HOW TO INCREASE YOUTUBE SUBSCRIBERS – THE TOP 13 TIPS & IDEAS

The best 13 Youtube Marketing practices, strategies, easy-to-implement tactics, tips and tools to increase your Youtube subscribers and video views.

Written by Mau, Senior Youtube Marketing Specialist and training facilitator at eDigital.

HOW TO INCREASE YOUTUBE SUBSCRIBERS – THE TOP 13 TIPS & IDEAS

Millions of videos are watched every day on the Youtube website. No surprise as YouTube is the world’s second-largest search engine, after its parent company Google. It is also extremely simple to embed a YouTube video that is relevant to your business on your website. Youtube Marketing can increase the number of people who know about your business – so if you have videos that explain what you do, why and how you do it, you should include them on your Youtube channel and website.

Implementing all of the above Youtube optimisation tips and ideas will help to get your videos on Youtube’s recommended section.

13. ADD SURPRISED OR HAPPY EMOTIONS TO YOUR YOUTUBE’S VIDEO THUMBNAILS

Thumbnail design has become one of the most talked-about aspects of content creation.

YouTube thumbnail trends have ebbed and flowed as creators have looked to reap the benefits of viral video thumbnail designs.

One of the most popular templates has been MrBeast’s face-focused format.

But how can creators determine which kinds of faces will play best with viewers?

New data from video editing app: Kapwing could help fill in the blanks.

The video editing app teamed up with marketing agency NeoMam Studios to identify the most common thumbnail faces used by some of YouTube’s biggest stars.

The study used AI facial recognition technology to categorise thumbnails into seven emotional groups: happy, sad, surprised, calm, fear and confused.

The findings:

Overall, positive emotions showed up more frequently in the measured thumbnails.

Surprise and happiness both appeared in nearly 27% of the listed videos, while calm came in third place. Sadness and disgust accounted for less than 2% of the measured thumbnails.

Happiness was the most common expression in MrBeast thumbnails (although his channel featured all seven emotions). PewDiePie and KSI took the same approach. Mark Rober‘s thumbnails were entirely happy and calm, while Ludwig‘s all featured confusion, happiness, or fear. 70% of SSSniperWolf‘s thumbnails showed surprise.

“This data shows that successful YouTube creators prefer using a happy or surprised face. Viewers like watching (and engaging with) positive content on YouTube.”

Kapwing’s Co-Founder, Eric Lu.

12. FOLLOW THE LATEST POPULAR CULTURE AND TRENDS

Is there anything from the latest Youtube Culture and Trends Report that you can implement for your Youtube channels and videos? Being aware of the new cultural movements and latest trends on Youtube will help your channels ensure you are offering content that is relevant and fresh to new and emerging audiences.

11. INCREASE YOUR YOUTUBE VIDEO VIEWS

According to CNET, 70% of YouTube views come through its recommendation section people use to watch videos. This is really important as most people think SEO for Youtube, social media sharing of youtube videos and getting people to subscribe to your channel are the only ways to increase views to your Youtube videos. To get more Youtube video views it is important you understand how the YouTube algorithm works in 2019.

YouTube recommendation section defines what videos to show up depending on the below signals:

1. Click-through rate (the likelihood of someone clicking on your video after seeing it)
2. Watch time (the combined amount of time that viewers spend watching your videos)
3. Amount of videos watched from your channel. How many videos the user has watched from your channel
4. Recency. How recently the user watched a video about this topic
5. Past user searchers. What the user has searched for in the past
6. User watching history. The user’s previously watched videos
7. User profile. The user’s demographic information and location

The first three signals are the ones you can control and influence as a Youtube channel owner/manager.

Youtube software looks for “expected watch time per impression”. Ranking by click-through rate often promotes deceptive videos that the user does not complete (commonly called: clickbait) whereas watch time better captures engagement.

YouTube penalises bait-and-switch tactics – overpromising before the click and delivering disappointing content after it. However, the click-through rate is important. You can’t generate anyway a lot of watch time for YouTube without getting clicks first.

A great way to see how this is important for Youtube is by looking at the data offered about your channel on your YouTube Studios (The new YouTube analytics dashboard).

10. UNDERSTAND YOUR YOUTUBE DATA

Under the Reach Viewers tab, you can see the following metrics, which together illustrate YouTube’s new emphasis on click-through rate and watch time:

• Impressions: How many times your video thumbnails were shown to viewers as a recommended video, on the homepage, or in search results?
• Traffic sources for impressions: Where on YouTube your video thumbnails were shown to potential viewers?
• Impressions click-through rate (CTR): How often users watched a video after seeing your thumbnails (based on logged-in impressions).
• Views from impressions: This measures how often viewers watched your videos after seeing them on YouTube.
• Watch time from impressions: Watch time that originated from people who saw your videos and clicked them on YouTube.

If you want to get more views through YouTube’s recommendation engine, you need to optimize your channel and your videos for both click-through rate and watch time.

9. BE CONSISTENT

Consistency is the foundation for successful Youtube Marketing. Most great YouTube channels can quickly be understood because they have been consistent with the type of video content they offer. Top examples include some of the top 25 Australians on Youtube.

Top tip: “Most YouTube channels with low views struggle to get subscribers and views because they treat their YouTube channel as a place to upload all their videos, rather than as a home for a consistent video series”

YouTube creators, marketers and business owners who find their consistency are able to sustainably grow their Youtube subscribers and video viewership because their Youtube channel makes it easier for people to decide to watch more of their content and subscribe to their channel.

The “How to Basic” Channel channel embodies the kind of consistency – funny stupid videos – with multiple series that are essentially variations of the same premise.

8. PROMOTE YOUR VIDEOS OUTSIDE OF YOUTUBE

Newer YouTube channels can’t rely on the Youtube suggestions section to drive all their video views.

Youtube suggested videos are mostly based on how Youtube users have viewed and interacted with your videos in the past. YouTube needs data to base the suggestions on and there’s no data without people watching your videos.

You will need to promote your videos outside of Youtube. This includes:

• Sending your new Youtube videos to your email subscribers.
• Partnering with key media outlets and online publishers
• Partner with key influencers in your niche.
• Promoting your videos on your other social media channels.
• YouTube SEO and getting more subscribers will help you not only to garner video views over the long-term but also because what a user repeatedly consumes on-platform and what a user subscribes to are key signals that the YouTube algorithm uses to make personalised recommendations.

Some of the most important signals Youtube receives are those that describe a user’s previous interaction with the item itself and other similar items. Youtube considers the user’s past history with the channel that uploaded the video being scored – how many videos have the user watched from this channel? When was the last time the user watched a video on this topic? etc.

If you can get a new user to continue watching more content after clicking through to one of your videos, you can increase the chances of your videos getting recommended to them the next time they open their YouTube App on their phone or Youtube website on their laptop.

7. OPTIMISE YOUR YOUTUBE VIDEO THUMBNAILS FOR CLICKS

Making sure you have the most optimal thumbnails will help the click-through rate of your videos and as a result, the likelihood of your videos being suggested by Youtube.

6. ADD EMOTIVE FACES OR ACTION SHOTS TO VIDEOS’ THUMBNAILS

Look around YouTube and you’ll see no shortage of highly expressive faces on video thumbnails. According to a study by Netflix about the performance of artwork on the platform,

“Emotions are an efficient way of conveying complex nuances. It’s well known that humans are hardwired to respond to faces – we have seen this to be consistent across all mediums. But it is important to note that faces with complex emotions outperform stoic or benign expressions.”

Tip: One of the earliest trends also noted by Netflix, which is worth carrying forward to your own Youtube thumbnails, is that an image’s tendency to win against others dropped when it contained more than 3 people. However, with any rule, there are some exceptions as the music video below is one of the most-viewed music videos on Youtube in history. This thumbnail has more than 3 people, however, there are only two main characters.

You can optimise your thumbnails for click-throughs by including one to three faces in your thumbnails wearing expressions that speak louder than words.

If you don’t have emotive faces in your videos, you can also use thumbnails that convey action to elicit an emotional response.

5. IMAGE COMPOSITION IS KEY

The rule of thirds suggests that you position your point of interest not in the centre of the image, but in the first or last third of the frame. It is a simplified way of achieving the “golden ratio”, which studies have shown minimises the amount of time it takes for our brains to process an image.

While it’s more of a guideline than a hard rule, drawing the viewer’s eye to the most important “message” in your image is key.

4. ADD TEXT TO YOUR VIDEOS’ THUMBNAILS

According to a 2019 study by Sandvine, YouTube now accounts for 37% of all mobile traffic on the internet. That also means a fair segment of your viewers will see your videos on a mobile device.

The prominence of your thumbnail relative to the title makes it almost guaranteed that the users will be drawn to the thumbnail of your video first. And then, if they find the image compelling enough, will they read the title?

Adding some text to your Youtube video thumbnails can help viewers make up their minds.

The text can be the title of your video or even just a handful of words that are related to its hook. Whatever you choose, if over a third of your viewers are used to “reading” thumbnails on mobile, make sure your own thumbnails can communicate what your video’s about even without the title.

3. ADD YOUR LOGO ON YOUR VIDEO THUMBNAILS TO MAKE IT EASY FOR PEOPLE TO RECOGNISE YOUR VIDEOS

Youtube thumbnails can be very similar aesthetically and so making it easy for viewers to spot your videos at a glance increases the chances that they’ll be clicked on by people who are already familiar with your content.

If you have a consistent format for your YouTube channel, consider branding your thumbnails to differentiate them from other recommended videos by adding your logo.

2. EARN MORE WATCH TIME

Improve your video completion rate (and earn more watch time) by building this objective into your video creation process:

• Start strong and incorporate a “hook” into the introduction of your video
• Transcribe your videos so people can watch them muted
• Adjust the length of your videos according to your analytics (how far do viewers actually make it before dropping off?)
• Don’t use the same shot for too long or you may bore the viewer (this is why jump cuts are popular on YouTube)
• If your video is long, sprinkle in interruptive moments that re-focus the viewer’s attention when it starts to wander.

1. INVITE USERS TO ENJOY AND INDULGE IN OTHER VIDEOS

You can also optimise watch time at the channel level by employing strategies involving video consumption and consistency.

Beyond having a focused premise for your YouTube channel – which is arguably the most important factor – some other ways you can make it easier for viewers to watch more of your content include:

• Using cards and end cards to manually recommend related videos
• Linking to videos in playlists whenever you share so that the next video the user watches is in your channel.
• Developing a consistent format from the thumbnail to the video itself – if viewers enjoy one of your videos, they should be able to rightly assume they’ll enjoy your other videos.
• Incorporating a specific call to action or even scenes from other videos to “pitch” viewers directly to consume more content.

Marketers are also reading: The top 25 most popular Australians on Youtube

Conclusion

By utilising Youtube as a marketing channel, you are not only increasing brand preference, leads and sales but you are also increasing the online authority of your business on Youtube ( the world’s second most popular search engine after Google). The more authoritative you are on Youtube, the higher your page will rank on Youtube and Google results pages.
eDigital can help you conceptualise, plan, develop, run and optimise successful YouTube advertising campaigns that generate leads and sales for your brand.

Our digital marketing services include:

• Strategic planning for social media and other digital marketing channels.
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• Conversion rate optimisation. It is also called “path to purchase” optimisation.

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HOW TO INCREASE YOUTUBE SUBSCRIBERS

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