Creating a successful food channel on YouTube
Chef Varun Inamdar shares some tips and tricks to create a successful YouTube food channel
Remember those times when one had to call up their mums to ask how they prepared the traditional puran poli or some homely butter chicken? Thanks to internet accessibility, all these recipes are now at our fingertips. YouTube contains innumerable recipes posted by various popular chefs and food bloggers. Also, it is available for interested audiences at any time of the day or night. No wonder YouTube has become one of the most preferred options for the urban population to look up recipes online.
Are you thinking of showcasing your passion for food and cooking by starting your own food channel on YouTube? Or perhaps you might want to improve your existing channel? Then check out the following tips and tricks shared by celebrity chef Varun Inamdar on the recently concluded Godrej IFBAI2021 virtual session.
Do not mislead the viewers
Using a misleading title to gain more clicks is common malpractice. For example, a five-minute-long video for preparing biryani is titled ‘Biryani in 5 minutes!’ to get more clicks. However, such hacks do not give any growth or popularity to the channel.
Know your target audience
You might have a huge number of followers on Twitter or Instagram. But the requirements of YouTube are very different. Make sure that your content is tailored to suit the viewers.
The first 30 seconds are crucial
Your content must be engaging enough as most of the YouTubers decide to close the video or continue watching after the first 30 seconds. Also, ensure that you don’t give away everything at the beginning; keep your viewers engaged.
It’s about the food, not you
Let your passion for food take over everything else. Your personality and presentation skills are important, but if you want to have a successful food channel, your food has to be good enough.
Be mindful of your recipes
Do not pass off your version of a dish as a classic recipe. Instead, specify that you’re tweaking a traditional recipe and how. Also, do not create weird fusions of popular dishes that would just confuse or discourage people.
Work on your presentation skills
Your voice, words, expressions, hand movements, etc., are very important when it comes to food videos on YouTube. Practise and perfect your presentation skills to create videos that do justice to your food skills.
Be empathetic
Create content that people can relate to. Use ingredients that are readily available or suggest easy alternatives. For example, suppose you know that most of your viewers are from western India. In that case, it is a bit discouraging if your recipes require ingredients such as fresh blueberries, which are expensive and also relatively difficult to procure.
Create your identity
Create your unique identity by associating with a cuisine, a region, preparation style, etc. And continue doing what you love; do not worry about how many followers, likes, and comments you get.
Basic investments
You might have all the necessary cooking and presentation skills, but to make good food videos, you need a decent editing app and a camera/cell phone that can capture crisp videos. Invest in a few pieces of equipment that are essential to creating quality content.
Got any more tips and tricks for YouTube food content creators? Share them in the comments.