13 ways to successfully promote your YouTube channel

YouTube’s first video upload happened in 2005. Today, YouTube receives 30 million daily visitors. Over two billion users log in each month to watch funny cat videos, learn more about a new product, or consume countless other kinds of video media in YouTube’s vast and growing library.

Video content is powerful; it changes minds and draws people in.If you have a product to sellor a message to deliver, YouTube is an important part of getting out there in the marketplace.

But how can you promote your YouTube channel?

YouTube is a competitive environment, and you may feel there’s a steep learning curve to get from your starting idea to a professionally produced,well-presented YouTube channel.

Here are 13 tips to promote your YouTube channel

1. Research Google-friendly keywords

Researching Google-friendly keywordsis an important part of getting your YouTube content discovered by as many people as possible.

Ranking on Google is important because many people looking for video content won't log in to YouTube to start their search. Instead, they'll begin their search from Google. This is tricky because over half of high-ranking YouTube videos differ from high-ranking Google video results.

Optimizing your SEO only for YouTube means you may be missing out on a large number of potential viewers. Your goal should be to getyour SEO to rank well across both YouTube and Google.

To start that process, you need to understand what Google users are looking for. Here are the steps to finding Google-friendly video keywords:

#1. Fortunately, Google offers a great tool to help you do that: Keyword Planner. Using this tool, you can identify the keywords and phrases that attract more searches.

#2. Choose a manageable list of terms and perform a Google search on each. What you're looking for are keywords that attract top-ranking video results.

#3. Experiment with words and phrasesuntil you find ones that deliver strong video results and that accurately reflect your subject matter.

Here's a rule of thumb to help you quickly narrow in on powerful search terms. People usually search for specific kinds of material in video form. People tend to prefer video if they want to learn something practical, or if they want to see the object of their research.

Take a look at these critical video ranking keyword phrases:

• How-to keywordslike "How to make cold brew coffee" are great at capturing an audience seeking advice

• Doingreviewslike "beats by Dre reviews" will help your content get discovered by people researching a purchase

• Tutorialsare always popular so something like "Setting up WordPress" would be a good keyword phrase

• Fitness terms, sports-related("cardio kickboxing"), or words relating to other physical activities or hobbies tell your potential audience that you're covering physical content that is better shown than written about

• Funny videosare always a hit, so you might use "cute animals" as your keyword phrase

Find a keyword research specialist for hire

2. SEO optimize your video for search

There’s a lot to learn here. In your early development stage, expert advice can be constructive in accelerating your progress. A great place tostart with your YouTube SEO, it's to stick to crucial SEO principles:

• Avoid keyword “stuffing”

• Aim for accurate, punchy, and descriptivevideo titles and descriptions. The best titles are less than 70 characters long and put the crucial information as early as possible in the sentence

• Include a few relevant hashtagswhere appropriate, and use bulleted lists to summarize your content areas

• Say your target keywordsin your videos. YouTubeanalyzes the voices in video contentto identify its subject, so build important search terms into your discussion

Find a YouTube SEO specialist for hire

3. Create high-quality retention videos

There are two broad elements to building strong video content: your production values and the content itself.

• Video productionis an art form, and no-one masters this overnight. However, if you work to improve your production values incrementally, viewers will notice and reward you with higher retention and click-through rates. Good equipment, continual learning, and technical advice from experts will help you on that journey.

• It’s repeated often for a reason: Content is king. Before you hit publish on any video, ask yourself if it adds real value. Is there something about this video that could entertain, educate, or empower your viewers? If the answer is no, figure out why and try again.

Audience retention, and how long you’re able to keep your viewers watching it's considered a key YouTube ranking factor. You can boost viewer retention by:

#1. Giving a quick overview of your video along with a central “hook”within the first thirty seconds. Successful YouTube videos start punchily and reveal their interest value early

#2. Breaking up your pattern of delivery early in the video. Once you establish your hook, it’s a good idea to surprise your viewers. Don’t deliver exactly what they expect. Repeat those startling little interrupts throughout your video to jolt your viewers back to attention

#3. Talk about what’s coming next. The counter-punch to surprise is suspense. Give a hint about where you’ll take things nextso that your viewers have something to look forward to.

4. Add a transcript and accurate closed captions

Improving your accessibility is a great way to enhance your quality.

A transcript file that accurately describes everything you sayin your video will help people who are hard of hearing and those who need to view your video in silence (for example, commuters on public transport) to gain full value from your content. Transcript files also boost your SEO rank by incorporating more keywords and descriptive metadata into your channel.

Building on your transcript files, work to introduce closed captioning into your most important content.

Captionsenhance your video's accessibility to deaf and hearing-impaired people, and they also make your content viewable in settings where sound would be inappropriate or undesirable

You might want toget a freelancer to build transcript files for youif the process is too time-consuming.

5. Create compelling thumbnails and titles

Aim for accurate, punchy, and descriptivevideo titles. The best titles are less than 70 characters long and put the crucial information as early as possible in the sentence

The goal here is simple: make a fantastic first impression, and improve your video's CTR (click-through-rate)

Pay close attention to your video thumbnails. The default YouTube thumbnails won’t cut it if you’re shooting for a cohesive look. Your three key elements are a crisp image, consistent fonts, and一个令人愉快的颜色. For bonus points, emphasize blue, orange, green, and yellow. Why? Because these colors stand out dynamically against YouTube’s mainly red and black aesthetic.

6. Respond to viewers' comments

In 2016, YouTube started to measure overall viewer satisfaction and engagement in the form of comments among other factors.

Comments show interest and engagement. Any written feedback you receive on your videos — whether positive or negative — indicates that you've earned viewer interest. As your channel grows, it's a good idea to respond as frequently and swiftly as possible to comments. Keep the conversation going and hopefully get others involved too.

Never leave a viewer comment hanging. Take the time to answer questions and show an interest in your viewer base. For bonus points, ask questions back.

7. Run contests

加速engageme竞赛是一个强大的方法nt, but it’s easy to overdo competitions. Run them occasionally, choose genuinely desirable prizes that speak to your viewer demographic, and always describe your competitions as a side-bonus — not the main reason — for viewing your content.

8. Partner with other brands

Setting up partnerships with other brands andpromoting yourself outside of YouTubewill ensure you’re well-positioned to nurtureand buildyour audience over time

Demand for content is never-ending.Once you have a strong brand presenceon YouTube, why not reach out to YouTube producers who create content for a similar demographic? Incorporating each other’s content into your playlists and plugging one another’s work will help you and your partner brands build a thriving shared audience.

9. Make playlists and create a series

Add value by curating playlists. The wonderful thing about a playlist is that the videos in a list will automatically play back-to-back, significantly increasing your watch time odds.

But they’re also a way of adding value to your viewers. By building a logical and helpful playlist, you’re showing that you know what your viewers want from your content. You’re further reinforcing your helpfulness, and that builds trust.

超越一个播放列表,系列是一组of videos all contributing to a long-term goal. For example, if your business or content area has an instructional component, a series shows your audience how multiple individual lessons can add up to a broad skillset.

10. Go live

Live, unscripted video footage is powerful for building trust and creating a strong emotional connection with viewers. It encourages people to interact with you.

Live broadcasting is probably a strategy better used once you’ve built a basic comfort level in front of the camera and with your equipment. Once you’re ready, though,live broadcasts offer a powerful way to engage dynamically with your audience.

• Webinars and tutorialsare a good option if you have skills you can demonstrate in real-time

• Question and answer sessionsallow you to get to know your viewers on a personal level and help you put a face to your brand

If going live feels intimidating, agreat middle-ground is vlogging.

Video blogging needn't be as scripted or as polished as evergreen video content, but it's still recorded footage that you can edit or redo if you're not happy with the result. Some successful YouTubers are building a slower schedule for polished content and a quicker turnaround for more casual blog-style material.

11. Leverage email marketing

Email marketing has been around for a long while now, and with good reason. Mailing lists are still a powerful way to deliver your content directly to your target audience.

• Adding an opt-in mailing list linkto your profile or content descriptions is an easy way to build a direct line of communication with your viewer base

• An automated email alertto your list when new content is coming out is a great way to increase your view count

Find an email marketing specialist for hire

12. Cross-promote on social

YouTube isn’t the only social media channel that uses video.

Facebook andInstagram attract audiences who strongly lean toward consuming videocontent. Cross-promoting on these platforms can generate views you mightn’t otherwise secure.

If the content you deliver is instructional, you might also consider contributing to relevant Quora and Redditthreads. People using these channels usually have specific questions or issues they want to solve. You’ll have earned one more fan if they see your channel has answers.

13. Keep up with YouTube trends

YouTube is changing all the time. New strategies are constantly emerging. As your brand and confidence grow, it'll pay to experiment with new and emerging promotion trends.

Here are some YouTube trends to watch out for in 2020 and beyond.

#1. Immersive shopping

观众是drawn to the immediacy and honesty of being brought right into an unscripted moment. Instead of giving a conventional presentation or a review, an immersive shopping video lures the viewer into the whole experience of choosing a product, unpacking it, and trying it out for the first time.

Instead of speaking about a product or experience from the perspective of experience, why not try inviting viewers to watch as you experience it for the first time?

#2. How-to tutorials

The year 2020 seems to have become the year of Do-it-Yourself — everything from home maintenance to DIY fitness products to cutting your hair at home.How-to-tutorials have exploded in popularity.

If you have skills in hot demand, or even if you're an amateur who's found an interesting approach to a familiar problem, consider sharing your knowledge as a how-to guide.

#3. Video ads

Advertising your channel is not a "new" trend per se, but it's an area to watch.Using video ads to promote your channelis an effective way to accelerate your channel growth as YouTube-promoted videos are rapidly overtaking TV commercials, written advertising copy, and other old-school advertising media. Video ads are close to 85 percent more likely to influence a sale decision than television.

Consider selling your product or service through YouTube. It's comparatively inexpensive and strongly influences buying decisions.

Find a YouTube advertising specialist for hire

Promote your YouTube channel to maximize views

Congratulations on working your way through this guide. Here’s just a quick reminder of why an effectively promoted YouTube channel can boost your marketing clout and get your brand noticed.

• Over2 billionusers log into YouTube each month, and that number is growing

• Almostthree-quartersof adults in the US regularly consume YouTube content

• Nine out of tenbusinesses that regularly use YouTube for promotion win new customers.

There has never been a better time to take your message to YouTube. While you may find steps in that journey need time and persistence, hopefully, this guide has shown you that successful YouTube channel promotion is a step-by-step process:

• Understandhow YouTube works as a search engine.

• Decidehow you’ll measure and evaluate the success of your content.

• Promote your brand using the techniques and strategies you’ve explored in this guide.

And if you need help, don’t be shy about finding it. Skilled marketers, SEO experts, writers, video editors, and media strategists are out there on Fiverr to help you make it happen.

Good luck, have fun, and — above all else — aim to be interesting.