15 Ways To Boost Views and Grow Engagement on YouTube

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Congratulations! If you’re reading this, you already have published one or two YouTube videos and your channel is up and running. Now you’re ready to step it up and increase engagement, boost views, and get your online business rolling. You’re in the right place for that because below you’ll find 15 of the most effective and proven ways to boost views on YouTube.

1. Focus on Mobile Viewers

boost views

98% of millennials are viewing videos on their smartphones. This trend continues to sway in favor of mobile video marketing as opposed to desktop video viewing. Create mobile friendly YouTube videos by following one or more the following techniques:

  • Make sure each monetized YouTube video is available on all platforms. Find this option in your video editor under syndication.
  • Get in on the latest mobile video trends by making your videos with a 1:1 aspect ratio. People are no longer bothering to turn their phones to get a better view of a horizontal video, only to find it looks smaller anyways. They are simply viewing the video vertically, so why not make it optimal for them?
  • Maximize your visuals to help tell your story. Right from the beginning, your text, audio, and graphics should be appealing and all contributing to your quick, value-packed message.

2. Shoot for the Optimal Video Length

The average watch time on an internet video, according to KissMetrics.com, is 2.7 minutes. With marketing YouTube videos in particular, the optimal time range is 15 to 30 seconds. Either way, you’ll want to put your best stuff in right at the beginning to hold your audience’s attention, but also hold back some information if you can until the end of your video. Make sure your calls to action make their appearance at the beginning and during the middle of your video, in addition to the all-important ending CTA.

3. Embed Your Video in Emails

This technique enables you to repurpose your video and keep it in circulation or trending for a longer period of time. The day after your schedule of social media sharing has been completed, send an email to your list with the video embedded.

4. Optimize Your Metadata to Boost Views

This includes the text in your descriptions, tags and of course your title. The main keyword you are utilizing should be front and center across all three areas. Insert tags that are relevant to your audience when searching for your video. Use your description to organically pack in your keywords. By organically I mean make it useful to your audience by using the keywords in multiple ways: by describing your video’s content, including keyworded links to your other Internet places, and by giving them additional information that complements the video.

5. Perfect the Thumbnail

As you well know, the video thumbnail is the very first act of engagement that a person has with a video. If it’s a good experience and the viewer finds the thumbnail appealing, entertaining or shocking, they will click. The best thumbnails boost views by creating a sharing sensation across social media. The most important considerations when developing a thumbnail for your YouTube Videos include:

  • The thumbnails should match the content, or lead into the content.
  • Try to incorporate a close-up of you, with evident eye contact showing for viewers.
  • Use colors and graphics to show emotions that your audience can connect to.
  • Use contrasts, vivid colors and engaging graphics and text to draw attention.
  • Study your competitors’ thumbnails and try to improve on them.
  • Remember that thumbnails appear tiny so keep the text large, bold and to a minimum.

6. Enable Translations on All YouTube Videos

YouTube now offers an easy way to translate your captions into multiple languages. You can use their service, found in the Subtitles/CC tab in your video manager. You’re allowed accept translation bids ranging from $100 and up. Or you can get free subtitles in your language which you can edit for clarity and then hire someone on Upwork or Fiverr to give you a quick translation, then upload that. You’ll gain access to a pool of translators who will offer bids, at a much lower cost than what YouTube is recommending.

Last but not least, you can take your captions and then use Google Translate for free. This option is so quick and easy, but your captions may not come across as clearly as when you use a human translator. It makes sense if you’re wanting to boost views and grow your audience internationally or if your specific niche is popular in countries of varying languages.

7. Create Anticipation

At the end of your next video, be sure to talk a bit about what is coming up next. Give a little juicy tidbit, but not too much. Encourage your audience in this way to stay engaged and look forward to your next video. Some ways to do this include a quick live stream video to announce your next upcoming video posting time. You can then use that same video and send it to your email list as well.

8. Publish at the Perfect Time

Boost views by taking advantage of maximum viewership trend; post your videos on weekdays during noon and 4pm, and on the weekends between 9am and 11am. Overall, the best days are Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Try posting within these windows of time and don’t be afraid to tweak your posting schedule to see what works best in boosting views within your audience. You are also able to schedule the posting of your latest video in YouTube video manager to match the best times.

9. Share Across All Social Media Platforms

Before you start sharing, find out where your audience likes to hang out and prioritize these platforms. According to social media statistics, social followers are ten times more likely to engage in the forms of likes, shares and comments, when a video is presented. Set up a schedule for your social media sharing so that each time you post a video, you have an exact plan for when it gets shared, and how many times.

increase YouTube views

10. Answer Questions in a Live Stream

Using YouTube Live to stream video content allows you to boost views by combining two hot trends: mobile video and authenticity. More than half of all video consumption comes from mobile devices, primarily smart phones,  a percentage that continues to rise. In response to the virtual takeover of fake news, audiences are shifting more and more to authentically styled content. Satisfy both needs and boost views by holding a live stream; maybe even set up a regular schedule at a time that works for your target audience. Offer to answer questions given by those attending the YouTube live stream, then repurpose those live streamed YouTube videos after the fact.

11. Satisfy Your Hungry Audience

Say you received lots of views, likes and comments – perfect, you engaged your audience. Now don’t lose them. Give them something on a regular basis that they can look forward to. In fact, a good way to do this is to mention at the end of your video what your NEXT video will be about. Or go one step further and make your video a Part 1 of 2 (or 3, etc.). Whichever way you decide to play it, make sure it’s as consistent as possible, even down to the same day and time per week.

12. Give Them a Little Bit of You

Viewers will react strongly when you offer a bit of personality. Whether they hate you or love you, engagement is increased. Of course, you want more of the love, so tell them a little about you, what makes you tick, what challenges you have, maybe even ask them to help you solve a problem. People love to answer questions and help other people when asked.

13. Strong and Engaging CTA

YouTube viewers are now accustomed to seeing and hearing call to actions during and at the end of all YouTube videos, so don’t leave them hanging. CTAs give you the perfect opportunity to boost views by leading your audience to share your video and get to the next step in your value ladder. What do you want them to do next? Make it clear and simple. YouTube makes it super easy to do this with the Cards and Annotations tabs in their video manager editing features.

14. Respond to Comments

Make sure comments are enabled on your video and respond to each one. Feel free to use links to more of your videos to help answer a question or give additional information if it’s relevant. Even if the comment seems semi spammy, give a response. Many times what might seem like spam messages are actually other YouTubers in your niche looking for potential collaborators, which brings us to #15.

15. Collaborate

Find a few YouTube channels that have a similar number of subscribers and content related to your genre. Get to know them a little bit by watching their videos and commenting and asking them questions. Once you’re familiar with each other, propose that you do a video together that will entertain or inform both of your audiences. Be sure to highlight how it would benefit both of you. Also, you can join a few online groups for YouTubers to meet other potential video creators. And speaking of video creators, watch Tim Schmoyer do a collaboration video with Darrell Eaves:

 

Starting up a channel and publishing YouTube videos can seem a little overwhelming at first. Just take it one step at a time and implement these tips as you are ready. As long as you are consistently taking action to increase engagement, you will see the results of your hard work. Sign up below to stay in touch with us here at Valoso; we’ll keep you updated on all the latest YouTube trends and help you reach your video marketing goals.

how to boost YouTube views