Week 8: Does Visual Media Work ?

Does Visual Media Work for a Travel Vlogging/ Blogging/ Production Business?

Of course!  In fact, visual media is one of the most important parts of this business.  Having crisp, high resolution footage on YouTube, stunning, awe-inspiring photos on Instagram, and consistent, engaging stories on Snapchat and Instagram are all important parts of a successful social media following.  In order to enhance my own presence, I've done some research on a few successful social media channels below:

1.) Lost LeBlanc - Christian Leblanc.  

This is a travel channel and travel video tips channel that has cultivated a successful following on all of the major visual social media channels.  LeBlanc's YouTube channel is thriving with 536K subs.  The videos range from travel montages, to practical how-to videos about packing or traveling in a certain region, and LeBlanc's own brand of travel/ lifestyle vlogging.  Although LeBlanc doesn't seem to engage too many people (about 1% or less) in the likes and comment sections of YouTube, the views don't lie: many of his videos receive 50-250K views which is 10-50% of his subscribership.   LeBlanc has also cultivated a successful Instagram channel with  272K followers, where he averages 15-25% engagement (likes) per post.  Something that I like about LeBlanc's channel is his titling of YouTube video coverframes.  By having the viewer-facing YouTube title page with attractive, eye-catching title like, "The Best Place in Thailand," or "Freedive Spear Fishing," LeBlanc is engaging his viewers.

2.) Millenial Life Crisis- Monica Church.  

This social media channel is a travel blog that is simple in that it profiles the travels of Ms. Church and her reflections about them.  Her YouTube channel has achieved 334K subs with each video garnering approximately 35-90K views.  It seems that post engagement (comments and likes) isn't as high on YouTube, but the real metric is indeed the views, which seems to be in the range of 15-30% of her subs.  Something that strikes me with Church's YouTube videos is the intro animation "Millenial Life Crisis," that appears as a text chat bubble.  I find this really clever and I think it really enhances the professional quality of her videos.  

Ms. Church's Instagram has a respectable 200K subscribers, yet something that doesn't add up for me is the engagement, generally about 5-10% per post.  This low level of engagement makes me wonder if perhaps Ms. Church has employed inorganic methods for gaining followers. 

3.) Thomas Alex Norman- 

Yet another travel/ lifestyle/ filmmaking channel, Mr. Norman has a successful YouTube audience at over 171K subscribers.  Most of his videos earn views from about 25% of his subscriber base, with much less actual engagement in the realm of likes and comments (which seems typical of YouTube channels).  Norman's videos are much more long-form and amateur.  Norman's panoramic shots are well-done, but his actual vlogging is quite shakey.  Nonetheless, Mr. Norman has done a good job at cultivating a YouTube subscriber base.  Interestingly, Norman hasn't translated his YouTube success into Instagram as well, as he has only a fraction of the followers (26.6K).  After looking at Mr. Norman's Instagram, it appears that he hasn't quite tapped into what makes Instagram successful: his shots are at a distance without a clear featured subject.

4.) Cody Ko
Cody Ko's account was a breath of fresh air.  Social media can be overwhelming and anybody actively participating is faced with an almost daily case of "Keeping up with the Jones'."  More content, better editing, crisper graphics- it can sometimes feel like too much, especially trying to break into the overhyped glamor of travel media.  Ko makes light of all of this with a comedy channel meant to deconstruct famous YouTubers and Instagrammers.  

Ko's video that caught my eye is titled like many videos in the travel media vein: "Quit Your Job and Travel Forever!!"  Without knowing that I was entering a parody video, I succumbed to the clickbait and and started watching.  Instead of a travel video, the video was in fact calling out travel media personalities for oftentimes presenting a carefully curated view of their lives.  

In examining Ko's fanbase, he is just shy of 900K YouTube subscribers, and has an Instagram following of approximately 400K.  Engagement is approximately 12-25% (likes) and less for comments.  Unlike Thomas Alex Norman, Ko's YouTube features close-up, real-life shots of him; I believe it is this authenticity that makes Ko's media successful.




















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