If you somehow were unaware, vlogging has come full circle and is popular again! The act of documenting your life, adventures, struggles, and more using video. If you’re looking to get started with vlogging as a career or hobby, should you start with TikTok or YouTube as your platform?
Well, it’s actually quite a straightforward question that really comes down to how you want to build your audience. There are always new platforms popping up to try and tempt the market, take the recent launch of Threads for example, but I still believe that TikTok and YouTube are the best platforms available for vlogging in 2023.
Why vlog on TikTok?
TikTok is one of the fasted growing video platforms in the world and opens up a world of opportunity thanks to it’s super-secret algorithm. The chances are, if you create content, no matter how niche, TikTok can find an audience for it.
TikTok is the perfect platform to vlog on if you are inexperienced and have no idea where to start. The video recording feature is super simple and editing is also a breeze, all done within the app. Ambiguity is rare with TikTok, you won’t have to worry about copyright strikes for using certain music provided that the artist has made it available on the app.
When it comes to reaching your audience, you can use hashtags on your content but thankfully, TikTok’s algorithm will try and find people who engage with content similar to yours. Audiences can be built with speed on TikTok but the ability to monetize this is far worse when compared to YouTube.
Why vlog on YouTube?
YouTube is a long-established video platform that was the original home of vlogging. Most of the biggest names in the world got their start here and continue to post content to their communities.
If you have experience with video and sound editing, you can make you videos super refined before posting them to YouTube. There are also no issues with the length of the video you produce whereas TikTok is quite limited, hence the trend of posting content in multiple parts.
It’s far harder to build an audience on YouTube as it’s search algorithm always tends to favor established content and you may find that you video initially get lost in among similar content creators until you have been posting on a regular schedule for some months.
Monetization is for fruitful on YouTube but you will have to pay close attention to any potentially copyright content that could see your videos demonetized.
Which is better – TikTok or YouTube?
If you feel like you have to commit to just one of these platforms, I would personally suggest TikTok due to it’s easier barrier to entry, even if the monetization is poor.
The reason for this is because if you use TikTok to great success, you can always then start to integrate YouTube as part of your process and use TikTok to promote your YouTube account and bypass the early struggles with audience building on the platform.
Ultimately, it will come down to your personal preferences and the time you can commit to the vlogging venture. However, right now, TikTok is the way to go.