How We Grew A YouTube Channel To 1 Million Subscribers
Want to know how to game the algorithm and finally start growing on YouTube? If you’ve been on YouTube, even for five seconds, you probably know about the YouTube algorithm. And if you’re a small channel, chances are you feel like the algorithm’s keeping you down. To an extent, it is! We recently had a client’s channel reach the 1 million subscriber mark, and we’re here to break down the YouTube algorithm to help you understand the science of how to grow on YouTube.
The YouTube Algorithm
The YouTube algorithm can feel complicated with terms like click through rate, watch time, and audience retention being thrown around like a frisbee at a family gathering. However, at its core, it’s really rather simple. The YouTube algorithm essentially wants people to stay on YouTube. If your videos keep people watching, your videos will keep getting promoted. With that being said, just to start, here are a few definitions of some key terms to hopefully help you make the Sense of how to produce videos that generate growth:
Clickthrough Rate: How often a viewer watches your video after seeing your thumbnail
Watch Time: The accumulation of how much time was spent watching your video
Audience Retention: A percentage that represents the amount of your video that was watched by viewers
All three of these metrics are critical to growing on YouTube. If you can maximize these key metrics, you will certainly start to gain traction on the pod, but we won’t leave you hanging with definitions. Here are some practical ways to help you increase click through rate, watch time, and audience retention to help you game the algorithm.
Thumbnails
Put time, research, and a lot of thought into creating high quality and attention grabbing thumbnails. These need to be high contrast so they stand out against the backdrop of YouTube as well as against the large number of videos you’re competing against. Think about how to portray to your audience what your video is about in one image, and utilize color, texture, and layers to create visually captivating thumbnails.
If you aren’t sure where to start, take a look at the thumbnails of some of your favorite creators or creators in your field and see what gets traction. Don’t copy these exactly, but this is a great place to draw inspiration for your own thumbnails. Combining a captivating thumbnail with an attention grabbing title will certainly help you increase your click through rate.
Video Editing
If you haven’t already started doing this, make cuts in your videos. Whether you’re adding new graphics, zooming in, zooming out, or cutting to a different camera, all of these cuts will help keep your viewers engaged. If you’re unfamiliar with how to make these changes, we’ll walk you through a short tutorial in Final Cut Pro, which is the editing software we use.
These are just a couple examples from our videos in Final Cut, but we’ll start with adding new graphics. Say you want to add a nice transition with a title. Head over to the titles and generators tab in the top left. We like to go to the Dynamic Titles and use the Bumper Title. From there you can change the color, font size, font type, and more to customize it for your brand.
To zoom in or out on a clip, make sure the playhead is over the clip you want to edit and click on the crop button. In here you can trim the clip, use the crop function for a zoomed in effect, or even use an auto zoom in zoom out feature. This will help keep your content more engaging and make your video feel a little more cohesive.
Audio Editing
First, if you have access to a microphone, we would definitely recommend using one and recording your audio track as a separate file in a tool like GarageBand or Logic Pro. This way you’re able to mix and master your audio before you put it into your video editing software. Once it’s in your software of choice, you can sync up the audio to the video.
You can also make use of sound effects in Final Cut Pro by heading to the music tab in selecting sound effect. Here you can add a whoosh, chime, click, or really any other sound effect you can think of. If you want to make use of music, the YouTube audio library is a great resource. For this, head into your YouTube Creator Studio and click on Audio Library. Download any track you like that fits the vibe of your video and upload it into Final Cut Pro or any other software. It’s as easy as that. The YouTube audio library also has a great selection of sound effects, so feel free to browse those as well if you don’t find one you like in your editing software.
If you haven’t been making use of these tips, try implementing them in your next video and monitor your metrics. You can keep tweaking the videos until you find the sweet spot.
Small YouTube Channel Growth
Now while creating quality content helps, I do believe there’s a bit of a bias against small channels on YouTube. But it’s not necessarily YouTube implementing this bias. Think of it this way: if you’re looking for a company to come do landscaping, looking for a plumber to fix your sink, or even browsing local restaurants, provided all options are the same price, are you more likely to pick the business with one 5 star review or the one with fifty 5 star reviews? You’re likely going to go with the business with more credibility.
Humans work the same way on YouTube. Unfortunately, we’re geared to heed advice from those with more digital credibility. This is where I believe Google Ads can be really effective when starting out, but the trick is doing it the right way. Ad views won’t increase watch time, and some ads, if not targeted properly, can crush a video’s click through rate, watch time, and audience retention. This is why we’d recommend promoting a short or an unlisted video instead of one of your channel’s top performing videos. This can help funnel your target audience to your channel, giving you more credibility on the platform and resulting in more views on future videos.
If you’re looking to grow on YouTube, especially if you’re a business, these are some practical steps you can take to increase your video and channel quality. While there still are so many other areas to explore, like having a solid website, increasing your social media presence, and more, this is a good place to start.
Working With Canvas Digital Marketing
Canvas Digital Marketing is here to provide helpful tips and tutorials to help you gain traction online, whether it be on YouTube, Google, Facebook, Instagram, or any other digital platform. We stay ahead of the trends and on top of the algorithms so you can make informed decisions for your brand or business. We are a full-service digital marketing firm with over 15 years of experience providing video editing, Google Ads Management, YouTube Channel Management, and more, to businesses in Tyrone, Peachtree City, Fayetteville, and Newnan, GA, with YouTube Channel Management services. So if you want to see how we can partner with you to take your business or channel to the next level, feel free to send an email to chat@canvasdigitalmarketing.com to Reach Out!