There’s no better time than now to find out how to promote your YouTube channel.
But why “now”?
For starters, YouTube recently surpassed Facebook as the second most visited site on the web.
In a day and age where we’re spending six hours a day consuming videos, the die is cast: we need to tap into our customers’ binge-watching tendencies.
Of course, the rise of video content has resulted in a sudden rush of brands trying to dominate YouTube channel marketing real comments.
So, if you want to stand out on YouTube, you need to take advantage of every promotional tactic possible.
Below, we break down in detail how to promote your YouTube channel to maximize your audience. Whether you’re just getting started or want to see your numbers grow, these tips are all part of the game.
- Write attractive and unmissable titles
In YouTube marketing the most important thing is the presentation.
Like this, literally.
Titles are decisive when it comes to the performance of your video. Ask yourself: are you presenting your content as something “must see” or as “more of the same”?
The key to writing these killer titles is to capture your audience’s attention without resorting to cyber bait. People are hungry for content that is entertaining, and they also want to know what your video is about from the word “play.”
For example, you can take a page from the playbooks of YouTube giants like BuzzFeed and WhatCulture. These videos often rely on articles in the form of listings, question-based titles, or hype (“amazing,” “…all-time”) to rack up views.
Athlean X’s fitness training videos are another good example. The channel’s content manages to sneak in relevant keywords in its titles while also presenting itself as conversational.
“Best of” lists and “how to” titles are always a good bet too. Here are some titles worth clicking on from the Disney Food Blog:
The lesson here is that you should definitely spend time thinking about catchy titles instead of sticking with the first idea that comes to mind.
In terms of specific features, an oft-cited study from Tubular Insights highlights that YouTube video titles should be between 41 and 70 characters. On the other hand, tools like the CoSchedule headline analyzer recommend 55 characters for an engaging headline. The CoSchedule tool is not specifically designed for video titles, but it is awesome for generating YouTube-friendly title ideas to help you promote your YouTube channel.
Publish to YouTube with Sprout Social
The opportunities on YouTube are practically limitless, and now you can publish to YouTube directly from Sprout.
Host long-form videos on your channel, extend your reach through YouTube’s extensive search capabilities, and monitor how your performance compares to other social networks.
Start a free trial to learn about our YouTube publishing features.
- Improve SEO on your YouTube
Here’s something to ponder: YouTube videos appear in 70% of the top 100 Google search results.
Heck, check it out for yourself. Any search for a certain product or “how to” request on Google will return something from YouTube.
In fact, YouTube results sometimes appear even before blog posts or traditional websites.
Listen: YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world and by itself. Just as people search for products and need to solve their problems through Google, the same thing happens on YouTube.
Think of your YouTube videos like any other piece of content that needs to be optimized in terms of keywords, tags, and so on.
To increase your chances of being featured, you should follow some SEO best practices for YouTube.
Titles and Description: Include target keywords in your titles and descriptions. You can use a tool like Keywordtool.io to help you find keyword ideas.
Mention keywords in your video: According to Brian Dean of Backlinko, mentioning keywords in your video can help YouTube better understand what your video is about.
Engagement: YouTube uses engagement (likes, comments, views) to help determine the ranking of videos in its search results.
Categories: Use categories to help YouTube better understand who to show your videos to.
Tags: In addition to categories, you can add tags to your videos to give YouTube more context about your content. You can use multiple tags, so add as many as you can think of.
As with SEO for your website, don’t turn just anything into a keyword. Use keywords when they make sense, not just for the sake of using them.
- Find out what your audience wants
With any content you produce, you’ll want to make sure it’s aligned to what your audience wants. Whether you’re writing a blog post or creating a video, start by knowing your audience and what type of content they want to see from you.
If you’re just starting to promote your YouTube channel, take a look at your competitors or other video creators in your industry. Check which videos have the highest number of views and engagement. This will give you an idea of what topics your audience wants and what style of videos they prefer.
Another solution is to view your YouTube analytics if you have already uploaded videos. YouTube gives you detailed information about your audience demographics, location, engagement, and other useful statistics.
- Interact with your YouTube community
Even though you might consider YouTube not to be a social network itself, the platform represents a thriving community where users are engaging with content through profiles, likes, and comments.
It sounds like something very “social” from our point of view.
As mentioned above, any type of interaction with your viewers is seen as a positive sign for YouTube. At the very least, engaging with your subscribers can help foster a stronger connection with your audience. Liking comments only takes a few seconds, as does pinning to the top in the comments as a sort of personal note to your subscribers.
For example, music channel Artzie Musik regularly adds likes and responds to comments on its recent posts. The channel creator regularly interacts with his subscribers to show appreciation and also to answer questions.
Just as you would respond to comments and interact with your followers on any other social network, YouTube is no different.
- Customize your thumbnails
One of the simplest but most effective tactics to promote your YouTube channel is to create custom thumbnails.
Think of your title and thumbnail as a kind of one-two punch to grab the viewer’s attention.
By default, YouTube takes a screenshot of any given video and uses it for the thumbnail. Unfortunately, sometimes the image you select will be a blurry shot of you adjusting the camera or a transition.
Wouldn’t look good right?
Creating thumbnail images not only makes your videos look more attractive to the naked eye but also sends a signal of a certain sense of professionalism.
You don’t have to be a genius to create them either. You can even create a template with a particular font and style to make it more consistent and on-brand. This is achieved very easily with the help of image creation tools like Canva. Here’s a good example from Binging with Babish:
- Promote all your videos on YouTube
Chances are you’re covering similar topics on YouTube that are intertwined.
To get more out of your previous content, it makes sense to interweave your videos where appropriate.
For example, you can post links in the description of a video and invite your viewers to watch them as a type of “call to action.” Although some may be disappointed by the recent removal of YouTube’s annotation system, linking in your description encourages viewers to watch your videos directly without leaving the channel.
- Focus SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages)
As you have observed, YouTube really does its job very well when we talk about SEO.
And while you shouldn’t create content with search engines in mind instead of people, you should promote your YouTube channel with SEO in mind.
Specifically, product reviews, long-form (10+ minutes), and step-by-step videos that cover topics with specific keywords tend to rank well. If you need ideas for content or want to capitalize on a fad or trend in your industry, consider how you can do this through marketing on your YouTube channel.
- Host a contest or giveaway
If there’s one thing YouTubers love, it’s a giveaway. Host a YouTube contest or giveaway to encourage people to subscribe to your channel and participate.
To keep your contests simple, have people like your video, leave a comment, and subscribe to your channel to participate.
Follow some of our best practices for running a contest on any social network:
Make sure you’re following YouTube’s policies.
Offer a freebie that is related to your brand – you want to appeal to someone other than free stuff seekers.
Get creative by incorporating user-generated content and other non-traditional engagement requirements.
However, be careful not to run frequent contests on YouTube. You need to make sure you are getting results for your efforts: otherwise, you will end up wasting time, money and resources. After running a contest, wait a while and review the unsubscribe rate and participation numbers. If you’re not getting subscribers to participate, you might only be attracting people who want free prizes.
- Invite your audience to follow your series
A smart way to promote your YouTube channel is by creating a specific series of videos that cover a recurring topic or issue.
Popular food channel Bon Appétit actually has a variety of different series that make up its YouTube presence, including its ongoing “From the Test Kitchen” videos.
Series offer benefits to both creators and viewers alike. For creators, you feel a responsibility to create fresh content for YouTube and you don’t have to push your brain for ideas. For your audience, they have something to look forward to and a reason to keep coming back to your channel.
- Include your YouTube videos on the sites
Some of the best places to promote your YouTube channel are beyond the channel itself.
For example, video content has been proven to improve conversion rates and reduce your site bounce rate. If you want visitors to stay longer on a product page or blog post, add a video (just like we did below).
Remember: any opportunity you have to drive your site traffic (or social traffic) to YouTube is a plus.
- Create playlists to organize your YouTube content
The more videos you create, the harder it is for people to scroll through your channel.
That’s why playlists are so important. Playlists not only allow you to group your videos into categories to organize your channel, but they also motivate your followers to want to continue watching them.
For example, self-care channel Beardbrand posts daily and has therefore amassed hundreds of videos covering tons of topics. The channel’s various playlists guide subscribers to relevant content without having to dig around to find it.
- When in doubt, ask them to interact.
Sometimes simply asking for participation is the best way to get your videos out there.
After all, not everyone who enjoys your video is going to leave a like.
Especially if you’re on an emerging channel, there’s no shame in asking directly for some love. In fact, asking visitors to answer a question in the comments, suggest, or watch another video are perfect ways to keep engagement active. Likewise, you can link to other videos or place an external link to your site as a kind of call to action.
- Try Live Streams
Live videos are one of the biggest social media trends and will continue to be that way for a while.
With apps like Facebook, Periscope, and Instagram making it easier than ever to stream live video, more and more brands are jumping on board.
YouTube has been offering live videos for years but it’s only recently started to take off. You can check out some popular YouTube Live videos to understand how other brands are using the platform.
Some examples of how you can use YouTube Live are:
Webinars
Live tutorials
Question and answer sessions
Product demos
Don’t worry if your streams aren’t as flawless as you’d like. Part of the fun (and risk) of live videos is that you never know what’s going to happen. The organic, unedited nature of live video is exactly what makes it appealing. For more tips on getting started with YouTube Live, check out Google’s introduction to live streaming.
- Collaborate with other creators and brands
One tactic that some of YouTube’s biggest stars use to grow their audience is to collaborate with other users. Each collaboration gives you exposure to a new audience. And the best part is, those new viewers are more likely to subscribe to your channel because you’re working with a content creator they already know, like, and trust.
The key to a successful collaboration on YouTube is finding the right collaborator. You want to collaborate with content creators who share similar passions with your brand so that the video looks authentic. This now-classic collaboration between BuzzFeed and Purina is a great example of a clever collaboration that feels overly promotional.
- Add a paid ad campaign on YouTube
Since marketing in general is becoming more “pay-to-view,” you always have the option of promoting your YouTube channel through ads. YouTube offers several ad formats to choose from:
Display ads: These ads appear in the right sidebar of videos, and are only available on desktop.
Overlay Ads: These are semi-transparent ads that display at the bottom of a video. They are only available on desktop computers.
Skippable or non-skippable ads: These ads appear before, during, or after a video. Skippable ads are what can be closed after five seconds, but non-skippable ads have to be viewed in full before the viewer can enjoy your video.
Bumper ads: These are ads that cannot be skipped and must be viewed before the viewer can view the video. They can be a maximum of six seconds.
Sponsored Cards – These are cards that appear within relevant videos. You can use them to promote your products or other content.
For your creative messages, you can use an existing video or create something new for a specific campaign. The advantage of using an existing video is that you can choose a clip that you know has been effective in the past. If a video has already received a lot of views and organic engagement, adding paid ads can amplify your results.
On the other hand, creating a new video for your ads will allow you to create a more focused piece of content that you have more control over. For example, you can create an ad with a specific call to action at the end to direct viewers to a landing page or another video. You can learn more about YouTube ad formats here.
- Regularly publish your YouTube content on social networks
It’s no secret that video content sweeps social media in terms of engagement and performance.
As a result, you should regularly promote your YouTube channel to your social followers to motivate them to become subscribers. As soon as your video is available, let your followers on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn know. Likewise, you can create snippets or trailers for each social platform that also link to their most recent production.