- Joined
- Jun 28, 2016
- Messages
- 137
- Reaction score
- 40
- Channel Type
- Vlogger
Some random thoughts on "Building a Community with your Vlog Channel." Do you guys agree? This is definitley aimed at newer people to Youtube.
The Top 10 Ways to Build a Community on your Vlog Channel (for Beginners):
1) Ask people to subscribe. I know it’s not cool, but so many new channels forget this simple call-to action. You can put it in the description, in your first comment, early in the video + in the final few seconds. I recommend a red subscribe logo permanently pasted on your video (watermark, look it up on YouTube) You won’t have a community, if people don’t know to hit that subscribe button. They need to come back for more. Before, I even started Youtube, I had no idea about subscriptions, and that was just 1 year ago!
2) Encourage comments. Pose a question to the audience, you’ll be surprised how often they answer. (Try it earlier in the video, before you see a drop off in your analytics).
3) Respond to ALL comments. I am going to leave a caveat here.. ALL relevant comments. Any spam, any trolling, anything that doesn’t belong on your channel go ahead and delete + block the user. As many times as I’ve tried being clever with trolls, it always bites me in the behind.
4) Do live chats. I’ve recently started this, and I’m seeing a lot of the same names that comment on my videos popping in. Don’t be afraid, even if you get 2-3-4-5 people on your first live chat. Those are people who are buying into your “brand”. You will see them on your comments, I guarantee it. Any engagement is better than nothing. As a bonus, YT archives live chats and it’s super easy content to publish and you can load it with keywords.
5) Have some consistency in your brand. When you find out what works, don’t forget it. Are their any catchphrases or constant things you do on video that people are responding to. Remember, people keep coming back to your videos because of your value, style and voice. It’s like a writer having his “voice”, good Youtubers have it as well.
6) Have accounts on Twitter, IG, Facebook, , etc. I’ve had viewers reach out to me on all of these mediums through private messages. It allows you to keep building your brand when your subscribers are not on Youtube. Promote all of your new videos through these mediums. BONUS: Show behind the scenes footage, through IG stories or Snapchat.
7) Listen to your audience. Are you receiving the same questions over and over again? That’s a great way to come up with video ideas. Don’t be afraid to ask your audience what they’re looking for in livechats as well. Give them a shoutout, in the video you made about that topic. I once posed a question if my viewers wanted a video about how to Instagram in a new city, and I took some of the positive comments and threw them up in that vlog to show them I cared. Some of the viewers who I used replied immediately thanking me.
8) Collaborate- This one is the trickiest. But if you can collaborate with other vlog channels from time to time, you’ll be exposed to their audience. And if your channels are similar, you may get some of their subscribers curious about what you have to offer as well .
9) Read your analytics closely.. Who is actually watching your videos ? I skew 70% male 20-40, not surprising since I am a guy. I generally pick topics that interest me, and I’m imagining a lot of other guys. I’m not creating videos about traditionally female topics, although if my audience were more female, I’d have to factor this into the content (and warn my girlfriend about my many admirers) .
10) Join Facebook groups and other communities where you can meet other content creators. I have many vlogger friends who comment on my videos, and vice versa. A comment from another vlogger, is just as good as a random person in my opinion, and we always support each other. This is huge early on when you’re just getting started and getting people to watch and comment on your videos can seem like an extremely difficult task.
Did I miss anything? How do you guys build communities behind your vlogs? Love this place, let's get a discussion going!!
The Top 10 Ways to Build a Community on your Vlog Channel (for Beginners):
1) Ask people to subscribe. I know it’s not cool, but so many new channels forget this simple call-to action. You can put it in the description, in your first comment, early in the video + in the final few seconds. I recommend a red subscribe logo permanently pasted on your video (watermark, look it up on YouTube) You won’t have a community, if people don’t know to hit that subscribe button. They need to come back for more. Before, I even started Youtube, I had no idea about subscriptions, and that was just 1 year ago!
2) Encourage comments. Pose a question to the audience, you’ll be surprised how often they answer. (Try it earlier in the video, before you see a drop off in your analytics).
3) Respond to ALL comments. I am going to leave a caveat here.. ALL relevant comments. Any spam, any trolling, anything that doesn’t belong on your channel go ahead and delete + block the user. As many times as I’ve tried being clever with trolls, it always bites me in the behind.
4) Do live chats. I’ve recently started this, and I’m seeing a lot of the same names that comment on my videos popping in. Don’t be afraid, even if you get 2-3-4-5 people on your first live chat. Those are people who are buying into your “brand”. You will see them on your comments, I guarantee it. Any engagement is better than nothing. As a bonus, YT archives live chats and it’s super easy content to publish and you can load it with keywords.
5) Have some consistency in your brand. When you find out what works, don’t forget it. Are their any catchphrases or constant things you do on video that people are responding to. Remember, people keep coming back to your videos because of your value, style and voice. It’s like a writer having his “voice”, good Youtubers have it as well.
6) Have accounts on Twitter, IG, Facebook, , etc. I’ve had viewers reach out to me on all of these mediums through private messages. It allows you to keep building your brand when your subscribers are not on Youtube. Promote all of your new videos through these mediums. BONUS: Show behind the scenes footage, through IG stories or Snapchat.
7) Listen to your audience. Are you receiving the same questions over and over again? That’s a great way to come up with video ideas. Don’t be afraid to ask your audience what they’re looking for in livechats as well. Give them a shoutout, in the video you made about that topic. I once posed a question if my viewers wanted a video about how to Instagram in a new city, and I took some of the positive comments and threw them up in that vlog to show them I cared. Some of the viewers who I used replied immediately thanking me.
8) Collaborate- This one is the trickiest. But if you can collaborate with other vlog channels from time to time, you’ll be exposed to their audience. And if your channels are similar, you may get some of their subscribers curious about what you have to offer as well .
9) Read your analytics closely.. Who is actually watching your videos ? I skew 70% male 20-40, not surprising since I am a guy. I generally pick topics that interest me, and I’m imagining a lot of other guys. I’m not creating videos about traditionally female topics, although if my audience were more female, I’d have to factor this into the content (and warn my girlfriend about my many admirers) .
10) Join Facebook groups and other communities where you can meet other content creators. I have many vlogger friends who comment on my videos, and vice versa. A comment from another vlogger, is just as good as a random person in my opinion, and we always support each other. This is huge early on when you’re just getting started and getting people to watch and comment on your videos can seem like an extremely difficult task.
Did I miss anything? How do you guys build communities behind your vlogs? Love this place, let's get a discussion going!!
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