Going Viral vs Steady Growth

[attlas]

I find that going viral can be a very double-edged sword.

Think about it, when's the last time you checked in on Tay Zonday? (who still makes videos and even put out a new single 4 days ago) Or how about that Greatest Freakout Ever kid, who's borther is still putting up very staged looking videos of him losing his s**t. Going Viral will get you an astronomical amount of views in almost a blink of an eye, but you'll only keep maybe 5% of those people on your channel as subs if you're lucky. On top of that, you'll be further hindered in your channel growth because most of the people that happen upon your channel will only think, "hey, it's that one guy that did that one thing." and move along.

I know that sounds pessimistic but think of it this way:; The harlem shake is not even a month old, yet we're already so sick of it we flame almost anyone who brings it up in public. And the Taylor Swift "I knew you were and 'X' " sensation is already going through the motions too. You've gotta build your subscriber base at a slow, steady pace that keeps it's viewers and doesn't spike once and then fizzle out.

 

[ghostlyrich]

Both! I find both rewarding there is nothing like going viral! It's a big sence of accomplishment i remember saying to my buddy if i were to loose my channel tommorrow or quit youtube i would feel complete still. Now my subs have been growing and man it just keeps getting better ^-^

 

[KiddoCabbusses]

I initially uploaded without any actual regard for how many hits I'd get.

A few of my vids just ended up going viral while I wasn't paying attention, so I figured afterwards I'd start building my channel more. Much of my content sense has been more me trying to keep a steady stream of content available, with a few virals happening here n' there.

 

[ChillNation]

In this day and age, is it a requirement to go viral if you want to grow your channel in a major way, Or can you get a substantial subscriber/view base through steady growth?

Slow and steady wins the race

 

[MattZ]

omg... I meant to ask YOU How long you've been youtubing, I quoted Matt accidentally hahaha

Haha I was thinking that and was kinda confused

 

[MattZ]

I've been building up my subscriber base for a while, and I have a loyal audience. Whereas, viral videos don't actually have a high number of subscription rates and the audience doesn't care about the channel as much.

Thanks for the reply, Glad to hear that you have build a good loyal audience.

 

[davesupertramp]

I've never had a video go viral, but I had a slow 90,000 views on 1 video on my old channel, wondering how i got that many views..

Here's my 2 cents, if you want the video to go viral, Film something completely original, like no one on youtube has ever done it.. The video has to be either really funny, silly, random, gross, or painful.. Let me break this down for you.

The cactus body slam video went viral recently, why? it looks to be really painful
the harlem shake video, it's random and silly.
the gallon smash video, just plain silly
now a lot of other viral videos of people on the news, like the homeless hitch hiker, he was just goofy as hell *Smash, smash smassshhhh*

Be creative and original

 

[Pearl]

Steady Growth. I think when viral videos die, they die for good, and people just don't want.

 

[MattZ]

Steady Growth. I think when viral videos die, they die for good, and people just don't want.

Thanks for the response. I definitely would prefer steady growth to going viral

 

[Cam94509]

For me (and I've only got like 150 subscribers), I suppose it depends on how you describe "viral". If it just means "getting lots of hits on one video compared to all your other videos", then yeah, I suppose I did that once, and it did give me like a third of my current subscriber base. If you mean "one video getting a lot of hits due to being shared in the method of a virus", I suppose I've seen "Steady growth", but I'm not entirely sure I'd use either term for what I've experienced.