Did you know that eight out of 10 people between the ages of 18 and 49 watch videos on YouTube? In fact, YouTube is the second most visited site in the world, second only to Google.
So, what do these staggering statistics tell you about YouTube?
It’s pretty evident that if you can have a strong presence on this social media platform and build a loyal base of YouTube subscribers, you can have enormous reach. Not just that. You can also increase brand awareness, conversions, and build trust by creating compelling content.
1. Focus on a Niche
The first thing you need to get right is your niche.
Think of it as a recurrent theme around which you want to develop YouTube content. In order to grow your YouTube subscribers effectively, you need to give your audience a reason to subscribe.
If you post random videos that don’t adhere to a uniform theme or niche, your audience will be confused and wouldn’t be too keen to subscribe.
The top YouTube channels focus on particular niches that set them apart from their competitors. This is what draws tons of YouTube subscribers towards their channels.
For example, Vanessa Van Edwards creates content around social skills you need at work. You’ll notice that all of her videos are focused around this theme.
If you focus on a particular niche and create great content around it, you can easily make your YouTube channel the “go-to place” for people looking for any information related to that niche.
This is a great way to grow your YouTube subscribers. Think of the problem that your products or services help to solve and then create videos around that theme.
2. Get Your Basics Right
If your channel has been set up properly, you can turn a random viewer of your videos into a loyal subscriber.
Think about what happens when someone (who’s not a subscriber) sees one of your videos, likes the content, and decides to check out your YouTube channel.
If they don’t see a page that reflects your brand’s personality and identity properly, they wouldn’t want to subscribe. So, it’s crucial that you get your basics right when you’re thinking about how to grow your YouTube subscribers.
Here are some of the things you need to focus on:
Your “About” Section
The “About” section on your YouTube channel needs to provide an engaging and compelling description of what your channel is all about. A compelling description can help convert casual browsers into loyal YouTube subscribers.
You don’t need to write too much in this space as most people don’t have the patience to read through too much text. So, keep it short, simple, yet catchy.
Channel Art
One of the first things that a viewer is likely to notice when they land on your YouTube channel is the Channel Art. So, this banner image needs to look professional, attractive, and align with your brand personality.
It’s a great idea to change the Channel Art every once in a while to give your channel a fresh look.
For example, the Amazon Channel Art reflects the holiday vibe this time of year while Netflix changes their Channel Art every once in a while to showcase their latest offerings. This can help you attract more people and turn them into your loyal YouTube subscribers.
In addition, make one of the links in your Channel Art a “Subscribe” link. This is a nifty little hack that can help you grow your YouTube subscribers.
Channel Icon
Your channel icon is another important parameter on your YouTube channel that deserves special attention.
So, don’t leave this blank. Most businesses like to use their logos in place of this icon as this can help with brand recognition.
If you haven’t created your brand’s logo yet, Logaster can be a handy tool for you. It helps to create professional logo designs within just a few clicks. Influential individuals can use their photos as the icon.
3. Create Great Content
Of course, there isn’t any substitute for great content. You might get all your basics right and set up an attractive and compelling YouTube channel. However, if your content fails to provide any value to people, you’ll be struggling to increase your YouTube subscribers.
So, focus on making your videos as informative, fun, engaging, and entertaining as possible. Hire professionals to create and edit your videos so that they don’t look amateurish.
If there are people in your videos, make sure that they don’t just read off a script. Instead, make sure that they exude passion and excitement while sharing information.
Remember that the most effective way you can get more YouTube subscribers is when your videos start getting lots of views. And your existing subscribers are likely to watch and re-watch your videos only if they’re fun and useful.
For example, the YouTube channel, 5-Minute Crafts, gets hundreds of thousands of views on their videos due to the informative and fun nature of their content.
4. Use Playlists
This is another tactic that can help your videos get more views. Since videos in a playlist start to play automatically one after the other, it can help you increase the average number of views by a user. This can help to convert any casual browsers on your channel to loyal YouTube subscribers if they like your content.
5. Create a Trailer
When a user visits your channel, you need to introduce them to your business. Of course, they can check the About Us section, but that isn’t always enough. Create a compelling channel trailer that providers your viewers a sneak-peek into the kind of content your channel offers and value you can provide.
This trailer needs to give your audience a reason to turn into your loyal YouTube subscribers so that they can get automatic notifications of any new videos you add.
Use the trailer to pique their interest in your content without giving away too much. Speak to your audience and appeal to their emotions. Talk about the challenges you can help them resolve.
It’s a good idea to check out the kind of trailers your competitors are using and tailor yours accordingly. Feel free to change this up once in a while if you feel that you’re not getting too many new YouTube subscribers.
6. Optimize Your Descriptions
A great way to help your target audience discover your videos on YouTube is by creating great video descriptions that are optimized for searches.
Make sure that you optimize your video titles and descriptions with long-tail keywords that have high search volumes and low competition. Also, try to use actionable words in your video titles that give your audience a reason to watch your videos.
7. Post Consistently and Frequently
To grow your YouTube subscriber base, you need to provide them with interesting content on a consistent basis. That’s a crucial step you shouldn’t overlook.
Many bloggers start uploading videos with a lot of enthusiasm. However, they are unable to follow through with videos on a weekly or monthly basis. Inconsistency can make your YouTube subscribers uninterested. It may even push some of them to unsubscribe due to inactivity. And you don’t want that.
Make sure to create a content calendar for your YouTube videos and stick to it. It’s necessary to post content on a regular basis so that viewers realize that your channel is an active one. This can provide them with greater encouragement to subscribe to your YouTube channel.
It’s a good idea to break up the information you want to share into small little bits and create short videos on each as part of a series. This can leave your viewers wanting more and is a great way to get more YouTube subscribers.
8. Use Compelling Calls-to-Action
Make sure to include calls-to-action in your videos asking people to subscribe to your YouTube channel. You should use both annotations as well as verbal calls-to-action in your videos to do this.
Combine these with features like Cards to send viewers to your other videos or End Screens in which you can encourage viewers to watch some of your other videos by clicking on “Watch Next.”
9. Engage With Your Audience
Lastly, don’t forget to engage with your audience as this is a surefire way to grow your YouTube subscribers. Reply to the comments you receive on your videos as this can encourage more people to comment on them. Greater engagement can help your videos show up more prominently in search results, and help you get more YouTube subscribers.
10. Use YouTube Cards
YouTube rewards those channels where people spend more time. This means you have a better chance of improving your visibility if you can increase the average watch time on your channel. One of the best ways to do this is to use YouTube cards.
YouTube cards are interactive elements you can add to your videos, webinars, or channel. YouTube allows you to use five types of cards. Here is how you can use them:
- Video – To promote video content
- Link – To insert a link to another site
- Poll – To encourage your viewers to participate in a poll
- Donation – To encourage your viewers to donate to a cause
- Channel – To promote another YouTube channel
In one video, YouTube allows you to add a maximum of five cards. The best part is YouTube cards are visible on mobile devices as well.
YouTube cards are helpful in driving engagement and redirecting your YouTube subscribers to related content. If your aim is to grow your YouTube subscriber base, it is recommended that you use YouTube Analytics before placing YouTube cards.
First, find videos that have a high Audience Retention rate. Then make cards to send people to these videos.
The best time to use cards is when the audience tends to stop viewing your video. Look for valleys in the graph of your Audience Retention score. Add a YouTube card at the same point to give your YouTube subscribers an option to view more of your videos.
You don’t want them to switch to another channel, do you? Make sure you use compelling text in your YouTube cards to get your subscribers interested.
11. Cross Promote Across Your Channels
One of the easiest ways to attract YouTube subscribers is to showcase your YouTube channel on multiple platforms.
Leverage your website traffic and social media following to grow your YouTube subscriber base. Add a YouTube widget on your website as well as social media channels. Alternatively, you can also display a variety of videos on your site.
Alternatively, you can display a YouTube video in a popup box. When someone visits your website, the video can be automatically displayed on the side of the screen.
Popular websites like Forbes and TechCrunch use such pop ups to display videos and ads. You can use Video LightBox to create popups for your site.
If you have more than 10 videos and are planning to create more videos, you should add video categories on your site. You can redirect your website visitors to your YouTube channel.
In addition to this, link your YouTube channel to your Instagram, Twitter, Twitch, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Pinterest. You can also use social aggregation tools like TintUp and Enplug to showcase videos and to aggregate hashtags for you.
12. Collaborate With Other Channels
Look for other YouTube channels that cater to the same target audience as yours. The main advantage of such a collaboration is that you can tap into their YouTube subscriber base.
You can collaborate with them to create co-branded content that is relevant for both brands. Or you could promote each other’s videos or channels.
Just make sure you that the channel you pick to collaborate with is in some way related to your niche. If you have a fitness brand, you could collaborate with sports influencers or even brands that focus on healthy food. Having related niches will help you to create content that can seamlessly integrate both brands.
Final Thoughts
Videos are truly an amazing medium to convey your message to your audience and build a rapport with them. And YouTube is one of the best social media platforms on which you can showcase your expertise through videos.
Follow the tips mentioned above to set up a compelling YouTube channel and create amazing content so that you can grow your YouTube subscribers without ever having to buy them.
