Although it may appear daunting, creating your own popular and profitable vegetarian or vegan channel on YouTube is possible. But, it will take plenty of hard work and a little luck. Here are seven tips to help you get your own veggie-focused YouTube channel.
Make a Long-Term Commitment
Creating quality content takes time and effort and at least a bit of financial investment. Before taking the plunge, be honest with yourself about whether a food channel is something you really want to pursue or if it is just a passing notion. Make sure you are ready and able to get into a long-term and sometimes frustrating commitment.
Don’t take the decision too lightly. YouTube is littered with the remains of channels started by passionate people who began in earnest only to let their channels peter out after discovering that the reality of making food videos on YouTube didn’t live up to their fantasies. Don’t let that happen to you.
Unrealistic expectations of instant success are the fastest path to disappointing results. Do you have the determination to continue making content when your last video had only a dozen views, and the single comment you have says your recipe isn’t very good, and to top it off, you don’t even know how to cook well? Are you able to ignore criticism or use it to improve your content? If not, then save yourself headaches and heartaches and find another creative outlet.
Gather Your Equipment
Dreamers who never take that plunge into making videos on YouTube usually share at least one excuse: They believe they need to invest a lot of money for high-end equipment and software to start their channel. But this isn’t the case.
It is possible to use nothing more than a smartphone to film a video, edit, and post videos on YouTube. Some of the most popular channels started with this shoestring approach, and you can do it too. However, a bit more equipment can mean more professional (and watchable) results and a lot less frustration for you.
Anyone serious about creating content for YouTube should consider buying a good smartphone tripod, lighting, a decent external microphone, and basic editing software. You can find starter equipment bundles with everything you need for a few hundred dollars.
Learn How to Make a Quality Video
You don’t have to be another Stanley Kubrick to make great YouTube videos, but it is better if you have the basics down. At the least, you need to know how to set up your camera, lighting, and microphone and how to edit what you record into something people want to watch.
If you are an absolute beginner, the best way to learn how to make videos for YouTube is by watching videos on YouTube. There are thousands of tutorials exploring the technical and artistic sides of shooting and editing videos. There are even videos discussing how to create fantastic food vlogs. But don’t spend all your time on how-to videos. Spend a day or two checking out the videos of your favorite veggie-focused food channels and find new ones to help get inspired.
As you watch other food channels, treat them like a lecture. Stop, pause, and rewind. Take notes about how the host acts, how the host introduces the video to capture the viewer’s attention, the use of camera angles and lighting, and the overall length of the video. There is nothing wrong with ‘borrowing’ the aspects of different food channels that you find most appealing.
Select Your Specific Niche
At one time, just making veggie-focused food videos on YouTube was enough to get you noticed. That is not the case these days. An ever-increasing number of vegetarian and vegan food channels are popping up on YouTube. On the one hand, that is an excellent sign that there is a ton of interest out there. On the other hand, there’s more competition than ever before. To stand out and compete against all those established content creators, you need something a little different to offer.
To come up with your hook, examine what you love about food in general and what it is about cooking vegetarian and vegan recipes that particularly appeal to you. Do you have other interests that you can tie in with veggie recipes? Are you a bookworm? Maybe a channel cooking literary-inspired recipes is something you might want to explore. A parent may focus on a channel about getting reluctant children to enjoy eating vegetables. The sky is the limit.
Your choice for a sub-niche doesn’t have groundbreaking or entirely unique, but it should be something that will attract a specific targeted audience. That way, not only will your subscribers know what to expect every time you release a new video, but you will know what type of content you should be making.
Work On Your Cooking and Presentation Skills
There is space for every level of cook to have a veggie-based food channel on YouTube. Even bumbling yet likable amateurs can find an audience. However, if you don’t want to turn your videos into a comedy sketch (or, worse, a bloody horror show), you should at least have the basics down before turning on the camera.
Things like improving your knife skills and knowing how to operate all the kitchen appliances are just the beginning. Remember to test the recipe you plan to cook several times before setting up the equipment to make sure you have all the kinks ironed out. These practice runs let you perfect the recipe and your technique and will highlight any problems your viewers may experience, so you can address them in your video.
Being in front of a camera is intimidating for most people. If you are the kind of person who isn’t a natural entertainer, you may want to limit the amount of talking you do while cooking and do a voiceover after editing the video together. But don’t worry, cooking and presenting are both skills you can practice and improve, so be kind to yourself.
Focusing On Your Branding
How do you want viewers to see your channel? Although your answer will partially depend on the specific niche you chose and your skill level, there is still some flexibility. If you are lucky enough to have a website, a food blog, a popular social media account, or a different YouTube channel, sticking with the same brand elements will help attract your current audience.
But for those who are new to branding themselves, spend a lot of time considering what your want your brand to be. Are you looking to create a casual, friendly vibe, or do you prefer a more technical professional approach? Are you going to use humor or stay serious? Find what works for you and try it out on your friends and family before you start posting content. It is tough trying to re-brand without alienating at least some of your viewers if you make the wrong branding choice at the beginning.
Once you find your brand, stay on brand for every blog post and even social media comment you make. One great way of doing this is to start by creating a YouTube channel logo that reflects, honors and promotes your channel. Logos are one of your most powerful advertising tools, and if you don’t already have one, it is well worth considering. Make sure you choose a design that you love, because your logo is something that your audience will forever associate with your brand.
Brushing Up On Your Promotional Skills
After planning, filming, editing, and posting your video to YouTube, do you think you can just sit back and relax? Put away that celebratory drink because the real work is just starting. Often, the difference between a successful YouTube channel and one that doesn’t get much traction is not the quality of the content but the quality of the promotion.
YouTube channels with videos that rack up the views seldom exist in isolation. Successful creators usually have a network of backlinks leading people to their videos. These backlinks can come from the creators’ personal social media accounts, blogs, and websites, or if they are lucky, other people promote the channel for them.
With a vegetable-based channel, you may already have some built-in promotional possibilities. Since the vegetarian and vegan community is so supportive, it may just take a message to your favorite vegan Facebook group or online forum to ask if they would promote your channel.
But the most important thing you can do to grow your channel is to cultivate and engage the audience you already have. Be active and generous with your suggestions in the comment section of your videos and the videos of related channels. Try not to view other creators as competition, but as possible allies on a shared journey.
At the end of the day, you are the only one who can determine what success looks like for your veggie food channel. Whether you have 10 million views or only a thousand, it will be worthwhile as long as you love what you are doing.
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