How YouTube has changed the Social Media game
When YouTube was created in 2005, it was the place to go to watch your favourite ‘fail’ videos or videos of fluffy cats.
Around 2008 came the start of the YouTuber revolution, and things haven’t been the same since.
As we all know, YouTube is a free website where you can watch all your favourite videos and content. This meant that it gave millions of people a chance to showcase their talents or interests for anyone and everyone to see, and once people started making money off their videos, it was every content creator for themselves.
Created a new type of celebrity
Nowadays, the term Content Creator or YouTube Superstar isn’t an unheard-of term, but a couple of years ago this wasn’t so much the case.
YouTube creators were starting to appear here there and everywhere and unless you were one of their audience, the likelihood that you had heard of them was very slight.
Today, this isn’t the case. With the likes of Zoella and Pewdiepie dominating the platform and making thousands, if not, millions of pounds week, it’s safe to say that people are now starting to realise what an effective platform YouTube really is.
Audience Interaction
What made YouTuber’s different from your average celebrity was the personal aspect behind their brand. YouTuber’s and their audience could have normal conversations and therefore make that audience more invested into their brand.
Celebrities are known not to do this, especially back before YouTube was even a thing, but what makes YouTube so different to Hollywood and film stars is that every audience member feels that personal connection to said YouTuber because it’s real and who they’re watching is real and they might even aspire to be like that person.
With films, you can admire the persons acting and skill, but it’s unlikely to see a raw version of themselves which is what YouTube creators could offer.
Snowball Effect
Because we now expect this new type of interaction with your favourite YouTube celebrity, it meant that Hollywood type celebrities had to catch on with the trend in order to become more personable.
This meant that they targeted their own audiences with the same kind of personal tactics that the YouTubers had been doing for years, with hopes of achieving the same beneficial outcomes.
Now it’s a normal occurrence to see a Twitter war between two famous celebrities or Ryan Reynolds being… well, Ryan Reynolds. But before the YouTube revolution, this new-found sense of interaction wasn’t even considered.
Social Media Influencer Marketing
With this new version of audience/brand interaction has come a new form of marketing.
Popular brands have taken advantage of the audience that YouTube creators have gathered by collaborating with them on their marketing plans. This can range from the influencer mentioning their products in a video, even using the product as a subject to base the video around to simply sharing a review on their social media.
Brands sometimes go that extra mile and invite YouTube creators onto their own YouTube channels to create traffic from the YouTuber’s audience to that video, therefore creating a higher view count and a wider reach of the product to their audience.