Ever since I was a little girl, I dreamed of my name appearing on Google in recognition for my work. I was really excited to find out that I now have a knowledge panel on Google, as well as a profile added to the website Famous Birthdays. Thank you so much to everyone who has supported me in the past, and continues to support me today. It feels really cool now to be a recognized author, blogger, and YouTuber across the web when people search my name.
Also, a little self-promo, you can visit my Famous Birthdays profile and click on the “Boost” button to rank me higher in certain categories. Click here to visit the Famous Birthdays website: https://www.famousbirthdays.com/people/victoria-hecnar.html
Now that Christmastime is quickly approaching, I plan to do some fun posts that will be sure to get you into the holiday spirit. Christmas baking, anyone?
Ten years ago, the terms “YouTuber” or “social media influencer” didn’t seem to exist. If you told someone your career was uploading weekly videos to the world wide web, or that posting a photo of yourself would earn you thousands of dollars, it would seem almost impossible to believe, wouldn’t it? Fast-forward to 2018—now, there are thousands upon thousands of people who call social media their full-time job, some of these people achieving fame and fortune for their content. How did the internet create so many possibilities for these individuals? Why are so many of these social media enthusiasts becoming idolized by viewers they’ve never met? And how likely is it that your videos can become the next viral hit?
The majority of these content creators are found from posting videos on the popular website known as “YouTube” (where virtually anyone, anywhere can publish a video of almost anything). YouTube was founded in the year of 2005 but didn’t become the worldwide phenomenon we know of today until late 2006 when it was purchased by multi-billion-dollar company, Google. The type of content published on YouTube varies. Some popular YouTubers who started at zero subscribers and earned their way up to being in the top percentile are as follows: Shane Dawson, a comedian on YouTube who posts conspiracy theories, vlogs, and sketches began his YouTube career in 2006 and currently sits at 15,000,000 subscribers; Tana Mongeau, a twenty-year-old female who posts videos telling stories of her life, started posting videos only three years ago and is now at over 3,000,000 subscribers; and newcomer 17-year-old Emma Chamberlain who has only been posting videos for one year, is set to pass 4,000,000 subscribers by the end of the summer. Other notable YouTube celebrities include Rosanna Pansino, who earned over 10,000,000 subscribers posting cooking videos; Zoella, who earned over 12,000,000 subscribers by creating beauty and fashion videos; and the most subscribed to person on all of YouTube, PewDiePie, who has a whopping 64,000,0000 subscribers and over 18,000,000,000 views on his channel by posting gaming videos.
How did they do it? How tangible is it for your channel or Instagram page to hit these astronomical numbers? A lot of the time, these social media stars have one thing in common—luck. Luck isn’t the only factor, though, as hard work, motivation, and determination also have a key to play in creating your social media success story. Each of these internet celebrities kept goals and achieved them by doing simple things creating a weekly posting schedule (and sticking to it), opening other accounts on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to stay relevant on each platform, and most importantly, being consistent in the content you create. For example—an Instagram star who is in the fitness industry is not likely to create content about video games, and vice versa. Developing a niche and expanding on it is the best way to find devoted and dedicated viewers for your content. Some social media influencers appear to grow big numbers overnight, whereas others may take years of developing their skills and content to see their audience expand.
The last and final question is, why are these people earning so many viewers daily and what sets them apart from mainstream celebrities? Social media stars—like previously mentioned—start from zero subscribers, start from zero followers, and start at zero views. They are regular people who were able to make something out of their zany, sarcastic, funny, and likeable personalities. Musicians and actors may have all these traits too, but one main reason why so many people are developing a fondness to a social media star over a mainstream celebrity, is that of the personal connection you can feel with the person. Social media stars make videos for their viewers about their lives, especially by filming vlogs—some YouTubers even make their videos feel like a one-on-one chat with their viewers. A social media star is more likely to reply to comments, like “tweets” on Twitter, or follow their fans on Instagram. There’s some sort of indescribable bond between stars on social media and their viewers—perhaps because the viewer is what makes it all possible for the social media influencer. After all, without the viewers, there would be no platform for social media stars to post on, would there be?
Whether you are a creator yourself, are on the bandwagon and support social media stars, or still don’t really understand the concept, one thing can be said—social media stars are on the rise, and it seems like there’s no stopping the demand for them anytime soon.
As everyone is preparing for Easter this weekend and the festivities it involves, I hope we all have a great time and the Easter bunny brings us lots of treats. Tonight as I sit here writing this entry, I am very proud of myself because it is something that I wanted to write for the past 2 years now.
As some of you may know, I have a YouTube channel that I began 3 years ago. I started it off with gaming videos, animations, and fun challenges that I did with my boyfriend. But back in 2016, I lost the passion to continue on with my channel. When I first started my channel, I played the game “Five Nights at Freddy’s”, which was a horror survival game. I began making animations using the characters from that game. I got nearly 30,000 subscribers, over 13,000,000 views on all of those videos, and many fans. I would get fan art, people saying they want to meet me, and people saying I was their favorite YouTuber.
So what went wrong, you may ask?
I noticed that people didn’t really watch my videos for me. They didn’t like me; they weren’t a fan of me; they were a fan of the video game. They liked the animations, they liked the game plays, they liked the game itself. Whenever I would upload another video, say a challenge video or a story time, it would get as many dislikes as likes. It would get 100 views whereas my other videos had over 2 million views. Why was this happening? I asked myself for so long. Then the answer came: my channel became a channel for “Five Nights at Freddy’s”. I was no longer in control of my channel; it was in control of me. When I posted another type of video, comments would flock in saying I needed to go back to the other videos. So I did. I became miserable and resentful of YouTube.
At one point, it was amazing. It was fun, I had a lot of passion for it and it was wonderful. I was making a decent paycheck every month from the ad money I was receiving on my videos, and life was great. But as months went on, it got dull. I did not like where it was heading. I wanted to be in control of my channel again, to make things that I wanted to make. And I couldn’t.
For fear of the hate. For fear of the disapproval. For fear of the unsubscribers.
I stopped making videos. Biweekly videos turned into 2 videos per year. I envied YouTubers who had fun making their videos, got to be themselves and had an audience that respected them and followed them on their journey.
Something in me snapped at the beginning of March. I didn’t know what it was. It just snapped. I had a mini breakdown and I realized: This life is short. I want to make videos that I want to make. I no longer want to be constrained by the audience that only wants me to make videos that I no longer have any passion or interest in whatsoever. So I went to the store and bought a brand new camera. I planned out what I was going to say, sat down, and filmed it. I was so nervous it took me until now to finally upload it. The response was better than I imagined. Some people were disappointed, but the others understood. I was so afraid to take this initial step and say to my audience: “This is me. This is what I am doing now.” But I did, and I’ve never felt so happy.
At the end of the day, I am a super girly, super loud 20 year old girl. I have a blog, a book, a (surprisingly enough) Famous Birthdays profile and a brand that I adhere myself to. But search up my name in Google and there you have it: pictures of animated robotic chickens all over the place. How embarrassing! Not my image nor brand at all.
Collaborations were turned down because no one wanted to work with me. Not because my content wasn’t good, but I wanted to work with people whose videos were the type I wanted to make, but didn’t. Our channels were totally different. Go to my channel and see animations from “Five Nights at Freddy’s”, in which were pretty lame if I do say so myself . . . well, it wasn’t promising in this line of work. Even if I were to make a new video, like I said, my audience would thumb it down so quick I couldn’t even have time to think about what went wrong. Comments would desperately exclaim: “Go back to your old content!”
A new leaf has been turned over. This is finally me. Victoria Hecnar, making the videos I wanted to make from the very beginning. Blogging about what I wanted to blog about, from the very beginning.
Now that I am on my way to building a brand and image for myself that I can be proud of, you’re going to see a lot more than me! I’m going to be uploading weekly videos, writing weekly blog posts, and updating my Instagram a lot more than before (yup, no more photo per 6 months!) This year, starting now, is going to be about my passions and going forward, I am no longer doing things for the numbers or for the interests of others.
There are thousands of other animated videos out there, and my channel will no longer be one of them. It was an incredible journey, but this has to be done. I am doing this for me and for my well-being.
A new leaf has been turned.
Here’s the video of me explaining everything in detail. Hey, why don’t you subscribe to me while you’re at it?!
Hey everyone! Today I uploaded a video on YouTube telling you guys about my five favourite bath and body gift sets of all time. Along with the video, I will also be sharing with you guys the links to go check out and purchase these awesome products.
These gift sets are all in the $10 to $40 price range. You can get them at the stores in which they sell them or online. Click the links provided for more information. Have a lovely day everybody!
Calling all animation fans! Last week I uploaded two new SFMs: “Mangle Kisses Foxy” and “The New Hot Mangle”. The first one is the next “Mean Girls” parody and the other is an original, which was inspired by the “Spongebob Squarepants” episode “The Two Faces of Squidward” where Squidward gets hit in the face by a door then suddenly turns gorgeous. There are a few nip slips in our video, though, just to warn you. Sorry. We tried our best to use the blur effect but I guess it just didn’t want to cover a fox’s chest.
I love online shopping, there’s no doubt about that. So when I was looking on Fancy and saw a whole bunch of Emoji plush pillows, I knew I needed it right then and there. The ones on Fancy are over twenty dollars each so I went on Amazon where they are only about twenty dollars each. I was tempted to buy the hearts for eyes one, but of course, being me, I bought the poop. Come on, it’s nothing but shitty! It’s adorable, great price, soft, and shipping came fairly quickly. Here’s a link to get one of these bad boys: http://www.amazon.com/Etosell-Stuffed-Pillow-Cushion-Shaped/dp/B00RVDBI64
Along with this, I also got a dog key chain that just so happens to have (more) poop coming out of its butt. I used to have a cow and blue dog as a kid, but I lost the cow and my cousin ripped all of the poop out of the dog (yes, I am still pissed.) So I bought one back! This is a little cute doggy, very cheeky grin on his face. I wonder why? It’s only three dollars but with shipping it was over twenty. Was it worth it? Not sure, but who cares. Here’s the link: http://www.amazon.com/Pooping-Key-Chain-Dog-KeyChain/dp/B00563NWQA/ref=sr_1_4?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1432501122&sr=1-4&keywords=pooping+dog
And lastly, a lot of my YouTube fans know I love Mangle from Five Nights at Freddy’s, so I bought a pin of her that says “Let’s Be Friends” on it. I like it a lot, it’s a lot bigger than some pins and it’s pretty good quality and home made. It was around three dollars then like five for shipping. Link: https://www.etsy.com/listing/222955885/mangle-button
That’s everything for now. Talk to you soon! xoxo
(Here’s the vlog where I talk about all of these products):
Hello everyone! The FNAF button/pin contest has officially been closed since last weekend, and all of the winners are in! I had to make a second video because some of the first winners had not responded to me. Thus far, two out of the ten winners have not responded, so if they still haven’t in a week, a new video will be out until we find the winners who want it the most! A lot of my YouTube fans have been asking questions regarding the contest, so here you go for answers:
Q: When are you shipping the pins?
A: When I get every single winner to send me their address. So far 80% of them have. I’m hoping to ship them next weekend.
Q: When am I going to get my pin?
A: From 2-4 weeks after I send them. I don’t live in the USA and most of you do, so it will take a few weeks to arrive. Please be patient!
Q: Do I have to pay?
A: No! My contests are 100% free of charge and they always will be.
Q: When will you announce new winners?
A: If the original winner doesn’t reply to me after seven days, I will do a redraw for that certain pin.
Q: I really don’t want the contest to be closed, can I enter?
A: Unfortunately, no. I made the contest five weeks long and gave plenty of notice as to when I was closing the contest. If I let one person enter past the date, then I’ll have to let everyone because I like to play fair. So it’s just easier to have an official ending date.
Q: Where and when can I enter your next contest?
A: On my official website, http://www.victoriahecnar.com. There will be a tab that says Contest, click it and there will be a box to fill out, click Submit, and you are automatically entered. We do contests at every huge milestone. Our first was at 1,000 subscribers and the next will be at 25,000.
Q: What things are you giving away next?
A: Posters and t-shirts.
Q: Can I enter your contest(s) more than once?
A: No. For random draws such as the pins, you may only enter once. However I will do fan fiction contests in the future, and you can enter as many times as you want (with a different story, of course).
Q: I’m sad because I didn’t get a pin. Can I buy them?
A: Absolutely! Go to https://www.etsy.com/shop/goldenpressure and you can order as many pins as you’d like! They are $1 each, and about $5-$10 depending on where you live for a pack.
I hope this helped answer your question(s)! If there’s anymore, leave a comment here or on my channel. As of 2015-05-03, here are the winners as listed:
Freddy: Daniela Vazquez
Chica: Miranda Shaw
Bonnie: Jenna Parker
Foxy: Tyler Van Tuinen
Golden Freddy: Alejandro Ortiz
Toy Freddy: Carlos Hernandez
Toy Chica: James Wright (We had to choose a new winner because James did not respond.)
Toy Bonnie: Robo Spongie
Balloon Boy: Joshua Bowyer
The Puppet/Marionette: Vorreon Johnson
To watch the videos, click them here:
I’m so glad everyone had fun during this contest. Hopefully I reach 25,000 soon so we can begin the next, which will be a fan fiction/fan art contest!
You watched, you asked, you wanted more, so we made more! Here is three of the latest Mean Girls meets Five Nights at Freddy’s episodes. More coming weekly. Enjoy!
Since I beat night six on Five Nights at Freddy’s and therefore Jacob wasn’t able to even have a turn, I let him do the first night of Five Nights at Freddy’s 2. Toy Freddy almost got him but he wasn’t going to give up that easily! Come watch us play games and stuff. More videos coming soon!
Hello loves, I am doing a contest for the first time ever to celebrate getting 1K subscribers on YouTube. The next give-away will be at 10K subscribers. This time’s give-away is pins. I am giving away ten Five Nights at Freddy’s pin to ten lucky people. To have a shot at winning one of these pins, go here:http://www.victoriahecnar.com/contest
VictoriaHecnar.com 