#077: How to Be Authentic on YouTube and Make a Great Living with Amanda Muse
Today’s guest is YouTuber, Amanda Muse. The thing I find fascinating about Amanda is that she does things her own way. We’re talking about how to be authentic on YouTube and make a great living at the same time.
On her channel, Amanda talks about what she wants to talk about. She puts herself out there. And she’s found serious success with over 61k subscribers!
Whether you are a newbie to YouTube or a seasoned veteran, you will learn something new from this interview. Plus, I know you’re going to fall in love with Amanda!
Table of Contents
How to be Authentic on YouTube and Make a Great Living
There are two main ways to make money on YouTube — ads and brand partnerships.
The first way to make money is through AdSense, YouTube’s built-in ad network. The more viewers you have, the more ad money you make.
Amanda makes her money through brand partnerships.
There are YouTubers who don’t have to do brand sponsorships because they have millions of viewers and monetize through the ads. But unless you have millions of subscribers, brand partnerships is the way to go.
Hiring a Team to Help With Your YouTube Channel
Amanda works with a team called Kin Community. They pitch their clients to brands, such as Walmart and Wendy’s.
When you first get started on YouTube, you are the entire team. You are not only the content creator, but you are the makeup artist, the producer, the editor, and the salesperson.
Amanda knew that sales were not her strong point, so she found a team that can take care of that part for her.
Amanda feels that once she handed over her weaknesses to someone else to take care of, her business really took off.
Amanda has a video editor who also edits all of her podcast content. And she has an assistant who manages her Facebook page and helps with content ideas and planning.
Finding the Right Agency to Represent You as a YouTuber
It can be very easy to get involved with a sketchy agency and then be stuck.
Amanda recommends a few things to protect yourself when looking for an agency:
- Read your contracts thoroughly
- Make sure that you can get out of an agreement fairly quickly
- Retain ownership of all of your own content, especially video
It took Amanda time to find the right agency. She had to try out a couple of different companies to know what she wanted.
Her advice is to reach out to other YouTubers with similar-sized audiences and ask them for advice or help.
Best Practices For YouTube Content Creation
When it comes to releasing content, you have to be consistent no matter which platform you’re on. Amanda recommends that you release video content to YouTube each and every week.
Amanda currently releases two videos a week, on Mondays and Thursdays.
If she cannot make a video, she does a live video to engage her audience and build relationships.
If possible, release your videos at the same time every week. YouTube will recognize that you’re posting at the same time consistently and it will favor that.
Keep in mind that YouTube prefers longer videos. Gone are the days of 2-minute videos.
And when going live, spend the time chatting with your viewers and save time at the end to get to all of your audience’s questions.
Showing Vulnerability
Amanda likes to be an open book on her channel, but she has definitely put privacy strategies in place.
For example, she does not video her home, she does not say where she lives, and she does not share information regarding her children.
Once your children are older, you just can’t post as much about them because they begin to value their own privacy.
Making this decision has slowed down the growth of Amanda’s channel somewhat, but it has not hampered brands using her channel, or her ability to monetize it.
Burnout
Amanda used to do a weekly vlog. It was a 17-minute video, which was a compilation of a couple of minutes each day.
But after a while, it was almost like having someone in her home every day.
Because Amanda had such a flexible channel, she shifted her style to a vlog a couple of times a week.
Knowing when to say “no” is so important. You have to know your limits and what is worth your time and energy.
Amanda does not hold herself to perfection. If she can’t get a video edited because she’s been sick, she will post it the way it is.
Having people around you that can help you along, offer support and distractions, and just be there for you off the screen is so important.
Using Social Media to Grow Your YouTube Channel
Besides being on Youtube twice a week, Amanda posts a photo nearly every day to her Instagam feed, and about 15 Instagram stories a day.
She puts out a podcast episode once a week also.
There is a post each day on Facebook. Her Facebook page isn’t a huge focus for her; it’s mostly for sharing interesting things and one planned post a day.
Amanda does not see herself as a blogger, but rather she has a website which she uses as a landing page for people who come over from her YouTube channel or her podcast.
Advice for Future YouTubers
Go deep and find your secret skill.
Amanda’s secret skill is that she can make friends and talk with anyone.
She shared a few tips with us for those of you who might want to get started with YouTube:
- Talk to the camera like you’re having a one-on-one conversation with someone.
- Find out what you enjoy and then apply a specific strategy to it. Treat your YouTube platform and audience like its own unique place and create unique content for it.
- Stay true to yourself and just keep working. When you do that, your audience will come, your following will grow, and you will know that you’ve found your niche.
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Timestamp
- Intro
- 4:44 Making Money on YouTube
- 8:20 Hiring a Team
- 17:36 Finding the Right Agency
- 22:30 Best Practices For Content
- 27:54 Being Vulnerable
- 32:02 Burnout
- 39:59 Using Social Media
- 41:11 Advice for Future YouTubers
Read the podcast transcript for “How to Be Authentic on YouTube and Make a Great Living with Amanda Muse”
TOP 4 TAKEAWAYS
- There are several ways to make money on YouTube, so don’t be discouraged if you don’t have millions of viewers. Look for brand partnerships.
- Be consistent in releasing new content; plan on at least one video per week.
- Be authentic with your audience in order to build relationships with them so they keep showing up.
- Avoid perfectionism and learn when to say NO in order to avoid burnout.