So I’ve decided to start a YouTube channel. Although this is not the first YouTube channel I have started, it is the first time I have focused on creating a channel for my business.

I’m not necessarily interested in becoming a YouTuber or some kind of influencer.

There are two key reasons for starting this channel.

1. I see this as a way of putting myself out there by sharing what I have learned through creating video content for education.
2. I have very little experience in using social media. As an editor and videographer, it is clear that I need to develop skills in this area and what better way to do this then by doing it for my own business. I have made some social media content for other businesses but I’m very much in the dark as to how to do this effectively.

Many businesses are using social media in some shape or form, whether it is LinkedIn, TikTok, Instagram or YouTube.

For many businesses and individuals, LinkedIn appears to have been the main platform of choice, especially for B2B marketing. I have personally struggled with LinkedIn because it just comes across like Facebook for business. I deleted my Facebook account eight years ago as I had grown to dislike the platform. I’m not going to go into the details here, but I have found LinkedIn to share common traits with Facebook that I do not like.

Then there’s Instagram and TikTok.  People are posting content to compete with millions of other posts each day, every day. At this time, I’m not sure how either platform can help me in sharing what I do. Again, I’m not a huge fan of either platform as both can lead to the dreaded doom scrolling.

Despite my reservations about the above mentioned platforms, I know that I need to embrace social media for my own business in order to promote what I do. I also see it as the way forward to learn about online marketing. 

So after eliminating the other major platforms, I found myself left with one option. YouTube.

Now YouTube is the only online content I consume. Whilst there are many channels dishing out “slop”, especially AI “slop”, there is still plenty of great material to be found, delivering what the BBC used to have as its core principles – inform, educate and entertain.

At this time, I’m guessing that my channel will straddle the “inform” / “educate” principles. With regards to “entertain”, I’ll leave that to the viewer.

Initially I want to focus on three areas.

First of all I want to share what I have learned about filming and editing whilst working on educational projects.

It is also very difficult to talk about this work without mentioning the pedagogy. So this will be the second area I want to focus on.

Finally, I want to share my YouTube journey in the hope that it might encourage others who have been hesitant about starting their own channel.

In the long run I’m not sure where my channel will take me. I would like it to be educational but also entertaining. But we’ll see.

As mentioned earlier, I have struggled to embrace social media despite the fact that video content is playing a major role in video production. I hope that by doing this YouTube channel I will begin to develop the necessary skills I need to move forward with my business and find a role for myself within the growing expanse that is social media.

My journey begins here…