which can take away from the
authenticity. Trends are fun, but you
don’t want people to visit your chan-
nel after loving one of your videos
and seeing nothing except for reac-
tion videos and challenges. Don’t
be that person. You’re reading an
article about how to tastefully tackle
trends on YouTube, and so it can be
assumed that you’re not that person,
but it’s always good to check.
It’s also important to ensure the
content aligns with your values
and content you enjoy. This is
advice that should guide all videos
you make, but it’s especially im-
portant not to get swept up with
a trend and abandon what your
channel is about, your personal
values or the type of content you’d
ideally be putting out anyway.
DAVID BOWIE VOICE
LET’S TREND!
The best YouTubers adapt and
twist trends to suit their own
channel and use the trend as
inspiration to create a video that
their existing audience will love.
This can be difficult if you have a
niche audience, where adapting
the trend to suit your channel’s
direction is crucial for not alienat-
ing existing fans. Raphael Gomes,
a food vlogger from Portugal and
based in London, smoothly incor-
porates trends into his channel by
making it related to food. As the
“Instagram Followers Choose My
X” trend peaked, he had subscrib-
ers decide his meals for that day.
When in doubt, just imagine that
Tyra Banks meme saying “trend-
ing, but make it your brand”.
BUSINESS
How To Follow Video Trends The Right WayAnother way to make trends your own is to truly
transform the trend and make something different.
When daily vlogs were on the rise, there were two
stand-outs for the genre — Casey Neistat and Adrian
Bliss. Neistat, a YouTube staple, incorporated his pas-
sion for cinematography, storytelling and editing to
make mini works of art masquerading as your aver-
age daily vlog. Adrian Bliss took the complete opposite
approach, creating a parody series of the daily vlogging
genre, complete with transparent money grabs, a fake
relationship and a forced catchphrase. What made
both creators successful was their ability to see a trend
and adopt it so flawlessly that you forget it’s even a
trend and begin to simply appreciate the content for
what it is. Make sure that, even when taking on strange
or seemingly-bland trends, you make them your own
and create something your audience will be obsessed
with regardless of whether it’s related to a trend or not.
Trends may get a bad wrap, but they have the ability
to inspire content you never would have thought to
create and to attract a fully new audience that’s ex-
cited to see what you make next. Your creativity and
unique brand will make your content stand out, so go
forth and trend!Raphael Gomes tailored the “Instagram Followers Choose My X” trend
to his channel by letting followers choose his food for the day.Fiona M is ... literally who knows how to fill these in? I chat about
things I like, places I’ve been and topics I’m interested in.