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Content
My thoughts
I wrote this article to share some of my lessons learned for anyone thinking of starting a vlog, and give context on my decision.
Some statistics on our vlog:
We produced an episode every week for 37 weeks
- Over 1,500 hours went into filming and editing
- We gained 418 YouTube subscribers
- Each episode averaged 292 YouTube views and 1,104 LinkedIn Views
- We receive a total of 1,350 likes and 296 comments
First, I want to thank our amazing in-house video team, Jeff Merkel, Chris Reid, and Dafina Gueourguieva. Week after week they showed both amazing patience and amazing creative chops as we tried, stumbled, triumphed, and pivoted. One of my favorite episodes is on the "Creative Process", and it shows how much heart and energy was devoted by them each week.
Was it worth it?
Yes, on two fronts.
We knew going into it that this was not meant to generate sales, but instead build community, broadcast our culture, and share our journey. With that goal, the vlog has been a great success. Nearly every candidate coming in for an interview has said that the vlog made them want to work at Helcim instead of somewhere else. The vlog allowed us to show the world who we are as a company, and it seemed to have resonated with some truly wonderful people that now work or partner with us.
Second, getting comfortable on camera has also been invaluable for me. I certainly don't have the delivery or charisma of a late-night talk show host, but my level of comfort and ability to "turn on" and convey a message has drastically improved compared to where I was in the beginning. This has translated into increased comfort when doing public speaking, podcasts, radio, and tv. As I continue to be the face of Helcim, I'm thankful for the confidence and experience it has brought me.
So why end it?
Time. The time commitment required of me and the video team to produce a vlog every week overtakes other priorities. We put together a video team as part of a content marketing strategy, and the vlog was only supposed to be a small part of the material published every week.
The title is a bit click-bait(y), I apologize. Our plan is still to release a vlog every month or two, but it is the weekly format that is ending. We understand now that we can accomplish our goals of connecting with our community and sharing our culture without the need for a weekly release. Instead, we will create new episodes when we have something truly exciting to share, and we will focus on our other work in between.
Thank you
Thank you for reading this, thank you for watching our videos, and thank you for all the comments and feedback over the year. When we started this vlog we felt isolated, but now we feel surrounded by a wonderful community of people.
Helcim is growing and evolving quickly and the next 12 months will be some of the most transformative in the company's history. I promise to keep sharing moments of our journey, so stay tuned.
-Nic
