Starting a YouTube channel is the easiest thing ever, you only have to create an account and upload your first video, the second video, and so on.
However, succeeding with your YouTube channel is a different story.
According to Zippia.com, There are over 51 million YouTube channels out there, a number that grew by 36% since 2021. An interesting fact is that only 29,000 YouTube channels have over 1 million subscribers.
The answer to this question is pretty simple. As the competition grows, it becomes harder and harder to succeed.
The number of viewers on YouTube could be represented by a big cake. It’s hard to eat a big slice of the cake if you compete with so many YouTube channels for the same slice.
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Before reading what YouTube growth requires, ask yourself first: "Am I willing to dedicate my efforts, be consistent, and have a solid strategy to grow on YouTube?"
If your answer is yes, then you should keep reading!
These are one of the most important rules you should apply to your YouTube growth strategy to become a successful monetized channel:
1) Identify your niche and target audience
Determine what kind of content you will upload, and who your channel is intended for. For instance, your channel may be going into the niche of gaming, travel, fashion, reviews, etc.
To create content that is relevant and interesting to your target audience, you must define who they are.
Sticking to one niche is highly recommended. Channels that upload videos from different niches will face a problem when it comes to building their audience.
If you also wish to grow on other platforms like LinkedIn, this post may be useful to you.
2) Focus on quality instead of quantity
It is tempting to upload as many videos as you can to expand the reach of your channel fast. But the YouTube algorithm prefers to expose high-engaging videos that provide real value.
Therefore, if you want to grow on YouTube, then focus on creating content regularly, but it should be quality content.
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3) Promote your channel on social media
Most big channels are active on many social media platforms, which helps them to attract new viewers and subscribers. As a new YouTube channel, it will be extremely hard to gain views on your videos, therefore sharing them on social media can be beneficial.
Even though it’s hard to stay consistent and active on social media, you should do your best to promote your channel to as many relevant people as you can if you want to build your audience.
4) Learn from analytics
YouTube provides you with a useful tool called YouTube Analytics, which helps you to track your progress, see what works and what doesn’t, and adjust your strategy accordingly.
You should always check your channel performance through this tool to make the right decisions about what kind of content you should focus on in the next videos.
Pro tip: YouTube has released an option to test different thumbnails for your videos. You can provide up to three different thumbnails to find the one that works best and gets people to both click and watch your videos for the longest time.
This video shows how to understand YouTube Analytics and learn from it:
5) Leverage YouTube "Shorts"
Shorts are short-length vertical videos like on Instagram/Facebook Reels and TikTok. It is easy to gain many views through Shorts compared to long videos, so focusing on it will help you build your audience faster.
If you want to learn how to create a short viral video, this post may give you the answer.
6) Consistency
As simple as it sounds, consistency is the key. Make sure that you post your content regularly and try sticking to a schedule, so your viewers can know when to expect new content.
To conclude,
Starting on YouTube may sound easy, but as soon as you start you are going to find out that it’s extremely hard to stand out from your competition. The fast strategy for YouTube growth consists of many different elements, but the most important one is consistency.
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