8 essential resources for YouTubers

While YouTube is certainly growing in popularity, influencing is not exactly a mainstream career option. Needless to say, the resources you need to get started can be as rare as scoring a reservation at Sukiyabashi Jiro in Japan. And, while we can’t get you that coveted booking, we have managed to find eight resources to help you on your influencer journey.

If you’ve ever moved cities you might have hit up Meetup to find some new friends. From my own experience these can be pretty hit and miss affairs, especially cringe worthy when creepy men try to score dates with young women. However, for special interest groups Meetup is a great platform by which to connect with like-minded folk.

At writing, the YouTube Meetup community had 37,511 members in 182 locations, including a few dotted across Asia. Go forth and mingle YouTubers.

If you’re reading this from the home of sushi itself, then great news. Tokyo is one of the lucky cities blessed with a YouTube Space.* If you’re over 13 and have at least 5,000 subscribers you’ll be able to access the Space’s production resources free of charge. However, if you haven’t quite hit that subscriber mark but are a YouTube channel “in good standing” you may still be able to access post-production facilities and attend workshops.

Free online courses you say? Sounds too good to be true, right? Surely there’s got to be a catch?

Well, thankfully even in our capitalist world, there are some who still trade on goodwill (and/or the advertising revenue they draw from their websites). For instance there’s Alison who offers “A new world of free certified learning.” They have a course which is essentially a YouTube 101 for those of you who are completely new to the scene.

For those sceptical of a freebie course, there’s also Udemy who offer an 80 lecture, 8 hour YouTube Masterclass for just $20, which is pretty close to free.

When you’re freelancing, life can often feel a little lonely. Sure you might head to a café to edit your work, but the reality is this can sometimes be a solo graft, especially if your friends are still dwelling in the corporate world and don’t really understand what you’re doing.

That’s why we at SushiVid are so big on encouraging a sense of community amongst our creatives. Not only can you turn to each other when things seems a bit off, but there’s also the power of sharing each other’s work and celebrating your triumphs. Guest spots and collaborations are also a great way to mutually grow your subscriber base.

Ah, the benevolence of the Malaysian government! Still, it is refreshing to see them advancing the arts through the Creative Industry Lifelong Learning Program and FINAS. Check out the Content Malaysia Pitching Centre for a full list of local programs and grants.

And it’s not just our government pitching in. Other governments and organisations around the region are keen to see the creative industry prosper – so why not take a chance?

In this day and age there’s an app or software product for just about everything (except teleporting – when will that become a reality?). Video production is no exception. The YouTube certified team at vidIQ can help you manage your channel and annotate your videos.

There is also FREE software available for video editing. iSkySoft recommend Filmora, iMovie and Lightworks.

YouTube exists as just one microcosm in the vast social media universe. So while your main focus may be your vlogger career, you need to wield your influence across the major social media players, just like KLGadgetTV do.

Of course, constantly tweeting and updating your status can get mighty time consuming. Your best bet then is that when you’re sitting down mapping out your strategy, you also dedicate some time to scheduling some campaign posts too. Buffer and Hootsuite are both great tools that can make your life easier.

Once you’ve employed the above resources into making great videos and established yourself as an influencer, you’ll probably want to generate some coin from your videos. And the best way to do that is to partner with brands.

How can you find them we hear you ask? Well, you’ve come to the right place. We exist to connect Asia’s best YouTubers with the world’s best brands to create compelling and engaging influencer campaigns. And word on the street is we write a really cool and informative blog…

If you like what you've read, do check out our blog archives for more tips like how to write a winning proposal.

*Okay, so while Tokyo is the home of nigiri sushi, the concept of sushi itself developed in South-East Asia. We would gratefully ask that any history and sushi purists please not admonish us for our artistic licence!

Brought to you with love and hugs - www.sushivid.com