Did you know that 1 billion hours of video are viewed on YouTube a day? That’s about 8.4 minutes a day per person. Marketers find it hard to ignore such a popular channel. But we must not forget about the fierce competition in this social network. There are a lot of videos on almost any topic on YouTube.
How to stand out from the competition and distract users from the seals?
Below you will find 12 proven tactics that will help you increase the number of subscribers to YouTube.
1. Clean up your channel
Before you try anything new, you have to clean up well. Remove outdated and low-quality content. It may not have the best effect on your brand. Remove all garbage and never look back.
2. Publish only quality videos
Of course, it’s not news to you that YouTube has a lot of bad quality videos. But that’s no reason to lower the bar. To keep attracting subscribers, offer them only the best content in your industry. To do that:
DO RESEARCH
Analyze the videos of competitors and other industries, paying special attention to the most successful content. Think about how to make your videos better. Try to awaken strong emotions in the audience.
PLAN AHEAD
Try not to improvise. Plan ahead, read and edit the script until you get the desired result. This will help you to tell the story as effectively as possible. Take it as a rule to write scripts, and once you have mastered this art perfectly, you will be able to take your videos to a whole new level.
PURCHASE THE RIGHT EQUIPMENT
You’d be surprised, but you don’t need an expensive camera to shoot professionally. Modern smartphones are a great alternative. What you really need is a simple background, studio light and a tripod. Of course, this will depend on the video format, but even the basic equipment will make your picture more professional.
MAKE THE FIRST 10 SECONDS OF VIDEO THE MOST MEMORABLE
Did you know that as many as 20% of viewers turn off their videos within the first 10 seconds? That’s why you need to get the most out of this time. Forget about the simple intro screen saver and include the most interesting things in this part of the video.
3. Create an exciting trailer
YouTube has an amazing function — the channel trailer. This is a short video that is automatically played for all the visitors to the channel.
The quality trailer helps to attract new subscribers. To do this, it should be short (30-60 seconds), relevant and informative. Tell viewers why they need to subscribe to you, use the call to action. For example, SoulPancake has a great trailer, which really motivates you to subscribe.
4. Shoot a video no longer than 5 minutes
Do your videos last 30-60 minutes because of the complexity of the industry? But long videos are not suitable for YouTube. Regardless of the complexity of the product, your videos should not exceed 5 minutes.
Why? A lot of research confirms that users’ attention time is reduced. According to HubSpot, the ideal video length for YouTube is 2 minutes.
Edit your long videos and turn them into short and interesting clips.
5. Combine your videos into playlists
Do you have a video tied up with a common theme? Combine them into a playlist. This will allow viewers to easily continue watching and eliminate the need to search for clips manually.
Thanks to the playlists, visitors will spend more time on your channel and discover a lot of useful content.
BuzzFeed Tasty, for example, does a great job of organizing video.
6. Add a Call-to-action to your video
You probably know how to create convincing calls to action. So why not use them in video. YouTube offers simple functionality to add CTAs directly to videos. You have two options:
FINAL SCREEN
You can use it to encourage viewers to subscribe, view the next video or visit your website. Choose the items that match your goals. The screen saver can last 5-20 seconds and be placed on video for at least 25 seconds.
TIPS
Cards with links, other videos or playlists, and even polls allow you to add interactive elements to your video. Here’s what it looks like:
7. Create a preview with people
Preview is a video business card, so it should be as attractive as possible. It’s up to the cover to see if your users want to watch your video.
There is one trick. Choose to preview a photo of a smiling person looking right in front of you. People react best to other people, so your video will definitely attract attention.
8. Publish new videos regularly
Of course, for a lot of teams, it’s not gonna be easy. But even if you can’t publish new videos often, do it regularly. Users will not want to subscribe to the channel if you haven’t uploaded new content in a long time.
Publish 4 new videos in a week and not to be reminded of yourself next month is also a bad idea. Make a publication schedule and stick to it, then users will be more willing to subscribe to your channel.
9. Allocate a budget for advertising
One effective way to attract subscribers is through paid promotion. Allocate a budget for the development of your channel and do not worry, the costs will be recouped.
YouTube offers a variety of advertising formats: banners, pop-up messages, video ads, sponsorship cards, etc. In addition, on this platform you can use all the features of targeting, choosing the audience by interest and demographic data.
10. Promote the channel in online communities
It can be a group on social networks or a popular website — if your videos are relevant to the community, feel free to talk about them. The main thing is that your content is valuable and helps to solve problems. Getting promoted in the communities will help you to attract many new subscribers and brand fans.
11. Motivate to subscribe
People love free stuff. Offer them a gift (or an opportunity to win a gift) for a subscription. Trite, but it works.
Run a cross-channel contest. Offer users to win a valuable prize for a liking in Instagram and comment and subscription to YouTube channel. This proven approach will provide you with a lot of new subscribers in a short time.
Offer additional content. In each video, tell us that you will send a free e-book or a monthly subscription to your service to all new subscribers. A great reason to subscribe.
12. Optimize your YouTube channel
Make sure your videos are search-optimized. To get them into a good SEO form, use the following tips:
Include keywords in the headlines. Also, make sure that the headings are not longer than 50 characters.
Add subtitles to each video. This is a kind of video text that will improve the indexing.
Optimize the description. Don’t fill it with keywords, just make it fun and quality.
Don’t forget about the meta tags. Meta tags are another way to include keywords in your video. Explore the popular videos in your industry and see what meta-tags they use.
Ready for the rapid growth of subscribers on Youtube? Just contact the Slon Media professional marketers at hi@slonmedia.com and get your unique Youtube strategy.
