YouTube has become an incredibly popular platform these days, attracting more and more young people who want to express themselves creatively and make money. But these expectations must be accompanied by specific knowledge, without which success can be difficult to achieve. YouTube producer Kirill Marinin will help us to understand what skills are necessary for a modern content creator.
Kirill, YouTube is growing at a galloping pace, with more than 2.6 billion people around the world using the platform every month. What do you think is the reason for this popularity?
I think it’s obvious. YouTube provides a huge range of diverse content, from entertainment videos and humorous shows to educational videos and reviews. Here you can find educational courses, lessons, workshops and lectures on various subjects. In other words, everyone can find for themselves those videos that will be useful or interesting to them. We should not forget about social interaction: users comment, like, and communicate with bloggers, creating a community with like-minded people.
And what does YouTube attract content creators?
First of all, they are given access to a huge audience, which allows bloggers to get more subscribers, likes and views. The platform opens up the opportunity to earn money from their creativity through advertising, affiliate programs, donations from viewers and the sale of goods/services. For many it becomes an additional source of income or the main way of earning. And finally, creators can create their own unique image, personal brand, which helps to strengthen their position in the chosen niche.
To summarize, I would say that YouTube provides the user with a variety of content and enriches his experience, and for bloggers helps to reveal their creative potential, find an audience and even earn money.
You are a YouTube producer. What goes into your tasks?
A YouTube producer is responsible for creating interesting and diverse content for their channel. This includes conceptualizing videos, choosing topics to discuss, creating scripts and scenarios. Once the idea is developed, he or she organizes the shooting of the video – managing the camera, lighting, sound and other aspects of production. This is followed by editing, where the producer trims, combines and edits the footage to create a high-quality and engaging video.
The tasks don’t end there. To attract more viewers, a YouTube producer optimizes his content for search queries. This includes choosing keywords, creating unique titles and descriptions, and utilizing tags. Once the video is published, work continues on promoting it, this usually involves using social media, blogs and other channels to attract attention.
What else. YouTube producer analyzes statistics, interacts with other bloggers and companies to jointly create content or conduct promotions. In short, he does everything to develop his channel, increase the number of subscribers and views. And, of course, is engaged in monetization of the channel. If we make an allegory, we can call this person a kind of creative entrepreneur, who embodies his ideas in video content, strives for growth and success of his project.
Can you tell us about your channels?
I have three channels, but now I am concentrating on only two. One of them is dedicated to healthy lifestyle. Currently, the number of subscribers on the channel exceeds two million, which gave us the opportunity to get a YouTube gold button.
The second one is dedicated to the life-saving and cleanliness related to cleaning and maintaining cleanliness. Here we share interesting tips and methods to improve the daily lives of our viewers. Thanks to quality content and audience support, the project was able to attract more than 200 thousand subscribers, which led to receiving a silver button.
This is a high result. But tell us about your first steps?
Until 2020, my wife and I were engaged in trade, with the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the retail business in Russia faced difficulties and we decided to change the vector of activity and try our hand at YouTube. I’ll be honest, we had no experience at all. We started learning from scratch – how to upload videos, make descriptions, use images, hold the camera. It was all new. But we were not scared of anything, moreover – we started with the confidence that the videos would immediately become popular and gain millions of views. Well, we were wrong, the first months were difficult.
How long did it take to gain subscribers?
See for yourself, at the end of 2020 we started running a channel in German and three months later we got our first earnings. In July 2021, we reached 100 thousand subscribers, and a year later – a million. This example confirms that success comes with constant work on content, changes, optimizing the title and cover, creating viewer interest. This is a whole world that a book could be written about. Perhaps one day I will.
Is it possible to learn your profession? Or do you have to learn everything by trial and error?
Well, if you look back at my story, I was initially trained to learn how to shoot and edit video. That helped get me started, but over time we realized that we needed more to develop further. At this point, I suppose it’s hard to find an educational institution that provides a specialized program for future “YouTube producers”. Full-fledged courses that combine all aspects of creating and promoting content on YouTube are very rare. Of course, some schools promise a lot, but turn out to be of little use in practice. It is important to beware of traps and choose reliable and proven sources of knowledge.
Speaking in general, working on YouTube requires versatile skills, as creating successful content is a deeper process than just preparing videos. It’s important to learn camerawork: skills in shooting, composition, lighting, and using different techniques to create visually appealing content. A Youtuber should know the basics of video editing, including working with programs, creating a smooth transition between frames, adding effects and soundtrack. It’s important to learn the principles of SEO, which include optimizing content and metadata to make videos easier to find in search engines and on the YouTube platform. To create engaging headlines, descriptions and tags copywriting and editing abilities will come in handy. In the piggy bank of knowledge that is important for YouTube producer can safely add work with audio, color correction, graphics, promotion in social networks, the ability to assess the effectiveness of content, analyze statistics and plan content strategies. Do not forget about pumping your own communication skills, youtube producer will have to build relationships with viewers, dialog in comments, conduct games, polls, voting, as well as negotiate collaborations with other opinion leaders.
And how to master all this for those who are just taking their first steps in the world of YouTube?
There should be no problem with that. Yes, there are no specialized “YouTube producer” courses on the market, however, there are a wide range of training resources, online programs, and tutorials that can help develop the necessary skills for a successful career in YouTube content creation. However, it is important to keep in mind that success in this field necessarily requires self-practice, creativity, and continuous improvement. Only hard work and constant improvement of your approach to work will allow you to achieve your goals and turn your hobby into a source of decent income.
