If you a content creator or just starting out with creating videos you are probably wondering how to drive traffic to your Youtube channel. YouTube, one of the most underutilized social media marketing platforms, has untapped potential thanks to its billions of active users. A higher YouTube ranking may also increase a user’s visibility in Google search results.
Here are nine strategies to increase traffic to your YouTube channel in a world where engagement metrics and subscribers may directly affect the success of your company.
Retention Takes Priority
The main goal of YouTube is to keep viewers on the platform for a longer period of time because the longer consumers watch videos, the more adverts they will see. This ultimately results in increased revenue for YouTube.
It is logical to assume that YouTube values videos with strong user retention rates because of this. These figures are equally significant to the typical viewing time of a video. In light of this, retention is the primary factor to consider when attempting to assess the viability of a channel.
You can quickly verify these stats using YouTube Analytics if your channel has some existing traffic. YouTube might not be the best option for you if your retention percentage is less than 35%. A success rate of 35% or higher indicates a higher likelihood of success.
Here Are Some Tips To Keep In Mind To Win Some Clicks
Choose Your Thumbnail Wisely
Your choice of thumbnails for each video is more essential than you may realize at this point. It’s what people will see first when they do a search for your videos, so it needs to be compelling enough to get clicked on.
Put another way, try to make it intriguing. YouTube provides three default thumbnails for each video, but if you’d want to use something more attention-grabbing, you may create and submit your own. This helps tremendously.
Think Over Your Title And Video Description
Your title is important for getting people to click on your video, but it can also help you rank higher in search results, which should lead to more people visiting your channel.
The initial word in the phrase should be something significant, like a keyword, and the rest should be drawn from the video itself. Although you should be brief and descriptive in the title, you can go into deeper depth in the video’s description.
You can use the description to include a keyword phrase, your URL, and a short paragraph explaining the video’s context.
Edit For Quality
To be clear, high-quality video does not automatically imply high-quality production. If you’re just getting started with YouTube and don’t have access to expensive equipment or a large budget, don’t let that stop you.
However, you should still maintain a professional standard in your video productions. That implies clean, well-lit and well-scripted video. So, take baby steps. For example, the classic “floating head” video, which features one person on screen, is an easy and effective strategy.
You need to have a clean, non-distracting background and a well-rehearsed, interesting on-screen character. Create many takes of the recording and combine the best takes in post-production.
Optimize Your Videos Metadata
What exactly is metadata, you may wonder? Metadata is the data entered about a video to better describe its content. The metadata of your videos on YouTube consists of the titles, descriptions, and tags.
Search engines like Google and YouTube put a premium on these specific aspects of a video, so making them as optimized as possible is crucial.
Keep in mind that these optimizations will only work if your video actually contains material that people want to watch. Metadata optimization won’t help much if your video itself isn’t high quality.
Upload Frequently
You’ll obtain better engagement on your videos if you decide to make an uploading schedule. You can let folks know that you’ll upload twice a week on Tuesdays and Fridays, for example.
While it may be tempting to get as many videos up as quickly as possible, especially at the outset, you shouldn’t put quantity ahead of quality. Determine a practical plan of action that works in tandem with your content approach.
Take Advantage Of YouTube Analytics
YouTube’s analytics give you a wealth of useful data, such as view time, audience retention, demographics, traffic sources, devices, and more. You can learn more about your target demographic and what they like to do thanks to this data. As a result, you may make a video that will resonate strongly with your target demographic.
Watch Time for your videos is the total amount of time that they are viewed. In reality, YouTube uses watch time to rank every single video and channel. Your videos and channel will receive more views and subscribers if viewers spend longer time consuming them. And the only way to accomplish this is to produce content of high quality and interest.
Get More Clicks
You’ve followed all the steps and now your video is shown on the page of suggested videos. But no one is watching them, so they disappear off the list practically instantly. Now what? To begin, examine your material and make changes to make it more interesting and useful.
This can be done by modifying the thumbnail, title, and description that people see when your video is suggested in a search.
Engage With Your Audience
Never lose sight of the fact that YouTube is, at heart, a social media platform that necessitates engagement with others. You’re missing a trick if all you’re doing is publishing videos online without inviting feedback and debate.
Excellent interaction on YouTube, measured by metrics like watch time, likes, dislikes, and comments, is rewarded. Make an effort to reply to all feedback you receive (if possible), and utilize both visual and auditory prompts to pique your audience’s interest.
Cross Promotion
Directing people to your previous videos on YouTube is a simple approach to increase their viewership. To achieve this, you can provide a link to an older video in the description of a new video if doing so makes sense.
Annotation cards placed at the end of your films are another wonderful approach to encourage viewers to explore the rest of your content. Since you probably don’t want people to click away from the video before they’re done watching it, save the annotation cards for the end of the video.
Conclusion
Those YouTubers who have mastered the art of social media marketing and know how to connect with their audience have created successful channels that bring in a consistent revenue. You, too, can create a popular channel if you put out the necessary effort.
The fate of your channel rests on your ability to consistently produce content that is both engaging and informative. Prioritize communicating with your subscribers and rewarding them with features and recognition.
