Hi YouTube superstars. I hope you’re all having fun producing your YouTube Videos and today I’d like to share a simple but useful idea for deciding what kind of videos to make and when to make them.

This idea is something I actually got from YouTube itself.  I long ago learned not to reinvent the wheel and if YouTube says this is a good idea, I’m going to assume it it.

This idea is called “Tent Pole Events”, so ‘What is a Tent Pole Event?’

A Tent Pole Event any event that happens in a community that you can use to build your own YouTube video content around.  For example, Christmas and Thanksgiving are two traditional tent pole events that people have been producing content around (almost) forever.

You see major movies, TV shows, special magazine issues, retailer sales, fashion events…..etc., etc. about Christmas too.  Of course, it’s a shame that they’ve taken the “Christ” out of Christmas and commercialized it so much, but….that’s another post.

The point is, the big business and the media puts out content around Tent Pole Events all the time.

Another Tent Pole Event that you all know about is SuperBowl Sunday.  Walk into any convenience store during the weeks leading up to SuperBowl Sunday and you see SuperBowl logos an everything from candy bars to bread, right?

So how can you use Tent Pole Events?

Well, remember the reason that you’re making YouTube videos in the first place.  You’re trying to build a following, a viewership, of loyal fans who will read/watch your YouTube Channel or content on a regular basis because it relates to their life, right?

What I’d recommend you do is find out what your audience likes and then compose your YouTube videos and/or web copy ‘to’ or ‘around that subject. That’s Tent Pole Event content writing and scheduling.

But wait!  I can hear you saying, “But …Thom…what if I’m not interested in (whatever)??!!”

Well……be creative, dude!  Find a way to connect what they like to what you want to make your videos and articles about.  There’s always a way to make a connection from one thing to another.  Comedians do it all the time.  They’ll come out and say, “You know, cats are really freaky sometime.  My sister has a cat and……(blah..blah…blah).”  And five minutes later into the monologue he’s talking about politics!

To find good Tent Pole Events all you have to do is be observant.  Keep your eye on the news, trendy magazines, the media (TV and radio) and even listen to what your friends are talking about.

Of course that’s just one way to do it.  Common sense will work pretty well too.  Just make the connection.  It’s that simple.

Just remember, it’s OK to follow the general direction of ‘the pack’ but always try to add your unique twist to all your YouTube original videos and/or writing.  Don’t write exactly the same thing everybody is writing.  If your content is 100% video then you’re going to have to use captions and/or annotations to add your text to it.  On the other hand, if it’s a video blog (in which case you can use your videos or somebody else’s) you’ve got your blog text to use to add your written message.

That’s my YouTube tip of the day.  I’ll bring you some more YouTube tools that I recently found

Till next time,

Be BOP,

Thom