Every content creator has a unique story. In this series, we interview creators to highlight why they started creating! For the second installment of the series, Liam Martyn talks about his experiences as a new YouTuber!
Written by Justin Patterson
Tell us a little about yourself
My name is Liam Martyn and I’m a 23-year-old Canadian guy who is passionate about family, running businesses, and learning new things to hit my goals in life. A few key things about me: I’ve been documenting my life every week for over 5 years. I am very hopeful for the future and aim to inspire others to pursue fulfillment in their own lives through my videos on YouTube and eventually other formats. One of the best lessons I’ve learned in life relates to this quote by Gandhi; “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others”. Personally, I found tremendous self-awareness as an unintended result from volunteering at homeless shelters at the age of 18, and strongly recommend it to others — even if volunteering isn’t an interest of yours.
What inspired you to start your channel?
For about 2 years I have wanted to start a YouTube channel to share lessons that have really helped me in life. Not only lessons that I have already learned from running businesses or finding my passion in life, but also the opportunity to discuss lessons that I am in the process of learning while I am still young. I am working on having videos range from finding self-fulfillment to building businesses, and I also love documenting my life so having videos on YouTube that my future family can see intrigued me. I like thinking of YouTube as a long term pursuit that I can always reflect on, plus I get to build a collection of videos on my own evolving insights.
As a new YouTuber, how have you attempted to build a fanbase?
I have focused on being consistent with a few important things on my channel. Firstly, I try to just be myself and get comfortable with speaking from the heart about things. There’s always going to be people who disagree with you no matter what you speak about so for me I focus on at least being authentic. Secondly, I make sure my thumbnail text provides additional information to my title, and keywords/tags/etc are relevant. Lastly, I have a catchphrase that I use at the end of every video: “Take care for now and stay practical” — Something that speaks to my focus on practical lessons for self-improvement on my channel. My main focus since starting this channel has been to provide value to people and to enjoy doing it. I think if I do this well enough and start putting out more consistent content then the fanbase will grow steadily over time, but I’m honestly not in a rush. This mindset has worked out well so far with people telling me already that they have started documenting their lives weekly (one of my main messages). Also a couple of years ago I built a couple of small e-commerce brands and this allowed me to understand a lot about digital marketing, which I have used to promote some videos in order to reach specific audiences.
How have you been utilizing fan engagement strategies to maintain your audience?
I use the YouTube comment section, Instagram, Facebook, and have been preparing to use Tik Tok for highlight clips.
Do you use any tools to manage fan engagements?
The only tool I have started using is Tube Buddy to save time with finding relevant keywords and tags.
What advice would you give other creators who are just starting out?
- Prepare your channel before you put out your first video. You don’t have to take two months as I did but at least take time to figure out your niche, and look at successful creators for examples on how to produce content. Definitely make sure to test your equipment out too.
- With that said, there’s a lot that goes into a good video (proper equipment, prep, editing, etc.), and while this can be overwhelming if you’re somewhat of a perfectionist like I am, try to follow the KISS principle and put out what you can without burning out by trying to make it perfect. Each video will give you more experience and as you put out more content the better your potential will become to make better videos (use it wisely).
- I recommend with each upload to document some things about your channel while you have the info in front of you. For me, I put the number of subscribers, channel views, and equipment I use in the description and it’s really cool to look back over time at how these things change.
- Set the right expectations right away, so you don’t burn out and can stay motivated; you are most likely going to have minimal growth in the beginning, and that’s okay. It’s a lot worse to believe you are going to be at a million subs within a year and then becoming disappointed when you don’t hit that goal. Consider making the goal about how many videos you put out or talking about things that you’re motivated to talk about instead.
- Consistency is vital, but your motivation and happiness are a bigger priority. To cut to the point, don’t put pressure to upload no matter what at a certain frequency, it’s critical to upload frequently but know when to take a week off. With that said, you can improve your growth with a few things right away: Consistent uploads (1+/week), engaging content, and good SEO. Realize there are methods that will get you more followers faster like picking a trending topic in your niche and making a video about it ASAP, but if you want to only focus on the content you want to make try to not get FOMO by not doing these trendy vids and just be satisfied with talking about subjects you are happy talking about. There are multiple examples of YouTubers who started out getting 0–100 subscribers in their first year and ending up with millions over years of consistency.
- Lastly, you will likely find things get better as you put out more videos. Not only your skillset with editing and filming, but things that I found include: No longer worrying about how I seem by putting videos online, finding a deeper understanding and connection to what I talk about, and slowly being given new opportunities like being featured in this blog
Who are your favorite creators?
Main: Pewdiepie + JRE Science: Veritasium + Colin Furze Comedy: Cody Ko + Jeff Wittek + Trey Kennedy
Entertainment: Mr. Beast + Ozzy Man Reviews Filmmaking: Peter Lindgren + Daniel Schiffer
Self Improvement: Better Ideas + Mike Boyd Music: Trap Nation + MrSuicideSheep Others: JCS + Penguinz0 + Marques Brownlee
How can people connect with you?
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/liammartyn/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/liammartyn/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/LiamMartyn
My favorite video I have put out:
If you want to check out my video production business that I was able to start from editing YouTube videos, click here: https://www.instagram.com/martynmediaproductions/
Are you a creator and don’t know the best way to engage with your audience to get the best results? Backr is here to help you! Sign up for early access here and be the first to know when it’s ready (coming soon!!)
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