If you want to be successful as a YouTuber, it’s important to know how to build your audience. After all, what’s the point of making videos if no one is there to see them? This post aims to teach you basic steps and savvy hints to develop your audience. So let’s learn how to build a viewership that is engaged, interested, and continuously growing.
Create Top Quality Content
The first step to learning how to build a YouTube audience is to create the kind of content that keeps viewers coming back for more. When I say “quality”, I’m not talking about having the best camera or sophisticated software. Sure, you need a reliable setup when making YouTube videos, but that alone won’t build your audience. Rather, you need to create content that does better than what’s already out there. Viewers are looking for someone who can satisfy a need — a need for information, entertainment, escapism, and all the rest of it. Get noticed on YouTube by providing content that is engaging, valuable, and useful.
Optimize for your Audience, not Views
In order to succeed on YouTube, you shouldn’t be asking how to generate traffic, but rather how to build a YouTube audience. Yes, traffic is great. So are views. And in creating your top quality videos, you should be able to improve both of these things. But the advantage of optimizing for your desired audience is that you will be building a stronger channel for the future. Give yourself a better chance for YouTube success by using a consistent video strategy that focuses on viewer experience and customer satisfaction.
Use Great Branding Techniques for your Channel
Making your channel look visually appealing can seem like a low-priority task. But remember, humans are visual creatures. If you want to know how to build a YouTube audience and attract more subscribers, you’ve got to look the part. Branding your channel will make it look more professional, cohesive, and recognizable to visitors. Think about your brand — the logo, colors, font, slogan, and overall style that you use on your website and marketing materials. Your branding should appear consistently in all aspects of your business and across your channel.
Customize your Thumbnails
As mentioned above, your branding should carry across every one of your videos — and that means creating customized thumbnails. The thumbnail is one of the first things a viewer will notice about your video when they see it in search results or suggested lists. A big part of learning how to build a YouTube audience is simply finding ways to be noticed. The more you can do to stand out, the better. Start creating custom thumbnails for your videos — they will play a significant role in getting your content seen by the right people.
Promote Your Videos on Other Platforms to Increase your Audience
Ever wondered how to spread YouTube videos to a wider audience? You need to start promoting your videos outside of YouTube. There are many different platforms and audiences to target, like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. You can also use email lists or Q&A sites like Quora and Reddit.
Attract and engage with subscribers outside of YouTube. Engage with followers and cross-promote your content on social media.
Develop a Video Publishing Schedule
Consistency is important in all aspects of YouTube. One way that you may be able to attract viewers to your channel is by establishing a regular video publishing schedule. Developing a video routine is a big part of growing your viewership. It can help keep your channel in the forefront of viewers’ minds, and let them know when to expect new content. Aim to post videos at set intervals (such as twice a week or once a fortnight) or on specific days (like every Sunday).
Don’t worry if it takes you a few months to develop a routine. It will take time for you to determine how many videos you can produce reliably. Remember to keep track of the entire creation process. This includes how long it takes you to research ideas and keywords, write a script, capture footage, edit, upload, and optimize the video for your audience.
If possible, you could try to create a backlog of videos before you set up your channel. This can be a good safety net for unforeseen situations where you are unable to produce a video; however, don’t work too far in advance. Give yourself the leeway to respond to trends and improve your content using data from YouTube Analytics.
Build a Community Around Your Channel
People like to feel that they are a part of something bigger than themselves. Much of YouTube’s popularity is the sense of community that it fosters. YouTube can offer a connected experience — to grow your viewership, you will need to establish a close-knit, active community.
YouTube subscribers appreciate content creators who listen to, interact with, and create videos in response to their fans. I’m talking more than just replying to the occasional comment; if you want to see how to build a YouTube audience, you must connect with your viewers and get to know them. In fact, 4 in 10 millennial subscribers say their favourite YouTube stars understand them better than their friends.
This is only part 1 of what will hopefully develop into a multi-part series. In the mean time, what sort of methods have you tried to grow your viewership on YouTube? Feel free to share your advice below to help others learn how to build a YouTube audience of their own. Got questions? Leave them in the comments!
