There’s no denying that video marketing has become increasingly popular and accessible to brands in recent years.
While popular sites such as TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram, as well as your website, are excellent places to invest, creating a YouTube channel may be the best way to promote your brand, as people spend one billion hours per day watching videos on this platform.
YouTube, dubbed the world’s “second-largest search engine,” can help people find your content quickly and drive engagement if you know a few tricks and understand the fundamentals of creating creative videos. Here are ten of the best YouTube channel growth tips.
1. Start Creating Your Videos Around A Single Keyword Or Topic
Building your video around a single topic or keyword is the best way to drive traffic and grow your YouTube audience. Marketers that don’t know SEO risk missing this step to rank videos but it’s crucial to include it if you want your videos to get the maximum amount of viewers. Use a keyword tool like KeywordTool.io, which is specific to YouTube, to look for the most searched keywords in the niche you want to target.
It’s important to pick your keyword before you craft your video content as it helps you construct the best information around that specific topic. It also helps you remember to include your keyword naturally throughout the content so YouTube picks it up when closed captions are added. Once you choose a keyword, check out the videos that currently rank for that topic to make sure you’re on the right track in terms of intent and always optimize your title and descriptions. By doing this, you will generate more search traffic with SEO on YouTube.
It is critical to choose your keyword before creating your video content because it will help you construct the best information around that specific topic. It also reminds you to include your keyword naturally throughout the content so that YouTube can pick it up when closed captions are added. Once you have decided on a keyword, look at the videos that are currently ranking for that topic to ensure you are on the right track in terms of intent, and always optimize your title and descriptions. You will generate more search traffic with SEO on YouTube if you do this.
2. Engage with Your Audience
It’s critical not to overlook the fact that YouTube is a social media platform that necessitates social interaction. You are missing out if you just post videos without encouraging comments and discussion.
YouTube rewards channels that have a high level of engagement, which includes total time spent on the channel, watch time, likes and dislikes, and, most importantly, comments. So, if at all possible, try to respond to every comment you receive and encourage users to interact with audio/visual prompts.
You can also take the time to engage with other channels, which could be a brand similar to yours or simply one you admire. You should not always wait for the audience to take the initiative. Post questions or comments that can drive engagement by asking relevant content-related questions or simply asking what content they like to see on your channel or would like to see more of. Also, remember to thank people who have shared your content on YouTube and other channels.
Consider using a social content distribution and engagement dashboard to track key engagement metrics on YouTube.
Read More: Is YouTube Part Of Your Social Network Strategy?
3. Repurpose Existing High-Performing Content
Of course, the most effective way to expand your YouTube channel is to create and distribute high-quality content. However, that content does not always have to be created from scratch. Some of your best videos can be made from existing engaging, valuable, useful, and actionable content.
Many people turn to YouTube for answers and how-to tutorials, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, when people binge-watched 4 billion hours of ‘how to’ videos in just one year. So creating content that solves problems for your audience is an excellent way to increase traffic. Conduct a content audit to identify the blogs, guides, and other high-performing pieces you already have and consider how you can repurpose them to create relevant and engaging videos.
Remember that the most popular YouTube videos are typically one to five minutes long, so don’t feel obligated to make a film or write a novel. Keep it brief and to the point.
4. Branding
So, while your content is excellent, does your channel look appealing? You must appear professional if you want visitors to take your YouTube channel seriously and subscribe.
Improving your organization’s social branding will allow users to recognize your content more quickly. So, if you have a blog or a website, you most likely already have a look and feel that distinguishes you from other individuals and/or businesses. As a result, it makes sense to extend that branding to your YouTube channel.
In addition to visual branding, don’t forget to add custom URLs to your channel header – and write an interesting bio about who you are and what your videos are about.
5. Show Up and Make a Statement
If you run YouTube on your own or as part of a small team, it can be extremely beneficial to personalize the channel by participating in videos. When you put a face to a brand, your audience is more likely to connect with you as a person. This is especially important for vloggers, fitness, life, and business coaches, and entrepreneurs who work alone.
Your face does not have to appear in every video you make, but you should appear frequently enough to engage your audience. Furthermore, if you are this type of YouTuber, include a photo of yourself on your channel (not your logo).
6. Post-Great Thumbnails & Leverage YouTube Cards
Thumbnails may appear to be insignificant (and they are), but they can have a significant impact. YouTube promotes other videos through thumbnails in its sidebar, so you want yours to stand out from the crowd.
The same is true for YouTube searches. Videos with an appealing title and thumbnail typically rank higher, even if the content itself isn’t as valuable, because they have a higher click-through rate (CTR). To increase your CTR, try using tactics like highlighted areas, arrows, large text, and unexpected or eye-catching images.
We know that YouTube rewards channels that keep their viewers on their pages for a longer period of time. People are engaged with your content if they are watching for longer periods of time. (You can use YouTube analytics to see how long people stay on your videos.) You can include links to other videos or relevant content at the exact point where users drop off by using YouTube cards. There are several card types to choose from, such as a playlist, poll, or donation, and you can feature up to 5 cards per video, which appear as a rectangular box or teaser in the video’s right-hand corner. Although users may abandon the video they are watching, they will be directed to your other content and will remain on your channel, increasing your channel’s popularity.
Read More: What Is Vlogging And How Can You Start?
7. Promote Your YouTube Videos on Other Social Media Platforms
One of the great things about social media is the ability to cross-promote content across multiple channels. The simplest way to expand your audience is to promote your YouTube videos on your other social channels.
According to the Digital 2021: Global Overview Report, there is a significant overlap in users across social media platforms, with YouTube seeing massive engagement of over 90% among all top channels’ users. This means it’s a force to be reckoned with in terms of marketing activities and engagement.
So, what channels are you watching? Facebook, Linkedin, Instagram, and TikTok? There are numerous options available, as well as numerous great ideas for social media videos. And, if you want to post videos directly to a channel (such as Facebook), you can always do a teaser for the full-length video on YouTube to maximize engagement across all channels. Don’t forget about your blog; you can also post your videos there! If you have a podcast, it can work very well with your YouTube channel.
8. Upload Video Content Frequency
This may appear daunting at first, but in order to grow your audience, you must increase your posting frequency to at least one video per week. Don’t worry; you won’t need the services of a design firm or a large advertising agency to complete this task. Today’s smartphones have excellent video recording capabilities, and tools like Animoto make video editing simple, allowing you to create video content on a budget. The importance of consistency cannot be overstated. Try to post at the same time every day or week (depending on your frequency), and keep your subscribers up to date on when new videos will be released. Then stick to your plan.
9. Push for Subscriptions
When viewers’subscribe’ to see any new videos that are posted, you know for sure that they are engaged with your channel. In each video you upload, ask viewers to subscribe to your channel, and stay in touch with your existing subscribers.
Subscribers should never be purchased. In the long run, this will only reduce your engagement and harm the authenticity of your account. Remember that if you don’t ask your viewers to subscribe, you could be missing out on a large number of potential followers. After all, the more subscribers you have, the more likely you are to increase your YouTube watch time.
Read More: 5 Monetization Strategies for Your Vlogging
10. Develop Your Skills as a Social Video (& YouTube) Expert
Video as a content format continues to grow in popularity. According to the report ‘The State of Video Marketing,’ 86 percent of businesses use video as a marketing tool, and 87 percent of marketers report a positive ROI on its performance. Marketers must understand the role of video and how to use it effectively across all social media channels as audiences become more visual and platforms such as TikTok gain popularity.