A project created by Emiline Falin.
Purpose & Overview
For this project, I wanted to create a YouTube channel that focused on teaching people about art business. For this, I would do a lot of research, plan out my content and strategy, and create all of the assets needed for my channel. I would then spend several weeks creating and publishing video content on my channel.
This was a project I’ve been wanting to do for quite a while now, but there were many professional benefits as well, such as: Getting better at teaching / presenting on camera, improving my video filming and editing skills, being able to better understand an audience, and creating long-form content for them. Finally, this channel could also help promote my art business.
Overall, at the end of this project, I wanted to have a YouTube channel with videos on it. It would have cohesive branding with my existing art brand, the videos will be well-made, and I planned to continue adding videos to it in the future. Originally, I planned to upload 1 full-length video and 1 Short every week, but I ended up changing it to 1 full-length video and 2 Shorts every week.
The Project
For this project, I started out with a great deal of research. I had made a YouTube channel before, but in a very different niche, and I wanted this channel to be even better. I did research into posting days and times, thumbnail designs, other creators in my niche, potential content ideas, and more. I spent a lot of time gathering and compiling this research to better help me with my channel.
After I had finished my research, I started creating my own channel assets. This began with creating a cohesive style guide. For this style guide, I looked at other similar channels, the inspiration I had gathered, and my existing branding for my art business. I created the style guide below, and received feedback from a mentor figure that it looked good.
Based on this style guide, I created the rest of my assets. This included a channel banner and profile picture, both of which I made multiple drafts of before deciding on the final versions.
Once all the prep work was complete, I filmed my first YouTube video. I’ll go more into detail for that process a bit later.
Challenges Encountered
One of the biggest challenges I faced during this project was just my own expectations. Having created a YouTube channel previously that did fairly well, as well as seeing the success of so many channels that just had a few videos, I was hoping – or even expecting – that I would find that kind of success as well. While I’m certainly not ‘entitled’ to success, it was frustrating to put hours of work into videos each week, only for it to get 20 views. But, as my mentor kept reminding me, YouTube is often a long-term game. Very few people have overnight success with it, and it’s the type of thing you just need to keep working at.
I plan to keep creating videos, experimenting with what does well and what doesn’t. Trying new titles, new thumbnails, new content ideas, and new ways of promoting my videos. I am confident that, if I keep working at it, and keep being patient both with YouTube and with myself, I will eventually find success on this platform.
Project Process
For all of my videos created, I followed about the same process. I filmed myself as a talking head, as well as a lot of B-Roll footage. I then color corrected it all to make it warmer and brighter, and then edited it all together. To finish it off, I added overlays, sometimes sound effects, and music. I created 1-2 thumbnails, a title, and a description, and then uploaded it to YouTube.
For the first video, I set it to Unlisted at first, so I could get feedback on it, but after implementing some of that feedback (such as deciding on the thumbnail), I fully published the video. Later, I published two Shorts videos. The full-length video went live on a Friday, and the Shorts were published on the following Monday and Wednesday.
I would promote my videos sometimes to family and friends, sometimes to Instagram, and sometimes to Pinterest, to experiment with what got me the most success.
This was the structure that I followed for the rest of the project – filming a video, editing it, and putting it on YouTube about a week in advance. In total, I created four full-length videos, and 8 Shorts.
In total, during that time, my channel had about 10k views, 88.9 hours of watch time, and 85 subscribers. Most of these came from my Shorts, which averaged about 500 views each, while my full-length videos received typically 20-100 views. The one large spike I had was a Short video that got about 7k views.
Experiences
While creating this channel, I was able to have a lot of good experiences. First off was the branding. I always love doing branding work, and this was no exception. Researching what other people had done, gathering inspiration, creating my own style guide, and getting feedback on it, was all a great experience.
Along with that was meeting with a mentor figure I had, so that I was able to get feedback, advice, and encouragement for my channel. I believe everyone can benefit from having people in their life who encourage and help them with their goals.
Another good experience I had was reaching out to a brand I like for a potential sponsorship, and having them respond positively! At the time of writing this, I have already signed a contract with them, and we’re working together for an upcoming video I have planned. As I only have about 80 subscribers, this was a great moment for me.
I mentioned previously that my lack of ‘success,’ as I defined it, sometimes had me frustrated. But even with a relatively small amount of views, I still had people commenting on my videos that they liked them, or found them helpful. I even had people messaging me on Instagram that they found the videos helpful, and asking me more questions about my art business. These experiences were really gratifying.
Insights & Takeaways
A big takeaway I had from this project was mentioned previously – trying to be patient with slow growth. Success can take time, and I hope to still get there someday.
Another takeaway I had was just improving my video-making skills! Even if my previous channel had more success (I’m assuming because it was a less saturated niche), I do believe the quality of my content is better on this channel. My skills have improved, and I hope that they will continue to improve. As I keep working at it, I can keep getting better, and hopefully have more growth on YouTube as well. After all, my channel has only been live on YouTube for about a month now.
I have already had experiences with this, but it’s always nice to see how much people are willing to help you and give you things if you just ask. From my mentor giving me feedback and advice, to a major brand I like offering me a sponsorship. People are generally just pretty great.
Overall, I greatly enjoyed this project. There were times it was difficult, or frustrating, but I’m glad that I did it. I was able to improve my communication skills, create cohesive branding, promote my own art business, and teach people through YouTube. I plan to continue to make videos, grow my channel, and help teach others how to grow their own art businesses.
