Who are you and what kind of content do you create?

Hi! My name is Dwaine Woolley and I am a 29 year old Australian living in the Philippines! I am an Events Host and content creator! 1 year after starting my Youtube channel I was ready to leave full time employment and create content full time. I shoot and edit my own videos and upload 2-3 times a week. After I got married to my beautiful wife, Shanta, we changed our branding from “Dwaine Woolley” to “Dwanta” (a mix of our names) and that is when our channel really took off. 

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Let's go down memory lane, tell us your backstory! 

My Youtube journey starts way back in 2011 when I first came to the Philippines as a missionary. During my time in the island of Leyte, I learned to speak 3 Filipino languages, namely Tagalog, Cebuano and Waray! I developed a love for the culture and the people of the Philippines so deep that I decided to stay. I got a full time job in a call centre and started working on creating a Youtube channel everyday after work. I decided on YouTube because after doing TV for so long, I finally wanted to be my own director and script writer. After 1 year, I made the decision to leave full time work and be a content creator full time which was a risk, but it was one I was willing to take.

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If you don’t take risks, you don’t get anywhere. I knew that I could not succeed in either social media or my full time job because my focus was split. Like Confucius said, “The person that hunts two rabbits catches neither one”. The video that really helped us take off was our Proposal video! When I left full time work we had 120,000 subscribers on Youtube.

I uploaded to Facebook and Youtube regularly now that I had so much more time and gradually built our following. We chose what our niche would be which was very important. You can’t be a jack of all trades on youtube, you must have a niche market and accept that you can’t please everybody. We decided that our niche would be Love life, Filipino culture and pranks. Our videos are for Filipinos, and people who are interested in the Philippines. 

How do you brainstorm ideas for your content and your advice in getting the creative juice flowing.

Coming up with ideas is surprisingly hard. When we first started I had a list of all the things I wanted to do, All the videos I wanted to create. The problem was, my list had an end. Once we finished all the videos on the list, I found myself asking, “Now what?” 

So here is what I did to overcome that hurdle.

• Read the comments sections and get ideas from our subscribers
• Watch other content creators and get ideas from them. (Remember to give credit where credit is due)
• As I go about my day, think “how can I make this into a video?”
• Have a goal, choose your niche. Stick to your niche.

What are the tools and platform you use to help with your brand?

I use Tubebuddy to help me with algorithm and getting my videos to a larger audience. For editing I use an app called Videoleap. Yes that’s right I edit all my videos on my iphone. Nice and easy. I promote my videos via Instagram and Facebook

What were your fears starting out? How did you handle it? 

When first starting out, I was not afraid. It was simply an opportunity I jumped on. If it didn’t work out then at least I gave it a shot. If it did work out (which it has) then great! 

The trolls were hard to get used to. When starting out as a content creator you must expect it. It is impossible to please everyone. There is not one celebrity or public figure that has existed that did not have haters. Just focus on your niche and ignore all haters. There will always be more good comments than bad.

How did you build your brand to where it is now, take us through your process.

I invested. I bought a DSLR camera after researching good vlogging cameras. Bought a RODE mic pro for good audio and began creating. Bringing my ideas to life. It was well worth it! I decided on my niche and began creating content accordingly. I encourage people to subscribe, I created a family environment that people wanted to be part of. I uploaded regularly (2-3 times a week) I created content that people would WANT to watch. I also created a website for learning Tagalog and Bisaya as many of our viewers were asking how I learned those languages. Our website is https://philtalk.net check it out!

For someone who wants to get into content creation, what is your advice?

Here is my advice:

Expect there will be haters. Be prepared to resist them

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• Upload regularly
• Create content you yourself would want to spend time watching
• Create a name for your followers
• Choose your niche market/target audience
• Never give up

How did you finally commit to X platform rather than your regular day job?

I finally committed to Youtube full time when I saw momentum. I was making a little less on Youtube a month than I was in my full time job. So I saw that if I did Youtube full time I’d be able to upload more videos therefore making more money. So now we do make more money than what my old job was paying me. It turned out to be a good decision, a good risk. 

Tell us your best milestones in being a content creator.

Meeting Shanta and vlogging with her. We have a modern love story. She added me on Facebook! Haha! I thought “Wow, she’s gorgeous!” I checked out her profile and saw she was also a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints like me. So I thought maybe that’s why she added me. We started chatting, which turned into calling, which turned into video calling and finally me flying to Leyte to see her in person… just to make sure I wasn't being catfished lol. When we met I knew she was someone I could have a serious relationship with.

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What are your marketing strategies to grow your brand?

I look at other Youtubers and ask myself “how did they get so famous?” and the common denominators are:

• Personality
• Good content

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That is really all it takes. Make good content. Be yourself. Don’t make lazy content, don’t try to be someone else.

How do you handle brand deals and sponsorships? 

Once we started gaining momentum, Brands started reaching out to us. We offer standard rate to these brands. The most common type of videos Brands want are:

• Integration (1 minute video placed in the first 30 seconds of a video)
• Dedicated (10 minute video all about the Brand)

We simply reply to the Brands with our rates after checking out the Brand to make sure it is legit. You don't want to risk your reputation on a dodgy brand.