How to develop a YouTube channel and gain subscribers

What to promote your YouTube channel and get a lot of targeted subscribers there are special methods. All the details you will learn in this article.

How to promote YouTube channel from scratch: and attract subscribers

Users often look for information in videos. Visual format is more convenient for perception than text or audio. Rollers attract the viewer’s attention, convey the necessary information, persuade and sell. A YouTube channel is a great platform for promoting your business. 

We tell you how to design and promote your channel on the https://doctorsmm.com/ , how to optimize your videos and how to get into the trends.

What to shoot on YouTube

The choice of topic and format is individual – it all depends on the interests of the target audience and the capabilities of the channel author. Here are a few content options:

• Manuals / instructions / tutorials. This format is relevant for companies that promote complex products – technical devices, software, training courses. You need to explain the solution to the problem as clearly and in detail as possible, visualizing each step. To make video content even more real followers, views and likes https://lowcostsmm.com/ru/ .
• Reviews. You can review your products or competitors’ products. Statistics show that more than 70% of buyers choose products that have video reviews. It is important that the analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of the product was objective. Do not forget that unfair competition can bring to the court.
• Interviews. Talk to an expert in your field, a famous blogger, a consumer. You can interview yourself. Prepare questions in advance and ask your interviewee to think through the answers. Remember that preparation is important: no matter how attractive and sincere may seem the format of free conversation, the viewer is annoyed by long pauses, parasitic words and confused communication.
• Creative advertising. The modern viewer is tired of advertising. However, he will never refuse an interesting, aesthetic or funny video. For example, for the second decade on the Internet is popular Japanese advertising, the plots of which sometimes resemble a surrealistic dream. You can include a social element in the video. For example, in 2017, Nike ads with female athletes gained millions of views and increased interest in the brand.
• Storytelling. Storytelling is an effective tool for promoting videos on YouTube. It draws the viewer into the story and makes him or her watch the video to the end. The story can be illustrated with additional graphic elements, such as pictures or video sequences.

Before you start promoting on YouTube, you need to perform preparatory work.

How to prepare the channel for promotion

Decide on the theme and concept of the new channel. Decide with what frequency the videos will be released, what will be the design. Another important point is the purpose of the channel. Determine in advance what will be the indicator of achieving the goal.

It is also important to remember about:

• target audience and its needs;
• the chips and features of the channel that will set it apart from others;
• an attractive cover that tells about the theme of the channel.

Before you start promoting, upload a few good quality videos. They should have the same style of narration and design, so that viewers can appreciate the features of the channel.

How to make a content plan

A content plan is made for a long time, preferably for a month. When preparing it, remember about:

• Systematicity – post videos 2-3 times a week, on the same days;
• Proper timing – the peak of activity on YouTube is usually between 18:00 and 21:00;
• Variety – combine trends with audience demands.

To make a content plan, use different sources:

Popular queries. Choose keys with wide coverage and low competition. Google Keyword Planner, Keyword Tool, Yandex.Wordstat will help you find them.

YouTube cues. These are phrases that appear when you enter a query in the search bar.

New trends. Take into account what is relevant to users at the moment. The Google Trends service will help.

Competitors’ blogs. Study the topics of popular content from competitors and add them to your plan. Read subscribers’ comments – you can get new ideas from them.

Consumer Questions. Ask your sales and customer support team for the most pressing questions and answer them in a topical video.

Popular topics on your own channel. Choose the topics with the most views, likes and comments and shoot a series of videos.

Topic sources. Study blogs, encyclopedias, articles on your topic. They will help you not only find fresh ideas for videos, but also increase the expertise of the video.

How to design a YouTube channel

As soon as the user gets to the channel, he should immediately understand its theme. Make the design attractive, informative and easy to understand.

Banner

It is located at the top of the channel page, which is called the header. The optimal image size for the banner is 2560×1440. Pay maximum attention to the design of the header – it is the first thing the user sees when visiting the page. Add elements to the image that reflect the theme of the channel.

Channel icon

The icon is the avatar of the channel. It is displayed in search, comments, and the list of subscriptions. For a company, the best solution will be its logo, for a personal blog – a photo of the author. Choose a high-quality image with high resolution. 

Channel menu

It contains:

• Videos – videos are displayed in a list and sorted by newness or popularity;
• Playlists – videos organized in thematic sections;
• Channels – interesting channels and subscriptions are presented here;
• Discussions – user comments under the clips;
• “About Channel” section – a brief description of the blog.

Preview

Preview with the description of the video should be brief. Avoid text that is too long for the viewer to read to the end. Choose a large, readable font. Do not duplicate the title of the video. Choose a picture for the preview that evokes positive emotions in viewers – laughter, delight, surprise. On it place the text with the description of the video.

Playlists

Playlists help viewers navigate the channel. Rollers are grouped by directions and topics, each selection should have a suitable title. In addition to creating navigation on the blog, playlists perform several other functions:

• stimulate viewers to watch other videos on a topic of interest;
• provide a convenient and visual display of content on the page;
• allow authors to quickly find and, if necessary, hide videos from viewers.

Sections

They allow you to structure your content. Sections can contain individual videos, playlists, and collections of playlists, shows, and episodes. Some users put links in them to other YouTube channels they want to promote.  

Channel Trailer

This is a welcome message located on the main page of a video blog. Its purpose is to showcase the content, talk about its benefits, and convince visitors to subscribe to the channel. The trailer should consist of:

• a cut of the most interesting moments;
• a story about what triggered the filming;
• mentioning the achievements of the channel on YouTube.

The trailer should not be longer than 1-1.5 minutes.

Requirements for videos

Before you publish videos, study the requirements for them. There are only three of them.

The pitch

It should be in line with the brand’s voice. So, if a company prefers to be friendly and open, informally communicating with customers, it should follow the same strategy on its YouTube channel. The optimal format of videos for it is expert. 

Lighting and background

The presenter should occupy the center of the frame, and his figure should be evenly lit. Place the light source in front of the presenter and raise it slightly. This will allow the person to come to the foreground and make the image deeper.

If the picture is static, dilute it with details.

Sound and video quality

A built-in headphone or computer microphone is not suitable for expert content – they don’t record sound well enough. Use a RODE microphone or other types of professional equipment.

Commercial videos are posted in 1920×1080 resolution and 16:9 aspect ratio. The higher the resolution of the video, the clearer and more detailed the video content will be. 

How short videos are useful

Short videos help users to take a break from information saturation. The optimal length of a video is 2-3 minutes. However, if the content and plot of the video do not allow you to fit in this time, you should not cut out useful information and interesting inserts. 

When creating promotional videos, try not to stretch the plot: the chance that the viewer will finish a 30-second video is higher than in the case of 5 or 10 minute commercials.

Why content inventory is important

Content stock is essential to running an effective YouTube channel. When videos are released regularly, a video blog doesn’t lose audience and attracts new subscribers.

Importance of engagement

Video hosting takes into account:

• audience retention – how much time a user spends on YouTube thanks to your channel;
• viewing depth – how many videos on your blog are viewed by the viewer;
• actual time spent watching video content;
• the ratio of time a user spent watching a video to its total length;
• engagement rate – how many comments, likes, and subscriptions the content has garnered.

If users watch your video in its entirety, YouTube starts promoting it on its own for the keyword. This allows the video to be seen by an interested audience. 

To increase engagement, you can promise viewers a small bonus for watching the video to the end. For example, share an important secret about the company or give a promo code for a discount.

How to capture attention

This will help you:

• cutting interesting moments in the trailer;
• lively, emotional communication with the audience;
• dynamic narration without long screensavers and static scenes.

If possible, remove from the video all elements that do not relate to its essence. This will shorten the timeline, but will increase engagement, as the most interesting and important information for the audience will remain in the video.

Optimizing videos for YouTube

To ensure that your videos get high positions and visibility, work on optimizing them. You can do this both before you upload your video content and after it appears on your channel.

Customize video settings before uploading

Before uploading a video, customize the technical settings and choose a title for the video file. YouTube’s help provides a comprehensive list of technical indicators that you need to configure before uploading the material.

The video hosting algorithms promote videos based on keyword phrases. Therefore, be sure to use the target query in the title of the uploaded file, for example, “Pouring a concrete floor in the garage.avi”. Add it also in the title and description of the video.

Video settings when uploading

Immediately after uploading the video, YouTube will offer to configure several settings:

• privacy (open access to the video);
• adding the video to a playlist
• specifying the video category;
• the ability to comment on the video;
• language for automatic subtitle generation.

Semantics selection

To get your video to rank highly in search, choose the right metadata. Type a keyword into YouTube search. The most popular queries for that keyword will appear below the line – use them in the title, description or hashtags. You can add question words like “how”, “why”, “which” before the query. Install the vidIQ or TubeBoddy plugin to assess the level of competition for your chosen key.

If you are just starting to promote your channel, choose words with low competition and high search volume. Otherwise, your videos won’t get ranked in search results.

A catchy headline

The headline is what attracts the viewers’ attention in the first place. It should be short, informative and intriguing. Include keywords in the text of the title that users will be able to find the video.

Video description

The description of the video should be no longer than 5,000 characters. The longer the text, the more informative it is. However, too long descriptions are difficult to read, so include only the most important information. Be sure to use keywords. They are inserted at the very beginning of the description so that viewers can immediately see what your video is about. When the user opens the video, he sees only the first 157 characters of the text – they should be the most catchy.

Often in the description of the video or channel add contacts for cooperation and suggestions. Usually it’s an e-mail on the site. To track the sources of emails, connect Calltouch email tracking. The service will take into account all customer requests and evaluate which advertising channels receive the most requests.

Default download settings

When professionally promoting an account, default settings are set: specify a category, enter a description, and design tags. You can manage the settings in the “Video Upload” section of the “Creative Studio”.

Creating and optimizing subtitles

Subtitles are time-consuming to prepare. However, without them, video optimization will be incomplete. Subtitles, like the file name, tell the video host the theme of the video. If you specified the language when uploading the video, subtitles will be generated automatically. Sometimes they are incorrect, in which case they are edited manually.

Using meta tags

The main task of tags is to help YouTube better understand your video in order to provide viewers with quality search results. When compiling metadata, adhere to the following rules:

• hashtags should be relevant and complementary;
• important words should be placed at the beginning of the list;
• choose metadata with a large search volume;
• it is possible to copy tags from competitors’ videos.

Only use tags that are related to your content. Inserting inappropriate popular words is useless – it will confuse the video hosting algorithms and will not bring results. 

YouTube allocates 500 characters for tags, but you shouldn’t use them all. Only write hashtags that are really necessary. If you mention a media personality in your video, don’t include their name in the tags. YouTube may give your video away next to the public person’s content, but users will quickly realize that it’s nothing more than clickbait. 

Use end screensavers

Previously, you could add an annotation to a YouTube video – a link to other videos or a company’s website. Instead, the service has introduced the function of end splash pages. You can make them in the “End screensavers and annotations” section in the “Creative Studio”. 

The duration of the splash screen is from 5 to 20 seconds. In it, you can recommend another video, invite viewers to subscribe to your channel, or link to your website.

Video transcription

YouTube offers the Auto Transcribe feature. With its help, you can immediately transcribe an audio recording into text and automatically create subtitles for the video. In the resulting text, there are often inaccuracies that will have to be corrected manually.

Free ways to promote

YouTube has tools for internal and external optimization of videos. However, their use does not guarantee that the video will get to the top of the list. It is important to try different methods of promoting your YouTube channel. Consider the free options.

Audience engagement

Use the following techniques:

• Allow comments on videos and initiate discussion;
• Use live broadcasts as an opportunity to communicate with subscribers;
• Create different content for different categories of your audience – from reviews to entertaining videos;
• interact with your audience – respond to comments, ask questions, listen to viewers’ opinions and make videos based on requests.

Adding videos to email newsletters

This method is considered conditionally free – you usually have to pay for the email service. Add a video to the email – and your mailing will become more visual and informative. It is proven that if you specify “Video” or “Overview” in the subject line of an email, the Open Rate is guaranteed to increase. 

Social media announcements

It’s important not to limit yourself to maintaining a single YouTube channel. Connect social networks to it so that users get to know the brand better. This works in the opposite direction: with the help of announcements, the audience of social networks will see that a new video is about to be released on another platform. In order not to miss it, interested users will subscribe to the brand’s channel and connect notifications. 

Integration with thematic channels

Integrations with other channels expand your reach and improve ranking in YouTube’s algorithms. You can make announcements on new videos that will soon be released on a partner company’s blog, while the latter will talk about your news. The channels that are suitable for cooperation are:

• are close in subject matter, but do not compete with you;
• have a similar target audience;
• are popular in their region – this is important for local promotion.

How to get into the trends

In the “Trends” section, YouTube algorithms include popular videos that may be of interest to the general public. To get into it, you should consider several factors: semantics, video quality, and content form. 

In addition to technical characteristics, the content of the video is important – it should reveal current issues, be interesting and original. Try to find your author’s style, by which users will recognize your videos on the channel and in other sources.

Algorithms take into account the number of views of the video – total and for a certain time period. Young channels are often favored. Usually videos get into Trends within 24 hours of uploading. Therefore, try to get as many views as possible in the first 24 hours after the video is released. The number of views required for a video to be Trending depends on the YouTube segment and varies from 20,000 to 100,000.

This section is regularly updated, but provides popularity and fast promotion to the channels that got into it.

Paid ways of promotion

Paid methods help to build traffic – they make the channel more visible in the information space. In order to save your budget with paid promotion methods, it is important to attract not any subscribers, but the target audience.

Advertising with popular bloggers

Before placing an advertisement, request statistics on the channel to make sure that the audience of the selected blogger and your CA coincide. Pay attention to:

• loyalty of follower – how well they perceive the blogger’s ads;
• the number of “live” subscribers by comments and likes;
• the theme of the channel and its coincidence with the direction of your business.

Seeding and advertising on social networks

In order for a video to rank, it must gain a large number of views in the first hours after uploading. For this purpose use seeding in social networks – paid distribution of videos in thematic groups through seeding services. Advertising seeding can also be done in the form of an announcement in thematic publics before the release of the video. 

Advertising in Google Ads

Different ad formats are available in this service, including video. To launch a campaign, link Google Ads to your YouTube account. 

Video ad formats:

• In-Stream – ads with or without skip option that appear at the beginning, middle, or end of a YouTube video.
• Video Discovery – shown on the homepage in the mobile version of the video hosting site in the similar videos section.
• Bumper Ads – screensavers that last up to 6 seconds. This video ad format is not to be missed.
• Masthead – appear on the YouTube homepage. Automatically play without sound for 30 seconds.

How to analyze results

To familiarize yourself with the statistics of YouTube promotion, use the “Analytics” service. It provides information by sections:

• Overview – the main characteristics of the channel, statistics for the last 60 minutes or 48 hours, popular videos and stories;
• Views – traffic sources, internal conversions, recommendations, number of unique viewers;
• Interactions – time spent watching videos, most popular videos, clicks on end splash pages;
• Audience – who your subscribers are, which videos bring the most viewers, when they visit your channel; 
• Income – a section for members of the Affiliate Program of the service.

If you need a complete analysis of your company’s advertising activity, try Calltouch end-to-end analytics. The service combines data from advertising platforms, CRM-systems and other marketing tools in one window and builds a clear sales funnel. All reports are collected automatically, so you’ll quickly find slippages and where you need to make adjustments.

Conclusion

YouTube promotion is a long process. It requires high-quality preliminary preparation and daily work in the future. 

Spent efforts are fully paid off when there is a loyal audience interested in the brand’s videos and products. Viewers and subscribers of the channel become customers of the business and build long-term relationships with it.

To promote YouTube channel it is important to create interesting, unique and useful videos, optimize them, come up with catchy titles. Use free and paid methods of promotion, analyze statistics, if necessary, make changes to the chosen strategy.