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Maciej Blatkiewicz – author of the blog and channel Maciej Je (exclusive interview)
We've been lucky with great bloggers lately, so we're continuing our streak. This time, it's going to be delicious and aromatic. It's all thanks to Maciej, who shares everything noteworthy in the food industry on his blog and channel, Maciej Je! Let's get started!
Dominika Mączka: Warm-up question: what were the beginnings of your blogging career?
Maciej Blatkiewicz: I started my first blog when I was probably 11 or 12. Back then, it was just a typical blog where I wrote about my very interesting life (or so I thought). Around the turn of middle school and high school, I started a blog focused on Polish rap – from what I remember, it had a steady following and was read. I hadn't checked the statistics back then, and Facebook wasn't very well-known in Poland, so unfortunately, I don't know the scale of this endeavor.
The blog I started as a joke was the most successful – to express my creativity, practice my "funny side," and also to focus on something I enjoyed and still love: food. It was called "Wybram z Anoreksją" (I Win with Anorexia), and "Maciej je" is its continuation. Initially, I wrote about food-related nonsense with a group of friends: reviews of kebab stands, chips, sweets, and... Lidl mandarins. Over time, the blog began to become more professional, and we sought more serious topics – I began delving deeper into the topic of eating out. Years passed, more and more people dropped out, and eventually I ran the blog alone. I also decided to change the name because the joke in it stopped being funny and I'd grown to realize it was hurtful. That, in a nutshell, was how the Maciej je blog was born.
(The rest of the article can be found below the form)
DM: Currently, you run not only the Maciej Je blog, but also a fanpage on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. You also vlog a lot! How do you juggle it all, and how much time do you devote to your work?
MB: The blog's situation is that I haven't posted a single post since... March 2019, and even before that, it was running haphazardly for quite some time. It's essentially become a victim of YouTube's success . Currently, vlogs are the most important part of my business—I dedicate a lot of time to producing them, so naturally, something had to suffer. And the least profitable part of my business, the blog, suffered.
Running my channel and social media profiles is essentially a full-time job. Two full-time jobs, in fact, because for a long time now, about a year and a half, Sonia, my fiancée, has been helping me with my business. Video production itself is labor-intensive – it often takes many hours to record, and afterward, research is essential, and then editing, which is probably the biggest time-waster. Add to that other social media channels, and it's not just a matter of posting something on Instagram or Facebook that takes me a few minutes, but much, much longer. And that's not all, of course, because there are also behind-the-scenes tasks: coordinating collaborations with brands, responding to messages, conceptualizing new projects, and much, much more.
It's a bit like I'm "at work" for a dozen or so hours a day, but then again, work is basically my life. But I really enjoy this job; it doesn't stress me out, so I don't complain.
DM: As a marketing agency, we also have to ask about technical and marketing matters :) So do you care about SEO issues both on your blog and YouTube?
- What does SEO look like on a blog?
- and how about YouTube?
MB: I never cared about SEO on my blog . It just happened. My blog posts magically always ranked very well – I didn't have to think about it. I've never personally created posts with SEO in mind, because I valued regular readers more than the occasional one I got from Facebook.
On YouTube, it's a completely different story. I pay close attention to SEO, as good positioning is half the battle. The other half, of course, is having interesting content that someone wants to watch, but first, the video needs to be displayed to potential viewers on the homepage or in recommended videos. Since I completed the YouTube content positioning training last year , the channel has skyrocketed. I always dedicate a significant amount of time to proper positioning, and I think it's going quite well so far.
DM: Your YouTube channel has over 160 subscribers! How do you engage so many people and where do you get ideas for interesting videos?
MB: There's no silver bullet. It's important to "get a feel" for your community, to regularly check your channel's statistics, and to be aware of popular YouTube searches in your channel's category. At the same time, it's important to keep making videos enjoyable, and to ensure that future content isn't just calculated for maximum viewership and maximum profit. Despite adhering to statistics and SEO basics , your channel must remain authentic and authentic. On the one hand, it's worth listening to your community, but on the other, you can't let yourself get carried away, because—firstly—people sometimes don't fully know what they want, and—secondly—a community active in comments is actually a fraction of the entire community. Just compare the number of comments to the number of views.
DM: What does the process of creating a YouTube video look like from the inside?
MB: There's no clear answer to this question either. Even "finding a topic" for a film varies. Sometimes we know what we want to do in advance. This stems from our own whimsy or from hours spent researching popular YouTube searches . Sometimes a topic comes to us suddenly – as was the case with the vlog about "The Best Burgers of My Life," a report from two visits to Nase Maso in Prague. Initially, this place was supposed to be part of a longer vlog from the Czech capital, but I enjoyed it so much and was so impressed with its quality that I decided to return and talk about it in a separate piece. Without bragging, it was a bull's-eye – the film received excellent reviews. After all, sometimes a brand comes to us with a product and I want to promote it in our film. Then we think about what topic it could support and shoot the material based on that.
The rest of the work is pretty much the same. We always go out to eat and always record while we're at it. Sometimes we limit ourselves to a single restaurant, sometimes to a dozen or so locations spread out over several days. The essence, however, is the same. Then we edit the recorded material – overdubbing at home if necessary. This usually takes the longest.
The next step is publishing – creating a thumbnail, coming up with keywords, a title, and a description. However, when it comes to SEO preparation , it's best to prepare everything before recording, if possible.
DM: I'm very curious if you think it's still worth starting on YouTube today? Is there room for beginners there?
MB: Of course it is! The most important thing is to... start and not get discouraged. It took me about a year to get my first thousand subscribers. During that year, I constantly experimented and tried to find a format that would appeal to both me and my viewers. There's no point in making excuses, especially regarding equipment. At the beginning, the idea itself is far more important than the technicalities – what you want to convey and how. It's enough that a beginner YouTuber can be heard clearly and seen with some degree of clarity. You really don't need a camera that costs several thousand złoty. I started with a phone, then switched to a semi-professional camera when the channel started generating some money. I only transitioned to a fully professional camera around 100,000 subscribers.
DM: What do you envision for the future of YouTube? Do you think the more it becomes monetized, the less enjoyable it will be for users?
MB: I think in the future there will be more and more channels for adults, for people over 25. Teen content will still be the most popular, however, due to the increased engagement of viewers. I think viewers are becoming increasingly accustomed to monetization of content, and I think they'll increasingly turn a blind eye. That's my current opinion. Perhaps in a year I'd say the opposite – things are changing so quickly.
DM: As a blogger with 10 years of experience who has worked with many brands, what advice would you give to companies regarding influencer marketing and working with bloggers/vloggers?
MB: Listen to influencers and pay on time. Influencers usually know better what their own community will like and dislike. Creating promotional content that deviates from what's normally published in the influencer's areas of activity is rather pointless. I'll illustrate this with my own example: many brands want their products to be used by home cooks. However, we hardly ever create content about home cooking – our audiences primarily want to discover new restaurants, not recipes.
DM: Continuing the topic of influencer marketing, what forms of collaboration do you find most attractive (for the creator, the audience (fans), and the company)?
MB: It depends on what the brand wants to achieve. Different forms of collaboration will work for an image campaign, and others for sales. A brand entering the market is different from one that's been around for a while. Every situation is different, and I prefer to consider them individually. I personally like it best when a brand simply partners with content I've wanted to create for a long time and that viewers have been asking for for a long time. In my case, these include visits to various cities in Poland that I haven't visited yet or haven't devoted much time to. In the case of image campaigns, especially for brands that are just trying to establish themselves in the minds of my audience, both the wolf and the sheep—and everyone else—have their fill.
DM: We wouldn't be ourselves if we didn't ask you: if you were to start all over again, what would you do differently?
MB: With the knowledge I have today, I definitely would have gotten to everything faster. I probably wouldn't have published some videos. That's about it.
DM: And the last question, in line with the famous saying: New year, new me 😀 Do you already have specific plans and goals for 2020? (both food and blogging/vlogging? 🙂
MB: I'm entering 2020 without any major plans, goals, or resolutions. 2019 was a year of blogging and food excitement, and I won't be offended if 2020 is a bit quieter in that regard. But we'll see, it'll probably be just as colorful.
And finally, the traditional bio and photo. 🙂
Maciej Blatkiewicz is a YouTuber whose channel, Maciej Je, showcases delicious food from around the world. He visits restaurants, pubs, and eateries in various cities across Poland, Europe, and beyond. From Szczecin, Poznań, and Warsaw to Krakow and Lublin. From Lisbon, Milan, and Prague to Lviv and Saint Petersburg. From Chicago, New York, and Bangkok to Singapore. He publishes his content as part of the GASTRO VLOG series.
Frequently asked questions for Maciej Je
The name emerged as a result of the evolution of its creator's activities. Initially, Maciej ran the blog under a different name, but over time, he considered the joke contained within it to be adult, even hurtful. He decided to disassociate himself from the old moniker and change the name to a simple, direct, and natural one – "Maciej je."
The blog became, in a sense, a victim of its creator's success on YouTube. Maciej's last text post appeared in March 2019. He focused his efforts on video vlogs, which began to generate significantly greater audience engagement.
The approach to positioning varies dramatically depending on the platform:
- On the blog: Maciej never cared about SEO – his posts positioned themselves naturally. He valued regular readers (e.g., from Facebook) more than random search engine traffic.
- On YouTube: Things changed after he completed professional training in video SEO. Since then, the author has been devoting significant time to SEO, which has directly translated into massive increases in the channel's reach.
It all starts with researching a topic. Then, the team heads to a chosen restaurant (or even a dozen locations spread out over a period of time), where they order food and record footage as they go. The most time-consuming part of the entire process is editing the recorded videos and, if necessary, adding voiceovers at home.
The most important thing is the idea and what you want to convey, not expensive equipment. The author advises against looking for technological excuses – at the beginning, it's enough that the creator can be heard clearly and seen relatively well. He started recording with a regular cell phone, switching to a semi-professional camera only when the channel started generating revenue, and he purchased fully professional equipment when he had around 100 subscribers.
The key to success is to simply get started and, above all, not get discouraged. It took the author himself about a year to gather his first thousand subscribers. It's worth using this time to experiment and find a format that will be enjoyable for both the creator and his audience.
Maciej doesn't follow a single, rigid template. He always analyzes the goals a given brand wants to achieve (image campaign vs. sales) and takes into account its market experience. He considers each collaboration proposal on a completely individual basis.
Summary
The above article covers the following topics:
- developing a blogger and YouTuber career and building a community around culinary content,
- using YouTube SEO as a key element of channel development.
