Is your YouTube channel getting all the engagement of a late-night infomercial?
Perhaps it’s time to make a change. Consider these straightforward tips to boost high-quality interaction with your YouTube presence — without hiring a professional producer to manage things for you.
1) Keep the Content Coming
This could well be the “golden rule” of YouTube.
No, you don’t have to transform your company into a content production studio. You can keep doing whatever it is that has taken you this far.
You probably should post to YouTube more often, though. Prolific content creators tend to build followings over time. If you live by the 80/20 rule, you understand that this is really a numbers game. More videos means more opportunities to break out.
2) Share Content Your Audience Actually Wants to See
Just as importantly, share content your audience actually wants to see. This is not necessarily the content you want them to see, or that you would have them see if it were up to you. See the difference?
Often, the stars do align. The YouTube channel for Asiaciti Trust, for example, features content that both the company and its core audiences find valuable. So do many successful YouTubers’. But whenever there’s a disagreement, let the audience win out. Using tools such as a Youtube scraper will help you understand your subscribers and the content they enjoy watching.
3) Engage With Commenters (Respectfully)
YouTube’s comments section can be a, er, lively place. Many content creators would rather leave it alone altogether.
No one’s suggesting you get down in the mud with your YouTube trolls. But you’d do well to engage with commenters seeking substantive conversation and take their feedback to heart. Yes, even when you don’t agree with the premise.
Carve out 15 to 30 minutes each week for “comment maintenance,” or short responses to engagement that doesn’t require a substantive response. Leave an open-ended amount of time (before or after business hours, most likely) to engage with comments that require more in-depth responses.
4) Make a Clear “Ask” (Call to Action) in Your Videos
Your YouTube videos should contain a clear “ask” of your audience.
In many cases, this will be a call to action of the sort outlined by OptinMonster in its comprehensive CTA guide. In others, it will be more subtle, perhaps just a request for further engagement or to watch the next video in the series.
Regardless, your CTAs keep your audience engaged and may spur sharing, creating a virtuous cycle that drives further engagement. Don’t neglect them.
5) Don’t Expect Your Channel to Promote Itself
To promote your YouTube channel, you may need to look beyond YouTube itself. Beyond your website, too.
Sprout Social outlines some promotional tips for budding YouTubers. Take the advice that works for your brand and ditch the rest, but do keep an open mind about what might work (or not) in the future.
You Deserve Better Engagement
Your YouTube channel deserves better, higher-quality engagement.
These five simple tips can get it there. From using non-YouTube media to promote your videos to engaging (sensibly) with your commenters, there’s lots you can do to create a livelier YouTube presence that does right by your brand.
You might just earn some new customers in the process.
