Amanda Lamb: Digital reinvention at any age

I’ve learned more in the past six months than I’ve learned in six years, especially when it comes to social media and marketing. For those of us (shout-out to fellow Gen Xers) who didn’t grow up with the internet and its many facets, understanding how to use it to our benefit is not necessarily intuitive.

To that end, I’ve learned a lot from young content creators about how to get your message out into the world. One of the biggest platforms that is not only growing in popularity, but seems to have the most staying power, is YouTube. Although it feels like it’s been around forever, YouTube was started by former employees of PayPal in California in 2005. Google purchased it in 2006. Hundreds of hours of content are uploaded to YouTube every minute. It has been ranked as the most popular websites in the world behind Google.

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So, what does this have to do with a Gen Xer? For me, a lot. As I began my writing career in 2007, I started a YouTube channel at the advice of my then-publicist and promptly forgot about it after a few months. Recently, I was encouraged to reimagine it and repurpose it to promote my podcast, AGELESS: Opening Doors with Amanda Lamb. I spent some time creating a new look, organizing the videos, adding new content, and deleting older, irrelevant content. Still, I got very little traction, very few views, and very few new subscribers.

I started thinking about what kinds of videos people enjoy, what kinds of videos I enjoy. The things that draw me in when I am scrolling on any social media platform tend to be funny videos. Anyone who knows me knows that I’m a huge fan of comedy. To that end, I decided to begin creating short, humorous videos keeping in sync with my brand. They are called: “Things I’m not very good at.” They reflect the everyday things that we struggle with, the little things, things I feel like I should have mastered by now. The videos are self-deprecating, relatable, but most importantly, designed to put a smile on your face. Already, hundreds more people are watching these videos than my previous offerings. My goal is that they will ultimately come to my channel and watch many other things as well.

Who says and old dog can’t learn new tricks?

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