How to Promote Your YouTube Channel: 5 Steps to Success
Video marketing is the fastest-growing marketing method, with an ever-expanding number of people spending more time watching video content.
There’s no shortage of platforms that center video content, but there’s only one behemoth amongst them – YouTube. With a user base in excess of over 2 billion, a figure making it the second most visited site on the internet, its usefulness to businesses is apparent.
Establishing a presence on YouTube can be quite the challenge, however. Quality content is a requirement, of course, but promoting your YouTube channel is the real ticket to success.
In this article, we’ll be detailing how to do just that, attracting an audience to your new channel or rejuvenating an older one. Whatever stage of life your channel is at, these steps are sure to bring results. Read on as we take a look at how to promote your YouTube channel in 5 easy steps.
Boost your channel’s visibility with SEO
Promoting your YouTube channel is akin to being more visible to more people. In today’s online marketing environment, the best way to accomplish this is with SEO or search engine optimization.
Although not as obvious as Google or Bing, YouTube is ultimately a search engine. As such, it’s important to employ the use of SEO to reap the same visibility benefits as you would on any other search engine.
Optimizing your channel’s visibility will require the implementation of several best practices. Primarily, you’ll want to give your video an eye-catching title relevant to the topic of your video.
There is a vast ocean of video content on YouTube, and you need a catchy title to set yourself apart from the rest. But, although attention-grabbing titles are an excellent way to pull in new viewers, they also earn the attention of YouTube’s algorithm.
Niche targeting
Targeting a particular niche and including relevant keywords in the title is perfect for getting your content to the top of YouTube’s search results. This will increase your channel’s visibility and grant you the promotion you need to grow.
Though titles are brilliant for boosting visibility, they are only one part of the job. A keyword-rich description is another crucial factor in gaining the favor of the algorithm, provided they are organically mentioned.
Gone are the days when keyword stuffing was a valid tactic for success. The same is true for the content itself. By mentioning topic appropriate keywords in your videos, they are much more likely to rank highly when someone searches for similar terms.
Lastly, YouTube comes with the ability to tag and categorize your videos. By applying niche-specific tags and categories, you stand a much better chance of ranking for searches within that niche. This is vital when honing in on a target audience, which in turn boosts your chances of having your content mesh with those that view it. By combining these optimization tips with gripping titles, your videos are sure to find their mark in no time.
Create standout thumbnails
Following on somewhat from SEO, thumbnails are an integral part of optimizing your channel’s visibility. While thumbnails aren’t terribly important from an SEO perspective, they are what people see first and often what decides a click. Creating a thumbnail tailored to your brand and your content, accompanied by some snappy titles, will promote your YouTube channel with both barrels.
This being said, how should you go about creating your thumbnails? Well, it isn’t as complicated as it may first seem. Content creators commonly take a snapshot of their video or set one up before filming, then spruce it up with editing software.
Well-known image editors do the trick, such as Adobe Photoshop, but use any software you like. You won’t need to spend too much time on your thumbnails, but the rewards for having made the effort are significant.
Understand your target audience
The previous point is practically law when attempting to bring your channel to light. It can be challenging to accomplish as is, but without understanding who your content is for, it can be made so much harder. Regardless of your content, skip the heartache of trial and error. Instead, learn exactly who your audience is and what content they want to see.
When starting out, a good investment for your time is competitor research. Assuming you’re a new channel, your niche or industry will have a catalog of other channels to browse. They will show you what gets attention and what gets overlooked, allowing you to zero in on content worth your time.
A browse around comments sections is also a great way of assessing audience reactions, plus whether they would like to see some changes. Use this knowledge to create the content your target audience wants to see. If you can add what your competition lacks or smooth some of the edges, you might even position yourself as the competition before long.
Collaborate with other channels in your industry
Although other channels within your niche are competitors, by networking with them, you may use that competition to grow your channel. Your competitors market to the same industry, possibly even the same exact niche, presenting an excellent opportunity to promote to a new audience. As the content this audience watches is within your industry, you can practically guarantee exposure to your target audience. It’s a win-win for everyone involved.
However, it isn’t always easy to organize a collaboration. You need to find an appropriate channel, one that is likely to accept your collaboration offer, alongside being suitable for your brand. You should look into any prospective collaboration partners for this reason. Make sure you can both benefit from the collaboration, in addition to how they present themselves in their content. A family-friendly brand likely isn’t the best fit for one that likes to push the envelope.
Make use of paid ads on YouTube
While paying to promote your YouTube channel may not be the ideal approach for small businesses, it can work wonders for visibility and channel growth. YouTube is a significantly competitive environment, and paid ads could well give you the advantage you need. If you decide to make use of paid ads, you’ll have a variety of ads to choose from. YouTube offers sidebar ads, ones that appear along the sides of videos, video ads before or after the video, and ad cards that appear on appropriate content.
Some ads may be more worthwhile than others for different brands and target audiences. For efficient use of your marketing budget, look at how different ads perform within your industry or implement a selection yourself.
Wrapping Up
Promoting your YouTube channel isn’t an easy task. It takes a good deal of time and effort, with results often being delayed. It can be challenging to carve out a name in your niche, especially one with well-established channels already present.
But, with effort and patience, it can be done. Those established channels didn’t wind up that way by mistake, and there’s no reason your channel can’t join their ranks. Employing various methods to boost your visibility is crucial to promoting your YouTube channel. Although our tips can be easier said than done, the rewards for their implementation are more than worth their while. Now you know how to promote your YouTube channel, check out our guide to YouTube marketing.
