The industry has grown exponentially in the last 15 years and viewers have evolved to the point of being desensitized with all the content around. Gone are the days when content creators could churn out low quality videos of their cat and would still get millions of views. The average YouTube consumer no longer has the time to sift through thousands of videos that would pique their interest, the algorithm does that for them.
- Create high-quality content
The creation of the most engaging videos for your YouTube channel is the most important part. In an industry filled with creators trying to rig the algorithm, YouTube has found the best way to reward those who make carefully-curated content by measuring their performance versus engagement metrics, like average watch time and watch percentage, average view duration, audience retention and average session duration. Which is another way of saying that when you, as a creator, keep your audience engaged the algorithm will follow suit. The moment you get a hang of the topics that receive the most engagement, the subscribers will flock.
- Consistency is key
Question: what is the primary reason why you subscribe to your favorite YouTuber? You may say you enjoy their content, simple. But on top of that, the underlying factor why you keep coming back is trust. A creator has to realize that the audience needs to trust you. They have to find comfort in the thought that you are going to release quality videos with utmost consistency. They trust you to deliver the content they enjoy because you are an entertainer, a knowledge provider, a steadfast comfort in their busy lives. Building this trust naturally comes as you create more content with your desired publishing schedule.
- Interact with your audience
When starting on YouTube, it is important to note that building the habit of interacting with your viewers helps in retention and to draw them in as new YouTube subscribers. The best way to do this is either by replying to your comment section when you can, or if not simply liking comments will make your audience feel that all of you are taking part in the creation of a community. This way, it will become much easier to get engagement by word of mouth. Remember, that the more you engage with your audience, the higher your ranking will be and it is much more likely that people will discover your videos.
- Select a niche and theme
Prior to creating your channel, you might have already thought about the particular topics you will center your content on. Your YouTube videos, like all of your other material, should be highly targeted toward your target audience. As you first start out, choose a niche and a style that you'll stick to. If you're planning on creating a channel that has a wide base or broader topics to pursue, you can break it down into smaller subtopics and make a playlist of videos for each of them. You can have one umbrella niche for the channel, like Android tech updates, and under that you can cluster similar topics as well. With this approach, your videos will be more precious to your average viewer. Plus, you no longer have to brainstorm so hard in coming up with personalized content for your audience since you would already know what keeps them coming back.
- Know your audience
In any consumer-based industry, knowing your audience is the golden rule. Regardless of what you plan on creating, you need to know your audience. For YouTube as a platform, plan ahead and think about what approach you want to use on your videos. You must decide whether or not the audience would want short, no-nonsense content that is straight to the point or would they want content that is more laid back and not concerned with the length of the video by taking the slow approach. This will be different for anyone, depending on their niche and theme.
