With billions of users watching and sharing videos daily, YouTube is one of the world’s most widely used online platforms. This gives creators a fantastic opportunity to expand their audience and channel. But it can be difficult to stand out on the platform because there are so many users and media. Therefore, creators must actively promote their channels to draw viewers and develop a following for their content on YouTube. In this overview, we will look at some of the top strategies for promoting a YouTube channel to raise its visibility, engagement, and, eventually, its subscriber count.
1. Create titles that are compelling and must-see
The success of your video, titles are either make-or-break. Do you present your content as “must-see” or “meh”? The key to crafting killer titles is grabbing your audience’s attention without using clickbait headlines. People love entertaining content and want to know what your video is about right away. For example, you can take a page out of the playbooks of YouTube giants like BuzzFeed. Such videos often rely on listicles, question-based titles or hyperbole (“insane,” “…of all time”) to rack up views.
Another excellent example is the fitness-related videos by Bret Maverick. The content titles on the channel are conversational while also managing to smuggle in pertinent keywords. Best-of lists and “how-to” titles are also consistently reliable bets.
The lesson here is that you should take your time considering intriguing titles rather than going with the first concept that comes to mind.
Your YouTube title can only be 100 characters long. Even so, it’s still too long. The best titles display completely on most devices and are between 60 and 70 characters long. Anything longer than that will appear as if it has been cut off.
2. Figure out what your audience wants
Determine the preferences of your audience. You should always check that the content you create aligns with your audience’s preferences. Learn about your audience and the kind of content they want to see from you before writing a blog post or producing a video.
If you’re just starting with YouTube channel promotion, research your rivals or other video producers in your niche. See which of their videos receives the most attention and views. This will help you determine what subjects and types of videos your audience is most interested in learning about.
You can also check your YouTube Analytics if you’ve already uploaded videos. You can find comprehensive data on the audience’s demographics, location, engagement, and other valuable statistics on YouTube.
3. Participate in the YouTube community
Although you might not consider YouTube a social network in the traditional sense, it represents a vibrant community where users interact with each other and with content through profiles, “likes,” and comments. Sounds fairly “social,” in our opinion. As was already mentioned, YouTube views any interaction with your viewers favourably. Engaging with your subscribers can help you develop a closer relationship with your audience. The process of “liking” comments and “pinning” a comment that you particularly like to send to your subscribers takes just a few seconds. As an illustration, the music channel PremiumBeat frequently “likes” and comments on its most recent uploads. The channel’s creator often communicates back and forth with viewers to express gratitude and provide information.
4. Make your thumbnails unique
Making custom thumbnails is one of the simplest yet most powerful strategies for promoting your YouTube channel. Consider using your title and thumbnail as a one-two punch to draw a viewer in. For the thumbnail, YouTube takes a screenshot from any given video by default. Unfortunately, there are times when the picture it takes is a hazy one of you moving the camera or a transition. As a result, it doesn’t look good. Making your own thumbnails gives your videos a more eye-catching first impression and conveys a certain level of professionalism.
Additionally, creating thumbnails can be easy. To make it more standardized and in line with your brand, you can even design a template using a specific font and style. Utilizing image creation software like Canva helps to make this process especially simple.
5. Cross-promote your own YouTube videos
You and your YouTube channel cover the same topics. Cross-promote your videos when appropriate to get the most out of your older content. For example, as a kind of call-to-action, you could insert links into a video’s description and invite viewers to click on them. Although the recent removal of YouTube’s annotation system may have disappointed some, linking in your description entices viewers to watch your videos all the way through rather than skipping ahead.
6. Incorporate your YouTube videos
Beyond YouTube, there are some excellent places to advertise your YouTube channel. For instance, it has been demonstrated that video content increases conversion rates and decreases on-site bounce rates. Add a video to a product page or blog post to encourage visitors to stay there longer (like we did below).
7. Boost participation in calls to action
Given the immediacy and connection that video content can foster, asking for engagement can occasionally be the best way to see your videos. It’s become more and more common to include these reminders in the description or in the video itself because not everyone who enjoys one of your videos will remember to “drop a like” or “become a subscriber.” There’s no shame in directly requesting love, especially if you’re a rising channel. The best ways to maintain engagement are to ask visitors a question to answer in the comments section or to watch another video. Additionally, you can use links to external websites or other videos as a form of a call to action.
8. Try out live streaming
One of the biggest social media trends is live video, which will be around for a while. More and more businesses are embracing live streaming thanks to apps like Facebook, Periscope, and Instagram, which make it simpler. Live video streaming has been available on YouTube for years, but it has only recently gained popularity. To get a feel for how other brands utilize the platform, look at some of the most well-liked YouTube Live videos.
Here are a few instances of how to use YouTube Live:
- Webinars,
- live instruction
- Q&A sessions
- demonstrations of goods
If your streams don’t go as smoothly as you’d like, don’t worry. Live video is thrilling (and dangerous) because you never know what will happen. Live video is compelling because of its unrefined, natural quality. Visit Google’s guide to live streaming for more advice on how to get started with YouTube Live.
9. Collaborate with other creators and brands
Working with other users is a strategy that some of the biggest YouTube stars have used to increase their fan base. Each partnership exposes you to a new group of people. The best part is that because you’re collaborating with a content creator they already know, like, and trust, those new viewers are more likely to subscribe to your channel. Finding the right partner is essential for a YouTube collaboration to be successful. For your video to come across as authentic, you should collaborate with content creators with similar interests to your brand.
10. Start a paid YouTube ad campaign
You always have the choice to increase your visibility through paid YouTube ads because marketing in general, is moving toward a pay-to-play model. There are many different ad formats available on YouTube: Only available on desktop, display ads appear in the right-hand sidebar of videos.
Display Ads: The ads on the bottom of a video are known as overlay ads because they are semi-transparent.
Overlay ads: These are semi-transparent ads displayed on the bottom of a video. They’re only available on desktop.
Skippable and non-skippable video ads: These advertisements appear before, during, or after a video and are either skippable or not. Non-skippable ads must be watched in full before the viewer can access their video, whereas skippable ads can be skipped after five seconds.
Bumper ads are non-skippable ads that must be watched before the viewer can watch their video. They can be a maximum of six seconds.
Sponsored cards: These cards appear in conjunction with pertinent videos. They can be utilized to advertise your goods or other content.
Depending on the campaign, you can use an existing video or make a brand-new one for your ad creatives. The benefit of using an existing video is that you can pick a segment that has historically worked well. Additionally, paid advertisements can enhance your results if a video has already attracted significant organic views and engagement.
Also Read:How to Measure the ROI of your Marketing Effort
Conclusion
There are many ways to promote a YouTube channel, such as optimizing videos for search, enabling the track on other social media sites, working with other YouTubers, launching advertising campaigns, holding giveaways and competitions, engaging with the audience, utilizing YouTube’s end screens and annotations for calls to action, and joining communities and groups within your niche. Creators can expand their reach and visibility, grow their audience, and develop their channels by combining a number of these tactics. However, it’s crucial to remember that growing an audience requires patience and consistency, so produce and promote high-quality content regularly.
