Lego is the savviest brand on YouTube

The brand’s main channel is growing at a rate of about 120k subscribers a month, more than most brands have for their entire channel.

To generate that growth Lego is doing two things incredibly well: first they're implementing the hero, hub, help content strategy that YouTube has been touting for several years, and secondly they are working with relevant influencers in a really collaborative way. 

CONTENT STRATEGY The hero, hub, help strategy basically breaks down a channel into three types of content: Hero - your ‘go big’ moments (ie a product launch) Hub - episodic content/consistent in format and schedule (should be the bulk of content) Help - content that pulls viewers in via search

Lego does this really well - they don’t invest all their efforts in viral ‘hero’ moonshots, instead they put the bulk of their efforts into several hub series that have grown to be incredibly popular.

One hub series is ‘Explained With’ which answers common questions a young kid may have about how the world works, such as ‘How do rollercoasters work?’ or ‘Why do we have seasons’. Another series is 'REBRICKULOUS' which features a consistent cast participating in various YouTube challenges (while incorporating Legos). 

To capitalize on search (help content) Lego has a number of ‘How To’ videos in the form of the ‘Lego How To Academy’ which provides tutorials on how to make everything from a race car to a dinosaur with legos. Additionally the channel has series such as ‘Lego Designer Set Review Videos’ which goes behind the scenes with Lego designers on some of the most popular Lego Designs (ie Star Wars, Jurassic Park, etc).

INFLUENCERS Lego puts a lot of thought into the influencers they work with - focusing on influencers with channels that have an educational focus (vs selecting influencers solely because they’ve got a lot of subscribers).

Additionally, the brand regularly features these influencers as featured guests and hosts within its videos. For example, the ‘Explained With’ series has had half a dozen influencers as hosts. The REBRICKULOUS series regularly collaborates with other YouTubers (and participates in challenges popular within the community).

Lego promotes the influencers they work with by featuring relevant influencer produced videos in playlist shelves on the channel homepage. As outlined above Lego regularly invites influencers to participate as talent in Lego produced content. Additionally Lego invests in immersing influencers in the brand by having them visit Lego Headquarters. As a result these influencers have ample opportunities to create content around their experiences and have a deep understanding of the brand.

For example, Maddie Moate, an education focused YouTuber, was a host on ‘Explained With’ series and visited the Lego factory for the companies 50th anniversary. Her experiences were documented and turned into videos that pushed viewers to the Lego channel.

TAKEAWAYS YouTube is unique for a social network in that the biggest channels aren’t dominated by brands that have bought their large following.

Instead, the channels that do well tend to post consistently (ie hub content), understand what their audience is searching for and produces content around those topics (help), and collaborates with other relevant channels.

A community doesn’t instantly form because a video went viral or it was on the YouTube masthead and Lego understands this - they’ve been investing heavily in a long term approach which is paying dividends today.