As marketers, we all know how important video has become as a medium. People now spend more time watching videos than ever before — and YouTube is the world’s second largest search engine, with more than 1 billion users.
That’s why it’s important for businesses to create content that resonates with their audience. Content that they not only find useful but also wants to watch again and again. But what makes a video go ‘viral’ or help you gain subscribers? We take a look at some essential tips and tricks for growing your audience on YouTube.
1. Build a strong brand presence
Before you even start creating content on YouTube, it’s crucial that you build a strong presence for your brand. You’ll have a much easier time attracting new viewers if people already know who you are and have seen your logo or brand name.
You can start building your brand presence ahead of time by creating a logo and an accompanying colour palette, writing an elevator pitch, and coming up with a mission statement.
Your logo and colour palette should be consistent across all of your branding materials. This includes your website, social media, and video thumbnails. Your elevator pitch should be short and snappy — around 20 words or less. It should be something that someone could easily explain to a friend after hearing it for the first time.
Your mission statement is a longer version of your elevator pitch. It should be a few paragraphs long and outline the overall objective of your channel, as well as how you aim to achieve it. You can use all of these materials to create a graphic that people can share on social media.
2. Produce quality content
This is something that can’t be stressed enough — at the end of the day, the most important thing is the quality of your content. No amount of marketing tricks can make up for a video that’s not appealing to your audience. In order to create high-quality content, you’ll need to keep a few things in mind:
- What is your goal with this video?
- What type of content do your viewers like?
- What type of content is currently trending?
- Who is your target audience?
3. Ask for the subscribe
Once you have published your video, ask for the subscribe by using a visual button at the end of your video. This is important because it increases the chances of your viewers subscribing to your channel. Typically, about 10% of your viewers will subscribe to your channel, even if you don’t ask for it upfront.
A visual button that asks for the subscribe is like an insurance policy in case the other 90% forget to press the subscribe button. Use a call-to-action button that tells your viewers why they should subscribe to your channel. This can be valuable information, such as tips and tricks that you’ve learned, or an ongoing series of videos.
4. Use Annotations
Annotations are like visual footnotes that appear on your video as clickable links. They can help you to drive more traffic to your website, schedule more live events, or gain subscribers by linking to your channel. Annotations are particularly useful if you’re trying to get more subscribers on YouTube.
They provide a quick and easy way to redirect your viewers to your channel. Annotations can include links to relevant websites, social media channels, and even other YouTube videos. You can also add clickable images to your video as an alternative to text.
5. Use branded channels
Branded channels are visual containers that host all of your videos. They can be used to provide context for your videos, particularly if you’re creating a series. Branded channels make it easier to navigate through your videos and make it straightforward for your viewers to find exactly what they’re looking for. If you haven’t created a branded channel for your channel yet, we strongly recommend that you do.
6. Add relevant tags
In addition to a descriptive title, you can also add relevant tags to your video. This helps you to more easily track your video, as well as increase its discoverability on YouTube. In order to come up with tags that are both effective and relevant, think about what your video is about.
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What message are you trying to convey? What are the biggest takeaways from your video? Once you have these ideas in mind, you can start brainstorming a list of possible tags that your video could be associated with.
7. Collaborate with other YouTubers
If you’re just starting out on YouTube, it’s a good idea to collaborate with other YouTubers and create video content together. This helps you to build a network with other creators, while also growing your own subscriber base.
It’s also a great way to get your name out there, as well as get feedback on how you can improve your channel. If you’re looking to start collaborating with other YouTubers, try reaching out to creators in your niche. You can also join collaborative networks, such as Collective Digital Studio, that connect you with other creators.
8. Publish consistently
At the end of the day, the number one key to increasing your YouTube subscribers is consistency. While it might take a few months for your videos to start attracting a dedicated following, once they do, you want to make sure that you keep them coming.
If you publish one video every month, then you’ve got nowhere to go but up. There’s no way that you can keep your subscribers engaged if you only create one video per year.
9. Try different types of videos
At the end of the day, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to creating videos that attracts subscribers. You need to experiment with different types of videos, and see what works best for you. Some types of content that are great for attracting YouTube subscribers include:
- Vlogs: one of the most common types of video on YouTube, vlogs allow you to share your daily life and thoughts with your subscribers.
- Tutorials: teach your viewers how to do something.
- Challenges: provide a fun way for your subscribers to interact with your channel and each other.
- Interviews: can be an engaging way of bringing in new perspectives and experts.
10. Partner with influencers
At some point, every YouTuber hopes that their videos go viral. When that happens, it can be both thrilling and overwhelming. But what if you could enhance the likelihood of your videos going viral by partnering with other influencers?
There are a few ways that you can partner with influencers for your YouTube content. You could guest post on their blogs, or vice versa. You could also ask them to be interviewed on your channel. Once you’ve connected with other influencers, you can piggyback off of each other’s audiences, thus increasing your subscribers.
Conclusion
Ultimately, the best way to gain subscribers is to create videos that people want to watch. Find out what your audience wants to learn about and how they want to consume that information — then give it to them. Keep these tips and tricks in mind, and you’ll be well on your way to growing your audience and gaining more subscribers.
