Content creators that target millenial women
Below, you will find some research I performed on content creators who seem to cater to women ages 18-23 years old. Each of these creators does so in unique ways and have specific pieces of content that have led to their success. This assignment should serve to show my ability to analyze demographic trends and understand the importance of target audiences.
Milena Ciciotti
Content formats + Success: Milena uses several content formats. On her Instagram, she posts mostly photos to her feed of her and her family. Her adorable baby is a staple in her content creation, and now her pregnancy is at the forefront of her content creation, as well. On her stories, she posts the typical mommy-blogger things. She does short videos and snapshots into her daily life. She shares products, tips, recipes, etc. On her YouTube channel, which is significantly bigger than her Instagram and definitely brings traffic to her Instagram profile, she posts mostly vlogs. She also does other sit-down videos like Q+A and videos on specific topics important to her like her pregnancies and her faith.
In looking at her top videos on Social Blade, most of them have to do with topics people don’t normally talk about. Her top video of all time was a sit-down video titled “Untold truth about saving yourself for marriage.” That video has over 2.6M views. Her second most-viewed video with 2M views is titled “30 Hour Labor Vlog.” As far as her YouTube account goes, Social Blade shows that her channel peaked in January of 2018 and has continued to grow ever since. Her video views have risen steadily over time. She gains thousands of subscribers every week, so I would say her account is pretty healthy. Also, when looking at detailed statistics by video, you can see that she very rarely has a rating below 97%, which means her viewers like her content. She also gets hundreds of comments on every video.
Her Instagram success is a bit different. Because it is her secondary platform, I don’t think it is as important as YouTube, but we should still look at it. Her engagement rate is 23.10%. This is pretty good for the typical mommy blogger. Usually, these rates fall more in the teens or upper single-digits. I think she does a good job of engaging with her audience and posting content that they care about – not just posting to post. Something noticeable on Social Blade is that her follower count has been down 26.7% in the last 30 days. This could be due to Instagram’s constantly changing algorithms. Her posting consistency is also something to note. Between May 2019 and August 2019, her average media posts fell between 8 and 9 posts per month. This is relatively low compared to January 2020 that had 14 posts. The reason I point this out is that the month in which she posted the most is the month that her follower count went down so significantly. It may say something about the way the demographic response to constant posting.
Mapping success: For the mapping of Milena’s success, I am going to look mostly at YouTube because that is where her success started. It is pretty clear which video set her on the path for success. When looking at her upload dates in comparison to her subscriber gain, you can see that while videos made before the end of 2017 now how tens of thousands of views, those are not the ones that initially gave her recognition. If we look to those early days, though, the videos with the most recognition were videos with her husband and about her upcoming wedding. However, the one video that really took off and gave her the most recognition was her “Untold stories of saving yourself for marriage” video that was posted on October 30, 2017. When looking at her subscriber count, in the month following that upload, she went from gaining 150 weekly subscribers to gaining 21,000+ subscribers weekly in just two months. Her account peaked again in September of 2018, which aligns with when she was at the beginning of her pregnancy and posting a lot of videos about that.
This mapped success tells us that this demographic is interested in things that are relevant to the stage of life they are about to enter. Because women aged 18-23 in this demographic are about to enter the stage of their life that oftentimes involves marriage and starting a family, creators like Milena give them a look into her experiences in this stage of life. In general, her success shows that this particular demographic is not scared away by creators who openly express their faith. I think this is a trend in content creation that captivates women who are finding their own faith and becoming comfortable with who they are. It is also worth noting that she got married at 20, so women at the front of this demographic can resonate really well with her as well as women and the end of this demographic who are embarking on this same stage of life.
Example of content that speaks to demographic: Something that I think really speaks to the demographic was her documentation of her pregnancy. This was carried out through several videos and Instagram updates. The reason I chose this content as the most impactful for the demographic is because of her age and knowledge of the subject. She is young, like most of this demographic. Her pregnancy happened earlier on in her life, which means that her audience was able to confide in her experience and transparency with the process. Women in the age range of 18-23 are coming up on that stage in their life. Milena’s content brought value to them and an insight they can’t normally find in people their age. This is apparent in the success of her videos that fall under this topic.
Aspyn Ovard
Content formats + Success: Aspyn’s initial fame came from YouTube, but now with her clothing line and Instagram, her following has kind of exploded to other platforms. On Instagram, she posts pictures to her feed of herself, her baby, her house, and her outfits – all with her signature presets that she sells at a hefty price. Her engagement rate is relatively low at 7.59% and her following is definitely going down, which shows that people are more interested in her vlog and lifestyle content on YouTube than her curated Instagram feed.
She mostly does planned-out videos, meaning she is not as much of a vlogger on her main channel. On her channel with her husband, she posts vlogs. Her personal channel, though, is mainly structured content with specific topics relating to challenges, house tours, and videos about being a new mom. Her personal channel has 3.7M subscribers, while her joint channel with her husband (vlog channel) has 2.12M subscribers. According to Social Blade, besides the inactive account breach in the first week of December of 2019 that took a toll on subscriber count, Aspyn’s channel is fairly healthy with a steady increase. Since she has been a creator since early 2015, her account’s success has been fairly steady. However, she did experience a spike in subscribers and views in February of 2019 when she announced she was pregnant. Back in the day, Aspyn used to post a lot of back to school videos, tutorials, and try-on hauls. This was when my chosen demographic would have been in high school or just entering college. This content was relevant to them then, and her content about starting a family and decorating her home is relevant to the demographic now. Some examples of successful videos back in the day included her Wedding and Engagement videos which both have nearly 5M views. This success can be tied back to the fact that she got married at a very young age. When this demographic was still unmarried, they would be interested in this unusual lifestyle change. Her videos about quick and easy hairstyles have nearly 6M views and are still some of the top uploads on her channel – even though they were from 2015. This would be due to the younger end of the demographic being in their early teen years when they started worrying about what they looked like. Now, her videos about her finding out she was pregnant, and her birth video are among her most recent successful videos. The same patterns are true with the videos on her vlog channel with her husband (Aspyn and Parker). This shows how the demographic grew up with her and now has found new relevance in her content because they are experiencing the same stages in life.
Mapping success: Much of this was already discussed in the section above, but I will go a little more in-depth here. For her personal channel, the video that initially gave Aspyn her success was called “5 Easy & Cute Summer Hairstyles” which was uploaded on May 29, 2015. This was really where Aspyn gained a lot of her original subscribers. This would be followed by her engagement video on August 22, 2015, and then her wedding video on October 27, 2015. Both of these videos changed her demographic from beauty/fashion people to more of a lifestyle feel to her channel. She has recently seen a spike in her subscribers when she announced she was pregnant on YouTube on February 2, 2019. On Social Blade, you can see a huge increase in subscribers that contrasts her usual steady increase. This reinterested the audience and potentially brought back old subscribers.
Her original subscribers came to her for tips, hauls, and recommendations. As she got older, and so did this demographic, her audience is now interested in the adult aspects of her life and documentation. They resonate with her because they grew up watching her and she now brings new valuable information to women between the ages of 18-23 as a mother.
Example of content that speaks to demographic: Back in the day, the content relating to school and beauty spoke to the demographic because they were teenagers. Now, however, her content about being a mother and juggling life changes speaks to this demographic. That is because they are going through it, too. They look to her as a role model and a friend. She also has changed from an influencer to more of a “normal” person. Her lifestyle was completely changed at the birth of her daughter, and showing that side of her life to this demographic makes them able to relate to her and take advice from her during the same stages in their own lives.
Sierra Schultzzie
Content formats + Success: Sierra’s content on YouTube mostly consists of beauty and fashion videos that are planned out. Unlike the other two creators, she does not usually use the vlogging style. A lot of her content plays off of her motto of promoting body positivity for mid to plus-sized women. She also follows a lot of tutorials and tries to recreate or replicate other’s videos, concepts, etc. Her content is mainly based around challenging beauty standards that my chosen demographic grew up accepting were true. With all of the negativity regarding sizing and models, she is a breath of fresh air for women in this demographic.
Her account is definitely on the rise. Social Blade reports that she has 1.1M subscribers and her weekly subscribers have nearly tripled (and stayed up) since November of 2018. She has had several peaks between now and then, which shows that she is creating content people care about. While her top viewed video dates back to 2016, most of her popular uploads are from the past 18 months, which shows how quickly her channel grew. She now consistently gains thousands of followers a week.
Her Instagram consists of body positivity posts, as well. This shows how she has a very well-established personal brand that women can follow along with. She does a lot of video content on her stories, as well. This helps women connect with her in a more personalized way because she does not do vlog-style videos on YouTube. Her engagement rate is 14.26%, which is relatively high for her lifestyle genre. Her followers in the last 30 days are up 16%, which shows that she is bringing her YouTube subscribers over to another platform. She also posts a lot on Instagram, with an average of about 13 posts in a 30-day period.
Mapping success: Her success is very easily traced back to one particular video. Although it was uploaded after many of her top videos, the video titled “Brutally Honest Review of Emma Chamberlain’s Clothing Line,” in which she talked about how the clothing line created by this YouTube star was not labeled as petite, but it definitely was created for smaller girls. This video has 3.7M views and aligns perfectly with a huge spike in subscriber increase in November of 2018. I think it resonated really well with this demographic because of how relevant it was. Emma Chamberlain is a popular creator among this same demographic, so to have someone talk about her clothing line in that way was very bold. I think this initially drew a ton of subscribers in and then they were drawn to her other popular content that resonated with them such as, “Trying on Size 12 at 12 Different Stores” that has 2.3M views. This again challenges beauty standards and the fashion industry. I believe that this demographic follows this kind of content because it not only makes them feel good, but they admire her willingness to put herself out there like that. She takes ideas that people are already thinking and puts them to the test.
Example of content that speaks to demographic: Some of her most popular content has to do with trying on the same size at multiple stores and trying on clothing companies “one size fits all” items. I think the reason this content does so well is that the audience is able to find inspiration from it. Women at the age of 18-23 years old are either finally feeling confident in their bodies or they really are not. This type of content speaks to women on a whole new level and lets them know that size on a label is not what it seems. It shows them that they shouldn’t be impacted by a label. It teaches them to look from within themselves to find their worth. Her personality and confidence in her own body are very contagious, and I think that is what speaks volumes to this demographic who has grown up being exposed to digitally manipulated beauty standards.