Hello! Right now you’re reading “The Creator Confidential”, a blog where famous YouTubers share their stories and tips they have for growing a YouTube channel. Today’s post is something special and the first of a series called “YouTube from the Perspective of a Small Channel”. In this series, small YouTube channels share their successes and struggles, how they got their first subscribers, why they started, and more! If you want to be featured, you can send me an email (thecreatorconfidential@gmail.com) or DM me on Instagram (@thecreatorconfidential). Over the past week, I had the pleasure of interviewing Eleanor, and here is the finished result. Enjoy!
Introduce yourself!
Hey! My name is Eleanor Guy, I am a teen content creator - based primarily on Youtube - from Toronto, Ontario! I’ve always been in love with the idea of creating my own Youtube channel; fascinated by the process of filming, editing, planning as well as the analytical side of things. I used to make videos in my spare time, pretending like I was talking to viewers from all around the world, when in reality, the videos just sat on my computer! But finally, in January of 2020, I asked my parents if I could start uploading my own videos! I began posting consistently on Youtube in the thick of lockdown, March of this year, and have been *trying* to keep up with that schedule ever since! My favourite Youtubers are definitely Sadie Aldis and Ellie Thumann. I get so much inspiration from them and I love their editing/filming styles, I always enjoy watching their videos. I create videos in a similar style, lifestyle, vlogs, cooking and more! Here’s a link to my most recent video if you want to see what I’m up to these days :)
How did you, personally, become more integrated with and interact more with the YouTube community/fellow YouTubers?
I try to reply to all of the comments on my videos and I love interacting with people through that site and through Instagram messaging as well! In the first few months, when my channel was starting to gain a little bit more traction, I was invited to join a few “Small Youtuber group chats”. I really enjoy the idea of getting to know other people in the community, and meeting people from all around the world who have similar interests as you, such an amazing aspect of the internet! I have met some incredible people online and have gotten to know them better via Instagram DM, a great way to chat with people more personally than on Youtube.
How did you get your first few subscribers?
My first couple of subscribers were some of my friends and family. Everyone around me was so, so supportive and I am so grateful for that. But other than people that I know in real life, I started following, subscribing and interacting with other small creators that I loved, and would leave genuine comments! As a result of that, my videos became recommended to more people and other small Youtubers as well, driving traffic to my channel. Leaving comments is a really great way to get your account seen! More than that, I kept creating videos I was super passionate about and would get a few more comments every time I posted. Personally, being consistent and really engaging with people who have reached out to me has helped me form a great relationship with them and helped grow my channel as well, such a win-win situation!
What's your experience with tags and SEO? Which tags do you use to help your videos be more popular? Any advice for people who have no idea how to use tags?
My biggest advice for using tags is to take your time learning about them. By this I mean do your research, watch videos from people like Cathrin Manning and Annie Dubé, download the TubeBuddy extension which will give you feedback on almost all things video related. I am still learning about this topic and what tags to use on my own videos, but overall I’ve had a pretty good experience using tags and am continuing to teach myself about how to more effectively.
Do you have any apps that greatly helped your filming/editing process/overall YouTube experience?
iMovie is the editing software I use, along with the app Phonto, which I make text green screens on. For my background music, I use an amazing website that I can’t recommend enough - Thematic! You can download a wide array of music FOR FREE, the only thing you have to do is link the URL they give you in your videos description box. It is such a great resource for everyone (and small YouTubers especially!) who don’t want to spend any money on background music. On top of that, I love making my own background music when I can. I don’t do this for every single video since it’s quite time-consuming, however it’s a great way to personalize the style and make it super unique! I made a video on the super simple process! And for my thumbnails, I use a pretty well known process of editing screenshots or thumbnail photos through Lightroom or VSCO to edit, using Picsart for collages and stickers sometimes and adding text from Phonto :)
I know you have some experience with cameras! What models have you used to film your videos? Can you compare/contrast them?
I have made one video on my channel about cameras, which is an unboxing of my amazing Canon EOS M50. I am extremely grateful to be able to have such an amazing camera and it was such a great purchase for me! Before that, I used my mom’s old camera, the Canon Rebel T1i, to learn the basics of photography and how to film, feeding my obsession with everything to do with cameras :)
I am not a very experienced or knowledgeable camera person (therefore I can’t really comment on the comparisons between different types), but I do love learning about them and looking at the new models when they are released! For people who are getting into film-making and wanting a versatile camera, I would recommend the Canon G7x - super light and compact, great quality, not overly expensive (for a camera). But please do lot’s of your own research before purchasing to make sure you’re getting a camera that suits your exact needs!!
Have you experienced hate online or in real life because of your channel? If so, how do you deal with this?
Since I began uploading consistently and promoting my channel via Instagram during lockdown, I didn’t have to deal with the in-person hate that a lot of people struggle with when they have a Youtube channel. Online though, I did notice at one point that in under 25 hours, every video I had made had a one thumbs down on it, something of which it previously didn’t have. I assume someone took the time to give each one of my videos a dislike, which I actually find pretty funny. Thanks for the engagement! I am back at school now, and have honestly had really supportive feedback from friends and even people I’m not super close with. And even online I’ve had a really positive experience. Obviously, that is not always the case so I am super grateful for the feedback I have received so far.
What are your hopes for the future of your channel? What will your channel look like 2-10 years from now?
I really hope I can keep the passion for my channel that I have now, and continue to post fun videos that I am proud of consistently! I have always set pretty big goals for myself in all aspects of my life, so for YouTube I have big aspirations as well. I hope to have over 10k subscribers within the next year, (wow that sounds like a way bigger number on paper than it did in my head!) This is a goal that I’m striving towards, but I set a big goal knowing I may not achieve it. I think it’s really important to think big! However, I would really love to make it my high school job and who knows, maybe my full-time job later in life as well!
Finally, why should people subscribe to your channel?
I think that people should subscribe to my channel for fun, entertaining, and sometimes educational videos they can watch at any time. I try to come up with unique video ideas to incorporate within my fairly lifestyle-esque channel, and I like to try out different editing techniques as well! I love making a variety of different types of videos, so there’s a lot to choose from, but I feel like they all go together pretty well because of course, I’m the same person in each one :) !
Lot’s of organization, productivity, vlogs, cooking videos and much more on my channel which I love making and I love documenting those memories as well. If you’re interested in stuff like that and enjoy my personality, I’d highly encourage you to subscribe and stick around for videos to come!
Thanks for reading! A huge thanks to Eleanor for taking the time to answer all the questions. Here are the links to all her socials:
Instagram: @eleanorguyy https://www.instagram.com/eleanorguyy/
YouTube: Eleanor Guy https://www.youtube.com/eleanorguy/
Pinterest: @eleanorguyy https://www.pinterest.ca/eleanorguyy/
Please subscribe to this blog to be notified whenever a new post goes up! If you want to contact me with an idea for this blog, want to be featured, or want to send some feedback, then you can email me at thecreaterconfidential@gmail.com OR scroll down and send a message :)
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