Zoella, The Millionaire Blogger
Some of you may have heard of the successful blogger Zoe Elizabeth Sugg, better known as Zoella who set up her blog and YouTube channel in 2009. Now in 2018 with a net worth of approximately £2.5million (http://www.cosmopolitan.com/uk/entertainment/a15332578/zoella-net-worth/), she has been considered one of the most influential people in Britain (https://www.buzzfeed.com/richardhjames/how-youtube-star-zoella-became-one-of-the-most-influential-p?utm_term=.kbmlkdJKJ).
You may wonder how a young girl posting online about her life and uploading weekly YouTube videos ends up with 3 published books, over 12 million YouTube subscribers and over 11 million Instagram followers (the list goes on).
But what sets apart from the rest? The best platform to focus on is her YouTube channel — Zoella.
Comparing the two videos despite the obvious differences, the basis of the two videos are pretty similar. Both presenting products to viewers that she (or someone else) has purchased/aquired.
This brings us onto…
IMAGE CONSISTENCY AND MAINTENANCE
HERSELF
Zoella has worked hard to build a powerful and ever growing web presence, developing an entire brand around herself. Done through her seemingly perfect life, a life which many of her followers aspire to. Her innocent persona is quite adorable and works in helping create a personal relationship with her followers. Zoella’s relatable personality evokes trust between her and her followers, which I believe to be a key component to her success and a big focus for her online presence.
In her videos she talks honestly about herself and her life, also being fun and entertaining to watch. Her honesty removes the illusion of her seemingly desirable lifestyle, strengthening her relatability.
MENTAL HEALTH
Her honesty lead to her becoming an advocate for mental health. Starting out with one video in 2012 giving insight to her daily struggles with anxiety (reaching over 4 million views), lead her to become an online advocate for the mental health charity MIND (https://www.mind.org.uk/news-campaigns/news/zoella-becomes-first-digital-ambassador-for-mind/#.WoC_B5OFi8U). Gathering up an even bigger following of young people who seek advice on how to deal with these difficulties.
She offers a relatable figure to young girls of a impressionable age so can be seen as a positive and reliable example of increased popularity of YouTube stars.
HER FOLLOWERS
Zoella’s YouTube channel focuses mainly on fashion advice, makeup and hair tutorials and well, whatever her audience want to see. Zoella constantly adapts to her followers demands, directly addressing them in videos to maintain a strong relationship. She also does regular Q&A videos where her followers send in questions and she responds via video.
The typical Zoella follower would be a 10–16yr old female transitioning through image conscious stages of puberty, effectively resulting in searching for advice from others and for many this is Zoella.
Importantly, she knows this and like any good business, customers (or followers) come first. Videoing herself in the comfort of her room with many of her followers watching her videos in the comfort of their own rooms, strengthens the relationship between follower and blogger.
Although very few have forged a successful career in blogging like Zoella, it seems that with the right content, a little perseverance and the right image, it’s not impossible.
