I went on a promo spree and this is what happened

Sabrina

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I should've gone full clickbait title and said "...you won't believe what happened" but it's actually not that hard to believe, because barely anything happened :rolleyes:

So I restarted my dead channel a month ago and for the first 4 videos I didn't do any kind of promotion, I didn't even put a channel link in my signature here. I wanted to see what YouTube would do for me. I ended up getting about 25 views total through search/suggested. I'm already questioning whether the strategy of "no promotion to keep retention high" would even work with my comedy content because:
  • the titles/keywords aren't something that's searched for
  • YT doesn't feel the need to pair me with other comedy videos (it suggested my vid on a psychology video just because of the similar title)
  • even if I was suggested on comedy videos, humour is so highly subjective so there's no guarantee the viewer will enjoy my stuff
I'm guessing this would be entirely different with other content like educational videos, tutorials, lists etc. because that is being searched and also more straightforward ("what you see is what you get").

So anyway, I chose to try out promotion for my Halloween sketch. I didn't expect many subs because it wasn't targeted (how would I target comedy) but I was surprised about even the small number of "curiosity clicks" (as Crown calls it.)

Here's what I did:
  • Tweet (to 150 followers)
  • Tumblr post with hashtags
  • Google+ post with hashtags
  • Google+ post in the biggest promotion community
  • Reddit post in /r/youtubers Show-Off thread
  • Reddit post in the biggest promotion subreddit
  • YTtalk thread in promotion forum
  • YTtalk thread in main forum (not just for promotion, lol)
  • Witty comments on about 15 big YouTuber videos within the first half hour
Result: About 30 views, 3 subs (2 of them from this forum but one looks like a sub4sub attempt)
Judging by the realtime views that I watched like a hawk, this forum actually "worked best".

The funniest and also most disturbing thing was that my G+ community post received 6 +1s, but during all that time I received 0 views, so these people just clicked the button hoping I'd check them out. Now I know that there's not much to be expected from the promotion communities on G+ or Reddit, but even if I found a community that fit, I would have to be an active member and I don't want to spend hours on it just for getting a few clicks. (That feels wrong in many ways.)

BTW, this was NOT a promotion post :D, I love this community and I'm interested in your thoughts/experiences, especially if you do comedy.


ETA: I want to mention the 'top comment' results as well. I got 400 upvotes on a popular video, received 40 views, 3 subs and the retention for that day is 40%. Not too great.
 
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Alex Pota

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I found that social media promotion outside of established communities does not work.
1. I would avoid using G+ promotion groups, they don't watch and thats fine but if they do and leave the video after 10 seconds, your rankings are going to suffer
2. If your video is funny, try sumbitting to 9gag tv and buzfeed AND stumbleupon.
Stumbleupon brings traffic like crazy :)

If you do want to promote on G+ - do a community search with relevant keywords (like funny, comedy, Halloween etc) same for facebook
post there, the audience at the specified groups is much more responsive and easier to connect
 
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Smug Thuggler

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We also do comedy :D I think the biggest problem with places where you can promote your channel is that the only people that look at them are other people who want to promote themselves. But I guess it is worth it if you get a few subs out of it who are actually interested in your content. Although we don't care too much about views, we do enjoy getting new subscribers that we can interact with and they can give us feedback on our videos.
 
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Sabrina

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I would avoid using G+ promotion groups, they don't watch and thats fine but if they do and leave the video after 10 seconds, your rankings are going to suffer
You're right about that so I should be glad that I didn't get a single view from it... Other people on here have reported some success but maybe they were judging by the "fake" +1s.

If your video is funny, try sumbitting to 9gag tv and buzfeed AND stumbleupon.
Stumbleupon brings traffic like crazy :)
That's interesting but I guess also "dangerous" when it comes to audience retention. I suspect that those sites (and comedy/funny communities everywhere) prefer videos that are more like short viral videos.[DOUBLEPOST=1446326181,1446325422][/DOUBLEPOST]
We also do comedy :D
*high fives and fails at it*

I think the biggest problem with places where you can promote your channel is that the only people that look at them are other people who want to promote themselves.
Too true. I did it mostly as an experiment, and now I know that it has no benefit whatsoever.

Although we don't care too much about views, we do enjoy getting new subscribers that we can interact with and they can give us feedback on our videos.
That is my goal too (!) but you won't get subs if nobody even clicks on your videos :( I know, I should probably go back to "no promotion" and buy myself a bag of patience. :spin:
 

Smug Thuggler

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*high fives and fails at it*
*Awkwardly goes in for a fist bump when you try to high five*

That is my goal too (!) but you won't get subs if nobody even clicks on your videos :( I know, I should probably go back to "no promotion" and buy myself a bag of patience. :spin:
No, do some promotion :p It's just about finding the right places to do it. Your videos are really funny though and if you're doing them on a weekly basis you should grow pretty fast :D
 
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Squeal Cat

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Thanks for sharing your experiences in the first place. It's good to try different strategies and theories and see what works and what doesn't... Oh well, let's get started

I'm already questioning whether the strategy of "no promotion to keep retention high" would even work with my comedy content
I think there's little wrong with the theory "no promotion to keep retention high" , but one thing.... your video won't get ranked at all with very low views. It would work if you had a nice fanbase when uploading your video you get 1000+ views, so your video will get kicked into the ranking system of Youtube. But that's not the case with yours, so try to build that fanbase first :)

The first many videos is for creating some kind of following first. A lot of people will click on your first videos and see whether they like it or not. So a lot of "curiosity clicks". When you have a larger following, less curiosity clicks will happen and more targeted clicks.

G+ is weird. A lot of people just see your video thumbnail and just press +1. My experience is, the catchier the thumbnail, the likelier they will watch. And most of the G+ people don't watch your videos for long. So you have to be extra extra engaging when promoting on places like G+ and Facebook.

Anyway, any start of growth is hard on Youtube, and people have to be persistent. In the meanwhile try to finetune your content where you find the reasons why people keep coming back at your videos :)

I see you hang around this community a lot, without you mentioning your channel. I liked it that you're now showing your work :D
 

Sabrina

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*Awkwardly goes in for a fist bump when you try to high five*
*tries again with a fist bump but then you do the high five*
It's just about finding the right places to do it. Your videos are really funny though and if you're doing them on a weekly basis you should grow pretty fast :D
Thank you! :redface: I'm not sure I'll find a promo method that works without putting tons of time into it, time that I should spend on the videos :wacky2:

--

but one thing.... your video won't get ranked at all with very low views.
Yeah, that's what I figured, thanks for confirming it. I thought promotion would at least bring in a lot of views even if they were low-retention views, but alas...
so try to build that fanbase first :)
Do I get the parts for that at the home improvement store or....? :D
When you have a larger following, less curiosity clicks will happen and more targeted clicks.
That makes sense. More initial watch time too.
Anyway, any start of growth is hard on Youtube, and people have to be persistent.
I've learned a lot from my brief stint in 2013 and this time around I'm all prepared and in it for the long haul :)
I see you hang around this community a lot, without you mentioning your channel. I liked it that you're now showing your work :D
:) I just didn't have anything to show for a year, and now I'm super happy I can have actual conversations and join the chorus of "How do I get more suuuubs??" :laugh2:

--

where did the other sub come from?
I can't be entirely sure but I suspect it was one of the many comments I left on other videos.
 

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Here's what I did:
  • Tweet (to 150 followers)
  • Tumblr post with hashtags
  • Google+ post with hashtags
  • Google+ post in the biggest promotion community
  • Reddit post in /r/youtubers Show-Off thread
  • Reddit post in the biggest promotion subreddit
  • YTtalk thread in promotion forum
  • YTtalk thread in main forum (not just for promotion, lol)
  • Witty comments on about 15 big YouTuber videos within the first half hour
I am of the opinion that carefully thought out and executed promotion can result in just as high (or almost just as high) retention as you'd get from search results and/or suggested video traffic. That being said, I would never promote my video in a self promotion forum. It's counter productive to what you're trying to accomplish (high retention views). Even the views you get from here will end up likely being low retention, and this is a fairly supportive forum. Tumblr posts, Tweets, Google+ posts, all of them will result in low retention views, because everyone has a different sense of humor and likes different things. That, and the fact that usually people who are on those sites generally want to stay on them. That will not only make them less likely to go to your channel and watch other videos, but less likely to watch a lot of the video you linked.

You set yourself up for failure with what amounts to a 'throw it all at the wall and hope something sticks' promotion strategy. That makes it an unfair contest when pitted against no-promotion.
 

Sabrina

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That being said, I would never promote my video in a self promotion forum. It's counter productive to what you're trying to accomplish (high retention views)
Thank you for the reply. However, I'm not sure whether I didn't make myself clear or you misinterpreted my post. I read this forum and maybe you've seen me around the (no)promotion discussions. I'm very aware of everything you're saying, and I was also aware that the promotion method I chose would result in low-retention views because it wasn't targeted at all. It was an experiment (I specifically chose the Halloween video to "ruin" because it's not relevant to YT for another year) to see how many "curiosity clicks" it would get, and compared to that, how many high-retention-views/subs. I didn't expect much of the latter, but I was surprised that I didn't even get many views (I thought people at pure promotion places would check out the competition.) So my conclusion: this kind of promotion makes no sense whatsoever, wouldn't even help to "drive up the views".

But here's my problem (I wrote about this in the first half of my post): My search/suggested views don't have high retention either, because... you said this also:
everyone has a different sense of humor and likes different things.
and that also makes me question how I could do targeted promotion. How would I find people who happen to enjoy my kind of humour? It seems impossible.