Sunday, 23 November 2014

What Is The Secret Of Zoella’s Popularity?

Zoella Sugg is currently the most popular non gaming* UK vlogger with 4,477,833 subscribers to date. She is personable, fairly open about her life, she’s nice looking and she can be funny – but so are hundreds and hundreds of other vloggers. None of those characteristics explain her incredible popularity.

So why is she the number one vlogger?

The answer possibly lies in the nature of her audience. The vast majority of the vloggers’ audience are children and teenagers between the ages of about 10 and 16. Generally it is boys that watch the gaming vlogging channels and it is girls that watch the other vlogging channels.

This demographic of girls between 10 and 16 seem to be especially interested in two things. The first is obvious – many of the most popular vloggers are attractive young men with especially lovely hair, but it is the second reason that is key to Zoella’s popularity. Fans of Zoella are also fans of her real world social network.

Zoella’s boyfriend also vlogs. His name is Alfie Deyes and he vlogs under the name Pointlessblog. He is also incredibly popular – he currently has 2,121,297 subscribers to his YouTube channel. Zoella’s brother is another vlogger. His name is Joe Sugg and he vlogs at the ThatcherJoe channel – he is cute as a button (and has especially lovely hair) and he currently has 1,847,431 subscribers. Her best friend is Louise (SprinkleofGlitter). She currently has 1,280,011 subscribers. Zoella is also friends with fellow Brightonian Marcus Butler (2,271,000 subscribers), Tanya Burr (2,011,690 subscribers), Tanya’s boyfriend Jim Chapman (1,382,688 subscribers) and the globe trotting daily vlogger Louis Cole (FunForLouis – 649,844 subscribers). As well as this core audience of UK vloggers Zoella is also friends with many of the leading American, Australian and South African vloggers.

All of these vloggers regularly appear in Zoella’s vlogs. They all hang out together, they go on holidays together, they have days out in London together and they all vlog their lives together in hundreds of collaboration videos.

It is this aspect of Zoella’s YouTube channel that is probably the key to why she is so incredibly popular because it is to be imagined Zoella’s subscribers see themselves as part of this network. They love being part of this young adult world of boyfriends, and shopping and holidays and BFFs mucking about.

Zoella is brilliant at producing content that appeals to this desire amongst girls and teenagers to be included in Zoella’s lovely, friendly world.

There are hundreds of examples of films that do this on her channel but this one makes the point as good as any:

This film was filmed at the recent Playlist event in Florida which is a gathering of YouTube content creators and their fans. Most of the leading YouTube vloggers were there and most of them appeared in Zoella’s videos. In this film we meet Joe, Louise. Marcus, Niomi, Connor, Shay, Alfie, Troye, Tyler, Caspar, Louis, Tanya and Jim – all of whom are incredibly popular vloggers.

This is what the fans love – they love being part of this interconnected social network of young, happy, well off, attractive people who lead lovely lives and who are all friends – and you can see these fans in the video queueing up to hug Zoella, Louise and Tanya and to be part of their world.

*As the name suggests gaming vloggers talk about computer and video games. The popularity of the most popular gaming vloggers rivals that of Lady Gaga and One Direction.

YouTube Creator Stories: How Zoella Brought the Best Out of Her Channel

THE RUNDOWN

Zoe Sugg – better known on YouTube as Zoella – has been on the platform since 2009, emerging as one of the leading YouTubers in the beauty and fashion vertical. About to embark on her own Zoella Beauty line and publish her first novels, she has become well known off the platform, but remains hugely engaged with her core audience on her YouTube channel. Here we outline four key strategies that drove Zoella to her current level of success.

THE GOALS

Build a community for beauty lovers on YouTube
Share a slice of life for others to enjoy
Grow views, subscribers and watch-time

THE APPROACH

Engage fans with authentic, personable content
Collaborate on a regular basis with a wide range of creators
Use annotations wisely to keep viewers watching

THE RESULTS

14.3 million average video views monthly
Over 5.8 million subscribers
83.6 million minutes average watch-time monthly

Saturday, 22 November 2014

Zoella IS a great role model

With a Penguin book deal, a bespoke beauty range and two Teen choice awards under her belt, Zoe Sugg - aka Zoella - is hugely successful and a fabulous role model

Zoella, the YouTuber with over eight million subscribers Photo: Christoher Pledger

By Alice Audley

6:44PM BST 20 Oct 2014

4 Comments

The dip-dyed hair, the floppy hats, the dark lipstick. There were hundreds of them; all shouting, screaming and jostling. A mosh pit of teenage girls. An army of clones. All dressed like their idol and all desperate to get the first glimpse of her.

“She’s inspirational,” one girl shouts from the bustling queue, “She gives great advice,” pipes another, just before her neighbour wails “She’s gorgeous!” and starts to cry. Who is this ‘she’? Who is all the fuss about? Why, Zoella, of course.

Zoella – aka Zoe Sugg – is one of the 21st century’s new breed of celebrity: The YouTube Star. Known as YouTubers, these internet sensations, have channels on Google’s online video service where they post clips of themselves doing anything from product reviews to practical jokes. And their audiences are colossal.

Though many of them have been uploading for the past five years, it’s only been in the last 12 months that things have, in Zoe’s words, “massively snowballed” and mainstream brands have taken note. Zoe should know; her two channels, Zoella, where she posts tutorials on hair and make-up, and MoreZoella, in which she films her everyday life (vlogging), have over eight million subscribers. She’s also won the Radio Teen Choice Award twice, launched her own beauty range and secured a two-book deal with Penguin.

“It’s crazy how quickly everything is moving,” the gorgeous Zoe tells me over lunch. With her fine features, long Rapunzel hair - dunked a rich caramel at the tips – she looks like a Disney Princess. “Five years ago I would never have imagined where I would be now.”

Lunch with Zoella? Yes, after a bit of wrangling, I managed to secure a day with the social media sensation in London to find out, first-hand, what being a YouTuber entails. What a day in the life of 24-year-old Zoe Sugg is like. On the menu was lunch, a visit to the post office to send off a corrupted memory card, a ‘meet and greet’ with 500 fans, and a speech at Google event Brandcast. Just your average afternoon, then…

“The last six months is the busiest I’ve ever been in my life!” she says of her manic schedule. “It’s been very difficult to juggle. I would say that I have to turn down 90% of all the opportunities that come in.”

With Eight million fans, who cling onto her every word, opportunities are not in short supply. Indeed, the influence of Zoe and her ilk is responsible for a seismic shift in advertising campaigns. With YouTube viewership growing at 50 percent year on year, agencies in the UK are now investing more money on promoting their brands online than on television. But it’s not just due to a jam-packed diary that Zoe declines offers; she’s very strict about what she thinks will benefit her audience.

“I am very specific. It would have to be one of three things: a brand I love, something that’s going to help my audience in some way or something which will enrich my content”.

Her main priority is her audience and it’s clear that she feels a responsibility towards them and what, from her channel, they consume. But having so many people listening, expecting updates and, in some cases, depending on her, does it ever get too much?

“If I really think about it, it scares me a bit, because I think anything I say could change someone’s life,” she says. “But, at the same time, it’s such a nice thing to have because I know that I can make a difference to a lot of people and help them.”

One of the things Zoe helps her audience with is anxiety. Having suffered from panic attacks since she was 14, she openly discusses her experiences on her channel – her Anxiety QnA has been viewed over two million times - and has recently collaborated with the charity Mind. Though she gets a lot of support from her viewers, the rare troll can slip into the comment box. This week was one of those occasional times. After missing a friend’s launch party in London after suffering from a panic attack, comments appeared accusing her of using her anxiety as an excuse for being lazy.

“Normally, I don’t care. But I was having an anxious time at that moment and I got really angry.” The idea of Zoe angry is rather difficult to fathom; her enthusiasm is infectious and most of her sentences are punctuated with giggles.

“I felt frustrated for everyone else who suffers from anxiety who had to read those comments. I think it’s ignorant, which is one of the reasons I want to work with Mind so much – as there’s still such a stigma around mental illness. Because you can’t see it, it’s a lot more difficult for people to understand it.”

Though Zoe’s panic attacks can happen anywhere, most episodes occur in big places, when she’s surrounded by lots of people - which, with her newfound fame, is quite often. Last year, Zoe was mobbed at a One Direction concert and security had to remove her from the stadium and put her in a room backstage. She suffered a massive panic attack and didn’t even make the gig. Despite the experience being unpleasant, she doesn’t blame the fans. Hyperfandom is something that’s part of being a YouTube star.

“I’ve never had any terrible situations,” Zoe says. “There are people who have found out where I live and sat outside for hours shouting, or ringing my doorbell – as an anxious person that’s not ideal! But, I always know that they've got good intentions and that they’re not doing it to be creepy.”

In fact, Zoe’s favourite thing about being a YouTuber is “meet-ups” – all of which, due to the number of people, require security. At her boyfriend’s, fellow YouTuber Alfie Deyes (who, under the name Pointless Blog, films himself playing video games and challenges), book launch, Waterstones in Piccadilly underestimated how many fans would turn up – in the event 8,000 – and the road had to be closed off and a helicopter brought in to monitor the crowd. “It was crazy. I was so overwhelmed that I cried,” she says.

No doubt, when her book ‘Girl Online’ launches next month, there will be similar scenes and the locations of the signings are, for the time being, under wraps. But there’s another crowd that’s waiting to see Zoe today.

Back at Brandcast, the mini-Zoe’s have been queuing outside for hours. The time to meet their idol has finally arrived. With her make-up touched up, her dip-dyed hair styled neatly into a beehive and wearing a checked playsuit, the star is ready for them. With an excited squeal, the barrier comes down and in they flood. Zoe is in her element; she smiles, chats and hugs them all. She’s their role model, big sister, but most of all, their friend. Which for a bona fide celebrity, in the words of the first shrieking girl, really is “inspirational.”

Why Beauty Vlogger Zoella IS a good role model for teenage girls

I recently read Chloe Hamilton’s article on The Independent entitled; ‘Of course, teenage girls need role models – but not like beauty vlogger Zoella- Her particular brand of sickly sweet girl power brings me out in hives.’ Whilst I haven’t written a blog in ages I thought this was the perfect topic to get myself back in the swing of things and of course, defend the innocent Zoella! (Zoe Sugg)

Whilst I see how Zoella could be deemed as sickly this paints her as fake and exaggerated and I don’t think this is fair. I have been an avid watcher of Zoe’s YouTube videos for about three years, and although in this time she has gained a lot of fame and fortune the content and fun of her videos has never changed. One of the reasons that Zoe makes videos entitled, ‘My everyday make-up routine’ and ‘festival hair tutorial’ is because this is what her viewers want. Scrolling through the comments on Zoe’s videos there is an endless want for tutorial videos and when she does put daily vlogs or other fun tutorials about cooking or D.I.Y many of her subscribers don’t feel satisfied with this. Whilst she may be showing young teenagers an ideal that many of them may feel they can’t reach, she never covers up the bad. One heartfelt vlog on her second channel recently showed her in floods of tears at the overwhelming feeling of it all being too much. In this video she quotes; ‘Although this is like, really personal for me to upload, it’s important that you guys know that when I say you literally see ten minutes of my day you literally see ten minutes of my day and you tubers can seem like they have the most perfect life but everything that you don’t see could be shit.’

Zoella is quite literally only giving her viewers what they want to keep them happy. In this same vlog she goes on to say; ‘I’m now feeling bad that this is my vlog for the day, I put a lot of pressure on myself and I take all your comments into consideration and I just want to make everyone happy.’

Zoe is a real person and whilst she may be sweet and hyperactive, what is wrong with that!?

Hamilton fails to mention the many deep, genuinely helpful videos Zoe has such as ‘Your skin doesn’t define you’ and ‘Sometimes it all gets a bit too much.’ Zoe, in no way encourages young girls to wear tons of makeup and wear the ‘right’ clothes, she instead provides helpful advice to how to feel comfortable in your own skin. In ‘your skin doesn’t define you Zoe sits in front of the camera completely make-up free and says;

‘If your watching this and you feel like you aren’t comfortable in your own skin and you don’t like how your face looks I just want you to know that nobody is perfect and if you’ve got spots or acne or blemishes or scaring or birthmarks or freckles or something about your face you don’t like your not the only person who has that and it’s normal it’s totally normal and it’s beautiful aswell.’

Zoe is encouraging girls to embrace themselves as they are and is showing them ways of enhancing features they already have with makeup, if they want to. Makeup, hair and clothes is Zoe’s passion if you’re not interested in these things then it’s simple. Don’t watch her videos. The audience of Zoella’s videos are girls that want to know what is new on the high street, and girls who want reviews of new makeup and beauty products. In recent months as Zoe’s audience has expanded what is expected of her has expanded also and it is completely impossible for her to keep everybody happy. In no way is she a bad role model, just because she is a naturally pretty, skinny young woman does not automatically put her in the category of a bad role mode.

I love Zoella and have done for many years. Her videos put a smile on my face and cheer me up when I’ve had a bad day. She is a positive role model and seems like a lovely person!

TEENAGE GIRLS NEED ROLE MODELS- BUT NOT LIKE ZOELLA”

Those are the words of Chloe Hamilton who wrote an article for The Independent under Independent Voices. The original article can be found HERE.

I have been following the blogging industry for the past four to five years now, focusing on fashion and beauty blogs and making the switch to watching YouTube videos about three years ago along side the blogs.

As previously mentioned in a post before, LLYMLRS is the one that got me hooked on exploring blogs and I started following Zoella about a year ago now, just before she won her first BBC Teen Award.

Zoella is just a regular girl who started blogging from the comfort of her home, she played around with make up and clothes and after six years of blogging she has shot to fame. You may recognise her face from a recent YouTube televised advert and you may see her branded beauty products in shops soon.

Chloe Hamilton uses her article to slate Zoella and her work into the ground.

“It’s maddening that a girl who has made it her business to tell teenagers how to put make up on.”

I am in the last three months of being a ‘teenager’ yet I find her videos inspiring. At the beginning of most of her make up videos she claims that she is not a make up artist and everything she does is personal yet there are still little tips and techniques to pick up on.

Hamilton’s main argument in the article is that Zoella recently said in an interview: “When you’re younger you worry about so many things that you don’t need to worry about like image, appearance.”

Why is she being slated by Hamilton for a piece of advice which is so true. Teenagers should care less. I spent my younger teenage years caking on make up to cover up spots, I didn’t have the YouTube community there to tell me that they were normal and everyone else goes through it.

Why can’t we embrace what Zoella is saying, a message to the youth, telling them something that she wishes she told her younger self maybe, I know it is definitely something I wish I knew when I was younger.

This is one video that has stuck in my mind ever since I watched it. I have recently broken out, mainly because I have been eating too many sweets… But when she says “Spots are normal,” even at the age of 19 it reassures me that yes it is normal whether they are hormonal or diet related.

I think a girl slating another girl especially when they are successful is disheartening. Stick together, be proud that we have someone out there talking to the next generation whether is is about mental health or make up.

Saturday Shopping.

Yikes..I went shopping again. Almost all from Boots or superdrug though so it's not too bad.

♥

First, I went into Mac and got the pink fish lip conditioner. I like this, although i did think it would be a bit more "conditioning". Then in Superdrug whilst i was purchasing items for my lucky charm swap, i also picked up the 101 lipstick and a dazzle dust in 88 (Wild berry). In Barry M at the mo, it's buy any 2 items and get an eye kohl free..so as i bought 4 barry m items (including my dd's for the swap) i got 2 free pencils, one in grey and one in white.

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Everything in the neutrogena visibly clear range is by 2 for £5 so i picked up this face wash/mask as i'd previously seen lollipop26 talk about it and wanted to try it out. I also picked up a moisturiser for my boyfriend, but that isn't very exciting. I get him good gifts (?!) Then everything in the AUSSIE range was buy 2 for £6 so i got curl definition serum and a deep conditioning treatment. The treatment smells vile...I hope it works.

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This was the most exciting. Everything in the soap & glory range was reduced by as much as £5 on some items! So as u can see, i took advantage slightly? Top left is a body scrub..this smells SO nice, i can't quite put my finger on the smell, Fruity..kindof.. but nice none the less. :) Second is a body butter, I think my mum is going to steal this as she loved it so much. This is my favourite smell of all the items. It smells fresh. Theeennn i got a facial scrub (I know..another one?) I can't help it, i just want to try everything.

The two things at the front are an underye concealer (I'm ALWAYS trying these, and i had no idea soap and glory did one?) and a motherpucker lipgloss set which was reduced by £5 and there was one left. It was practically screaming at me. I'm so glad i bought these, i had forgotten how amazing they were. My mum had one years ago and i stole it (and lost it..oops) They taste like chocolate and i put some on my lips about 3 hours ago...and its still going strong,even through munching and drinking. Look at the packaging...It's worth buying just for that!

From Top to bottom: Half Naked, Baby Doll, Plum Juice.

From Lef to Right: Plum Juice, Baby Doll, Half Naked.

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O.P.I

Almost forgot, my O.P.I (Sally's) purchases.

From Left to Right: "I'm Indi-a mood for love", "Feelin' Hot-hot-hot!", "Aphrodite's pink nightie", "Done out in Deco" and a boring old black. :)

I will post colour swatches when i apply each colour to my nails, apart from the black, because we all know what that looks like.

Let me know if you want any reviews guys.

When I set out to buy one thing...

...I always end up buying something else. Isn't that always the way though?

I actually went into town to purchase the new sims game (I know, i know..i'm 19 years old, why do i want that?) haha well if you must know i love it & i have always been a fan ever since the first sims came on the scene 10 years ago. The good old days of "Hot date" and "Vacation"..Me and my friend would spend hours creating characters that looked like us and then running and ruining theirs lives as we pleased. Who doesn't like playing god?

BTW..for those of you who share this obsession, i highly reccommend Sims3. I'm not here to do a full blown review don't panick, but it's so much fun & hours simply fly by. It can get a bit addictive so i would suggest you set aside some sims time. :D

Anyway, I bought the Sims3 game and then thought "right, well..i'll be off then" but i still had time to spare as my boyfriends brother had driven me in and he was off doing his own thing. So obviously i strolled into a few shops. Here are my purchases..

I managed to find a glamour mag. I looked in most shops and they didn't have any. But M&S had a lovely supply. This month Glamour gave us all a treat and threw in a Benefit BADgal mascara. (Many people's HG mascara) If any of you hadn't already noticed this i suggest you run out a grab one while they're still around.

I then bought "Well Dressed" blush from Mac as i'd heard alot of good feedback from other makeup junkies. I had swatched this a few times beforehand and thought it was gorgeous. It's a very pretty baby pink, and brightens my complexion nicely :)

In Mac, i also purchased "Hue" lipstick. This is a gorgeous nude and i'm so surprised i didn't already own this because i am loving it, and it should be a staple in any Nude-Fan's collection.
I also purchased the Barry M lip paint in 53, a gorgeous coral. The colour does seem quite scary but it actually comes out a very pretty sheer colour.

In Superdrug GOSH is currently 3 for 2 and i took up on this offer as my mum has asked me to pick up a concealer for her, so i bought the eyeshadow base (Pictured in first pic). Which is gorgeous white with blue iridescence. I have yet to test it for its staying/non creasing power. I also picked up this "Light N Shine lip glaze" in NO5. I picked this up because i was going to buy the Mac Dassleglass in Fantabulous as it was a gorgeous purple with blue specks, but this..being ALOT cheaper and having a similar appeal grabbed my attention. I LOVE IT. It's my new favourite lipgloss. It's not overly cheap at around £8-9 but it's alot cheaper than the dazzleglasses, plus this comes with a cute mirror on the side and lights for applying gloss in dark places.. :)

Some rather rubbish swatches.. (Sorry girlies...The snazzy camera is not so good at focusing on closeups in artificial light..think this shot took about 20 attempts)[Top to Bottom: GOSH Light N Shine in NO.5 (does not do it justice AT ALL), Mac Hue, Barry M Lip paint in NO.53, GOSH Eye base - no name, just black tube)

Hope you're all having a lovely weekend..I'm off to play the Sims now..ha
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