Vlogging and Finding Your Audiences

You are looking at the video camera you just purchased or maybe you are looking at the webcam on your computer screen. You think to yourself that you should have a go at it- create video content and share it; start vlogging on a regular basis. There are travel aspirations you want to accomplish, creative goals you have set for yourself, and experiences you are sure can inspire others. Should you go for it?

A lot of of talented and inspired individuals who want to become vloggers and create content for the Internet ask themselves that. The elephant in the room that many to-be video content creators can underestimate is, how will you reach your target audiences? Most think Youtube will help them reach out to their intended audiences. And why not, right? According to YouTube’s own stats page, in the 2017 they reached over one billion users.

There are 3.8 billion people connected to the Internet this year. That means YouTube could potentially connect you to approximately 1/3 of Internet users. Those numbers alone are enough to make anyone dream of stardom. The problem is it’s pretty much impossible to do so!  There are over 300 hours of video uploaded every minute on YouTube, that’s approximately 432,000 hours of video content generated per day. We’ve all seen it, the all too familiar funny cats, gamer’s registries, MS Office tutorials, music videos, popular TV programs, sports, news, cartoons, and so much more. When it comes to women content creators, in addition to fighting to stand out amongst so many topics and, let’s be honest, so much trash, how to go about it?

*PB (Petabyte) = 1 Quadrillion bytes

Source: Cisco

All women content creators, bloggers and vloggers, need to emphasize quality, engaging content, and keeping it real. By quality, we’re talking about the quality of the videos: the lighting, framing, editing, and trying to keep them 5 minutes or less. With engaging content, we mean less “look at me with a Chanel bag” and more, this is who I am, this is what I do, this is what I dream about. Finally, with keeping it real, is not about showing a Vogue type of aesthetics to present yourself and surroundings. It means realizing that there is always something magical about your life – that is invaluable to viewers.

Creating great content takes work, brain storming for ideas, organization, and skill. Why work hours to produce content so that you can battle it out with a funny cat video? Why work hours to compete against a million-subscriber base YouTuber who has been around for 10 years and now looks more like a marketing agency and less like a genuine women content creator?  So finding your online community is the key to sharing your work, receiving encouragement, and learning to inspire others. Open social media platforms, like Fashion Potluck, are unique in what they offer: a supportive international community of female content creators dedicated to posting content for other women.

Never before has creating content been so easy, anyone can put their work out there to a global audience. But, in a world where everyone has a voice, it is hard to be heard at all.  So, community building is more important than ever – in real life and digitally. Building a community takes a lot of work and effort, but the motto is true: stronger together.

Whatever content you make, whether blog posts or videos, the fundamentals are quality and originality. Share your content on multiple platforms, but just remember that great content is created with intent to spread a message.

Finally, it is important that your content is not exactly the same in all the platforms that you use. Let’s admit that if you are vlogging, it may sound weird to say “welcome to my YouTube channel” if you then plan on uploading this video to Vimeo, Fashion Potluck or to any other platform. Remember that it is the content, yourself, and the community you belong to that is important. Last we heard YouTube was not paying anything for anyone to endorse their brand along with all the cute kitties. Don’t regurgitate content; make it all unique, even when posting between different platforms  - Fashion Potluck, Youtube, Vimeo, Medium, Instagram, etc.

So go on, give that video content creator, writer, or photographer inside of you a chance to run wild.  What you have to share will be valued by others out there in a community looking to learn and be inspired.

Say no to silly cat videos and yes to quality and original content!