How to be successful on YouTube

There’s a variety of ways to learn how to be successful on YouTube, and in today’s article we will be teaching you the best ways we know. Acquiring YouTube fame obviously isn’t a simple 1-2-3 step process, but by learning the right information, becoming successful on the platform should be possible with your hard work and just a little bit of luck.

Choose Your Area

Part of learning how to be successful on YouTube is learning what kind of content you want to make. It’d be impossible to cover every possible category of video you could create, so in here we’ll be discussing the most popular general categories and their subcategories.

Gaming

Gaming and gaming-related videos are by far the most popular part of YouTube. To those watching the news, this shouldn’t be a surprise: the ubiquity of this kind of content is what led to the release of YouTube Gaming and YouTube live streaming to fight Twitch.tv’s massive game streaming service. One reason gaming has become so popular is because of Let’s Plays and Walkthrough content, as popularized by PewDiePie and other prominent gaming YouTubers. This works because YouTube’s popularity system doesn’t just rank by viewcount: it’s rated by the time a user spends engaged watching the content. LPs and commentaries can be produced relatively quickly, and if the person behind them is entertaining enough, they have a recipe for rapid growth on the platform. Of course, LPs and commentaries aren’t the only ways to go big on gaming YouTube. YouTubers like TotalBiscuit make regular, long-form videos discussing gaming news and recent releases, while Game Theorists is known for their Game Theory series, diving into the mysteries of popular games. There’s still room for other niches to be explored, too. Channels like Super Bunnyhop do reviews and in-depth discussions each week, while Did You Know Gaming is a collaborative effort across all of gaming YouTube to cover gaming trivia.

Comedy

Comedy’s a pretty diverse genre, and often intersects with others. For instance, many of the prominent Gaming channels we just discussed are also Comedy channels, using comedy in their videos and making comedy skits. One example of a prominent comedy channel is Smosh, known for their many gaming-centric comedy skit videos. Other prominent comedy channels include CollegeHumor and Funny Or Die. In truth, there’s a large number of major comedy channels on YouTube. Competing as a comedy-only channel can be difficult, so if you decide to definitely consider combining comedy with another genre or making your own unique web series.

Fashion

Fashion’s a strange one to discuss. Despite being another of the most popular parts of YouTube, it has almost no intersection with the others (since Fashion doesn’t relate well to Gaming or Comedy). It does, however, intersect well with vlogging and the earliest fashion YouTubers helped popularize things like unbox videos and tutorials, which bled into other genres as time went on. Distinguishing yourself as a Fashion YouTuber likely won’t be easy (there isn’t a lot of “small” fashion channels, since most traffic goes to the largest ones). You’re here to learn how to be successful on YouTube, though, not to sweat yourself worrying about details like that. The best way to approach growing as a Fashion YouTuber is to focus on the latest products and news (so people have a chance to stumble on your videos while running searches) and to try things like DIY guides and expert tips.

Technology

Technology’s big intersection is with Gaming, with a fair bit of Comedy here and there. Most Tech YouTubers cover the latest in news while also reviewing and previewing the latest in smart devices, laptops and computer hardware. They may also make DIY tutorials on hardware repairs, software tweaks and installations. The largest TechTubers serve about the same audience (very few people who follow Tech channels on YouTube follow just one), but distinguish themselves by focusing on different products at different times. Dozens of new pieces of hardware come out each day, but your average video covering just one of them in-depth will take at least a day or two to make. Because of this, it’s usually unlikely for tech YouTubers to tread on each other’s shoes, and part of how to be successful on YouTube is knowing to serve your own niche. Prominent TechTubers include LinusTechTips and Austin Evans.

Others

There are, of course, quite a few other genres on YouTube. Channels like VSauce and MinutePhysics dive deep into scientific knowledge and philosophy. Some of the biggest channels on YouTube don’t fit neatly into the big genres, either. For instance, The Fine Brothers are known for popularizing the React video, but react videos are usually a thing a channel just dabbles in, not a channel’s full focus. Don’t hesitate to do your own thing. Just because it’s not listed here doesn’t mean it can’t be successful. If there’s people interested, there’s a niche that needs to be filled. Filling that niche while appealing to a larger audience is how to be successful on YouTube.

Start Producing Content

Once you’ve decided what it is you want to do, it’s time to start doing it! It’s okay if you’re not very good at it at first: all big channels start small, and all experienced creators start as amateurs. Very few people are naturally talented, and even when they are, experience is what hones that talent into true effectiveness. Part of learning how to be successful on YouTube is learning how to create content, and the best way to learn to create content is to make it yourself and take feedback to improve it over time. Of course, you should also…

Produce On A Schedule

Here’s a secret: keeping a schedule is extremely important for YouTubers. This is because of that audience engagement statistic I mentioned earlier in the article.  YouTube fancies people who make long videos that are released regularly, since that results in the highest view times and engagements. Producing videos on a daily basis may be easy for some channels, but for other forms of content creation, like animation, it may be nigh impossible. For this reason, you’ll want to release videos on a schedule, and you’ll want to do more than just the “main” thing your channel does. Game Theorists is a good example- the main thing people go to that channel for is Game Theory, but those take a week or more to produce on average: because of this, the channel has since expanded to include multiple series from multiple creators, ensuring that they stay relevant between major Game Theory releases.

Look To Other YouTubers

Of course, it’s important to remember that you aren’t operating in a vacuum. While you’re trying to learn how to be successful on YouTube, plenty of your peers already are.  It’s important to look at other YouTubers operating in your niche for dos and do-nots, as well as learning how to distinguish yourself from them. There’s also, of course, the topic of shoutouts and collaborations- but we’ll dive more into those in a minute.

Use All Tools To Your Advantage!

Be pragmatic. If you want to know how to be successful on YouTube, it isn’t just a matter of trying your hardest: you also need to use the tools available to you. Reach out to other YouTubers for help growing your channel. You can do this on your own, or you can do this through our app, Grin, which helps connect you with other creators like you. We’ve also recently introduced the Grin Platform, where you can find all kinds of creators willing to help you grow as a channel. Finally, stay tuned to our blog here on our website. We regularly produce in-depth, informative pieces like this one.