Niki & Gabi, LaurDIY & More Digital Influencers Reflect on 2017 Accomplishments

Veronica & Vanessa Merrell

YouTube subscribers: 2.8 million
Twitter followers: 687,000 (combined)
Instagram followers: 2.8 million

Biggest success of 2017: “We got 2 Million subscribers and are close to 3 Million. We released a song and music video that we love and had so much fun making. We were nominated for a Teen Choice Award and felt very honored for the nomination. We’re also attending college and work hard to get good grades so we’re proud of that. And we turned 21!”

Goals for 2018: “Our goals for 2018 is to release more music and hopefully have more opportunities to appear in a movie or TV show. We’ll continue creating original content for our YouTube channel. We’re writing and creating more sketch series for our channel and hopefully our viewers will like that. Personally, we want to continue attending college which we’ve been doing even though it’s very challenging while trying to be YouTubers. We enjoy college and believe education is very important.”

Her biggest fail and how she overcame it : “This year we learned there are things that don’t always work the way we intend. So that allows us to figure out how to do things smarter and better. We’re also trying to be more organized with our school schedule, production schedules, and how we run our business. ”

Favorite rising star right now: “We are big fans of k-pop music. There’s a lot of very hard working artists in the k-pop world like BTS and many others. We respect that genre and are glad they’re getting recognition. We suggest you give BTS and other k-pop artists a chance.”

Best advice for someone looking to succeed in the social media space: “The best advice is to always be yourself! I’m sure you hear this a lot but we can’t emphasize how important this is. Don’t try to be someone that you think other people are going to like. Viewers like to see the real you; your genuine, authentic personality. Don’t listen to others opinions of what you should do.

Don’t worry about the numbers of viewers or likes, but be more concerned that the content you’re creating is your true passion. Do what you feel is in your heart and make sure you’re doing it because it’s a passion and not for the wrong reasons.

And finally, be patient. We started posting consistently in 2013 and decided we wouldn’t give up. It doesn’t happen overnight! It’s hard work to stay consistent but if pays off.”