Last updated on November 24th, 2022 at 10:43 am
With over an expected 24million YouTube channels craving attention, YouTube continues to host billions of users monthly.
A lot of YouTubers spend a lot of money trying to get in the race.
However, this article answers the question “how to promote your YouTube channel for free to get more views”
The possibility of your videos as a YouTube channel holder getting lost is very very large. This is because of the level of competition the platform has brought to all existing channels.
Nevertheless, the following strategies or methods have proved helpful in promoting YouTube channels.
YouTube channel promotion becomes easier when you understand the YouTube algorithm.
See Also: 15 Best Apps to Edit YouTube Videos for Free
What is YouTube Algorithm and How Does it Work?
The YouTube algorithm is that artificial intelligence that is responsible for driving over 70% of what YouTube users should see.
To this end, just getting users to see your video content is no longer enough. This means, just getting views does not guarantee so much when it comes to the YouTube algorithm to increase your chances of being seen.
2012 saw the YouTube algorithm reward users with a lot of views. However, recently this algorithm will only reward viewer satisfaction and engagement.
The two paramount factors that every channel admin should focus on while seeking favour from the YouTube algorithm are:
- The duration of watch time versus the video time length: If your channel or video gets a lot of views, that’s a fine start. However, if these views are for a very short time relative to the total amount of time that should have been expended on the video, expect nothing much.
- The full session time: Time spent on the platform as a result of your channel’s videos is something the algorithm will not ignore but reward. The YouTube algorithm generally is after the supposed satisfaction of the audience. This implies that the more you keep the viewers on the platform, the more your content gets noticed. The masterpiece of the YouTube algorithm.
However, one more thing the algorithm would follow would be the likes and dislikes your video content continues to receive.
This means that user satisfaction is key.
To stand out, or to get your content continuously you have to take advantage of the following promotional strategies and methods consistently.
See Also: 10 Sure Ways to Make Money on YouTube as a Beginner
How to Promote Your YouTube Channel for Free
1. Facebook Groups
Facebook groups stand out when it comes to the promotion of content generally. From blogs to vlogs etc.
Of course, it would be very instrumental in promoting your YouTube channel.
However, not a lot of users know how to use the platform without getting themselves banned, etc.
Facebook groups are probably one of the top 3 gatherings or communities you can find on the internet relative to a particular niche.
This means Facebook groups tend to generally comprise people of like minds, etc. To properly use Facebook groups to drive engagement, as a YouTuber you must not only be smart but creative as well.
How to Promote YouTube Channel on Facebook for Free
Facebook groups have administrators that are hell-bent on driving nuisance away from their various groups.
This is because the building of legit traffic-driving Facebook groups is not always easy as well.
Things to note:
- Don’t share with groups that have nothing to do with your niche: Why would you share a video content link that details the proper care of dogs with a Facebook group focused on affiliate marketing?
- Don’t share with private/public groups without permission from the administrators: Try to get engaged with the previous content, and have the groups consider you as family. This would further increase your chances of being approved if you post a link such as your YouTube channel or video link.
Other Social Media Networks to Promote YouTube Channel for Free.
Again, if you are thinking of where to promote your YouTube channel for free, one of the places that come to mind is social media.
On a daily, YouTubers ask questions like:
- Instagram: how can I promote my YouTube channel on Instagram?
- Pinterest: how can I promote my YouTube channel on Pinterest?
- Reddit: how can I promote my YouTube channel on Reddit?
- Quora: How can I promote my YouTube channel on Quora?
- How to promote YouTube channels without paying?
Therefore, you can promote your YouTube channel for free on social media channels like:
- Instagram feed and story
- Quora
- WhatsApp status
- Facebook Story
2. Maximize YouTube SEO
YouTube has become a major search engine in the world today generating billions of views and searches monthly.
Proper YouTube search engine optimization will definitely increase your chances of getting seen.
YouTube’s algorithm will not serve most views for a direct search query. The algorithm will deliver video content that has been considered relevant to the users.
SEO Tips to Consider For Your YouTube Channel
- Title and description: The YouTube title is the most called up for during a search query. It would be very wise to invest quality time in doing proper SEO-related research. This would highly benefit your cause by signalling the algorithm with your title for every search query that reflects your title.
- Keyword research: Several tools such as Tubebuddy, vidIQ, etc help to provide what we term and analyze. With these tools you can conduct proper SEO research, getting the top, real and necessary information to yourself while conducting SEO.
See Also: 10 Effective SEO Techniques to Drive Organic Traffic
3. The Use of Subtitles
The benefits of subtitles continuously increase.
If you create content that should be seen and understood even by a foreign audience, subtitles could be of extra help.
Closed captions improve user experience relative to your content and increase your watch time and engagement, as well as SEO rankings, etc.
4. Know Your Audience
Remember at all times that the general idea behind YouTube’s algorithm is user satisfaction.
To achieve this and be in the favour of the algorithm, you must first know your audience. You can take a very close look to see your competitors and what they do to stand out.
Studying to know what they do, and which videos stand out more. This research can give you a very basic but fruitful idea of what to do next.
5. Don’t forget it’s a Social Network
Being extremely robotic will get you nowhere with the YouTube algorithm or the promotion you hope to achieve. Youtube as a platform permits comments and reactions etc.
If you continue to engage the medium by dropping relevant comments, etc you are helping your channel’s visibility.
6. Cross-Promoting Videos
With the idea of keeping your viewers on your channel, and enhancing overall time sessions on your channel, consider cross-promoting.
Cross-promotion details the act of recommending relevant or highly related content to another.
For example, in a video about the use of proper SEO tools, you can as well recommend a previous video on the importance of SEO.
However, you can cross-promote by leaving relevant links in the descriptions as well.
See Also: How to Disable YouTube Shorts Permanently
7. Engage Users with a Giveaway or a Contest
There’s no denying the fact that users love a worthy giveaway or a contest.
You can grab this idea creatively and drive traffic to your channel.
Yes, you can make simple enough contests that would require a like, subscribe and watch the full-length video to qualify, etc.
However, when running any sort of contest do well to read and understand all of YouTube’s policies relative to social media contests.
Suggestively, try as much as you can to give a gift that is very relative to the niche you have chosen to represent.
8. Remind Users to Drop Questions
A major feature of a human is the accurate ability to question what he or she does not understand. However, a lot of YouTube viewers will not ask unless they are reminded to.
Funnily enough, this is true. If you really seek to promote your YouTube channel for free, do this.
Having questions to respond to and answers all over your content signals the Youtube Algorithm. It signals that your content is worthy of every user’s search query.
Every search query is relative to the keywords that sum up the titles and descriptions.
9. Use Engaging Custom Thumbnails
Having understood the Youtube algorithm as explained earlier, you should realize the need for an engaging thumbnail.
A thumbnail is more like a featured image.
When it comes down to YouTube a thumbnail is one feature that usually gets users involved with your content or pass on it.
A thumbnail has the unique ability to enhance necessary curiosity in the minds of the viewers.
Users are most likely going to choose to watch or see your content if the thumbnail is attractive and engaging enough.
Ideally, they would feel you have more to offer when they first see a worthy thumbnail.
The YouTube channel video upload permits the use of custom thumbnails.
This means you could decide to generate or create a thumbnail that has nothing to do with the frames in the video.
To this end, you have every opportunity to create an even more attractive thumbnail that will drive engagement to your video content/channel.
Suggestively, one of the best tools out there to create quality custom thumbnails is Canva.
10. Collaborate with Other YouTubers
Although this article brings to light the various techniques and methods on how to promote your YouTube channel for free, we are not stating you can do it alone.
One of the very productive ways to promote your YouTube channel for free is by asking your viewers to lend a hand.
This can be achieved generally when you include the “please like this video, and don’t forget to subscribe” modality.
However small this may seem it has been very helpful and instrumental in growing a lot of YouTube channels out there.
See Also: How to Become a Tiktok Influencer and Make Over $10K Monthly
Conclusion
The most effective methods on how to promote your YouTube channel for free have been listed above.
However, one last tip that has also been very effective is the posting of evergreen content.
Try to post content that can always be referenced relative to the niche you chose to engage as a YouTuber.
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