Photo by Dmitry Rodionov on Unsplash
Guest Post Sophia Smith
The competition is cutthroat. In YouTube Land, there is a billion and one creators who are looking for exactly the same thing that you are – to grow their following and get to the trending page. Here are the cold, hard facts: there are over 31 million YouTube channels right now and the numbers keep growing. There’s almost an endless number of creators you’re going up against.
Does this mean you can’t make it? Not at all. You just need patience, passion for content creation, and a few tips that will help you create a strategy to grow you channel.
In a sea of videos, we’re going to show you how to make yours stand out and bring you more followers.
Figure out your target audience
Who do you want to watch your videos? More importantly, who’s actually going to end up watching your videos? Any YouTube creator needs to pay attention to their audience and take their desires into consideration. You’re not making videos to release into the empty void, you’re making them for specific people, so you better be ready to listen to what those people have to say.
Narrow it down to a niche
Let’s say you want to make videos for gamers. That’s great, but there are 2.5 billion gamers in the world according to some stats. Those 2.5 billion are divided by gender, by types of games they like to play, by the kind of community they want to be a part of. Attempting to draw them all in means you’ll be competing with gaming behemoths like PewDiePie, who has over 26 billion of views on his channel.
Or let’s say you want to be a beauty guru. You’ll be going up against names like Nikkie Tutorials, James Charles, or Tati who all have millions of subscribers. Those “generalized” channels have already been covered. Look at the community you want to tap into. See which demographics haven’t been covered. Find your niche.
Bring something new to the table
Why should anyone listen to you? If you can’t answer that question, you don’t have a channel worth watching. A good YouTube creator has three things: uniqueness, authenticity, and passion for the topic they make videos about. You better figure out what makes your channel different than all the rest if you want to stand out.
Make a damn good intro
Nothing sells a video like a well-made intro. An intro can help you get people excited about the things you’ll be mentioning in your video, especially if it’s short, sweet, and to the point. This is particularly important for gaming channels because there’s generally a lot of creators out there who don’t put any effort into building their brand – a good intro can do that for you.
You don’t even need any special skills to make one, either. You can find a YouTube intro maker online and then pick a template that you like. Customize the template, download the intro, and then make sure it appears at the start of every video you make. This way, you’re showing something recognizable which will make people remember you.
Invest in good equipment
What do you even do with content you can’t see or hear well? You go find something better, that’s what. Regardless of how fun and interesting what you have to show is, you can’t expect people to sit through a video that looks like it was filmed on a potato.
Invest in a decent microphone and camera and you’ll be able to get your message across loud and clear.
Connect to other social media
This is another way to build your brand and reach more people. If you want to work from home and earn a pretty penny, then bear in mind that social media management is a crucial step. If you coordinate between your YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and TikTok, then more people will be aware that you made a new video. If someone on Instagram likes your post, they’ll be eager to check out your YouTube channel as well.
Is this going to take a lot of time and effort? Absolutely, but any profitable job does, at least at first.
Use YouTube analytics
It’s a bunch of numbers that can look a little confusing to a beginner creator, but they’re actually really useful. The first thing to pay attention to is you click-through rate. This tells you how many of your videos actually draw people in enough to click on them. If the number is low, there are two things you can do: use more enticing titles, and make better thumbnails.
Regardless of what you think of them, clickbait titles work. Think about it, which title is going to turn more heads – “Weight Loss Diet” or “Eat This for Two Weeks to Lose 10 Pounds”. However, bear one thing in mind: if your title is too outrageous or downright deceiving, you’ll make your audience angry.
As for the thumbnails, the best thing you can do is combine both a punchy text and an eye-catching picture. Make sure that the thumbnails always use the same font and a similar type of thumbnail. This will help you build a brand.
One last tip before we go
Stay persistent. Growing a channel doesn’t happen overnight, and you’ll need to have some patience before you see results. The best thing you can do is make videos you’re passionate about and engage with your audience constantly. Make sure they feel heard and show them you care about your subscribers.
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