Ah, like when you say the word it really hits even harder!
Channel guilt, it's real, it's so real.
Hi, my name is Meg, I'm one of the Partner Managers here at YouTube
and I have the pleasure of doing a Channel Checkup today with Ari.
[CHANNEL CHECKUP]
How's it going, Meg?
- Good, how are you? - How are you doing?
I'm good, I'm glad to be here.
Yeah, I would love for you to share with everyone watching
what you're about, what your channel's about, all the good stuff.
Yeah.
So my current channel is kind of like a lot of reaction videos
a lot of like, sit-and-talk videos about identity and my queerness
and that's part of the reason why I wanted to chat with you
because it's not cohesive, it's not like together, you know
and so that's one of the things I've been struggling with as a creator.
You know, talking about being all over the place
and I get this a lot from creators.
It's this block of like, you wanna get through and make your content.
Yes.
And it kind of creates this channel guilt.
I did not even know there was a word for it
but channel guilt is something that I have struggled with for the longest time.
- It's so hard— - Yeah.
to figure out what is the perfect combination of
what my audience will like, what I wanna do, and let's be honest, what will make money.
Yeah.
The audience that I'm interested in attracting
is the audience I've kind of grown outside of YouTube on other social platforms
and that audience loves to see me get dressed.
They just wanna see what I'm wearing every day
and I want this new audience
to finally get the fashion content that they see everywhere else.
I've experimented
and I've tried putting fashion videos or fashion formats on my current channel
but they just don't perform as well
so I'm considering starting a channel that's just purely fashion and beauty, and that's it.
OK.
What do you think? And do you have any advice for that?
The most important first question to ask is
do you think the audience is gonna be different enough?
Is everyone who's interested in fashion and beauty
maybe going to come in and tap in to that?
No.
Yeah, so that's 1 question.
Yeah.
And that's not like good or bad, that's just like a true "what are my demos?"
Mm-hm.
And then the other question
when you post those type of videos now on your current channel
how does your current audience react?
- Not very well, to be honest. - OK.
I got really excited about this fashion video that I posted a few weeks back
and I thought they would just love it and it'd be shared everywhere and tons of comments
and just crickets, I got nothing.
When I get excited about a video, I want my audience to be excited about it too
and so that's what led to me thinking about the second channel
because I want to reach audiences that will be excited about it
and I don't know if my current one does.
[REBUILDING YOUR AUDIENCE]
When you start fresh, you start fresh.
You're gonna have to rebuild.
And so that's another thing of like—
That's the most terrifying part of this, actually.
I think it's just good to go in with the expectation
that you will really have to appeal and kind of hustle for yourself.
It's a whole different audience.
'Cause if you can establish there is going to be new audience
that means you have to capture that audience as well.
So how do I actually use my existing audience to actually build up that new channel?
[LEVERAGING TOP VIDEOS]
So what existing content is still really popular
that you can leverage with end cards to promote new content?
- Yes, yes, yes, OK, OK. - Yes.
We're looking at the last 28 days, so if we're looking with the mindset of
"what's popular right now on my current channel
"and how can I help get the word out about a new channel?"
Yeah.
You wanna look at your top videos, right, that's where the traffic's coming from.
To put end cards at the end of those videos?
- Yes. - OK.
And to update descriptions as well.
Oh.
You want to also make sure that the first couple lines of that description is
"make sure you check out," send a link, you know.
Give yourself a shout-out.
Meg, I never even think to update descriptions.
Yes, thank you for reminding me to do that.
And I would say, we're looking last 28 days
I'm gonna zoom out a little bit to the last 90
and if I click in here to top videos
you're gonna get a good flavor, if I scroll down, of
you know, there might be some surprise videos in here
of things that you made a while ago, that might be recent
but it's ways that you're still getting traffic
and so you want to acknowledge that traffic.
It's wild that I'm still getting traffic from a lot of those videos.
Like, I forgot about them because I'm done making them.
Totally.
But the internet does not forget.
No, but it's traffic to you
and it's an opportunity to start building that momentum towards a new channel.
[EXPLORING VIDEO FORMATS]
What I want to focus on right now is pulling format types that you can replicate.
- On the new channel. - On the new channel, yes.
So I've pulled up your lifetime views of top videos.
Just talking about your world in fashion and whatever you've done
that's an area of interest, right, with your perspective.
I found a react video to Victoria's Secret's fashion show, right.
And maybe because it's a react format it still has a place on your original channel
and this is a challenge I leave up to you of
does all "react" belong on your original channel?
Or because this was related to fashion and it's bringing your perspective
is this like a good touchpoint in reaching out?
- OK. - So it's something to think about.
The next video I saw pop out to me was "Meet Femme Ari Fitz"
which appeared when I scanned through it to be like a transformation video.
Another great, classically beauty and fashion format.
The transformation videos are good formats, OK.
So I would say the next challenge for you and your analytics
when you go home and you're thinking about this channel
- is these sorts of things. - OK.
Like, what can you bring over and where are you trying to draw the line
and what is the difference with your demographics?
Got you, so where am I trying to draw the line
between my main channel and this new channel that I'd start.
OK, OK.
[COLLABS AND CROSS-PROMOTION]
So do you really wanna tap in to what the fashion world is on YouTube?
- Yes. - OK.
'Cause I feel so outside of it, even though, again, on other social platforms—
- Right. - I am inside of it.
Yeah.
And so, yeah, I think that starting a new channel
will, A, open me up to other brand opportunities as well
because fashion brands won't really understand that I do fashion content
by looking at my current channel
so I wanna open myself up to other revenue opportunities
and to other audiences that know me for androgynous fashions.
Yeah, you should consider doing collabs on your new channel
as a way to help accelerate, like, you know—
Duh.
That's maybe a good thing of having a presence with an original channel
and launching a second channel
is being able to lean in to people you might know
or who have some notoriety, and be like
"I'm really trying to start this channel, this is my vision."
- You know. - Yes.
"Because I can really help inject—
"and get you over the hump of building a second channel."
Wow.
And talking about collabs
and all these other ways to make your content work for you
no reason not to lean in to what's happening off-platform
and say "hey, I've got this new channel that's happening.
"Check it out."
- True. - "This date, this time."
Yeah.
Then you're tapping in to that new audience
that you feel is distinct and different from the original channel's audience.
OK, yeah, that's perfect.
[EXPLORING TRENDS]
This is another part of doing research for a new channel
going and being a student of like, what is beauty and fashion up to these days?
We've already talked a lot about good formats that you can bring over.
I would check out Google Trends, you can specify YouTube searches.
And then off-platform you might be known for certain hashtags or searches
bring that knowledge with you back to the platform.
OK, OK.
- Those titles, descriptions. - 'Cause that is one of—
I literally had no idea how to title my fashion content
because I am so outside of the community.
Yeah.
And I want to make sure that I'm optimized on Search
and I kind of just had no idea how to do that
so Google Trends would be the way to start looking for—
That, or look at other people you aspire to be like in the community
and what are they doing
and you want to make sure all of these things are working for you
and then you can take that back to analytics once you have the second channel up and going
- and see. - OK.
Are people searching these terms and finding you?
And just make sure that you're resonating the way you want to.
Alright, so it sounds like I am off to start a new channel.
Yes.
Thank you so much, Meg.
I think the first thing I wanna do is going on Google Trends
and looking at how the fashion community is using YouTube and titling their videos.
I then wanna make sure that I'm putting all my end screens at the end of my videos.
I also have to collaborate.
Yes.
Oh my gosh, that's gonna be the best part, the most fun of this.
Yeah.
And then after that, I'm gonna tell everybody off-platform that I have this new channel
and if they wanna see my fashion content, they know where to find it.
I'm super stoked.
Are you gonna subscribe?
I am indeed.
Pinkie promise you're gonna subscribe!
Alright, you got it.
- You gotta be my first one. - Yes, yes, of course.
Alright, well thank you so much, Meg, this has been amazing.
Yeah, and thank you so much for being here.
I had the best time.
And make sure that you subscribe to see more videos from YouTube Creator Channel
and comment below if you're thinking about starting a second channel.
We'll see you soon, bye!