Have you tried video marketing for your business, but are struggling to get subscribers to your business channel?
YouTube might be a highly competitive place for your marketing efforts, but it is still worth your time. And by following a few simple tips, you can increase subscribers and get your videos in front of more potential customers.
Cisco predicts that video will account for 82% of all Internet traffic by 2022. That isn’t very far away. There might be millions of videos on YouTube, but there are also a lot of users out there looking for videos. The sooner you get started, the better your channel will look.
In younger generations, TV watching is dropping more than 10% every year, while those same Gen Zers are flocking to YouTube at a rate of 96% of young adults actively use YouTube.
Think YouTube is only for the young?
Nope. Over half of 75+ age group use YouTube, as you can see in the graph below.
YouTube is about more than just entertainment. 70% of millennials claimed to have learned something from a YouTube video in the last year, and watch time of product review videos have increased by over 10x in the past years, particularly on mobile.
Using YouTube as part of your businesses marketing plan can grow your brand and gain trust in all age groups.
That takes us to the question of the day: How do I get more YouTube subscribers for my business channel?
16 Easy Ways to Grow YouTube Subscribers
1. Create videos worth watching
This seems like a no brainer, but you’d be surprised how many low quality videos are sitting on YouTube. Any video you post to your channel should be entertaining or informative (or both!).
Consider before posting: Would I choose to watch this video?
People have a lot of options. Your video needs to offer something they need, like information, or create a short and entertaining story that draws them in. Take the time to polish your videos properly to give visitors a great first impression of your brand, and earn that “subscribe” click.
I could write an entire article about how to create great marketing videos, but I'll save that for another day.
2. Use Call to Action tools provided by YouTube
YouTube wants you to succeed. They provide a lot of tools to help you build your subscriber base.
End Screens
An End Screen is a screen at the end of your video that allows you to add a call to action. You can choose from four different elements to promote at the end of your videos.
- Your video has to be at least 25 seconds long to have an end screen.
- Other interactive elements, like card teasers and branding watermarks, are suppressed during the end screen.
How to Add an End Screen:
- Open the Videos page in YouTube Studio beta and select a video.
- From the left menu, select Editor.
- Select Add an end screen.
You can see an example of adding an end screen from our YouTube Page below. I chose to include a subscribe element, and a preview of another video from our playlist (I selected the most recent upload, but you can pick a specific video).
End Cards
Cards are interactive elements or call to actions that YouTube allows you to include during your video. You can include up to 5 cards per video. See my example below.
Note: Notice I'm unable to utilize the Link option. YouTube now requires you to become part of their YouTube Partner program to include links or advertising. You can submit your account for review, but one requirement is a minimum of 1,000 subscribers.
Watermark
You can add a watermark to the bottom of your videos that will allow users to easily subscribe while watching, as well as remind them of your brand. This is particularly useful if other users embed your videos on their sites or blogs.
How to add a watermark:
Under Channel in your creator studio, click on branding to add your own watermark.
3. Clean up your account
Do you have some old videos that make you cringe every time they pop up? They’re probably making your channel visitors cringe, too. Delete them.
Just because you have a few dozen views on them doesn’t mean they’re helping your channel. Every video on your channel should impress visitors and make them want to see more of what you’re producing.
Quality control is a thing. Even on YouTube these days.
4. Curate great content
Curating content is a big hit these days. You don’t have to create every new video yourself. Find some great videos your audience will enjoy and add them to your playlists. This will increase the visibility of your brand on YouTube.
You can also use other people’s content and add your own critique. Some popular channels are ones that review curated content. Just be sure you have an interesting perspective to offer, and that your videos are professional quality.
5. Magic Link
When you link to your YouTube channel, try adding this extension to your link: ?sub_confirmation=1
If you’re linking to your YouTube channel from your website (and you should!) and from other social media sites (also a good idea), use that extra “magic link” to encourage more subscriptions to your channel.
6. Be yourself
Don’t try to copy what is popular. Just be you. What kind of videos are authentic for your brand, and for your personally?
Maybe you’re comfortable just chatting in front of the camera. Maybe a screencast is a good option for you. Are you artistic? Try creating something like this intro video on our partner website
CryptoComics.
The important thing is that your videos fit your brand, and feel authentic to the viewer.
7. Create more content
Try to regularly upload new content to your YouTube channel to maximize subscribers.
The more content you have, the more people you will draw in to your site (As long as you follow the rest of the guidelines here).
8. Write good titles
Odds are, there are many titles covering the subjects you want to cover. How can you make yours stand out?
Be original. Try something a little different. Add your own personality. But follow these best practices:
- Keep your title short.
- Make your title descriptive of the content contained within your video.
- Use key terms people are searching for.
9. Brand your channel consistently and professionally
Make sure you completely fill out your YouTube Channel info. Create professional images for your channel background art and icon that match your company branding. Add in a description, email, and website link.
You can also choose content to show to new visitors (like a channel trailer, more on that below) or featured content for returning subscribers.
10. Choose good thumbnails
When posting a new video, the thumbnail preview can make the difference between a view and a scroll past on the results page. Select an appealing thumbnail that accurately depicts your video content. Remember, no one will subscribe to your page if they don’t enjoy your content, and they can’t enjoy your content if they never watch it!
Quick Tip: Smiling attracts more viewers. Try to pick a thumbnail with a smiling face if at all possible.
11. Create a channel trailer
YouTube now allows you to create a channel trailer. As you can probably guess, a channel trailer is a brief peak of what your channel is all about. Like all videos you post, it should be professional and appealing to your audience.
Quick tip: Keep it short. Under a minute is best.
12. Keep videos under 5 minutes
Studies show that videos under 5 minutes perform the best.
There is a lot of great YouTube content that is longer than 5 minutes. I know. I’ve watched my husband enjoy seemingly endless videos of training your hunting dogs and fly fishing.
Your audience might also enjoy longer videos, but to build that audience, start with short and sweet ones.
Edit out everything not pertinent to your message. Be ruthless with your editing. Keep the video moving forward towards the final conclusion.
20 percent of viewers drop off after the first 10 seconds, so make sure you capture their interest right away. Don’t waste those first few seconds with a long introduction, but jump right into the problem you’re going to solve, or the lead in to the story you’re going to tell.
13. Use an intro and outro
Part of great branding is having consistent and professional lead-ins. Check out this intro Andrew Frey created for our partner company CryptoComics. It is quick, cool, and sets the tone for the brand before the rest of the video begins to play.
A good intro and outro tells your viewers your video is professional, and helps them immediately associate it with your brand.
14. Take the time to write good descriptions
Each video is a new chance to grab more potential subscribers. Make your descriptions short, interesting, and informative. Encourage viewers to subscribe or take action, such as sharing their opinion in the comments.
These descriptions, along with the meta tags (see below) and the title help YouTube know how to rank your videos in searches.
15. Don’t neglect your meta tags
Meta tags play a big role in ranking web pages, and they also play a role in ranking your videos. The title and description of your video are a form of “tags”, and you also have the keywords area of the video to select tags.
Your tag should describe the content of your video. You can also try looking at videos similar to yours that are doing well, and see what tags they have used. However, don’t just copy and paste their tags.
Below you can see an example of the tags used in a recent video from Dwight (about meta tags - how is that for irony?).
16. Host a giveaway.
People love free stuff. By creating a video giveaway and posting it on YouTube, you are increasing the odds of getting susbscribers, and increasing the viral quality of your video. If you’re giving away something cool, viewers are more likely to share it with their friends.
Ask viewers to subscribe to your channel to enter. Better yet, ask them to follow you on all your social sites to enter.
Then ask them to share the video!
You can give away anything, but it helps to get more of your target audience if you give away something relevant to your business. When I host giveaways on my author social pages, I give away things like signed books or Amazon gift cards. Be creative and give it a try!
Conclusion
I've covered 16 different ways you can grow your subscribers on YouTube. Some of these ways are so simple, you have no excuse not to try them!
Have questions about video marketing on YouTube? Drop them in the comments or
contact us. We love to hear from you!
