Continue with some other tactics to gain more views on Youtube…
7. Direct traffic to your videos using cards and end screens
Beyond playlists, end screens and cards are two of the only things that YouTubers could use to bypass the algorithm and directly influence our audience’s next choice.
Cards are clickable, interactive areas that appear during the video. They could be polls, however, in this case, we are excited about growing views on Youtube, so select a card that links to another one of your videos (or even better, playlists).
Cards are pop-ups, so it’s essential that they add value. You don’t want viewers feeling spammed. The videos or playlists you link to need to be related to the moment and give additional info or entertainment.
Pro Tip: When you have a noticeable retention problem with significant audience drop-off at a particular point in one of your videos, try inserting a link card at that moment. Rather than letting your viewers head off to check Twitter, you stand a decent opportunity of enticing them to watch one other one of your videos.
Take a look at how the YouTube pros (as in, YouTube’s actual employees) do it in this video below. While explaining how the YouTube algorithm works, a card pops up that links to a playlist with more relevant tips.
Meanwhile, end screens are visual calls-to-action that you could add to the end of your video to encourage viewers towards the next step. They are valuable because you understand if a person has reached the bitter end of your video, they’re probably pretty excited about your content.
Using end screens to inspire viewers to subscribe to your channel or go to your site are both good choices. However, if you want more views on Youtube, use your end screen to promote your other videos. (Note that to use end screens, you will need to include some extra seconds at the end of your video if you are editing it.)
For example, Saturday Night Live goes whole-hog and gives 4 possibilities on their end screens: they encourage people to subscribe; to go to their site; and instead of depending on the algorithm, they hand-pick their own suggested videos.
Pro Tip: Suggest a playlist in your end screen, rather than a single video, and see how long you could keep viewers on your channel.
8. Go beyond the how-to video (i.e., creat videos no one else is creating)
Chances are, if you are researching your keywords (like we did back at point #3), you are going to see lots of search terms that involve the phrase “how to.” (This article included, ahem.) It’s because there’s lots of search volume for how-to videos.
However, while it’s vital that you work to attract new eyes, you also want to make time to preach to the converted. On YouTube, your brand’s value-added features come in the form of content that’s meaningful to people who are your followers already.
As proof that how-to videos are not the cure-all, look at Converse’s YouTube channel. None of the videos in their how-to series—delightful and helpful as they are—hit a five-digit view count.
Meanwhile, 1M people listened to Idris Elba say pretty much anything for 60 seconds (while wearing Converse, of course).
What’s the lesson here? Be Idris Elba. And when you aren’t Idris Elba, then don’t be afraid to branch out from the “5 engaging kinds of video that people love to watch” that everybody else is making.
9. Build relationships with your viewers
Engagement is on the rise pursuant to Youtube. From 2017 to 2018, 70% more YouTube users said they follow a YouTube creator and engage with their channel every day.
Audience interaction is just another thing for building relationships. The end purpose here, of course, is definitely just the realistic, organic, and sustainable path to getting more views on Youtube.
That is, interacting with other YouTubers (creators or commenters both) will improve the opportunity that they will care about your brand, that they will subscribe to your channel (see #12), and watch more of your videos overall.
Ideas for breaking the fourth wall, and making a two-way conversation may contain:
- Reply to comments (it’s polite!)
- Run a YouTube contest
- Creat reaction videos
- Consist of other people’s content in videos (with the permission)
For instance, YouTuber Dave Cad, in his quest to learn Finnish, had native speakers Snapchat him videos of how to correctly say Finnish tongue twisters.
Hot Tip: you could consider his Hootsuite’s tutorial on how to interact with your community on YouTube
10. Partner up
Crossovers, guest appearances, mash-ups, covers: people love that jolt of unfamiliar familiarity. Discover the He-Man to your brand’s She-Ra; and the Billy Ray Cyrus to your Lil Nas X.
Maybe you are a brand with a budget, and hiring a creator with their own following is an old hat. Yet the outcomes continue to delight. As when Brita (the water filter firm) worked with influencer King Bach and offered him the creative freedom to do whatever he needed. (And seemingly the budget to hire Stephen Curry.) The result? Mediocre music, good entertainment, and 3.6M views and counting.
However, when you are a creator or aspiring influencer yourself, getting more views on Youtube is your first step on the way to getting paid on YouTube, not spending it. In which case your best bet is to partner with like-minded creators.
Like when high school YouTuber Joana Ceddia box-bleached her hair banana-yellow and YouTube hair guru Brad Mondo invited her to NYC so he can edit it. (Reader, I wept.)
Ideally, your potential partners are pretty aligned in values, popularity, and charm. And you like them actually. And you have fun together, and it shows, and it makes people glad to see you happy, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Simple, right?
Hot Tip: If you make a crossover that involves a bunch of different videos—as one from your partner’s perspective to live on their channel, and one by you to live on yours, and maybe some supporting outtakes, any vital background and so on.—create a playlist to compile them so that viewers could stan it all.
11. Promote your YouTube channel through all your social media channels
You are going to wish to leverage all your social media may promote your YouTube channel.
If you desire more views on Youtube, please don’t do the following:
- A: Go to Fb, Twitter or Instagram and publish text or a picture with a link to your YouTube video
- B: Add your entire video onto these platforms
Option A: Linking to YouTube creates objective sense, however, the issue is that social platforms want to keep people on their platform (similar to YouTube does). So their algorithms won’t promote a text-only post with an off-platform link. In other words, your impressions and CTR will be low, and so your views on youtube are.
Option B: That is what Fb, Instagram, and Twitter need you to do (IGTV is a direct competitor for YouTube, don’t @ me). Posting your full video will probably get you good interaction and reach on these platforms. However, organic Fb video views are not monetizable, are they? And they are not going to get views on Youtube.
So, if you want more views on Youtube, promote your video by doing this:
- Update a short teaser video to your social accounts as native video, and add a link to the full video back on YouTube.
Note that you aren’t going to want to publish the same thing across your social channels.
Hot Tip: Short of hiring an assistant to manage your social media, a scheduling tool like *cough* Hootsuite is the best way to craft and schedule these posts for your followers.
12. Ask your audience to subscribe your channel
Actually, your subscriber count is your organic reach on YouTube. The more subscribers you have, the more views your videos will get right off the bat if you hit publish.
Particularly if these subscribers have their notifications turned on.