It can be frustrating trying the same thing over and over and not getting any traction. I’ve been there and it can bring such a helpless feeling. But don’t worry! I’m here to help you find your authentic voice and start seeing results.

When we think about some of the great YouTubers out there a specific format comes to mind. We have Ryan Trahan and his penny series, Colin and Samir and their podcast style interviews, and Sean Evans on Hot Ones with a very different format for his interviews. It can be a long and difficult process to figure out what your style is. You want to stand out, but you also absolutely must be authentic to yourself as well. What is the format that will work on YOUR channel?

I can’t answer that for you. But, I can help you think through things to help you find your unique voice, your special approach and where to even start. That’s what we are going to talk about today.

Decisions, Decisions

So you have your niche set, but how do you decide what format is right for your channel? What is your style? Vlogging, talking head, interview, listical, quick cuts with lots of graphics, challenges, or something totally different?

Well, the first thing to take into consideration is your Target Audience. Who are you trying to reach and what will they enjoy watching. Then, think about your value proposition. What value to do bring to your audience? Is there a format that will best serve this?

Then, what is authentic to you?? You will never succeed by trying to be something that you’re not. YouTube is supposed to be fun. What is fun for YOU to create? And if you don’t know, try different formats and see what is fun for you while serving your audience. These YouTube giants didn’t start in one format and stay there forever. They experimented and found what was authentic to them for that time. And as they changed their format did too. And that’s a great thing.

Don’t be afraid to experiment with different formats and see what works. You don’t have to do a full 180 on your channel to do this. If you do tutorials, how about vlogging over a tutorial and see how it performs. See what your audience thinks and go from there. Make sure you keep your expectations for these experimental videos low. If it’s a total flop, that’s ok! You’re just experimenting and learning what works and what doesn’t. Failing is part of the process.

A great place to start is watch a lot of Youtube. Watch videos in your niche and out of our niche. Pay attention to your viewer signals. What made you click in? What made you stay or leave? How did they use their format to share their information?

No matter what format you choose, make sure you are incorporating storytelling. Storytelling is what pulls your viewer along in the content. Without it your retention is going to struggle, regardless of your format.

Too Many, Too Much

Now, I do think you can attempt too many formats. If you have subscribers returning to your content and always receiving different formats in your content, they may become confused. They also may only like one specific type of format, so you are only going to interest them when you get back around to that specific format. This is a negative viewer signal to YouTube and just overall confusing to your audience.

There reaches a point where starting a second channel is actually the best option. And this happens when your target audience changes. Let’s say you have a cooking channel of quick and easy recipes for moms on the go. But then, you decide that you want to really get deep into the nutritional education behind the cooking. This is where you should create a different channel because not only is the format going to be different, but the target audience and the value that you are bringing that audience is different as well.

Be Yourself

Whatever you do, be authentic. It’s great to find inspiration from other people’s content, but outright copying is never going to benefit you. They are the only person who can be them and you are the only person who can be you. Don’t be afraid to try different things and reach out of your comfort zone. But, use this to find your version of those things. Don’t push yourself into creating content that is not authentic to you as a person. Find your own voice.

So let’s apply this. Think for yourself: What do you actually like watching on Youtube? What are the formats of your favorite channels? Then decide, why should someone subscribe to your channel? What value are you bringing them? And then think, how can you combine those things? What is a format that I would enjoy watching and creating that would bring that value to my audience. This is where you find your format.

Power Tip

YouTube has been doing a ton of updates when it comes to shorts that is competing with TikTok. One of these things is called “collab.” Basically it is a way to have a side-by-side split-screen shot for you to react to a remix that you make on someone else’s content. It works for long-form or short-form content. This is a great way to incorporate some community content and connect your unknown content to some known content. Learn more about it ​here​.

Keep Changing Lives!

Tim Schmoyer

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