Back in January, I announced in a blog post that I wanted to make some changes - mostly to my YouTube channel. I said that I was going to stop doing so many beauty videos, and post more of the things that I had wanted to do previously but didn't think would "fit" on my channel: short films, mental health videos, photoshoots, photography tutorials, and my own artistic version of vlogging... which is exactly what I did. Now, nearly nine months later, I thought it would be helpful to look back and reflect on what happened after I started changing my content to help anyone else thinking of doing the same for their YouTube account or blog.
I would say overall that new style of content has gone down considerably better than I expected it to. My channel has more than doubled in size since I started making different types of videos, my audience retention has improved, and my likes:views ratio is excellent. I was really scared for a while that my 800 or so subscribers would disappear overnight, but they must have liked what they saw because they stuck around. Of course, not everyone is happy with the changes - every now and again someone will unsubscribe, or someone will leave a comment saying they want more makeup tutorials... but those people are definitely the minority. Besides, you can never please anyone. That's just not possible.
“I wasn’t a completley different person. I was the same old Alice, just talking about different topics.”
I can't know for sure, but I think there were some key factors that really helped the transition. The most important one is that the things people liked about my videos remained consistent: the high quality filming and editing, the attention to detail, and my dry sense of humour. I wasn't a completley different person. I was the same old Alice, just talking about different topics. Everyone already knew that I studied Photography, so it wasn't like my Photography-related videos were completley out of the blue. Not to mention that most of my new videos appeal to the same demographic that were watching my older videos.
Another thing to remember is that I changed directions when I was a smaller channel. The larger your audience, the more difficult it is to try different things. I don't earn money from YouTube yet, so really I had nothing to loose. And if you do change your channel or blog and notice people unsubscribing - don't worry, it happens. But new people will find you. There is an audience for
everything.
The final point is that I honestly think the content I make now is considerably
better
than my old beauty videos. Before, I was just making the same videos as everyone else and I didn't find it creatively fulfilling - but now I feel free to do whatever I want. It makes sense to make videos about something you're passionate about, and my viewers could tell that I was more passionate about other things once I started making different videos.
Expecting people not to change is like shaking your fists at the universe and going: "Oih! You! Stop that!"
If you're unsure about making some changes to your online space, just ask yourself if you're genuinely happy with what you're currently creating. Does it reflect who you truly are as a person? Maybe it did when you started out, but it doesn't anymore, and that's completley fine. Life happens. Or maybe you started posting beauty reviews because that's what you were reading at the time, but since then you've discovered you're much better at writing about travel or lifestyle. That's fine, too. Change is inevitable. People grow and evolve all the time. Expecting people not to change is like shaking your fists at the universe and going: "Oih! You! Stop that!"
I hope this was useful to anyone thinking of trying something new in their online space. If you've made big changes to your blog or channel or are thinking of doing so, let me know by leaving a comment!