Your YouTube channel needs to be promoted now more than ever.
Is there a particular reason for “now”?
YouTube is the second most visited website, and as more and more of us consume video, the writing is on the wall.
Using as many promotional tactics as possible to stand out on YouTube would be best.
In the sections below, we’ll detail how to advertise your YouTube channel and increase your viewership.
5 Proven Tips to Promote YouTube Channel
Write engaging, must-see titles
YouTube marketing is all about presentation.
There is no doubt that titles matter when it comes to the success of your video. So what is the positioning of your content? Are you positioning it as a must-see or just showing “me”?
To succeed in marketing your video, you must ensure your title is as compelling as possible. Ask yourself, “what would be your content’s impact if it wasn’t titled?”. “it’s entertaining, and they likewise want to know what your video is about from the word “go.”
To craft killer titles, you must catch your audience’s attention without resorting to clickbait headlines. People love to watch entertaining videos and would like to know what your video will be about from the get-go.
Athlean X’s fitness-based videos are another good example. The channel’s content manages to sneak in relevant keywords in its titles while also coming across as conversational.
“Best-of” lists and “how-to” titles are always a safe bet, too. Here are some click-worthy titles from Disney Food Blog:
The takeaway is that you should spend time mulling over engaging titles rather than sticking with the first idea that pops into your head.
Many have observed that an optimal length for YouTube video titles should be approximately 70 characters. Meanwhile, tools such as CoSchedule can use headline generators to create engaging headlines for your videos. For example, an analyzer recommends 55 characters for an engaging headline. CoSchedule’s tool is not specifically designed for video titles but is terrific for brainstorming YouTube-friendly titles to help promote your YouTube channel.
Publish on YouTube with Sprout Social
With YouTube, there are endless opportunities to promote your business, and you can now publish directly to YouTube from your Sprout account.
Make your channel the destination for long-form video, take advantage of YouTube’s extensive search capabilities to extend your reach, and identify how your channel’s performance compares to other social networks.
Take advantage of our YouTube publishing features with a free trial.
Optimize your videos for visibility
Here’s some food for thought: YouTube videos show up in 70% of the top 100 Google search results.
Heck, see for yourself. For example, when you search on Google for a product or “how-to,” YouTube will return results.
Sometimes, YouTube results appear before blog posts or websites on traditional websites.
In the same way, people search for products and require problems to be solved through Google, the same holds on YouTube.
Consider YouTube videos as any other content that needs to be optimized for keywords, tags, etc.
Here are some best practices for YouTube SEO that will increase your chances of appearing:
Keywords should be included in the title and description of your articles. You can find ideas for keywords using tools like Keywordtool.io.
You can help YouTube better understand what your video is about by mentioning your target keywords in your video, according to Brian Dean of Backlinko.
In YouTube’s search results, engagement (likes, comments, views) determines where videos rank.
The categories you use on YouTube can help YouTube figure out who should see your videos.
In addition to categories, you can also add tags to your videos to give YouTube more information about them. You can use quite a few tags, so add as many as you like.
You should not keyword stuff your website, just like you shouldn’t keyword stuff your SEO for your website. Ensure you use keywords only when it makes sense, not just because you feel like you should.
Figure out what your audience wants
Your content should be aligned with what your audience wants. So whether you’re writing a blog post or creating a video, start by understanding your audience and the type of content they’re looking for.
Look at your competitors or other video creators in your industry if you’re starting with YouTube promotion. You will understand what topics your audience is interested in learning about and what video style they prefer if you look at which videos receive the most views.
If you’ve already uploaded videos, you can look at YouTube Analytics. YouTube gives detailed information on your audience’s demographics, location, engagement, and other useful data. With Sprout Social’s YouTube reporting, you can track how your content compares to other social videos you have created.
Discover the most important YouTube metrics to track and discover ideas for video content tailored to your marketing goal by downloading our YouTube metrics cheat sheet.
Engage with the YouTube community
YouTube might not seem like a social network per se, but it does represent a huge community where users interact via profiles, likes, and comments.
We think it’s pretty “social.”
In addition to engaging with your subscribers, you can foster a stronger connection with your audience by engaging with them. As mentioned earlier, any interaction with your viewers is considered a positive signal by YouTube. The process of “liking” comments and pinning a top comment as a personal note takes just a few seconds.
For example, a music channel named Artzie Music regularly “likes” and responds to comments about its recent uploads, and its creator regularly responds to subscribers’ questions.
You should respond to comments and engage with your followers on YouTube, like on any other social network.
Customize your thumbnails
You can promote your YouTube channel with custom thumbnails, one of the simplest yet most effective tactics.
Consider your title and thumbnail a one-two punch to grab a viewer’s attention.
An automatic screenshot is taken from any video on YouTube and used as the video’s thumbnail. Unfortunately, sometimes it grabs a blurry shot of you adjusting the camera or transitioning between scenes.
You wouldn’t want to see that, would you?
The thumbnails you create increase the appeal of your videos at a glance but also give your videos an air of professionalism.
Additionally, thumbnails don’t have to be rocket science. This is especially easy with the help of image creation tools such as Canva. To make it more consistent and on-brand, you can make a template with a particular font and style. In the example below, Binging with Babish shows how you can do it:
Download our free YouTube banners today if you’re looking for simple social media templates to get started with Creator Studio!
