In the first week of Ramadan he opened YouTube and saw everybody publishing seasonal content: recipes, daily shows, schedules. So he decided to make a seasonal video too.
He wrote on day four, filmed on day ten, and finished editing on day seventeen. He published, and the views came in below his usual. Two weeks after Eid the video was completely dead.
Then it happened again with back-to-school: he published in the second week of term. People had already bought, prepared and finished before he reached them.
The problem was not the idea. It was that he was making the content during the season instead of making it for the season.
People search while preparing, not during
This is the single rule the whole article rests on. "What do I prepare for Ramadan?" is asked two weeks before Ramadan. "Where do I travel in summer?" is asked in spring. "What do I buy for school?" is asked before term starts.
Publish mid-season and you reach people whose need is already met. Publish two weeks ahead and you reach them while they are actually searching, and your video keeps working every year in the same season.
Three kinds of seasonal content
| The kind | Its lifespan | Example |
|---|---|---|
| A guide repeated yearly | Years, with an annual update | "How to prepare X before the season" |
| Timely content | Weeks | Covering one specific event |
| Content riding the mood | The season only | Your usual subject in the season's spirit |
Most people make only the second kind, so every year they start from zero. The first kind is the asset: built once and updated in an hour. And anyone with a successful seasonal video from last year will find revising it cheaper than a new one, by the method in Reusing Your Old Content: What Deserves Reviving and How.
A map of your year on one page
Sit down once a year and write your seasons on a single page. Not every season in the year is yours, only the ones your subject touches:
- Ramadan and the two Eids. Seasons for kitchen, family, customs, daily shows and short trips.
- Summer. Travel, trips, outdoor activity, and free time for learning.
- Back to school and university. Tools, organisation, studying, budgets.
- The year's end and start. Reviews, plans, resolutions, annual numbers.
- Your subject's own seasons. An annual conference, a gear release, a tournament, a harvest, a rainy season in a country you film in.
The last is the most important, because it is the season where every other creator on the platform is not competing with you.
A countdown for every season
| Time left | What you do |
|---|---|
| Eight weeks | Settle the idea and test it |
| Six weeks | Research and script |
| Five weeks | Filming |
| Three weeks | Editing and the thumbnail |
| Two weeks | Publishing |
| During the season | Short clips reminding people, and a pinned comment |
The key is booking those sessions into your week like any other work, as in A creator's working week. The season will not wait for you; it is the one date in your channel that does not negotiate.
Test the seasonal idea early
Before you spend two weeks on a seasonal video, test the idea in ten minutes: write the title as it will appear, ask your audience a question about their need in this season, and read the comments under last year's videos on other channels.
The four testing methods are in How do you test an idea before spending a week on it?, and testing matters more here than anywhere, because a mistake costs you a whole year of waiting.
What to do if you miss the season
Three options, and the first is the worst:
- Publish late anyway. The video reaches few people and does not last. Only do this if the content is useful outside the season too.
- Turn it into after-the-season content. "What do you do with what is left?" and "How do you get back to your rhythm afterwards?" are videos with a real audience and less competition.
- Prepare it for next year. Film it now while you are inside the season's atmosphere, and publish it next year two weeks ahead. This is the smartest decision in the whole subject, and the one fewest people make.
And do not force a season onto your channel
Not every season is yours. A channel about programming does not need an Eid video, and the attempt comes out contrived, which your audience can tell.
The question that settles it: does my audience have a need that changes in this season? If the answer is no, leave it and stay on your subject. Numbers that arrive from a season not yours bring viewers who do not come back.
The same logic applies to news and events, and it is set out in How do you turn a news story into a video idea that survives a month?
Add them to your calendar now
Open your calendar, put only three seasons into the coming year, write the target publishing date against each, then count back eight weeks and mark "start here".
Those three marks are what turn a season from an annual surprise into a line in a plan, and the rest of the monthly plan's lines are in A publishing calendar that holds.