The Secret to Gaining More YouTube Subscribers
Why use YouTube for marketing?
When it comes to digital marketing strategies, companies often overlook YouTube as a necessary channel, choosing instead to invest their time and money into other social media platforms like Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, and Facebook. Which, it turns out, is a pretty big oversight. As the internet’s second-largest search engine, YouTube generates a mind-boggling amount of traffic, with users consuming more than 5 billion videos per day. Over 300 hours are uploaded to the platform every minute. And, according to Think with Google, 68% of YouTube users say they watched YouTube to help make a purchase decision.
Considering those stats, it seems like a no-brainer for companies to push YouTube to the forefront of their marketing campaign. But while creating high-quality, compelling content is a challenge of its own, the bigger issue lies in gaining subscribers. It’s not enough to post dozens of videos; only with subscribers can you climb the proverbial YouTube algorithm ladder. It’s the subscribers that increase watch time, play counts, and engagement – all metrics that the algorithm prioritizes.
So how do you grow your YouTube channel? Well, at Design In DC, we have a few tried-and-true tactics. Since we offer both videography services and marketing packages, we often combine our talents to create effective YouTube marketing campaigns, both internally and for our clients. This has given us an opportunity to hone our process, discarding what doesn’t work and keeping what does. Below, we divulge our top 10 industry secrets to gaining more YouTube subscribers:
1. Don’t Buy YouTube Subscribers
We know how tempting it is, but please, for the love of all that is good, refrain from purchasing subscribers. There are a couple of reasons why. For starters, when you purchase subscribers what you’re really buying is bots. Bots don’t engage with the content, and engagement, as we mentioned before, is critical for moving up the ranks according to YouTube’s algorithms. Not only that, but users are generally pretty good at sniffing out bots – and are likely to flee from the scent of inauthenticity. Purchasing subscribers also puts you at risk of being permanently banned from YouTube for going against their “Fake Engagement Policy”. So just don’t do it. We beg you. There are plenty of ways (see: the 9 other points below) to grow your followership organically.
2. Focus on Video Quality
This piece of advice seems fairly obvious, but it’s important nonetheless. When it comes to video content, quality is everything. And we don’t just mean resolution (although that’s important too). The actual content of the video needs to be compelling, well-produced, and easy to follow. Why? Because, as we’ll get to later, the “end screen” (or final frame) of any video is one of the most vital components of YouTube marketing. And if you can’t get users to watch your video to the end, then we’ve wasted a big opportunity. As a general rule of thumb, we like to stick to the old adage: quality over quantity. Better to have one great, visually-rich video that users actually watch than 10 mediocre ones that they stop partway through.
3. Optimize Video Descriptions
If an image (or a video in this case) is worth 1000 words, do you still have to write a video description? Absolutely. Video descriptions are what ensures your videos show up on search engines, so it’s essential that you write one for every video you post. But don’t go trying to cram 10 keywords or make your description paragraphs long; this will hurt your SEO rankings more than it helps them. Better to opt for a short, authentic paragraph that concisely explains what the video is about and why users should click to watch it.
4. Transcribe Your Videos
Transcribing your YouTube videos will help you reach a wider audience by making it more accessible to those who are visually impaired (or those who are watching the video when they should be working so can’t turn on the sound). A video transcription also boosts your video’s SEO because it counts as “page copy” and gives indexable text to help you rank for more queries. To transcribe your video, go to the ellipses below the video title. Once the pop-up menu appears, click “Open Transcript”. The now-enabled transcript will appear on the left-hand side of the page. Just be sure to give it a quick edit; the transcripts are auto-generated so there might be copy errors.
5. Incorporate Popular YouTube Search Terms
Using popular YouTube search terms in your video’s title and description is an effective way to gain more subscribers. Adding these terms increases the volume of users landing on your page. To identify which terms are popular, you can use Google Trends. Simply type the term you were thinking of incorporating into the “Explore topics” bar at the top. A graph will appear showing you the popularity of that search term across the entire internet. To refine your search for YouTube metrics specifically, change “Web search” on the drop-down menu to “YouTube search”. A word to the wise: the popularity of these terms is always shifting, so it’s best to check these terms each time you post a new video rather than compiling a list to be used in the future.
6. Don’t Try To Go Viral
We know going viral is the ultimate goal for many people, but when a marketing strategy focuses too much on going viral, it can lose its audience. In the pursuit of internet fame and exponential shares, some companies begin pumping out video after video without giving much thought to their actual customer. As a result, their subscribers start to dwindle, and the chances of going viral shrink. Instead, focus on growing a loyal subscriber base over time. After all, the more followers, the higher the chance of actually going viral.
7. Create A “Theme” For Your Channel
As with most marketing campaigns, once you find what works, use it and use it again. When it comes to a YouTube channel, this means paying attention to what your subscribers are responding best to. Are you getting more likes when your videos have some humor in them? Or when you’re talking more about company culture than products? Essentially, what do your highest-performing videos have in common? Once you’ve figured it out, whatever “it” is, try to employ “it” in at least 70% of your videos.
8. Interact With Your Subscribers
Engage, engage, engage. Interacting with your YouTube subscribers is an integral part of executing a successful YouTube marketing campaign. When you form relationships with your viewers, they’re much more likely to continue watching your work. And be sure to respond to negative or critical comments too; a thoughtful response to a genuine critique helps establish trust and credibility, and shows you care about improving your customers’ experience. As we’ve touched on before in this post, engagement also ensures you rise higher in YouTube’s ranking, increasing visibility to more potential subscribers.
9. Use Giveaways As an Incentive
YouTube is an excellent way to announce promotions, discounts, and giveaways. Doing so offers viewers something in return for their engagement, and, ideally, incentivizes subscribers to continue watching your content in the hopes there might be another prize coming soon. Plus, a satisfied subscriber is more likely to tell their friends about the platform. Win, win.
10. Make Use Of Your End Screen
It’s only fitting to share our thoughts on the “End Screen” as our final tactic. The End Screen is the final frame of your video and it’s where you have the opportunity to capture subscribers, and link to merchandise, websites, crowdfunding campaigns, and other videos. Essentially, the End Screens offer you the ability to direct viewers to take action, even if that action is just to engage with your YouTube channel further. However, please note that an End Screen cannot be created as part of the video – it is added in YouTube at the end of the uploading process. And there are a few requirements your video must meet to qualify for an End Screen. The video must be a minimum of 25 seconds long and you must have at least 1000 followers or 4000 hours watched in the last year. To learn more about how to create an effective End Screen or whether your company qualifies, check out this article.
To Wrap It All Up
There are several ways to organically gain YouTube subscribers, such as…
- Not buying subscribers
- Focusing on quality content
- Optimizing video descriptions
- Transcribing your videos
- Incorporating popular keywords
- Not focusing solely on going viral
- Creating a “theme” for your channel
- Using giveaways as an incentive
- Making use of your End Screen
When done properly, YouTube can be used as an effective marketing tool. But it only works if you put as much effort into growing your subscriber base as you do in creating the videos themselves. At Design In DC, we can help you on both fronts. With our videography services, we can help you create captivating videos that align with your brand. Together with our marketing packages, we will amplify those videos and ensure you’re gaining subscribers from your target audience.
What do you think about YouTube as a marketing channel? Feel free to leave a comment below! And don’t forget to follow us on social media if you want to stay up to date with all of the latest Design In DC news!
