I am Not a Chef
Recipe For Content Creation
Executive Summary
I was tasked with creating and running a social media brand across two separate platforms for my design for social media Class. Using Instagram and YouTube I started from the ground up with no viewers or following. I had the goals of getting a small number of views on average on the content I would put out, and to gain a better understanding of content creation. I used my brand to produce simple cooking related content created with beginners in mind.
About the Brand
I have recently developed a passion for cooking, I wanted to share this through my brand. I called my brand “I am Not a Chef”. I thought it was a fitting name as it would show my credentials without me even saying anything. I am not a chef, but just an amateur cook.
The Purpose:
To create simple cooking content to educate and entertain
The Primary Audience:
People with little to no cooking experience, aged 18-25
While this was the primary audience I kept in mind when making my content, I also assumed that a large portion of my views would be those who only viewed it for entertainment and had no desire to learn. So keeping my content entertaining was important if I wanted a wider audience.
Content Pillars:
Product Information, Food Information, Recipes
Rising Action
Content Medium:
Beginning this brand I knew what kind of content I wanted to be creating, so the first thing I needed to decide was which content medium was the most effective. Both in conveying my message and retaining viewers. Since my primary platform was YouTube, I wanted to utilize video content.
Video Format:
For video content I was left with two options, long form and short form video. YouTube has an option for short form videos called YouTube Shorts, where videos are limited to 60 seconds and recorded in portrait mode, this is ideal for mobile users. I suspected this medium would be more successful, but I wanted to try both to see which would yield more successful regarding viewership before committing to one.
Climax
At the beginning of running my brand I created two different pieces of content, one long form video and one short form video. Upon uploading them I found my predictions to be correct, the long form video had nearly no views where the short form video gained over 2,500 views overnight. It was clear that short form videos had more potential, from this point on YouTube Shorts would be my content medium.
Limitations:
But using YouTube shorts came with some trials that were exclusive to the short form video medium. The maximum time limit for a YouTube Short video is 60 seconds. When I made my first YouTube Short I found that it was difficult to fit all of the information that I wanted into such a small window.
Resolution
When making my first YouTube short I realized there were shots I had recorded and planned to have as a part of the video that would not be able to be used, and there were things I had wanted to say in my video that there would just not be time for. Coming to this issue left me with two options. I could abandon YouTube Shorts and go to making long form video content so my ideas would not be impeded by time limitations, however this would surely result in much less viewership on my content. Or alternatively I could reevaluate my short form videos. I realized the latter choice was best if I still wanted some higher amount of views on my videos.
From that point on I realized I had to change my mindset when making short form content, time was limited so I needed to make the most of every second, information that was not essential to purpose of the video needed to be cut out. This limitation on content forced me to reevaluate and remove things from my final product that were not essential and necessary. With this new mindset it changed the way I thought when shooting and editing my videos. Through this change I was able to adapt my content to fit the short form video medium and improve my ability to create content as well. I have also seen growth in my viewership on videos as I regularly upload and feel confident in having met my goals.
