Creating a YouTube Channel Has Never Been Easier, but Should You?
There are now billions of hours of footage on YouTube from millions of different creators, all of them wanting their voice to be heard and content to be seen. The question many new creators ask is “Should I start producing original content for YouTube?”.
Whenever you decide to pursue a creative career on the digital landscape, there are a few questions you need to ask yourself.
- What audience am I trying to reach? Your audience will be important for your success, as they are the ones driving up your views and engagement on your posts. Analyze your targeted audience, what age are they? Gender? Their interests? Why would they watch your content? How long is the average attention span for someone in your target audience? Would they follow other social profiles of yours? How likely is this type of audience to share your content with others?
- What kind of effort will it take to produce quality content? Phones are capable of pretty amazing footage, but they still aren’t professional cameras. Simple technology such as ring lights, blogging equipment, and USB microphones are cost efficient and easy to use, but it’s important to first question how much effort it will take to produce the content before diving into what can be a time consuming project. Are you looking to do graphics? Quick edits? How much time will it take to record one video? Edit one video? The more elaborate the editing in the video, the more time consuming the process will be.
- Is it worth it? All of us have lives, families, and unique situations that affect our schedule in some way. Bills, responsibilities and commitments all cost us money and time, so we need to think of the payoff in each job we take on. Most jobs in the professional world, including digital media, have a pretty straight forward pay schedule and rate. Creative endeavors though, are a different story. Think about your schedule, and the time you’d need to sacrifice to achieve a potential career as a YouTuber and Original Content Creator. Will the payoff be worth it? Especially given there is no guarantee of any payoff at all? If you have time and money that can be sacrificed without negatively affecting your life, then it may be worth it.
Creative endeavors do have their benefits if they work out. Being your own boss, making money off of something you enjoy doing, and getting to set your own schedule just to name a few. That being said, understanding the risks and commitment is just as important to the process. Make sure you have a plan before delving into the world of original digital content, as your careers success depends on organization and implementation.
