Saturday 19 April 2014

Mum's Eye View - four weeks in


A couple of months ago Mum's Eye View didn't exist.

It was a glint in my eye so to speak.

Four weeks after launch it's clicked up more than 334,000 views of our videos and attracted more than 19k subscribers.

And we've not spent a single penny on advertising. Not one.

Earned media lives on for now at least it would seem.

Who knows where it will take us but those annual targets we set ourselves look very soft all of a sudden.

That Dom Smales managed my expectations brilliantly.

I have a history of over promising and under delivering but for once in my career I think we're onto a real winner.

The influence of the talent that Gleam manage is staggering.

Not only do they all have huge audiences on their main YouTube channels but they also have massive audiences on their daily vlog channels too.

Oh, and a decidedly big number of Twitter followers. 

And the amount of fans they command on Instagram would put most brands to shame.

I've said it before but to the untrained eye it all looks too easy.

What on earth is going on when a seemingly ordinary person can get paid a small fortune just for doing a video selfie and uploading it to YouTube?

If they can do it why can't I?

Why indeed. Because you can. If you start now. Vlog every day. Are good on camera. Love what you do. Have friends who love doing it too. Are generous in everything you do. Open, honest and authentic. True to yourself and your audience and never lose sight of the reason why you started doing it in the first place.

There is literally nothing stopping you.

But most of us won't do all that. We prefer to consume not create. We'd rather watch than make.

And that's fine too.

In the meantime look in awe at how big they have grown in a matter of a few years.

Pixiwoo started their makeup tutorial channel five years ago. Now their younger brother Jim has more than one million subscribers. His twin brother is also a YouTuber - one half of the Lean Machines. His fiancé Tanya is also pretty big on YouTube too. And her mate Zoe is huge.

Zoe's really chummy with Louise. You know Louise, aka Sprinkle of Glitter. And her gorgeous little girl Darcy. Not to mention her gran.

And so it goes on.

Mind boggling. The train has well and truly left the station.

Who knows where it will take us in the months and years to come.

But it ain't slowing down any time soon.

Jump on and enjoy the ride.