The other day I posted on Instagram and shared that I’ve been wanting to write a blog post lately.

This is where the mjfangirl journey began and I’ve always love to write and express what’s on my mind here. I got a lot of requests to talk about what I’ve learned over the past couple of years blogging and dare I say, being an “influencer” in the Michael Jackson fan community.

So here’s a little background before I get started.

I became a fan as a child in the early 90’s, started participating in forums and events in high school during the Invincible era, saw Michael live at MSG in 2001, and have been collecting MJ merch since I can remember. I began this blog in 2011 but, uploaded my first video on mjfangirlTV on October 1, 2017. I started creating videos because I wanted to create more of a two-way discussion than I was able to on my blog posts.

Since then, I’ve created a community of 12,000+ fellow #MJFAM Michael Jackson fan friends on YouTube and I love how engaged and active everyone is. I post a new video on an average of 3-5 days and the topics range from Michael Jackson related travel, music and merchandise reviews, event coverage, and most popular recently, Michael Jackson reaction videos.

Now let’s get to the good stuff… Here are some of the things I’ve learned in the last 2.5 years of being on YouTube.

Marketing, Marketing, Marketing

This is one of the most important parts of running a Youtube channel. I have a career in marketing and thought that I knew what it would take to properly market my channel to the MJ fan community but, boy…. was I wrong! Youtube is very unique in that it is a search engine and people visit the platform to search for topics that interest them every day.

But with hundreds of thousands of videos on YT, how do you stand out?

YOUR THUMBNAIL AND TITLE are two of the most important things that you need to work on with each video. Over the last year, my thumbnails have changed to become bigger and bolder and my titles have become more interesting. Before the viewer gets to your content, they need to be enticed to actually click on it. I’m not saying that every video needs to be clickbait or that the content and actual video isn’t important… but, I’ve learned that the thumbnail can make or break how my videos do. I watch a LOT OF YOUTUBE creators that I enjoy outside of the MJ community and sometimes apply elements to my channel that I see have worked well.

Building mjfangirlTV was not just about creating yet another Michael Jackson Youtube channel- I am cultivating a BRAND. I am not a big reader but, I’ve come across a book that has been super helpful during my time on Youtube. The book Youtube Secrets by Sean Cannell and Benji Travis was my roadmap to making my channel into something cohesive and not just an array of random ideas. The authors also run the channel Video Influencers where they post videos weekly and I’ve learned a ton of great actionable tips there.

Implementing different strategies on both my Youtube and Instagram have been a lot of fun for me. I can’t wait to be able to recap some of the things I’ve tried at the end of this year and see how well they went. My ultimate goal is to reach as many fans as possible and to continue to create community among the fandom.

The Michael Jackson Community

While we are on the subject of the Michael Jackson fan community, let’s address the elephant in the room- dealing with the controversial topics like Leaving Neverland and all things related. If you’ve watched mjfangirlTV for some time, you know that I never address the topic directly. In fact, I stay as far away from that as possible.

I am extremely proud to be a Michael Jackson fan. I believe in his innocence 100% and I will never waver from that. But I made a promise to myself that I would not touch or speculate on two subjects- the allegations and Michael Jackson’s children. The first topic because, to be honest, there are SO many other Michael Jackson fan organizations, channels, etc. that do a great job of this. There are tons of places where you can find out about the ins and outs of the allegations. There are even channels where you can get real time news and updates on how you can be an activist to fight against misinformation. I never wanted mjfangirlTV to be one of those channels (although I do follow and very much respect so many of the accounts that do this work.)

I personally feel like sometimes the MJFAM community is always ready to FIGHT and with the negative information in the media and elsewhere, it can be hard to remember the joys of being a fan. I love Michael Jackson because he inspires me, his work excites me, he provides escapism, and so much more. He worked so hard for over 40 years and I feel like it’s important to discuss his work and not make every conversation about Michael Jackson, allegation related.

I’ve gotten some requests to discuss topics like Leaving Neverland but, I’ve gotten even more messages thanking me for keeping mjfangirlTV politics and drama free (and I plan to keep it this way)!

The Ups and Downs of Youtube

The ups of Youtube are so amazing and there are so many I can mention but, it might take an entirely separate post for that. To name a few, I’ve met SO many new people, I’ve challenged myself personally, and I’ve enjoyed getting in front of the camera and connecting with fellow fans all around the world. When it comes to the downsides- I will just say that the comment section CAN be ruthless. For the most part I only get sweet and kind comments, mixed with some constructive criticism (which I’m always grateful for) but, sometimes there are some mean ones. Last year I would often repost these and publicly reply but this year I have made it a point NOT to give negative and nasty comments any shine on my social media. Now I just delete and move on… or reply kindly.

I’ve really enjoyed doing Youtube so far and I hope you guys are enjoying it too. If you happen to be reading this and have NOT seen my Youtube channel yet- check it out HERE! Comment below and tell me if you were surprised by anything in this post or just to tell me what’s on your mind!

‘til next time… mjfangirl