There are many videos online showing just how much can be earned by online influencers. Especially on platforms such as YouTube and Pinterest.
Despite the world being online many of us are reluctant to show ourselves on camera.
Surprisingly, it’s the biggest barrier to entry for many who want to get online, become an influencer and make money.
But how to be an influencer without showing your face?
You can become an influencer without showing your face. Many popular Pinterest accounts with over 1m subscribers are faceless. It is possible to have a popular YouTube channel without the need for showing your face, you will need to use your voice over videos or images to connect to your audience.
Whether you choose to show your face or not is up to you. It’s always personal choice. It is easy to build a channel and become an influencer if people can see your face, relate and feel connected to you – but it isn’t impossible to achieve this without showing your face.
In this post we will take a look at successful influencers who you have never seen, and how they grew their channel, became influencers in their space and have earned a small fortune in the process.
How to Build a YouTube Channel Without Showing Your Face
If you name 10 influencers you may have heard of, how many of them show their face?
All of them I am guessing. It’s what influencers tend to do.
They build up an audience through connecting with them, almost personally, and that audience want to watch them as much as what they have to say.
Some influencers have a following that almost hang on every word they say and buy everything they recommend. These influencers are the most sought after in the marketing world and can command big money.
In fact, there are now dedicated platforms connecting influencers and businesses.
The world is changing, influencers have a voice and often are not afraid of using it.
Here are some of the ways you can start a YouTube channel without needing to show your face:
Have Something to Show
If you are not planning in being in front of the camera, you need to be the other side and have something interesting to show or share.
Unfortunately, you can’t really get away with not showing your face and not showing your voice.
If you don’t plan to be the face behind your YouTube channel you need to be the voice.
It is technically possible to become an influencer without showing either your face or voice, but very unlikely.
Influencers are made through connections, and an audience that resonates with you.
Video channels are a form of entertainment, so you need to entertain.
Use the Power of Your Voice
I will shortly show to you a successful YouTube channel in the photography niche.
Although I believe the channels creator does step in front of the camera from time to time, and looks like he has just updated his profile image to show his face, it’s not essential for the success of the channel and you’ll see why.
As he doesn’t feature in the majority of his videos it’s easy to see that he could easily built the channel without showing his face at all.
As of today he has over 269,000 subscribers.
He demonstrates a wide range of camera lenses. He does it in a very helpful way, stays consistent throughout all his videos – using the same format, same shooting locations which all help his audience compare one lens against another.
He has a dry sense of humour, and this portrays naturally through his voice and helps keep you entertained.
Here is an example video from Christopher Frost – if you’re in to DSLR photography it’s a great channel to check out anyway, if not have a browse through his videos and see how he engages his audience without showing his face.
Equipment Needed
You really do not need to go out and buy the latest 4k UHD DSLR video recording cameras to do the job.
In fact if you’re filming indoors you can probably use your smart phone. Many of the latest Sony, Samsung, Apple and Huawei cameras have more than suitable video recording capabilities in HD to film and upload to YouTube.
Audio quality though is a must.
You can get away with below 4K video recording, but very rarely are YouTube videos successful if audio quality is poor.
You need to invest in to a god quality microphone (which will cost between £100-£200 for a beginner setup) and make sure your audio is as high quality as possible.
So many YouTube visitors switch off to bad audio quality.
How Much Money Can I Earn as a YouTube Influencer?
The amount of money you can earn as a YouTube influencer is directly proportional to two factors:
- The size of your channel in terms of regular video watchers and subscribers
- The value of the products you can promote to your audience
So called ‘recommendations’ by YouTube channel owners is big business. It can push sales of products through the roof.
Many businesses are seeing the benefits and are reducing other advertising and marketing spend to reach out to influencers in the space and offer them sponsorships and pay them per video or offer them affiliate commission for each product sold from a visitor to their channel.
If you’ve ever noticed YouTubers saying that ‘they’ll be leaving a link in the show notes’, it’s because that link is trackable and will earn them a commission each time someone purchases the product using the link.
The other way to earn money is through YouTube advertising.
YouTube will show a series of adverts throughout your video – in placements of your choosing – and you earn based on the number of people watching the adverts and for the length of time the adverts are watched.
It’s estimated that many YouTubers earn around £833 for every 1 million views to a YouTube video.
This again depends on the content and what you are talking about.
For example, it was reported that within the past couple of years one YouTuber put out a video explaining how to setup a Facebook Advertising Campaign.
The video managed an astonishing 1 million views and reportedly earned the creator $40,000 (around £27,500).
In Conclusion
Becoming a YouTube influencer takes time. It’s not something that can happen overnight.
It can take months but will often take years.
It’s not uncommon for a YouTuber to be continuously creating videos every single week for 3-5 years before they get close to 1 million subs (subscribers).
Consistency is key.
You need to publish and publish repeatedly. Stick to a publishing schedule every week.
Be determined, learn from your last video and improve for the next.
Listen to your audience and engage with them as much as you can.
It will take time but the rewards can be so beneficial!
