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Madeline and Stephen Lloyd have a modern-day social media love story. Though Madeline originally started her social media career solo, the pair quickly transitioned to a couples channel highlighting every aspect of their relationship, from the early days to their recent marriage.
Madeline’s social media career kicked off when she was a high school student broadcasting on the YouNow app. She grew a following on the platform and quickly transitioned to Youtube. The couple’s first interaction, which took place in a Chick-fil-A drive-through, is actually caught on camera and featured in one of Madeline’s early Youtube videos!
On top of being full-time content creators with rapidly growing social media followings, Madeline & Stephen are also college students. They say things can get hectic trying to balance a busy class schedule on top of their social media commitments, which includes posting at least 3-4 times per week on their platforms. To balance their time, the couple made the decision to reduce their class schedule to further pursue social media while still working towards their degrees. They understand the importance of receiving an education while still seeing where their blossoming careers in social media take them.
As a film student, Stephen has learned the basics of recording and editing content, which he’s been able to utilize while creating videos for their Youtube channel. Madeline and Stephen say that while they love making all types of content, they are still partial to Youtube most of the time, as that’s where they got their start. They also like the ease of posting on TikTok, because the videos are shorter and more sporadic. When they create videos for Youtube, they can share more details and be more creative with the content.
One thing that surprised the couple about being creators with a large following is the sheer number of views they get. Though it can be tough to visualize the numbers as actual people, they say it can be overwhelming to think about just how many people follow them. With a large following, though, comes the downside of potential security issues and their safety, says Madeline. The couple recently moved into a new home, and they say they’ve already had followers figure out where they live.
Another scary moment for Madeline & Stephen happened when their Youtube channel was recently hacked. Their hacker removed their videos, and all of the hard work they put into their channel was wiped away. They say it really put into perspective how quickly their platforms could be taken from them and while they love the content they create and sharing their lives with fans, the most upsetting part about the ordeal was the possibility of losing the memories stored on their channel, which served as a sort of time capsule. Luckily, they were able to regain access to their Youtube channel and recover all of the videos. Still, they are now much more cautious with their passwords and backing up their videos to a hard drive.
It can be tough to maintain a sense of privacy and security while still sharing much of their lives with their followers. They are now hyper-aware of what is in their videos, even possible street signs in the background of videos or landmarks that could disclose their location and home address.
Madeline & Stephen admit that it can sometimes be tough to continue thinking of ideas for their videos after creating content for so long. Madeline often comes up with video ideas and considers herself to be the creative mind behind their concepts, especially because many of their following are young girls, and she resonates with that demographic. She knows what her followers want to see in terms of relationship content and pranks. The couple also often participates in trending video concepts. When she gets stuck and can’t come up with video ideas, she thinks of what she would want to see on a couples channel.
The couple also shares their take on the trending issue of TikTok vs. Instagram’s Reels feature, saying they tend to gravitate towards TikTok because they started there and spend less time on Instagram. Madeline says she isn’t a fan of the 30-second time limit on Reels because it can be tough to trim down content to a shorter video.
When asked about their 5-year plan and where they see themselves a few years from now, Madeline says she would ideally like to start a family and start building a new home. The couple also hopes to have hit 1 million Youtube subscribers in 2021, and hopefully 2 million by the 5-year mark. Stephen says that he would love to start transitioning into a family channel as they start a family.
As for their hobbies outside of creating content, Madeline says she loves crafting and DIY projects. Stephen, on the other hand, loves outdoor activities like wakeboarding and snowboarding.
Be sure to check out the full video interview on the Markerly Youtube channel and keep up with Madeline & Stephen on Youtube, TikTok, and Instagram (Madeline’s page / Stephen’s page)!
