YouTube Question Trending Videos vs Evergreen Videos

[KS Moto Cafe]

Hey guys, so I have been experimenting with making few videos that followed the trending topics within my unique niche (motorcycling) and it has been quite successful. These trending videos are much like "news" reporting where I provide a relay of information or my opinion of the news. These videos are fairly simple to make but you have a short window of opportunity to capitalize before it becomes "old news".

At first, I assumed my "news" videos would perform poorly because I run a small channel and that YT would put my videos way behind the successful channels. But to my surprise, these videos were constantly breaking the channel's view records and bringing in new subscribers. In comparison, my evergreen videos, such as VLOGs answering timeless questions and/or reviewing products, start out very slowly and accumulate little by little.

So after my recent surge of new viewers/subscribers from "trending" videos, I am left with a crowd of news hungry viewers mixed in with my earlier audience who were used to the ever green videos. And based on the current flow, I feel like this is YT telling me what YT wants to see from my channel. After seeing other "news" type channels, I can see that they are very successful but I also get a sense that it will take a lot of work to keep up with the trends. I know there is no right answer to this and the obvious answer is "do what you enjoy doing" but what I am looking for is some advice from people who have been in this fork before.

For those who have experienced this, do you take this opportunity and continue to ride new trend wave to get your channel's authority up on the search engine before going back to the ever greens that get less views/searches? Or do you just continue to mix it up and have a mixed audience?

Thanks in advance

KS

 

[Damon]

I think there is a way to combine the two: My favorite news channel is Aero-News Network. All they cover is aerospace news. General aviation like motorcycling or fishing is seasonal. They have a summer and winter schedule. They also cover certain events every year. In the USA EAA AirVenture Oshkosh is the biggest civilian airshow around. It both an airshow and an experimental aviation trade show. Sun-n-Fun is another show in Florida that happens every spring, it's almost as big a Oshkosh.

My point is by covering these events, you will have built evergreen content even though you are doing news.

You don't have to give up your regular evergreen content, but it depends on what you're trying to do. Are you wanting to grow the channel, grow the business/back-end, grow the subscribers/views. There's nothing wrong with taking a year and focusing on motorcycle news to see how that grows you channel, and experiment to see if that can be made evergreen. Then just do your evergreen riding videos every now and then.

Your winter schedule could be more riding videos. The summer schedule could be more news. I have no knowledge of your niche. You'll have to experiment. Maybe 80% news, 20% riding in the summer. 20% news 80% riding in the winter.

 

[KS Moto Cafe]

You don't have to give up your regular evergreen content, but it depends on what you're trying to do. Are you wanting to grow the channel, grow the business/back-end, grow the subscribers/views. There's nothing wrong with taking a year and focusing on motorcycle news to see how that grows you channel, and experiment to see if that can be made evergreen. Then just do your evergreen riding videos every now and then.

Your winter schedule could be more riding videos. The summer schedule could be more news. I have no knowledge of your niche. You'll have to experiment. Maybe 80% news, 20% riding in the summer. 20% news 80% riding in the winter.

I like that! My current goal is to build up the loyal fan/viewer base and earn their trust by providing credible info whether it is news or vlogs. With that said, one topic of news can be dissected many times to get viewers interested in the topic.

For example, a new bike reveal or rumours from a brand always gets views even though the info is repeated many ways from other YTers. I know this because I used to be that viewer who would obsess over the bike and watch everything just to get some new info.

I got the idea from watching YTers displaying many speculations and predictions leading up to a boxing or ufc fight such as fights from Connor Mcgregor or Paul Brothers. They take literally one tweet photo and speak about it for 5-8mins and the watch rating is outrageous! So I tried it with one of the new bikes coming soon and yup the system liked it. I can do more of it but not at the cost of pigeonholing my channel to be just that news channel.

I guess I will keep mixing it up: one week vlog and one week news.

Thanks for the insight!

 

[Stanley | Team TB]

Yeah I agree with Damon here... I aim for both. There can be some differences that require you to go one or the other... for example a REALLY flashy title can make/break your Suggested Impressions while hampering your Search Viability... but if it doesn't nab the viral traffic you were originally aiming for just re-edit that title after a couple of days. No harm, no foul.

 

[KS Moto Cafe]

Yeah I agree with Damon here... I aim for both. There can be some differences that require you to go one or the other... for example a REALLY flashy title can make/break your Suggested Impressions while hampering your Search Viability... but if it doesn't nab the viral traffic you were originally aiming for just re-edit that title after a couple of days. No harm, no foul.

Coming up with a catchy and likeable title while trying to keep the SEO calculator happy is a challenge all on its own! But I get what you mean and thanks for the input.

 

[venkygaming]

Evergreen will be better

 

[KS Moto Cafe]

Evergreen will be better

Can you elaborate on your opinion?

 

[Stanley | Team TB]

I disagree with that... I don't think either is better than the other. In a vacuum you would want 90% of your content to be evergreen and 10% focused on virality. Picking those select videos is tough; they are never the ones you expect. But the best channels will have a foundation of evergreen mixed with some good viral options.

 

[KS Moto Cafe]

But the best channels will have a foundation of evergreen mixed with some good viral options.

exactly what I was thinking too! I just wanted to see if one should prioritize squeezing more videos based on the trending topic within the niche to grow the audience when the YT algorithm is working in your favour before releasing the less enticing evergreens.

 

[Stanley | Team TB]

exactly what I was thinking too! I just wanted to see if one should prioritize squeezing more videos based on the trending topic within the niche to grow the audience when the YT algorithm is working in your favour before releasing the less enticing evergreens.

There really is no telling if/when a video is going to go 'viral,' and a lot of that has to do with timing. So that's a tough call. Personally I say you do as much of each as possible. Optimize for search and include a compelling reason to watch at the end of the title and then keep your fingers crossed.