Hi everyone it's Lauren and welcome back to my series on starting your own
booktube channel. Now, I have done a lot of videos in this series taking you
through every single step right the way from choosing and setting up your
equipment to editing and uploading videos and now in this video I'm going to talk
about what happens after you've got some videos uploaded on your channel, so how
to get views and how to join a community. There are two sides of this I'm going to
discuss today I'm going to look at the more technical aspects of kind of
branding and social media and then the other side of it is the more social
angle. So let's start with branding, what I would suggest you do before you even
start thinking about branding and promotion is to film a few videos. So
film and edit together maybe two, three, four videos so you've got it a little set
because before you've even filmed a video you don't really know what your
own style as a youtuber is going to be what your presentation style is going to
be like, how loud you're going to speak just little things like this, how fast
you speak and how close you are to the camera, what your thumbnails and what
your videos are going to be looking like so I think if you do this it gives
yourself a little bit of practice and then also gives you an idea of the
direction that your channel might start going in. The other bonus to this is that
then you have yourself a little portfolio of videos so when you start
designing and arranging your channel and doing your promotion there's already
some content there. At this point you don't really need to be worrying about
scheduling or sticking to any kind of upload timetable because let's face it
no one's watching you at this point so it doesn't matter but what this does
mean is that when someone does watch one of your videos that there are some other
things there for them to watch. So if they watch something and think oh this
is a good person I want to subscribe to them, they click on your channel there's
some other content there for them to look at and get an idea of what your
channel is going to be like and this might help you get over some of the
first few hurdles because let's be honest it's a bit of an unfair ratio but
really the bigger a channel is the bigger it tends to grow and the smaller
you are the more likely if someone starts looking at your channel they kind
of think 'this person is quite small maybe I won't subscribe to them' and I
think it's more difficult to kind of get going and get yourself off the ground in
those first few months. So once you have those videos uploaded then you have more
of an idea of what your channel looks like and by
that I mean the kind of thumbnail style that you've gone for and the kind of
colors that you have in your videos because believe it or not, whether your
videos are dark or light or a certain color, that's going to then dictate what
your channel page looks like when you have all of those videos next to each
other and lined up. Now let's talk about channel pages because I think these are
very important to give people an idea of who you are and what you're about and
it's one of the first things that people see especially if they click on your
name before subscribing, they might want to see some other videos that you have
available and the layout of this is quite important but there isn't a
specific formula for how you have to do it. What I would do is research some of
the people that you really like watching on YouTube have a look at their
different channel pages and see how they've laid theirs out. What you
typically get is a header at the top of the channel page which is a picture and
some people have their channel name, they might have an upload schedule, they might
say 'you'll have videos about cooking and books on my channel', they might have some
information about themselves or they might just have a picture and then below
the header it's completely up to you how you want to structure your homepage.
Initially when you first start a channel I think that homepage is just your feed
of activity so it would be like so-and-so liked a video so the first
thing you want to do is get rid of that there are some tutorials on YouTube
which will tell you how to re-jig your home page as such but what most
people tend to do is have YouTube recommending videos at the top you can
also put a channel trailer in there or you can choose a video to put in that
box that you have done already so that people who are not subscribed to your
channel yet can see it and then below that people tend to have playlists
Playlists are a really important thing I think just to give your channel a little
bit of organization and structure and it allows viewers to really quickly see
some other videos which are very similar to the one they're already watching if
there's a certain topic that they're interested in, so do some research there
and have a think about what you want your channel to ultimately look like.
When you're first starting out you won't have that many videos and I doubt you'll
have enough really to make proper playlists but it's always nice to have
an idea as to where you eventually want to be. A few more tips that I have for
you just on branding, I would recommend that you are part of some kind of social
media platform. It doesn't have we Twitter if you don't like Twitter for
example or Instagram if you don't have it but I would have something there that
you do like interacting with because it just makes it easier to cross-promote
what you're doing and it allows any potential viewers of your YouTube
channel to engage with you in different ways. A tip that I have here which is
something that I do not follow myself is to have your Instagram, Twitter handle all
exactly the same as your channel name. Now I don't have that because I wanted
to use my personal Twitter and Instagram and continue to use them but that is
something I would advise really. I don't think it's really hurt me but it certainly
hasn't helped having different handles for each of the different things that
I'm doing. In that vein I would also advise that you really think about what
your profile picture looks like. I think profile pictures are really
difficult because you want to look nice in them but you also want to look like
yourself and you want to look recognizable and I think it can be quite
difficult if you are following youtubers for example and you know that you follow
them on Twitter or Instagram and then their profile picture is slightly
different to how they kind of look in real life or look in their videos you
can forget who these people are and when you're trying to get yourself out there
and get people to notice you and remember you, you want your face to be
quite recognizable so I would have as clear a profile picture as you possibly
can and I would have the same one on YouTube on Instagram on Goodreads if you
if you're on that on Twitter, that way if any of your viewers do want to follow you on
social media they don't have to actively know what your social media handles are
for all the various different platforms, they can just search for your channel
name and when it comes up with suggested people they can find you and
especially if your picture is the same and recognizable they can immediately
see ah yes, that's the person I'm subscribed to, that is who I want to
follow on social media. I would also suggest designing an end page, so it's
almost like credits I guess at the end of your video which gives people some
time to subscribe and to absorb everything that they've heard in your
video and you can also direct them to your social media channels from there
you can also put your social media links in the description box below your videos
as well and I would just have them everywhere, if you want people to be
following you on social media that is, I would just keep reminding them all the
time where they can find you. But! I hear you cry, Lauren I don't have
any viewers yet because I haven't uploaded any videos yet and I don't have
any followers on Twitter so how on earth do I get
people to see my videos? This is a really difficult question and it's something
that is not a scientific answer. Everyone says they put videos on YouTube and they
don't care about views, they don't care about subscribers and it's just they're
doing it for the love, but really of course you want people to see your
videos because why would you be making them? You shouldn't get hung up on
numbers, you really shouldn't. If you are wanting to become a famous youtuber I
mean chances are it's not gonna happen it's certainly not gonna happen if you
if you go through booktube. you are not going to be able to live off the money
you make on Booktube, believe me! But you still want to find a community and you
still want people to watch your videos and presumably you want to be able to
make some friends and this is the crucial part - making friends with other
youtubers and finding yourself a community is actually the best way I
think a fight of finding more subscribers and more viewers. Now making
friends is obviously a subtle art and I'm not here to tell you how to do that
exactly, but there are lots of different things that you can do and things that
you can try and do. So when I first started they used to be a Goodreads
group I'm sure there still is one which is called Booktubers and in there
was a thread which was like 'New Booktubers' and there was a thread in
there for anybody who was just starting out could post their channel name and
say hi I've just started this is my first video blah blah blah and what that
meant was everybody who is posting videos in that group at the same time as
you was brand new as well and I think this is the best way to break into any
kind of community is to find people who are just starting out at the same time,
because they are just as excited as you are, they want to make friends, they're
new, everybody's working it out together and also if you're going to comment on
somebody's video and they've only got two other comments they're much more
likely to see yours and engage with it than someone who has thousands of
comments on their videos. That's not to say you shouldn't comment on bigger
channels' videos. I actually think one of the best ways to get to know people is
honestly through YouTube comments. Most people, or I certainly do, read all of
their comments because we get notifications when people comments on our
videos and if you find someone who's interested in the same things as you are
and you find that you're clicking and regularly commenting they're likely to
click on you and see if you have a channel as well. So I think this is a
very good way of building friendships, it's often quite organic in the way as I
said earlier once you have a few subscribers you tend to gain more, once you
make a few friends they tend to introduce you to someone, introduce you
to someone and you just get into the community. I've not found in the UK
booktube community specifically, which is quite small I'll grant you, I've found
everyone to be so friendly and so welcoming no matter what their channel
size is, so I wouldn't be nervous at all about commenting on a more established
youtuber's channel, especially if it's booktube and you can and you know that
you're into the same books of someone you've got something to bond over.
YouTube is quite weird because you can't really broadcast yourself to people
unless they're already watching your videos so really the best way that you
can get more viewers is to appear in somebody else's video, to do a
collaboration with them or to have somebody else who has a bit more of a
following shout you out. I mean like these are things that do work if you
want to gain a few more views and gain a few subscribers. Realistically you won't
be able to make friends with someone just for the sake of trying to get their
viewers or their followers I mean it just wouldn't work like that you have to
honestly get on with someone and want to be their friend and you have to be
genuinely interested in the things that their videos are about. So just be normal,
just be friendly, just act as you would in a normal social situation. Everyone is
really welcoming and really friendly and you will eventually find your people.
Your best friends might be some people who haven't even started a YouTube
channel yet, so just take it easy it just be relaxed just be friendly you know how
to make friends you'll be fine! One good way of doing this through
YouTube is to do tag videos, so if you don't know what a tag video is it is
normally a set of questions which you can design yourself or you can do a tag
which somebody else has created, such as the autumn books tag or whatever and
everybody answers the same questions in their videos and then tags another
youtuber to answer them as well. So if you start your own tag you can just come
up with a set of questions film yourself answering them and then tag as many
people as you like. I don't think there's any etiquette here personally, I wouldn't
be offended if anyone tagged me to do a video. I've seen people tag three
people that they know quite well and I've seen people tag 30 people that they
don't know at all but they would like them to do their video and if someone
ever tags you to do a tag video, all that you have to do is link in the
description the original creator of the tag and the person who
tagged you, so that's the common courtesy that tends to be around with
tag videos and this is a fantastic way to get yourself known in the community
because lots of people will be watching your tag video hopefully if other people
are doing it and your video will be linked in their description box. It also
gives you an opening and a course to talk to some people that you might not
usually, so for example the way I found Lauren from Lauren and the Books, the way
I found her channel is that she did my Bookish Beginnings Tag I mean like a
year, two years ago now? I can't remember when that was, but she filmed that tag
and then she tweeted it saying I have done @Laurenwhitehead's bookish
beginnings tag, so she tweeted me and because it was my tag I watched all of
them because I thought oh what are people doing like who are these people
who are doing my tag and I watched a video and that's how I found her channel,
so it's such a simple thing. I hope that that was helpful and that it made some
kind of coherent sense. I think everybody really would love a list of ten things
you have to do in order to get views and get more views on YouTube but in reality
there is no formula for that, I honestly think the best way of doing that is to
make friends with other youtubers and really the more ingrained in your own
community, the happier you are with the content that you're putting up I think
you will be happy with the number of views that you get. Any other questions
you have about branding or about getting views or any tips that you might have for
anybody else watching this video will be very much appreciated ,please leave them
in the comments below. My next video is a little bit of a bonus video in this
series, I was going to stop there but I decided to do an extra booktube specific
video which will be all about working with publishers, getting proof copies and
advanced readers copies of books and how to deal with unsolicited authors. If
you're interested in that side of booktube then please stay tuned for another video,
otherwise thank you so much for watching this series I really hope it's been
helpful! I think there's so many questions that we have before we start
doing something and sometimes it can seem like such a massive undertaking in
our heads before we even begin and once we start we realize that it's actually
very simple. So I hope this has been enlightening and I will see you in my
next video, bye!