Any individual or enterprise that operates a YouTube channel should plan and invest in multipronged and holistic promotion. Exploring one or a few avenues can lead to some gains in views, perhaps likes too, but such campaigns will not bring in the desired turnaround. Every YouTube channel vies for more views, likes and comments. All channels are aspiring for more subscribers. This cannot happen without multipronged and holistic YouTube promotion.
The Real Challenges of YouTube Promotion
Before we delve into the nature and finer details of what a multipronged and holistic promotion campaign should be like, it is absolutely necessary to understand the real challenges of trying to generate greater viewership and more subscribers. It is one thing to share a video on social media and other platforms to get some views. It is a completely different ballgame to keep getting new views, to an extent that the video gets featured on YouTube, which is the largest platform in this niche. Also, it is relatively easy to get a few subscribers, but monumentally difficult to keep generating new followers.
Here are some hard truths that owners and marketers of YouTube channels must know and accept. People who view a video do not stay around for the entirety. Some viewers will quit midway. Those who view the video in entirety are not going to click on the like button, even if they have actually enjoyed the content. People in general have very little time and patience these days. Attention span has shrunk too. Viewers are in haste to move from one video to another. They can love a video and not click or tap on the like button before moving on to the next content. The same is true for subscribers.
There are many users that want to subscribe to a channel of their choice, simply to stay updated. The notifications are handy for such users. Simultaneously, there are many other users that want to check out more videos on the channel but will not subscribe. It is unwise to presume that everyone who wants to view more videos of a channel will subscribe. Many search for the channel when they return to the site, check the thumbnails and descriptions of new videos, to decide if they want to watch any. The crux of the matter is simple. Very few people among those who view a video are going to make an effort to like it. Very few users among those who like a video are going to take another additional step to subscribe.
Multipronged and Holistic YouTube Promotion
Now that the real challenges have been discussed to a reasonable extent, let us talk about YouTube promotion. There should be a concerted campaign for every video. If there is a larger promotional strategy for the channel, then that should remain segregated. Every video deserves to be promoted. If not, then you should not make such a video in the first place. People have enough videos to watch. They do not need or want filler videos.
Multipronged YouTube promotion is essentially about using all available platforms. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, also LinkedIn and Pinterest for relevant channels, should be included in the list. Relevant third party websites, public forums and private messaging boards, article directories, review sites, platforms that host user generated content and other such mediums should be used to promote YouTube video links. Those who can afford may also use blast messages and sponsored posts.
Holistic YouTube promotion is about a comprehensive boost to the counts that matter. Eyeing only views and not likes or comments is going to be ineffective in the short run and the long term. Vying for increasing subscribers alone will not work. A channel owner should go for views, likes, comments and subscribers at the same time. The algorithm of YouTube makes a note of all these metrics to assess the popularity, authority and relevance of a channel, and hence its contents.
If a channel has increasing subscribers, views and likes, then its videos will get featured faster and more prominently. If any one of these metrics gets a boost with other counts remaining largely static, then the impact will be limited. These are the real reasons why channel owners opt for holistic YouTube promotion, such as buying likes, views and subscribers.
