YouTube Content Creators

[randomshenans]

I won't post links, I'm not promoting just know that there is at least one other person who is a creator on here (@AndyCr15 I think?) and thought it would be good to share things that work and grow.

Genuinely only started sharing things at first for the wider family to see, as we're all over the place and then it was more a case of making me stick to finishing projects or doing things I wouldn't normally do.

Over the last year it semi took off and over the last month I've been chatting with some other people who run serious channels (they do it for a living, make 10-20k a month) and thought I may as well give it a crack to do it for real. I do it anyway, why not have a proper stab at making it work?

If it could pay for my hobbies and **** show of a car collection, well that would be amazing. If it could do more than that, well... going back to work after the holidays has made me even less keen to push buttons for a living and filling in confluence pages.

I haven't really made much per month through the year, 50quid a month pretty much. Only Nov kicked up to 250. Dec looking to hit 450. Whilst this is more one off as the money is through shorts, I've been working with others to try and help make that more regular income!

Anyone else a "content creator" as such on here?

Would love to share lessons and that!

(without posting links and getting banned)

 

[randomshenans]

The common feature is that their day job is their primary source of content. In the case of Partridge, his Youtube channel is also effective advertising.

Yea, I really like those as well. It's a no brainer. It's relatable, interesting to follow, boosts business, is great for marketing and at the same time, can have the possibility to in some cases, earn more than the job they're doing!

Not exactly related to this thread - but I was checking out an old video of mine which isn't monetised only for an ad to come on at the end - YT making money off me for viewing my own video :s

Yep. Doesn't matter if you meet the requirements, they'll advertise over your stuff. They put this out about a year ago I think. Nice of them haha

What is going to be your source of content? Over Covid I've watched four Youtube channels grow from very low figures to respectable ones:

I've been tempted to do this purely for the startup/ ADHS brain ideas I have as well and follow that process but you know, it's not like I don't have enough to do as it is haha

Do what the influencers do, buy it on the knock or buy it and return it

To be fair, I've started to have companies reach out to me about testing their products. Often I'm not interested as it looks like some Chinese tat but some stuff is more interesting. I didn't pay full price for both TDI tuning maps for the range rovers. Got 30% off those. SuperSprint gave me 30% off the exhaust for the range rover as well. Some of the most viewed videos I have, so you know.

Marketing wise for companies, it's an interesting one. I think there is a real opportunity for companies to utilise content creators more. I see Bendpak and their car lifts being gifted to all the Auto creators I watch. I'm sure I wouldnt have heard of them otherwise. Things like that. Millions of people watch these guys daily. Can't get exposure like that anywhere else. Adverts cost more and they feel pushy.

@randomshenans that's really good to pull in £450 for a month! I know you get more near Xmas, but to go from £50 to £450 is impressive?!

Well it's from shorts and technically I cheated (sort of, bear with me)... but I didn't expect for it to happen, it just did! When shorts were new on YT, people in the YT FB groups I'm in, and myself were experimenting what it was and what it could do for and against a channel. They were totally new and didn't know how to use them, if they would help the channel or hurt it. I chucked a few funny things up, not related to the channel at all. I put one thing up that was from a news website of a guy ice skating in Amsterdam in his pants, on the frozen river. He falls through the ice, which is funny. The news site video was like 3mins long of him crawling out etc. but I clipped the funniest bit I liked, the falling in bit. It was 10s long. That was it. Moved on. Wondered what these shorts would do for the channel. Shorts use blew up and that video went mental. Like, properly mental. 250k views in an hour I think it peaked at. But it keeps coming back for more. This was last...Feb. The 15th. So less than a year ago. It's currently sitting on just shy of 90m views.
However, since it's a short and there was no monetization on them, it did nothing for revenue generation at all. It did however, push my subs up a lot. I was on about 2k subs pre this? I'm now on 48k. Since then, they've sorted out what shorts are more, but when you're in shorts, it's very hard to jump to main channel long videos. The UI just doesn't make sense for that. So since I've experimented with different things on shorts but the tactic is now trying to make sure they're my content (and the odd meme I find funny) relating to my content though. Cars, projects, carts etc. the main strategy is to create them as I'm filming for longer videos. That's what I'm going to go for and see what happens.
They introduced the shorts fund mid last year, but not in France. France only happened later in the year. Hence, starting to make some money Nov-December. All of my shorts now have decent views. Not nearly 90m, but not bad at all! So people are watching them at least.

I just want to get 10% of the people who sub to watch the videos, which would be mega for a start Really making a better, more planned and consistent effort this year and see what happens.

 

[randomshenans]

This just happened!

Estimated rev is way down in January from general views (which is apparently normal). It's not a lot normally (c.$50 pm), but shorts views up significantly this month.

Nov total views: 2.45m
Dec total views: 9.79m
Jan so far total views: 7.4m

Not seen any email about a shorts fund for last months views though so who knows!

Last video whilst is doing much worse on views, the retention is up to 45%, which is better. I have reduced video length so hoping I can then get people to watch more. That helps things.

Anyway, keep on testing and trying things.

 

[randomshenans]

Now I need to know the topic...

so why 100s of people were suddenly searching for it is a bit of a mystery.

 

[randomshenans]

You got $30 for 15M views? Wow. That's $2 per million views. I really don't know what to say other than that seems pathetic. There are big channels with fewer views. Presumably they have a far greater income. How much is actually monetised.

The vast majority of that is shorts views and that is not shown there. Although saying that, the shorts fund seems to be paying me about $200 a month at present which is pretty low for 10m views in a month but hey. The $30 is for regular long form content video views, which are way down in Jan.

 

[randomshenans]

I've always been interested in it, but I know I'd never be able to generate that much content.

Yea, this is it too. I am trying... and the key, I think you're right, is consistency! So I'm trying to post shorter videos tues and thurs but it's not just getting the time to do the stuff, but it's also the cost! When it's not being funded by YT it's all out of pocket. I know it's my hobbie and I allot X per month to that, but when you spread that out to, now, 8 videos, that's a budget of 32EURs a video (I give myself about 250 a month for "parts/hobbie stuff") which you know... ha

Either way, I have some stuff lined up. I have some new coilovers coming, some oil and remaining parts for the Audi. Let's see how far I get this weekend and see if I can film a video for next Thurs!

 

[randomshenans]

I don't want to put words in @Steedie mouth (but wanted to make sure he saw this thread!), but I believe he's taking content creation a little more seriously now, in what I believe to be a niche market.

Yea man, I have seen. I love his setup and subscribed the other day haha Good on him!

 

[randomshenans]

Your channel @randomshenans is crazy how big it's got, just had a look, didn't realise you had those kind of numbers, that's absolutely mad, congrats!

Like I said in this thread. I wish it translated to revenue and not just through shorts views I'd be putting some serious effort in if it was! ****, I'd probably consider dropping down to 80% at work but no. For now, I'll keep trying...

 

[randomshenans]

So I want to rename the channel... I was contemplating the randomshenans name, as it's my username on most places, but then I'm not sure many people get it/ would be able to pronounce it (randomSHE-NAN is what I get a lot) - So could go with something "RS" related - would be easy to do the RS in the logo in a simple classy way. But what do people think? Don't think simply RS as a channel name would work?

Welcome people's suggestions and feedback!

 

[randomshenans]

I always change your name in my head to Random Shenanigans

Ha! That's where it's come from. Back before apps were so big, and I was still using a Blackberry along with most other people, a friend and I had an idea for an app (called randomshenans) which was like last minute / hyper local. You could be out and about in London and you'd be able to see things hyper-local to your location offering things on at that minute. For the spontaneous of people wanting to just go out and see what was on offer that's where it came from and kinda stuck ever since. Like you said, it kind of went with how frickin random all the things I do...

I do enjoy watching your videos and you come across very natural on camera, good luck with your channel.

Ah thanks man, I used to hate it but you kinda get used to it. I am basically just talking to myself now Stops you putting too much thought into any fear of what people will think etc.


On this, I just actually deleted the video with 95 million views from the channel. It was doing more harm than good to any stats really. Click through rates were super low, as it was being shown to subs who came from that video, but my car related stuff is not their bag, so 1000s of impressions for the subs and very low % CTR. This and also low engagement, because if they do click thinking, what's this? It's not their genre of preference and click off, so it's harder to get decent stats, or at least stats that would make it better for YT to promote your main channel content. So yea, I just deleted my one and only "viral video" - At least I can say I had one and now I can focus on the main channel content and shorts and getting the content tied up.

 

[randomshenans]

Your microphone seems to pan to the left occasionally.

Thanks man! That's really good to know. I have my RODE mic on for tonight's video (explaining the deletion of the 95m video) so let me know if that makes any difference. Really appreciate feedback like that.

You like to whisper a lot.

I will make sure I improve gain in spaces where I whisper, or avoid it! Thank you!

Random Shenanigans would be what i'd go with. You could always refer to yourself as randomshenans in your intro or something.

Whats up shenan army - or something completely cliché like that all do hehe.

Haha again, thank you! That's a good one!

Do pranks. Put on the old man mask, go down to the gym and pretend your an old man pumping iron sort of thing.

 

[randomshenans]

Dude I've been slapped here more times here than an unwanted step child

My whole cheezus thread I've had to remove links etc. I'm not promoting for things like that, more sharing a journey but links etc. seen as promotion. Even if people ask! I get it, when you set a rule etc. it's outside of that, so whatever lol I don't want to get told off anymore haha


I tried to sort a video on the S4 this last weekend, but it went terribly. I put my back out, 2 bolts are totally going to snap and cause me no doubt to take off the whole set of front arms... so I bought new arms and droplinks to change the whole lot. I failed to achieve anything, and at the same time now have a much bigger task. Which is a massive tit. On the plus side, it means the car will be much better (no idea when the arms and bushes were actually changed last, I've had it for 8yrs and never done them lol) and as my back is buggered, it's meant I am stuck in my seat, so got out the sewing machine out. I had always had in mind I'd get a friend of mine to retrim the seats in the taxi, but I have issues and started cutting all the pieces out and unstitching the old ones to make the new replacements. Then I thought yesterday I'd try and teach myself to sew... so I did!



Came out really well! I have literally never done this before at all. Ever.

Excuse my ******* floor, the dog just went and dug through the garden and dragged it all through the house and I've been in meetings all ******* day.

I'll try the other seat base tonight, and then maybe see if I can get the seat back done by monday for next week's video...

Bit more of a challenge though! God knows how that'll come out but I'll give it a bash!



This is one thing I really like about doing the videos and it being car related stuff. It just makes me try things. I love to learn and be able to do more. I have on my list to learn how to weld too. That would be fun and very damn useful lol

My ultimate dream would be that YT could pay for my hobby on cars and stuff like that. I'm looking at houses at the moment to buy and I've seen a really cool commercial property, which is essentially a massive 500m2 workshop with lifts in and some offices. It's on 3500m2 of land with potential outline planning for a house. That's my dream haha

I'd have a car side of things, but then a workshop with welding, CNC, plasma cutter and stuff and would just build cool ****

I can dream!

 

[randomshenans]

I've been getting into solo mountaineering and climbing the last year, and there's a real lack of good content around the actual process. Got a DJI OM5 on the way which should smooth out my footage and I'm hoping work well tracking me when I'm solo climbing. Got a weekend in the cairngorms coming up to test things out.

That sounds really cool. I watch so many different genres of stuff to be honest now. I definitely consume way more YT content than I do netflix. I'd say about 80/20 split.

 

[randomshenans]

I watched a couple of really informative and useful videos last night about titles, understanding your audience and using things like that instead of the "SEO" search type thing everyone tells you to do:

Then the same guy talking about editing, and a lot of these I do for sure! So really good ways to keep engagement all the way to the end, which is my goal. Cut the quiet, keep it engaging. Keep it snappy.

I'll definitely try to spend more time using these tips going forward. Next week's videos I think I'll see how I can start to do these sorts of things more. I need to improve my editing for sure.

 

[randomshenans]

Don't do what some others do though and speak at 100mph. It's terrible especially with jump cuts. IRL normally only done by people who are scared that they aren't interesting enough for people to listen too and so have to get whatever it is out fast enough before someone gets board of them or cuts them off.

Yea, agreed. I think it's a balance of the two. You don't want to be over the top. You don't want to be so fast. But you don't want to be so slow with loads of blank space and totally monotonous people skip.

 

[randomshenans]

I like this feedback, it's really good to understand what people like and don't

 

[randomshenans]

I watched yesterday's video from start to finish. Quite enjoyed it but sad to hear that you put your back out. I feel your pain there - **** backs. If everything goes bionic, I'll be having my spine replaced ASAP.

I had an oesteo appointment, which really helped. I have heat pads and going back to the oesteo on Tuesday for more work. Hoping it helps as car work is really hard to do when your back is hurting! It's an old injury, but as you know with backs, once it's gone once badly, it'll never be 100% right. I put it out 5yrs ago as my daughter skied past me and I went to catch her, was turning, whilst bent over. Took all the weight in the lower right side of my back and it dropped me to the floor in a nano second haha I've been trying to keep much fitter and building my core, so it supported my back more, which has helped a lot but back in the gym I obviously tweaked something!
Hopefully will be better soon. I have all the things I need to attempt to start the S4 now too. Battery arrived and so it's nearly at that point... and I am sure I'll have to use some serious heat on those ******* bolts on the suspension!! Many new parts mind.

One thing I noticed was huge variances in the audio volume. Sometimes you were loud, and then other times you were incredibly quiet, and it was quite annoying. I'm sure some sort of compression and generally evening out of the volume could be done easily...not that I know how to edit but certainly with music, you can change the dB of each part of a song.

Ah man this is annoying. I find it really annoying on other videos so annoyed I missed that! I'll make sure I balance out all the Db gains on clips! It was a bit of a rush to sort out due to work this week and having the kids over but will make sure on future ones! Thanks again, really appreciate the feedback it helps!

 

[randomshenans]

I managed to film and put together both a Tues and a Thurs video over the weekend, so this week is scheduled and ready. Hopefully I can finish off my sewing session this week for next Tuesday's taxi trimming video, and I have some parts for the C1 arriving this week, so that's a task to complete for next thurs... keeps me busy!

Annoyingly I've not seen my transactions come in from the January period as yet. They're supposed to come in on the 27th but I haven't got anything. Thanks YT!

After deleting that video I noticed a strange period right after of darkness haha but it seems to be picking back up again with main channel videos picking back up to decentish views a day (40-50 views a day which is decent for me! haha) I just need like 100 of those

 

[randomshenans]

I threw together a video on the UK TV Streaming options over the weekend. This is definitely something I could work more on, as I do watch quite a lot of TV... well, selective. I don't just plump down in front of the TV and flick through channels, I target decent shows, if you know what I mean. I did do a podcast for a little while, the second half of which was what I had recently watched. I'm wondering about doing this weekly or monthly maybe? I worry a little about my 'brand' I guess. Many subs due to tech reviews and it's not that I would stop these, but these would be less common. I wonder if I should rename the channel to something a little more generic, around me rather than a subject/topic like Android?

This is what I always battle with... I love building stuff. Doesn't matter if it's a baby grand piano, business, kart, car etc etc. but I decided to keep the channel mainly about the car/auto theme due to the subs and getting people to watch more of the videos (or trying). I have thought about other channels for the other stuff but not sure I'd manage to build up enough following on both channels you know?

With podcasts, I watch a load of YT about people building up "passive" incomes and they say podcasts are good, but the hardest part is that 1. it's not directly monetized, only through sponsors and 2. getting the views. If you did 1 a week, you'd have to get about 1000 listens on each one to bring in about $100 a month. So like anything, it's building an audience really.

 

[randomshenans]

I actually started another channel. Well, I actually renamed a channel I wasn't using and it may seem mad, but it makes sense in my head and I tried to map out the long game in that vs. my like and interests and how to potentially monetize those opportunities.

Here is the basis of my interests:



You have interests at the top, channels below where I have audiences that transcend the interests. Purple ones are not monetized, but worth growing audiences for the fact that they cross these interests and subsequent activities. The two youtube channels are blue as they are channels, but have the potential to also generate revenue.

Going left to right, the orange are project cars etc. while they're potential "assets" we all know that project cars are seldom more than a money pit so it's a liability, but as it feeds to potential generation of revenue, it's an expense.

Red/Pink you have investments. This is where I put my money each month. I have a split on where I put X% of my salary each month between all of them. These are not revenue generating, but future wealth, so to speak. Long term.

Yellow is direct products I am building, which is why it spans all spaces for both.

Green is potential revenue generation, which a lot can come from affliate through other activities and investments, through a big enough audience, hence the link and requirement of the audience.

Finally, you have digital products I have on offer/ in production (courses are in progress right now as it happens).

It may seem weird but for me structuring it out more helped to think about what's important and where to put most efforts when it comes to growth or "marketing" or growth of channels and what the impact of that would be.

I can't link the new channel, but it's called Real Talk Business and it's literally starting with 0 subs but I plan on getting some more videos out each week in that sort of style which is totally different to my car vlog style stuff.

I'm pulling back to 1 video a week on the other channel too, it was 2 because I was getting the stuff done, but want to structure it more going forward and it'll be too hard to maintain a 2 per week with getting the work done on all the projects

The reason I cited both twitter and linkedin as channels is due to the following and the potential reach in certain spaces. I recently got back on twitter and have been enjoying the conversations and likeminded folk "building in public" which is great for marketing for your ventures, too. Talking about what you're doing and all your wins and **** ups haha


Engagement has been decent so far the last month anyway:

Although my audience is smaller here, only 941, I do think there is potential to plug away and grow this engaging with people and joining the conversation.

Likewise, I've been on Linkedin for years now. Longer than facebook I think. So my audience is pretty large, so would make sense to maximise the growth there, too.



So yea, that's how I spent my week off with COVID, I plotted out my personal strategy like a business and created priorities around it all. Annnnd now you know why I'm now single