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Hi Lovely People!
Ok so here's the thing. Actually, it's a few things. First up: YouTube. I personally love watching YouTube videos, I spend a good deal of time on it daily, watching my favourites, catching up with friend's posts and some tv snippets (Ellen). But not everyone does. If you are at all 'au fait' with the world of YouTube, you may be aware of some serious rumblings from other content creators about YT and their still-not-fixed ad demonetising that has affected everyone who relies on it as an income.
Now I know I am extremely small fry in the YouTube world, but honestly it has left me wondering if it's all worth it. Here's what is going on, from a much bigger creator, in a nutshell:
Six out of my last eight videos were demonetised for around 48 hours from going live. For someone like me, who gets literally ALL their traffic in that time period, it means I made no money from those videos. At all. Trust me when I say it's not a lot anyway, but all streams of revenue 'contribute' to the income you can make from blogging. And that, at its most basic level, means I can continue to do this blog.
A YouTube video can take me anywhere from 2-3 days to plan, film, edit, upload and source all the information in the description box (links etc). A vlog takes longer as it's more editing. Honestly since I started properly doing YouTube I've blogged less, and that has become unacceptable to me (and a lot of you!). This blog will always be my home planet. I'm nearly at 90 million page views. I slogged for years to get to that number and I refuse to let it drop because another channel needs more attention for less reward. It makes zero sense. Like giving all your attention to the naughty child. I'm ignoring the well-behaved, reliable child. Now: if you move over to Instagram, which after the blog is my biggest channel, they have the ability through Instagram Live to talk directly to more of you (for me), for as long as I like, and the video not only stays there for 24 hours, you can then save it and immediately move it over to your Facebook page where it can reside happily forever. I could also then move it to YouTube, so it still gets content, but with less effort on my part. Ditto Facebook. Facebook Live gives content creators the opportunity to let fans of your page know when you're live/going live, and the video stays on your page. I know that the demographics of this blog are predominantly 30+. I apparently have the 'golden ticket' in advertising terms of having an extremely engaged, older audience with money to spend. (See yesterday's post) That's why I guard it (you) fiercely. I also know, for a fact, that this same audience prefers Facebook and Instagram to find their content. You spend (in general) more time on those platforms than others. We're not interested in SnapChat, and a lot of you don't generally use YouTube. So if my audience isn't 'really' there, and you prefer me to talk to you here, on Instagram and Facebook, why would I bother going to all that trouble when I can set my cameras up, go LIVE and record it all anyway? This is the question I am currently toying with. Here's what else I know. Brands won't care. They will follow me and they will absolutely follow you. They may prefer it this way. Most brands have Facebook pages. If I do sponsored content on Facebook or Instagram, the brands can then 'boost' it by spending ad money (it's relatively cheap) and host it on their own pages.
One thing that all the brands that I have ever worked with have in common is that they have listened to me. They always listen to me. And they will definitely listen to you. You, ultimately, have the power. They will literally say 'whatever you think is best', and if they don't, then we never get past the discussion stage anyway.. So lovely readers I guess what I am asking you is 'Where would YOU prefer to see me?'. What I would like to do is more LIVE posts on Instagram (daily) and on Facebook (longer content and at least once a week). Less weekly vlogging, as it's so time-consuming, but absolutely still documenting when I travel or host big events because I like to keep that for my own memories anyway.
If you follow Trinny (and if you don't, you absolutely should: https://www.facebook.com/TrinnyWoodall/ ) you'll have more of an idea of what I mean. I think daily checking in is where I'm heading towards, and I think having more time to blog would make you happier. If YouTube is making life difficult, and the other platforms have bigger audiences in the long run anyway, why am I working so hard? I'd love your input. And you can bet your arse I'll be having the mother of all celebrations when we hit that 90 million.
Thank you.
*EDIT: I HAVE NO PLANS TO 'LEAVE' YOUTUBE! I JUST PLAN TO BE SELECTIVE IN WHAT I POST AND HOW I FILM IT.
I love all the feedback below.
Thanks again. x
