Content Creation: Be Authentic and READ THIS!!

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Christopher Powell

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There is also a kind of ironic freedom that constraint provides. Giving yourself a theme allows focus in your work, which also allows the creative process to flourish. True freedom, that is, a blank page, inspires fear in a lot of people. When given a topic, your brain can use it's creative talents to make something you never even thought possible.

I think you should always plan a theme to your piece, or have an overall message, but then allow yourself the freedom to be spontaneous within those boundaries.

Oh the delicious creative irony!
 

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This is so true! There's no point putting so much effort into making a channel if all you want out of it is to be famous! The fact is that youtube is too big for everyone to become a celebrity. Something like 300 hours of video are uploaded every minute so your content has to be unique (and, likely, quite niche)
 
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Christopher Powell

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This is so true! There's no point putting so much effort into making a channel if all you want out of it is to be famous! The fact is that youtube is too big for everyone to become a celebrity. Something like 300 hours of video are uploaded every minute so your content has to be unique (and, likely, quite niche)
Exactly - do something you love and are proud of, and the subscribers will come (if that is your goal). The important thing is to enjoy what you do, and as a creator you should love experimenting with creation.
 

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Mr. Christopher Powel: Have you used these tips to achieve success on Youtube? I agree with them, but i also think people should always talk from personal experience, otherwise it´s just theory.
 

Christopher Powell

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Mr. Christopher Powel: Have you used these tips to achieve success on Youtube? I agree with them, but i also think people should always talk from personal experience, otherwise it´s just theory.
It's general advice for a lot of creative pursuits. I have worked with a number of people on different kinds of content, across a wide spectrum of industries, and this is my advice overall.

If you can define success on YouTube I would be most interested in your response - I assume you mean gaining 1million plus followers and being 'famous' - which if you read my post is not really the aim here, nor is it the same as being truly authentic.
 

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It's general advice for a lot of creative pursuits. I have worked with a number of people on different kinds of content, across a wide spectrum of industries, and this is my advice overall.

If you can define success on YouTube I would be most interested in your response - I assume you mean gaining 1million plus followers and being 'famous' - which if you read my post is not really the aim here, nor is it the same as being truly authentic.

So, this advice has nothing to do with achieving success on Youtube. It´s just a general advice, posted on a forum where basically everybody wants to learn how to be successful on Youtube.

Don´t take it the wrong way. I just see a lot of people on this forum giving lessons on how to achieve goals, wich makes me wonder what kind of goals have they achieved.

Your tips sound like common sense, but nothing guarantees me that common sense is what most successful Youtubers have used to achieve their status. Hence asking your credentials. I do believe people should always talk out of experience. And what you´ve done outside Youtube isn´t relevant. This is a Youtube forum.
 

Christopher Powell

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So, this advice has nothing to do with achieving success on Youtube. It´s just a general advice, posted on a forum where basically everybody wants to learn how to be successful on Youtube.

Don´t take it the wrong way. I just see a lot of people on this forum giving lessons on how to achieve goals, wich makes me wonder what kind of goals have they achieved.

Your tips sound like common sense, but nothing guarantees me that common sense is what most successful Youtubers have used to achieve their status. Hence asking your credentials. I do believe people should always talk out of experience. And what you´ve done outside Youtube isn´t relevant. This is a Youtube forum.
Actually this is a post about creating content, with a focus on doing so for YouTube. So relevant for this forum.

Can I ask your success? A lot of people post advice correct, but it's not done from a place of 'I'm successful', it's done from a place of wanting to help other people and generally feel positive about being in a community. Do you think attacking credentials (especially as a new member to this site) is a good way to fit into that community? Do you know my goals? Do you know if I've achieved them? Or are you applying your own filter to this?

Again, I ask you to define what success means for you. Making a brilliant video, trying something new, experimenting with form and editing styles could all be success to a YouTuber who isn't afraid of making something new and exploring themselves creatively.

As for speaking from experience, YouTube is still a very new medium, with a lot of people only being 'successful' for a short period of time when compared to traditional media. Would you say that many people would 'speak from experience' have a wealth to draw on, or that they have also only been experimenting for a short amount of time.

Also - common sense does not guarantee success? Common sense means making the right decisions based upon a common understanding of what the right thing to do would be. Therefore common sense would be the best set of principles to follow. Does hard work mean success? Absolutely not, but you stand a significantly better chance of success if you work hard.

In that sense, you have 'transferable skills' which work from one area to another. Would you say that a person who did and editing for TV course would have no skills to apply to YouTube? Or a person who took a creative writing class? Or a person who was a singer? They all have skills which can be used in this medium, so I reject your argument on that point. Application of these skills makes you far better equipped to achieve your goals, whatever they may be.
 

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I´m not attacking you.I´m just asking for your credentials because i don´t know who you are or what you´ve done. So i don´t know what kind of value should i put on your advice. If you´ve followed your tips and achieved what you wanted to achieve, then maybe i can learn something from you. I like to learn from people who have done what i´d like to do. If i wanted to be a writer, i´d like to receive advice from a successful writer.

A lot of artists don´t have common sense. They don´t do things the way most people think they should be done. They do a lot of "don´t´s", that´s why i find it interesting to hear from people who have actually done something worth mentioning. Lessons in common sense i can receive from basically anyone. It´s "cheap" information. Anyone can regurgitate it. You´re obviously free to give advice, and i´m free to question who you are. Especially when your tutorial is presented to me as a sticky thread, wich makes it look even more important and "official".

And after reading your topic more carefully, i wouldn´t even refer to your tips as common sense anymore. Most of them are just pure theory and speculation, with nothing behind it to back them up.

Regarding the meaning of being successful on Youtube, maybe i should just quote you: "If you do want to become internet famous, and let's be honest we all have that in mind".
 
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Christopher Powell

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I´m not attacking you.I´m just asking for your credentials because i don´t know who you are or what you´ve done. So i don´t know what kind of value should i put on your advice. If you´ve followed your tips and achieved what you wanted to achieve, then maybe i can learn something from you. I like to learn from people who have done what i´d like to do. If i wanted to be a writer, i´d like to receive advice from a successful writer.

A lot of artists don´t have common sense. They don´t do things the way most people think they should be done. They do a lot of "don´t´s", that´s why i find it interesting to hear from people who have actually done something worth mentioning. Lessons in common sense i can receive from basically anyone. It´s "cheap" information. Anyone can regurgitate it. You´re obviously free to give advice, and i´m free to question who you are. Especially when your tutorial is presented to me as a sticky thread, wich makes it look even more important and "official".

And after reading your topic more carefully, i wouldn´t even refer to your tips as common sense anymore. Most of them are just pure theory and speculation, with nothing behind it to back them up.

Regarding the meaning of being successful on Youtube, maybe i should just quote you: "If you do want to become internet famous, and let's be honest we all have that in mind".
Vision and common sense here are two different things. Of course artists see things differently from the 'Status Quo', but basic tenets of success have always remained. Hard work, planning, and dedication are something every person who has been successful displayed.

In my previous role as a trainer, this is what I taught, and believe it or not, I was successful at that. Often the difference between daring to do something new, or being forced back into your shell, is a positive word or two. A lot of people, at least initially, who came to YouTube and the Internet in general to form a community did so because socially they are a little more introverted. Of course, once the popularity began to rise (or at least acceptance of online communities became more mainstream) more extroverted personalities began to also contribute. This is also fine, and a part of life. However, finding a sensitive balance between appeasing those 'quieter' voices online, whilst catering to the extroverted types, is quite difficult. This is a transferrable skill from leading a training or presentation, and which I attempt to do with my post. Those who need encouragement get that, and those who just want 'to get on with it' are also free to do so. There are practical and emotional applications of my post, and people take away what they need.

You are free to question me, absolutely, but don't for a moment think that because I didn't mention YouTube in every paragraph that this post is irrelevant. Yes people want to become famous, and I acknowledged that. I have the privilege of being friends with traditionally successful YouTubers, who treat their videos as a business. They have rigid planning, thematic overtones, signature branding, everything you would expect from people making a living on YouTube. Will I be successful in the same way? Who knows! Will you? I have no idea. I am presenting a way to create and structure content which has helped people in all walks of life achieve success. Professional writers have a structure, so do singers, so do editors, and so do YouTubers.

Please note that I am not an admin, or a moderator, nor do I have any official affiliation with this forum. The thread was marked as sticky by somebody who read this and thought it would be useful for people to read. If you take something from it then great, if not, then that's alright too. As for being pure theory, I completely disregard that comment. I have successfully applied techniques here when creating a lot of different items. There is one example of a video on my YouTube channel which is a product of careful planning, mixed in with hard work to get all of the shots right. Apart from that, I apply these techniques in my every day life, and most importantly ti my career. Since writing the original post, I have moved into a project management role, and there these rules apply even more, especially as I am managing several creative digital projects. These have a lot more technical complexity than creating a YouTube video, but that doesn't mean that a 'common sense' approach isn't valid, or that the level of 'hard work' is less.

As for the information being cheap, value is subjective. I am sure you will find a million posts from people who have their own methodology behind all aspects of decision making. If it is worth something to you, then it is not cheap. The people who have taken something from this thread (and I would point out that it is the majority of respondents) would disagree that it is 'cheap' information, even though to you it may be just that.