Katya Klap turns on the camera, eats a lemon, and this video has 6 million views. She takes brushes, concealer, eyeliner, and already 7 million viewers are watching her make-up tricks. Are you curious what the catch is? He's in everything. It turns out that this particular content sells better than the rest on the web.
Bloggers-millionaires are in trend today, and 24-year-old Katya Klep in the virtual market is one of the main players. The first Russian YouTube girl blogger has 5 million subscribers on her channel and almost the same number on Instagram (with 8 thousand likes per minute in the first hour of viewing). In addition to impressive numbers and fame, it has long been talking about a profit comparable to the income of a top manager of a decent company. While people far from digital business still look down on the "pranks" of millennials, advertisers are neatly lining up. And now Katya is tasting marshmallows in the Beeline advertisement, sending warm greetings from the set of the Molodezhka series (in which she plays herself) and teaching Ivan Urgant the basics of top blogging on Channel One.
By the way, Katya doesn't like her hit with lemon. She tells me that this is “the stupidest video of three years ago, which is often unjustifiably cited as an example,” and yet her hair color is already completely different, like her inner world. She straightens a pink mink pom pom on a fashionable backpack and reminds me of Lewis Carroll's heroine, who knew exactly who she was in the morning when she woke up, but has changed several times since then. This, of course, is nice, but we were going to talk about a successful business model. Katya drinks a couple of cups of hot tea, wakes up a little after another long day of filming, and finally puts her pink backpack aside and begins to tell who she really is.
Mystery is a useful thing
In fact, I am a business woman, a director, and a blogger. Three in one. I love both my platforms: the blog on YouTube and Instagram. But, of course, shooting is much more difficult. It's not 50 selfies to choose the best face. The person for the video is filmed for three to four hours. It gets stupid because of the spotlights and make-up, it gets bogged down by cameras. Every word starts to piss off. And then you have to look at the same face for at least another five hours - during editing.
My love affair with YouTube began with music videos. Then I wanted to learn how to make up - Megan Fox's impeccable sable eyebrows haunted me! Today I draw them perfectly. I also learned English thanks to the fact that I watched a lot of videos - sketches, shows. I often hear from foreigners that I speak as if I lived in America for several years. Didn't live. But thanks, very nice.
My first video (remember!) - stupid antics with a friend - got 300 or 500 views. 2007, there were no likes at that time yet, in Russian YouTube they searched exclusively for football broadcasts and showed cats. Few people knew about a certain "overseas Internet", were interested in how digital is developing in the States. Until that moment I was looking for everything: from horse riding to ballet, from drawing to playing the piano. She started, and then: "No, not mine!" Parents, of course, hinted: "Katya, we need to be determined", and grandparents advocated that I certainly get a higher education. But no one pressed me.
I studied at the Institute of Contemporary Art for six months. And they scratched me right with a pitchfork, because they made me shoot what I don't like. I love bright and fun. The teacher said in plain text: "Shoot the crap." I explain: “Super! But I can't film that. " "But this is for sale!" - "So I don't want to be sold." An internal conflict arose, depression began. After a short time, I took the documents. And a couple of months later, there was a qualitative leap in my Internet channel.
Under the pseudonym Kate Clapp, I appeared on YouTube in 2008. Could have stayed Katya Trofimova. Why Clapp? This is a small but big secret. A secret on the web is a useful thing.
Tenacity and complexes
I do everything myself and build myself. The first full-fledged sketch (a musical parody with reincarnations) was made for the film "Twilight". She wrote the text, recorded the sound, came up with special effects, edited. The camera at home was terribly old, it shot on a mini-disc and regularly reset memory without warning. A stepladder with books served as a tripod. Instead of professional light - construction light, it is cheaper. Blinded me so that I could not see anything, even planted my vision. But it worked out! The people looked: “Wow! Well done!" I started posting at myself. I realized that I was appreciated and said: "I will continue in the same spirit!"
I have almost 5 million YouTube subscribers and almost the same number on Instagram. Visually, I can't imagine how many people there are if they physically gathered at the same time in one place. Yes, I've beaten a lot of people on YouTube. The secret of my success is perseverance and … complexes. Including complexes from the fact that people don't like me - in our society, bloggers are scornful, with aplomb. I used to work out this moment at school, with classmates - I wanted to win their love at all costs. And I tried, developed my brand. And I am not at all sorry that others connected to my channels and "fed", copied.
Personal driver? Director? Security? I don't need it. In Moscow, people are busy with themselves, they don't care about others. Sometimes you go to the subway: everyone is on their phones, sometimes they watch me there. But the fact that I am standing next to them will not be noticed for anything! So the best defense against the Internet is real life.
20 thousand likes is not enough
I can hardly name the moment when the number of my subscribers "exceeded" the first million. Here are the first 10 thousand followers - I remember this figure, then there was another Internet. To be looked at, you had to really strain. Now it is possible to earn 10 million in six months. A huge audience is looking for new content. A video with a useful life hack, or even better - with some kind of scandal, with a preview of breasts - will collect at least 2 million. But I don’t do that. I'm not chasing numbers.
The first salary was like a "brain explosion" for me. 14 thousand rubles in 2010. I was paid for six months of connecting an affiliate system on YouTube. I walked out of the bank without breathing, as if I had a million in my bag! Cool sensations. If there was a real million lying there, I probably would have exchanged it in bills of 50 rubles and showered myself with them. When else can you afford this? Seriously, real big money was in my hands only once, when my mother and I paid the mortgage for my apartment a year ago. I earned most of that amount myself from advertising on my video blog. "Everything that is acquired by back-breaking labor." Mom asked: "Do you want to hold?" I say: "Yes!" I kept it and thought: it’s good that now electronic transfers are mainly practiced. You get less attached to virtual money.
An advertiser will sooner or later knock on any successful blogger. They will find you, the main thing is not to burn yourself. My sad experience is this: I took an order and only after a while I found out that the advertiser is actively involved in one political project. With irony I thought: "Lord, how much money has flowed from me if I worked for them for three kopecks."
The main platform driving sales today is the Internet. Celebrities understand this well. An A-level artist comes to YouTube, to Instagram - and at first no one needs him there. What to do? So they wind him up with bot subscribers. He is an A-celebrity, he should be higher in status than those plebeians who blog about fondant. Okay, who would argue. But … "Blogs About Sweets" is visited, for a minute, by a real audience. Most will not go to a restaurant advertised by A-star, they will decide that there is 100% pretentious, expensive, they will be scared. And if a blogger comes to this place, shoots a detailed video, tells it intelligibly - a person will have both trust and desire.
Checking whether a blogger has real followers is easier than it sounds. You just need to correlate the ratio of likes and comments to the number of subscribers. A large 6 millionaire cannot have less than 20 thousand likes per post - and that is negligible. Otherwise, what the hell is your army if it doesn't want to follow you?
Internet will believe in tears
I don't need a test for sincerity for a long time: I learned to recognize people who manipulate friendship for the sake of subscribers. The scar has healed, but it remains, and it itches when it begins: “Here, here I am a compliment to her, and here I’m whispering something in my ear. Maybe it will do, she's so laughing. " No, sorry. Do not think that I have hung a star on myself. But they hit me so hard that I know exactly where to aim back.
A blogger's income is highly dependent on an ad agency. There are good agencies. And there is not much. I mean those who like to talk about the top bloggers' earnings from one to twenty million per month. The last figure is, of course, an unrealistic contract.
Big money doesn't always go to the blogger. Conventionally, the customer brings a million to the agency, and the blogger can get only 100-200 thousand. So do not think that bloggers are "snuffed". Rather, some advertising agencies openly "go overboard" and spoil the bloggers' image. Unsurprisingly, brands are getting smarter at the rate at which people like me on Instagram and increasingly prefer to work directly.
Of course, the agency is a convenient intermediary that removes all legal issues from you. Because I have a multi-task in front of me. I don't exist at all when the video is being written. I'm busy, and the second, as a rule, is already on the way.
In theory, a blogger can earn 600 thousand a month. But it will take on such a volume of advertising that people will stop watching it, and worthy brands will stop coming. One good project is better than many and in a short time. You can get 600 thousand only with a bunch of all kinds of advertising junk, and also probably by pushing competing brands against each other. The audience will not believe these publications. The viewer is smart. I often say to brands or agencies, "I'm not taking any orders for the next two months." I will not burden myself with excess, I have enough money. Plus, direct advertising annoys the audience: “Look, they gave me an iron. The best iron in the world. Take it. " Stupid! I always say: "If you want a beautiful and effective advertisement, make them do what is new for me."
A millionaire blogger is a serious job. You cannot go to the dacha for the last three years, because it is physically impossible. The Internet should always be nearby. You must always be in touch! Otherwise, it will instantly be blown away by a wave, and the viewer will forget you. But today, for example, I had a very nice family morning. The previous one too. I began to allocate at least a day or two a week for my personal life, and then I do not go to the Internet. I go in, of course, but I don't distribute anything. I cook and watch silly movies all day.
If you screwed up a lot and subscribers began to lose interest in you, you don't need to do anything here - just cry in front of the camera, and you will be forgiven. But this only works in Russia. Our people love to be sorry. Mercantile bloggers play robustly on this. I confess, I also cried once. Subconsciously, it was probably a manipulation. Plus hormones. But what to avoid: you always have a choice - leave it or cut it out …
I envy the Kardashians who make reality shows about themselves. When they ask me where you, Katya, are planning to grow further, I answer: "I will put the camera at the family dinner!" Characters - right to tears, from a grandmother "from high society" to a grandfather who walks in a vest, smokes a makhorka, and can put some inappropriate thing on the table, and this will cause a scandal. There is a dog that behaves like a cat, a cat that behaves like a blue-blooded prince. But any, even the most serious, quarrel ends in tears of laughter. I think I'm the most unfunny in the family.
Genre crisis is normal
There are different people among my subscribers. Two main groups. From 16 to 18 years old - this is the most active audience, they have time at school to watch and comment. From 18 to 20 years old - first-year students, they have not yet completely gone into their relationships, into work, they are still open to the world, but at the same time they are already stable in their interests. There are kids and women 40+ - without any complexes about my age. They calmly communicate with a girl who is younger but can give helpful advice.
A crisis in the genre is normal. For about two years I did not shoot a video on my sketch channel, because the topics ran out: there I made fun of all my complexes on the shelves. After finishing the stories accumulated over 19 years, I realized: "Wow!" It is clear that on my life channel I could talk about what is happening to me now. And here she took a break. The audience was worried: "How is it possible!" Said: "Sorry, there is nothing to talk about yet." And during these two years I received such a colossal life experience … of "friendship", relationships, financial problems. She lived a specific adult life, which, apparently, she put off for too long after school, filming and editing her sketches. Based on the new experience, I shot three parts of sketch stories, such mini-films. They are funny, not serious. But with a lot of metaphors, comparisons. And I was glad that my viewers began to dig deeper. Read all my signs! It is obvious to me: the audience is tired of "fast food". She wants depth and mystery.
I am a great owner
Raising other bloggers - no thanks. I tried, but, unfortunately, I realized: talented people don't need help. And those who have no talent usually get arrogant too early, get their first million subscribers and leave. It's a thankless job. If I have a child, I will teach him. It seems to me that I will be a strict mom …
I have control over my personal life. I am a family man and a big owner. If this is mine, I love it madly. And I don't show it to anyone. In a broad sense.
I don't keep in touch with any of my classmates, but I can't say that I'm on bad terms with all of them. There was a connection, and then the roads went their separate ways. Everyone has their own worries and, of course, acquaintances who at the moment meet their interests (at school you still find each other not according to interests, but according to circumstances). I'm a slightly different person, maybe even “a lot”.
I'm a good student, not an excellent student. It seems to me that everyone who was more fun at school now creates more positive kipesh at their work. Because those who are “at the bottom”, who have worse grades, then had every chance of being reborn - they had room to grow. And the one who seemed one level higher believed that he was already cool, so he quickly went out.
An institute is a great luxury. I don't understand people who say: “Here! I am suffering, I am learning! " If you work, then yes, you suffer and learn. And if you just study, it's a pleasure. If I had a lot of free time, which is not a pity to spend, I would gladly just read books all day long. But this time, especially the young, I am sorry to spend now.
There is a good higher education in Russia. But I am a fast-paced person, I am for lectures. It's like a search engine. You need to study the question about the field buttercup. You don't open an encyclopedia and read about all flowers. You ask a specific question, you get a detailed answer. Any compressed format, video broadcasts, conferences - this is my direct path. I go on a topic that is relevant to me at the moment, take the best, everything that the professionals "squeezed" in two hours, and leave.
Yes, haters write negative. Of course, you don't have to read. But I read. I want it, it itches. And here it all depends on female hormones: when the background is perfect, it is like peas against the wall. When the emotional recession, you think: “Well! This is all true. They noticed it. " Be that as it may, the coolest ideas are born in my mood “at the bottom” of my mood.
And that's all about her:
Age: 24
City: Moscow
Family: mom, dad, grandmothers, grandfathers, dog - a dachshund named Izumka
Career: runs two YouTube channels: FoggyDisaster (publishes sketches and musical parodies) and the main one - TheKateClapp (lifestyle video). In 2014, as a millionaire blogger, she received two Golden Buttons at once (the highest award of the Youtube videopeople festival). Video projects are in the top 10 most profitable in Russia
Perfume: Foggy from Kate Clapp
Clothing brand: I really like FENDI
Shoes: I admire Manolo Blahnik
Book: American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
Film: Silence of the Lambs
Places to rest: home Sweet Home
Photo: Albert Plekhov
Related materials
- 17 "naked" dresses of stars in which you could neither eat nor sit
- 10 unusual facts about the first lady of the United States Melania Trump
- Nothing is impossible: how to fulfill your cherished dream
- Gianluca Vacca: The Narcissus Dance