Creating content where people can see you and connect is a powerful way of marketing yourself or your product. This is why the phenomenon of vlogging has become so popular over the last ten years. What is vlogging you ask? It is blogging essentially, but through the medium of recorded video. Each day, or even several times a day, you can upload your thoughts or ideas to a video platform like YouTube or Facebook or even a WordPress site where your audience is able to stay in touch with you in fairly different formats, locations and environments.
Everyone from famous beauty vloggers Zoella, who has 12 million followers, to KSI the lifestyle YouTuber who demands up to 19 million subscribers, to hugely popular comedians like PewDiePie who have a whopping 66 million followers, all demand an enormous amount of online attention.
Some of these vlogggers can make up to $10 million in advertising and endorsement fees; it has become a lucrative marketplace for both the consumer, vloggers and brands.
Vlogging has different types of categories for viewers, such as channels dedicated to unpacking products. Yes you heard right, a way for people to know what a product looks like from the inside out. As well as pranks and comedy channels which allow personalities to create a channel all around their personas.
Most vlogggers end up on YouTube because there are over one billion views per month on the platform, and people watch 6 billion hours of video on there every month, so if they need an ideal central platform to do their work, this is a place where people come to watch.
In short, Vlogging has become a great new addition to the canyon of marketing tools. If you are a vlogger and keen on getting this started, there are many ways you can improve your skills in this area, but if you do end up getting it right, you can enhance your product 10X fold or earn those big dollars.
Why is vlogging so influential?
The 18-34-year-old market is native to Youtube; this is the platform that they have grown up with. Since YouTube started in 2005 it has been adopted as a go to platform for entertainment. But its also because more and more people are watching video as a way of keeping informed. In fact from 2013 to 2015 mobile video viewing increased by almost 400%.
Vlogging is a primary way to engage with new influential consumers. These channels hold more sway than celebrities do which is why brands like L’Oreal are lining up too get their products into these videos.
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One main reason why vlogging is so powerful is that you are not constrained on what content you can create, edit, produce and craft. This frankness creates an authenticity that you don’t get on TV. For a consumer, there is no interference from the constraints of TV; you can pick and subscribe and rewatch whomever you enjoy watching.
There is no lengthy turn around to create these videos so if you’re a brand or individual who wants to market their product on a week’s notice or have a new thought you want to share you can be agile and have a flush video created in a week or even less.
The future of vlogging
If you can pick up a 1080 HD camera for less than $200 then vlogging is only going to become more important, as the entry point will become lower and lower. This means we’re going to see more immersive videos coming from creators; they will find ways to craft new narratives and new personas for a new generation of online viewers. As long as YouTube demands up to a billion views a month and growing, then we’re going to see more and more innovative videos coming from the community of crafty visual icons.