Why YouTubers Need to Start Thinking Like a Blogger Part 3

Welcome back to the third instalment of Why YouTubers Need To Start Thinking Like a Blogger, in part one I covered how to get your content seen and where you should be sharing your content, in part two I covered how you can make money through affiliate marketing, brand partnerships and other ways. As this is my final post in the series I am going to discuss how you can evolve into a brand and take your YouTube Channel to the next level.

Business Planning

For me personally, I enjoy being creative and whilst it would be amazing to get lots of followers and make a living from it like the bigger YouTubers, I would rather enjoy what I am doing and put out quality material, however, it is also important to start as you mean to go on, if you want your blog or YouTube channel to be a success treat it like you would if you were going to build a business and that means creating a business plan.

Ask yourself these questions (if you would like a free copy of my YouTube Planning template please sign up for my newsletter click here)

• What is your niche?
• How often will you Vlog and Blog (Don’t over commit yourself)?
• What age group do you want to appeal to?
• Who is your competition?
• Which influencers inspire you? what is it that they do that inspires you? What is it you don’t like?
• What equipment do you already have and what do you need?
• How will you promote your vlogs (check part one)
• Set yourself a 3 month, 6-month goal, 9 months and 12-month goal and review
• Why should brands work with you?
• Who could you collaborate with?

Stand out with a Logo

• Get a logo made, make sure that you stand out and when people see your brand they know it’s your brand.
• Make sure that you’re happy with your logo.
• If you are not a designer pay for a logo so it’s unique.

YouTubers Media Kit

If you are going to be working with brands and Pr companies you need to create a media kit, you can do this in photoshop or if you are not a photoshop master do it through Canva and use some of their templates. Here is what your media kit should include;

• Your blog/YouTube Channel Name
• Contact email (Personally I would have an email that is only used as you influencer stuff)
• Information about your blog
• A brief bio about you and include a photo
• Social Media links
• Stats (social media following, monthly blog views, Monthly vlog views)
• Services you offer as an influencer

Business Cards

If you are really going to take this seriously, get some business cards made with your name, contact details and social media links so that you can hand them out whenever the opportunity arises to network.

Think Like A brand

Recently lots of big YouTubers in the USA and the UK have faced backlash for things that they have done through social media and in their vlogs and the fact that this has lost them big deals, given them bad press and more than likely derailed their YouTube careers, it’s worth taking a professional stand on the material that you are working on and think like a brand.

• Is this offensive? (As a general rule death, violence, disrespecting anyone’s race, sexuality, culture or history, hate campaigns, bullying, something silly that can be imitated and cause danger to impressionable viewers, cruelty is a big no-no).
• Just as important if you are collaborating make sure that the person you are collaborating with has not created anything offensive such as the stuff mentioned above. (It may seem long-winded but would you want your brand associated with something bad? Be selective this is your brand)
• Would you want your friends and family, watching your vlogs, if it’s a no then reevaluate what you are doing?
• See what is trending in your niche take notes and if you do use the same idea, make sure it’s unique and make it your own.
• Make sure you have an online presence use your social media to its full capacity.
• Get feedback, your not always going to like the feedback but take it on board as long as it is constructive.

Invest In Your Brand

There are two ways that you should be investing in your channel and I will cover both below.

Money

I’m not saying you should spend a fortune on your channel especially not in the early stages of setting up, but having a budget will help you a lot;

• Invest in equipment (camera, tripod, camera microphone, editing equipment)
• I am not a fashion blogger but if I feel comfortable with what I am wearing, it makes me feel more confident in myself so invest in your wardrobe and have clothes you only wear for YouTube (as a resort entertainer I have a wardrobe that I only wear whilst I am on stage and not when I am in my everyday life because it helps me feel that little bit more special)
• This applies to all types of Influencers set yourself a budget for each vlog (if you are a food influencer how much will the cost of your ingredients, fitness influencers what gear do you need, travel influencers how much is your trip going to cost you etc)…

Time

being and great influencer take time and effort and unless you are lucky to go viral there is a lot of work that goes into to being a successful influencer.

• Unless it’s a raw vlog research and plan your vlog, plan shots, what equipment will you need for this, script your vlog so you have some idea of what you are going to say.
• Take the time to edit and find the right music for your vlogs.
• Take time to watch other Influencers work.
• Consistently promote your work through social media.
• Make sure that you review your work.
• Embrace your followers they have taken the time to follow you, take the time to give the love back.
• Be up to date on your niche what works and what doesn’t.
• Take the time to find out who you are as an influencer.

This brings us to the end of my “Why YouTubers Need to Think Like a Blogger” series and I hope that you have enjoyed it and found it helpful if you have any tips of your own, please do put them in the comments below.