Recently I hit 1000 subs so I thought I’d share some of the things I’ve learned along the way.
First let’s go over the basics:
1.) Quality Over Quantity. Your viewers don’t care about upload frequency as much as the entertainment value you provide. That doesn’t mean upload once every 3 months.
2.) Have A Schedule. You need to be consistent with uploads to remain relevant. You don’t have to upload videos every day, at the same hour but aim for once a week.
3.) Don’t Stress Deadlines. It’s ok to not meet your deadlines. If you’re a day or two late nobody will care. It’s important to communicate though.
4.) Have Social Media. This by far the most important piece to growth and I’ll explain why later.
5.) Use Custom Thumbnails. This is pretty obvious but something that I see a lot of people forgetting. Even if your content is a shit sandwich the viewer should at least think it’s a turkey sandwich until they bit into it.
So now that the basic stuff is out of the way let’s go over a little more advance stuff:
1.) Research Your Niche This will help you understand what kind of content your viewers will like.
2.) Improve Your Content This could be upgrading equipment, better editing, better story telling etc. What worked today might not work tomorrow.
3.) Research Marketing/Business If you want to improve faster, look at YouTube as a business. Your Channel is the business and your videos are the product. Business/Marketing strategies translate nicely into YouTube.
4.) Understand Social Media Marketing When you post to your social media accounts, don’t look at it as: Here’s a photo of behind the scenes, this is how my day is going, new video. Instead look at each post as quality content that has an ulterior motive. Posting generic photos with the caption “new video!” aren’t engaging. Instead post a clip of your new video and say something like “I can’t believe this happened 😂🤦♂️ Watch the full video on YouTube.” This will create much more engagement thus tricking the algorithm into promoting your content. But social media shouldn’t only be used to promote
5.) Build A Community Social media is a multi-use tool. You can not only promote your YouTube content but it can be a place for your viewers to engage with you. Post behind the scenes photos with captions to spark conversation, show your followers what kind of things you’re into outside of YouTube etc. This is where they can get to know you better.
6.) Network With Other YouTubers It doesn’t even need to be YouTubers, it can be Instagramers or anyone else, but part of building a community is know people who can help you/you can help. This isn’t exclusive to “shoutout for shoutout” but you can help each other improve your content through honest discussions or talk about different ideas to gain subscribers/viewers, maybe even improve your gameplay if that’s your niche, just create a symbiotic relationship with that person.
7.) Research How Others Became Successful Who’s the most successful person/channel in your niche? How did they get to where they are today? It’s important to know the history. It’s not only great inspiration but it will give you an idea on what it takes to become that person/channel.
My personal journey started a year ago. I originally wanted to be a Twitch Streamer. After doing lots of research, I came to the conclusion that Twitch wasn’t going to promote my stream so I had to promote it myself. That’s when I started learning about social media marketing. I had some experience with this but not nearly the level I needed. Before I even started streaming I spent a month growing my Instagram account. I posted content related to what my stream would be. Once I gained some followers I had my first stream. It was nice because a few people from my Instagram showed up and we had a good time. After a couple of months of streaming I hit Twitch Affiliate and realized this wasn’t for me. I continued to grow my social media accounts (Instagram and TikTok).
It was at this point I gained a decent amount of followers on TikTok. I realized that TikTok has a younger audience and my videos (Fortnite content) attract younger people. This is when I decided to capitalize on it. Making videos for Instagram and TikTok made me realize that YouTube would be a perfect fit for me. So when I posted my first official YouTube I had a decent amount of viewers. I used the same philosophy for my Twitch stream: YouTube won’t promote my videos so I have to do it myself.
Reddit has also been a good way to gain viewers but you need to be in the right subreddit. As much as I love this subreddit, a lot of people only want lambda. I get much more engagement for Fortnite related subreddits. So if you want to use Reddit, find the right subreddit.
I’m slowly transitioning into YouTube. I’ve become less active on social media as I shift my focus. I am and will always be active on my socials but there’s less stress on posting videos everyday. My attention is on making more YouTube videos. I grew my channel in less than 6 months but it took a year to build the platforms necessary to get to where I’m at today. I hope this helps you and feel free to ask any questions you may have. I’m sure I’ve left out something but these have been the main things that helped me.
If 6 months down the line you’re not at 1000 subs don’t give up. You got to remind that there’s a million other factors that come into play. Things like knowledge of marketing or editing skills or more importantly your content. All these thing and more will determine your success. Some people will catch on quick others will take some time. We all learn at different rates so don’t be discouraged if you’re not ahead of the curve. Be patient and be focused
F(AWXM) 