Is social media that important?

[OldManTenno]

I personally feel like having different social media platforms is part of being a YouTuber, most YouTubers do use multiple platforms not to just promote their videos but to communicate with their viewers.

This pretty much nailed it. I don't like social media, and personally think Instagram is stupid. BUT it doesn't matter what I think of social media, it's what your audience thinks of it. I neglected it for so long, but recently started using it. I got involved in Reddit 2 weeks ago, and certain Facebook pages 1 week ago today.

A bit of background... I did create a separate FB page about 6 weeks ago. Aside from friends that I got to "like" the page, there had been ZERO activity on the posts I made linking them to my videos. The same could be said for my Twitter.

I found a couple of communities on FB that are very active and outside of the U.S. Just from Facebook, my subscribers went from 115 to 169. That's an almost 69% growth from just one platform... in one week.

There are a couple other factors that played into this. Besides getting involved by commenting and replying, I also ran a giveaway and boosted a couple of posts. On one of those posts (not linked to giveaway) I boosted, I went from zero activity, to 132 likes. That one alone far exceeds the prior history of my entire FB page. What my page couldn't do in 6 weeks, one post did in a few days.

Moral of the story? Social media is pretty huge. I don't just promote, but actively engage in their conversations. Luckily they can also see me as an "expert" for my subject since I am max ranked and have over 3300 hours of time in this game. The other thing is that I think it is good to spend some money every now and then to boost your exposure. If you can consistently post quality content, you can retain your subscribers.

 

[WesleyMarlee]

That is really up to you. More people follow people they don't know on twitter, but Instagram has a larger audience size and higher engagement rate. They both also have somewhat different demographics, so you would want to consider which one is the best fit for your channel (or just do both). But they key is to focus on your strengths, and what platforms you actually like (or in your case as someone who's not as into social media, perhaps platforms you don't dislike).

What would you suggest for someone who's in an outside of the box niche like the paranormal. I have twitter, which I rarely go on, and facebook but not Instagram. I'm not even sure what I would do with Instagram. It's such a small niche (though very successful for some) that I find it hard sometimes to figure out what I should be doing.

 

[chubbybots]

Social media is a must. Play each platform to its strengths. I use facebook for my own pages, groups and also interaction. For instagram i use it to share work in progress pics and then youtube for the video tutorials. Twitter though i don't use much.

Another thing is, though youtube is here now it might not be here maybe 5 years down the road, so it is best to diversify in case it gets replaced with something else (but i hope it doesn't haha....)

 

[curiousflavor]

I think in the beginning it's not TOO important since you don't have a following but once you get that following, it's helpful to stay in touch with people outside of Youtube; however, I think it's helpful to spread your presence on your personal social media accounts to gather support from friends.