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Working with clients and helping channels both small and large who are hustling to get their content noticed, I have witness a few common mistakes that beauty influencers do when first starting on YouTube and social media. I’ve also noticed these mistakes on really small channels who have been at it for six months or longer and can’t seem to understand why they are not gaining in views and subscribers.
I am a big believer that there is room for everyone on YouTube to succeed. You probably realized that by listening to the
Beauty and the Vlog podcast. However, like in any industry, the cream of the crop will rise and that leaves a lot of creators in the dust.
YOU want to be the rising star amongst thousands of mediocre channels. Thankfully, for you, you are already ahead of the curve by reading this blog or listening to the podcast. Yay! So, read on, or listen as I reveal the four common mistakes new Influencers make and provide solutions and insight to fix them!
This post is the last part of a 5 part series dedicated to helping new creators, influencers and YouTubers get started and provide resources and guidance to do it right! Make sure you catch up on the other posts in the series if you haven’t already!
To listen to the audio portion of this post via the podcast, click on the pink bar below or listen on
iTunes or
Stitcher. (While there, make sure to subscribe!).
The Four Common Mistakes New Influencers Make
1.) Bad Lighting
The #1 mistake I see with new beauty creators or small channels is BAD LIGHTING.
Bad lighting is probably one of the worst crimes a makeup YouTuber can make. How are we supposed to see your amazing contour, highlight and swatches in a dimly lit corner of a closet or bedroom? Being a beauty or fashion Influencer, your job is to show and display the product for viewers. Why would anyone stick around or continue watching a channel that isn’t providing that basic necessity? So, what can you do? You can go crazy and get the best lighting out there, and if you have the budget or resources, I recommend to just go ahead and make the splurge, because it’s THAT important. OR, you can find natural light which is free. Yippe! I love natural light and it can be the BEST and most flattering kind of lighting. The key with natural light is to face the light source. Don’t make the mistake of filming with a window behind you, all anyone will see is a shadow. Some people are not able to film during the day like my recent podcast guests
Jen and
Yarissa because they either work during the day or just don’t have nice lighting in their home.
Another option is to purchase this awesome kit form amazon. I’ve had multiple people on the podcast recommend the kit because it works and is quite inexpensive.
“Invest in good lighting. Be yourself, try to bring something new to the table. But, put your best foot forward. You dont want to have a video where people can’t hear you. I subscribe to my followers but when I watch them I’m like, please girl, film in natural daylight. Don’t film at night if you don’t have a ring light. You don’t need the best camera, I know it’s hard with a budget. Just try to get natural daylight” – Beauty By Rosita 240k Subs
Lighting Options:
2.) Not Investing In A Good Camera
Gone are the days of filming on your iPhone and uploading it onto YouTube wishing for views. The competition on YouTube, especially in the beauty and lifestyle communities for women is tough. You are basically competing with YOUR favorite you tubers. Think about that for a second. Why would someone want to watch your review on the new Morphe palette, if your camera angles are bad and your lighting sucks while they can watch the same review on Jaclyn Hill’s channel? As mentioned above regarding lighting, as a beauty and fashion you tuber, your job is to showcase the product. It’s difficult to adequately give a good review or tutorial with a bad camera. Yes, you can probably get your family and friends to watch, but if you are serious about growing your channel, which you probably are because you are reading this, you need to invest in the equipment necessary to compete with the big boys (or girls in this case).
Invest in a good camera. Eventually you are going to buy it anyway, so you should just buy it now. Stop buying those shoes and handbags and save up for that nice one camera. The first camera I bought that was awesome was the T3I. Its super cheap now, you can get it for $200 and get a really good lens for it and you’ll be fine. If you look at the content now they have HD everything. – DIY YouTuber iAmKayElle, 725k Subscribers.
Here is a list of good, decent cameras that don’t break the bank and will give you that professional, polished look:
3.) Not Establishing Your Niche
I went into major detail on why having a niche is so important in a previous podcast episode. The reason why establishing your niche is crucial in todays YouTube world is because of what I stated before, the competition is fierce. You need to give people a REASON to subscribe to you. Just simply saying, “I’m a girl who loves makeup” or “Follow my life” or anything non descript like that that isn’t going to motivate anyone to click that red subscribe button. Why are you interesting? Why are you different? What about you, your life and your experiences would people want to know about and subscribe to know more? Those are the things you need to think about when creating your channel and picking video topics.
Once you figure out your niche, you need your channel banner and video topics to reflect that. Download your FREE
niche discovery workbook to walk you through the steps to determine your niche.
W
hen someone subscribes, they want to watch every single video you do, because they know what value they get from you every single time. – Tim Schmoyer YouTube Expert
4.) Not Showing Up
What do I mean by “showing up”? If you are walking into a job interview, or a date or anything else where you will be meeting people for the first time, more than likely you would have showered, put on some makeup, done your hair and dressed the part. You would probably smile and act enthusiastic and confident. (let’s hope haha). You need to treat every single video the same way. YES, you want to be relatable, but you should also present your best self forward, especially being a new and small YouTuber. If you have a beauty channel, this point is even more important. What do I mean by best self forward? First is to look the part. It goes without saying to wear makeup, but don’t forget about your nails, hair and clothing. Your background is important. Clean up the room you will be in, add some nice lights, photos, wall art, candles, etc. Don’t just film in a room that is dirty, messy or distracting to you and what you will be talking about on camera. Second is your personality and energy. Nothing kills a video more than someone who has low energy, doesn’t smile and seems unsure and insecure. Be confident in you and what you are saying. Be PRESENT. Talk clearly and loudly and with conviction. Act as if the whole world is watching.
Pretend that the whole world is watching you You don’t want to mumble. You can’t do a makeup tutorial in the dark. If I can’t see what you’re doing and you are in the corner doing it, I can’t really learn from that. Pretend that everyone, the president is watching you. But yet, be yourself, be comfortable, be cool. If you are nervous it’s going to pick up. Its not the end of the world if you mess up. – BeautyByRosita 240k Subs
I hope those four tips were helpful for you and your channel. I get asked a lot of questions about why a channel isn’t growing or getting views and many of the answers can be found here in this post, especially for beginners. Take each bullet point and take a serious critical eye at your own channel and be honest with yourself, do any of these things apply to you? Sometimes the hardest thing is to be a little self-critical, but it’s crucial to the development and growth of your channel. Ask a friend or relative to take a look at your channel and give you some honest feedback. Or, you can email me and I am compiling a list of people interested in receiving channel reviews when I start doing them again. Erika@beautyandthevlog.com.
Make Sure You Check Out The Rest Of The Series
Tools of The Trade
Are you just starting out and need some guidance on some great equipment? Below is a roundup of some of the favorite tools mentioned on the show.
RESOURCES
Add your name to the Zero to Influence YouTube Bootcamp waitlist so you are notified when space becomes available!
Watch my FREE 0-100k YouTube Masterclass!
FREE GUIDES:
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!
FACEBOOK GROUP
Don’t forget to join our FREE Facebook group if you are a YouTube content creator or you are thinking of starting a channel!
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