How to grow YouTube channel

HOW TO GROW YOUTUBE CHANNEL IN 2023

There’s no denying that video marketing has been on the rise over the past few years, growing ever more popular and accessible for brands. While popular sites such as TikTok, Facebook and Instagram and your website are great places to invest, creating a YouTube channel might be the best place to promote your brand as individuals spend one billion hours each day watching videos on this platform.

Often referred to as the world’s ‘second-largest search engine’, YouTube can help people find your content quickly and drive engagement - if you know a few tricks and understand the fundamentals of making creative videos. Here are 10 of the best tips to grow your YouTube channel.

1. Build Your Videos Around a Single Keyword/Topic

Building your video around a single topic or keyword is the best way to drive traffic and grow your YouTube audience. Marketers that don’t know SEO risk missing this step to rank videos but it’s crucial to include it if you want your videos to get the maximum amount of viewers. Use a keyword tool like KeywordTool.io, which is specific to YouTube, to look for the most searched keywords in the niche you want to target.

2. Reuse Existing Top Performing Content

Many people go to YouTube to find answers and how-to tutorials especially during the COVID-19 pandemic where people binge-watched 4 billion hours of ‘how to’ videos in just one year. So content that solves problems for your audience is a great way to drive traffic. Perform a content audit to discover the blogs, guides, and other high-performing pieces you currently have and think about how to repurpose them to create relevant and engaging videos.

Bear in mind that the most successful videos on YouTube are typically between one to five minutes long, so don’t feel you have to make a film or write a novel. Keep it short and sweet

3. Engage with Your Audience

It's important not to overlook the fact that YouTube is a social media channel, and therefore demands social interaction. If you’re just posting videos without encouraging comments and discussion, you’re missing a trick. 

You can also take the time to visit other channels and engage, this could be a brand similar to your own or simply one you admire. Don’t always wait for the audience to take the initiative either. Post questions or comments that can drive engagement by asking questions relevant to the content or even just asking what content they like to see on your channel or would like to see more of. Plus, make sure to thank people for sharing on Youtube and other channels. 

4. Promote Your YouTube Videos on Other Social Channels

One of the wonderful things about social media is that you can cross-promote content on different channels. Promoting your YouTube videos on your other social channels is the easiest way to grow your audience

According to Digital 2021: Global Overview Report, there is a significant overlap in users across social media platforms with YouTube seeing huge engagement of over 90% amongst users of all the top channels. This means that it’s a channel to be reckoned with when it comes to marketing activities and engagement. 

5. Show Up & Stand Out

If you’re running YouTube by yourself or as part of a small organization, it can be extremely beneficial to personalize the channel by participating in videos. When you put a face to a brand, your audience can more easily connect with you as an individual. This is especially important for vloggers; fitness, life, or business coaches; and solopreneurs

Every video you make doesn’t need to include your face, but you should feature regularly enough to engage your audience. Additionally, if you are this type of YouTuber, use a photo of yourself on your channel (not your logo). See the example below from marketing guru Adam Erhart.

6. Post Great Thumbnails & Leverage YouTube Cards

The same goes for YouTube search. Videos with a catchy title and appealing thumbnail usually rank higher, even if the content itself isn’t as valuable because they have a higher click-through rate (CTR). To get your CTR where it needs to be, try using tactics such as highlighted areas, arrows, large text, and unexpected or eye-catching l images. See the examples below from Neil Patel