I’m a middle of the road kinda guy when it comes to politics. Leaning neither left nor right, I like making up my mind after hearing the facts, not because I feel as though I should try to appease to other people or some organization.
Talking about politics is a dangerous thing for anyone who has an audience. Once you reveal your political beliefs, you stand a chance of losing half your viewers. I know, because I have done the same thing. I’ve hastily unsubscribed from Youtubers, podcast personalities, and bloggers who have suddenly outed themselves as being fanatically left or right. Food for thought if you are starting a blog with the intention of building an audience and eventually monetizing your creation.
Stay away from politics and religion because, no matter what you do, you’re going to lose a portion of your audience. Besides, there are so many other things to write about – articles and vlogs that address a wide variety of subjects that will draw people, regardless of their political and religious beliefs.
That is, of course, if you care. For this blog, I don’t worry about it so much. Having said that, as mentioned, I consider myself politically neutral.
Let me give you an example:
I have a friend who is a huge fan of a Youtuber that goes by the name, “Bald and Bankrupt.” My friend is always telling people to watch this guy because, “You’ve never seen anything like it.”
The channel is pretty good. It’s about an English guy travelling around off-the-map places in countries like India, South America, and mostly Russia and Eastern Europe. He speaks the native tongue of these countries enough to navigate and interact with locals. Very entertaining and unique. It gives viewers a chance to see aspects of these counties that you would never see on main-stream channels like Discovery.
Add to that, the guy has a great personality behind the camera. Relaxed, confident and entertaining – very watchable. Is it any wonder he has almost 3.3 Million subscribers.
I admit, I’ve become a fan.
Now, as far as my friend goes, well he unsubscribed a while back. Why? Well this friend is very left leaning in his politics. So much so that it takes very little to get him riled up. In one episode of Bald and Bankrupt, we see Benjamin in a library in some small Russian town. On a shelf next to him is a book with Joe Biden’s picture on the cover. He then proceeds to take a book with Donald Trump on the cover and places it over the Joe Biden book. Bald gives the camera a smirk and the scene ends.
Innocent enough, but it also speaks volumes. Up until now, to the best of my knowledge, I don’t think Benjamin ever eluded to his political preferences. My friend felt so betrayed by that one move in that particular episode that he immediately unsubscribed. Now, keep in mind that this is a super-fan we’re talking about here. My friend has watched every episode from the beginning and let everyone know how great the channel was. For him to drop it like a stone was incredible.
I wonder how many viewers the channel lost in just that one episode. I’d love to be able to see the stats on that one! If one person felt that strongly, you can bet others did as well. Not that Bald’s channel would notice with that many subscribers, but you never know.
I guess what I’m saying is that revealing your strong political views does you no favours other than to give you something to write about. Sure, you may feel the overwhelming need to talk about how the “Q” organization is misunderstood, but is that really going to help you much?
Can you afford to alienate half your viewers? I mean, if you’re starting out, every sub is golden and you’re throwing it away by preaching your strong political views to your general audience. Unless your blog/channel is political in the first place (so your readers/subs would already be in line with your views), it’s best to avoid telling your woodworking audience that the GOP is made up of extremists or that the Dems are ruining our country. Hold your tongue, keep your audience.
Your finance vlog viewer subscribed because they value your financial expertise, not to listen to you rant about how crazy some senator is.
Some (many people) have very strong political and religious views. Don’t underestimate that.
