NOW is the best time to promote your YouTube channel.
Do you know that YouTube right now is the second most-visited website on the internet?
It is also the #2 biggest Search Engine in the world, right behind its father company, Google, making it a very important resource not to be ignored.
And with people spending at least six hours everyday watching videos, it should give you the clearest of signs that one of the best ways to promote your business is through videos published on YouTube.
So if you want to promote your YouTube channel and get your business noticed by your leads, you need to use some tried and tested tricks to up your ranking.
Below we’ll list down some of these tricks to promote your YouTube channel, so you can get more viewers and bump your channel up the rankings.
1. Your Titles Must Be Interesting And Engaging.
Marketing on YouTube is about how you present your videos.
And when it comes to your videos, titles that catch the viewer’s attention are crucial. What’s the point of having great videos when viewers aren’t going to click on them because of an uninteresting title?
Use titles that will pique your viewer’s attention on the get-go. But don’t do clickbait titles. It’s going to be an instant disaster for your channel.
Some of the most popular titles today revolve around “lists” and “how-tos”. Make use of these when crafting your videos, especially if those videos talk about these things.
Additionally, studies have shown that video titles between 41-70 characters seem to garner the most number of views.
2. Use Customized Thumbnails
When you post videos on YouTube, the platform automatically snags screenshots from your video to use as thumbnails that you can pick from. While sometimes they do work, most of the time, YouTube picks are the worst.
This is why one of the most effective ways to promote your YouTube channel is by making use of custom thumbnails.
Think of your title and thumbnail as a sort of one-two punch to grab a viewer’s attention.
A custom thumbnail will not only help you make consistent thumbnails, but you can brand those thumbnails to give that air of professionalism.
3. Optimize Your Videos To Get More Visibility
Did you know YouTube videos show up in 70% of the top 100 Google search results?
See it for yourself. Look for any product or “how-to” subject on Google, and it will return something from YouTube.
In fact, YouTube results sometimes even pop up before traditional posts or websites.
As the second-largest search engine in the world, YouTube is where people search for products and need problems solved, just like Google.
And because of this, your YouTube videos need to be optimized in these areas: keywords, tags, and other areas.
Setting the right category also helps in increasing your video’s ranking, more so when it’s getting a lot of engagement (likes, comments, views).
Just like with SEO for your website, don’t keyword stuff. Use keywords when it makes sense, not just for the sake of having them.
4. Promote Your YouTube Channel On Social Media
Social media is one of the best places to crush it when it comes to engagement and performance.
Whether it be Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or LinkedIn, you need to share and promote your YouTube videos in all of your social media platforms as soon as they go live.
Tell your followers that you have a new video published to get them in the loop. You can also create snippets or previews for each social platform that also links to your latest production.
5. Engage With Your Viewers And The Community
Did you know that YouTube is a “Social Media” platform too? It videos can be “liked”, and there’s a “comment” section where viewers can join in the discussion.
Sounds very “social” if you ask us.
As stated above, likes, comments and any other interaction with your viewers sends a positive signal to YouTube.
And even if not for that, engaging with your subscribers can help you foster a stronger connection with your audience. “Liking” comments only takes a few seconds, as does pinning a top comment as a sort of personal note to your subscribers.
Just as you’d respond to comments and engage with your followers on any other social network, YouTube is no different.
6. Promote Via Contests Or Giveaways
Giveaways are a good way to promote your YouTube channel because, who doesn’t love a giveaway?
To keep your contests simple, have people like your video, leave a comment and subscribe to your channel to enter.
Follow some of our best practices for running any social media contest.
- Make sure you’re following YouTube’s policies.
- Give away a gift that’s related to your brand: you want to attract more than just freebie-seekers.
- Get creative by incorporating user-generated content and other non-traditional entry requirements.
Be careful of frequently running YouTube contests, though. It’s crucial to get results from your efforts: otherwise, you’ll just end up wasting time, money and resources.
7. Talk About Your Other Videos
When doing videos, there’s a good chance that what you’re discussing may have certain passages that refer to topics that you’ve talked about in your other videos.
This is a good opportunity for you to promote your other videos, thus giving them more chances to get engagements.
One way to do this is to post links of your related videos in the description, another is to create calls-to-action so they can simply click on them to watch the other video.
Although some of your viewers might be disappointed by the recent removal of YouTube’s annotation system, linking your other videos encourages viewers to watch your videos all the way through without clicking away.
8. Do A Video Series
A smart way to promote your YouTube channel is by creating a specific video series that covers a recurring theme or topic.
Series are a win-win for creators and viewers alike. For creators, you hold yourself accountable for creating fresh YouTube content and don’t have to rack your brain for ideas. For your audience, they have something to look forward to and likewise a reason to keep returning to your channel.
9. Embed Your YouTube Videos On Your Website
Some of the best places to promote your YouTube channel are outside of YouTube.
Video content has been proven to improve conversion rates and lower bounce rate on websites. If you want visitors to stick around a product page or blog post longer, embed a video.
Remember: any opportunity you have to funnel your on site (or social!) traffic to YouTube is a plus.
10. Use Calls To Action To Promote Your YouTube Channel
Sometimes simply asking for engagement is the best way to get your videos noticed, especially when you consider the immediacy and connection that video can create.
Not everyone who enjoys one of your videos is going to remember drop a like or become your subscriber, so it’s become increasingly common to put these reminders in the description or in the video itself.
Especially if you’re an up-and-coming channel, there’s no shame in asking for some love directly. In fact, asking visitors a question to answer in the comments suggestion or to check out another video are perfect ways to keep the engagement rolling. You can likewise link to other videos or drop an external link to your site to serve as a sort of CTA.
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Growing your YouTube channel isn’t going to happen overnight.
There are even times when you might feel like it’s too slow or nothing is even happening.
This is why taking advantage of these tricks to promote your YouTube channel is essential to see it succeed and rise up the ranks.
You also don’t have to do it alone. HoopJumper is your partner when it comes to not only creating, but publishing your quality videos.
Don’t fuss with hours of editing, optimizing and posting trying to become a video star.
Just record a short video or audio on your Smartphone, and let HoopJumper do the rest.
If you’re ready to get your YouTube channel climbing to the top of the rankings, visit our website today and see how we can help you achieve that.