Keep in mind these speech bubbles that used to pop up at the beginning of almost every YouTube video years ago? They would immediately cover your screen, screaming “Subscribe to my channel!” or “Watch my next video!”, forcing you to scurry over to your mouse and click on exit on every bubble before they completely ruined the start of the video you were attempting to watch.
These omnipresent bubble CTAs would always get on your nerves, however, YouTube determined not to get rid of them entirely.
They understood how essential CTAs were for channel managers to boost views, watch time, and subscriptions, so, over the years, they made a concerted effort to maintain enhancing their call-to-action capabilities. At present, CTAs more seamlessly blend into videos and provide a much better user experience.
YouTube CTAs could be a valuable method to drive viewers to your site and social media pages, so read on to learn about the 8 kinds of YouTube CTAs that won’t only enhance your YouTube presence, but your entire presence online.
8 Kinds of CTAs you Should Be Using in Your YouTube Channel
1. Beginning of the Video CTA
Based on KissMetrics, 20 percent of viewers bounce from videos that are only 1 minute long and 40% of viewers bounce from videos that are 2-3 minutes long. If a big chunk of your viewers bounce from your video before they even reach the CTA, placing it at the start of the video and leaving it there till it ends might generate more clicks. People who often bounce before your video ends will have an opportunity to click on it, and the people who watch the video all the way through, who’re additionally most likely to finish your desired action, will have an opportunity to click on it too.
2. Suggest Another Video CTA
In case your viewers begins dedicating total YouTube watch periods to solely your movies, your model belief and affinity will skyrocket. This may also boost your videos’ watch time, which is significant factor in the YouTube ranking algorithm.
To get your viewers to maintain watching your movies one after another, you need to recommend associated videos that they are more likely to watch than the suggested videos YouTube’s autoplay function recommends.
Yes, Theory does a superb job of this. At the end of each of their videos, they prompt viewers to click on videos which can be most related to the one they just viewed, which has helped their channel garner over 128 million video views and 1.4 million subscribers.
3. Subscribe to Channel CTA
Subscribers are essential to your channel because YouTube will send them notifications about your new videos and feature your videos on their homepage. This means they will see your videos more regularly, which will assist you to generate more views.
Subscribers tend to watch your videos longer than non-subscribers too, so the more subscribers you have, the more watch time your videos will accumulate, and the more likely YouTube will rank them higher on the search and feature them in the related part.
YouTube also keeps track of the number of viewers who subscribe to your channel right after watching one of your videos. So if one of your videos attracts lots of new subscribers, they will reward it with higher rankings and more features in the related part.
Business Insider does a great job of driving YouTube subscriptions by featuring an engaging CTA during their videos’ last 15 seconds, giving users ample time to subscribe.
4. Follow On Social Media CTA
In case your audience likes watching your YouTube videos, they will probably enjoy consuming your content on social media too. By putting social media buttons in your videos, your most loyal YouTube subscribers may also turn into your most engaged social media fans.
Walt-Disney leveraged social media buttons by placing them at the end of Moana’s trailer on YouTube. This encouraged people to follow the movie on Fb, Twitter, Instagram, and Tumblr, permitting Walt-Disney to consistently push content about Moana to their new followers and generate more hype and awareness for the movie.
5. Lead Generation CTA
In addition to utilizing blogs, social media, and email marketing to advertise your top performing lead generation content, you may also attach them to your YouTube videos. Those videos could either educate your viewers on the same subject matter as your lead generation content or they could preview it, like this HubSpot video below:
6. Drive to Website CTA
When college students are in the midst of a two hour YouTube binge fest, you could probably blame Jimmy Tatro for it. He is built an incredibly loyal and engaged following by making hilarious videos that millennials everywhere cannot get enough of.
One way he monetizes his channel’s popularity is by placing an end-of-video CTA that drives viewers to his clothing store, where he sells shirts that rep his YouTube channel, LifeAccordingToJimmy, and his YouTube show, The Real Bros of Simi Valley.
When you have a very loyal and engaged YouTube audience as Jimmy Tatro does, try guiding viewers to your product page after they watch your videos. Once they are hooked on them and love your brand, they will definitely be willing to help you.
7. Description CTA
When you do not wish to bombard your audience with pop-up CTAs during your video or when you run out of room to place CTAs on your end screen, you could use the description part of your videos to encourage viewers to take the desired action — most people read descriptions before or after they watch a video.
Conor Maynard is a singer who uploads viral covers on YouTube, and he attracts subscribers, Spotify streams, and social followers by promoting his channel page, Spotify page, and social profiles in the description of his videos.
8. Auditory CTA
About a month ago, Backlinko analyzed 1.3 million YouTube search results and discovered a statistically significant correlation between comments and ranking. Additionally, they found when viewers share your videos on social media through YouTube’s own social buttons, they will enhance your video rankings. Since YouTube uses video comments and social shares to gauge whether your video is high-quality, you need to ask your viewers to share your video on social and spark debate in the comments by asking them to continue the conversation your video began