How to Grow YouTube Channel – 10 Proven Steps for Continued Success

If you are wondering how to grow YouTube channel, this ultimate guide is going to help you. Engage your audience, and skyrocket your subscribers with it.

Growing a successful YouTube channel is no easy feat. But with the right strategies, dedication, and a pinch of creativity, it’s possible to reach new heights! 

There are various methods to boost your YouTube presence, engage your audience, and optimise your content for success. So, let’s take a deep dive into how to grow YouTube channel!

Identify Audience Interests and YouTube Algorithm

Creating content based on your audience and the YouTube algorithm is the key to gaining traction. Take time to study the content your viewers engage with the most and tailor your videos accordingly. (This should be your main strategy when you have already created some YouTube videos with less or no engagement).

How to Figure Out Who Your Viewers Are

Identify your target audience through Channel analytics in your YouTube Studio Dashboard. It will contain useful metrics about your audience, including, 

• ‘When your viewers are on YouTube’
• ‘Channels that your audience watches’
• ‘Watch time from subscribers’
• ‘Age and gender’

…. and more

This data from YouTube Analytics will help you create content that resonates with your viewers and keeps them coming back for more.

Further Reads Along the Way

• Customer Segmentation
• Psychographic Segmentation
• Behavioural Segmentation
• Geographical Segmentation

How YouTube Recommends Videos in 2023

Based on Hootsuite insights, the YouTube search algorithm prioritises the following aspects when determining search results.

Relevance of Your Topic: The algorithm aims to match various factors, such as the video’s title, tags, content, and description, with the user’s search query.

Engagement from Your Audience: Signals like watch time, watch percentage, likes, comments, and shares are taken into account. Higher engagement indicates that the video is popular and engaging for viewers.

Quality of Your Content and Channel: The algorithm evaluates signals to assess the authority and trustworthiness of the channel on the specific topic. This ensures that high-quality content is recommended to users.

User Search and Watch History: The algorithm considers the user’s past viewing preferences and search history, which helps it determine the most helpful and relevant search results for each individual user.

Also, note that YouTube officially mentions – 

• “Our algorithm doesn’t pay attention to videos, it pays attention to viewers.”

Pro-Tips on Increasing YouTube Views from Audience and Analytics

• Be willing to adapt and experiment with new content styles, formats, or topics based on audience response.
• Entertain your viewers and inject personality into your content. Engaging, enjoyable videos keep viewers coming back for more.
• Analyse your video performance and audience feedback regularly. Especially the Watch Time metric.
• Study audience retention graphs to identify sections that lose viewers’ attention and refine your content accordingly.

Check out an excellent course – YouTube Analytics on Great Learning

Increase YouTube Subscribers through Collaborations

Collaborating with other creators can introduce your YouTube channel to new audiences and create exciting, unique content.

Choose collaborations that align with your channel’s values and content. The point is to ensure mutual benefits for both parties involved.

Here are some essentials to consider before reaching out. 

• Create a list of potential channels you find interesting to collaborate with, along with their contact details.
• Many YouTubers have their business contact information listed on their channels. Reach out to several channels, as not everyone may respond immediately.
• When contacting potential collaborators, clearly state your goals and what you plan to achieve with the collaboration.

Proven Content Ideas for Collaboration

Collaboration Idea	Description of Video Content
Discussion Videos	Engage in a conversation on a specific topic related to your channels.
Challenge Videos	Take on a fun challenge together, adding an entertaining twist to keep viewers engaged.
Q&A Sessions	Host a joint Q&A where you answer questions from both of your audiences.
Guest Appearances	Make guest appearances on each other’s channels to provide fresh perspectives.
Collaborative Series	Create a series where you each contribute to different episodes, building anticipation among both audiences.
Educational Tutorials	Combine expertise to create informative tutorials that benefit both sets of viewers.

Pro-Tips on Collaborations to Gain Views and Fans 

• Ensure the collaborator is broadly within your niche. 
• Look for collaborators using subreddits or digital marketing tools like vidIQ Competitors Tool or similar. 

Share and Promote Videos Across Your Social Media Handles

One of the most useful organic ways to gain views on your YouTube content is social media. It’s not that hard, when you use the right social media marketing tool that can automatically schedule posts. 

But you need to be actively promoting your videos and engaging with potential viewers on social media platforms. Try engaging your followers to share, like, and comment.

Pro-Tips on Cross-Promotion

• Share snippets and teasers of your YouTube videos on different social media channels to attract new viewers.
• Share behind-the-scenes photos or clips of your content. Or share an Instagram story that your video on YouTube is live!
• Do not be limited to regular networks – Instagram or Facebook. 

Check out the important certification from the prestigious Digital Marketing Institute – Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube Marketing on Coursera. 

Interact with Your YouTube Fans and Competitors

Interacting with viewers on your videos is vital for engagement and a large following. It may require some time and effort. While it is similar to offline relationships, it is much more beneficial in terms of a broadened reach. 

Besides your engaging videos, the YouTube Comments section is a fine place for conversations.  As a content creator, you can encourage quality discussions by being responsive. 

Why Comments Help You Grow a Community 

• Replying to comments demonstrates that you value audience feedback.
• YouTube allows you to manage comments easily. You can look up comments specific keywords and apply filters. 

Why Comment on Your Competitors’ Videos Also

Conversely, you should also comment on videos from other content creators in your niche. 

Before that, create a list of top profiles from your competitors with 100,000 or more subscribers with similar video content.  Comment on their videos. What this practice will do is that viewers will see you interacting. If the competitor engages with you, those conversations are public, which paves the way for their followers to look up and subscribe to your profile on YouTube. Win-win!

Pro-Tips on YouTube Comments that Fans Love

• “Heart” relevant comments to show appreciation and build fan loyalty.
• Highlight a specific comment by pinning it to the top of your video’s comment section. 
• Pin your own comment to clarify something, ask questions, tease moments, or thank viewers.

Start Ranking Your YouTube Video on Google 

It is not enough to focus on YouTube only. Ranking on Google, the world’s biggest search engine, gives your video extra visibility. 

See the example below, on the keyword ‘how to use midjourney ai’

Besides our blog on using Midjourney, showing on Google’s Featured snippet, the below results show a mix of search engine-optimised blogs and videos. 

Do All Keywords Have Video Results?

Google SERP (search engine results page) shows video results on a few types of content. You will not find videos on every keyword you look for, but only the most relevant. 

Typically, keywords and content ideas like how-to, product demos, etc., appear on Google searches. Choosing such keywords can get you more viewers. 

Pro-Tips on Ranking Your YouTube Content on Google

• Chaptering or adding key moments in the YouTube videos help 
• Focus on the intent of the video while creating content. For instance, how-to and similar types of content have more potential to show up on Google searches. 
• When using any SEO tool for keyword research, you can do a simple Google search and see which keywords show video results on the SERP. 

To learn these basics, you must check out the free SEO courses listed on our platform from the best vendors out there!

Boost Views with YouTube Shorts 

YouTube Shorts gain a lot of attention and increase (CTR) click-through rates. As they are short with up to 60 seconds of length, it is easier for the audience to digest and share them on other social media platforms too. Even that will increase your viewership. 

According to Google’s India Blog, YouTube Shorts generate an average of 30 million views globally. One inspiring example is of an Indian YouTuber, Dushyant Kukreja, who leveraged YouTube Shorts to grow 16 million subscribers. 

Pro-Tips on Creating YouTube Shorts

• Create vertical thumbnails for your YouTube Shorts video
• Don’t use misleading titles
• Use apt background music
• Create YouTube Shorts based on your niche
• Use captions wherever necessary

Engage Audience in Real-Time with Live Streaming 

A recent study from Sprout Social shows that live streaming is preferred by 37% of consumers. And, based on Grand View Research, the live video streaming market segment will reach $330.51 billion by 2030.

How Can Live Streaming Help Content Creators

• It is extremely useful for monetising videos within a small budget.
• The audience can engage with the creators in real time, and that builds loyalty. 

Pro-Tips on Live Streaming

• Enable the Super Chat Feature
• Install encoders like OBS (Open Broadcaster Software) 
• Use a thumbnail image of 1280×720
• Create a poll for the topic your audience is interested to see
• Use live streaming for webinars, Q&A sessions, and product demos
• Keep checking YouTube Analytics after your live streams
• Use livestream to direct your audience to your Discord or Twitch channel for more comprehensive content

Add Playlists to Organise Your Videos

The best way to organise your content is to create playlists on subtopics or themes. 

Look at this screenshot example of Airbnb organising its YouTube content. (Also check Airbnb Digital Marketing Strategy).

Benefits of Creating YouTube Playlists

• When creating playlists, the YouTube algorithm gets an indication that the videos are related to each other. It increases the chance of showing your content as suggested videos linking to your playlist. 
• The Watch Time on your channel increases when the viewer watches one video to the next.

Pro-Tips on Creating the Best Playlist (s)

• Use end screens and cards at the end of the videos that encourage viewers to navigate your channel for similar themes. 
• Showcase your playlist on your homepage

Create an Email List for Newsletters

Leverage email marketing with your YouTube strategy to gain more followers who are loyal to you. One of the top advantages of doing this is showing your loyalty to fans too. It can also benefit your audience by getting sneak peeks into your world, which is necessary for strong community building. 

Pro-Tips on Sending Email Newsletters

• Segment your audience to send personalised communication and use an opt-in form
• Offer early-access content as much as possible
• Optimise emails for mobile views
• Use good CTAs 

You should use some email marketing tools to make your life a little easier!

Optimise Your YouTube Vids with Thumbnails, Captions, and Subtitles

Don’t ignore thumbnails, as they are the first thing that the user comes across, while your channel name and title remain secondary. And you don’t want new users to click on the other results with better designs now, do you?

YouTube itself recommends creators use custom thumbnails. 

Along with that, you must leverage subtitles or captions for your video. This applies to viewers who may be hard of hearing. Another reason to add captions is that it increases views. 

Do read more about optimisation techniques in our blog on YouTube marketing basics. 

Pro-Tips on Optimising Your Videos

• Make thumbnails click-worthy and compelling with humorous poses, inviting headlines, etc.
• Include your brand logo on the thumbnail.
• Do not use a screenshot of your video. Instead, use Adobe Photoshop or similar. 
• Do include subtitles by default, even if you are not adding captions.

Grow Your YouTube Channel with the Best Practices

Engagement and trust are important for all audiences on YouTube. What you learnt today are the most practical steps to grow subscribers and viewership. Additionally, you should think about taking the free YouTube Certified program.