7 Tips For Your YouTube Channel: Will Your Next Video Bomb?

Are you thrilled with the performance of your YouTube channel or do you feel you’re wasting time, money, and talent while getting little return? Thriving on YouTube demands more than just producing engaging videos; it requires a strategic approach to ensure a broad audience sees and appreciates your content by viewing, liking, and sharing it. For content creators, both new and experienced, mastering the art of promotion is pivotal in today’s saturated digital landscape to support your YouTube channel and reach your organization’s goals.

A particularly effective method to jump-start this process is to buy YouTube views, which can significantly boost your channel’s visibility and appeal. However, today, we’ll share tips and a framework to improve the performance of your YouTube channel organically. Use them, and your YouTube channel can reach 2 billion monthly users. It doesn’t matter whether you’re new to YouTube or a seasoned pro. These promotional strategies work for everyone.

a framework to improve your YouTube channel

7 tips to grow your YouTube channel

yoast SEO
Image courtesy of Yoast SEO Plugin

What is the purpose of your YouTube channel? Obviously, businesses use their channel for various purposes and the content you share often varies depending on why you’re posting there. Here are some ways companies use their channel:

  • Discovery – YouTube, unlike many other social media platforms, acts like a search engine in addition to helping you reach other business goals, like revenue. With its massive reach, YouTube excels, with 2.5 billion active users per month. This makes it the second-largest search engine in the world.
  • Advertising and viewer engagement to entice buyers and reach new audiences through viewer sharing.
  • It helps companies build trust and credibility with prospective buyers.
  • YouTube videos help build a community around your brand.
  • When consumers consider making a purchase or want to get the most from their purchase, they turn to YouTube and the explainer videos posted by you and others to help consumers make wise choices.
  • A YouTube channel is perfect for handling objections, since it shows rather than tells viewers how your product solves their problem.

Before you can reach any of these goals, however, you need an audience on the platform.

Launching a YouTube channel or striving to keep your existing channel audience engaged poses a unique set of challenges. The digital world is fickle, with viewers constantly looking for new and exciting content. A dedicated effort focused on promotion is as indispensable in preventing your channel from fading into obscurity as is creating engaging content on a consistent basis. This focus ensures your content remains in the limelight, continually attracting and retaining viewers. Promotion, therefore, is not merely an option but a critical component of your channel’s success formula. While paid ads on the platform are one option, there are free ways to build your audience. Read on to learn how to grow your YouTube channel.

1. Use SEO and GEO to make your content searchable

Once SEO (search engine optimization) was sufficient to bring viewers to your channel. Today, you need to focus on search intent first if you want more views. Solving existing customer pain points will bring in your audience. Next, optimize your title and descriptions, making the intro as attention-grabbing and informative as possible because 20% of viewers leave within the first 10 seconds. Most successful YouTube videos are under 5 minutes long. So, keep it short, engaging, and to the point.

Explainer videos are the exception to this rule, however. If you have a complex product or want to share a complex idea, these longer videos are essential. For instance, consumers increasingly turn to your YouTube channel for assembly instructions rather than your written ones. When I bought my new car, they shared a host of YouTube videos to walk me through how to adjust the increasingly complex options to customize my driving experience.

2. Use branding to create awareness

Professional branding is now an essential design element for all platforms, including YouTube, as it increases brand awareness, provides viewers with recognizable visuals, and shows them that your YouTube channel is serious about its content. Here’s the banner I use on my YouTube channel (BTW, this is a great spot to help your small business grow with marketing insights).

youtube channel

Branding also makes your channel visually appealing and instantly recognizable to your audience. And most of all, it differentiates you from your competitors. If you already have a blog, you probably already have a look and feel that you can transfer to your YouTube channel, and in doing so, you’ll start creating brand connections throughout all your platforms.

If you have a company logo, use it on your channel, but ensure it’s compatible and up-to-date by checking out some YouTube logo examples before uploading. And if you’re an independent blogger, you can always go with a headshot. You can also use your branding to add links to your website and other social media platforms using links in banner images. And use self-branded overlays if you’re talking about a specific product in your video; it’s a powerful strategy for retaining viewers while watching your video.

3. Nail it with thumbnails

Thumbnails are another crucial branding strategy for capturing users’ interest when they browse on YouTube, and for making your content more appealing to advertisers.

They act like mini billboards by giving viewers a quick snapshot of your video, helping them to decide whether to click through and watch. Effectively designed thumbnails and titles make your channel instantly recognizable and are great for attracting more fans to your YouTube channel.

Here’s the thumbnail for my video to help businesses develop their marketing plan.

Highly optimized thumbnails are relevant to your video’s content and include short, catchy descriptions (taglines) and high-quality images, so viewers instantly understand what your video is about. Your thumbnail and title should leave viewers wanting to know what happens next, thus encouraging them to watch your video.

When you’ve completed uploading your video, you can either choose to upload your custom thumbnail or use the three options that YouTube automatically generates for you.

In addition, here are some helpful tips for custom thumbnails:

  1. Include your video title in your thumbnail.
  2. Use high-quality images.
  3. Only use standard video sizes: 1920×1080 or 1280×720.
  4. Use the following Image: PNG, JPG, GIF, BMP, or TIF.
  5. Use the 16:9 aspect ratio.
  6. Keep your branding consistent in all your thumbnails.
  7. Make them visually appealing and direct.

4. Include CTA’s and increase engagement

CTA’s (calls to action) are buttons thats (calls to action) are buttons that encourage viewers to take the action you want, such as clicking through to your website, buying a product, or joining an email list. And on YouTube, they’re also an excellent way to increase user engagement and subscribers. You can add these using an end screen or embed them in the video at various points.

But CTA’s can also be off-putting because we don’t like being told to take action. You have to use them right by designing yours so they act as a natural progression from your video. Make them clear and concise, and try using humor in your CTAs, so they don’t appear as just another sales pitch. It pays to put the work into designing your CTA’s, get them right, and it’ll be well worth the effort.

5. Engage your YouTube community

You might not think of YouTube as a typical social media channel. However, the platform represents a community of 2.5 billion monthly users, a large percentage of whom actively engage with content using likes and comments. As with other social networks, the more you engage with users, the better YouTube will view your channel because YouTube views any engagement as a positive signal; it is, after all, how they generate revenue.

But engaging with the YouTube community also helps you, as subscribers see that you’re actively taking part in the community, enabling you to establish a deeper connection with your audience. And all you have to do to make that happen is take a few seconds to “like” comments.

While your YouTube channel is your concern, don’t forget that other creators might highlight your products on their channels. You want to encourage this, even going so far as to offer incentives for those who create content related to your brand, as well as engage with creators who do this for you to encourage them to continue. By the same token, if someone posts negative content about your brand, respond with offers to fix the problems. As with all social media platforms, you should never argue or threaten a creator who doesn’t like your brand.

6. Promote your YouTube videos on all your social media platforms

There’s no marketing platform as robust as social media for cross-promoting your content and brand, and YouTube is no different. And by sharing your videos across the internet, you extend the reach of your YouTube channel to an almost inexhaustible audience.

Video sharing across social media is fast becoming a fundamental way of growing a brand because users love videos. It works best by being active in all your social media channels and publishing your latest videos in a style that befits the platform you’re promoting them on.

Every platform has its own cultural demographic. To ensure you drive the maximum traffic towards your YouTube channel, you must use a proven approach to ensure users receive your efforts positively and provide you with the highest ROI.

social media demographics
Image courtesy of Marketing Charts

7. Reformat existing content

Content drives the internet, and everything on it, including YouTube. And several content rules apply, regardless of the platform you’re using. Content must be relevant, consistent, of high quality, and SEO-oriented.

However, that takes a lot of work and time. But did you know that almost all successful bloggers, websites, and YouTube channels regularly reformat existing content to drive it up the rankings? All you have to do is revisit and review your existing videos and add updated information and newer marketing strategies. Remember, nothing online is inert, and there’s always something you can do to improve and reuse your existing content.

Monetize your YouTube channel

Using Google AdSense as your sole means to monetize your small business is challenging; there are many other ways to monetize your channel. Here are a few:

Revenue Stream Implementation Best Fit For
Lead Generation & Email Capture Offer a specific checklist, template, or guide pinned in comments/description. Service providers, B2B, consultants, SaaS
YouTube Shopping Integration Pin product shelves directly beneath videos and tag products during demos. E-commerce, physical goods, merchandise
Consulting & High-Ticket Booking Place direct discovery-call scheduling links in descriptions with a clear verbal CTA. Agencies, local service contractors, advisors
Affiliate & Partner Recommendations Link vetted tools, software, or equipment used during demonstrations with tracked links. Tech, creators, hobbyist niches
Digital Products & Workshops Sell paid deep-dive training, frameworks, or templates directly to qualified viewers. Subject matter experts, course creators

A framework for improving the performance of your YouTube channel

Like much of marketing, optimizing your channel relies on matching your content to where the viewer is along the journey, which looks like this:

defining the customer journey
Modern

While this modern version is cyclical, viewers are in a discrete place along the journey at any one time. Linking content to this is key to your success. Here’s how:

  • At the awareness stage (TOFU), you should focus on how-to guides, showing common mistakes, and demonstrating industry trends. Shorts work well at this stage, as do low-risk engagement strategies such as soliciting subscriptions.
  • The consideration stage (MOFU) should focus on product comparisons, case studies, and buying guides. Here’s where you should use social proof and attempt to convert viewers.
  • The purchase stage (BOFU) involves a viewer’s decision to buy or maybe they already did. You should help them by working to handle objections that interfere with making a purchase, making them feel good about their decision (for instance, offering transformational stories), and helping them get the most from their purchase.
  • After the purchase, there is no time to let up on your marketing efforts. Now you should try to encourage them to use the product to solve their problem, share positive feedback to promote purchases by others, onboard them or share tutorials, and spotlight recent buyers. You might also suggest additional purchases to enhance the one purchased.

Conclusion

To optimize conversion on your YouTube channel, here are the take-aways:

  • Deliver your value proposition in the first 15 seconds
  • Link content to the viewer’s journey
  • Post content consistently, for instance, every Wednesday. Add a mixture of short and long videos formats
  • Engage with users
  • Use end screens to share CTAs
  • A/B testing can help you optimize your videos
  • Monitor key metrics to make informed decisions that support future conversion

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Hausman and Associates, the publisher of MKT Maven, is a full-service marketing agency operating at the intersection of marketing and digital media. Check out our affordable coaching programs to help your business thrive into the future.


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