How to Reinvent Yourself on YouTube with Too Much Mouth: The YouTube Power Hour Podcast 236
“A lot of it boils down to finding what’s for you. Sometimes you can jump into a category, and you don’t have to specifically stay there. Once people start coming there for you, they’re going to stick there for you, no matter what you do.”
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Blessed with “the gift of gab,” Too Much Mouth, aka Shanygne Maurice, is a beauty and lifestyle YouTuber based in New York City. Her channel has over 226k subscribers and 20 million views. Shanygne started off as a blogger, and started her YouTube channel in 2015 initially as a makeup and beauty channel, but she has since expanded to more lifestyle and entertainment. She has been a full-time YouTuber since about 2016, however, she admits that she didn’t truly have a firm grasp until around 2019.
It’s taken a lot of trial-and-error for Shanygne to figure out what works best for her and her channel, but quarantine and the Covid-19 pandemic has helped her hone in on her workflow, and gave her the time she needed to do a lot of testing. She’s finalized her uploads to 3x per week. What’s great about her channel and her subscribers, is that it doesn’t matter what she talks about, people just show up for her. They come back to her channel again and again because they value her commentary, whether that’s on makeup, or even wrestling (yes, wrestling)! Even though she started out as a beauty YouTuber, she has been able to filter in different kinds of videos. This has helped her avoid becoming stagnant in such a saturated niche. Is it scary to put something new out there? You bet! But Shanygne’s advice is to just take the risk and do it.
“One video that you post because you think it’s something people might like and having it not do well isn’t going to kill your entire channel.”
Shanygne is known for being one of the most influential dark-skinned beauty YouTubers. Representation for people with her skin tone is better now than what it was 5 years ago, but there is still a lack of representation, and furthermore, it’s well-known in the beauty community that there is a lack of diversity in foundation shades. Shanygne has tested well over 100 foundations, and her channel helps people with similar skin tone find their perfect foundation. That is not to say that Shanygne’s channel has been free from negative comments and racism, and in our interview, she discussed how she handles the negativity. Her biggest struggle as a full-time YouTuber? The constant grind, and doing just about everything herself. When you have a traditional job, you can leave it at the door when you clock out for the day. But when you are a YouTuber, social media influencer, or content creator, you can’t leave it. The constant barrage of notifications can be overwhelming at times. Overall, 2020 for Shanygne has been the year that she stopped doubting herself and fearing what other people will say, and she has done just that.
“It might not do so well, but it’s your channel so you can do it anyway.”
3 Key Interview Takeaways
- Find the balance: There is a delicate balance between creating content that your viewers want to see, but also creating what YOU want to create. But at the end of the day, it’s your channel, and you should be posting what you want. If you want to make something totally different from what your audience is used to, take the risk! One video won’t destroy your channel.
- Be yourself: This comes up A LOT on this podcast, but it’s crucial. Be yourself! People will come to your channel to see YOU. Shanygne has built such a wonderful rapport with her audience, that it doesn’t matter what she’s talking about, just that she’s talking about something and posting it!
- Figure out what works for you. What works for someone else’s channel might not work for yours. It takes A LOT of trial-and-error, whether that’s figuring out your upload schedule, your thumbnails, titles, anything. Luckily, all the time at home during the pandemic has given Shanygne a lot of room to test things out and figure out the best strategies.
Mentioned in the Episode:
10 Unpopular WWF/WWE Wrestling Opinions
Foundation Hunt #15: NYX Total Control Drop Foundation (Shade Fail)
Connect with Shanygne
Resources
Add your name to the Zero to Influence YouTube Bootcamp waitlist so you are notified when space becomes available!
Watch my replay of my FREE Zero to 100k Subscribers Masterclass
FREE GUIDES:
Creating Content During Crisis: How to Create Impactful Content During COVID-19 Pandemic
Getting Started on YouTube: YouTube Niche Workbook
How to get onto PR lists and receive a TON of free product even if you have a small following: PR List
YOUTUBE OPTIMIZATION PLUG-IN I RECOMMEND
TubeBuddy [Use the code ErikasBuddy to get 20% off]
MY FAVORITE BUSINESS TOOLS
Course Creation: Looking to create a course? Kajabi is the BEST platform hands down. I use this for my course after extensive research on all the other platforms.
Live Calls and Interviews: I use Ecamm for my podcast interviews, both audio and for YouTube that you see here on YouTube. It makes it super easy to share my screen and create the split-screen with my guest. I’m not super techie and this software is really easy to use!
Webinars and Live calls: I use Zoom.us for my group coaching calls in my private membership group for female YouTube creators. It’s also the software I use to record my Road to 100k YouTube Subscribers Masterclass!
THE BEST YOUTUBE/PODCASTING EQUIPMENT
After interviewing HUNDREDS of successful YouTube creators, these are the pieces of equipment that hands down get mentioned time and time again. You can’t go wrong with anything on this list!
- 4k Camera: Great for starting out and vlogging
- Lens: This lens is recommended highly by many of my podcast guests, it gives the blurry “YouTuber” background look.
- Audio: If you want to upgrade your set-up, audio should be one of the first investments (after a good camera). This microphone is unanimously the favorite amongst my podcast guests.
- Podcast/Voiceover Microphone: If you are looking for a great microphone for a podcast or video voiceover, this is it! This is the one that you see in all of my videos and the one I’ve recorded my podcast on for years.
- Webcam: For my interviews, that you see in my videos, this is the webcam that I use. Super inexpensive and easy to set up!
- Inexpensive Lighting Kit: Need to pick up some lights but don’t want to spend a ton? This is a great set that will get you started and help improve the look of your videos.
- Ring light: Looking for that beauty look? Invest in a ring light! This is an inexpensive light that does that trick!
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