How important is social media?

Merlina Rodas

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Hello all,
This is my second attempt at starting a youtube channel.. i was discouraged the first time because people kept telling me that on top of making my videos, i HAD to keep up with social media and it was already a lot of working keeping up with the youtube side of things nevermind a blog, instagram, twitter, facebook AND snapchat!

I was working myself too hard and forcing myself to constantly post on every social media until it got to be too much to handle... I'm sure a lot of famous youtubers have people who handle their social media pages for them, and of course that lightens the workload, but for now I'm working alone.. my question is, how necessary is social media really? Do I NEED to have an instagram, twitter, etc to go along with my channel? If so, how can I manage my time better and keep track of all this social media?
 

Kristeen

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Hello all,
This is my second attempt at starting a youtube channel.. i was discouraged the first time because people kept telling me that on top of making my videos, i HAD to keep up with social media and it was already a lot of working keeping up with the youtube side of things nevermind a blog, instagram, twitter, facebook AND snapchat!

I was working myself too hard and forcing myself to constantly post on every social media until it got to be too much to handle... I'm sure a lot of famous youtubers have people who handle their social media pages for them, and of course that lightens the workload, but for now I'm working alone.. my question is, how necessary is social media really? Do I NEED to have an instagram, twitter, etc to go along with my channel? If so, how can I manage my time better and keep track of all this social media?
As a digital marketer, I always tell my clients that no one ever needs to be on every single platform. You just need to be on the ones that count, especially if you find yourself unable to keep up with so many. Always consider your resources, what you can do, who your audience is and which platform they can optimally be reached.

In your case, who do you think your target audience is?
 

Daisyah

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Honestly I feel like this is pretty important. It gives people a chance to follow you on a different platform and see other aspects of you. Not to mention this is how some people blow up and become famous
 

Merlina Rodas

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As a digital marketer, I always tell my clients that no one ever needs to be on every single platform. You just need to be on the ones that count, especially if you find yourself unable to keep up with so many. Always consider your resources, what you can do, who your audience is and which platform they can optimally be reached.

In your case, who do you think your target audience is?
Hm, this is an interesting way to look at it... i guess my target audience is anyone looking to get fit, but I've noticed that the majority of my followers are women around the ages of 18-25[DOUBLEPOST=1488511174,1488511086][/DOUBLEPOST]
Honestly I feel like this is pretty important. It gives people a chance to follow you on a different platform and see other aspects of you. Not to mention this is how some people blow up and become famous
Makes sense, getting famous isn't really a big concern or goal for me, but I can see what you're saying.. not everyone uses youtube as much as they use other platforms so it's nice to be reaching a different audience through social media
 

Kristeen

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Hm, this is an interesting way to look at it... i guess my target audience is anyone looking to get fit, but I've noticed that the majority of my followers are women around the ages of 18-25
In that case, I'd recommend prioritizing Instagram since content there is very lifestyle- and aesthetic-oriented. Snapchat would be great for showcasing personality but if you don't have the time, Instagram Stories should function similarly for you.

Facebook has largely become pay-to-post. It's unlikely you'll reach your audience unless you do some paid campaigns, and it will continue to grow in that direction as 2017 moves forward (random fact: they're predicted to run out of ad inventory by the middle of this year). I would only recommend being on that platform if and when you have a solid conversion point (i.e. a product/service to sell).

Whether a blog is necessary or not depends on what you're trying to do with your overall strategy. Perhaps if you share some of your content goals and some details about your blog (e.g. where it's hosted, what you've been doing with it, etc.), I could give some advice on how important it is and whether you can leverage it somehow. :)
 
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Kristeen

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I agree, I also find Instagram easiest to use.. I consider snapchat to be a bit more personal

And as for the blog, I only included that because a friend of mine brought up the point that most youtubers in the health and fitness category have blogs or websites... but I think that might be something to work towards, not something to start with



ree,
Yeah, I can see where your friend is coming from. But you're also right, you don't need to do everything all at once. It's all a matter of what you'd like to prioritize and start from there.

Social media is important but success counts on doing it well. If you're stretching yourself out too thin, it's harder to see improvement across the board. Focus on what's important to you, create systems to make content creation efficient while maintaining quality, then once it's sustainable, consider going into other platforms. :)
 

BeanTubes

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I think social media is good but I only use a few. Twitter & Instagram. Just try your best to keep people posted and just update them with a message for when you are uploading a video!
 
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Lightsen

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This is what works for me:

Twitter - great for fanart, and talking directly with fans
Tumblr - they love their animated gifs and pics, great way to get your videos reblogged especially if they fit into a fandom.
Facebook - artwork does well, comments are nice and you get to see business stats

Overall I think twitter has helped me the most, as it reminds people im still alive when im not uploading.
Also I made twitter last and it has by far the most followers out of the three already
 
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EVO

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Ive never used social media.
I only recently set up and linked a Twitter account to my YT account just so I can soon be considered for yttalk 'verified' status.
 
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