On-ramps Content On Youtube

Algorithm nuances aside, YouTube subscribers are much like cars traveling down the highway. Once they’re on, they’re on. Especially if they click the notification bell. As YouTube creators and channel managers, we spend a ton of time making sure they’re enjoying the journey, but what about the people that aren’t on the channel yet? New viewers tend to be introduced to channels through a specific type of content that I call “on ramps.” There are at least two different types of on-ramps: organic and viral.

Viral On-Ramps

The viral ones tend to be how large channels get larger. By having the algorithmic reach, they get disproportionately rewarded by trending to larger and larger audiences. An easy way and more transparent way to think about this is with Instagram hashtags. When we first started the account for our documentary, Rhino Man, we went through and ranked nearly a hundred relevant hashtags based on popularity. Then we would place bets based on how viral we thought that particular post was. The goal was to trend on as big of a hashtag as possible without having any extra gas go to waste. Initially it was hard to trend on something obscure like #krugerconservation, but less than a year later we had climbed through the whole list and were consistently trending on #africa and having trouble finding big enough hashtags to challenge us.

YouTube’s virality tends to favor current events, whether that’s some reference to the latest hit movie or something going on in the world. Let’s take a look at a fast growing channel that teaches cocktail recipes, How To Drink. For the final season of Game of Thrones, he did a whole 10 part series called Drink of Thrones. He’s also done things like Butterbeer from Harry Potter which at almost 1.7 million views, has gotten roughly 5x his subscriber count in views! Honestly, at a little over 300k subscribers, the channel is still a little bit small to be relying totally on viral on-ramps, but the Butterbeer episode shows that even a smaller channel can still knock one out of the park every now and then. If you’ve got a decent size channel, this is your best best to access new audiences. It all comes back to the first rule of social… “When the algorithm is happy, everyone’s happy”.

Organic On-Ramps

Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s talk about how to get to being a large channel in the first place through organic on-ramps. These are pieces of content which people can find through organic searches. Especially when you’re just starting out, organic content is key. Nobody is searching for your newly invented cocktail recipe for a “The Night is Dark and Full of Terrors Cocktail” with only 85,000 views because nobody has ever heard of it. Yet everyday plenty of people are searching for how to make a Negroni, and look who’s in first place.

For organic on-ramps, think of things like how-to videos and videos that explain answers to common questions. While there isn’t a perfect equivalent of the Google Keyword Planner for YouTube , it can still be helpful, and YouTube autocomplete is another great resource. Not only do organic on-ramps help when your channel is still small, they continue to provide access to new users years into the future, like the 2 year old video above.

No matter where your channel lies on the YouTube size spectrum it’s important to not only think of your current audience and retaining them, but also making content that’s accessible to the rest of the 1.8 billion active users. If you think back through how you first came in contact with all of your favorite channels, you’ll find plenty more ideas for interesting on-ramps.