Growing your channel on YouTube is no easy task. With content creators (who are essentially your competitors) becoming increasingly sophisticated, standing out from the crowd is more challenging than ever. Moreover, as the cost of content production continues to decline, barriers to entry for new creators are lower than ever. Even if your content is top-notch, you may still find that your channel’s growth has plateaued.

Our team of video editors works with over 50 YouTube channels. Here are five proven marketing strategies for your YouTube channel.

1. Do YouTube SEO

YouTube is the world's second-most popular search engine next to Google, making search engine optimization (SEO) crucial for your channel's visibility. Doing this can help you rank through YouTube searches, get more attention from an audience who may not know you yet, and grow your channel.

Optimize your videos by using relevant keywords in your video titles, descriptions, and tags. Research popular keywords using tools like Google Trends, Google Ads Keyword Planner, or even YouTube’s own search suggestions. Including the keyword to your video’s filename can also increase the chances of being ranked, so make sure to rename it before uploading!

Adding subtitles and closed captions is optional, but also helpful to rank better in search engine results pages. Both of them contain transcripts that are accessible to broad search engines.

On top of that, create eye-catching thumbnails to encourage viewers to click on your videos. They are the first thing that grabs people’s attention while searching for a video, so create something that stands out from the crowd and can draw more eyes. Your click-through rates and watch times may increase if your thumbnails are effective.

2. Create quality video content and be consistent

Your content quality is the most important factor in attracting and retaining viewers. Just having videos won’t help you that much if they don’t offer value to your viewers and are poorly edited to keep them interested.

Invest in good equipment, create engaging and informative videos, and put work into editing. Consider your audience’s interests and analyze them. If you focus on creating content that appeals to them, they will stick to your content and may even help you grow your channel.

Improve quality by constantly analyzing and aiming for better video metrics such as higher audience retention and engagement. Pay more attention to storytelling especially your intro because the first ten seconds of your video determines why people should watch the rest.

YouTube places significant importance on the quality of your content. That’s why being consistent in bringing out quality videos has a greater likelihood of ranking higher and being recommended to others.

3. Shorts

People love watching YouTube videos on mobile. They make up 89.5% of visits worldwide compared to just 10.5% on desktops. This is why Shorts, which are designed for mobile devices, can be a great strategy to reach a wider audience.

Creating Shorts isn’t that complicated. In fact, you can use parts from your long-form content and make short-form content out of it while highlighting the value viewers can get.

Treat your Shorts as the appetizer for your long videos. Use them to entice your viewers into watching more of your content, or provide a chance for a new audience to get a glimpse of your channel. Thus, make your shorts appealing and entertaining!

With YouTube Studio’s new feature, you can add a link to your uploaded Shorts to let viewers easily go to your long videos with just a simple tap. This is a good way to provide an accessible linkage from your Shorts to your long content, and drive more traffic to your channel.

4. Social media/communities

Using social media as a strategy isn’t only to promote your latest videos or expand your reach, but also to connect and understand your audience better by being active in social communities and groups.

YouTube has its own Community Tab which is perfect for connecting with your subscribers and encouraging more engagement. Just enable your advanced features on YouTube Studio in order to access it.

By being creative and making the most out of YouTube’s Community Tab, you can drive people to watch your videos or even binge-watch your channel’s playlists. Get direct feedback, understand your audience’s wants, and gain content ideas by simply asking questions through plain texts or polls.

And since we’re talking about interacting with your audience, Discord is one of the best apps to build your own community around your content.

Many YouTube creators and influencers, especially those who are gaming-focused and who also do live streams in the app, use Discord. It’s a great medium to share info about your channel and be updated with new events. You can interact with your followers directly, and they can also engage with each other which makes your community stronger and more fun!

5. Collaboration

Collaborations between YouTubers, with a brand, or with an influencer have become increasingly popular in recent years. This strategy can be an effective way to boost your channel’s exposure. And its idea is a win-win situation for both parties!

When you collaborate with another YouTuber, you have the opportunity to tap into their existing audience. Their subscribers become aware and interested in your content. The same goes for influencers for brands. A cross-promotion between you can help your channel reach more potential audiences from their social networks.

If you’re someone who does video podcasts on YouTube, then you can collaborate with other podcasters to co-host an episode, or maybe invite an influencer as a guest to spice up your podcast.

Take note that there should be similarities or relevance between you and your partner. You may have the same niche, personalities, or values. So instead of feeling fake or forced, your collaboration will turn out fun and authentic.

DO NOT RECOMMEND — YouTube ads

Feel like you’re not growing fast enough organically? You can try investing in YouTube ads.

It can be a good way to boost your channel by increasing your reach and visibility. But let’s be upfront, YouTube ads also have their difficulties and drawbacks. It might not reach your expected outcome or it can be really costly.

If your goal is to sell something, then promoting your brand on YouTube can be promising as it can bring you a good return on ad spend. But if your main purpose for advertising is only to get more views and subscribers, then you can also try other strategies that don’t require much spending.