odds are pretty good that if someone is making videos on a topic, they are also watching videos on a topic. It’s likely that if there is a someone making makeup tutorial videos, he or she is a fan of watching them too. Let them know you exist and have a channel. Networking is important in business and this realm is no different.
8. Be Consistent
As with anything you do in life, this is no different. If you want to be successful with YouTube, you need to be consistent. My first month, I only posted once a week because I knew that I could do that consistently when I started. Now I post twice a week, every week. Eventually, I would like to post more, but until I know that I can be consistent, I will wait. Find what works for you and do it consistently. YouTube likes to know that you are trying to get and keep people on YouTube and if you do, they win and you win. Also, once you have grown your channel and have lots of subscribers, that fan base needs to know that they can count on you to post content. You want to honor that and keep their trust. So always try to post the content they come to you for, and when they expect it. That is how they came to know and love what you do to begin with.
9. Have Fun!
If your goal is to grow your channel and hopefully turn it onto a career someday, don’t forget to have fun in the process. To be successful at it, it takes more work than most people would expect, but never ever lose sight of the fact it should be fun and something that brings you joy. After all, that is why you started! When I decided to start a YouTube channel, I knew very little about the wonderful world of YouTube. Honestly, besides watching the occasional silly cat video or finding a song I wanted to hear, I didn’t visit YouTube very often, let alone become a video creator. So when my husband suggested to me that I should consider starting a beauty channel, I looked at him sideways. He spends his mornings venturing down the perpetual rabbit hole that is YouTube, and he thought I had what it took to see a channel through. I fought back for a minute, then I thought and realized I might actually enjoy it! It took me a couple of months to wrap my mind around it, make my first video, and post it. However, since then I have posted two videos a week every week, and I just acquired my first 100 subscribers! Of course, when venturing into unknown territory, one must research. So I watched videos about how to get 100 subscribers and followed the advice. I also came up with some ideas of my own, all of which I later found out are a “thing” after watching several videos on the topic. However, watching these videos left me with a feeling of not belonging. I guess when you watch a video on how to get 100 subscribers and the person whose video you’re watching has 300,000 or more subscribers, you wonder if they truly remember what it was like when they started out. Although I knew that they definitely knew what they were talking about (you don’t have a successful channel without knowing a thing or two), I wished there was someone a little closer to where I was giving me that information. I wanted someone that seemed more relate-able to someone in my position. That’s the purpose of this article. I want to give you some tips if you’re just starting out on how to get that first 100 subscribers as someone who has just passed that milestone. I hope this came straight from my heart to yours. I wanted this to be relatable as someone who is right there in the trenches with you! Of course, brush up on your craft and watch videos from people who are “experts” in this field. I just wanted to share my experience while it was still fresh and not something I have to try to remember after years. We “YouTubers” are generally helpful people in nature, so it’s the helper in me wanting to support, encourage, and share what I have learned so far and hopefully in the future as well! I wish you the best of luck and please comment below and let me know where you are in your YouTube journey! Below is a link to my channel. www.youtube.com/c/BehindTheVanity Thank you so much for reading and watching! This content is accurate and true to the best of the author’s knowledge and is not meant to substitute for formal and individualized advice from a qualified professional. © 2019 Jess B
