How to Specifically Promote a Channel?

[Painter]

To each his/her own. I was all about promotion when I first started and a few months later I saw how much it hurt my channel. I was getting views, but my videos had really low retention and ranked low in search. I finally made the decision to stop promoting my videos a few months ago and now I see why members such as @YouTuber1978 and @Crown are against any kind of promotion. People will eventually find your videos and watch them, especially if they're good and if your SEO is done right. You just have to decide what you want: Videos with a lot of views with low retention that will get buried or videos with a small amount of views with high retention that will eventually gain momentum over time? All of the videos I promoted still suffer from what I did and the videos I didn't promote rank high in search and have high audience retention/watch time. It's hard to gain back good audience retention % when you had none to begin with. It's like an overdraft; you're withdrawing more money than your account holds.

Anyway, fast forward to a few months after I stopped promoting. My videos that suffered are doing better. It's a slow process, but eventually they will get there. I've also seen a steady amount of views that I didn't see when I was promoting. And the great thing is, I didn't have to do anything to gain those views.

 

[Noitartst]

Well that's not really how it works... "Promotion" is not inherently bad and it won't just up and prevent you from being successful. You just have to do it right.

Hope so--I just posted my first new video in ages on YouTube, a Keyboard Cat, and now, I'm out to learn how to do the work of promoting it. some said to make 100 contacts a day for your channel, but never said how, exactly.

That makes sense. I must admit I prefer the sitback and wait for views method. It seems to work pretty well.

How so, friend?

What we've done with our channel is to watch videos within our similar genre of channel and then leave a genuine comment or observation. Something more personal and unique to each video, so they know we actually watched their video and have thoughts/opinions on it. I've gotten quite a few responses back and in turn, many have become subscribers and I've added many to my G+, too. It seems to help to ask them a question about something within the video, so they will want to interact by answering back. Through this back and forth conversation, there's a high chance they will stop a moment to see who you are and what your channel is all about. You may end up with some views and also some new subs! It's also a good way to connect with others in your genre of YouTube community.

Best of luck!

clmar

Subs--you mean subscribers! Couldn't figure that out, till just now.

GIven my specific content, though, who would be interested? Haven't come across many Keyboard Cat memers, lately, but I was thinking further afield. Parodists? Who should I network with, given my contents? Partly the problem is, the folks with Keyboard Cat videos aren't active on Youtube, and I need to link with those that are active, if not necessarily with many subscribers.

 

[Noitartst]

To each his/her own. I was all about promotion when I first started and a few months later I saw how much it hurt my channel. I was getting views, but my videos had really low retention and ranked low in search. I finally made the decision to stop promoting my videos a few months ago and now I see why members such as @YouTuber1978 and @Crown are against any kind of promotion. People will eventually find your videos and watch them, especially if they're good and if your SEO is done right. You just have to decide what you want: Videos with a lot of views with low retention that will get buried or videos with a small amount of views with high retention that will eventually gain momentum over time? All of the videos I promoted still suffer from what I did and the videos I didn't promote rank high in search and have high audience retention/watch time. It's hard to gain back good audience retention % when you had none to begin with. It's like an overdraft; you're withdrawing more money than your account holds.

Anyway, fast forward to a few months after I stopped promoting. My videos that suffered are doing better. It's a slow process, but eventually they will get there. I've also seen a steady amount of views that I didn't see when I was promoting. And the great thing is, I didn't have to do anything to gain those views.

What did you do? Were you consistent? When you say "promote," what did you do, specifically?

 

[MichaelNoker]

For the "100 contacts" question, I'd think that would be any form of talking to somebody you don't already know. So, leaving a comment on someone else's video, tweeting at somebody, talking to a random stranger you just met in person about YouTube, etc. You can expand the definition to fit whatever it is that you want it to include. It's all driven by you, anyways. 100 would be a lot to shoot for, though. I think by that point, you'd lose quality in your interactions.

I noticed your little "I thought you might be interested in..." messages you crafted. Nix those. They're going to end up in peoples' spam boxes because YouTube hates when you send the same/similar messages to a lot of people. Just find someone's funny comment and respond to them in a funny way. That's how you do this.

 

[Painter]

What did you do? Were you consistent? When you say "promote," what did you do, specifically?

I posted my videos on reddit; in specific subreddits, google+ communities, twitter, yttalk, etc., as soon as they were published. I was getting a lot of views, but they meant nothing. The thing a lot of people have a hard time wrapping their head around is, when you promote on these social media sites, most people click on your videos and will only watch a small portion of your videos. Like a few seconds most of the time and then stop watching it. Your audience retention/watch time % suffers from that. YouTube won't rank your videos high in search and they won't be suggested. You want to make it easy for people to find your videos on YouTube.

 

[MichaelNoker]

I posted my videos on reddit; in specific subreddits, google+ communities, twitter, yttalk, etc., as soon as they were published. I was getting a lot of views, but they meant nothing. The thing a lot of people have a hard time wrapping their head around is, when you promote on these social media sites, most people click on your videos and will only watch a small portion of your videos. Like a few seconds most of the time and then stop watching it. Your audience retention/watch time % suffers from that. YouTube won't rank your videos high in search and they won't be suggested. You want to make it easy for people to find your videos on YouTube.

That's true. Social media is more of a branding tool than it is promotional. It's a lot more effective to interact with people enough to where they say, "Okay, so what exactly does this guy do?" and click through to your bio (and then your channel link) because you've been outstandingly friendly/funny/relevant than it is to just keep shouting your message into the void.

I think retweeting somebody once is more likely to get you a good, solid view than tweeting your own video ten times.

Edit: One of my tweeps is like... a prime example of this. He follows random small YouTubers and then favorites/retweets/mentions like a manic squirrel. Because of how insanely supportive he is, his videos generate a LOT of excitement and his subscriber count has just.. skyrocketed (he's well over 500, and I think he had like 200 when I started following him like two weeks ago). His content is... I mean, it's not terrible, but it is very rough-drafty-newtuber stuff you could expect from someone who hasn't been at it for long.

 

[Noitartst]

For the "100 contacts" question, I'd think that would be any form of talking to somebody you don't already know. So, leaving a comment on someone else's video, tweeting at somebody, talking to a random stranger you just met in person about YouTube, etc. You can expand the definition to fit whatever it is that you want it to include. It's all driven by you, anyways. 100 would be a lot to shoot for, though. I think by that point, you'd lose quality in your interactions.

I noticed your little "I thought you might be interested in..." messages you crafted. Nix those. They're going to end up in peoples' spam boxes because YouTube hates when you send the same/similar messages to a lot of people. Just find someone's funny comment and respond to them in a funny way. That's how you do this.

Yes, that helps; I can see how that owuld be written off as spam. Thank you.

I posted my videos on reddit; in specific subreddits, google+ communities, twitter, yttalk, etc., as soon as they were published. I was getting a lot of views, but they meant nothing. The thing a lot of people have a hard time wrapping their head around is, when you promote on these social media sites, most people click on your videos and will only watch a small portion of your videos. Like a few seconds most of the time and then stop watching it. Your audience retention/watch time % suffers from that. YouTube won't rank your videos high in search and they won't be suggested. You want to make it easy for people to find your videos on YouTube.

I see...so, you tried too hard, apparently. I've been following this "Boost Blog Traffic" Website.

It focuses on blogging, but it has relevance to vlogging, too, I daresay. It says to focus above all, on subscriptions, and specifiically, guest vlogging/blogging. You do that right, and you get people taking a look at your channel, but how to become a guest blogger?

I understand that there is a vast need in blogs/vlogs for content, but how do I market myself as a content provider, basically, for vlogs? That evidently is my first step, and I was wondering where, and how, to advertise, and/or volunteer.

As is, I interacted with a couple of blogs/vlogs, interacting with them, not asking for anything, but just commenting on content. How do I, in an organic way way, go beyond this?

Just tryin' to master the basics, here.

Hmm...this Traffic Blog recommended to target blogs of at least subscribers, but he doesn't show that. Instead, he has 48,000 followers on Twitter, 300,000 fans of Facebook, and nearly seven thousand, on Google+.

This is what marketing your v;og/blog is, isnt it? Am I missing some easier way?

 

[MichaelNoker]

As is, I interacted with a couple of blogs/vlogs, interacting with them, not asking for anything, but just commenting on content. How do I, in an organic way way, go beyond this?

Just tryin' to master the basics, here.

A lot will ask once they're open to the concept. As an example, my first collab was with a person I would consider a friend at this point. I think I started watching her videos after seeing her request for feedback on the YouTubers subreddit. Anyways, I commented on all her videos, and she commented on all mine for like three weeks or so.

She does videos about psychology, and one day she randomly threw out that she was considering doing collabs with other YouTubers on a couple different psychology experiments. I threw my hat into the ring, and because we had that pre-existing relationship, she picked me (plus a couple others who, again, all had a good relationship with her).

Normally people are going to be looking for people with a similar target audience that is equal or greater in size to them. When our collab was posted, I had maybe 50 subs, and when we filmed it, I think it was more like... 30. She had a couple hundred. But, again, because of that existing relationship, she trusted me and knew my quality and what to expect.

Then there's the collab forum here, where I filmed a super-short intro for Ben Arrow. I also follow a guy on Twitter who wanted to get 10-second clips from masses of YouTubers talking about what they care about.

I've also been invited to join a couple collab projects (full channels) that never happened. Occasionally you can also find requests for collabs where they'll just add you to a playlist.

But yeah - it all comes back to establishing relationships. Just be aware of opportunities, and you'll start to see them springing up.

 

[Painter]

I see...so, you tried too hard, apparently. I've been following this "Boost Blog Traffic" Website.

It focuses on blogging, but it has relevance to vlogging, too, I daresay. It says to focus above all, on subscriptions, and specifiically, guest vlogging/blogging. You do that right, and you get people taking a look at your channel, but how to become a guest blogger?

I understand that there is a vast need in blogs/vlogs for content, but how do I market myself as a content provider, basically, for vlogs? That evidently is my first step, and I was wondering where, and how, to advertise, and/or volunteer.

As is, I interacted with a couple of blogs/vlogs, interacting with them, not asking for anything, but just commenting on content. How do I, in an organic way way, go beyond this?

Just tryin' to master the basics, here.

Hmm...this Traffic Blog recommended to target blogs of at least subscribers, but he doesn't show that. Instead, he has 48,000 followers on Twitter, 300,000 fans of Facebook, and nearly seven thousand, on Google+.

This is what marketing your v;og/blog is, isnt it? Am I missing some easier way?

I did try too hard to get views at the beginning and when I saw that promoting was doing way more harm than good, I stopped completely. Now I don't have to do anything to get people to watch my videos. I just create good content and make sure my SEO is on point.

If you want people to notice your channel, you have to stand out, period. Do something different from the norm. Be unique and people will watch your videos naturally. Growth doesn't happen over night. Focus on creating good content and everything will fall into place.

 

[Noitartst]

You mean, just bang out good, consistent, content, on a regular basis?