I'm gonna have to do some fancy editing with this. But , this is about our fourth time now, isn't it, Hayley? It is indeed. But it always a learning process. That's the thing. Exactly. So I just hope that the quality of this call is going to be okay when it's all finished.
Deja vu. Right. Right, ready? Yes. High five if we get this done. Yeah, we are. Okay. We are going to smash it. Right. 
I'll see you in 
Welcome back to Tech Talks and Soul Walks. My name is Julie Kubiak and today in the room, I don't know where to point because we've had no end of technical problems week on week trying to get this video done.
Um, I have Hayley aka BunnyMoonstone. Hi, hi everyone. Thanks for having me. That's okay. Um, just, just as an aside here, we have tried this. This has got to be our third proper big attempt, but fourth time that we're doing it. Third time lucky. Yeah, third time lucky. Yeah, and I think this is Google's way of saying we have to use Google Meet and not Descript for this one.
Yes, because we met at a YouTube event. Anyway, today the reason I've got Bunny in the, um, Bunny in the room, this sounds a bit odd, but anyway, the reason we've got Hayley in the room, uh, is because we met at the YouTube event, um, nearly a year ago, and we just wanted to talk today about sort of like the differences between YouTube and other platforms.
mention a bit about TikTok, numbers, loads and loads of different things. We'll just see where this, this interview goes. But, um, yeah. So Hayley, how long have you had a YouTube channel first of all, then? I have had a YouTube channel for 10 years. I started in 2014 and then I was 26. Now I'm 36. And I made a lot of videos about looking after my bunnies because I had dwarf lop rabbits at the time.
And I did a few like, shopping videos, lifestyle vlogs, and then it's just kind of like progressed and evolved into what it is now. Wow. So when you went to the YouTube event then last year, how many subscribers had you got? What was your subscriber count? So we met at the end of August at the YouTube High Five event.
And in June, I hit 1, 000 subscribers, so I just hit 1, 000 subscribers, which took me 10 years to do. So, if you're, like, watching this thinking, I feel as though I'm not getting anywhere, well, it took me 10 years. So, don't feel bad, and definitely do not give up. Wow, wow, that's a huge point. Just keep on going.
So, you've just hit 2, 000 now, or just exceeded 2, 000, haven't you, on YouTube? 
I have, yeah, and that is thanks to YouTube Shorts. Yes, yeah, and that's predominantly what they were discussing and training us on, wasn't it, last year? Yes, yeah, they gave us a whole sort of course and a sort of list of things to, uh, take away with us to learn and to put in our videos, which I think has like really helped me.
Um, do you think that it's helped you with like your channel? Yes, it has. So with the YouTube event then, and you were up to that point, had you done any Shorts at all before that, that training day? Yeah. So, um, I met you in the August, so, so I started posting YouTube Shorts back in January of 2023.
So by about that point, I had sort of jumped ship from YouTube to TikTok because I wasn't seeing any growth in within my channel. I felt quite disheartened really, to be honest. Um, YouTube is a platform that I've been sort of on and off for like over many years. The reason why I came back is because I've got a friend who has a gaming channel, his name's 
James from It's Much More, 
and at the time I was posting a lot of TikToks and they were getting quite a lot of views. And he was like, well, why don't you post those videos to your YouTube Shorts? And I was like, What's YouTube Shorts? And he was like, it's a new feature where it's a 60 second long video.
And, you know, you should just try it, like, what's the harm? And then, I sort of started to post, and the amount of views that I was getting, I've never seen before in my entire life, and it's a bit like being on YouTube, it was like a different ballgame. So I thought, well, okay, well, what is the harm of just posting?
And then I just never stopped. So yeah So are you still posting long form then just for those that don't know your channel? Yeah, so with um long form I am definitely more selective about what I post, because with the long form content now i'm doing like 20 minute long videos, which is very long for me. Like i'm i'm somebody that's quite um to the point.
I like to sort of get my point across very quickly. So as something that's more long, like long form, I find it quite draining sometimes, like I feel as though I need to cram as much stuff in as possible. Um, that's sort of how I work. So at the moment I'm trying to make more quality long form content, because what I'm trying to aim for at the moment is gaining more watch time.
So, to get, monetised with YouTube, you have to have a certain amount of subscribers and a certain amount of watch time. So I think you've got to have 1, 000 subscribers and something like 3, 000 hours of watch time and then for Shorts, it's something like 3 million or something, 3 million views, which which is a lot.
That is a lot. And it's not an easy one to crack. I think that people think it's kind of easy to sort of break into this sort of industry, if you like to call it that, but I think it's very difficult, like you have to really be persistent and consistent, and it's not until I've started to be really persistent that I've seen growth in my channel.
So the, the Shorts then, are you still posting what you would have done, but in long form content, but as a Short, if that makes sense? Yeah. Yeah. So, for example, I went to, Sheffield for the day and I did some shopping and, I posted a Short of kind of like a snippet of what that was like. And then I linked that vlog to my Short.
So that if people do watch the Short on their FYP, then they will hopefully, fingers crossed, click on it and just enjoy the content. Yeah. For those that don't know, FYP is, um, For You Page. For You Page. So it's all, so it's all the videos that come up, your algorithm decides. Yes. Yeah. The recommended watch.
Yeah. Yes. Based on your previous watch time. Not the content creators. That's right. Yeah. So when you said that you jumped ship and you'd gone to TikTok then what was the pull over to TikTok then? Yeah. Um, the pull was, probably the community because. For me, with my YouTube channel, I didn't really see a lot of engagement or like a lot of comments.
Whereas on TikTok, I feel as though everybody comments on each other's posts, there's much more of a supportive vibe, software so you can like edit videos a lot easier...
YouTube Shorts don't really have that yet. It's sort of like a very basic editing. And I think that with TikTok you can do a lot more. and it's just a lot easier. Yeah, I know, I know it is. Yeah. Yeah. And I know that, um, with the, um, shorts program that we're both on. Yes. Although there is software for creating YouTube Shorts, at the moment it's still only available on Android, isn't it?
Yes. So it's not. So, um, YouTube, are like trying to be like TikTok in a way, I think, but they're not, they're not quite there yet. I think that they want to be some more things I've got to be made in. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. so when you're doing um a video then and you're going out for the day and you're going to be vlogging it let's say, do you have in mind that you want to create some Shorts from it?
Or do you do separate Shorts that are separate to the video? How do you actually work that? Um, so if I want to do a long form piece of content, I will Sort of cut out parts for the shorts Or um, sometimes i'll make a short first before I make the long video. It kind of depends how I'm inspired really.
 I work a lot with my sort of gut feeling. My recent vlog to Sheffield was actually inspired by a song that I made on an AI software called Suno. And I just thought, Oh, wouldn't it be fun to go to Sheffield for the day on the train? And then I put it into this, AI song software. And then it, like, made me a song, and I thought, that needs to be in my Intro.
So, yeah. It was actually really, really good. Um, I'll link it in the, in the comments below, assuming that this, this video actually gets recorded and gets, gets put out this time. Um, but yeah, yeah, that was really good. It was, it was a real powerful start to the video as well. Thank you. Yeah. So, um, I kind of work in different ways.
It kind of depends on my mood or, um, I kind of like see a vision for, for like what I want. So it kind of is different. What about you? I Yeah, I have to have a plan and if I don't have a plan then I don't actually do it or I miss stages. So like take for instance at the weekend. I wanted to go to Pandora to get a ring. Never shopped in Pandora before and I thought that would be a really good video Um, but I thought about it as i'm standing outside Pandora waiting for them to open at five to nine I didn't do anything.
I just started doing a Short outside Pandora, and then forgot all about it the rest of the day and I didn't go back to it. So if I'd got up in the morning and thought, right, I'm going to do this, then I would have factored in, right, okay, I've got to have, you know, this, these cutaways, these images and things like that.
So for me, it's all about the planning. Otherwise I just. I just kind of lose it. So yeah, but I suppose that having having made the song, you'd already pretty much planned to do that trip then. Yeah, but that like doesn't happen to me too often. But sometimes i'll get an idea and then i'll have to do it. But then like, with sort of TikTok, I feel as though I'm much more, I will just get out my phone and film and just get that piece of content out there, which has served me very well.
Yeah, and it is literally point and click then, isn't it, on TikTok? Yeah. Yeah, there's no setting the stage or, you know, making sure you've got full makeup on and, you know, audio and everything's perfect. Yeah. Whereas I do feel that Go on. Sorry, go on.
I was just gonna say my, my, I'm the host, my, my question first or statement. Um, I was just going to say with YouTube, because it's predominantly long form content, people always assume that it's got to be sort of like film standard 4k, you know, everything's got to be perfect, edited everything, including.
You know having subtitles and things like that an intro and an outro TikTok is different though, isn't it different kettle of fish altogether? Yeah, and that's why I sort of Not been consistent with Youtube because uh for me It's like it is a lot more effort and a lot more work and sometimes my brain can't handle that and sometimes um I just wanna point and click and just film something fast because I have the tendency to overthink quite a lot, and that kind of stops me from putting stuff out there.
So TikTok has served me better in that way. Mm. To sort of get rid of that overthinking part of me and be like, well, it's content. Like it doesn't have to be perfect. You can just film yourself as you are and it's fine. Yeah. And I do, I do like that style of content myself because it is very genuine. It's not staged.
Obviously there's comedy acts and things like that, you know, slapstick humor and things, not on your channel though. But it's it's nice that it is so raw rather than being scripted as well Um, yeah, and you sometimes get a lot more from it then don't you and from that person? Yeah. Yeah So what software then if you were doing long form content if you're doing a vlog of your day out What software would you use to edit your videos then?
um, so For the longest time I used to edit on a macbook and I just used iMovie like it's great You And then, um, I switched over to a, a laptop and I just use ClipChamp. It's just like a free editing software. It's simple and it works for me. Um, I'm not one of these people that can like do super editing. I just like simple, just keep it very simple.
Yeah. Yeah. And are you in, um, sort of the team of, it doesn't matter what it is, as long as it's interesting. Yeah. Or are you, it's got the, you know, all bells and whistles. Um, the first one. Yeah. Yeah. And this is it because the, it's the content rather than the actual visual, I suppose. And if you're watching this on YouTube, I don't know what this is going to look like when it actually goes on there because we're in two different windows and two different sizes.
So who knows, but obviously it's all down to the fact it's a podcast anyway. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. 
So, uh, the High Five event then, Hayley, where, that we met at last year, what are your numbers then? Um, how have they changed? What subscriber count were you on and compared to sort of like now? Okay. So before I attended the YouTube High Five, I was at about a thousand and then, um, now I'm at 2K, which is amazing.
So that's very like slow and steady growth, which is kind of what I'm aiming for, I think with, with, with, with my channel. And, um, I think the, what has really helped boost my numbers as well as YouTube shorts, it's all of the information that we learn on that day of how to, um, put your content across to a viewer, uh, what's the purpose of your content.
It really made me rethink about what I put out there. So with the high five event, then do you feel that there was, um, a re a real reason or a purpose for, um, knowledge about shorts? Did they teach you anything about shorts or give you any tips and tricks about short form content? Um, yeah, they kind of said that it needs to have a purpose.
It needs to have a hook because. People will scroll past for like two seconds. You've really got to be quick with grabbing people's attention because, um, everyone else that's uploaded is doing the exact same thing. So you really have to, um, stand out or to be like true to yourself as well. And what you want to put out there.
Um, yeah, it taught me so much, and it really shaped my channel, so now I think about it much differently. Um, before we attended the YouTube High Five, I kind of sort of did what I want, but now it's more like, Why am I making this? What am I teaching my viewers? What message do I want to put across? Yeah.
Yeah. And I know it wasn't just about the shorts. They were also saying about the long form content and about, um, thumbnails and things like that. Oh, thumbnails. Oh my goodness. Go on. Tell us your story. People think that thumbnails aren't stressful. I mean, I mean, if you find them really easy to make, that is great.
Uh, for me personally, I find it really difficult because, um, Like I said before, I, like, I can overthink things to the point of procrastination where I don't even put anything out, but now they've introduced a new feature where you can test and compare your thumbnails, so you can put three thumbnails on a video and then your viewers will choose.
Which one it is. Brilliant. That takes the stress away from my brain. Excellent. I'm all for it. You still have to create three thumbnails though, don't you? Yeah, that's the thing, yeah. Actually, yeah, but yeah, yeah. Um, something I was going to ask you then about that. Oh yes, but on short form content though, you can't choose, you can choose a thumbnail, can't you?
If it's on a mobile device. So you can like drag and drop to like a certain screenshot, but that's it. And I think that that's why Shorts have worked so well for me because I don't even have to think about the thumbnail. They can choose. So when you're doing your short form content then, be it on any platform, how do you come up with, um, a title for it then?
Because obviously on YouTube they insist on having a title for that video, don't they? All the time. Well, I do a little something called market research where I see what's out there and I see what What people have posted and i'm like, hmm Take a little bit of inspiration, but I just sort of keep it very to the point like not too clickbaity I try to be like honest and like upfront with what it is Yeah, so it's basically SEO research then isn't it Search Engine Optimization?
Yeah. Yeah, and to be honest I think everyone should be doing that Um, if they want it to be seen, yes, it's like really good to check, like, um, uh, who else has already done that video. And like, if it hasn't been done, then that's even better. So on TikTok, then we'll just switch over to TikTok for a minute.
Do you have to actually, um, give your video a title? I know there's a description, isn't there? It's not a title. Uh, no. No, it's um, you have like a little description, so you don't have to actually name your TikTok video, uh, unless you're posting photographs, so you can actually write the name there. But no, for the like standard TikTok video, it's all about the description and that's where you, you can also mention people and put hashtags as well.
Hmm. Yeah. So comparing your numbers then with where you are today, then you've got 2000 on YouTube. How many followers have you got on TikTok then? Uh, so at the moment I'm approaching 7k. Ooh, well done. Which is amazing, thank you. And with the actual content, is there a difference with what you're putting on TikTok?
You know, TikTokers aren't obviously going to watch the long form content on there because it's the wrong way round. It's not portrait, it's landscape, isn't it, first of all? Yeah. Sorry, I forgot what you asked. Sorry. And I forgot what I just asked as well. I obviously wasn't meant to ask it. Right. Sorry about that.
Okay, so, um, How was I going with this? Oh yeah, so the style of content that you're producing on TikTok then, is it something that you could have put on YouTube already and just repurposed onto another platform then? Yes. So, uh, most of my TikToks have been a minute, which is perfect to fit on my YouTube shorts.
But recently I've gone over the minute mark because, um, there is kind of like a demand to see more really. Oh, okay. So that's good for like watch time and stuff. Um, if it's over a minute, but I'm still very, uh, what's the word? I'm a bit of a perfectionist what I put out there. And if it's like catchy enough, because Yeah, you've got to grab people's attention.
Exactly. And that's what it comes down to. So if you're grabbing their attention then, and if it's on TikTok, portrait only, you can't really repurpose that then onto YouTube then, can you? No, unless you do it in parts. So, um, with my YouTube shorts, I do like part one and part two. I like half it. So then it makes more content.
So then I post every day, you know, so That's a good, good tip, actually. Yes. And I take it then you're using TikTok and their filters and things like that then to actually record? Yes, I am. Yeah, because, um, for some reason I find TikTok filming to be better quality. Like it looks a lot nicer as well. Um, I don't know if that's just me though, but with my like standard phone camera, it looks okay, but with like TikTok, it looks a bit different.
You
 So what goals have you set yourself then for this year then, um, on the different platforms then? So with YouTube, I'm going to see how it goes. I'm just going to keep posting every day. And with TikTok, I'm aiming for 10k. That is the goal because when you hit 10k, that's when you get monetized, and that is the dream.
 with TikTok it's just put your stuff out there and pray that it, that it happens. What like great advice. Put your stuff out there and pray and just sort of see what happens.
I'm going to get a t-shirt made with that! Put your stuff out there and just pray. If I could like, just like, um, uh, uh, uh, sum up my journey of content creation, that's what it would be. Okay, that wraps up this episode. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it works Sometimes it doesn't work.
My goal is to reach 10 K on, on TikTok and, um, I don't know, like I'm just.
I'm just trying to enjoy myself and yeah, that's sort of what I'm doing is just enjoying myself in the moment and uploading and meeting people and like connecting and that's kind of why I started all this anyway was to meet a community because when I started my channel it was like everybody else was doing their own thing in life and I wanted to meet people that were creative more about the community than it is the money.
Like it kind of has to be when you're sort of on this journey, like you have to find your purpose really before the money comes, I think. Yeah. So do you find that the community on TikTok is better than on YouTube? Yeah, it is. Sorry YouTube, sorry, but I'm just, just being honest, like that's what made me jump ship.
Yeah, um, yeah, uh, since the, uh, YouTube High Five, I feel as though that has come back though, the sense of, um, community and I love how we've got like our own little WhatsApp group where we all talk to each other and just like, yeah, encourage and just support and we're all sort of on different journeys and no matter what the numbers are, we're like, yeah, well done.
And that's what is really important is to have that network. It is. But for me, I find I get a lot of backlash on TikTok, but I don't on YouTube. Have you ever been trolled or, had any problems? With TikTok, I've had a little bit, but YouTube has been a main one for me where I've experienced a lot of trolling.
Yeah. Gosh, whereas with me it's the opposite way round. That's interesting that it's the opposite way round. Yeah, yeah. And I hate to be ageist, but it could be because of my age. Um, obviously you're a lot younger than I. Oh, that's very English. Oh, yes. I'm sure. Oh, yes. You're younger than I. No, but I do think that it's a lot harder to deal with the backlash on TikTok because everything is just so quick paced, isn't it?
Yes, that is very true. Yeah, so the comments keep coming through faster and, you know, thicker and faster kind of thing. But it's the same on any platform. The more comments you get, the more it's pushing that video out to other viewers. Yeah, exactly. Because of that interaction. Yeah. So has anything happened to you that has kind of put you off posting videos or stopped you from, um, well maybe taking something down or has it not been that bad?
It hasn't been too bad. Um, I think that what helps me with the trolling on YouTube is that they have something called like filter keywords. So you can write all the bad names that people say and you just don't see it, which is great. Whereas TikTok, I don't think has that, to be honest. Okay, I was just going to say, do you think it's because it's owned by Google and therefore they can block those keywords?
Yeah. Yeah. Which is great. Cause I, cause I don't really want to see that. I just want to focus on the fun and making stuff, you know. Yeah. And if it's not fun, then you don't do it, do you? Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. And I know we all aspire to making content creation our ideal job or our, you know, our dream job. Um, where do you see yourself, you know, where would you like to see yourself, let's say in the next few years?
Um, I would like to say that content creation is my job. Like, I would just absolutely love it. Like, I'm somebody that's very freedom loving. I like to do things in my own time. I like the idea of being my own boss. And just. networking and meeting people, meeting like minds. Yeah. Yeah. Well, we need, we need to get together, don't we?
Because we've got to do that. We've said for quite some time that we're going to actually get together and do a vlog and have a day together. Um, so I definitely am up for that. And I saw on, um, I saw on Facebook, I think it was, there's a pub in Nottingham that I'd like to go to and it's done, I think it's done, it's built into some rocks or some, something like that.
Do you know of the pub? The Trip to Jerusalem? Yes, yes, that's the one! Oh it's nice there, oh it's really nice there, yeah. Right, okay. Yeah okay well there's a little little snippet of where we're going to be ending up so yes yeah because that looks really good because there's haunted picture isn't there there's a haunted ship that's right yeah yeah oh i've done my research yes um but yeah so do you think then that doing collaborations then is a good way to move forward with a channel? Yeah that's something that i would like to do more of. Actually this is my first ever collab, like proper sit down collab.
Aww. Yeah. So, very, very exciting, yeah. I would definitely like to do more of these. Uh, yeah. If we can get the software to work. Yes. Yes. But that is just, that is how it is sometimes. Like, sometimes you can have something in your head that you want to do, and sometimes life, it just doesn't work for whatever reason, but then sometimes it does.
Yeah, exactly. And to be fair, even though we've spent, we've spent weeks trying to set this up and every time we've done it, it's failed, it's crashed, um, Hayley all of a sudden her video has gone like, um, from portrait to landscape and we're like, what's going on here? Yeah, I think that's very apt though.
That is very apt for like, my sort of journey personally, that's very apt for me. Yeah, yeah, lots of mistakes. Yeah, we probably should have kept all of those and put them on to the um, Soul Walks one and see if there's any, any apparitions or anything going on in the background that's probably had, had any kind of impact on it.
But, um, yeah, I've, I've run out of things to say because I feel like we've said everything two or three times because we've tried this that many times recording it. So should we leave it there for this episode then Hayley? We should leave it there. Yeah. We should leave it there. Yeah. That's okay, Hayley.
Thank you very much. And assuming that this is all okay. Thank you for watching or listening to this episode of Tech Talks and Soul Walks. And I'm going to invite Hayley back for another one when we've sorted out the software glitches and I'll see you in the next podcast then. Bye! Bye everyone!
Subscribe! Yes! Like, share and subscribe!
 
#TTSW