Is it a Numbers Game?
Growth in subscriber numbers is a laudable and readily quantified goal, but it’s not indicative of the full impact genealogy content developers have.
Family History Hound ,Ellen Thompson-Jennings video blogged today about building her YouTube channel. She’s passionate about family history research, preserving heirlooms, and understanding the impact of DNA testing on traditional paper trail research. She sells through eBay and Etsy. Her outreach is through her blog and her YouTube channel. She bravely showed her YouTube engagement stats and asks what her followers would like to discuss.(1)
DEVELOPING GROWTH
Take heart. Summertime is traditionally quieter when it comes to online social engagement stats. People travel, attend family reunions, and spend time away from keyboards enjoying outdoor pursuits.
Cousin Russ kept track of our old YouTube channel stats. They correlated to similar participation dips in typed chats and message boards on Q-Link (circa 1985) and PC-Link (circa 1989) and AOL, long before the popularization of genealogy on the internet.
Perhaps the best advice for developing growth is the focus of this interview with well-known YouTuber Evan Carmichael who explained higher frequency of posting increases quality. He explained ‘If you only tried to tie your shoes once a month, you’d probably never learn to tie your shoes.’ (2)
IMPACT
Growth in subscriber numbers is a laudable and readily quantified goal, but it’s not indicative of the full impact genealogy content developers have.
In Ellen’s chosen field of family history, heirlooms, and DNA, there is tremendous value in discussing research analysis and critical thinking with individuals who then bust through brick walls identifying ancestors.
GENEALOGICAL RIPPLE EFFECTS
Understanding the life and times of one’s ancestors is beneficial to one’s self-esteem and sense of identity.
Fostering this understanding is an intangible effect of the work Ellen does.
Psychologists are discovering “The more children knew about their family’s history, the stronger their sense of control over their lives, the higher their self-esteem and the more successfully they believed their families functioned.” (3)
BALANCE
In an increasingly commercialized society, there is evidence of diminishing value of intangibles like developing self esteem. Reality is this — we don’t lead superficial Barbie & Ken lives.
Successful family history & DNA YouTubers must define their goals and strike a balance between the tangible growth of a channel and the intangible ripple effects of the content they provide.
Having nearly 600 YouTube subscribers may not permit Ellen to monetize her content just yet, but her 600 followers compare favorably to the average number of attendees at local genealogical society meetings which is arguably in the range of 30 to 50.
Comparing one’s Youtube genealogy channel to the plethora of YouTube channels selling Amazon products is comparing apples to oranges.
In the genealogy vertical, we have no single entity YouTubers with a million subscribers, meaning it is not a corporation with multiple, professional staffers, each working 40 hours weekly, on nothing but content development.
Connie Knox at GenealogyTV has 1 million subscribers.
- Connie Know of GenealogyTV has 100k subscribers.
- Ancestry has 488k.
- National Archives (US) has 485k.
- FamilySearch has 103k.
- MyHeritage has 65k.
- FindMyPast has 17.6k
PERSONALLY
As your “(Not So) Retired Friend in Genealogy,” DearMYRTLE’s emphasis is on having real-time conversations with fellow researchers, mostly beginners. “Mondays with Myrt” panelists are known for inviting open discussion.
I’m inspired by real-time screen shares with crowdsourced explorations of old documents. We learn together as we ferret out reasonable source citations.
Touring website and software tools, I’m delighted when webinar attendees help me navigate a different approach.
Admittedly, genealogy has never been my main source of income. For me, its creating a safe place for conversation.
Conversation not lectures, though I do reserve the right to be an opinionated panelist.
BOTTOM LINE
The beauty of life in the 21st century is the opportunity to reach an audience using freely available tools like blogs and YouTube.
Its up to individual content creators to decide how to grow their business, but let’s remember success isn’t always defined by the numbers.
ENDNOTES
(1) Ellen Thompson-Jennings – Family History Hound, “Growing My Channel” (July 2-24) (https://youtu.be/u_OvmYvrbdw?si=KEeahkj7nfB68tq4 : viewed 17 July 2024.)
(2) Video Creators, “Quality vs Quantity: Video Strategies for Channel Growth” featuring Evan Carmichael Interview (https://youtu.be/BjdHakCOr14?si=yTvdvT9uyk9aXJJJ : viewed 17 July 2024).
(3) Bruce Feller, “The Stories That Bind Us”, The New York Times, (March 2013), (https://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/17/fashion/the-family-stories-that-bind-us-this-life.html : viewed 17 July 2024).
Pat,
Thank you for your thoughts about my YouTube video about growing my channel. I know you know that my trying to grow my channel isn’t about the money. As I’ve mentioned to you, I love it when someone comments on one of my blogs or videos because it confirms that someone is reading or watching.
Ultimately, my goal is to provide something helpful to others, similar to what you do on Dear Myrtle, by showing new tools and the things you share when interviewing people in the genealogy community.
In my previous career as a purchasing manager, I enjoyed sharing my knowledge. Once, someone said you shouldn’t tell your staff everything you know because they’ll take your job. I told them I share what I know because if my staff do good, they make the team look good, which makes me look good. Everyone wins.
One of my takeaways from your advice and the interview with Evan Carmichael is that I need to get back to consistency—blogging or videoing each week, which I’ve let slide for a while.
Thanks again for noticing my video and providing your thoughts.
Ellen
I think you’ll do marvelously. I’ve seen you in action. That’s why I’m honored to have you as one of the Mondays with Myrt with Myrt panelists/
Myrt