Anyone Else having issues collaborating? Or is it just me?

[Tac0cann0n]

Now by far, one of the most repeated tips I hear people give to new content creators is this:

'Be sure to collaborate with other people so you can expand your audience!'

Now while I'd totally agree, I can't considering I can never find anyone who is actually serious about collaborating. All I ever get is spam comments and messages about sub4sub or the 'Subscriber Shoutout' pyramid scheme we all know of. Even if I do take a more casual approach, like just messaging the creator about their content, it always seems to turn into a sub4sub conversation.

As a gamer, I feel that these issues are worse (at least from my own experience) since our market is fairly saturated. Now, I'm not really trying to say that I'm looking for collaboration partners on this post, I'm just wondering how everyone else is fairing when it comes to this.

I personally just want Loyal Subscribers who are actually happy to see my content, so the Sub4sub style of gaining traction doesn't appeal to me, and it doesn't work.

Let me know how you guys are networking (if you are) and if you'd want to collaborate with me, be sure to check out the content that I make and the like.

Thanks!

 

[Conso1727]

Many people think its "First we collaborate, then we become friends", from my experience is rather the opposite. First you become buddies, and then it's natural you are going to collaborate especially if both of you are enthusiastic about it. Hang around the forums and other communities, make friends and then collaboration will become natural.

 

[Tac0cann0n]

Many people think its "First we collaborate, then we become friends", from my experience is rather the opposite. First you become buddies, and then it's natural you are going to collaborate especially if both of you are enthusiastic about it. Hang around the forums and other communities, make friends and then collaboration will become natural.

That's the approach that I try and take with everyone I comment on or at, but it always goes down the same road where they're looking to sub4sub. It's also followed by people with low production quality or by people who aren't really passionate about creating content.

 

[Crown]

There are also loads of very big channels who have never collabed. It's a way to get an already growing channel another audience but in the early days, honestly a new channel might be best off concentrating on mastering the fundamentals first. (good content, regular uploads, good SEO)

 

[Tac0cann0n]

I worry about my videos getting any exposure. I think I did a good job making them, but if nobody is able to see it how will it ever gain exposure?

 

[AmberAndGolden]

I don't think you NEED to collab, but I know the feeling, I have never been able to successfully pull off a collab... But at the same time, I think meeting up with someone you don't know very well to film a video together would be super awkward so... First I need to make friends that do you You of the Tube...

 

[McWil]

A lot of smaller channels are very self when they start off, because that's what they feel comfortable doing, it's just getting them to burst that bubble and get out there and socialise!

It could also be that they are simply too shy to put themselves out there, because their equipment/setup might not be up to standard of the other person. We tried to collab with a channel around the same size of us, and the guy was too afraid to, because he felt very ashamed of his setup, I tried to convince him that our setups are not that great either, we use $20 mics! The only thing I have going for me is a really good PC for editing.

 

[Tac0cann0n]

A lot of smaller channels are very self when they start off, because that's what they feel comfortable doing, it's just getting them to burst that bubble and get out there and socialise!

It could also be that they are simply too shy to put themselves out there, because their equipment/setup might not be up to standard of the other person. We tried to collab with a channel around the same size of us, and the guy was too afraid to, because he felt very ashamed of his setup, I tried to convince him that our setups are not that great either, we use $20 mics! The only thing I have going for me is a really good PC for editing.

I know that feeling. I guess I'm just worried with the lack of involvement on my videos as well. It seems like it's just my friends who are watching and liking them (which is fine) but if I want to get larger I am going to need to expand.

 

[McWil]

I know that feeling. I guess I'm just worried with the lack of involvement on my videos as well. It seems like it's just my friends who are watching and liking them (which is fine) but if I want to get larger I am going to need to expand.

Lack of involvement is normal for us smaller channels, bud. If your friends are watching, encourage them to comment on the video, rather than having them talk to you in person, this way your engagement ratio on your channel will start to grow. Make a talking point in your videos, always comment on your own video, be it thanking people for watching or talking about something that may of happened in the video.

As well as that, the more content you produce on your channel, the better YouTube beings to promote it to the masses. If you can only produce 1 video a month/week, you'll find that your channel growth won't be the best, compared to someone doing 3-4 videos a week.

Remember, do not look at bigger channels, and then compare them to your channel, you will get demotivated really, really quickly. Look at people in and around your subscriber/viewership, see what they are doing right to pull in comments.

 

[TylersMagic]

It's hard for me to collab for multiple reasons. With magic I would either have to perform in person or over a video chat. If I perform over video chat I'm limited in what I perform (can't pick a card because I'd see the screen, etc) and in person, I'm limited to collabing with people close-by.
It also takes a lot of work: planning what tricks to do, practicing the tricks, when to film, where to film, camera setup etc... I'm also a full-time student and part time employee, so I don't get a lot of free time.
I did collab with some gaming channels on YTTalk where we played cards against humanity online against each other (I didn't record, so all I had to do was join a skype call and play the game).