The Three Types of YouTube Content — and Why Help Content Is King
By: Nicholas Leonard
Tags: Strategy, Content, Help, Content Creation, YouTube

The Three Types of YouTube Content — and Why Help Content Is King

There’s a trio of labels most videos can fit into. Many tend to overfocus on one, and in some niches, under focus on another.

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Photo by Christian Wiediger on Unsplash

When It Comes to YouTube

there’s a lot of approaches to it. I find it to be like an old retro game where you fire it up, press start, and….you’re left to your own devices.

Kinda like the old Final Fantasy games where if you’re not careful you can wander right into level 20 territory and watch helplessly as your level 5 crew gets demolished.

The funny thing is you get a lot of creators who won’t reach for the Player’s Guide and will continue to eat level 20 demolishing after level 20 demolishing and then complain about the game being unfair.

Well, let’s shed some light on some of these YouTube mysteries, starting with three key labels that I find most content can fit into.

The Definitive Trio

was something I first read about in Jay Cartere’s book The Gamer’s Guide to Greatness. This little eBook introduced me to a lot of helpful YouTube-Gaming-Related concepts, but for now, we’re going to focus on three that you may have heard elsewhere before: Help Content, Hub Content, and Hero Content.

Now, Jay goes over these three in a gaming YouTuber’s context, but I feel like we can chat about this trio while taking other kinds of channels into account.

Help Content

is pretty straightforward. This is anything that is aimed at helping out your prospective viewer with something.

For example, I’ve been doing Instacart a lot lately, and have been looking to get into doing Uber. So what would we call those videos I watch where folks go over how much they earned and their general tips? Help content!

Making a video that guides folks on how to install ROMs for the MAME emulator? Dead-on help content.

If your goal is to ultimately help out the viewer with a problem they might have, you’re making help content.

This is something you should focus on making. But we’ll get into that later.

Hub Content

is more or less the content you make for your community. The brand building, “let’s get to know this guy” type of content.

Photo by Rachit Tank on Unsplash

Now, you might be doing your neat Door Dash vlog to help out people, but ultimately I’d label that as “hub content”. Even a vlog that’s aimed to be informative will have a different feel compared to something that’s designed from the ground up on providing tips and tricks.

My Five Nights at Freddy’s Let’s Play provided a lot of hints and tips for new players. It was basically a walkthrough!

But I’d still say that it’s Hub Content at the end of the day, which most Let’s Plays fall under.

For other niches, this could include things like vlogs. A lot of furry YouTubers will make lots of Let’s Play and furry vlog videos that range from talking into the camera about something to showing off a con while pop music plays.

That’s all hub content. And you’ll struggle with that because most people aren’t going to go on YouTube searching for your rant video about why you “invented” a niche in furry but aren’t popular on it. Sorry to any dragons out there, but that’s just the breaks.

Now, you can make as many pieces of hub content as you want, but be wary of focusing only on that.

Even Let’s Plays on the latest titles can struggle — you’ll be competing with everyone else who plays that same game. This is why you should also tap into SEO, but that’s a story for another time.

Hero Content

is when you score that exclusive interview for your channel. When you’re in a cult niche and you knock out the coverage of the game or movie that no one else is.

Netting a podcast with a big name in your niche? That’s hero content. You don’t need hero content for your channel, but it can be really nice.

I’d also wager that it isn’t limited to what I said, either. Back when Klace Husky’s Winds of Change was still in development I was one of the few furries who were regularly playing it and showing footage of new areas.

Art by Azoth

Okay, so it’s not the largest niche or largest audience, but again, I was one of the few who had eyes-on and were giving furs a glimpse into the game.

SEO also helped out with me dominating the search, so it wasn’t all just the topic.

Again, not something that’s required, but it’s something that can help out, especially if it’s timed with something up-and-coming.

Which to Focus On

out of this trio is a key component to helping your YouTube channel get built.

If you’re a blogger, you probably already know the answer (you probably did before even clicking!).

It’s gonna be Help Content.

Why? Because think about it — what do people do when they need help with something? They look it up — usually through Google!

Or if they want some visual help, they’ll probably “YouTube it” and find a video or two.

There might not be a lot of people looking for random videos of furry conventions. But there could be lots of furs looking for help on how to prepare for a convention.

You can even double down and break this up further — videos on how to prep for a con, guides on wearing a fursuit at a con, how to navigate the dealer’s den, and more!

Photo by Caleb Maxwell on Unsplash

Or whatever niche you’re into. Say you’re big on Disney Pins. Vlogs about your latest finds or collection can be interesting Hub Content that let us get to know you. However, how-to guides on something like how to spot fake pins or where to buy ’em outside of Disney parks can be invaluable.

Think of each piece of Help Content like little tractor beams that get us on your channel that have a chance to pull us in. And even if they don’t, you could still pop up in the Recommended tab later down the road, especially if they keep watching content in that niche.

It’s also great evergreen content, especially if you do it on something that has even just a dedicated cult following.

That MAME ROM installation video I linked? It’s one of the more powerhouse videos on my channel and it shows zero signs of slowing down!

YouTube Algorithm Woes

is something I can sense you asking a mile away.

“But Nicholas!” you’d say, “How do I compete with all those people and their videos!? Lots of people have done videos on con preparation!”

I got two answers for you.

The first one is going to make me sound like a broken record rabbit: SEO. Seriously don’t underestimate how useful this is.

Especially in niches that aren’t too strong with it. Lookin’ at you Furry and Arcade Gaming channels.

The second answer? Your perspective. You can still offer your own personal insights and takeaways that others might not have. Or at least, your own style, flavor, your own persona, your own feel.

Trust me, I’d know. My fursona in the furry world is a blue and white rabbit. They’re a dime a dozen…but there’s only one Niko.

People try the same thing with video games. “Nicholas, lots of people have played Mega Man X on their channel!”

“True.” I’d reply. “But Razzle, my gaming persona, hasn’t yet.”

Never underestimate the power of you.

It’s Simple But Complex

isn’t it? Just make help content! But from there we can splinter off into so many different avenues. Like how to source help content, what to focus on specifically, and more.

Hopefully, though, this particular piece of help content has given you some new insight as to what you can toy around with on your YouTube channel.

Or heck, any venture can benefit from this. Been thinknig about YouTube fellow Medium blogger? Well, while you plan the channel, try out what I said here on your own personal blog!

I can’t guarantee it’ll work, but I promise it won’t hurt your chances when done right.