If you’ve ever had the chance to rewatch an old video from your childhood or your kids, you know the power of a video. A photo of your baby (or your pet) can indeed brighten up your day, but a video evokes a lot more emotions. Indeed, suppose a picture is better than a long speech. In that case, a video with sound, movement and feelings can establish a much deeper connection between people and elicit emotional reactions that most photos are far from.
If you haven’t yet made video part of your content strategy, now is the time to get started! With more than a billion visitors worldwide each month, YouTube is a safe choice to anchor your video strategy. Whether you’re an agency, a brand, or a YouTuber, you need to master the basics of the site to ensure your channel’s success. We’ve put together the following tips to help you gain more YouTube subscribers, gain higher engagement, and grow your channel. YouTube represents today an incredible potential to develop a community and bring traffic to its website. However, it can take months to see the first results. So how do you optimize your channel to maximize the number of subscribers? The increase of your subscribers on YouTube is largely based on two pillars:
- Post videos regularly, at least once a week to keep your followers updated.
- Create unique and original content that brings value to your audience
But this is not enough. There are techniques to go faster and we explain them to you just below.
9 Basic Strategies
1. Post quality and useful content.
It might seem obvious, but you would be surprised how many videos are of low quality or completely meaningless. If you feel like posting a dark, poorly framed video of your late-night fast food stop, do so on your personal channel (and think about making it private). For your brand page, create unique content or watch trending and popular themes to focus your efforts. If some KOLs are using your product or service, have them answer frequently asked questions (through a Q&A video) or stage them to show how your brand solves common issues. Make a list of your audience’s expectations and reluctances, then create videos that meet those needs.
2. Choose the title and description carefully.
The titles and descriptions of your videos are part of the first impression your brand gives on YouTube. They should therefore reflect the quality for which your business is known. The title size is limited to 100 characters on YouTube. You should therefore be as clear and concise as possible. It is the name of your video that will attract your audience and decide whether or not to click on your content. No stress, Ryan Parent, video creator on Vidrack, gives us some useful information: “The best advice I can give for video titles is in two words: descriptive and precise. “. This is not where you should surprise your spectators or play the soliciting card. No one likes to be misled and find themselves watching content that they are not interested in. So make sure your title and description are as clear as possible.
3. Include a clear call to action.
YouTube’s built-in features make it easy to include a call to action in your videos. If someone takes the initiative to click on your video and watch it, you’ve come halfway. Typically, there is some interest in interacting with content such as video, although it may be limited at first. So make sure to show your audience what they can do to get more information. If your goal is to get more subscribers, your call to action might be like, “Subscribe now!”. Marketers use YouTube for many different purposes, from driving traffic to collecting leads. There are several different methods of including a call to action in your YouTube videos.
4. Create an engaging YouTube trailer.
To attract viewers to your channel and gain new subscribers, a YouTube trailer maker allows you to make a attractive trailer to tell your potential audience to learn about what your channel is about. The YouTube Creator blog provides the following tips for making the best trailer possible:
- Include a clear call to action that motivates viewers to subscribe.
- Present your channel in an entertaining way rather than factual.
- Indicate what type of videos your viewers can expect to find on your channel and how often.
- Think about the video context that will be watched on your channel (possibly after another of your videos).
- Even if there is no perfect length, choose a short format.
5. Customize video thumbnails.
You can polish the look of your channel by customizing video thumbnails. Use branded fonts, colors and images that reflect your content. Remember: a vignette is better than a long speech! As the Creator Academy explains, “Custom thumbnails allow video series to be presented in a consistent manner. They also help viewers to spot your videos in the middle of all the others . ”
6. Use annotations
If you’re looking for a surefire way to make your videos more impactful and interactive, use annotations. They allow you to “superimpose text, links and active areas on your video” and thus help you “to enrich the video experience through information, interactivity and involvement.” The only limit to the potential of annotations lies in your creativity. Their most frequent uses are as follows:
- Allow viewers to move forward in the video (and thus encourage them to continue watching)
- Suggest other videos to the viewer
- Add a link to your website.
- Add a link to a subscribe button to your channel.
- Add a call to action (registration, more information, etc.)
7. Collaborate with other YouTubers.
Like other social media, YouTube has countless communities, some of which are dedicated to topics that matter to your brand or business. Find other YouTubers in your industry and invite them to collaborate on a video or a series of videos. This type of action is win-win, as cross-promotion gives both brands visibility in new markets and helps attract new YouTube subscribers.
8. Promote on different platforms.
In addition to cross-promoting on other YouTube channels through collaboration, you can attract new subscribers by promoting your content on different platforms. Drive traffic to your YouTube channel by consistently including links in your newsletters, your website, and other social media accounts. You can also cross-promote within YouTube. If you manage multiple channels, you can “turn your channel into a place to access all of the other channels you manage or like.” ”
9. Interact with your audience
It might seem obvious to anyone who knows the value of social media engagement, but engaging with your audience is essential. This doesn’t just mean answering their questions, but also encouraging them to ask those questions and deliver quality content that results in posted comments. It’s important to understand that what’s known as the YouTube community doesn’t allow you just to post your content and not come back to it afterward. Identify what interests active members of your community and industry, and then talk about it. Do you know how nice it is for someone to comment in a positive or relevant way on your social media posts? Do the same for others on YouTube. You will see, every good deed pays off.
To sum up
In conclusion, the SEO of videos on YouTube depends on the number of followers you have and the number of views you generate on your videos. The more subscribers and views you have, the better your videos rank. You should know that even as an SEO professional, it is challenging to intervene in the referencing of YouTube videos. In reality, there is nothing else you can do other than what we advised you earlier in this article. Now apply the above bonus tips to boost your YouTube.
