And the Beat Goes On: Fighting the Good Fight on YouTube

I'm not the kind of guy who obsesses about things. But, when I need to be, I am focused. The past couple of weeks I have been homed in on getting my YouTube channel up and running. Not just running, mind you, but humming right along. I am pouring huge amounts of time and treasure into this project. I believe in it. If it doesn't do everything I want it to do, it won't be because I didn't invest the sweat equity or the capital.

I have six segments in the can, of which four are edited. Two are posted. You can see them here (I hope.). For the present, Thursdays at noon will be the schedule for posting new videos. I already have another “Fiji Brothers Panel” video on deck for this coming Thursday. The following week I will post one for the Islamorada Beer Company. If you visit the BEER2WHISKEY YouTube channel, click on the “Subscribe” tab. Apparently 100 is the magic number of subscribers allowing me to do a few unique things with the channel. I was on the channel this morning and I have one subscriber. One down, 99 to go!

I am not abandoning just3thingsvideo.com. In fact, I have a fresh video on how to get the most out of a Jimmy Buffet concert nearly edited. I will post it in the next day or two. I have at least another six or eight segments shot. I just need to find the time to edit them.

I continue to struggle with all of the nuances of YouTube as a platform. It's easy enough to post videos on YouTube, but to establish a presence there is a whole different cat. The people I know who are truly successful there don't do much of anything else. I, on the other hand, have other things to do. I still need to earn a living.

My goal is to transform both of my video projects into their own brands. To do that, sadly, I'll need to broaden their reach through social media. To be honest, I'd rather slam my hand in a car door than invest even 30 minutes a day flitting around all the social media sites promoting my projects. I really don't want to be one of “those people.” But, it must be done.

I think my solution to the social media issue is to hire some entity to handle most of that end of things. I am constantly dunned by companies in India claiming to have the answer for making my projects successful. I have no clue why India is the Promise Land of social media, but when I was a project editor for a book publisher while still living in Florida, we would outsource some of the projects to a company in India. They did an acceptable job. So, I'm not ruling out India.

As I wrestle with the social media issue, I still must shoot more segments. This is no small feat. Not only must I convince breweries and distilleries to participate, the panel format I have established requires I have a sidekick. This is a major hurdle when shooting outside Greenville, SC. It means finding a person I actually want to be with on camera who has the time to shoot a segment or two. At this point, I am forced to restrict my shoots to locations where I have a built-in sidekick. Otherwise, I must get them to the location, as well as house and feed them. I'm not in a position to shoulder that expense, yet.

Yep, I still have a lot to work out. But, it's Sunday, my beer-drinking day. No better opportunity to ponder the possibilities and make a decision or two than over a delicious craft beer.

Cheers!

Creating a YouTube Channel Is Not for the Feint Hearted

I'm not the kind of guy who spends a lot of time futzing with social media. This, of course, renders me a dinosaur within my field and among the carmakers to which I must appeal. Despite the fact that a fair amount of it is more activity than accomplishment, companies like to see themselves mentioned as often as possible whether that really translates into sales or not. At this point, no one actually knows. But this narcissism on the part of auto manufacturers has created a sea change in my industry to which I have been slow to adapt.

I do have auto-media peers who successfully navigate the sea of social media, but the investment of time and treasure it requires is staggering. So, I muddle along doing a few Instagram posts (Which allows me to also share those posts on Twitter and Facebook.) each month on my iPhone 6, and call it a day. My seven followers seem to appreciate my effort.

My lack of social-media skills, however, does have some negative consequences for me. Whenever I do wade into a social-media project, what would take someone familiar with the various platforms an hour to do, takes me days. It's just another reason I basically avoid social media.

I am in the process of launching a second video project. I will continue expanding content on just3thingsvideo.com, but I will now also be producing videos for BEER2WHISKEY. These will be videos dedicated to introducing viewers to various delicious adult beverages, craft breweries and distilleries. To date, I've shot six B2W segments and edited three of them. The two craft breweries I videoed in Islamorada, however, may be history. Hurricane Irma is crashing through the Keys as I write this. The fate of Islamorada Beer Co and the Florida Keys Brewing Co is uncertain at this writing. Fingers crossed!

In terms of how I make these videos available, the big difference between j3t and B2W is, j3t videos are posted on a dedicated Website, but I am hosting the B2W videos on a YouTube channel. At least I'll be hosting those videos on YouTube if I can ever get the damn channel set up and operational.

I was supposed to be in South Florida much of this week and all weekend. The Miami International Auto Show was to kick off this weekend with Saturday designated as media day. The show invited me to attend. I was to fly down early and stay late to spend some time with friends. Tuesday I was in the midst of packing for my Wednesday morning flight when I received an e-mail that the show was postponed due to Irma, and all the media flights had been canceled. Suddenly I found myself with a few unexpected, unbudgeted days at home.

With only a couple of assignments due, I had some extra time to devote to creating my new YouTube channel. I thought I'd have the channel up and running with at least the three already edited videos posted by now. I crack myself up.

I have spent roughly eight or nine hours attempting to set up the channel. “Frustrating” doesn't begin to describe the experience so far. I am ready to body slam an orphan. Every inch of ground gained has been met with stubborn resistance at a level equal to the Japanese defending Iwo Jima. It has been a slugfest of Biblical proportions.

Sure, there are videos posted on YouTube supposedly engineered to help the feeble, ignorant newbie create a channel, but half the time what they show in the tutorial isn't what I see on my channel as I vainly attempt to follow along. Just setting up the banner art was an exercise in patience, restraint and uber research. If I possessed my father's temper, I'd be typing this post on my trusty iPhone because my home laptop workstation would be a pile of bits and pieces in the corner of my office. Should my left arm feel this numb?

I will walk away from this challenge for few days. The Steelers play their first game of the season this afternoon, after all. I need to knock out an assignment for a client on Monday. Then I'm gone for three days for a Lexus event in San Francisco. The earliest I will get back to working on the YouTube channel is next weekend. I have revised the B2W channel up-and-running date from today to December 1. And that's not a shoe in.

I need a beer.