Sparking Up Your YouTube Channel: Marketing Strategies that Work
Creating a YouTube channel is easy – organically growing it, not so much. If you’re struggling to keep your channel afloat, here are some tips from the pros to help you find your way.
As you may already know, YouTube is the world’s largest video platform watched by billions of people. YouTube has got it all, from cute cat videos and memes to profound lectures on astronomy and philosophy. And it’s thanks to people like you, the sea of videos keeps growing.
What if you want to use YouTube as an outlet for your creative endeavors and make money from it? That’s where the hard work comes in. Seeing so many successful YouTubers, you might think it shouldn’t be that hard to grow your channel, but it’s not that simple. Follow these strategies, and you’ll be on the right track.
Research your audience
Like every other business, your YouTube channel has a target audience too. For instance, if you want to make videos on unboxing tech and gadgets, your audience comprises tech enthusiasts looking for detailed reviews to make informed purchase decisions. Similarly, if you are a physicist who wants to explain to people how weird the quantum world is, your audience will be physics enthusiasts who wish to expand their knowledge in physics.
Researching your audience is always the first step in understanding what marketing strategy will work for you. It helps you know who you’re making videos for and what kind of content they want to see. To do this, consider creating buyer personas. A buyer persona is a semi-fictional representation of your ideal viewer/reader/customer. By developing buyer personas, you can better understand your target audience and what their needs are. This will help you create content that appeals to them, which we’ll get into later.
Now that you know who you’re making videos for, it’s time to start thinking about the kinds of videos you want to create. This can be anything from vlogs and product reviews to educational content and tutorials. Once you’ve decided on the types of videos you want to make, it’s time to get into the nitty-gritty of marketing your YouTube channel.
Content is all that matters
“Content is king” is a phrase thrown around everywhere, and it’s true. The simple thing you should understand is that there’s no magic formula to make your content successful – it’s an arduous journey filled with trial and error. The only way to grow your channel is to have people watch your videos, and the only way to do that is to post awesome content. Your videos should be well-edited, informative, and engaging because viewers will be more likely to subscribe to your channel if they know that they can expect quality content every time.
High-quality content comes from good equipment. You can’t expect your unboxing videos to be excellent if you’re using a 10-year-old camera. You need to invest in good equipment, including a decent camera, microphone, and lighting, so that the video quality stands out. For example, you can add drone shots showing the beautiful landscapes of Slovakia in your YouTube travel diary.
Another way to produce high-quality content is by planning. Make sure you know what you want to say before you start filming. This will help you stay on track and ensure that your videos are well-organized. Finally, keep your viewers engaged by using creative titles and thumbnail images. Viewers are more likely to click on a video if the title is catchy and the thumbnail looks interesting.
Craft savvy and attention-grabbing titles
A video title is a hook that grabs the viewer’s attention, much like a topic sentence at the start of the paragraph that compels the reader to keep reading. No matter how well-crafted your video is, it won’t get a lot of views without a catchy title. You should keep in mind some rules when coming up with titles for your videos.
First, ensure your title matches your video content. The viewer should know what they are getting into. If they find out your title is misleading, they won’t come back.
Misleading titles are called clickbaits – you should steer clear of them at all costs.
Another rule is to keep your title to less than 60 characters. Have you noticed that when you search for something on Google, you get a couple of YouTube videos at the top of the search results? That’s the spot your video needs to be in, but the thing is, if your title is more than 60 characters, Google won’t fetch it in its search results. To further improve your videos’ visibility on Google, use keywords in your title. You can use Google Adwords Keyword Planner to dig up those keywords.
Promote your content
Once you’ve created some high-quality content, it’s time to start promoting it. There are many different ways to do this, but one of the most effective is social media. Post your videos on all of your social media platforms and encourage your followers to watch them. Instead of writing a wall of text, use these creative YouTube banner templates to increase engagement.
While paid advertising on social media is a good marketing strategy, it works better for conventional businesses than YouTube channels. Instead of paying for a social media campaign, I recommend you promote your content through collaborations and guest appearances. If you collaborate with other YouTubers, you can reach their audiences and your own; it’s a quick way to multiply your audience reach.
Some final thoughts
What you have read above is the fundamental framework that guides your overall marketing strategy. Of course, you’ll have to fill in the gaps by experimenting with what works for you, especially when there’s no one-size-fits-all strategy for all YouTube channels. Some channels can snowball with collaborations, while others have to take the longer and more backbreaking route.
At the end of the day, every cog in your marketing strategy is interconnected. Your video title makes you visible on Google, the thumbnail lures in viewers, and the video content drives traffic. Ultimately, your audience will decide whether your videos are binge-worthy or not.