NewTubers Mentor Program

We have just completed the first portion of our mentorship with The NewTubers mentorship program and would like to provide some feedback to the mods and anyone who might be considering applying to the program.

• The mentor who was working with us was very friendly and worked with our schedule to go over the various parts of our channel.  This was handy due to varying time zones and schedules.
• The spreadsheet was very complete and included quite a lot of aspects I had not considered at first.  Upon looking it over I realized how important each aspect is and how it can improve our channel, so it was very helpful in and of itself.
• The ranking system of 1 (poor) to 5(great) seems to work well and, without having access to what criteria is used to decide what constitutes a 3 vs a 4 for example, was easy to understand.  If there is criteria for one score over another, I might suggest to have that posted somewhere so improvements can be planned (example: Video Quality at a 4 means 1080p with no fracturing or glitching, a 5 would be 4k or something)
• In lieu of an explained ranking system, possibly a system for recommending improvements in equipment/software/editing tutorials/etc or a content library that can be referenced by those in the channel/program would allow for some extra study between discussions for those who wish to take the next step. 
• I am a big fan of structure, so this worked out better for me than just the feedback channels, and the more in-depth looks made it more clear what I needed to improve. 
• After the initial 7 days, if there was a sheet of “recommended improvements” to be remedied (if possible) before the 1 month check up, it would provide more direction to further expand upon what was learned during the week.

More detailed info about what *I* personally learned and how we benefitted from the program:

• Our tags have improved A LOT.  As we move forward this should definitely help our SEO and get more views, as was our goal in the first place.
• Our descriptions include a lot more information, which we didn’t even know was important before discussing it.
• We are instituting some checklists to remind us of “best practices” for how to upload, when to upload, and how to tune our content to be more engaging.
• Methods of eliminating dead air and techniques for being a better streamer/commentator for our Let’s Plays and Podcasts.
• We solidified our goal as a channel and were given very specific suggestions as to what will lift our content above the rest.

All in all, I would HIGHLY suggest that anyone who is on the fence about the program should give it a shot.  The mentors in NewTubers are taking a very critical look at what we are offering and really seem to want to help out in whatever way they can.  Remember that any advice is offered in good faith, that you get out of it what you put in, and that in the end if you decide to ignore the advice and strike out on your own that you will at least get a non-biased opinion of what you’re doing.  10/10, am excitedly awaiting our 1 month check-in to see how we have improved compared to where we started only a week or two ago. 

​– Mark, Host of the Digital and Dice Podcast