Every month, billions of users check in to YouTube and watch billions of hours of video on the network. However, there are over 23 million YouTube channels competing for viewers’ attention. How do you advertise your YouTube channel while still ensuring that your videos aren’t lost in the shuffle?
Don’t be concerned. I’ll teach you about twelve promotion tactics in this article to help you gain more views and earn money on YouTube. I recommend that you look at a few additional organic YouTube promotion tools that will help you streamline your workflow and improve the effectiveness of your promotion efforts.
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Let’s start with the major components in the YouTube algorithm, because, as I mentioned in the YouTube numbers post, its artificial intelligence-based algorithm determines 70% of what people watch.
Contents Table of Contents
You Should Concentrate On Two Important YouTube Algorithm Factors….
- Spend time optimising your YouTube channel for search engines. 2. Collaborate with other channels.
- Use Other Social Media Channels to Promote
- Seek assistance from your audience.
- Make Use Of The Community Tab As Well As YouTube Stories
- Subscribe to the Netflix Suite
- Make Playlists Out Of Your Videos
- Use The Big Search Daddy To Drive Traffic
- Hold a competition or giveaway
- Participate in live streams to get your channel reviewed.
- Reverse Engineer Proven Topics and Take Advantage of Current Trends
Final Thoughts: 12. Don’t Forget The Basics Of Filmmaking
You Should Concentrate On Two Important YouTube Algorithm Factors….
It is no longer sufficient to get a person to click on your video and begin watching it. Until 2012, the YouTube algorithm rewarded content with a high view count. It has now been redesigned in order to maximise long-term audience engagement and happiness.
. The following are the two most important factors:
. The length of time spent watching a video.
. Time Spent on YouTube (Session Time): The total amount of time spent on YouTube.
Because the algorithm “follows the audience,” you must enhance user engagement while focusing on retention. Likes/dislikes and “not interested” responses are two more crucial indicators used by the algorithm.
Pro YouTube artists study their data to figure out what patterns of behaviour result in big declines in their audience. For example, Tim Schmoye’s client observed that whenever he mentioned the word “module,” his viewers decreased. It caused him to stop using the word in his films, and his retention graph to flatten.
And how can you lengthen your sessions?
While you’ll see a couple methods later in the essay, publishing consistently every week is a terrific plan. As a result, you become a part of your audience’s weekly routine, and your films may be pushed to the top of their homepage. As a result, your video is the first on their YouTube playlist. Isn’t that priceless?
- Dedicate time to YouTube SEO.
YouTube is the third-largest search engine on the planet. If you can push your video to the top of the YouTube search results, you can gain free views every month.
How can you improve your ranking?
YouTube, on the other hand, does not provide a list of the most popular videos in response to a query. It shows the user the most relevant videos and channels. The following are a few things to consider:
Include relevant keyword(s) in the title and description of your video: The YouTube algorithm can parse text directly. You notify YouTube to evaluate your target term for the query by providing it in the metadata.
How can you come up with a phrase that accurately describes the content of your video? It’s just plain old keyword research, and I recommend utilising a tool like Tubebuddy (review here) or vidIQ (review here) to do it.
Closed captions should be included: You give yourself the ability to interact and reach an international audience by incorporating subtitles. It also improves the user experience of your regional viewers if your speech becomes a little choppy at times.
Create Custom Thumbnails: Your thumbnail is the first visual connection a potential viewer has with your video. They are more likely to click through if you grab their attention with a bright thumbnail and pique their interest with your headline. People will be able to recognise your videos more quickly if they have a consistent appearance and feel.
Engagement: It’s critical that viewers interact with your video once they’ve clicked on it. Are the majority of your viewers watching at least half of your video? Are they also subscribing to your channel and liking/disliking/commenting on your video? The more participation, the better.
- Work with other media outlets
Collaborate with other creators after that. Cross-promotion is a terrific strategy to quickly grow your following. The mechanics are straightforward. Instant social proof is created when a creator with a similar audience (and presumably distinct material) endorses your content. It persuades their target audience to look into you.
To locate possible collaborators, look for channels that are similar to these:
Level of influence: If you’re reaching out to a channel with 10 times your subscriber count, your prospects of landing a partnership are slim. Otherwise, you’ll have to provide them with something else of worth.
Audience Type: You can look into your audience’s interests as well as the other channels they watch. You can find a few interesting creators to collaborate with in your comments area.
Social Blade is a fantastic tool for finding channels with similar demographics and sizes.
- Use Other Social Media Channels to Promote
Do you already have a following on another social networking platform?
You can get some traction for your new videos even if you only have a few hundred followers and friends. Within the first 24 hours after publishing a video, I coordinated updates with my friends and family.
The video’s ranking in SERPs is determined by the interaction and social proof figures from the first few hours after it was published.
You might also intend to contact websites who have incorporated videos similar to yours in their articles as a long-term strategy.
Even if a website has already written about a topic, you can contact them and explain how your video adds a’media’ component to their piece. It also helps them spend more time on the page.
If you already have an email list or a website, let people know about your new films. It’s a terrific technique to get people’s attention and get them to look at your content. These first engagement figures are used by the YouTube algorithm to determine whether or not the video will be distributed further on the network.
- Seek assistance from your audience.
The YouTube audience is more comfortable with call to actions than on other social media sites. The “Like, Comment, and Subscribe” culture that video artists have established on the site is to thank for it.
During these crucial moments, you can directly ask your viewers for assistance:
The video begins with: You can request that viewers “push the bell icon” to be notified of new content on your channel.
End screens: Viewers “expect” an engagement bait at the end of the video. As a result, the retention rate plummets. Keep talking while the conclusion screen displays and be cautious not to change frames.
The majority of visitors will skip over your video description. You can still request that videos from your channel be shared here.
- Make Use Of The Community Tab As Well As YouTube Stories
These two tools are relatively new, and not all creators have access to them. They are YouTube’s attempt to provide its viewers with a full-fledged social media experience.
You can communicate with your audience by posting questions if you have a community tab. It is used by The School of Life to post written essays that go along with their fascinating video drawings.
The tab can also be used to promote upcoming videos.
YouTube has also introduced tales, which are similar to those seen on other social networking platforms such as Instagram. The distinction is that, while these brief video posts are similarly ephemeral, they are only available for seven days. The stories are currently only available to channels with more than 10,000 subscribers.
vidIQ communicates with its users on a regular basis and presents the results as a story on their YouTube channel.
- Subscribe to the Netflix Suite
Producing a single great solo video may get you a few hours of viewing time. Creating a series, on the other hand, is a better method to encourage binge-watching.
The first step is to choose a topic that will appeal to your target audience. If you’ve been a YouTube creator for a long and have accumulated enough data, you can figure out the same thing by checking at your YouTube Analytics. You can also utilise keyword research software.
After you’ve decided on a topic, you may write a compelling series script. Produce the series after you’ve rehearsed and refined it. You can generate interest in your film by releasing a handful of trailers before it is released.
Finally, you have two options for distributing the series:
At the same time: This is the original Netflix method, which is convenient and delivers a consistent viewing experience for your users.
On a regular basis: You can also build anticipation for each episode by releasing them regularly. Every new video can be added to a playlist as well. It piques your audience’s interest and encourages them to return to your channel on a frequent basis.
Series are an underappreciated tool on YouTube, owing to the fact that they require a large budget and exceptional storytelling abilities. However, when done correctly, it may be used to promote your channel.
- Make Playlists Out Of Your Videos
Each of your videos should be in at least three playlists, even if you’re not creating a series. A playlist, when done properly (with the audience’s experience in mind), is a terrific way to extend your users’ session time.
What’s the best way to advertise your playlists? They rarely appear in YouTube searches. End screens, on the other hand, can be used to guide viewers to related videos on your channel. It’s a fantastic method to lengthen the duration of a session.
Where appropriate, you can also include videos from other channels in your playlists. If a viewer enjoys viewing them and was directed to your video, the user’s session length will rise. As a result, it will aid in the ranking of your videos.
- Use The Big Search Daddy To Drive Traffic
How would you like a consistent flow of Google traffic to your videos?
Most producers don’t venture outside of the YouTube sphere, despite the fact that video SERPs have steadily risen in Google.
Indeed, Google promotes video material for some keywords, or at the very least displays mixed media content. If you can secure a snippet for your video, the colourful thumbnail will drive attention to your channel on a regular basis.
Fill in the keyword in Google and scroll down to the video carousel to optimise your video. It’s even better if you can discover a dedicated video SERP. Next, figure out how long your videos should be, what titles they should have, and what kind of content Google prefers.
Please keep in mind that video SERPs are always changing. Ascertain that the video results have been consistent and have been producing organic traffic for some time. Ahrefs is a fantastic tool for this.
Here are the results for the phrase “how to tie a knot,” for example.
- Hold a competition or giveaway
Organizing a contest is an excellent approach to engage your audience and generate activity on your channel. They not only increase engagement, but they also introduce your channel to a new audience because participants want to share their contributions with their personal networks.
Consider the following scenario. With his video Fingerpicking 101, guitarist Rob Scallon asked his followers to participate in a cover contest. For the same, he worked with Yousician.
He received 116 entries during the course of the month-long event. Aside from the winner, who received a Rob Scallon Chapman guitar, he announced 20 awards.
What’s more, guess what?
If your target audience is other producers, you could end up with a lot of interesting and amusing crowdfunded stuff.
Unless you have your own products to give away, getting a business to sponsor your contest is a terrific idea. If everything else fails, try awarding a prize with a high perceived worth. In 2010, Rob Scallon, for example, held his first contest based on the same song. The contest’s winner received a Rob Scallon CD.
- Participate in live streams to get your channel reviewed.
Have you seen the comments that say, “Please subscribe to my channel for my family”? Yes, they are inconvenient. The reason I brought them up is because there is a related, but more genuine, technique to promote your channel.
You may participate in live channel reviews on YouTube channels like vidIQ. It’s free exposure for your channel, in addition to gaining insights to help you grow it. Even if it won’t make a dent, it can aid creators who are just getting started on YouTube.
- Reverse Engineer Proven Topics and Take Advantage of Current Trends
Jennelle Eliana had a dream YouTube adventure when she reached a million subscribers with just two videos. What exactly did she get right? The first is that she hand-selected subjects that were in high demand. Take a look at how many videos about “van life” have been viewed.
The second important feature is that she chose a popular topic. It indicates that the time of year and the surge of content on “van life” are causing an increase trend on YouTube. As you can see in the graph below, the search phrase “van life” was beginning to gain popularity.
How do you identify topics that are likely to attract a larger audience? You can use a keyword research tool to plug in your video ideas. You’re looking for a window of opportunity with high demand and little competition.
In December, keep an eye out for pop cultural trends like “Star Wars.” You can also use “Google Trends” to keep up with current events.
- Don’t Forget About The Fundamentals Of Filmmaking
As previously mentioned, accumulating a large quantity of view time will put you on the map and earn you prizes from the YouTube algorithm. Sure, strategies like having a catchy hook and making extended films are great.
Your story, on the other hand, is the underlying approach that decides whether or not a viewer is emotionally engaged. You should ideally have one big idea for each sketch. The major concept should then be supported by all of the elements in your video. If you stray from it, it will be a distraction and your audience will lose interest.
“You need to find something that an audience is interested in,” Casey Neistat said. Then I’ll share it with them in a way that they’ll find interesting.”
There are a handful of other things to consider:
Jump Cuts: When utilised sparingly and tastefully, they are an excellent method to re-engage a viewer who is about to lose interest.
It’s All About the Sound: It’s not about splashing out on high-end equipment to create seductive pictures. Maintaining a high-quality audio output, on the other hand, is critical for a satisfying listening experience.
