YouTube has been regarded as one of the best video-sharing sites today. With 60 hours of video uploaded per minute, 800 unique visitors every month, and 4 billion clips viewed on a daily basis, the figures alone show how powerful this site is. And no wonder, marketers are flocking to the site to get their own share of the market.
If you have been doing your own share of video marketing on YouTube, chances are, you would want to increase your visibility. However, if you really want to receive the massive views and targeted traffic in your channel, one of the first few things you should do is to build your audience or subscribers as YouTube would like to refer to them.
Why Target Subscribers?
A YouTube subscriber is somebody who chose to follow your channel in order to stay updated and informed with any content you upload. Simply put, if a person becomes a subscriber to your channel, he or she can see all the updates you make through the personalized feed in his or her account.
Increasing your YouTube subscribers is vital because they represent a stable audience with an active interest in your content. When you build up a strong base of subscribers, you are also building an engaged community, which in turn will help increase the popularity and exposure of your channel by sharing and recommending your videos to their personal networks.
Growing your YouTube subscribers
To help you build your YouTube subscribers, below are some useful tips you can follow.
Create compelling and original content
Today, it isn’t enough that you update your channel on a regular basis. The most important thing that you could do to capture the attention of people and convert them into subscribers is to create videos that are compelling and unique. This is a means to set yourself apart from your competition and a way to show audience that you are not boring. If your video fails to provide value, you cannot expect for people to click the subscribe button on your channel.
Consistency is the key
As much as people would want to see remarkable videos, they would also want to see a channel that is updated regularly. Hence, if you would like to receive more views and traffic in your channel, frequently update and share content. This approach just goes to show that you are serious with your craft, and you are building some sort of excitement since your audience has something to look forward to.
Call to action is vital
Although people may love the videos you make, never assume that all of them will automatically subscribe. There are just some viewers who need a little push in order to subscribe to your channel and this is when a call to action comes to play. Make sure that when you make your videos, you add a compelling call to action telling them what they should, how they should do it, and why they should subscribe to your channel. Your call to action may be in the form of a bar of sticky note, but be sure to place it strategically so as not to distract viewers while watching your clips.
Come up with a well thought title and description
There are some viewers, who, before watching a clip, go over the description to get an idea about what they are going to watch. As such, take the time to come up with a short, but informative description about your video and complement it with a title that is catchy enough to grab the attention of viewers.
Add a YouTube widget on your website
If you already have a website that is getting a good amount of traffic, why not leverage on it and direct visitors to your YouTube channel by adding a YouTube widget? You can do either do it by adding an iframe code into your website or add a subscription button on the YouTube videos you have embedded on your website.
Do some collaborations
If you have the opportunity to collaborate with other content makers, do not let it slip off. Doing collaborative projects is a great means to introduce yourself to a new base of audience, especially if the business or person you are collaborating with has already an established base of subscribers. This is also a great way to show your influence to your viewers.
Engage with your subscribers
As with any other social platforms, YouTube functions not only as a video-hosting site but also a community where like-minded individuals meet. As such, if you want to increase the number of your subscribers, it is in your best interest to interact with the viewers you already have. Take the time to post replies to their queries, and if they do have their own share of videos, make sure to comment, share and like their content as well.
The article was written by Robert Kirk who runs a Website Design and Search Engine Optimisation company in Scotland, UK.