So, you started your YouTube channel and are waiting to see the numbers climb. While it is possible to grow your channel organically, some tips and tricks can help. So, if you’re wondering how to get subscribers on YouTube, this article is just for you.
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15 Ways to Increase YouTubers Subscribers
Here are the steps you can take to increase subscribers on YouTube:
1. Promote Your Channel on TikTok or Instagram
You might be thinking to yourself I want to know how to get subscribers on YouTube. Why is TikTok here? Since YouTube doesn’t have a recommending system, the easiest way to be introduced to a potential audience is through TikTok or Instagram.
If a clip of yours goes viral, you get the opportunity to reach a whole new target audience. It’s important to capitalize on this.
Here are some methods to promote your YouTube channel on Instagram or TikTok:
- Optimize Your Bio: No matter whether you are active on Instagram or TikTok, your bio is where your audience can learn a lot about you. Add your YouTube Channel to a Link-in-bio URL and add it to your bio. So, your audience can easily find your YouTube page and subscribe.
- Introduce Your Channel in Your Stories: You can easily promote your YouTube channel in your Instagram stories because it’s one of the places you can post a link on Instagram.
- Share Teasers and Highlights: Create short clips of your YouTube video and share it as a Reel in Instagram or TikTok. With this method, your followers see a glimpse of your content and if they get interested, they will subscribe.
2. Start from a Small Community
A bigger community means a bigger audience. The problem here is that you have to compete with more creators. Increasing YouTube subscribers with such huge creators in the scene is very difficult.
If you start from a smaller community, for example, creating content in a different language or targeting a smaller age group, you’ll have much better luck. If you’re wondering “how to get subscribers on YouTube fast,” this is one of the easiest ways.
3. Funnel Your Audience to Long Format Videos
So, we said that using TikTok and Instagram could be very helpful. There is a slight issue with this. Your content on both of these platforms will probably not be particularly long. While the average video on TikTok is one minute, the average video on YouTube is 12 minutes.
It’s important to funnel the audience you get from TikTok to your 12-minute videos. You can do this by:
- Creating your content around whatever has worked on TikTok,
- Having a bed of content ready for the people who decide to check your channel
- Having the same logo and color scheme as your TikTok page
3. Have a Consistent Upload Schedule
Almost every platform rewards consistency. When you have a consistent schedule, you are constantly keeping people on the platform you’re uploading to. If you’re consistent enough, people will be on that platform on certain hours specifically because of you.
At the end of the day, every social media platform is looking to have active users on it. That means if you’re capable of bringing active users, they’ll reward you for it. The algorithm will promote you more in this case.
4. Use Streaming Service
When you have an audience that likes you, they will want more of you. Creating videos for YouTube requires more effort than most people imagine. It can take days or weeks to produce a good-quality YouTube video. However, Streaming is different.
Streaming takes more of your time but it produces more content as well. Almost all your streaming time is directly converted into valuable content. So you can spend 4 hours streaming and have 4 hours of content because of it. Low effort and long format is a winning formula.
5. Make Use of YouTube Shorts
As a platform, YouTube is in competition with TikTok and Instagram reels. YouTube came up with its own concept for this form of content called YouTube Shorts. Since the future of content is imagined to be more short-formatted, YouTube tries very hard to promote Shorts.
So the algorithm is rewarding of Shorts but that’s not all. Users are also more likely to click on a one minute video of a person they don’t know, than a 12 minute video. This is a very important factor that is often forgotten on how to get subscribers on YouTube.
6. Make Interesting Thumbnails
This step seems really easy but it actually isn’t that simple. Your thumbnail has to be eye-catching. It has to fit the type of content you create. While you need to hook your audience, you also need to make sure all of the video isn’t revealed in the thumbnail.
For example, in the thumbnail below you can see the offer to promote something, what was offered to be promoted, and an unsatisfied face. You’re immediately hooked because it looks like an objective and negative review of a product you’ve seen before.
Avoid being too obvious in your thumbnails as well. Create some mystery. Most importantly, have a high quality thumbnail. If your thumbnails aren’t visually pleasing it is unlikely you’ll get many new people clicking on your video.
Like in this thumbnail you see the mystery being created, David Dubrik and the word “cult”, but nothing extra is revealed.
8. Collaborate with Same Size YouTubers
You must’ve heard this advice all the time. While it is true that collaborating with popular YouTubers will lead you to faster results, the likelihood is slim and may not be worth the time and effort.
Collaborating with people who have around the same number of subscribers as you is the way to go. Most importantly, it is achievable and easy to do consistently. Other than that, people who subscribe to smaller YouTubers are more comfortable with that quality of content than, let’s say, someone who follows MrBeast. They are more likely to enjoy your content and subscribe to it.
9. Build a Community
Using apps like Discord or Reddit allow you to build a space for your subscribers to interact with you and with each other. This creates the opportunity for your audience to build a community together, surrounding your content.
People can make friends, share memes, enjoy your content together, and more. That community can then garner you a bigger audience since fandoms have their own attractions for people.
10 Learn About YouTube’s Algorithm
Every content creator on YouTube, big or small, struggles to learn YouTube’s algorithm. The company is a bit vague about its policies, so it’s not easy to learn. However, there are a few things that are common knowledge.
Keep your videos above the 12 minutes mark, use keywords in your titles and thumbnails, upload videos on certain hours and such.
11. Use CTAs
Sometimes, transforming views to subscribers can be tricky. It’s easy to get lost in the YouTube blackhole and forget to subscribe, even when you like a channel. So make sure to remind your viewers to like, comment, and subscribe to your channel.
12. Be Aware of Your YouTube Analytics
In YouTube studio you can see a part called YouTube Analytics. This section offers you information about how your video is doing. There are different metrics measured by YouTube, eventually you’ll be given a general score on your video’s performance. The better a video performs, the more likely you are to get more subscribers from it.
13. Use the “Yonk and Twist” Method
In 2021, Ludwig (A well-known streamer and YouTuber) made a video titled “Don’t Start Streaming Before You Watch This Video”. Although Ludwig’s main points were about streaming, his video applies to YouTube as well.
In that video, he introduces a method he calls “Yonk and Twist.” When a video idea works very well for a big YouTuber, it’s likely that people will look for more content surrounding that idea. So, “yoinking” that idea and then “twisting” it into something a little different can get you views. Views can get you more subscribers.
14. Try to Collaborate with Bigger YouTubers
We know we already said to concentrate your efforts on same-size YouTubers, but working with bigger ones is not impossible. One of the easiest ways to do this is to contact them and offer something new.
For example, when the game Among Us was just getting boring, a developer named Ottomated made a program for OfflineTV to play. The offer of something new and exciting made the much bigger streamers work with them and eventually led to him getting more subscribers.
15. Imitate Your Favourite YouTubers
You’ve been told that copying is never the key and that’s true. However, imitation can be very helpful. Find a few YouTubers you truly enjoy watching, and then imitate them. You can imitate their interactions with fans, their content, their thumbnails.
Make sure that you’re not copying them to a T. Just follow along the same general atmosphere that they create, so you can have a similar community.
Things to Avoid While Increasing YouTube Subscriptions
The number one thing you should avoid is buying subscribers. It can be tempting to just pay and gain a thousand subscribers, but there is a lot that can go wrong. First of all fake subscribers do not contribute to your engagement. This can stunt the organic growth of your channel.
In addition to that, when YouTube notices your views and engagement do not match your subscribers they are likely to ban you channel all-together.
Other than that, it’s best to not show statistics on screen. I’m sure you’ve seen your favourite YouTubers showing the subscribed percentage of their viewers, and asking you to place subscribe. This is not the best way to gain your audience’s attention as it can seem manipulative.
Conclusion
Up to 10 years ago, if you asked someone how to get more subscribers on YouTube, they would have advised you to be original. That was a helpful tip then, but today, the YouTube scene is much more oversaturated.
Nowadays you need a few extra tricks up your sleeves to grow on YouTube. However, with more YouTubers, comes more viewers. So don’t panic, it’s not impossible. It just takes some time.
FAQs
#1 How Long Does It Take to Get 1000 Subscribers on YouTube?
On average, it takes about 15 months to get to 1000 subscribers on YouTube. However, it’s important to note that there is no exact science for YouTube subscribers. On a Reddit thread from 2022, people have reached 1000 subscribers in 4 months to 7 years. So don’t compare yourself and don’t get disappointed.
#2 How Many Subscribers Do You Need to Make Money on YouTube?
With 1000 subscribers, you can make money directly from YouTube. Before that, you can make money from small sponsorships and such.
#3 Is It Hard to Grow on YouTube?
Due to the current number of creators on the platform, it is not easy to stand out. Unless your content is incredibly niche, there are probably tens of other people doing exactly what you’re doing. So yes, it is hard to grow on YouTube. However, it’s not impossible.
