To promote a YouTube channel from scratch on your own, you need to treat it like a full-time job. You will need strong internal motivation, constant training in marketing, sales, networking skills, and most importantly, the ability to generate and implement creative ideas. Promote the channel in really free ways. Choosing paid YouTube promotion methods can save you time, but it’s better to choose them wisely and use them as an investment in a profitable channel.
Thoughtless cheating or PR for all star bloggers in a row will be a waste of the budget and carry the risk of ruining the channel in the bud. YouTube’s audience YouTube is considered not only a popular video hosting site, but also the second largest search engine after Google, according to GlobalMediaInsight. The number of active channels is 38 million. The largest channel, T-Series, has 208 million subscribers.
2.3 billion people visit YouTube every month. The number of published videos is about 500 hours every minute. Every day, people watch over a billion hours of video and generate billions of views.
The majority of users are in the 15-35 age group. More than 70% of YouTube viewing time is on mobile devices. The ratio of men and women among the audience is 11:9.
The average length of a YouTube video is 12 minutes. An average person watches 9 videos a day. The top genre watched by YouTube users is comedy (77% of users). Most YouTube users in India: 225 million.
How YouTube’s ranking algorithms work YouTube generates a recommendation feed based on certain algorithms. The feed shows videos not only from the channels to which you are subscribed. Artificial intelligence directly analyzes user behavior plus the behavior of other user groups with similar interests and preferences.
That is, you are invited to watch
- videos that are similar in topics to those that you watched before;
- videos watched by people whose behavior is similar to yours (the principle of “collaborative filtering”);
- videos from channels you’ve recently subscribed to.
YouTube AI collects data about your behavior from search queries, likes, subscriptions, activities, favorite sites. If you are not satisfied with what YouTube shows in the recommendations, go to settings, clear your browsing history. The algorithm has an important feature: immediately after posting, the video should receive the maximum possible number of views and interactions.
The first 24 hours are considered key. If no one watches the video during this time, views will be gained very slowly and the video will not get into the top recommendations.
1. External analysis of the audience
competitors, topics Analysis of a niche, audience, competitors is the first way to promote a channel and, in general, the first thing to start promotion with. The analysis begins with brainstorming and generating ideas – what is your channel about, what topics are interesting to shoot videos on, what tasks the channel solves.
After you have chosen a few ideas, study the videos in “Trends”, in the Top YouTube for your topic, watch a few videos of competitors – successful and unsuccessful. Collect information about successful moments and other people’s mistakes, from which you can also learn.
2. Channel theme It is believed that only hype topics attract attention
For example, videos where a person spoils expensive items, scrolls a brand new iPhone through a meat grinder are in great demand. But not always using shock content means making profit and views. You can shoot more intelligent and useful videos. The greatest number of views and popularity are gained by topics that are related to the problems and needs of most people:
- money – how to earn money, how to save money, where to get it;
- beauty and health – how to be healthy and beautiful, how to lose weight, how to make a good impression with your appearance;
- family relationships, romance, parenting;
- personal security – how to protect yourself from fraudsters, how to save your life, honor, dignity, money, etc.;
- personal growth, self-development; pleasure, entertainment, humor, creativity.
Revelations, behind the scenes, the reverse side of the process look good: how people live in other countries, how machines work, how a product or a creative work of art is created.
Case of the channel “All works are good”: the author, as an undercover secret agent, infiltrates companies, finds out how work is organized there, tells everything in detail. Each of his videos has over 1 million views.
3. Content plan
A well-thought-out content plan is a good way to promote a channel, because you always have ideas of what to shoot at your fingertips, and you don’t waste time looking for those ideas. A content plan disciplines, keeps motivation, helps not to forget ideas if you immediately fix them in one place.
The content plan is compiled based on the topic of the channel, its strategy, niche, and audience analysis. Working with a content plan is permanent, it requires a flexible approach: you can’t draw it up once and forget it. A good option is to make a content plan for the month, including an analysis of the previous month.
4. Experiment with formats
Use different formats for presenting material, analyze what the audience liked the most. Thus, you diversify the channel, attract the attention of a wider range of people.
5. Regularity and frequency of publications
YouTube likes to rank channels where videos appear at least 2-3 times a week. You can publish more often if the retention rates are good and the videos themselves are small and entertaining.
Less often is undesirable, since the less often videos are published, the more YouTube pessimizes the channel, perceiving it as inactive.
Also read: How Much Money Do YouTubers Make?
