Viral videos may seem like the ultimate goal for any aspiring YouTube creator. It’s like hitting the easy button to explode your channel right? But what if I told you that in the long run, focusing on creating a viral hit can actually be counterproductive and even harmful to your channel’s growth?
Today, I’m going to reveal the hidden truth about viral videos and why you might want to rethink your strategy for YouTube success.
Creator Spotlight
But first, I want to introduce you to Christopher Chance. His “how to” word-working channel started from a desire to give back and help people. He had house projects to work on and decided to film them and teach others how to do the same projects. He really struggled with editing and time management when he began. Working on his channel on top of his full-time job and spending time with his family was quite a struggle. After working with us, he found that quality is more important than quantity. The strategy of storytelling was a huge part of elevating the quality of his videos. His advice to other creators is to start small, with a small story, and focus on telling it well. If you’re struggling with storytelling, or how to spot a story, we can come alongside you and find a program that we have that is the best fit for you. Schedule a discovery call today.
The Pressure of Viral Videos
It’s a common thought that it really just takes one video to blow up your channel and be successful. And while it’s obviously not bad to have a huge video, it’s not always this amazing dream scenario that solves all your problems and leads to immediate success.
A viral video is just one video. Creators feel like they have to keep trying to imitate that success with every video after and that’s an impossible goal. What goes up, must come down. And those high peaks lead to some low valleys which create inconsistency in your channel growth. When you are looking at your analytics, it’s ideal to have a slow incline instead of major spikes all over the board. It’s been said that “rising tide lifts all ships,” and this can be true. Some of these new viewers will check out your next video as well, but when you try to recreate that same video over and over, it’s actually harmful for your channel growth. The danger of relying on your high performing video is that when it inevitably stops performing, you feel like your entire channel is dying.
Creators that have a video go viral often spend all their time and energy trying to recreate that video. They think that they can have that success again by just continuing to make videos on that same topic. “Give the people what they want!” Right? But by doing that, creators pigeonhole themselves into a topic that they often aren’t even passionate about, trying to please people that they weren’t targeting to begin with. So here you are, bringing in the wrong audience and not even having fun making these videos. Plus, you feel stressed because you aren’t living up to the potential that you’ve seen is out there.
So what do you do instead?
I talk about the three bucket strategy a lot: Making sales, community and discoverable content. But we can take that a step forward and think about your topic buckets as well. If you have only one topic that you are making videos about, that’s a problem. You are going to feel like you’re stuck on a hamster wheel doing the same thing over and over and over. You’re going to get sick of it and so is your audience.
Instead, think about what different types of topics you can discuss that still fits your target audience and value proposition. Maybe you can even work in different formats and different types of content that bring value. How many different topics can you lean into? This will help stretch you and keep your channel fresh and fun. If you want to recreate the viral video, you can do that maybe a year later – with updates. But throughout the rest of the year, these multiple topic buckets will allow your channel to thrive.
When your Video Goes Viral…
When you have a video go viral celebrate! Enjoy the win! Getting exposure is a great thing. Going from there, think about how can you maximize that attention? What is the natural part two that someone would want to see next? Think through your call to actions. How can you point traffic from one video to another?
Also, ramp up your community content after a viral video. They originally came because of the content, but they will come back because of you. Let them get to know you! Open up and be vulnerable. One way to do this is to make a behind the scenes video. This is where you can really lean into your primal branding and allow them to fall in love with you.
Remember your goals. Don’t let the viral video be a distraction from your ultimate goals. What value are you wanting to gift to your target audience? Focus on this and continue to do this. Being grounded in yourself as a creator will help you to remain true to who you are. If you don’t, your audience will feel it and you will burn out quickly.
Learn from Your Video
Making a viral video every time is not possible. But it is possible to learn from them! Look at your most popular videos. What do the titles and thumbnails look like? We work with a lot of creators. And when we do this, the videos that do well always have intriguing titles and simple thumbnails. Look at your hooks. Are they short, punchy and intriguing? Now sort by your least popular videos. What do they have in common? Creating the same video isn’t the goal. But these lessons you can learn from and apply to every video after.
By shifting your focus away from viral videos and embracing sustainable growth strategies, you can achieve long-lasting success on the platform. So, build a loyal audience, deliver consistent value, nurture a strong community, and stay adaptable. That’s the only real recipe for success.
Power Tip
YouTube is introducing quizzes on the community tab. This is a great way to engage your audience. I can think of so many applications whether you are a teaching channel, quizzing your viewers on something you taught them, or you ask your audience if they can guess some fact about yourself that they might not know. Try it out for yourself and see how your audience likes it!
Keep Changing Lives!
Tim Schmoyer
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