YouTube Channel Specialist - Your Point of View + Publication Strategy

Who we are and what we're trying to do Migraine Heroes is a health app and podcast helping people find lasting relief from migraine. Our podcast explores migraine from many different angles — hormones and life stage, symptoms, triggers, sleep, stress, and more — combining real member stories with science-based episodes hosted by Diane Ducarme, whose method also draws on traditional Chinese medicine alongside modern nutrition science. We release 2 episodes a week and have done for about 1.5 years, with strong traction on Apple Podcasts and Spotify (~4,500 downloads/month). Our objective for this engagement is reach and discoverability on YouTube specifically: https://www.youtube.com/@migraineheroes. We're launching video everywhere — YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts — but YouTube is a cold start for us: an old, dormant channel that needs a full relaunch, not incremental tweaks. We have strong in-house podcast expertise already; what we don't have is YouTube-specific growth and discovery expertise, which is what this role is for. Where things stand right now Channel cleanup is complete by the time you read this — outdated branding removed, About section rewritten, broken links fixed, legacy off-tone content reviewed and made private. The channel currently has a small number of videos live (member story Shorts), reflecting this cleanup. Content going forward is primarily science episodes — modern science and traditional knowledge on migraine, covering many different angles (not just triggers). We also have member story episodes in our back catalog we can publish selectively. Video format: short filmed intro/outro with Diane, a static ambient visual for the episode body (deliberately non-flowing — some of our audience has vestibular migraine, so motion design is a real constraint, not a style choice). Chapters via YouTube's native description timestamps, no in-video chapter cards. Backlog: 178 episodes exist on Apple/Spotify against a much smaller number on YouTube. We're not doing a bulk dump — we want your input on pacing. Keyword/content research findings We've validated our content strategy against real search demand. Three pillars, in priority order: Hormones & life-stage migraine — our strongest opportunity. Nearly 60% of women with migraine report a menses link (AMPP Study), and perimenopause is a documented worsening period. Underserved on YouTube — competitors mostly publish non-discoverable webinar recordings. We already have supply: guest podcast appearances on fertility/perimenopause/hormone shows, plus existing PCOS/PMOS and blood sugar episodes. Evidence-based territory that needs no trust-building runway. Understanding Your Symptoms content ("what's happening to me") — silent migraine, aura, vestibular migraine, brain fog, word-finding trouble. High intent, high urgency; existing coverage is dry/institutional. Our curiosity-gap title style already wins here. Note: vestibular migraine specifically is more contested (dedicated PT/specialist creators already active there) — silent/ocular/brain-fog framing is less contested. Understanding Your Triggers content — weather, histamine, blood sugar, screens, red wine, stress. Steady ongoing search volume, saturated with generic listicle content, but our specific angles are differentiated and we already have episodes covering nearly all of them. Deliberately NOT pursuing right now (please don't steer us toward this): # TCM/acupuncture/"holistic root cause" content — real audience, but saturated with low-credibility content; conflicts with our trust-first approach at this stage. Revisit once we have a warm, engaged audience to gate it to. # Treatment/medication content (CGRP, gepants, triptans, drug comparisons) — regulatory and credibility risk, off the table. # "Headache" as a keyword/content target — despite higher search volume than "migraine," we deliberately don't chase it. We're careful to distinguish headache from migraine internally, and roughly half of migraine sufferers don't have symptoms severe enough to seek what we offer beyond over-the-counter relief — chasing headache volume brings in an audience least likely to convert into members. # Fear-based or shock-value title framing — we've already corrected several titles away from this tone; treat it as a standing constraint, not something to re-propose. # Diagnostic-sounding content ("which type of migraine do you have") — we stick to pattern-recognition and education, not self-diagnosis framing. # Competitor-reaction or "debunking" content formats — calling out other creators or doctors by name risks conflict we're not looking to invite. # International/multi-language strategy — our audience is primarily US-based and English-speaking; no need to propose expansion here. # Optimizing for raw reach alone — given the ~50% severity threshold for realistic audience fit, we're weighing search volume against whether that traffic could plausibly convert, not chasing volume in isolation. Our staged rollout plan: Stage 1 (weeks 1-8): publish ready Understanding Your Triggers and Understanding Your Symptoms episodes as top-of-funnel trust builders, while clipping existing guest podcast appearances into standalone hormone/perimenopause/postpartum videos. Stage 2 (weeks 8-20): build Hormones & Life Stage into the channel's signature playlist, filling remaining content gaps. We'd like your validation and expansion of this with real search-volume data, and your read on anything we've missed or mis-prioritized. Our content model Two tiers, each with a distinct job — we'd like your validation and help operationalizing this, especially Tier 1. Tier 1 — Shorts (under ~90 seconds). Discovery layer, judged in the first 1-2 seconds. A complete, standalone small idea, not a cliffhanger and not a summary — it should deliberately leave the payoff out, since a Short that fully answers the question gives someone no reason to click through. Every Short points at one specific Tier 2 video (matched precisely to the question it raises), using YouTube's native Related Video link plus a pinned first comment repeating that pointer. This is our actual content gap — we have almost no true sub-90-second discovery content, and it needs ongoing production, not a one-time mining pass against the backlog. Old Tier 2 content is just as good a source for a new Short as something published yesterday — the backlog doesn't expire. We're planning new video shot specifically for our Story content — standalone Shorts, not previews or intros, not yet filmed as of this brief — which will directly address the fact that Story episodes are our most differentiated asset but have had the least production investment so far. Tier 2 — 15-20 minute single-topic pieces. The real answer, and the real proof. No separate long-form tier: our 26 Story episodes exist here in their 15-minute edited form, not the raw hour-long recording — the edit is the asset, not a compressed version of a "better" original. Combined with 147 ready Insight episodes, we're not short on Tier 2 — it's our strongest asset by volume and fit, and largely a publishing/pacing exercise against existing supply rather than a production problem. Channel structure: one channel. No second channel, no separate Shorts-only or clips channel. Community posts (polls, behind-the-scenes) are also out of scope — they only reach existing subscribers, so they're not part of the discovery strategy we're asking you to help build. Scope We've grouped this into three parts, deliberately broad rather than itemized — we want strategic judgment, not a checklist response: 1. Review our existing plan and give us your point of view. Look at the channel as a whole (branding, About section, publishing format) and tell us what's working and what isn't. We're not looking for line-by-line commentary on every decision — flag what actually matters strategically, and call out anything tactical that genuinely stands out. Our playlists are being rebuilt around the three content pillars above — Migraine & Hormones, Understanding Your Symptoms, Understanding Your Triggers — rather than our earlier topic-tag-based draft. Your input on this structure specifically is welcome. 2. Strategy for how we publish going forward. This covers: backfill pacing and prioritization from our back catalog, and a sustainable, ongoing Tier 1 (Shorts) production process — this is the piece we most need your input on, since it's our actual content gap, not a one-off repurposing task. Also: keyword/title validation against real search data, a concise metadata/SEO reference guide (see Deliverables for scope), and a recommendation on the mix and timing between YouTube-retention end cards and app-install end cards as we grow past the cold-start phase. 3. Tell us what we haven't thought of. What could materially affect our ability to drive reach and discoverability on YouTube that isn't covered above? Ideal candidate # Demonstrated YouTube growth/optimization experience — not just video editing or general podcast production # Comfortable auditing and relaunching a stale/existing channel # Experience with health, wellness, or educational content a plus How we'll select and work with you Step 1, proposal: Send us your relevant experience/portfolio, plus short written answers to two questions: (1) walk us through your general process for auditing a dormant YouTube channel, and (2) what's your general approach to sequencing a large content backlog for algorithmic pacing? We'll shortlist and have a quick 15-min call with the best 2-4 candidates based on this. Step 2, initial direction (2 days from acceptance): Once hired, your first-pass read on the channel and a rough shape of your recommendations. We'll review at a high level and give quick feedback. Step 3, final deliverable (2 more days after feedback): The complete audit, strategy, and playbook, incorporating our input from Step 2. We're happy to give feedback at any point, but we're not looking for an open-ended, iterative engagement — the goal is a focused, fast turnaround with one checkpoint in between. Deliverables # Written channel audit and strategic POV # Validated/expanded keyword and title research # A metadata/SEO reference guide our team can run ourselves going forward — a concise, practical checklist and a few reusable title/description templates, not an exhaustive document. We need something Irene can follow in a few minutes per episode, not a comprehensive manual. # Backfill pacing schedule with rationale, and a prioritized episode order # Shorts repurposing recommendations # End-card mix/timing recommendation Engagement type One-off, fixed-price: $500–$1,000. We'll evaluate proposals on track record and quality within that range. Timeline Once a proposal is accepted, deliverables complete within 4-5 days (2 days initial direction, 2 days final after feedback).