Miranda: He sat me down, he told me that, and I just blurred it out. I think I need to quit. 

Spencer: Shorts numbers are wild compared to long form content. 

Miranda: As a small creator, there are times where you might get taken advantage of. Brands are always listening. They’re always keeping a pulse on who’s talking about their products and their brand online. 

Spencer: Hello and welcome back to another episode of Creators Uncut. Super excited for another episode. I’m Spencer and the host of this show where we talk about YouTube and the behind the scenes. Today, I’m joined with Miranda from slash beauty. Miranda, thanks for being on the show. 

Miranda: Hey, thanks so much for having me. I’m really excited for the chat. 

Spencer: Yeah, I’m super excited. You’re actually the first, I don’t know what you say, beauty influencer that we’ve had on the show. 

Speaker 3: So cool. I’m glad to break that barrier. 

Spencer: So like we do in all of our episodes, we’d like to get to know the guests just a little bit. So if you don’t mind telling us a little bit about yourself and I guess more importantly, your channel and what it’s about. 

Miranda: Yeah, definitely. So I’m Miranda. My channel is called Slashed Beauty. I started it in college back in 2012 on the floor of my dorm room. And I’ve always been a beauty enthusiast. It’s something that I really loved growing up and playing with makeup. And funny enough, I learned how to do my own makeup by watching the earliest beauty gurus on YouTube. But as I was getting into college and my budget was a little strapped because college buying books and paying for adult things, I wasn’t able to buy a lot of the stuff that people on YouTube were talking about. It was all these higher end brands and Sephora brands. And I had not really had a lot of experience with drugstore makeup because having grown up in that beauty YouTube space, I kind of just went straight to Sephora and that’s where I started. So as my budget changed, I started exploring what was out there in terms of budget beauty. And because I noticed that nobody was really talking about it online, that inspired me to start my own YouTube channel, kind of documenting, okay, here’s what’s actually good for the price. 

And at the time, it was a gap that I saw on YouTube that needed to be filled. And so that became my main niche of my channel. And to this day, budget beauty is still my main niche. And it’s funny because since starting, there’s been a very huge dramatic shift in the way that people look at drugstore beauty because at the time when I started my channel, a lot of people looked down on it. Everyone was like, oh, that’s cheap, cheap, no good makeup, blah, blah, blah. And at the time, I mean, by today’s standards, it kind of was. But things have changed so much in the industry that now a lot of people are talking about drugstore makeup because it’s so good. But at the time, it was definitely a rarer content focus. 

Spencer: Yeah, that’s awesome. That’s cool that you were able to find that gap and kind of fulfill that need. I will say, I’m glad there’s people like you doing content about the budget side of things. That’s one of the things when I got married, I was shocked at how expensive makeup products are. I was like, oh my goodness. 

Miranda: Yeah. It’s crazy. It’s gotten even crazier now too. So yeah, definitely still focusing on budget. And I get a lot of comments recently saying with everything going on in the economy, like thank you for talking about these budget options because that’s what I can afford. And so that always makes me happy knowing that I can help somebody find something that makes them feel good without having to put them out. 

Spencer: Yeah, yeah, definitely. I also have to just throw this in there. I don’t know that much about makeup, but I did. When I started my career as an editor, I worked with a makeup YouTuber and edited some of her videos. And my biggest flex as a guy is I know what a spoolie is. That’s great. 

Speaker 3: Hey, that’s good knowledge. Just had to throw that in there. But that’s awesome. Yeah, my husband has learned a lot about beauty, terminology, and stuff. Sometimes I’ll quiz him and he does better than I think. Like I think he absorbs more than I thought he would. Yeah. Have you ever done a video with your husband? 

Miranda: In the early, early, early days when he was my boyfriend, I did. Like boyfriend does my makeup. And then we did one where he did my voiceover for a makeup tutorial. And that one was really funny. But I think both of those videos have been privated since then because they were just so old and the quality was so bad that at some point during my channel career, I was like, I need to go and clean up some of these videos because I don’t want that to be a first impression of me. 

Spencer: Yeah, yeah. Gotcha, that makes sense. So that’s cool that you started way back when in the early days of YouTube, how did you, I guess, initially get started? You mentioned you started in college, but did someone influence you to start a channel or did you just decide to do it on your own? How did you get into it? 

Miranda: Yeah. Well, so funny enough, at the time, I already had a separate YouTube channel that was based on, well, it was me singing because that was my original dream as a kid was to become a singer. And so in high school, I had a singing YouTube where I was playing the guitar and doing covers and stuff and original music. And then even before that, I had another channel of just funny videos with my friends. So I had always loved video editing and creating as a creative outlet. And I was always the person in school who would take the video assignment instead of writing an essay. That was often an option. And I’m like, easy. 

I would love to do that because it was something I was having fun doing. So yeah, I actually discovered YouTube right when it went live, like 2006 or 2007. I noticed somebody had posted a YouTube link on Myspace. 

I’m really dating myself here. They had posted a video of them and their friends on Myspace, but it was like a link to YouTube. And I’m like, what is this? 

Like, is this somewhere where I can share my genius skits with my friends? And so that’s how that started. And then I was like, oh, I should have a separate one for music. But with my music channel, I kept getting comments asking me how I was doing my makeup, which was funny because again, I learned from YouTube. 

And so I was like, OK, I’ll do a tutorial and I’ll just throw that out there so I can keep sending people to that when they keep commenting. So I had always had that interest and I had been on YouTube. But in terms of the beauty theme, it’s something that I had just been so passionate about and spending so much of my free time either playing around with makeup myself or spending so much time consuming content. And like I said, I felt like there wasn’t content out there that I needed at the time. And that’s when I was like, I’ve been creating videos just differently. 

Like, I could do this and I want to share what I have to say about these products. And so I think all of those years of doing different types of video content really led me to be more confident in taking that step of creating my main channel. 

Spencer: That’s cool. That’s awesome. I don’t think I’ve ever talked to anyone who started YouTube when the platform started. The OG video, wasn’t it like a video of the zoo or something? 

Speaker 3: Yeah, me at the zoo. Yeah, I’ve seen a lot on YouTube. It’s definitely changed from those first days. 

Spencer: Yeah, definitely. So speaking of the change, since you’ve been around from the beginning, what have you noticed, I guess, I mean, obviously, the website itself has changed visually. They’ve definitely updated it and modernized it so it looks better. But have you noticed anything throughout the years, content-wise, or the way you make videos that you’ve had to adjust as time has gone? 

Miranda: Yeah, I mean, I think with YouTube, the way that it’s really evolved over the years is that it’s so much more produced than it was when I started. Like, when I started, it was a lot of home videos. It was kids in their room being silly, including myself. 

And it was just, it was very like off the cuff. And now, I think they say that most people are on YouTube versus watching network television. And you can tell, you see these creators who are running their channel like a television station where they have a different series. 

And whether they’re doing it by themselves or they’re doing it with a team, it’s just a lot more produced and thought out and strategized. And obviously, the quality has gone up a lot because people, they want to show high quality video. And so it’s not everybody just with their little webcam or their MacBook. I think at the time, I was filming my singing videos with my guitar on my MacBook photo booth app. That’s how I used to film my videos. 

Speaker 3: And now I’m on like a mirrorless Sony. So like definitely the quality and just the caliber of content. And I think what’s really interesting is that we’re actually seeing legacy media, like television networks upload their content to YouTube because that’s where they know people are getting their entertainment. And I know there’s, there’s a little bit of contention about that within the space among creators because I’ve been on like calls with creators and they’re like, Jimmy Fallon uploads 20 videos a day and it’s clocking my home screen and everything. But I do think it’s, it is just a very interesting observation in terms of the weight that now traditional media is putting on new media and the online space when before it was such an afterthought or like, oh, that’s not, that’s not serious. That’s not really what we should be paying attention to. And now it’s just obviously really holding space. 

Spencer: Yeah, it’s crazy how much has changed and how much more produced it is. I kind of wish it could go backwards a little bit whereas more authentic people being real, not so produced, but it kind of makes sense, you know, the way that things have gone, like how much it’s grown and the industry and how much money it produces, like how many jobs it’s created and. 

Miranda: Absolutely. And I think it’s like there’s a, absolutely. And I think there’s a balance of, you know, being produced in terms of like quality and the content ideas and the strategy, but then also staying really authentic and making sure that you’re still connecting with your audience and in a way that’s personal. I think that’s kind of the balance you have to strike to actually be successful on YouTube for sure. 

Spencer: Yeah, yeah, definitely. So I’m curious, since you’ve been doing it for so long, was there a point in time where you’re like, oh yeah, this is going to be my career moving forward? Like was there a video that like popped off or a moment where you’re like, oh, this is it? 

Miranda: You know, it wasn’t like any one particular moment because so YouTube is just like one facet of like my creator career. I am on every platform in terms of like Instagram, TikTok. And then I also, at the same time I started my YouTube, I started my own blog. And at the time, like 2012 to 2016, blogging was still very, very popular, especially in the beauty space, not so much anymore. 

Because I think people really want to see products in action rather than reading about it. It is still something that I keep up though. But so I always kind of had my hand a little bit everywhere and diversified. And when I started to notice brand deals come in and, you know, kind of weighing the numbers, because at the time I was working at a marketing firm, a small marketing firm in Los Angeles, loved it, loved my team. But there were times where I would get this huge brand deal where I was like, I need to take a couple of days off to work on this. 

I need to take it seriously. And luckily my boss, who was an entrepreneur, he was so, he knew all about my channel. He knew all about my social media. And he’s like, as long as you get your work done, like it’s fine. But it became, it got to a point where I was like, kind of taking days off here and there to work on my own social media stuff. And he sat me down. And I’d already been kind of talking to my husband, who was my boyfriend at the time, but we lived together about like, you know, what if I could do this full time? 

Like it’s kind of getting to that point, revenue wise, where I’m making the same. So, you know, and he was like, you know, super supportive. He’s like, you have savings, you can do it. 

If you want to, I’ll support you. And so my boss sits me down one day and he’s like, hey, I love what you’re doing. I love that, you know, you’re a dreamer, you’re getting after it. 

But I need someone here more than you are right now. And I would, and that day, you know, like I said, this had been something that I was mulling over in my head, but I am so risk of adverse. Like I hate, I’m very calculated, you know? So he sat me down, he told me that and I just blurted out, I think I need to quit. And it was like, it just turned into that conversation because I, it was just something that very gradually became, like you’re going to need to make a decision at some point. And I was just kind of pushed into that decision on the spot. And he was so supportive and was like, you know, if it doesn’t work out, please come back because you were so valuable to this team. 

I stayed on for another few months to trade my replacement. But yeah, it was, it definitely wasn’t one video or one moment. It was just kind of like a bunch of observations leading up to, I need to take the jump now or I might miss the train because I don’t know if that metaphor quite pans out, but it’s like, it was such a, it was such a peak in, in especially beauty YouTube. When I went full time, it was 2016, which was like peak beauty community YouTube, super overconsumptiony when it came to makeup. 

But I kind of recognized like this is the time where I should be putting, putting in all of my effort. And if it works, it works. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t. Luckily it did. So yeah, it was definitely a lot of little moments adding up to that one big one. Gotcha. 

Spencer: That makes sense. That’s cool that your boss was so supportive of that. 

Miranda: Like I was crying during that, during that conversation because I like, I just, I loved that job so much, but I was, and I was scared, but yeah, he was super, super supportive. 

Spencer: Yeah. That probably, I think made it somewhat easier to make the transition because he was so supportive. I know there’s a lot of YouTubers out there who are like trying to balance that line of like working a job and doing creators. 

And it’s hard to know when to make that jump to go full time. So that’s cool that you’re able to do that. So moving on, as a beauty influencer, you work with a lot of different products. And something I’m curious about is we’ve talked about sponsorships on the show before, but I know with beauty, I guess, products, there’s like PR lists, right? Where you can be put on a list and so when new stuff comes your way, you’re kind of like on top of the curve. Can you tell us a little bit about that process, like how you get on those and how they work and stuff like that? 

Miranda: Yeah, definitely. So I think it really all starts with being a genuine fan of a brand and sharing your opinions about that brand authentically to get noticed by them. And I kind of say this about content creation in general. You should be doing it at first because you love to do it and not necessarily, like you can have the maybe this is my career in mind, but that can’t be what’s actually driving you. You really have to be doing it because you love it. And so when I started, I was buying my makeup for myself. My husband was buying makeup for me to review because he loved the fact that I was, you know, I had this hobby at the time. And as I talked about brands more and especially there were certain ones that were my favorites, so I was featuring them all the time, they noticed, you know, brands are always listening. They’re always keeping a pulse on who’s talking about their products and their brand online, tagging them, obviously. And that is the best way to get in touch with a brand, build a relationship with a brand and usually end up on their PR list. I would say Instagram is probably where I connect with most brands just because of the DM feature. YouTube used to have a DM feature like way back in the day that they got rid of. So it’s a little harder in terms of YouTube to kind of make that one-on-one connection. 

But with Instagram, a lot of the times a brand will come into my DMs and say, Hey, we love that you shared this. We’d love to either add you to the PR list or we have something new coming out. Can we send it to you? What’s your address? And that’s typically the way that that goes down. But it’s always going to start with you sharing authentic content about products that you actually love. 

Spencer: Gotcha. That makes sense. Have you ever thought like if YouTube had brought back the DM feature that it would help you get more deals? I feel like I wonder why they got rid of that feature. 

Miranda: I don’t know why they did. And I know that they are trying to do more like in the Creator Studio in terms of connecting YouTubers with brands. They’re really starting to over the past couple years find better ways to support creators and get them brand deals, which I love. I love the effort that YouTube puts in to really fostering a creator success and career on YouTube. So they’ve just started doing a few things that you can request PR in the Creator Studio. 

They’ll have a list of brands who are offering and you can fill out a form. So that’s another great way. You know, I’m pretty sure you do already have to have a monetized channel to access that. But yeah, so I think YouTube is definitely trying to innovate in terms of how they can help facilitate those connections for sure. Yeah. 

Spencer: I think that’s one of the reasons why YouTube is so big is because they’re willing to take those steps to innovate and help their creators. So I’m curious, have you ever had a sponsorship or a brand deal that has been like your favorite all time or on the flip side, have you ever had one that’s been like absolutely terrible that or anything like that? Oh my God, I don’t know if 

Miranda: I’m not sure if I can pick a favorite. I mean, I’ve worked with so many amazing brands, you know, So it’s always really fun. I think any brand deal that I consider a favorite is one where I feel like I have a lot of creative control because there’s such a spectrum of brand deals. Sometimes the brand is really kind of treating you just as the face on the screen and they really want to just get a bunch of their own messaging into the 30 second video, whatever they’re trying to get. And with that personally, I usually push back a lot and I’m like, we need to find a better middle ground because I can’t just be reading a script. That’s just so not me. 

My audience knows it’s not me. So those are always a little bit hard on me. So anytime a brand is super open and collaborative, that is always the best. I’ve even had brand deals where the brand is open to me sharing a not so positive take because it’s still me being honest about the product. And even if I share that not so positive take, there’s someone who’s like, oh, I get what you’re saying, but I think it would actually work for me because X, Y, Z. And like those are awesome because I think all around it just shows that the brand is really prioritizing authenticity. So yeah, anytime I have the most creative control, that’s always the best. 

In terms of like the worst, it’s either when they just want me to read a script or sometimes even, and this would be a brand deal that I just turned down and I have turned down a lot recently where they’re like, we’re going to send you a skincare product. Can you review it and post in five days? And I’m like, I’m not going to know if I like it in five days. 

You know what I mean? And so those I don’t even I am like, sorry, I’m not even going to touch that because it’s just too obvious. It’s like it’s that’s not the kind of creator that I want to be. I think especially having been on this platform for 13 years now, like, I don’t I’m not going to start just talking about a product just because you’re paying me now. You know what I mean? Like I’ve built my I’ve built a lot of trust with my community. Like that’s not something I’m trying to throw away, throw to the wind. So yeah, those are always kind of the tricky ones of like, well, can we do this? Do you can I have two weeks? Like, you know, it’s always a little bit of a tightrope walk. 

Spencer: I was just curious because I’ve talked to some people who have had bad sponsorship experiences, kind of going along with the sponsorships is probably a lot of work to like, you know, handle all of the communication and stuff like that. So for your channel, not just for sponsorships, but for like editing, planning videos, all of that kind of stuff. Do you have like a team that kind of supports you or do you do all of it yourself? 

Miranda: Do it all myself. I’ve tried delegating my editing a couple of times. And the problem is, is that I always felt like I ended up re-editing what they were doing. 

So I’m like, why am I now this is just slowing me down because I could have done it. You know what I mean? And so, you know, I will say that I am a little bit of a control freak that way. 

But when it’s like when you are the brand, it’s really hard to, you know, to offload that. But yeah, and definitely, I think that if I were at a different level, I still consider, I don’t know the specific numbers of like micro creator, nano creator, whatever. I think I’m in like the micro category. I think if I were like a little bit bigger than a team, then a team would be necessary. 

I mean, already my email inbox is pretty crazy. But but I just really like being in charge of every aspect because I think that helps me learn more, too. It just helps me be a little it helps me be much more in tune with what’s going on. And it helps me grow, I think when I’m in charge of editing. And I notice like, hey, this is taking me too long or I don’t really like how this looks. And it’s up to me to learn how to change that process. That definitely helps me grow and just adds to my arsenal. So that’s why I’ve really liked kind of staying on top of everything myself. 

Spencer: Yeah, that was actually going to be you may have just touched on this. But my next question was, is there anything like part of your process that’s been like a game changer, like a tool or something you do that really like helps you with making videos? 

Miranda: I would say every time I do an equipment upgrade, because I do like I wait a long time to upgrade my equipment, like I put I put everything into an upgrade. And then I’m like with that equipment for like five to eight years. Every time I do an equipment upgrade, I’m like, oh, my gosh, why didn’t I do this sooner? Because technology is just like getting better every year. So like recently, I upgraded from a DSLR to a mirrorless camera and I got new lighting. And I was like, oh, my gosh, this is making editing so much easier because particular particular to beauty, I feel, you know, a lot of people say, if you want to start a YouTube, start with your phone. 

It’s totally fine. And I agree with that. iPhones and Android cameras are so good. 

Like it’s better than the Mac photo booth that I started on for sure. But, you know, with beauty, I think there is a level of polish that a lot of channels strive for that brands look for. You want colors to show up the same as in real life. That’s very important. You want texture to show up. So definitely lighting has been the biggest thing. Every time I upgrade my lighting, it’s easier for me to edit because I used to take so much time color grading my video footage because I’m like what I’m seeing on the screen is not what I see in real life. 

And I don’t want that to be how it’s represented. And then so as I’ve upgraded my equipment, I’ve been able to save so much time with that kind of stuff. And then I’m actually pretty new to live streaming as well. I’ve just started to to test the waters. 

I’ve always been super intimidated by it. And when I did try it, I was using like my phone or a webcam and I just didn’t like the quality. And so learning how to use my mirrorless camera with a capture card and using OBS to stream instead of the YouTube dashboard and kind of just seeing so many more options and settings to really find two in it. That’s been a game changer in terms of live streaming as well as clipping content from my live streams, because I’m able to get the quality that looks like a normal pre pre filmed video. 

So I can cut that up and either upload another YouTube video out of it or make shorts out of it. So that’s been something that I’ve slowly been learning to master and that really like unlocked a lot. It made streaming make more sense to me once I learned to do it with my camera and do it with OBS. 

So those were some that was something I had put off for a long time because I was so intimidated by it. And now I’m like, oh, my gosh, this makes live streaming so much easier and like more pleasant to watch. Yeah. 

Spencer: Yeah, definitely. I love getting new equipment. That’s one of my favorite things. I do it all the time if I was rich, but yeah, right. So I actually want to jump back a little bit to coloring because I found that super interesting. I don’t know, as an editor, I sometimes do coloring and it’s like super hard. I feel like so do you shoot like raw log and then color it from there? 

Miranda: No. So I have I have some internal settings on my Sony because what’s interesting is like between camera brands, the way that they capture color is so different. Like on my Canon, it leaned so pink. Just like everything like now, now that I’m looking at them side by side or I’ve been able to like compare my older YouTube videos, I’m like, why is everything like in a sepia tone and Rosie? 

Like I couldn’t I can’t believe I didn’t notice this. And Sony does tend to be a little bit more like yellow green. So I have so I shoot manual, but I do tweak some internal settings so that way once I once it’s in my computer, it’s very close to what I think to me and how I perceive color, how it looks, you know, in real life. And then I do tweak the lighting a little bit so that I can brighten up some of those like highlights and the mid tones as well, balance those out. And then a lot of the times if I’m talking about a product that I’ve like swatched like a lipstick or something, I’ll swatch it on my arm as I’m editing and I’m looking back and forth to the to the color. 

Like am I seeing, you know, and I know it’s going to vary per like depending on what screen somebody’s looking. So I have I do have to learn to like not be super, super picky about it and just get as close as, as, you know, satisfies me. But but yeah, so that was a lot harder with poor lighting. And so upgrading my lighting and also just learning my camera better and tweaking those internal internal settings has really made that. So sometimes I’m just doing the lighting and I don’t even really need to tweak too much of the color anymore. 

Spencer: Yeah, yeah, that’s that’s interesting. You hit it right on the head for me, like for me, the hardest part about coloring is knowing that everyone has a different screen. And so it can’t be perfect for everyone. So I can relate to that. 

Miranda: No, I actually have a funny story about this. So when I did switch to my Sony and I saw how crazy different the coloring was and I looked at my old YouTube videos and I’m like, whoa, why did I think this looked normal at all? I posted a side by side on my Instagram stories and I’m like, why didn’t like as a joke? 

I was like, why didn’t anyone tell me my YouTube videos looked whack? And I got so many DMs, Spencer, saying I don’t see the difference. And I had a side by side of the new coloring and the old coloring. And I’m like, OK, well, if you’re telling me that you don’t see a difference, why am I spending three hours color grading? You know what I mean? So that also very much helped me kind of like ease up a little bit. 

Like at the most, I’ll pull up last week’s video as I edit to make sure they like somewhat match. And then I’m kind of OK now. But that was a very big eyeopening realization and feedback from my followers of like, I think you’re looking too hard at these two photos. 

Spencer: Yeah, that just reminded me of something else that so as an editor, like, I notice like little things like, oh, there’s like a frame here or whatever. But as like just like the general audience that watches videos, they’re not they’re not noticing. 

Notice like a little thing. So yeah, totally makes sense. So thank you for talking about that. That was super interesting to me. So so kind of, I guess, gearing towards the end of the episode, I’ve got a couple more questions. I guess from more, I guess, your opinion about YouTube and cutting your journey. Has there been any mistakes that you made like things you wish you would have done differently? Had you had the knowledge that you have now kind of going through your journey? Yes. 

Miranda: And this is something that I tell all new YouTubers or content creators who are just starting to work with brands specifically is read the fine print in all of your contracts. Because, you know, when I was getting started and I was just excited to sign a contract, I wasn’t necessarily well versed in what everything meant. 

So maybe I thought that I was reading it thoroughly, but I really wasn’t. And there were actually two YouTube videos that were sponsored at the time that I didn’t read the contract really well. And they ended up using the videos on TV, like in actual commercials. 

And this wasn’t even like small, small time. They put it on Bravo, like during housewives. Oh, my gosh. And I was like, I think I should have gotten paid a lot more for that because what? 

But I just I wasn’t I wasn’t I was green, you know what I mean? And so when I went back and looked in the contract, it said they own the video forever and they can use it however they want. And I’m like, oh, and that is that that certainly taught me a lesson for literally the rest of my career. That’s like one of the first things I look for. 

And a lot of brands will sneak it in there because they just want to they want the footage and they want to pay you once for it. But yeah, just just being aware, reading through something, having a lawyer read through something. Luckily, my best friend’s a lawyer. 

So that’s really convenient. But but yeah, just kind of going into brand deals with that business mindset, because it’s so exciting to get your first ones. But as a small creator, there are times where you might get taken advantage of. And that was definitely one of the first kind of, I guess, mistakes that I made. But I just I didn’t know any better, but it definitely taught me a lesson for the rest of for the rest of time. 

Spencer: Yeah, that that reminds me of another question. So as a creator, are you able to like negotiate those contracts? Or if the brand, if you don’t sign the contract, the brand’s like, no, we’re just done or it’s a case by case basis. 

Miranda: There’s a lot of times where if I’m working directly with a brand and like their internal team, there’s a lot more leeway to negotiate. And I have been able to negotiate. And there have been contracts that have started out saying, we can use your video forever. 

And I’m like, no, you can’t. And then the contract I end up signing does not say that. But what I do notice is that if they’re going through an agency, that’s that can be a little bit more difficult to negotiate because you have like this whole third party that’s kind of running the campaign for the brand. And the brand has just told them this is the term and, you know, find creators that will say yes to this. So it’s really a case by case basis. 

I would say regardless, even when I am working with an agency, ask because the worst they’re going to say is no. You know what I mean? Like, you’re never going to know unless you ask. So regardless of who I’m talking to and whose team they’re on, I’m always here. 

Here are the lines of the contract that I have questions about, you know, want to see if I can negotiate to be just mutually beneficial, you know, not even like in my favor, just making sure that it’s in everybody’s best interest. 

Spencer: Yeah, no, that makes sense. Thanks for talking about that. And I have one more question and we ask all over again. So if you’ve seen our previous episodes, you know what this is. But are there any myths about YouTube that you think need to be busted? Any misconceptions that for anyone who has a YouTube channel or someone who wants to start a YouTube channel should know about? 

Miranda: I think one myth that’s been floating around, even like I’ve heard my friends talk about it, who aren’t necessarily creators, but it was interesting to hear from like a content consumer standpoint is that the myth is that long form content is dead because it is far, far, far from dead. I think that, you know, short form video is very snappy and it’s very trendy right now. And with YouTube also pushing shorts and so many channels, new channels growing immensely from just posting shorts. I think a lot of people look at that and they’re like, well, that’s, you know, a little bit less effort than a than a full long form video. 

And you can do it a little bit more off the cuff, etc. But in my opinion, and from what I’ve seen from friends in the industry and just from my own channel, the actual community building is going to happen in the long form videos. Because with shorts, it’s like, you know, they might scroll onto your video and they might even subscribe from that video. But if they’re a short scroller, it’s they’re not going to be as compelled or as consistent to actually come to your channel and watch your new content versus a long form watcher who, you know, has their subscriptions feed that they’re constantly checking in on. And they’re the ones kind of commenting all the time. Like I notice a lot of repeat commenters on my long form videos versus my short form videos. And to be totally transparent, long form is still where the money is at. 

You know, short form, you can definitely get your brand deals that and there are some bonus programs that are involved with that. But long form is definitely where particularly YouTube advertisers are paying the most. So I think that it’s very much worth investing time into long form content versus just putting everything into short form. 

Spencer: I completely agree. So I’m so glad you said that. I think in our second episode of this show, Rob and Sarah from the Tool Show, they also talked about this. But long form is still king. You know, as I also consume YouTube and I pretty much watch long form more than short form. And I stick around those long form channels, whereas occasionally I do scroll, but I don’t ever stick around those those channels. I’m just there for that entertaining quick video. So exactly. 

Miranda: It’s a totally different mindset. And so even when somebody subscribes to you from a short and maybe they’re just a short consumer, they’re not going to your channel to see your new shorts. They’re just expecting your content to show up in their shorts feed. You know what I mean? So it’s just such a different mindset. 

So yeah, definitely. I think that that’s a myth that I’ve heard around because even some of my friends are like, oh, I don’t even watch. I don’t watch long videos anymore. I’m just scrolling and I’m like, oh my God, your attention span must be in the gutter. But no, yeah, I totally agree. 

Spencer: Yeah, I also heard that, you know, some brands, probably not all companies, but they just look at the numbers and shorts numbers are wild compared to long form content. And so that’s why they want to like do brand deals through shorts. Yes. 

Miranda: And I and also with shorts and like reels or any type of short form video, it’s a lot easier for brands to monetize that as well versus a long video. Because what are they going to do with a long video with shorts or reels or whatever the case may be? They can then take that and it’s a super short and sweet advertisement that they can put on their website or their profiles and stuff with a long form video. It’s not as easy for them to repurpose that. So that’s definitely why I think brands favor short form video when it comes to direct partnerships. But when we’re talking about like YouTube and AdSense and basically the passive income you get after you’ve published a video that can last. Forever as long as that video is up, then that’s where the long form definitely is number one. Yeah. 

Spencer: So from your experience, do you do like 50 50 long form sponsorships and shorts or do you is it kind of like a mix? Or like if you do a deal, is it like, oh, you need to do a long form and a short or kind of how does that work? 

Miranda: I would say that like within since 2020, it’s probably like 98% short form when it comes to brand deals in the beauty space. Yeah, like it’s absolutely shifted before 2020. It would well, that was even before short form video really became as popular, but there was way more long form. They wanted to see more in depth, more, you know, full videos just about one brand or one product. But yeah, I would say that all nearly all of my brand deals have shifted to short form and that’s either on Instagram and TikTok, but also on YouTube shorts, I get some campaigns where they just want it on YouTube shorts. So yeah, I think I think that’s the biggest reason why those because it’s way easier for a brand to get more mileage out of that content. But yeah, I think that’s it’s very interesting to see the shifts throughout the years for sure. 

Spencer: Yeah, definitely very interesting. So thanks for a busting that myth for us. And Miranda, thanks for being on the show. Really appreciate it. Yeah, thanks for having me. So you’re on all of the social media platforms, I’m guessing. 

Miranda: Yeah, everything I’m Slashed Beauty everywhere. 

Spencer: Okay, awesome. Well, for our listeners and watchers, make sure to check out Miranda on all of the platforms. And thanks again to our watchers for checking out this episode. Make sure to like and subscribe for more content. And if you need help with any videos, make sure to check us out at creatorluxe.com. And we’ll see you in the next one.