- There are a few types of videos
that you can create for your gaming channel
that will set it up for success
right out of the gate.
(upbeat music)
What's up everybody, I'm Dan, and this is "vidIQ,"
the YouTube growth channel that is obsessed with
creators just like yourselves, and today,
I'd like to ask you something:
What was the very first gaming video like
that you made for your channel?
And I'll share mine.
Mine was a very simple Minecraft Let's Play.
And for those who don't know,
a Minecraft Let's Play is basically
when somebody just starts commentating
as they're playing Minecraft.
Now, Let's Play could be done for any game.
These videos are not only easy to make,
but just a lot of fun.
But even at a time when things were less competitive
on YouTube than they are now, I personally wasn't
able to grow just making this style of content.
And a lot of people start YouTube this way,
just kind of making content for themselves
rather than catering it to an audience.
And I think it's because the biggest personalities
in the space can get away with doing just that,
and we watch them, and that's how we get
our inspiration when we first get started.
But once they started making videos that offered
some kind of inherent value, everything on my
YouTube channel changed practically overnight,
and that's what I want to help you do today.
(low thumping music)
So, what does it mean to make a video with "inherent value?"
Some of these types of videos you may have heard
of before, while others might be new to you.
The first one I'm going to talk about, though,
is the one I mention to people the most,
which is the how-to video.
Each time you can answer a question about your
game with a video, you set yourself up to
get discovered by new viewers.
If you can immerse yourself in the communities
around the game you play on your channel,
and look for questions that you can answer
in the form of a how-to video, that's the
easiest way to come up with new how-to video ideas.
Of course, the YouTube search bar can
also be your friend here.
For example, you can type the name of
the game and the words "how to" after it,
or you can type "how to" and then the name of your game
and start to see the results that auto-populate in the list.
And at vidIQ, we have our own tools that can
help you do something similar, but then have an
easy way to look at how those keywords are ranking.
Here, you can type in a handful of keywords that
you think might be trending or you would like to
just see how they're doing in general.
Among other things, this score is the result of
folks searching for the keyword versus how much
content is actually available using those keywords.
Be sure to visit the description and download
vidIQ today, if you have not already.
Now I know this next suggestion might seem
a little bit overdone, but I promise you,
people still really like listicle videos.
Listicles are great for learning a lot
of things in a short amount of time.
For example, you could go over your
top ten weapons in a game,
or your top seven Minecraft fails,
the top five changes coming in the
next update for your game.
These types of videos can take a bit more time
to research, but that sort of work tends to
pay off in spades when you launch the video.
For lack of a better name for this one,
I'll call it "update content."
This is a fantastic way to keep your audience
up to date on things going on within the game itself.
Some great examples of this are games like
Minecraft or Fortnite, who are always adding
new content throughout the year.
Start covering updates to your game
the second you learn about them.
A good tip here would be to turn on notifications
for the social media account or accounts of
the games you're playing on your channel.
The sooner you can turn a video around after
that announcement, the more success you're going
to have with content that covers game updates.
This next idea is going to require a little bit
of creativity on your part,
but I like to call it speculative content.
And if you're really clever, you can actually
combine listicle and update content a little bit,
and some games are just perfect for this.
But see if you can speculate on the changes
that are coming to your game in a video.
An example might be: "Top 20 Things We
Need in Minecraft in 2021."
A great time to make a video like this would be
when you start to notice rumors spreading around
about the game's next update, or perhaps you feel
that your game was overdue for some new content 'cause
it's been a while since there's been an update.
This type of video allows you to get really creative
with the things that you'd like to see,
and it prompts you to start a very engaging discussion
with your audience, which is never a bad thing.
The most important thing I want you to take away
from this, though, is when you're first starting out
on YouTube, unfortunately, nobody cares about you just yet.
I know that sounds really harsh, but this
is a reality that I wish I had realized
when I first started on YouTube.
And nobody says you have to make only this content,
but if you can fit any of these four types of videos
into your content schedule, you're going to notice
some pretty big changes, because every time you make
a video that can provide a lot of value to
a lot of people who've never seen you before,
that's how you start to get your name
out there and build that audience.
I hope you enjoyed.
Don't forget to leave a like and
subscribe if you haven't already.
See you next time.