With YouTube being one of the most visited sites on the internet, it’s no surprise to see all types of channels attempting to master their YouTube marketing skills.
In order to reach out to more subscribers, you must make sure that the content in your channel is appealing and attractive. Read on as we explore some smart and effective techniques that will help you improve the quality of your YouTube channel.
1. Focused Video Content
A very effective method for attracting traffic to your channel and increasing your audience is by making use of specific topics and/or single keywords. Employing SEO best practices is crucial to the success of your YouTube channel and will enable you to maximize your appeal.
There are great keyword tools online that will enable you to identify the most searched keywords relating to your content. Moreover, this will guide you to structure your content based on these insights.
By identifying your keyword or specific topic before creating the content, you focus your mind on a particular purpose. It is helpful to view other videos on that topic to ascertain if you are on the right track. This will enable you to learn what the competition has to offer, and give you the ability to add your own style to that topic.
Keywords should always be used naturally within your content in order for YouTube to identify it when closed captions are included. Always ensure that your title and descriptions are optimized, and keep your video to 5 minutes or less.
2. Rework Existing Content
A sure way to build your YouTube channel is through fresh and innovative content that you create. The content that you create, however, does not have to be produced off a blank canvas. Many YouTube channels have tons of success in reworking their existing content for relevance.
Although your content may be useful, engaging, and offers tremendous value, there are ways to isolate sections of that content that provide a perfect platform to create additional content. Most YouTube users visit the site for answers and how-to guides that help them to solve a multitude of issues.
Evaluate your written content on other platforms and identify existing topics that you can cover in a short video. Make sure that your video has innovative and appealing content that adds value to the people who take the time to watch it. This will ensure that your existing subscribers are kept engaged, and that people who are new to your content consider it valuable and are happy to subscribe to your channel.
3. Engage With Your Viewers
YouTube in its essence is a social media platform, and as such you must always make sure to engage with your audience. Social interaction with those who digest your content is critical. It is of paramount importance not only to post appealing content regularly, but also to actively engage with those who watch your content.
Positive comments and encouraging discussions are excellent ways to help grow your channel with the YouTube community. Furthermore, YouTube is known to reward those channels that engage with their subscribers. Some of the categories that YouTube evaluates are watch time, comments, likes and dislikes, and overall time spent on your channel.
It would be wise to respond to every comment that is posted on your platform, and get users to use audio visual prompts to engage. Always post content that encourages users to engage, and be sure to follow up on their engagement.
4. Brand Your Channel
Many YouTube channels have incredibly valuable content but don’t often attract the right numbers. This is because their platforms have very little visual appeal. In order to get users who visit your channel to subscribe, you must have a professional look by branding your channel. This will get users to take your channel seriously and immediately identify your content.
If you have existing branding on other platforms, it should be relatively easy to integrate that branding on your YouTube content. Alternatively, you can create a unique branding element that identifies with your channel. Your branding will subconsciously be associated with the quality content that you deliver, and your users will develop trust in your brand.
Together with your visual branding, it is vital that you add custom URLs to your channel header. Additionally, your bio is very powerful and you should include some fascinating words about yourself and what your content is all about.
5. Promote on Other Social Media Platforms
The beauty about social media is that users can promote their content across various social channels seamlessly. By promoting your YouTube channel and its content on your other social media platforms, you can quickly grow your audience and boost your subscriber base.
The most popular social platforms such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram provide a fantastic base to get your channel out there. If you have your own blog, this is a great place to share your content too.
Some social media platforms allow you to post a teaser of your video with a direct link to your YouTube channel. This encourages greater traffic to your channel and increases the chances of users that will subscribe.
6. Use Attractive Thumbnails
Many YouTube channels underestimate the power of thumbnails on their content. Thumbnails do, in fact, have a massive impact on the users who choose to view your content. Whenever your videos are advertised on YouTube, they appear in the sidebar as a thumbnail. Your thumbnail must be unique and stand out from your competition.
Even if a user is not on YouTube and does an internet search, your attractive thumbnail is bound to rank higher as you would be enjoying higher click-through-rates within YouTube. Some nifty ideas for boosting your click-through-rate include the use of arrows, big text, unusual images, and highlighted sections.
The Bottom Line
When looking to boost your YouTube channel, you must make a concerted effort and commit to improving your current offering. Although it may appear to be a daunting task when attempting to carve a niche on a platform filled with competition, the techniques that we have discussed provide the perfect template for your success.
Whilst some methods require more energy than others, each one compliments the other and you should actively incorporate all of these to get more views on your content and boost your subscriber list. Rome wasn’t built in a day, so examine what you have and build from there. Good Luck!