Could Advertising/ Social Media Be Bad For Your Channel?

evoloz

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So, I have been thinking a little bit about how social media (ie twitter/ facebook/ reddit etc) that many of us use to advertise our channels and the impact it may have.

I personally have started to use less and less 'generic' advertising and now only make the odd targeted reddit post on subreddits specific to the game I am playing. I think this has generated an increase in watch time over generic twitter posts and spamming random forums etc which I think leads to an increase ranking in youtubes algorithm, more suggested videos etc.

So, is what I am basically trying to say is could the sort of generic social media spamming that so many sites recommend small channels do actually do more harm than good by reducing average watch time, interaction etc and lowering video rankings in youtubes algorithm?

Thoughts?
 

Dave2017

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That is a very good question... To be honest I have never thought of this, and you might have a point. i think that most of us is interested in getting many views but I don´t know how this algorithm-thing works 100% and I dont know if it will do more harm than good. Waiting for a good answer:)
 
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sphamedia

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In short yes in a big way, it really hurts the video, reddit is built in a way that it works against the "see and click" mentality that viewers use, the same way that click bait works. So say 100 people see your reddit post, 10 will not have an interest and scroll past, 10 will be your target audience and 90 will be curious, the read morers, but because the article is a direct link, a good number of those people with see the lets play style and just click off, no engagement and destroying your retention rate, which kills any chance of any youtube based promotion as its a black listed video.

I learned that a little to late, so what seemed like a mega boom in views, slowly turned into my only views and really hurt my channel, i went from getting tens of thousands of views with good seo, to struggling to get in the hundreds, and for each video this happens to, the worse it gets.[DOUBLEPOST=1527852526,1527852394][/DOUBLEPOST]if your interested in what i know about the algorithm send me a pm on my facebook, i think ive got it down about 70%
 

Looped Fruit

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Good point, I see people who spam promote their videos as annoying and needy. Be patient people!
 

InTheDogHouse

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i have heard off many people if your a gamer that reddit will just destroy your channel as people there absolutely hate lets players self promoting. i dont have any social media and im going to give my channel a go naturally without advertising on facebook twitter etc. best of luck dude
 

videoeditgr

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I have this idea that all promotion is meaningless unless one (or brand) have not previously built a strong audience or relationships in social media. This new culture require many hours per day and dedication and constant research on how and what social media currently people use more effectively. But again this is my subjective opinion... :)
 

MyBigBrain

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How else are people going to know of the existence of your channel if you don't promote it? Only if you spam can it hurt your channel.

I post to FB, Twitter and Instagram once every 2 days. I also engage my niche community on these platforms by liking and leaving positive comments, and generally being helpful by answering questions etc.

Some people don't need promotion because the YT algorithm gives them plenty of views and subs, but for the rest of us hustling on social media (sometimes for years) is the only way to build brand awareness.
 

TheDutchTexan

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Social media gives you a little gain, because it increases exposure. But most of the traffic comes from within YouTube itself. Reddit is cancer, the negativity that comes from that place is immense. They also pander to big creators, and stop little creators from posting their own stuff. (Some creators use alternate accounts or they are big enough to be spammed by members). It is not a nice place to be at all.
 

evoloz

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How else are people going to know of the existence of your channel if you don't promote it? Only if you spam can it hurt your channel.

I post to FB, Twitter and Instagram once every 2 days. I also engage my niche community on these platforms by liking and leaving positive comments, and generally being helpful by answering questions etc.

Some people don't need promotion because the YT algorithm gives them plenty of views and subs, but for the rest of us hustling on social media (sometimes for years) is the only way to build brand awareness.
I get what you're saying but my point is that social media posts that generate poor watch time are part of the reason why the YT algorithm isn't giving you much traffic
 

Spence Bailey

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I think it really depends on the content you make and what platform you're using. Instagram is a tricky one because it is made for showing off pictures and showing off a picture to promote a video is an odd technique. A lot of users already get an idea of what content you created via the picture you uploaded, so why would they stick around for a video about the same thing? It's risky to give too much info on the social media platform in which you are trying to share/promote your content.