There is no way that you are an internet user in today's world and haven’t heard about YouTube, the largest video-sharing platform in the world. It is the world’s online hub for all sorts of content.
YouTube has more than 2 billion global users and receives over 30 million views every day, which is a testament to its vast popularity.
When considering how to get subscribers on YouTube, you need to consider that anyone can post a video there. You don’t have to be a professional to post something, and there is no particular skill required for this. Even giant corporations and businesses have a YouTube channel to further their outreach, especially among the young generation. So, its popular and you'll need to stand out from the rest in one way or another to grow your followers.
Established in 2005, YouTube is one of the most popular websites on the internet, and there are many full-time ‘YouTubers’ that showcase their content and even earn from the views they receive on the platform. Speaking of views and earnings, how many subscribers do you have on YouTube?
Have you created your own YouTube channel and post regular content but don’t get enough views? There is something you should be concerned about more than views: subscribers! Subscribers are people who subscribe to your channel and view your content, and they also receive notifications about each new video that you upload.
The most popular YouTubers worldwide include PewDiePie, with an astounding 111 million subscribers, and Kids Diana Show, with 78 million subscribers. Of course, this is excluding those channels that belong to media houses, TV channels, etc.
These people have worked hard and produced awesome content to get there, but they also started with a few hundred subscribers. So let’s talk about ways that you can get more subscribers on YouTube.
9 Ways for How to Get Subscribers on YouTube:
YouTube's user base is highly diverse. It is used by people of different genders, ethnicities, religions, locations, and other demographics. They use the site for a variety of purposes, including entertainment and education. Regardless of what the brand is striving to achieve or what your objectives are, there's a good chance that you will be able to accomplish them with YouTube.
Let’s have a look at some of the methods you can apply to grow your subscribers.
1. Be Consistent with Your Content
One of the best ways to get people to subscribe to your channel after watching your videos is to be consistent with the genre that you are following. Instead of posting random videos from different genres without any continuity, bring some originality and work on a specific niche or genre. Randomly generated content often drives people away from your channel.
Concentrating your efforts on a particular segment helps you organize your work and gain more subscribers. Make sure you adhere to your upload plan until you have decided on it.
Most YouTubers often announce when they will put up their videos on their social media pages. If you have a more significant following there, you wouldn’t want to announce your next video and then slack off on it.
Predictability is an important aspect of consistency, but it isn't the whole picture. You have continuity with how your videos are made, what happens in your YouTube videos, how you view the video, branding, and other facets that bind your videos together, among other things.
Consistency is vital because it gives your fans, followers, and audience an incentive to anticipate your next video. Your viewers need a reason to become your subscribers, and they will only do that when they have something to look forward to.
If you deliver a fantastic video that people love, they will definitely think about subscribing to your channel.
Moreover, they will expect more from your following videos, and they will have a certain standard for the consistency, style, or humor of your content. The trick to making a successful video/content schedule is to make sure it is practical. Make a material calendar that you can keep track of.
When you are first getting started, err on the side of caution. Having your calendar displayed on your channel banner is one of the easiest ways to ensure you adhere to your schedule and get things done quicker.
Even if all your subscribers haven’t turned on their notifications for new videos, they will search your channel to see if you have uploaded something new, and this is recorded by YouTube's algorithm. You will hit the first 100 subscribers in no time if you are consistent in your content creation and posting.
2. Make Use of Focused Playlists
On your channel, you must have seen the option to create playlists to group-specific videos together.
However, if you go to a famous YouTuber’s channel, you will find focused playlists with the same type of videos and feature videos that complement or follow each other.
Let’s say you have a YouTube channel, and your focus is on creating ‘How To’ videos for various topics. You will benefit the most from creating focused playlists or power playlists. You can even rename your videos to create a natural flow and lead your viewers to the outcome of the entire set of videos.
This makes people more willing to subscribe to your channel and wait for your upcoming videos, especially if you have a series of interrelated videos.
3. Create Longer Videos
If you have ever talked to a YouTuber or someone who makes videos for the internet, they may have told you that the shorter your videos are, the more likely people will be engaged to your channel.
Although this seems like the practical thing to do, the opposite is also true. Instead, you should focus on creating longer videos and publishing them. They can be anywhere between 5 to 15 minutes, and people will still be hooked on your content.
A YouTube ranking study shows that longer videos rank better in search results as compared to shorter videos.
This will help you appear in most searches, and as a result, not only will your video views increase, but people will also subscribe to your channel. Naturally, since people usually click the top search results, they also find the respective channels more credible than others.
However, this doesn't mean that you should add fluff and unnecessary content to increase the duration of your videos. Sometimes, you can even make do with a 1-minute video made just for fun or to inform your subscribers about something going on in your life.
The longer video method isn’t a law that you have to abide by. Just maintain the natural flow of your videos, and people will certainly engage with your channel.
Most YouTubers have a specific formula for success, where they regularly upload 3 to 4-minute videos to keep their subscribers hooked on. Still, they make sure to upload a longer video once every month.
This keeps their viewer counts high, and they also experience a steady increase in the number of subscribers.
4. Add the Subscribe Banner to Your End Screen
Apart from YouTube’s unique features, you can also add specific cards to the end screen of your video.
You can add the banners or cards to your other popular videos so people who haven’t seen them can click on the link and watch other videos as well. This works perfectly for all YouTubers in general.
Moreover, if you are looking to amp up your subscriber count, you can also add a subscribe button at the end of every video.
If you have entertained your viewers throughout your video and have reached the end, they are more likely to click on the subscribe button than move on to the following video. After all, it all depends on the quality of your content, so make sure to work on it carefully.
Most YouTube users add 10 extra seconds at the end of the video when they upload it and add the popular videos and subscribe button in the empty space.
This way, your viewers can enjoy your videos till the last second without having the subscribe button pushed in their faces. Only when the videos end is when they see the button and can quickly click or tap it.
5. Add a Branding Watermark to Your Videos
YouTube also lets you add a watermark to your videos, which features a logo or the profile picture to your YouTube channel. This branding watermark is usually placed at the bottom right of the screen, and users can hover on it to display the subscribe button.
This way, if your viewers are compelled to subscribe to your channel as the video is running, they can immediately do the deed and add to your numbers.
When designing a branding watermark, make sure to make something clear enough to appear in every video and can be visible on a backdrop of various colors. Moreover, it should be something attractive so that users are tempted to subscribe to your channel.
Reports show that people who resorted to simple text waterparks didn’t find much success. However, people who designed subscribe buttons and special watermarks reported a 70% increase in the subscriber count.
Therefore, don’t underestimate the usefulness of a branding watermark when starting out with your channel because it can help people engage better with your content and channel.
6. Focus on Quality Content
You might be wondering why our first point concerned posting consistently and regularly, but now we are talking about creating quality content rather than focusing on quantity. You can upload a new video every week or even every day, but you might not see an increase in the number of views or your subscriber count.
If you are suffering from this phenomenon, stop thinking about quantity for a while, and concentrate on quality. This approach works well, and you will instantly notice a significant difference in the number of views as you tailor and tweak your content to make it much better for your viewers.
Basically, users on YouTube watch videos that they can relate to, which should also be on your mind when thinking about quality content.
You can also carry quantity and quality alongside each other, and you can actually perfect this with a lot of practice. Once you have made a few dozen videos and have spent a year running and managing your YouTube channel, you will become well-versed in writing content that will win over people and bring you the numbers you are looking for.
7. Interact With Your Subscribers
One of the easiest ways to get more subscribers is to interact more and more with your viewers. And how do you do that? You can start by responding to every comment that you receive on your videos.
This gives viewers the impression that you are always there reading their comments and feedback, and you always respond as quickly as possible.
This action compels more and more viewers to subscribe to your channel because they have more trust in you and your content. But, unfortunately, most YouTubers rarely reply to the comments underneath their videos, which irks viewers the most.
If you respond to all the comments on time, it will instantly make you stand out from the crowd. Moreover, you don’t even have to keep your laptop or desktop on to monitor and respond to comments; you can easily do it from your smartphone, no matter where you are.
8. Put Some Thought Into Your Channel Description
Your YouTube channel description is a window into your personality, and it lets people know what you are all about, as well as what type of content they can expect from your channel.
Every popular YouTuber has a winning channel description that explains everything about what they do with their channel, and you should do it too.
When you think about phrasing your channel description, make sure to put a lot of thought into what you want it to say. You might be tempted to get away with just a single phrase like, ‘Hello, I am David, and I make tech videos.’ Instead, put yourself in the shoes of an average YouTube user. Would you subscribe to a channel with such a description? Probably not.
Therefore, your channel description should include details about what you want the channel to be, the various topics that you make videos about, and also add a call-to-action statement that compels people to subscribe to your channel when they read the description.
9. Ask Viewers to Subscribe to Your Channel
Last but not least, simply ask people to subscribe to your channel in all of your videos. You have seen almost all YouTubers do it in their videos, saying something along the lines of ‘Don’t forget to like the video and subscribe to my channel.’ Again, it won’t cost you a cent, and it won’t even affect the quality of your content.
If your content is good enough to captivate or entertain your viewers, they will subscribe to your channel. Instead of just adding a call to action to your videos, you can take it a step further and add a catchy outro, which would stay ingrained in people’s minds and connect to your content.
FAQs
How Do I Start a YouTube Channel?
You can start a YouTube channel in just a few simple steps:
- Log in to your Google account (or make one if you don't already have one)
- Use your Google account, create a new YouTube channel
- Go to the Channel Customization tab
- Add basic information to the channel to make it more discoverable
- Add the channel's branding elements
- Tailor the layout choices for a more advanced look
- Record your videos using the right equipment
- Have videos to make them search-engine friendly
How to Get Paid for Your YouTube Videos?
To get paid for your views, you have to be eligible for monetization on your channel and enable it. Next, you will have to connect it to an AdSense account, which will make it possible for ads to appear before, during, or after your video. There are different types of videos that can be monetized on YouTube.
How Many Views Do You Need on YouTube to Make Money?
The YouTube Partner Program is designed to pay YouTubers for creating content on the platform. To be eligible for it, you need to have at least 1,000 subscribers, as well as a total of 4,000 watch hours in the past 12 months.
Conclusion
If you are a new content creator, it can be pretty difficult for you to compete with some of the most popular YouTubers. They already have thousands (maybe even millions!) of subscribers and millions of views.
Luckily, YouTube offers you many resources that help you build a solid community of followers and fans.
All YouTubers have their own methods of getting new subscribers, and even those with thousands of followers still strive to get more.
By following the tips in this article, hopefully you will now have a better idea or plan for how to get subscribers on YouTube.
