Sadly, having a big audience on YouTube just doesn’t happen overnight. To build it up takes time and dedication as well as great, relatable content. If you do your research and consider your channel carefully, you should soon see the view numbers climb.
Before just considering your audience, ask yourself what you are particularly good at. Do you have mad cooking skills, know everything about bikes or does everyone always compliment you on your clothes? Choose a channel focus that you can talk about with passion. The passion will easily transfer onto others and is always visible in great content. This will also make you seem genuine and authentic, which is crucial when building a following.
Now that you know what content comes naturally to you, think about who might be interested in watching you. To get viewers to engage with your content you need to do your research. Find communities that revolve around your content and use their language, vocabulary and official names into your videos. Reddit, Facebook or even a simple Google search can show you forums and discussions. Your research should go beyond the age and gender groups but potentially even target specific interest groups if you have something niche on offer.
YouTube offers a lot of fantastic data in the analytics section of your Creator Studio. Watch-time, location and demographics give you a good understanding of what works and where your views are coming from. Use what is offered to analyse your viewers and adjust your content strategy. Maybe your videos are a little too long or the beginning isn’t catchy enough? These are all things you can experiment with in future videos to get people hooked.
Use YouTube’s features like cards and clickable annotations to links to promote other videos. Just use these sparingly, we wouldn’t want anyone to get annoyed and stop because there is just too much going on.
There are also a number of other services you can use. Google Chrome extensions such as VidIQ can give you a better understanding of keywords and historical data for example. Use what’s out there to make your channel the best it can be. You can find some handy Chrome extensions here.
Joining forces with other creators is a fantastic way to grow your audience. Focus on YouTubers with similar topics or interests to reach both your viewers. Collaboration can also lead to new formats and ideas for your own channel. When working well together creatively you might just come up with ideas you would have never had on your own. Use the flow people can create when working as a team to your advantage.
If you can’t quite find anyone to partner up with, it is always good practice to give a little shout-out to people who you think might also interest your viewers or channels that have content that compliments your own. YouTubers know each other and cross-channel promotion is a great way to get to know other channels but also for you to get recognised.
Generally, get involved in conversations, like, comment and engage with others content. Reply to your comments and socialise with your viewers as much as possible to build a community around your channel. Many people really value those communities and will come back for more than just your videos.
If you have had trouble finding your audience and creating a content strategy that works, get in touch.