There are two distinct areas to what I do. Many of you will know me as a tech reviewer and commentator - but some of you may simply take an interest in what I do as a content creator.
For the last couple of years, I’ve attempted to separate these two areas of interest into sub-brands that sit within Mark Ellis Media. Both sub brands have their own YouTube channels and social media accounts. On the surface, it sounds simple, doesn’t it? Post tech stuff on Mark Ellis Reviews. Post content creator stuff on Solo Club. For instance, the video I published about the iPad mini yesterday sits within the former, while this newsletter is a facet of the latter.
As it turns out - this is really hard - and I need to make some changes.
I love what I do. I’m also fascinated by how the content creator industry works. If I’m brutally honest, I got into this game because my primary interest lies within content creation - tech is simply the vehicle I used to build a following that enabled me to make this a full time endeavour. Don’t get me wrong - I’m a nerd; I love tech and I genuinely enjoying talking and writing about it. But it’s content creation that really gets me excited.
I also love sharing what I learn. I became aware very early on during the initial stage of growth that people were fascinated by what I was doing. How do I come up with ideas? What camera am I using? How did you get that brand to send you that? How much money can you make as a YouTuber? Etcetera. It was clear that there was a thirst among my audience to learn more about the craft of creating YouTube videos, writing blog posts, and making those creative endeavours profitable. Put simply, these weren’t questions about the latest iPhone.
That’s why I started Solo Club. My intuition appeared to be correct, too - the Solo Club YouTube channel built a small but highly engaged following relatively quickly, and this Substack newsletter remains one of the most successful weekly email campaigns I’ve ever run in terms of audience engagement.
However, there’s always been a nagging feeling that I’m doing something wrong. This is backed up by the numbers. Growth of the Solo Club YouTube channel has completely stalled, despite relatively decent numbers being generated by my weekly livestreams. The Creator Academy (which is up and running and still available to join, by the way) has been a tough sell. The Solo Club social channels have been, basically, a waste ground in terms of audience growth.
More importantly - Solo Club is running at a loss.
The last point is, conversely, fine. I’ve never been a fan of the term ‘loss leader’ but I guess it’s unavoidable when talking about Solo Club. This sub brand is funded entirely by Mark Ellis Reviews and I’ve always known that any sales generated by digital products or academy memberships aren’t going to cover the costs of running Solo Club. Yet.
The bigger problem is the fact that I’ve always struggled to maintain consistency and a sense of direction with the content. This is ironic, when you bear in mind that the whole point of Solo Club is to offer guidance for people who want to build audiences; it appears to be incapable of building one itself ! I’ve talked about my struggles with this a lot on this newsletter - just in case you’re wondering why this all sounds so familiar.
I’m making some changes. Again. While I’m still struggling to figure out what to do with the Solo Club YouTube channel beyond those weekly livestreams (which I have no desire to end, by the way - I love doing them), I do know that I need to change the direction and makeup of the short form content we’ve dabbled with. Rather than clips from podcast interviews and snippets from the Solo Club YouTube videos I used to make, I need to show more of me and what happens behind the scenes.
This is why the Solo Club Instagram account is now called ‘Mark Ellis’. It’s why the content on that account is now me holding my phone and waffling on about what it’s really like to be a content creator. Off the cuff, rough and ready, and completely unscripted. Whenever inspiration strikes, or something happens which I absolutely have to share from behind the scenes of my business - it goes there. How this will translate to YouTube I have no idea - we’re working on that - but I do know that I need to restart somewhere and generate a growing audience around my brand as a content creator.
Once again, this is a lot harder than it sounds. I’ve been sharing that kind of content through the Mark Ellis Reviews social channels pretty much since I started. I’m acutely aware, however, that most people follow me there for my thoughts on tech - not for rants about filming in public or monologues about what’s important to me as a content creator. Equally, the content I create for Solo Club often veers into the tech niche, either because I’m talking specifically about it, or because audience interaction inevitably swings that way. So, the question becomes: how do I separate these two streams of content? What goes where? How do I build an audience for my content creator brand that’s entirely separate from that of the tech reviews brand?
It’s going to be fun finding out, and if you do fancy joining me on this journey (beyond your valued participation in this newsletter), I encourage you to check out that Instagram account!
Oh, and by the way - I’ve just published a new eBook. It’s called The Content Creator’s Handbook, and it’s a collection of guides designed to help people follow in my footsteps. You can grab your copy here!