Here’s some of the biggest YouTubers who are killing it on YouTube. Study hard young grasshopper for they will teach you how to get started on your journey to YouTube awesomeness!
Disclaimer: Unlike many bloggers I admit I’m not the god of all things knowable. I have written hundreds of video scripts for clients but I’ve never produced a YouTube channel, so I won’t throw together some dribble research I found on Wikipedia and pretend I can teach you how to smash it on YouTube. I can’t. But these guys can…
Beauty YouTuber: Michelle Phan – Makeup Demo Extraordinare
American make-up demonstrator and entrepreneur, Michelle Phan, has truly made her mark on the YouTube world. Michelle Phan runs the biggest beauty and makeup YouTube channel in the world.
She started video blogging in 2007 in response to all her knock backs when applying for beauty demonstrator jobs; she decided to do it anyway.
When I started I wasn’t chasing money, I was chasing passion. – Michelle Phan.
Today she has over 6 million subscribers and nearly a BILLION views. She can also turn herself into Angelina Jolie or Beyonce with just a few strokes of a makeup brush (seriously, check her magic out if you want to be wowed).
YouTube… then the world.
Her huge popularity made it possible to move into the entrepreneurial space. She now has her own makeup line with L’Oreal, she launched a makeup sampling startup and she recently signed a big development deal with a global TV network, Endemol.
Michelle Phan’s Advice On Making It On YouTube.
Her advice to achieving YouTube success is to watch everyone to see what’s NOT there yet and then pave your own way. After all, if you do what everyone else is doing, how can you stand out?
*Word of warning: Michelle’s fame has just gotten her into hot water with record companies who are now suing her for using their artist’s music on her videos… so don’t use music you don’t own the rights to!
Humorist YouTuber: Ze Frank – He Who Cannot Be Categorized
Ze Frank was a very early adopter of the online video format and is personally one of my favourite people to watch. In 2001 he created an interactive wedding invitation website which went viral years before ‘viral’ was a thing. He kept on creating cool suff online and won accolades and Webby Awards and such.
In 2006 he launched his YouTube show called ‘The Show’ (what else?) and his most popular YouTube video, sad cat diary, garnered over 16 million views.
Ze Frank has around 1.5 million subscribers, which might not be as many as Michelle Phan, but his niche is much more niche and cerebral than makeup demos, so don’t hold that against him.
In 2012 Buzzfeed appointed this creative YouTuber as their executive vice president of vide. Yep, they wanted to learn from a successful YouTuber, just like you (see why I said study the greats however you can??).
Ze Frank’s Advice On Going ‘Viral’.
Instead of thinking about virality, I think the focus should be on what makes something worth sharing to begin with. I think emotion plays a big role. What do people really love, what gets people to feel something, what sorts of experiences can you give people that they would want to give to someone else–could be a laugh, or a moment of feeling connected to something, a moment of a guilty pleasure, a moment of finding out something about yourself and wanting to see if it is true for someone you care about. Thinking about it on a more personal level keeps the process of making content grounded in something real and approachable. – Ze Frank.
Watch one of my favourite Ze Frank YouTube videos: Life Advice From Twitter.
Ze Frank Talks ‘Behind The Scenes’ Of Creating His YouTube Channel.
P.S. If you want to see the 2001 video that started it all, and maybe even learn how to dance properly (not), check it out here.
Science Educating YouTubers – AsapSCIENCE (Mitch Moffit and Greg Brown) – Making Science Fun
Being young, passionate Biology majors they were always explaining the awesome parts of science to their non-sciency friends. They realised they had to explain concepts in fun ways that would overcome their friend’s beliefs that science was boring. It worked.
Mitch and Greg thought it would be cool to take their methodology to a wider audience using YouTube… and suddenly ASAPScience was born.
They are more comfortable behind the scenes than they are in front of the camera, so they developed a hand-drawn presentation style that’s cute and quirky and works perfectly for the medium. Check them out.
With over 2 and a half million subscribers, these science geeks are knocking it out of the park… and science is finally interesting again!
Check out what the AsapSCIENCE guys had to say about their YouTubey success.
Surprisingly Popular Violinist YouTuber – Lindsey Stirling – Taking Names
Now I’m not a big fan of the pop-violin, yes, I know, I’m a philistine, but there it is. However there are 5 million subscribers who adore the violin when it’s attached to the hands of Lindsey Stomp.
A little bit about her YouTube journey: She made her first video in 2007 when trying to get onto the Ellen show. She didn’t get in. Then she did another video a few years later and got into America’s Got Talent. But still no popular success. It wasn’t until she started developing her YouTube channel and building an online fan-base that people started to take notice, and now, she’s got big names knocking on her door wanting to collaborate.
If YouTube can do this for a scrappy young violinist, what could YouTube do for you?
Lindsey Stirling talks about branding and building a musical career with YouTube