The Secrets to Making Your YouTube Channel Stand Out
It’s much easier than you think.
When making a Youtube channel, especially in 2020, it can easily drown in the sea of channels that are already on the platform. As of December 2019, there are around 16,000 YouTube channels with at least 1 million subscribers or more. With the overwhelming amount of content creators already making videos, it can be hard to stand out amongst the crowd.
Let’s first start with identifying a common habit new creators can easily develop: overgeneralization.
When creating a new YouTube channel, many people (myself included) begin to mull over what “niche” they want their videos to fall into. This could include lifestyle videos, makeup tutorials, or gaming streams. All of these categories are extremely broad on YouTube. Therefore, while you may have narrowed down your channel to one of those genres, it can still be difficult to make your content unique from other channels in that spectrum.
So, what do you do?
As simple as it sounds, combine different ideas to make a new one. Ultimately, I want to keep this statement broad because I feel as though there is multiple ways to interpret this. For example, if you want to make cinematic style videos of your makeup tutorials, be my guest. If you can find a way to pull off making gaming videos with ASMR, then go for it. When you overgeneralize your content into just “DIY crafts” or “vlogging”, it’s easy to be forgotten. However, when you combine two relatively broad ideas to make a new one, you’re essentially building your own niche. It’s different enough to make your channel unique, but also not so obscure that no one will find your channel.
The second helpful strategy to make you YouTube channel stand out is to be yourself. I know this tip isn’t as groundbreaking as the other one, but in this case, your channel will stand out because you have something that no one else has, which is you. More likely than not, viewers will decide to subscribe to your channel for two reasons: your niche (which we already talked about) and to see your perspective and you as an individual.
It can be easy to mold yourself into another successful creator on the platform, because it worked for them, but this is something that should be avoided at all costs. At this rate, you’re just a clone of another creator, which will eventually regress all of your progress back to square one.
Showing your individualism and providing small bits of your life and backstory can make your content much more personal for your audience. In this sense, your audience will have the perception that you’re someone in their life, like an acquaintance. However, it’s best not to overdo this, but in small amounts over time to give your viewers something to come back to. Essentially, your YouTube videos can turn into a “puzzle”. Overtime, your subscribers can watch your videos and learn little things about you here and there to eventually string them together into your timeline.
The benefit of both of these tips is they can be easily implemented as much or as little in your content as you desire. On the other hand, it can make your content stand out amongst the crowd. Build your own niche and be yourself. Happy filming!
