What I want to take you through is what's happened really, since these YouTube Shorts have become part of my channel. Because what you need to remember is I've gone from doing vlogs, I've then done tarot card readings, one card pulls, and things like this. But what has actually been going on in the background? How have my numbers, all of a sudden jumped up to... nearly 400. 
And I'll 
Hello, welcome back to another episode of Tech Talks and Soul Walks with myself, Julie Kubiak. Now, if you've only just come across this video, because you're interested in the title of it. Let me just give you a bit of background first of all. This is actually a part of a podcast, which I release on a weekly basis. And it's called Tech Talks and Soul Walks and mixed in between all of them, 
it's a combination of tarot, astrology, stuff like that. Followed by a technology one. So if you haven't heard of this before, go and have a look for Tech Talks and Soul Walks or check out my other videos on my Podcast playlist. 
My background is actually an IT, and I've had a YouTube channel since I had my first Gmail account, which I think it was back in the late nineties, but I closed that account down when I got divorced. So my new account has been running since 2014. And it was a mish-mash of lots of different things on that channel. 
It was just mainly things that I wanted to video and send back to friends and family back in the UK, because at this point I was living in France.
During locked down like everybody did, we decided to get a new hobby or a new pastime. And I decided to grab my deck of tarot cards and start to do tarot readings, but I burnt myself out. Although I started off the channel with probably just three or four family, friends, subscribers. I managed to hit 93 subscribers. But by doing tarot, I was doing 12 readings every week. Obviously that is quite a lot of videos to record and edit. 
I just couldn't do it. It was just literally draining me. And even though these were short, like 5, 10 minute videos, that takes a lot to edit anything if you want it as perfectionist as I do. And because I am a perfectionist because having my background in IT. I know what I want to do. I know what should be capable of doing, and I know therefore what I want to present as a finished item.
So after hitting the 93 subscribers, it didn't budge. 
I decided to resurrect my comedy videos, which I'd done when I was living in France, which were under the name of Mystic Prosecco. They are not serious. Trust me. If you want to go and listen to them or watch them. You're better off watching them to be honest because of some of the things are more visual. But Mystic Prosecco is tongue and cheek. Um, Medium, but she 'Connects with Spirits' and that's all I will say. 
I will just let you going to have a look at them. So it resurrected some of those videos again, and it wasn't getting any, many, any views, many or any whatever. But then in 
2023. Summertime. I won a place to go down to the Google offices to a YouTube event, which was for aspiring YouTubers let's say. I mean, I'm a YouTuber now I suppose. I'm a Content Creator. And we learned so much on that day. Background of Google and YouTube. Plus as well, we learned a lot of information about YouTube Shorts. So, what I want to take you through is what's happened really, since these YouTube Shorts have become part of my channel. Because what you need to remember is I've gone from doing vlogs, I've then done tarot card readings, one card pulls, and things like this. But what has actually been going on in the background? How have my numbers, all of a sudden jumped up to. Nearly 400.
So I was focused more on the content. I wanted to deliver something that was sharp, clean, crisp. It had to be accurate. Um, I wouldn't upload it unless it was absolutely perfect, which meant it put a lot of pressure on myself. But these days, with Shorts, everyone can just pick up the phone and point and click and that makes it so much easier. There's no editing involved. 
There's no scripting. A lot of it is just literally something in the moment that has been captured and you're sharing with the world.
Back in November, 2023. I was going to YouTube event in Birmingham. So I popped into Selfridges in Birmingham. And wanted to get my makeup done. And at the time I was under the Lancôme counter, just for various bits and pieces.
I couldn't get to see the person on the Lancôme counter and I kind of then verred off towards Dior for some reason. I couldn't explain why. 
I had a fantastic make-over with this a woman. I won't say a name on here, but we got on, we had a bit of banter. I bought loads of stuff, cause I wasn't happy with the foundation I was using at that time. And I left. But it was nighttime. So I went to the YouTube Event. I have my photos taken. Came back still nighttime of course. Took my makeup off. Didn't think anything more of it, went to put it on a few days later. Wrong colour. And I was like, oh my gosh. 
Didn't know if she'd given me the wrong colour in the box. Or if it was, you know, mismatched wrong or anything like this. 
So I went into John Lewis at Solihull. And I spoke to the Manager there, of the Dior counter, and she said, you've been colour matched wrong. So I straight away grabbed my phone and thought right. YouTube Short. So I quickly filmed a short on my phone said to the Manager there said, Look, you know, they've got to do something it's wrong colour, wrong match. 
Whatever's happened. And we were talking about the lighting and things like this. And she said, well, at least, you know, they should exchange it or give you a refund. But I wanted that foundation there and then, so I had to buy it there and then. So the video was basically saying, please Dior, if you watch this video, can you reach out to me? Let me know what I've got to do about getting an exchange or a refund because the colour match was wrong. And. I'm assuming, I can't think maybe that was a middle of the week or end of the week. Within 12 hours. 
I had 40,000 views on that video. But I will say at this point, that video, although it went on YouTube, I've got the 40,000 views on TikTok. And it absolutely ballooned up. And although I wasn't a big fan, or a big user of TikTok obviously the community was out there, that was straight on board. But there was no scripting and there was no editing.
So that one video that I put up, it actually ended up on TikTok with this many views. It ended up with 40,000 views overnight. So within 12 hours, 40,000 views. And the comments went absolutely ballistic.
The backlash I got from TikTok was unbelievable. And it kind of scared me off a bit. Even though I'd done nothing wrong, but there was no scripting and there was no editing, ok. So that's really what I'm trying to get to. I just literally grabbed my phone and I spoke genuine, authentic, and just said what happened. Asked them to reach out to me. Now, because this was November getting into then December, Christmas time, very busy time of the year. 
Obviously it was going to be tricky for me to get hold of anybody. And that's why I put that video up. I had tried in vain to actually speak to them, ring them. Um, couldn't get through. Nobody could actually put me through to the counter.
So anyway, the Manageress of Dior counter at Selfridges reached out to me. And she said. As a gesture of Goodwill to show you that there's no hard feelings. We're really sorry. We will definitely give you the exchange, but would you like to come and spend a day at the Dior counter with us? And. Um, She just said, there's gonna be some surprises there. That was all I knew. And I had champagne on arrival. I had over, I think it's about an hour and a quarter facial. Um, Experience, it was like a massage and also different oils and things used on my face. I then had a most wonderful tour through the fragrance... through the fragrances of Dior. And they then asked me if I would like to go back to have my makeup done after my face has kind of like settled down from all these treatment. So they invited me back for a week or two later. They also gave me a massive big bag full of goodies and surprises in there as well. 
And I was blown away and I didn't do it because I was after something. Yet the backlash and all the ripping I got on TikTok was absolutely shocking.
When I showed the Dior Manager the. comments that were on TikTok, they said that is unbelievable. We knew that you'd done this video from the, from your heart center. Totally totally. Just genuine. You weren't looking for, you know, I'm going to take you to court. I'm going to sue you. You know, blah, blah, blah. 
It wasn't anything like that. I was just saying, please reach out to me. And they did. So that video actually ticked that box. They did as I expected. Contacted me very, very quickly and very professionally, I will say. And we sorted things out. And it wasn't as if like some of the comments said. Oh, it's a bit like a bottle of wine that you've opened and then you want a refund when you finished drinking it. It wasn't anything like that. Nor, like the comments that said, oh, somebody that after something for nothing. Oh, I suppose you actually bought the foundation, did you? Prove it? The fact is Dior could see my customer service account and they knew that I was genuine. So because I was genuine, they were genuine with the response that they obviously bounced back to me and it just blew my mind.
So when I did go back the following week or two weeks afterwards, The following video that I did, the Short absolutely rocketed. It got 5 K views on TikTok, just because people were then interested to see what was going to happen. And then off the back of that then, I did a long form video on YouTube. 
It's about an hour and a quarter, if you want to go and search that one out. And that was about the Dior experience that I had. And Charli who. . And Charli, who did the makeup that day. Sorry, there's so many Dior people now that I know, absolutely adorable, all of them. Um, but yeah, Charli did the make upon that day.
So at this point, my TikTok numbers were going up and I think I was approaching about a hundred on TikTok, but I was still craving the numbers on YouTube. And it wasn't really moving many at all. I think I was probably at this point now on about 115.
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So we were recommended on the YouTube partner program to post Shorts, post them regularly. Um, make them fun, entertaining, whatever you wanted, but that isn't really in me. Yes. I can do entertaining. I can do funny. I've done stage, dance, drama, everything else like that. But my kind of love is in IT as well. 
So I wanted to do a bit of both. But the two weren't really coming together very well.
So I was posting Shorts and a few of them did get some traction, did get some comments and things like this. But with Shorts, what you need to understand is like any kind of uh, content. It's not just about the views that you have. It's about the interaction as well. So how many people are commenting, how many people are not only just liking, but maybe sharing it onto somebody else.
So there's another YouTuber that I'm following and her name is Susannah and I'll put a link underneath with her channel name and she does Ninja Foodie recipes all done in an Ninja Foodie 15 in 1. That's exactly the exact same machine that I've got. 
So this one day, myself and my daughters decided we were going to have a go with a whole chicken and do this Sunday dinner. And I followed it to the T. 
Absolutely. I waited for the whole chicken to cook. The steam to be released. Everything. Literally step-by-step. The minute I opened up that Ninja Foodie lid... and I looked in... there was one thing that she hadn't told me to do because I was literally listening and watching it step by step on my Google Home Max. It didn't tell you to remove the basting brush, did it. So I basted it, for some reason, put the brush down on the chicken. Turned around to read the rest of it, put the lid down. Well, I was shocked horrified, but then I started to laugh to myself and I just grabbed my phone and I filmed it. 
If you see the video, all that was left of this basting brush was the brush bit, the red bit. And also the white plastic handle, which had melted. It kind of like draped nicely over the chicken legs in the Ninja Foodie.
It basically looked like a piece of artwork. Not bad for a Sunday afternoon. Is it?
That video on TikTok got 22.7K views. It only got 3 K on YouTube though.
But I simply titled it 'Sunday dinner art, follow me for more'
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The YouTube High Five event that I was invited to, or won a place at. It allowed me to then step into the YouTube Partner Program for Shorts.. And the Shorts Partner Manager that I have, she will send out tasks or challenges, every now and then for us to keep our channel going, keep the Shorts being posted and obviously to generate interest for anybody that's into Short form content, because predominantly YouTube is about the long form content.
So when a few of us from that YouTube event and we are all still in touch, when we decided to have a get together at Christmas time. End of November, actually, we decided to do as many Shorts as we could. Just post them up, but obviously not on the same day that they'd been recorded. So we kind of recorded a whole load, edited them as we were going along and then posted them throughout the weeks. Now. I teamed up with Lee Penn, who is Football League Adventures and Connor, who is Connor Does Gaming. And we did actually get some really good Shorts. 
And I also did a short vlog as well of the day. Very very short ,it's only five minutes, but it doesn't need to be any longer.
So when we met up at 10:00 AM in the morning, I spotted the HMV store in Oxford Street.
And I remember that it had closed. I think it must've been before lockdown or it had closed and moved actual locations. And I was like, 'Ooh, let me just film this as a Short'. So I pointed to the alleyway that we'd all been told to queue up to have this meet and greet with this band who were going to then be in the HMV store in Oxford street and about, I think it was 1984, 85. And it was to meet the band A-ha.
And that is simply all that the video said. I didn't realise that the Flagship Store, as it was, had only just reopened that week.
And that video got me 7.1 K. So over 7,000 views on YouTube.
It got 10 K on TikTok. But only 452 as it stands at the minute on Instagram. So as you can see, some of these platforms are more geared up for the short form content. YouTube kind of is a bit behind with everybody else for platforms where people go to actually watch the Shorts.
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Lee and I had both wanted to go to the Winter Wonderland Experience And a member of the staff offered to take my phone and just do like a 360. Uh, spin around the room so she could capture us at the end of it. And all it was was us at the end, holding up our ice glassess with our cocktails in going 'Cheers!'. Now that video. Got 2,400 views on YouTube. Obviously it's things like tagging. 
So like tag the Winter Wonderland tagged Hyde Park. Um, Winter Experience, Christmas 2024, things to do in London, all these kinds of things. But it got only 406 views on TikTok. Only 406 views. Yet, I would've thought it would have been the other way round. But this is at, you just don't know how a video's going to go.
Next we were walking past a big, massive hoarding, where was building works going on. Again, I think it was down the other end of Oxford Street. And it was a big Ikea being built or repurposed in a building that was already there, I should say. And the way they'd done it was amazing. It was like a huge, great big blue Ikea bag with the yellow handles. And I just said to the guys, I said, 'Stop a minute.' I said, 'I just want to film that!'
111 views on TikTok to date. Only 111 views.
But we're only a few views away, 3000 on YouTube now, on that video. Again, not scripted, just literally grabbed my phone, filmed it. No editing. That's it. Posted it.
The final video that I posted from the day on that day was when we were in the Lego section of Disney. Yes, I. I am partial to go in into Disney store if they've got Lego in it. I am. I'm not big Lego freak, but I do like Lego. And it was a full size Lego Harry Potter in there. So we were trying to do a few Shorts and things. 
Luckily there weren't many kids around at this particular point.
And that got a massive Hagrid. And then Harry Potter sitting down on a bench of some sort like a brick thing. So. I wanted to sit down and just film it. Had a word with Lee and said, right, I'm just going to film this bit. Can you just pop your head in the camera and just say these few words? And he did. And the video, all it is me saying, 'Harry, I like your baton'. And Lee then pops his head in and said, 'I think you find it's called a wand'. And that was it. Simple. Nothing more than that.
And that's already had 4,000 views on YouTube.
So by, by Christmas time, I'm pretty sure I had about. I'm probably over exaggerating. If I said I had about 250 subscribers then. Probably less seem to think 235 rings about with me, but without going back and checking exactly all the numbers, that is what it was. And to keep up what I was doing and everything else, I would just film a little random bits and pieces. Yes. Sometimes I would get the urge to film something just short and quick, and that would be it, like giant size chocolate buttons. Uh, Cadbury's chocolate buttons. Well, Not just the giant ones. They were the MEGA ones and they were massive. I'd never seen anything like them before! Again, it got the views.
 One YouTube video of mine that did actually get traction on YouTube. 
Was one headed up, 'Stop scrolling! Rare find.'
Now for those listening in on the podcast, it's going to be hard to understand what I'm saying on this. But it was an egg. On the screen. And it just literally said, 'Stop scrolling! Rare find!!'. And it would play a little tune. And then the little wheel, like a wheel in the old days when you were looking at, um, the internet and it would just spiral around every time you're trying to connect to Internet Explorer. It was that kind of wheel. 
It gave you some suspense, it gave you some anticipation, you know, what's coming next. And that then just got 6,900 views. That one video. So, what was it at the end? What was it when you tapped on it to wait for the egg? Now, obviously it's a timed piece of video. So I think the video is about 10 seconds in length. So it says stop scrolling and then it does the spinning wheel for a few seconds. 
And then you've got something at the end. And that's like the payoff. And the payoff was literally just me, sitting there laughing like that, my hand across my face. Because I thought, how many views is this going to get? It's probably not gonna get many... but I was kind of falling behind with posting my, my Shorts. So I needed to do something.
Because it had caught 6,900 views. I thought I'm going to post another one. So the next one. Uh, I can't remember what was behind it. Uh, it got 9,600 views though. So I thought, right, I'm on a roll. Let's go. Let's go and see what we can actually, you know, see if we can tip over that, that bracket of like, you know, in that bracket of. Uh, under 10,000. And then the third one I did has now got 10,000 views. 
So it's like, RESULT!. 
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So my YouTube Partner Manager, with it coming up to the Euro, 2024, set a challenge to us all and said that we had to post videos and they had to have this particular hashtag get in for the Euros. And if we posted X number, then we could win some merch. So I was trying to be creative with my posts and I couldn't really come up with anything other than maybe the football schedule behind my head. Do it kind of green screen. Um, Drop my face in front of it, or something else, or someone else in it. But I wanted it to be creative.
Now I was trying to be creative with these Shorts because I am not a fan of football. Yes, I do like certain sports, but football just doesn't do it for me. So I needed it to be creative or fun or have some kind of twist in it because why do it normally, why just put another Short up like everybody else does?! So I decided to use CapCut to do the Shorts. 
This one, with Phoebe from Friends standing behind the. text regarding the Euro 2024. And all it said was along the text. Opportunities for shopping with his credit card during Euro 2024.
 Phoebe ends up at the end, just literally putting two thumbs up and saying, 'well done'. As if you know, fantastic. Get the Euros 2024 out there. So I can go shopping with this credit card.
Now I did a series of these and with the same background, I did a Kermit the Frog and it looks like he's jumping up and down on a trampoline. 
And it's almost like he's shouting help. And the text said. Looking for a new partner that doesn't follow football Euro 2024. I told you I can't do these seriously. But the best, one of the lot has got to be
Daphne from Scooby-Doo. So she has the schedule behind her again, but this time she's actually putting her glasses on to look at the schedule.
The schedule itself, says England's Path to Euro 2024 Final.
Well, let's wait and see. Are we actually going to get there? Are we actually going to win?! Who knows, but she's just got this shocked look on her face.
And those last two videos have each had a thousand views each on YouTube.
Now. Yes, this challenge did stretch my imagination, let's say, but. Lee had said to me, if I go onto TikTok and use his TikTok filter. It's a CapCut one, and it's got these flags and it predicts... well you have to choose your prediction of who's going to win the Euros 2024.
And I'd never done a TikTok filter like that before. Where you are waiting, and waiting for those responses, and pausing and things like that.
Oh my God. I was panicking. So I'd got Lee on my laptop screen. I'd got my phone in my hand and he's telling me how to do it. Right. Click this, click that. Do this. Right now, record. And straight away, I got the first flag wrong. I said it was Ireland and it was actually Italy.
 Sorry. I can't stop laughing. said it was Ireland's flag and it was actually Italy's flag. And in all fairness, I do know, I do know what the Ireland flag is. 
But, known to me Ireland weren't even in Euro 2024 this year.
Anyway, I had every single Albanian and Turkish football fan absolutely slate me in the comments on the YouTube videos, but I had to take it with a pinch of salt. I had to just brush it off my shoulders because it was my own stupidity really. I'm not into football. I'm trying to do a challenge, which I'm just hoping to get the merch for, but it's fun. It's comical. And the video kind of is my prediction. I put France at number one, whether or not they're going to be number one I don't know. But those that know me. My home is actually in France.
But the key thing here is it was the hook. Every video that you do has to have a hook at the beginning to get them to entice in, to watch or listen, to the content. What is it? What are you going to give them? How inspiring is it? 
How much could they learn from it? But this hook was straightaway, I said. 'Right, I don't know anything about football. Here goes.' So I did actually put a disclaimer in at the beginning. But the comments were absolutely hilarious.
So I did as I was told, I posted that video onto YouTube. Did the hashtag that she'd asked for. And I posted it onto Instagram Reels and TikTok as well.
Now as of what I was just making a note of these numbers, as of last night. So this is like, By 11 o'clock on the 3rd of July. Uh, UK time evening, of course. It had got 556,000 views on Instagram. As an Instagram Reel. That to me that has literally blown, blow my mind. I was shocked. It's obviously funny because it's almost like I'm making a mockery out of myself. But. Half a million views. On an Instagram Reel. Amazing.
It's had 62,000 views on YouTube. So that topped all of my other videos that I've done probably adding them all together, that probably matches every single other video that I've put up there. And just on that one video. I took less than 60 seconds to make.
Now I found it and uploaded it on the 14th of June Friday, the 14th of June, and I had 99 subscribers from that one YouTube Short video. 99 subscribers. That is more on one video, than I had before I went to the YouTube Event. Just from posting one Short, because it was funny. It was comical. They're obviously taking the Mickey out of me, thought, God, I've got to follow this woman. She hasn't got a clue what she's talking about, but I didn't. And that was the whole thing. And I said that at the beginning, Just like going back to the Dior video. I said, I can't contact you, can't get hold of anybody. Can you reach out to me? So it's about being genuine. It's about being honest. Um, Obviously if it's comedy video, then you know, you're not going to follow that kind of method and that pattern for videos. But it was something which just captured their attention within seconds.
And the common thing that was running through the comments as it was reading them was two flags that kept popping up and they were the Albanian flag and the Turkish flag. But if you watch that video, you will see that I kind of put some of the flags in the middle. If I knew the countries, then I knew that there were good football teams, then I'll put them higher up. France I obviously wanted to put first. UK didn't even appear on that. Sorry, sorry, sorry. Sorry, not UK England. Didn't appear on there. So no more backlash this, this video and these comments, please. But. I had to say at one point, because I got so disheartened with all so, so upset, with these comments coming through. I had to say. I've actually got MS. 
If you put me on the spot and you ask me to do anything, just like that, and answer a question, I can't do it. My mind goes blank. My head says one thing, my mouth says another. And I have no control over it. So even though I did know, okay. Hands up. I didn't know the Albanian flag. The Albanian one I didn't know. But I did know the others, if I'd sat down there and thought about it. But when you're sitting there and you're under the pressure to actually choose which team it is. And yet I was like trying to say the team flag as well, I could have just sat there and just did. Yeah, and put a number in and I probably wouldn't have got as many views. But it was the fact that the first one was wrong. I'm probably never going to live that down, but. Thank you to everyone that Subscribed from my video. Um, I do appreciate it. I really do. And I've commented back to every single person that has responded under that video.
But the funniest comment was, and it has popped up, I think I've counted it three times now, different people saying, 'Oh my God, are you Ronaldo's Mum?
I 
don't know. Well, I don't. Of course I know I'm not his Mum. But I didn't even know I even look like her. But anyway. I've been told I look like Princess Leia in the past, but okay. I'll take Ronaldo's Mum if I can have her cash, then.
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So what makes a video go viral or a channel actually take off then?
Clearly it is about that hook. It's about having that. That capture point to just grab their attention at the beginning. If it's a visual or if it's an audible kind of sound or if it's, um, something that's been said. Whatever it is, it's capturing that attention. They go 'OK then. You've got my attention now. 
What are you going to show me? What you're going to tell me? What are you going to teach me? What are you going to describe to me?' And it's that hook that is, what I would say has pulled everyone into all these videos. The 'Don't scroll past' kind of videos are exactly the same. The ones where it's football, but you thinking what's Phoebe got to do with football and then you read the text. It is the text that caught them on that one. So there's various different elements that you have to look at when you're looking at the Shorts.
Because that tells the YouTube algorithm. It decides who to pass your video on to next and who to share it to and where to, for it to appear. And if people are liking and commenting and replying, and there's a discussion going on, the Bots, the YouTube algorithm is thinking, oh, this is obviously got a lot of traction, a lot of interaction. Let's get it out to more and more people, see if anybody else would like to be interested in it, see it, comment on it as well.
So that wraps it up for this episode of Tech Talks & Soul Walks. I know it's a bit different, but I just wanted to explain that this has really blown my mind. I've been giggling about this for weeks and as a I post more and more of these videos, I'm getting more and more Subscribers. But, hopefully, I'm going to get to 400 Subscribers very soon. If there's anybody in here that isn't subscribed at the moment. Hit that Subscribe button! And don't forget to like this video And. Share it. Share this video. Let somebody else to have a good laugh at my mistakes. 
So, thank you very much for watching this episode of Tech Talks and Soul Walks. And I look forward to seeing you back in the next episode. And don't forget to Like Share and Subscribe if you're on YouTube. Thanks.

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