The most popular marketing platform in the social marketing scene today is YouTube. It is a free service that Google offers its users to utilize for sharing content- and they do. Video sharing, vlogging, and marketing are all typical uses you will find people exploring. Though Facebook and Twitter have stepped up competition for YouTube, they still have a ways to go to meet or beat the community base that has gathered with YouTube.
If you already have a channel on YouTube, you may have come across this article looking for ways to increase the traffic to your channel and score some subscribers in order to get your own content to more people. Since YouTube has well over a billion visitors monthly, there is a vast audience to tap into. Regardless of your chosen content, this article will give you some tips and helpful suggestions as to how to get more subscribers on YouTube.
1. Plan It Out
Some YouTube channels focus on and rely on improv type videos. That’s fine if that is what you are aiming for. However, when thinking of how to get more subscribers on YouTube, you need to think of your channel as a marketing tool. What are you selling, so to speak? If you are selling something tangible, or doing product reviews, you may want your video to look more professional. You could be selling yourself. As an actor or actress, or someone offering lessons or services, you may want to have better quality videos as well and maybe even notes or a script to follow to be sure you stay on topic. There are so many types of videos to put out there.
Thus, your first step is to figure out where you want your niche to be. Do something you love doing because it will show in your videos. Keep to a theme so your channel has some sort of purpose that will draw people to return and so it’s not just a bunch of random stuff. Take the time to make your videos great.
2. A Quick Introduction
When you think of how to get more subscribers on YouTube, think of your channel like any regular channel you would see on television. During commercial breaks you may see excerpts or trailers for shows that are included on that channel. Those little excerpts give you bits of information as to the purpose of the channel, the theme, what to expect, and so on. With your channel, you may want to consider doing the same so than non-subscribers will know why you are there. It can easily grab someone’s interest enough to check out your channel. If they find your content to be interesting to them, you may have just gotten yourself a repeat viewer. To accomplish this, create your own trailer and have it auto-play on your page. Do not forget to really put your all into it, it is your advertisement.
3. Search Engine Optimization
Creating great content on your channel is not always enough. There are a lot of channels out there for viewers to sift through and yours can easily be missed. Next, while you are learning how to get more subscribers on YouTube, you should think about making your channel optimized. When you search for your content how far down the list do you end up? If it’s down there it could be because you have not optimized your video titles and descriptions.
Be sure to keep pertinent keywords within your titles so that when viewers search for them your content pops up. Then, add those key words to your descriptions without trying to overstuff them or you will lose credibility and clarity. Once you make yourself more visible to the YouTuber world, the more viewers will stop by.
4. Team Up
One great way to successfully answer how to get more subscribers on YouTube is by teaming up with other vloggers whose content compliments or is related to your own. This is not only beneficial to you, but the other person as well. You can collaborate on some content, do guest appearances, shout out to one another, or even advertise each other’s content. Thus, when someone comes across one vlog because the information is what they’re interested in, they will see the other person’s vlog and now you both have a shared subscriber. Your audience will widen and you get to get more involved in the community niche you fit into.
5. Spread across Social Media
Do not forget to utilize other social media platforms to advertise your YouTube channel. Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest- these are all great ways to further spread the word of your YouTube channel. Put up links to your channel, invite friends and family to subscribe, add pages on each that are extensions of your channel. Again, this will help you reach a much larger audience than limiting yourself to one platform.
6. Be Friendly
When thinking of how to get more subscribers on YouTube, remember that interacting with your subscribers is very important. It makes you more relatable and personable. Use the comments section to create dialogue and use the helpful comments to improve your channels with what your views suggest. Interaction comes in many forms, start discussions, address questions, ask for suggestions, and respond to comments. Knowing there is someone on the other end creates a nice atmosphere for your audience and they are more likely to comeback since they become more involved in your little community of like-minded people.
7. Add a Call to Action
Closing each video vlog with a call to action is a non-intrusive way to encourage viewers to subscribe. You can give a teaser of the content of your next vlog and when they can expect to see it up. It may be annoying to be told to subscribe but when you give them a good and interesting reason to, it is more likely to be successful. Of course you can also add the “subscribe now” link to make things easier as well, but do not let that be the only encouragement you send. If you have questions as to what to mention or what information to use as a call to action, take a look at channels that you subscribe to. What did they use and how did they go about getting you to join their channel? Could these same aspects work for you?
8. Stay up to Date
While you are figuring out how to get more subscribers on YouTube and are working on gaining following, you may want to do some research. Think about the subject matter you are putting out there and then find out and stay up to date with current trends and events that pertain to it. Use that information to start discussions and perk interest. After all, if it is a hot topic already then you can be pretty sure people are looking for information regarding it and searching should bring up key words that lead to your video. Everyone has an opinion and if you give them a platform to express it, they will. Having a good banter or open discussion can really get you some subscribers since they will want to be included.
9. Create Playlists
If you can get someone to watch one video, chances are, a video that follows and adds to what they just watched will keep them hooked. Playlists are a great tool for you to organize your content and relate videos to one another in order to prolong a viewer to stay with you. The longer they stay, the more likely they will want to subscribe. Plus, having a playlist will give you a chance to let someone see multiple videos on your channel instead of letting YouTube show another vlogger’s content. To further encourage a sort of binge watching on your channel, include links to more videos within your playlist. That way whatever it was that interested them enough to get there, keeps them there longer.
Conclusion
Social media has taken off and has become a mean with which everyone can spread interesting information or create entertaining content. YouTube is one of the top rated platforms available for just this type of thing. Trying to figure out how to get more subscribers on YouTube can be frustrating because the platform has become so widespread that if you do not stand out you get lost in the crowd. This article has a few tips to get your viewers and tire kickers to subscribe. Support other vloggers and they will likely give you mutual support. Give viewers a reason to comeback and they will.
How long have you had a vlog? What sort of tools and suggestions do you have that you can share which helped you gain more subscribers? Please leave any comments below for others trying to expand their viewer base on YouTube.
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