Videos are the most potent form of content available today. It tickles our visual, auditory, and emotional chords like no other. For businesses or individuals looking to reap the power of this media form, YouTube is the place for you.
As the second largest search engine–just behind Google–YouTube puts you in front of its 2.5 billion monthly active users worldwide. Just imagine the reach, it's mind-boggling. It's just the tip of the iceberg.
- YouTube is the biggest advertiser
- 62% of internet users in the US use YouTube daily
- 70% of viewers make a purchase after seeing the brand on YouTube
These stats and a heap of more inspiring ones (listing which will take forever) make it crystal clear that YouTube is worth the investment. Be it for boosting reach, building a personal brand, or skyrocketing sales, YouTube should be on your mind.
However, with over 100 million active channels, growing on YouTube is not without challenges. The competition is fierce, but so is this comprehensive guide to direct you on the right path. So buckle up and get ready to supercharge your YouTube growth with these eight impactful strategies:
8 Surefire Steps to Grow Your YouTube Channel
1) Define Your Niche and Understand Your Audience
The first step to growing on YouTube is clarity on your niche and audience. Let's start with your niche.
A niche is a genre or category that your channel will focus on. It can be as broad or specific as the creators–podcasting, marketing, beauty, fitness, finance, or food… Fortunately, YouTube has a big enough audience to support even your narrowest niches.
The best option is to narrow it down as much as possible and find your Unique Value Proposition (UVP). For example, if you are a gym chain featuring workout tutorials on YouTube. Here, competing against fitness giants like Fitness Blenders and Boligates–channels with millions of subscribers–wouldn't be the best bet.
Instead, find your niche with your unique take on particular topics–like functional fitness for seniors, prehab and rehab workouts, or postpartum fitness.
Now, once set on the niche, research your audience to figure out what exactly they want. Study your competitors or other creators in the industry. See which videos are getting the highest views and engagement–this will give you an idea of the audience preference.
Use tools to keep a close eye on the competitors. Track their key metrics, including views, engagement, and followers, to set yourself a realistic benchmark. Leverage social listening to monitor keywords and understand audience sentiment around specific brands and topics.
2) Create High-Quality, Consistent Content
Your video quality can make or break your channel's growth. It directly impacts how professional the content feels. That said, you don't need studio-style video quality from the get-go. Start small by investing in budget equipment. This includes:
– Camera
– Microphone
– Lighting setup
Smartphones with proper lighting can also produce impressive results. However, if investing in proper gear seems like too much commitment now, focus on appropriate framing, lighting, and audio. Creating a YouTube video will also require mastering video editing. Therefore, pairing quality equipment with editing skills and tools can substantially improve the outcome.
And it's not just quality. Even the greatest video quality can't save boring content. Therefore, kick off with a strong intro that hooks the videos in the first 10 seconds. Tell a great story in every video–whether it's personal experience or narrative that ties in with the niche.
Lastly, encourage the viewers to engage with the videos through likes, comments, and subscribers. However, don't make it pushy; keep it natural and relevant to the content.
Plus, to grow your audience, you need to show up consistently–with at least one video a week. This helps build trust with the audience while also signaling to the YouTube algorithm that you are an active creator.
The trick to maintaining this regularity is to establish a content calendar. Use tools like Notion or Trello board to map your content. You can even record multiple videos in one session–if life gets busy.
3) Optimize Your Videos for Search (SEO)
In the YouTube universe, SEO is super important. Everything from choosing the right keywords and tags to writing compelling descriptions and video chapters counts.
The journey begins by finding untapped keywords. Look for seed keywords that cover broad topics like–social media, Facebook ads, or power yoga. Search these seed words on YouTube or, even better, a keyword research tool. This reveals a plethora of low-competition, high-search volume keywords–optimize your videos and channel for these keywords.
Integrate these keywords in your video title and descriptions. A great title is ideally no more than 75 characters–so use your words wisely. The safest options to create the most compelling title are:
– Pose a question
– Make a listicle
– Compare and contrast
– How-to's and tutorials
However, they are just an idea. Let your creativity get the best of you here, and write titles that inspire the audience to click. But, avoid writing clickbait headlines–it can take a hit on the trust in your content.
For the video description–you have 5,000 characters to work with. Put this real estate to good use by adding a combination of elements:
– A brief video summary
– Keyword-related links
– Timestamps with relevant search terms
– Links to the website, social channels, and other promotions
Tags also play a crucial role in YouTube SEO. It helps the algorithm understand your videos' content and recommend it to relevant viewers (think homemade lasagna or comfort food recipes). But refrain from stuffing tons of tags. Five or so tags work best for most channels.
4) Leverage YouTube Shorts
YouTube shorts are the perfect way to tap into the quick-hit, addictive vertical video format that is ruling social media (think TikTok and reels). They are a powerful tool for growing on the platform. Plus, you don't necessarily need to shoot extra content for short–at least in the beginning. Simply post 15-, 30-, and 60-second snippets from your long-form videos.
Here are some more great short content mixes you can try:
– Create comedy skits and funny memes
– Share industry news
– Post customer testimonials
– Shoot behind the scene videos
– Create quick tips and mini-tutorials
– Answer customer questions
Similar to long-form videos, consistency is key to winning the YT shorts game. So, the way to go is to create shorts in advance, in order to maintain a steady stream. Create a content strategy and schedule YouTube shorts to ensure you post each video during peak engagement hours. This will help you gain maximum reach.
5) Engage with Your Community
Like every social media platform, YouTube thrives on social interaction. That's why your job is not done after posting high-quality videos. Fortunately, there are a variety of ways you can boost engagement and build an audience around your channel on the platform.
This includes:
- Encouraging the viewers to spend more time on the channel through relevant video recommendations.
- Ask them to engage with the content through likes, comments, and share
- Respond to every comment you receive to build strong relationships with viewers
- Stimulate interaction through creative CTA, polls, and community posts
And there are also live streams. These live events let you interact with the audience in real time. It's especially true if your target audience is GenZ and Millennials since event statistics found that this demographic prioritizes live experiences.
Besides, collaborate with other creators to expand your reach even further. This will put your channel in front of a new audience–thus, soaring growth.
6) Promote Your Channel Across Platforms
While you are optimizing the videos on YouTube for reach, get other channels in the mix to attract more viewers and build a cohesive creator brand.
Use your social media channels–Instagram, Facebook, X, and Pinterest–to create a buzz around the YouTube videos. However, tailor the content to fit each platform's needs. For example, use vertical snippets for Instagram and reels while detailed captions with links for Facebook.
Cross-promote the videos to amplify your reach. This means partnering with other creators, embedding videos in blog posts, sharing the latest uploads in your newsletter, and more. But don't spam the audience with identical content across all platforms. Diversify by, say, sharing a tutorial on YouTube, a sneak peek on Instagram, and infographics on X.
7) Monetize and Diversify Your Income Streams
Growing on YouTube also means reaping solid cash for all your hard work. Although the platform rewards creators for views and subscribers through ad revenue, there are also additional ways to monetize your channel.
The easiest one is to start a YouTube Partner Program (YPP) – that's basic. It requires you to create engaging, ad-friendly content to maximize earnings.
Another powerful way is selling branded merchandise through the platform. For new creators, Print-on-Demand products make this process super accessible. It allows you to custom design merchandise–T-shirts, mugs, Tote bags–without any inventory or upfront cost. Simply choose a POD platform, and they'll print and ship the product directly to subscribers.
Affiliate marketing, sponsorships, and Patreon memberships are other ways to boost your revenue stream from YouTube. By integrating all these streams, you can create a resilient cash inflow–thus encouraging you to give 100% in every video.
8) Analyze Performance and Adapt
Finally, regularly check your video analytics to see what's performing and what's not. While the analytics can vary from channel to channel, here are key ones to keep on your tab:
– Realtime views
– Audience retention and where people drop off the most
– Demographics
– Traffic source
– Click-through rates
These will give you a snapshot of what's working. Analyze your high-performing videos and adjust your content based on that information.
Also, experiment with your videos. Run structured tests with only one variable–thumbnails, video description, titles, length, CTA placement, etc. On top of that, stay up-to-date with all of YouTube's algorithms.
Your YouTube Growth–On The Way
YouTube is a promising platform to grow. But there are no shortcuts to it. In spite of virality– consistency, quality, and engagement rule the YT universe. And sometimes, it can feel like a grind–that's where it pays to have these above-shared eight strategies in your back pocket.
So, put them in action, kick-start your creator journey, and ramp up your YouTube growth–we believe in you!
