Hello! We arrived back from VidCon yesterday afternoon and I’m back at work today to share some of the findings I learned from the having conversations with creators. This is a very high level look at some areas that were covered; let me know if you want my full notes on any of these topics!
Create what you love and do what you are good at — that way you will find the people who really love what you do and you can connect on a deeper level than if you’re trying to just make something that will be popular. Follow your passions and turn that into your art.
This is an unusual career — and that’s hard and scary and tough and exhausting BUT you should still have fun — if you’re working too hard to have fun, then what’s the point.
Importance of self care — Make time to check in with your self care analytics - how many times have you been to the gym? How man hours did you sleep? How much water have you drank? These numbers are important.
Create a positive community — Take a moment to listen to someone; show them you’re willing to educate yourself and take their feedback to heart. But let’s be honest; hate comments are dumb. Laughing at it helps but never be afraid to delete and/or block if its spreading negativity.
Take hate. Create — Use any doubters or trolls as fuel to your fire to keep going. You got this!
Being constrained by your format — A lot of people agreed that it’s good to experiment within your format/medium/theme, especially with popular current events.
Managing a community is hard — There are so many things to do! Keeping your fans trust, not letting the haters get to you, looking for just one nice comment to keep you going. We heard this again and again and is something I hope this forum can help with <3
Invest to get investment — you can’t ask too much from an audience without investing back in them as often as possible. If you have a small community, take that opportunity to get to know them closely. Big creators can sometimes feel disconnected from their fans.
Convert people from viewers to subscribers — This depends on content, but if it feels like a community more likely to subscribe. Imagine your ideal subscriber and make content for them - what are they reading, watching, eating? Engage with them and make more for them.
Present the things you’re struggling with and still figuring out — This stuff can be more relatable and interesting than always showing the polished versions.
Two routes for making a niche for yourself – You can take something that exists that’s a huge category and find your voice within it OR you can find a space that no one is in. This can be made by flipping something that is currently popular (LowSpecGamer) or people are too afraid to talk about (Ask a Mortician). But remember: a specialized creator lives and dies by their core audience. Listen to them closely.
Self doubt — One creator said “I thought I was worth less than creators on mainstream media because I make stuff on the internet but that’s just not true anymore.”
It’s good to reflect — It’s nice to look back and see how far you’ve come. You can also go back and do new takes on old content you’ve made.
Your community are people — When you see your fans IRL, they go from being tiny photos and text to being people with jobs. They’re relatable and weird and funny and lovely and socially awkward and introverted and wonderful.
That’s all I’ve got for now! Do any of these resonate with you?