Being the world’s second-largest search engine after Google, YouTube is constantly being prioritized by brands to showcase their digital marketing strategies and reach the maximum number of customers. Forbes estimated that in 2018, the top ten YouTube vloggers had together earned a whopping $180.5 million, which is 42% more income than vloggers on other platforms. This is because YouTube has almost 1.9 billion active monthly users, with 180 million videos being watched every day, says an article on Quicksprout.

However, making videos that can help you earn that much is no child’s play. Did you know that videos that are 1-2 minutes long are able to retain 75% of the viewers, while 5-minute videos retain about 60% of their audience for the entire length of the video? So, not just quality, you need to tell a story quickly before you lose your audience. And, to draw in the maximum audience, you will also need to promote it via your other social media pages.

The good news is that there are some tips that can help you achieve long-term success. Here’s a look.

Start with the Right Equipment

For truly visually amazing content, make sure you have the right equipment to help you stand out in the competitive YouTube space.

Camera 

Pick a camera that can record almost anything in high quality, that is, at least 1080p. Camcorders and webcams are good for beginners. But, if you’re looking to amaze, you might as well invest in a DSLR or mirrorless camera. These are the best option because they are designed for high quality, while also being affordable and useful for filming under any circumstances, whether at home or on the go. The Sony HDRCX405 Camcorder can be a great choice for shooting in the handheld mode.

External Microphone

Sound quality is one of the key factors that can make or break your video. The microphone must be able to record or eliminate sounds, as and when required. You can choose from USB, Condenser, Shotgun and Lapel microphones. USB microphones are the standard pick, due to their affordability and great sound quality. Check out Logitech ClearChat H390 for quality audio recording. Audio-Technica AT2020USB Plus is another good pick. It is a condenser microphone with built-in jack and microphone control. 

Tripod or Gimbal Stabilizer

Unsteady and dizzy footage can tarnish your reputation as a vlogger. Tripods are great when it comes to the stability of videos and makes for a more budget-friendly choice. The iKan E-Image EG01A2 is a great product and can take the weight of cameras up to 11 lbs. Gimbals, on the other hand, have in-built motors to balance the weight of the camera and produce smooth videos. iKan FLY X3-Plus Gimbal Stabilizer can be a good investment.

Tips to Grow Your YouTube Channel

So, you’ve got great videos with unique content. But, unless you can grow your subscriber base, monetizing your content will be difficult. So, let’s take a look at a few important approaches to making it big on YouTube.

Make Your Content Engaging

With the “Hub, Hero, Help” strategy, you can post videos that cater to: 

• The community around the channel
• Easy sharing 
• Great for detecting searched words.

Hub videos help form a strong bond between the viewer and you, while Hero videos are more focused on talking about news events and similar stuff. Lastly, Help videos are for high search related content, such as DIYs, learning new things, troubleshooting videos, etc.

An effective way to create Help videos is to showcase a specific project or DIY content. Start by revealing the end result right in the beginning! When the final product is stunning, the audience would be hooked on to your video to see how you achieved that result. Other than this, you might start your video with an engaging story. People are usually curious to know the ending of a good story. However, ensure that the video begins with content related to the topic so that the purpose of the video is not lost.

Tip: 90% people believe that using 360-degree videos increases viewer engagement by 66%. They highlight your brand in innovative and exciting ways and are budget-friendly too, says an article on Mbryonic Ltd. Consider using this technique while creating your next vlog.

Make Use of Keyword Strategies

The first thing is to make your content easily discoverable on YouTube. Use the best metadata, including relevant tags, keywords, descriptions, titles, etc. Use effective tools like Google Trends, YouTube trends and its auto-complete search bar. Webmasters research to find words that make a website easily discoverable on the internet. They analyze and use the right and most relevant keywords. You need to do the same to grow your channel for maximum audience reach.

Also, keep in mind that the attention span of viewers is shorter than you might imagine. Some studies say it is lower than that of a goldfish, which is 8 seconds! So, a long title or too many credits right in the beginning of the video could make you lose your audience. Make sure the entire opening sequence is not more than 10 seconds long, if that, with interesting hashtags related to the topic. You might also consider making it quirky, crisp and delightful.

Tip: Check out YouTube Creator Hub, with different support levels based on the number of subscribers your channel has.

Monitor and Know Your Audience

You need to keep track of quantitative insights on your channel and know the view patterns of your audience. Keep a daily check on the counts, average watch time, interaction rate and revenue generated. Apart from that, keep note of what your audience might be looking for. With the help of YouTube Creator Services Directory, you can connect with experts who provide content strategy, monetization and audience development tips. You might know your subscribers well, but continue to pay close attention to the demographics tab. This is accurate data that can help you pick the right topics to best reach your audience. 

Keep these basic questions in mind while monitoring the data: 

• From where are your videos being viewed?
• When are your videos getting the maximums views?
• What is the gender of your viewers?
• What is the average age of your viewers and subscribers?

Being up to date with the audience analytics is always a win-win because you are sure that your content is reaching the right target audience. Social Blade lets you make use of YouTube analytics efficiently. You can get information on your grade, video view rank, subscribers’ ranks and so on. If your previous assumptions were wrong, you can edit and adjust your content strategy to make it more relevant for the viewer.

Moving on from quantitative metrics, you can analyze qualitative data as well. Closely analyze and manage the comments and statements made by your audience. This will help you figure out relevant information that can help you shortlist relevant topics and even give you marketing tips, both on and off YouTube. Post questions or create polls to interact with your audience and know what they are up to.

Tip: You can go through the YouTube Community Space to gain deeper insight into your audience’s mind.

A Captivating Video Description

The description section should be interesting enough to push your audience to hit the play button. Start by writing a short explanation of what your content is about and use as many hyperlinks as possible. This is an initial attempt to engage more viewers with your channel. Conduct thorough research to know the right words and keywords you should use to appear at the top of the search results. This will increase discoverability and therefore viewership of your videos, which ultimately means greater popularity for your channel. 

Some quick tips to write useful descriptions include:

• Keep the description below 5,000 characters
• Use keywords right in the beginning and throughout the description 
• Add a Content Page so that viewers are able to find related topics easily
• Link to other playlists of your channel

Link it to your website and your social media handles, such as Instagram and Twitter. Consider using a lot of hyper-relevant hashtags. Be selective and use less than 15 tags. They are added perks to make your content appear among the top search results. 

Tip: Go through YouTube’s Hashtag Rules so that you do it effectively to get the desired results.

Collaborate with Other YouTubers

Collaborating with You Tubers who create similar content is an effective way to expand your audience and expose your channel to people who have no clue how brilliant your content really is! Endorsing audience is a good way of cross promoting and building channels together. So, look for collaborators who have similar audiences and genres to you. Identify channel sizes and demographics, and also find out who is serving the same audience as you are. 

These are treasure troves to help your channel grow. Also, pair up with multiple YouTubers because the more the collaborators you have, the greater your audience is likely to be. 

Tip: To make your collaboration game stronger, engage with Instagram bloggers, people with huge active followers on Twitter and other social media platforms. Use their help in directing their followers to your channel as well.

YouTube definitely has huge brand value, as well as annual revenues of $15 billion! So, why not make the most of this free platform to boost your fame and fortune?