How to Get More Views on YouTube in 2021 (NEW Strategy)
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Do you want to get more views on YouTube? You do, of course. You're a living, breathing being with a video to share! It's only natural that this happens.
YouTube is the second most popular website on the internet. It is used by about two billion individuals every month, accounting for one-third of all internet users. In the United States, 74 percent of adults view videos. (We could go on and on, but you can read all of the most recent YouTube statistics at your leisure.)
We've put together this guide to highlight all of the quick wins that can help your brand's message go viral on YouTube, but we'll also go over some of the more complex strategies that the experts use to acquire more views.
Check out our awesome video to show how we're gaining views on our YouTube channel (which we established from scratch, cuz yolo):
What is the definition of a YouTube view?
A view is defined as when a person begins the playback of a video on their device and watches it for at least 30 seconds. It's that easy!
A view will be recorded if you play your own video.
Each viewing of your video will be counted as a fresh view if a person sees it more than once. (However, trying to cheat the system by refreshing repeatedly would be discovered by Youtube.)
Views from embedded Youtube videos and Youtube videos posted on Facebook will be counted as well.
YouTube tracks live views as well.
Check again in a day or two if you don't notice an immediate indication of your activities in the Youtube stats.
What does not count as a Youtube view?
Youtube's algorithm is programmed to ignore any plays that appear to be automated. It just wants to know how many times a genuine human has watched your video on purpose.
As a result, when a single user or bot repeatedly refreshes a video, or when a website auto-plays a video, these views are not included in your total view count.
There are 16 different techniques to increase your YouTube views.
Every day, nearly one billion hours of YouTube are watched throughout the world. Here's how to make yourself stand out from the throng and get some of those eyeballs.
1. Double-check your YouTube fundamentals.
We walk first, then run. Examine your basics and double-check that you've checked all the boxes. Read through our YouTube beginner's guide before diving into our advanced strategies.
The following are some of the basics of YouTube housekeeping:
A consistent visual identity (your channel symbol, YouTube channel art, such as the image below from Rupaul's Drag Race, etc.)
A well-thought-out and interesting About section (unless you are a breakout YouTube star like Joana Ceddia)
Contact information that is up to date (so all your potential customers and future brand partners can get in touch)
2. Concentrate on a specialized specialty (and your ideal audience)
If you want to improve your YouTube marketing strategy, you'll need to be very specific about your objectives—and the material that will help you achieve them.
You're not producing videos for everyone, after all. You've come to see a special person: your audience.
Yoga with Adriene has grown in popularity because she creates ultra-specific films with names like "Yoga for Joy" and "Yoga for Courage," and she also offers Spanish-language versions of her programs. She's only one of hundreds of yoga teachers on YouTube who take people through postures, but her ultra-inclusive philosophy and attitude have struck a chord – she has almost 10 million followers.
Have you created your personas for your target audience yet? They're like characters from Dungeons & Dragons, but for business.
3. Conduct research to boost the search ranking of your video.
YouTube is both a social media network and a search engine. And YouTube SEO, or optimizing your videos for search, is one of the most effective ways to attract more views.
In other words, you want your video to appear towards the top of YouTube's results list when your ideal audience types in your selected keywords. That means you must understand what your target audience wants—tutorials, inspiration, or amusement.
Ranking in search results is the greatest method to attract fresh new eyeballs on your videos, not simply subscribers and people who are already interested in your channel (though we'll get to that later).
However, saying it is easier than doing it. So, what can you do to boost the search ranking of your YouTube videos?
Research. To accomplish two things, you'll want to utilize a program like Google Keyword Planner (note that you'll need to create a Google Ads account).
Find ideas for your next video by looking at what others are currently searching for (i.e., take a look at search patterns and see what keywords have a lot of search queries, but few videos, a.k.a. low competition)
Make advantage of those important keywords in your metadata (i.e., your video title, tags, video description text, subtitles)
Pro tip: If you haven't done so previously, now is the time to learn about the YouTube algorithm. Not only does this AI decide search results, but it also makes suggestions for the key "what's coming next" recommended videos sidebar.
Just remember that it all boils down to your ideal viewer: the algorithm isn't concerned with whether or not your video is "excellent," but rather with whether or not a certain person wants to watch it. Users, on the other hand, like to view "excellent" videos.
4. After watching a popular video, use metadata to be suggested.
Take a cue from the most successful videos in your field if you want to obtain more YouTube views.
Take a look at your top competitor's most popular video to get started. (Sort by "most popular" in their video collection.)
The major purpose of YouTube is to keep users on the site as long as possible (so that they may see as many advertising as possible). As a result, the algorithm's goal is to serve up one (hopefully enticing) video after another to users.
But how does YouTube determine what others may be interested in? The following factors are taken into account by the algorithm:
- Videos that are often viewed together
- Videos that the user has already seen
- Videos that are topically linked (which takes some keyword refinement!)
- The third point is the only one you have influence over.
So, when it comes to keyword selection, think like a librarian. Describe the subject of your video and its general category, as well as additional phrases that someone could use to search for that topic. (For additional information on how to write great YouTube descriptions and keywords, see here.)
Looking for some inspiration? By right-clicking on a website and choosing View Page Source, you can learn what keywords a rival uses behind the scenes of their video. Then press CTRL-F "keywords" until the list appears.
But, before you go ahead and copy-and-paste the metadata from a more popular video into your comparable video, consider your audience: they won't want to watch the same video again. Perhaps the first video posed a new topic that has to be addressed, or there's a fascinating tangent to be pursued. How can your video offer value to what they've already seen and entice them to click on it?
how to get more views on youtube cheat
Take the ball in your hands and run with it.
5. Use custom thumbnails to boost your views.
Thumbnails are a big part of how people pick what to watch while they're in discovery mode, scanning through search results and suggestions.
While most of the advice out there is a graphic designer's nightmare — screaming typefaces, overloaded content — let's be objective: what are the characteristics of a good thumbnail?
The thumbnail is clear and honest regarding the video it describes (if your thumbnail misleads viewers into clicking, YouTube will notice since your watch time will decrease as the viewer becomes unhappy and quits watching). That will irritate the algorithm.)
The thumbnail and the video's title complement each other.
'Standing out' may be as easy as choosing a vibrant hue. Alternatively, make sure your hi-res face is creating a strange expression in decent lighting. Alternatively, if your niche is saturated with shrill, high-key images, the best way for your channel to stand out is to be the quiet, minimalist voice of reason.
6. Create playlists to increase your views.
The greatest strategy to reduce the possibilities of a viewer moving on to another channel once they've devoured your material is to organize and create video playlists on YouTube.
Why? Because playlists work in the same way as Netflix does: when one video finishes, the next starts.
Given that you've already gone to the trouble of assisting your audience in finding your video, clicking on it, and watching it in its entirety, it only makes sense to direct them to the video material they'll want next.
J.J. McCullough's YouTube video spans a wide variety of cultural criticism, so he's organized it all into topical playlists. Fans of his global leaders material (and who wouldn't?!) will be treated to hit after hit.
7. Use cards and end screens to direct visitors to your videos.
Cards and end screens are two of the few options YouTubers have to circumvent the algorithm and directly influence our audience's next decision, apart from playlists.
Cards are interactive regions that appear at any point throughout the movie and may be clicked on. They exist in a number of styles that may be used for things like fundraising or selling products, but we're looking to increase views here, so select a card that connects to another one of your videos — or even better, playlists.
Because cards are pop-ups, it's critical that they offer value. You don't want people to think they're being spammed. You should link to videos or playlists that are current and give further information or amusement.
Check out how this All About Cards video contains a card about learning about various types of cards as a super-meta example.
how to get more views on youtube 2021
Pro tip: Try introducing a link card at a precise time in one of your films if you have a noteworthy retention issue with considerable audience drop-off.
End screens, on the other hand, are visual calls-to-action that you can include at the end of your video (in the last 5 to 20 seconds) to entice viewers to take the next step. They're useful since you know that if someone has made it to the finish of your film, they're probably very engaged in your excellent material.
End screens may be used to persuade viewers to subscribe to your channel or visit your website. However, if you want to get more views, you should use your end screen to promote your other videos or playlists.
(Keep in mind that if you want to utilize end screens, you'll need to add a few seconds to the end of your movie while editing it.)
SssniperWolf, a Youtuber, has end cards that link to four more of her videos. It's like playing a game where you get to select your own experience with... whatever her gimmick is.
8. Go beyond the instructional video (i.e., make videos no one else is making)
When studying your target keywords (like we did in point #3), you're likely to come across a number of search queries that include the phrase "how to." (This article's title contained, ahem.) This is due to the high amount of how-to content searches.
While you must endeavor to draw fresh eyes, you must also make time to preach to those who have already converted. Your brand's value-added features on YouTube come in the shape of material that is relevant to your existing audience.
Tabitha Brown, for example, doesn't only offer her vegan nachos recipe on YouTube... She sits down with her spouse to discuss their relationship, offering viewers an exclusive insight into her private life. (And what if they get inspired to make their own batch of guac while they're at it? That's an added advantage.)
9. Develop a connection with your audience.
Building connections is referred to as "audience engagement." Of course, the ultimate aim is to get more YouTube views in a realistic, organic, and long-term manner.
Engaging with other YouTubers (both producers and commentators) increases the likelihood that they will be interested in your brand, subscribe to your channel (see #12), and watch more of your videos overall.
Bonus: Get the free 30-day plan to quickly expand your YouTube following, which includes a daily workbook of tasks to help you jumpstart your channel's development and monitor your progress. After one month, you'll see actual benefits.
The following are some suggestions for breaching the fourth wall and starting a two-way conversation:
It's courteous to respond to remarks.
Create a YouTube competition.
Produce reactions videos.
Use the material of others in your films (with their permission)
Pro tip: This guide on how to use Hootsuite's comment and sharing tools to engage your YouTube community can save you time as you grow your following.
10. Form a partnership
People like the thrill of unknown familiarity that crossovers, guest appearances, mash-ups, and covers provide. Find the He-Man to your She-Ra and the Billy Ray Cyrus to your Lil Nas X for your brand.
If you're a brand on a budget, employing a creative with their own audience is a no-brainer. However, if you're a YouTube producer or prospective influencer, obtaining more views is the first step toward generating money, not spending it. In that situation, collaborating with like-minded artists is your best option.
In an ideal world, your possible mates have similar ideals, popularity, and charisma. And you seem to like them. And you have a good time together, and it shows, and it makes others happy to see you happy, and so on. Isn't it simple?
Two drag queens, e.l.f. cosmetics, and Chipotle all appear in this video, which is like a mega crossover. According to our calculations, the number of cross-promotion chances has doubled.
Make a playlist to compile them all so that interested viewers can stan it all if you do a crossover that involves a bunch of different videos—like one from your partner's perspective to live on their channel, and one from yours to live on yours, and maybe some supporting outtakes, any necessary background, etc.—if you do a crossover that involves a bunch of different videos, make a playlist to compile them all so that interested viewers can stan it all.
11. Share your YouTube videos on all of your social media accounts.
To advertise your YouTube channel, you'll want to use all of your social media resources.
However, if you want to get more YouTube views, DON'T:
Post text or a picture with a link to your YouTube video on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or TikTok. Linking to YouTube makes factual sense, but the issue is that social media sites want visitors to stay on their platform (just like YouTube does). As a result, a text-only post with an off-platform link will not be promoted by their algorithms. In other words, your impressions and CTR will be poor, and your YouTube views will be low.
To those sites, upload the whole video. Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter all want you to do this (don't @ me, IGTV is a direct competition to YouTube). On such sites, posting your whole video will almost certainly result in a lot of interaction and reach. Organic Facebook video views, on the other hand, aren't monetizable, are they? They're also not going to gain you any YouTube views.
Instead, promote your video by performing the following:
Post a brief teaser video as native video to your social media sites, along with a link to the full video on YouTube.
It's important to remember that you won't want to share the identical thing on all of your social media accounts.
To encourage interest in his money-themed Youtube videos, financial advisor Max Mitchell posts a short teaser on his Instagram feed, along with a link to the full video in his profile.
Pro tip: Unless you hire an assistant to manage your social media, using a scheduling service like Hootsuite to design and schedule those updates for your followers is the best option.
12. Request that your visitors subscribe to your YouTube channel.
Your YouTube organic reach is proportional to your subscriber count. When you push publish on a video, the more subscribers your channel has, the more views it will get straight away.
Especially if those subscribers' alerts are enabled.
Boosting your subscriber count is a separate problem with its own set of techniques, but it is inextricably linked to increasing your views. As a result, we've put up a comprehensive tutorial on how to obtain more YouTube followers.
It's standard practice to encourage viewers to "like and subscribe" at the conclusion of a video, but many YouTubers, such as beauty expert Patricia Bright, go even farther and incorporate this call to action as a graphic at the end.
Patricia Bright's call to action is to "like" and "subscribe."
13. Turn on embedding
Allow embedding to give your admirers an opportunity to help spread the word about your work. The more people who watch your video, the more views you'll get (and maybe even snag a new subscriber or two in the process).
Go to Youtube Studio and click Content to allow embedding. Tap Edit after selecting your video. Toggle on or off Embedding by selecting it.
14. Increase the watch's timer.
While YouTube counts any video that is watched for more than 30 seconds as a view, there are advantages to having visitors stay for longer.
If you can persuade people to view your video for extended periods of time, Youtube will notice that you have some high-quality material. Furthermore, the Youtube algorithm favors videos with a longer Watch Time, providing you an advantage in the recommendation engine.
15. Have your videos transcribed.
Including captions in your videos allows hearing-impaired viewers to follow along and appeals to the 69 percent of people who watch mobile video without sound.
With a transcript, you may also translate your video, allowing it to reach a wider audience. Perspectives from all across the world! Can you believe it?
Youtube's help website can lead you through the process of preparing your transcript file step by step – all you need is a.txt file.
16. Upload your video at the appropriate moment.
Dropping your video at the precise time your largest audience of subscribers is online ensures that they'll all get that delicious, sweet "new post" notification when it goes live.
But what if it's in the wee hours of the morning? Alternatively, when you're on vacation? This is when a scheduling application like Hootsuite comes in handy. Set your video to go out at the precise moment you want it to go out, according to your content schedule, and then get on with your life.
Hootsuite can help you grow your YouTube audience more quickly. Schedule videos and moderate comments from the same dashboard that you use to manage your other social media accounts. Today is your chance to try it for free.
In 2022, here's how to grow your YouTube channel.
In order to be successful on YouTube in 2022, you'll need to delve into the channel and subscriber metrics that YouTube offers. Accept the challenge of study since it will eventually help you understand what works for others and where you can make a difference.
This article is designed to provide you with a step-by-step guide to doing that research and come up with a great YouTube strategy (and likely a data wizard as well.) Many of these pointers may be applied to additional marketing efforts that freelancers will do in 2022. Feel free to modify this roadmap to your other marketing initiatives, and let us know if there's anything you'd want to learn more about in the comments!
You can't be everything to everyone, as the old adage goes. You have a distinct set of talents and insights as a freelancer and creative service provider. The first step in finding an audience that will benefit from your expertise is to understand where those abilities and views meet with prospective themes.
It's a data game with a large time limit. While there are tangible advantages to success on the platform, it should also be a fun element of your company growth. Enjoying the process of development will make the long game much more enjoyable! We say it's a numbers game, but having the enthusiasm and determination to keep moving ahead with content creation is the key to long-term success.
If you're unfamiliar with the concept of identifying your white space, it's the process of analyzing what your YouTube rivals are doing in order to do something they're not!
How to Conduct a YouTube Channel White Space Analysis
Begin by looking for other YouTube channels that are similar to yours using free web tools such as Channel Crawler to find channels based on subjects and subtopics, subscribers, and other useful criteria.
A white space examination is usually focused on quality and pricing. In the case of YouTube, white space might be defined as:
length (long vs. short) and format of video (how-to informational content versus conversational entertainment content)
Video length (long vs. short) and production quality (heavily editing to include transitions, chapters, etc. versus little to no editing with more raw footage.)
Number of views and format (how-to educational material vs conversational entertainment content)
The quantity of work produced and the amount of likes received
The possibilities are practically unlimited, and they might reveal a lot about how others spend their time. Begin plotting their most popular videos on a matrix like the one below according to the axis labels of your choosing after you've compiled a list of 20 or more channels covering similar content subjects as you.
An example of a crude sketch white space analysis is shown below. They're easy enough to make with only a pen and paper!
Consider running the analysis again with various axis labels to check whether the white space appears in comparable areas when the regions are overlapped.
How a data-driven strategy may help you grow your YouTube channel
Do you want to be able to watch for extended periods of time? Do you want more subscribers? More likes and shares?
When attempting to establish a YouTube channel, we must pick and concentrate on particular KPIs, just as we must choose a specialty. Use your channel analytics to assess your present performance, and think about which measure will be most important to you as you go ahead with content creation based on your white space research.
While this exercise can assist you in determining where your YouTube approach should be focused, you can supplement your newfound knowledge with some general YouTube data trends that will still be applicable in 2022.
Here are three key statistics that will influence your channel's growth strategy:
1 – The majority of viewers are interested in how-to information.
According to Hubspot, more than half of YouTube users become subscribers because the channel included how-to or instructional video relevant to their profession, business, or hobby.
The length of how-to or instructive information is usually substantially less than the length of entertaining content (although not always). These shorter videos have much longer watch times than their longer entertainment video counterparts because they are so intent-based and to the point. This is great news if you're creating instructional films on how to execute realistic accents like dialect coach Sammy Grant. While her movie crosses the border between entertainment and education, it owns its niche, rather than competing with the hours of Minecraft footage that now dominates long form entertainment material.
It's not always simple to stay on track with short or lengthy movies, entertainment or instructional content, and so on. The world of content is seldom that binary. So bear in mind that your YouTube expansion plan has to be adaptable and agile as well. With the exception of one, rigid regulations do not apply to YouTube video providers.
Make sure that each video is both entertaining and educational/informational.
When your view times improve, you'll know your videos have found the sweet spot of both components.
YouTube has done an outstanding job at understanding the many circumstances that video producers of all types face over the course of their work. The Chapters Feature is one such idea that originated from YouTube's discovery team. When a quick how-to video won't suffice, YouTube encouraged producers to divide videos into chapters, which basically replaced the time-stamping methods of the past. Chapters now enable producers to preserve a single lengthy video that meets the demands of viewers who want to watch it from beginning to end, but then break it into 'Chapters' of many short movies, each with its own title and description (perfect for the algorithm).
This function is also fantastic for your audience! Thanks to the title and description optimization done while using the Chapters function, people may now identify the segment of the movie that corresponds to the information they're looking for.
2 – Viewers' choices to click and watch your videos are influenced by custom thumbnail pictures.
Custom thumbnail pictures are used in 90% of the most popular YouTube videos. To that end, you'll need a little ingenuity to make this strategy work for you. The days of clickbait-style surprised looks are long gone.
It's a good idea to employ colors other than black, red, and white, according to a thumbnail 'pro-tip' now circulating in creactor chats (the YouTube platform colors.) This will provide enough contrast to pique people's curiosity and, eventually, clicks to your video.
Changing out custom thumbnails is an approach you can use without affecting your YouTube strategy, so play around with thumbnail pictures regardless of where this roadmap leads you.
3 – According to YouTube, Suggested Videos get more views than people's Subscription Feeds.
This one is tricky to figure out. We constantly strive for more subscribers, and although that is still a valid metric of success, research reveals that visitors are more likely to watch videos recommended by YouTube's algorithm and selected on their site than videos in their Subscription Feed. According to YouTube, it's all about offering the greatest possible user experience.
There are a variety of factors that may have influenced their choice to release such contradictory information. People don't always watch new content released by a channel if the subject matter of that video doesn't align with the users expectations based on their first interaction with the channel, according to one major scenario identified as contributing to the success of Suggested Videos over Subscription Page Videos.
For example, if the video that first attracted a subscriber was about productivity tips for transcribing quicker, but the channel's following video is about the unpacking of new computer gear, the subscriber is unlikely to watch it. Rather, depending on their prior user behavior, they may be more motivated to view a Suggested Video on the worst transcription failures or unusual use cases of transcribed text that YouTube provides them.
All of this is to indicate that concentrating on the content and quality of your video rather than aiming to attract subscribers is more likely to result in channel development. It's a whack-a-mole game to figure out what material people find fascinating, and it needs time and inquiry (and of course creativity.) Beyond YouTube channel statistics, tools like vidIQ, which are free or modestly priced, make the process of finding suitable themes more doable.
Once you've completed your study, repeat it every few months to keep an eye on how successful your technique is. If possible, stick with the plan for a time before switching to anything else — here is where the 'long game' approach comes into play. Roberto Blake, a YouTube instructor, has a rule of 100 videos. Make 100 videos before evaluating whether or not it's working.
Expand Your YouTube Channel by Using Other Platforms
Freelancers of all types now have access to the same toolkits as global mega corporations in the era of digital marketing. Knowing how to utilize each platform is essential, and keeping the long game in mind will provide all the incentive you need to keep testing and tweaking until you find the appropriate balance for building your YouTube channel.
Any entrepreneur that wants to expand their firm will need a marketing mix. While the following list isn't complete, it will provide you food for thought on how to utilize TikTok, Email, and Podcasting to help develop your YouTube channel and, eventually, your client list.
Amplify Your YouTube Content with TikTok
On Android mobile devices, TikTok has officially surpassed YouTube in terms of average time spent per user. It doesn't take much more data to see that short videos are preferred. But what can be addressed in less than 60 seconds? Surely, your 60-second explanatory film on how to create the greatest billing system as a freelancer may be longer!
The key is to understand how to use the platform to get viewers to click the YouTube link in the captions below. Spend time on the site to learn about the strategies employed by other TikTokers, and adjust the styles to fit your topic and audience. Because of the nature of TikTok, you'll be able to swiftly switch from one video tactic to the next.
Maintain a value-driven mindset while constructing the largest possible victory highlight reel from the YouTube videos you're making to expand your channel on that platform. And, most all, keep trying.
This might be as easy as personal emails between you and your current clientele.
A voice actor, for example, may discover that live-directed studio sessions are being booked more often than in the past. To get the most out of a live session, there are a few crucial parts of preparation that must be accomplished beforehand. Perhaps the voice actor creates a YouTube video that walks customers through all of the ways they can prepare ahead of time to get the most out of their live directed session with a voice actor and delivers it to them ahead of time.
The real estate of the email signature is another tried and tested method for using email. This is still a useful marketing strategy since it ensures that every individual you contact sees your YouTube page. It takes very little time and effort to set up, so even if it doesn't work out in terms of bringing in new customers for your freelancing business, you won't have wasted any time or resources - it's worth a go!
Using Your Podcast to Grow Your YouTube Channel
Podcasts provide an alternate option for consumers to access your information without having to devote time to visual media. With that stated, video recordings of podcasts are becoming more popular.
As a result, we recommend that you take advantage of the expanding convenience of cross-medium content consumption by including a link to your YouTube channel in the show notes for each of your podcast episodes, regardless of where you syndicate them. People are more inclined to access YouTube videos discovered in the podcast notes, even if it isn't the intended usage of the text fields. To keep the user experience in mind, make clear about where the link will take them — it won't take them to the whole recording of the video podcast, but rather to a how-to video mentioned in the podcast!
Do you listen to podcasts but don't have one? Consider how you may improve the amount of work you get as a freelancer in the creative services industry. To help you started, we offer a complete tutorial on how to create a podcast.
Many of these strategies, as previously said, are transportable. Everything on this page might also be utilized to help you build your podcast!
Make the Most of Your Specialization
It's worth filming a video about if you've had to have a chat with a customer more than three times.
It's worth filming a video about if you've asked yourself the same question many times.
It's worth filming a video about if you know it'll make someone's life simpler, better, or more pleasurable.
Understanding what you're strong at and matching it with keeping interested about YouTube's continuously changing Algorithm and optimization strategies is the key to increasing your video's audience.
Have you had any luck with YouTube utilizing a different approach? Leave a comment to tell us about it!
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