Road to 1 million subscribers with Lordthivi
Sep 06, 2022 – [[read-time]] minute read
Before Thivi became Lordthivi, she’d watch makeup professionals on YouTube and mimic the looks they’d build. She realized that she had the talent to go from viewer to creator, and set an ambitious goal for herself: become a beauty influencer on YouTube. Today, she has over 1.6 million followers who she inspires with eye-popping, artful makeup designs.
We asked Lordthivi about how she got started, what inspires her and the role YouTube Shorts play in her success.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
For those who have yet to follow you, introduce yourself and tell us a bit about your channel.
My name is Thivi and I am a makeup artist. I started on YouTube about four or five years ago. I do a lot of beauty tutorials, creative makeup, SFX makeup and beauty reviews. I'm also Canadian!
Can you describe your road to one million YouTube followers?
My journey on YouTube was definitely a long one. I think I posted hundreds of long-form videos. The makeup and the beauty industry is quite competitive and very saturated. So I didn't really find much luck on YouTube with that, but I kept going. I think in two or three years, I had 600 followers.
I got introduced to YouTube Shorts right around the end of 2020, and I hit my first thousand subscribers because of Shorts. I was posting three videos a day and I posted every single day. I did that for at least eight or nine months before I even took a day off. And that took me from 600 followers to over a million. Making content just for my Shorts community and helped build a really good relationship with them.
How do you come up with ideas for your Shorts?
I really just cater towards the audience. They let me know what they want. I would get hundreds of comments under videos, saying, “Do this, do this, do this.” I catered more of my strategy towards them, just making videos that helped them.
I also like getting inspo from songs. I tie a lot of my looks to the lyrics!
How much time do you spend making Shorts?
Creative makeup takes a very long time. It would take anywhere between three to eight hours to do a look. However, now I'm doing more beauty reviews, so those take one to two hours. And I “batch film.” Sometimes I'll think about what I want to post for the next couple of days. So I'm not necessarily filming every day, but I'm still able to post every day.
Whenever I post, I stay on and comment back to the first 20 or 30 comments so they know that I'm there and I'm recognizing their support.”
LordthiviHave you ever hit burnout? If so, how did you deal with it?
I definitely have hit burnout. In those times, I would opt to post a compilation. And even when I'm creating content, I'm always thinking about how I can make it into a compilation because it allows you to take your break, especially if you post every day.
To me, it’s also important to be transparent with your audience and say, I'm taking a break. I remember at one point my parents had COVID, and I had to drop off food. So I told my audience that and they supported and understood, and still returned to watch my videos after. That’s the benefit of really connecting with your audience — whenever I post, I stay on and comment back to the first 20 or 30 comments so they know that I'm there and I'm recognizing their support.