Common issues that keep you under 1,000 subscribers

[Tim Schmoyer]

Wow! I've learned so much reading through this post! 12 pages later..I still cannot answer those two key questions.

It takes time to work through those a bit, and that's ok. Maybe watch The Piano Guys and Lindsey Stirling to see what they do with their videos and audience.

Music has tremendous replay value on YouTube, especially in playlists where people can click play and let go for a while in the background, so your channel has a lot of potential. Just dig into why you enjoy the violin, why you play, what music does for you, that kind of stuff, and wrap your brand around that.

 

[RANtheMAN]

I really liked your post a lot of big Youtubers that I found on my network (freedom) and just big youtubers in general just keep telling you to constantly upload videos which is a given, but most of them sound like a broken record without any realistic advice for promoting or growing a channel. Thanks! I'm a super small channel, but if you could tell me what I can do to improve my videos and grow I would deeply appreciate it! I'm always open to helpful criticism.

 

[KatyAdelson]

Thank you for your insight! =) It's interesting when I step back and look at other music channels, like the two you mentioned. It seems they both started to really get popular once they found a good group of people to work with (Piano guys found a group of 2 musicians, a videographer and a sound guy; Lindsey started to work with music producer Marko G and shortly after Devin Graham started to help with filming her videos.). Taylor Davis's channel also started to more rapidly gain popularity when she began working with FifGen Films and Adam Gubman. All of the channels also cover a lot of popular music. Maybe part of my problem is that I need to find a team!

However, video and music producers are usually quite expensive. I'm hesitant to jump into those large fees this early in the game since I'm not sure if very many people would be interested in my music. Celtic Women and André Rieu's Johann Strauss Orchestra were both successful, so there most likely is an audience out there somewhere if I do things right. Lindsey was told her music wasn't marketable, but she was bold and spent a lot of her savings producing it anyway. Maybe I should just go for it, too! It'd be lots of fun, so any "loss" won't be a complete loss. There are lots of things to think about...

The playlist is a good idea! I'll start to categorize videos into playlists.

 

[Tim Schmoyer]

I really liked your post a lot of big Youtubers that I found on my network (freedom) and just big youtubers in general just keep telling you to constantly upload videos which is a given, but most of them sound like a broken record without any realistic advice for promoting or growing a channel.

Yeah, there's a lot of YouTube advice like that. It's well intentioned, but ultimately isn't really helpful. Uploading the same mistakes over and over again doesn't really help, ya know?

Regarding a channel review, you can schedule an appointment on my website at videocreators dot com, but they're not free. I get that request way too often to be able to do them for free all day. Sorry! I wish I could.[DOUBLEPOST=1426730128,1426729823][/DOUBLEPOST]

It's interesting when I step back and look at other music channels, like the two you mentioned. It seems they both started to really get popular once they found a good group of people to work with (Piano guys found a group of 2 musicians, a videographer and a sound guy; Lindsey started to work with music producer Marko G and shortly after Devin Graham started to help with filming her videos.).

Finding good people to collaborate with and support you is definitely important and very valuable. However, it only works if the team is supporting something that can work well. I'd advise that you develop your strategy and content until you get the place where you know that what you're doing is working. Dumping money and a team on something that's not working doesn't magically make it start working, ya know?

 

[KatyAdelson]

Dumping money and a team on something that's not working doesn't magically make it start working, ya know?

I see that as true for the most part, but I suspect there may be a bit of a caveat. I think I'm okay at the actual violin playing part (at least for YouTube standards), and I can come up with original songs fairly easily. Recording/mixing music, video production, and backing track production (requires a lot of piano playing..) are also necessary and complex skills that I'm a newbie to. Trying to learn them hasn't been quite as painful as I initially expected, but I've experimented enough to see the benefit of working with folks who specialize in those departments. It's hard to really know if something could work when I really only know how to complete 1/4th of the project.. It's discouraging to only be happy with 25% of something..that's like getting a massive F in school - even if I somehow learn to master one other part of the process, 50% is still bad. I think we all go through a beginner phase of having a neat idea, but falling short with the actual execution, so I'm hoping this is somewhat normal.

I guess it's hard for me to tell if something is failing because it's a poor idea or because it's a poor final result (or both! yikes!).

But for now, I'll continue to figure out what the project should be! =)

 

[RANtheMAN]

Yeah, there's a lot of YouTube advice like that. It's well intentioned, but ultimately isn't really helpful. Uploading the same mistakes over and over again doesn't really help, ya know?

Regarding a channel review, you can schedule an appointment on my website at videocreators dot com, but they're not free. I get that request way too often to be able to do them for free all day. Sorry! I wish I could.[DOUBLEPOST=1426730128,1426729823][/DOUBLEPOST]
Finding good people to collaborate with and support you is definitely important and very valuable. However, it only works if the team is supporting something that can work well. I'd advise that you develop your strategy and content until you get the place where you know that what you're doing is working. Dumping money and a team on something that's not working doesn't magically make it start working, ya know?

Ok thank you I appreciate the help!

 

[Tim Schmoyer]

II've experimented enough to see the benefit of working with folks who specialize in those departments. It's hard to really know if something could work when I really only know how to complete 1/4th of the project..

Yes, totally. I agree with that.

The other thing to consider is that production value doesn't have to be the only value you're delivering to your audience. There's ways to deliver other types of value to your audience that doesn't require a full team doing production. Maybe you're going to teach something, or tell the story behind the music, or write songs specifically for people in your audience.

 

[KatyAdelson]

Those are great ideas! I think a more interactive channel would probably be a step in a better direction for me. Thank you so much!

 

[thumbhais]

Hey YTTalkers! I recently heard a small YouTube creator complaining about how YouTube needs to update their algorithm to favor small YouTubers and not just "the big guys." Other small creators chimed in and readily agreed, but I honestly have a different perspective on why small creators stay small and it has nothing to do with YouTube's algorithm.

I thought about this community today and thought I'd share my thoughts here in hopes of encouraging some of you. Hopefully this helps some of you break out from under the 1,000 subscriber barrier that seems so difficult to break sometimes.

First of all, let's talk about that good ol' YouTube algorithm. Is it really geared for the large creators?

For context, I'm a YouTube Certified Consultant and work with both my personal channels and client channels. I started my first channel in 2006 and grew my most recent personal channel from 0 to 10,000 subscribers in the first 12 months. It's now about 25 months old and has 54,000 subscribers and 2.8 million views. It's in a very narrow, small, specific niche, too, not something big and broad like gaming, vlogging, or beauty (ha! image me doing that!).

Most of the channels I work with as clients come to me with under 1,000 subscribers. After about a month or two of working through some common issues that keep creators stuck in that subscriber bracket, they start to exponentially grow. That proves to me that the problem is not algorithmic.

One client of mine came to me before he even started his channel. After 9 months, he's now making $30,000 per MONTH in Adsense revenue alone. I don't say that to point the finger at me -- I say that to say: You can do this! If this guy who didn't even have a YouTube channel can do it, so can you. The algorithm is not the problem.

I've worked with countless channels that have grown from 0 to hundreds of thousands of subscribers and a lot of money fairly quickly. In fact, I used to be co-workers with the guys behind the CinemaSins channel. They'll be the first to tell you that YouTube's algorithm doesn't squish the little guys on YouTube. They started with 0 views just like everyone else. You can do this!

So what are those common issues that cause creators to feel stuck at under 1,000 subscribers?

1. Poor branding.
This goes far beyond a simple forum post, but think much broader than logos, header images, and branded bumpers. Essentially it's answering the questions, "Who specifically is this content for?" and, "Why should that person care?" Why does your channel matter? What difference does it make in that person's life? What's their motivation for wanting to subscribe to your channel in the first place? How easily does your channel answer those subconscious questions for them? How well is that "branding" integrated into your content and channel?

2. Poor titles and thumbnails.
It doesn't matter how awesome your content is if the thumbnails and titles aren't engaging, enticing, and attract people to click. That doesn't mean you should be misleading and tease a story that really isn't in the video -- that will backfire every time -- but it means knowing what the true value of your video is for someone and then crafting a "billboard" for it (title and thumbnail) that accurately pitches its value.

3. Craft better videos.
And I don't mean just in terms of production value -- I mean in terms of actual content value. Most creators assume that their videos are awesome and that the only problem they have is exposure. The problem with that way of thinking is that it locks you into a mindset that doesn't change with YouTube and causes you to start blaming other things that you don't control. It's pretty self-defeating. If you've been creating videos for even 6 months, go back and look at some of your first videos. You thought they were awesome back then. Today you're probably embarrassed by them. And next year you'll look back on the videos you're creating right now and feel the same way. So use tools like "audience retention" in YouTube analytics to craft better videos. Drop the stuff that causes audience drop-off (like branded intros, for example) and learn to start the videos with better hooks, eliminate wasted time, stuff like that.

Hope that helps some of you get on the right track. Like I said, anyone can do this YouTube thing. I really believe that. The key is to work smart, not to just work hard.

I'd love to hear what tips and ideas you have for breaking past 1,000 subscribers! Let's all help each other out here.

Wow, thank you for this. I've honestly been losing out on sleep, wondering what I'm doing wrong and why my videos are being ignored. Thank you for these pointers. They make sense and definitely give a lot to consider.

 

[wonderwonderwonderman]

Reading through all these comments, I'm finding I have to agree...everyone needs to figure out exactly why they're on YouTube and if they're contributing anything to the community or if they're just another 12-year-old playing Minecraft. It makes me wonder(wonderwonderwonder) about my own channel, but I think I'm original.