Would you rather watch a 3-minute demo video on how to install a new treadmill or read a lengthy text guide on the same topic?
Chances are you’ll opt for the video, and a lot of people would agree with you. In fact, 59% of executives and 60% of millennial consumers would rather watch a video than read text.
This isn’t surprising because video is a highly engaging content format, making it perfect for marketing your products or services. Having a video on your page can even increase your average time on page by 2.6X.
All of these numbers speak volumes about the power of video. So it’s only natural that you’d want to create your own YouTube channel and start your video marketing campaign. The problem is it’s not that easy to attract viewers to your channel when you’re just starting out.
Luckily, there are a few ways you can get ahead of that. Check out these 5 ways to get more views for your YouTube videos:
1. Make Quality a Priority
It goes without saying that you’ll need quality videos to attract more viewers.
Start by choosing topics that provide value to your audience. The topic could fulfill any or all of the following purposes:
Help them understand something
Teach them how to do something
Entertain them
However, the topic isn’t the sole deciding factor for your video quality. Make sure you maintain good video and audio recording quality as well, so you don’t dissuade your viewers from watching the entire video.
2. Use Captivating Thumbnail Images
Besides the title, the thumbnail image is one of the first things that people will look at before they decide to watch your video.
It gives them a glimpse of your video quality so even if the topic seems relevant, they may not necessarily want to watch it if the quality doesn’t meet their expectations.
If you’re going to get more people to watch your videos, you need thumbnail images that will draw them in and make them want to click. You could add text overlay, relevant graphics, and other effects that give an instant pop to the image and attract more viewers.
Tons of freelance PhotoShop editors can help you create enticing thumbnail images for your YouTube videos. Work with them to remove background elements, retouch photos, or add graphic elements that would persuade people to click on your videos.
3. Create Video Transcripts
Getting more video views also requires making your content accessible to more people.
One of the best ways to improve accessibility is by creating transcripts of your videos and adding closed captions. That way, your videos will be accessible to anyone regardless of their physical ability.
Adding closed captions in multiple languages will also help you reach an international audience, which significantly improves your viewership.
4. Use the Right Promotion Tactics
You can’t just let luck decide whether or not your video will go viral when you can achieve the same results through the right promotional tactics and distribution channels. Here are a few ways to get started:
Improving your video visibility in relevant searches by optimizing your YouTube SEO—this involves optimizing your video titles and descriptions with the right keywords and getting backlinks for your videos
Sharing your videos on social media using the right hashtags, sharing them through relevant social media groups and forum discussions, etc.
Getting your video in relevant playlists
Running ads on the right platforms to promote your channel
These are just some of the ways you can promote your YouTube channel and videos to drive up your viewership. The whole process takes time, so between managing your business and developing video content, you may struggle with your promotional strategy.
5. Leverage YouTube Cards
You can even use YouTube cards to cross-promote your videos and direct your viewers to other videos within your channel.
While you can also add cards to direct traffic to your site, run a poll, drive more subscriptions, or donate to a non-profit, promoting other video content is ideal when you want to increase video views.
For instance, you can add a card suggesting a lesser-watched video at the end of your latest upload. You can also suggest related videos in the middle of the video to add more value to your viewers. For example, let’s say you’re making a video about how to make pork and chive dumplings. You can direct viewers to a previous video about how to make dumpling wrappers as well.
Don’t Just Stop at Getting Views
While you can make the most of these tactics to drive up your video views and fuel your channel growth, you shouldn’t just stop at that.
Aim to drive action through your videos and add relevant calls to action (CTAs) that will engage your viewers. The more you engage your audience, the better you’ll connect with them, and the larger your community will grow.