YouTube gives everyone the opportunity to upload their video content and communicate directly with the world. Almost everyone these days has access to some sort of video-recording technology and many people are keen to join in on the action. All you need is an idea!
The secret to making an awesome YouTube video is VALUE. Videos become successful or go viral because they offer a lot of value to their viewers. The opposite of this is videos that are dull, self-indulgent and pointless. Offer value to your viewers and you will be rewarded with traffic and favorable comments.
How will your YouTube video offer value? There are two main ways to do this: entertainment and information. Everyone browsing the Internet is looking for one or both of these things. All YouTube videos that get a lot of traffic provide at least one of these things, usually both. The key is to find out what YOU are good at. Is there something you know how to do that most people do not? Are you genuinely interesting or funny? Do you have access to information that is both desirable and hard to get hold of? These are all ways of offering value. People who do this on YouTube are rewarded with thousands of views and hundreds of positive comments.
Those who are able to do so consistently develop their own channel, which is an excellent way of getting regular visitors and building a community. That’s when you can start to draw some practical benefits from all that traffic, such as selling a product or diverting traffic to your website. There are several YouTube channels that are incredibly informative and authoritative.
And now, for some practical examples of how to do all of the above!
Video blogs
There are lots of video blogs on YouTube. Most fall into the “pointless and self-indulgent” category. A few of these video blogs are exceptionally informative and provide information and insights that cannot be obtained elsewhere. These tend to be individuals who are experts in their field and have access to valuable information. Their insights are valuable by virtue of their expertise.
There is something else worth mentioning about video blogs – although the most successful ones all provide highly valuable information direct from the horse’s mouth, they have one more thing in common: they are also very entertaining. This is not because the bloggers are cracking jokes while simultaneously disclosing information, but because they’re fascinating characters and just hearing them speak and get hot over the issues that are close to their heart is in itself entertaining. There are undoubtedly some very useful video blogs out there that get little traffic and will never break out. This is because, although the bloggers disclose useful information, they are not good communicators, so their video blog never gains traction.
If you have valuable information to share AND are fascinating to listen to, your video blog will almost certainly become a hit over time. Very few people have both attributes, but if you do, this is a surefire hit.
“How to” videos
Again, there are thousands of these, but only a handful become truly popular. The key is to make it genuinely useful and niche-oriented. Sticking to an obscure niche is probably the way to go, as it ensures both low competition and a dedicated audience. You can make a video about how to mix a dirty martini if you want to, but the competition is intense.
The “how to” video niche is probably a growing segment, because although almost everything has been covered on the Internet in writing, I very much doubt that the same applies to videos, and many people simply do not like reading and much prefer to watch a video of whatever they are interested in learning. Hence there is a significant segment of the population that is as yet unsatisfied, because the topic of interest has been covered in writing but not on video. Stick to what you know and like and you will find an audience.
Viral videos
Viral videos are the holy grail of the Internet. They are very tricky to make because although it is possible to rationalize a viral video’s success retrospectively, it is almost impossible to apply that same analysis to the production of a new viral video. You can take all the concepts that we can glean from past successes and use them to make a new video, and you will find that it will probably never go viral. The “viral” phenomenon is truly elusive.
A recent scam perpetrated by professional advertising agencies is to make a staged video of an unusual event and pass it off as a home video. The first few attempts did indeed go viral, but like all scams, this will soon burn out for good, and good riddance.
Tour videos
You can make a video in which you show something you truly love. This could be a coin collection, a vintage car, or pretty much anything else that you are passionate about. If you make a good video of something you love, the niche followers will come out of the woodwork and find your video. I have seen many excellent examples of such videos, which managed to attract tens of thousands of views and lively discussion in the comments section. These videos were not made by professional videomakers; they just showed something that the maker is truly passionate about and everything else took care of itself.
I hope these YouTube video ideas give you some inspiration. Good luck!
YouTube video ideas & tips
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YouTube gives everyone the opportunity to upload their video content and communicate directly with the world. Almost everyone these days has access to some sort of video-recording technology and many people are keen to join in on the action. All you need is an idea!
The secret to making an awesome YouTube video is VALUE. Videos become successful or go viral because they offer a lot of value to their viewers. The opposite of this is videos that are dull, self-indulgent and pointless. Offer value to your viewers and you will be rewarded with traffic and favorable comments.
How will your YouTube video offer value? There are two main ways to do this: entertainment and information. Everyone browsing the Internet is looking for one or both of these things. All YouTube videos that get a lot of traffic provide at least one of these things, usually both. The key is to find out what YOU are good at. Is there something you know how to do that most people do not? Are you genuinely interesting or funny? Do you have access to information that is both desirable and hard to get hold of? These are all ways of offering value. People who do this on YouTube are rewarded with thousands of views and hundreds of positive comments.
Those who are able to do so consistently develop their own channel, which is an excellent way of getting regular visitors and building a community. That’s when you can start to draw some practical benefits from all that traffic, such as selling a product or diverting traffic to your website. There are several YouTube channels that are incredibly informative and authoritative.
And now, for some practical examples of how to do all of the above!
Video blogs
There are lots of video blogs on YouTube. Most fall into the “pointless and self-indulgent” category. A few of these video blogs are exceptionally informative and provide information and insights that cannot be obtained elsewhere. These tend to be individuals who are experts in their field and have access to valuable information. Their insights are valuable by virtue of their expertise.
There is something else worth mentioning about video blogs – although the most successful ones all provide highly valuable information direct from the horse’s mouth, they have one more thing in common: they are also very entertaining. This is not because the bloggers are cracking jokes while simultaneously disclosing information, but because they’re fascinating characters and just hearing them speak and get hot over the issues that are close to their heart is in itself entertaining. There are undoubtedly some very useful video blogs out there that get little traffic and will never break out. This is because, although the bloggers disclose useful information, they are not good communicators, so their video blog never gains traction.
If you have valuable information to share AND are fascinating to listen to, your video blog will almost certainly become a hit over time. Very few people have both attributes, but if you do, this is a surefire hit.
“How to” videos
Again, there are thousands of these, but only a handful become truly popular. The key is to make it genuinely useful and niche-oriented. Sticking to an obscure niche is probably the way to go, as it ensures both low competition and a dedicated audience. You can make a video about how to mix a dirty martini if you want to, but the competition is intense.
The “how to” video niche is probably a growing segment, because although almost everything has been covered on the Internet in writing, I very much doubt that the same applies to videos, and many people simply do not like reading and much prefer to watch a video of whatever they are interested in learning. Hence there is a significant segment of the population that is as yet unsatisfied, because the topic of interest has been covered in writing but not on video. Stick to what you know and like and you will find an audience.
Viral videos
Viral videos are the holy grail of the Internet. They are very tricky to make because although it is possible to rationalize a viral video’s success retrospectively, it is almost impossible to apply that same analysis to the production of a new viral video. You can take all the concepts that we can glean from past successes and use them to make a new video, and you will find that it will probably never go viral. The “viral” phenomenon is truly elusive.
A recent scam perpetrated by professional advertising agencies is to make a staged video of an unusual event and pass it off as a home video. The first few attempts did indeed go viral, but like all scams, this will soon burn out for good, and good riddance.
Tour videos
You can make a video in which you show something you truly love. This could be a coin collection, a vintage car, or pretty much anything else that you are passionate about. If you make a good video of something you love, the niche followers will come out of the woodwork and find your video. I have seen many excellent examples of such videos, which managed to attract tens of thousands of views and lively discussion in the comments section. These videos were not made by professional videomakers; they just showed something that the maker is truly passionate about and everything else took care of itself.
I hope these YouTube video ideas give you some inspiration. Good luck!
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