It’s 2024, and we are dependent on digital and social media platforms more than ever. Be it Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or YouTube – life seems almost unimaginable without at least one of these social media giants. What’s more, the COVID-19 pandemic has compelled even the most non-tech-savvy person to wrap their head around technology.

That being said, we cannot deny that YouTube is the best and most popular video platform the Web offers, which also makes us ponder the million-dollar question: How to increase views on YouTube? 

Well, YouTube has gone way beyond the stage of funny videos to evolve into a robust and comprehensive platform for almost anything under the sun – from cooking, gaming channels, and educational videos to how to fix a broken nail. You name it, and YouTube will list down an array of videos and tutorials at your disposal. Not just that, YouTube also presents a potentially active and massive market for marketers to tap into. 

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But no matter how unique your video is, it will not make it to the top of the charts unless people watch them. So, here’s a guide on how to increase your YouTube views and more!

The Growing Popularity of YouTube

Before we venture into our discussion on how to increase views on YouTube, it is worthwhile to look at some of the top YouTube statistics that reinstate YouTube’s popularity as the best video platform out there. 

We’ve listed some of the latest YouTube stats that you should be aware of before you go on to making a video and boosting views:

• YouTube is the second most popular social media platform, with a good 79% of internet users saying that they have a YouTube account.
• As of 2023, YouTube has 2.3 billion monthly active users. The only other social media platform with more active users than YouTube is Facebook.
• YouTube is not only the second most popular social media platform but also the second most popular search engine after Google. It receives more monthly searches than Ask.com, Microsoft Bing, Yahoo, and the likes combined.
•  The massive user base of YouTube generates billions of views every day, with people watching one billion hours of YouTube videos daily.
• YouTube is available in 80 languages and localised in more than 100 countries. 
• After Facebook, YouTube is the platform of choice for sharing video content by 62% of businesses.
• 90% of YouTube users say that they discover new products and brands via the online video sharing platform.
• On a global scale, around 500 hours of videos are uploaded to YouTube every minute.

How To Increase Your YouTube Views?

Undoubtedly, the utter simplicity and accessibility of YouTube have pushed it towards a catapulting growth in recent years. It has enabled content creators worldwide to reach out and share their content with a massive audience and helped countless e-commerce businesses grow. Ever since the first video was uploaded on YouTube on April 23, 2005, there has been no looking back for the online video sharing and social media platform.

But it is not all fun and games with YouTube – you need to put in efforts to ensure that your YouTube videos have a decent number of click-through rates.

Here’s a list of the best and easy ways to increase views on YouTube:

• Improve your video’s search ranking by using descriptive and keyword-rich titles

Besides being a social media platform, YouTube is also a search engine where you have to optimise your videos for search. This is where keyword research comes into play. Popular SEO tools such as Google’s Keyword Planner will help you choose the relevant keywords for your content and help gain organic views by informing users about your video. An eye-catching and descriptive video title will serve the same benefits.

• Optimise your Thumbnail Image and Use Tags

Irrespective of whether your YouTube videos appear on social media, suggested videos list, or Google’s organic results page, a high-quality thumbnail image with clear and readable fonts and close-ups will go a long way to increase views. Along with the video title and description, YouTube tags will further help algorithms and users understand what your video is about. 

• Create Playlists to Multiply views

Organise and create video playlists on YouTube to ensure that your viewers keep watching your content without quickly shifting to another channel. However, make sure that each video in the playlist is unique and in continuity with the previous or later videos. This technique works best for educational or explanatory content that gathers different components to make a whole.

• Encourage Viewers to Subscribe to Your Channel

One of the best and easiest ways to increase views and retain viewers is to encourage your current viewers to subscribe to your channel. All you have to do is ask them to subscribe at the beginning and end of each video. But don’t just stop there – prompt viewers to turn on the notification bell so that your subscribers get a notification every time you upload new video content.

• Use Cards and End Screens to Promote other Videos

Cards and end screens are two handy YouTube tools to help you direct traffic directly to your videos. Cards are clickable pop-ups that appear during the video and direct viewers to another video or playlist. But make sure that you don’t spam the viewer with cards and direct them to content that is relevant or provides additional information. Likewise, end screens are a great way to incorporate visual calls-to-action at the end of your video, informing users of all the relevant details about your channel, recommended videos, playlists, and your verified website.

• Share links to your Videos on your Social Media Profiles

Increasing YouTube viewership is all about spreading the word of your newly uploaded video. That’s where cross-platform communication comes in so that you can share your YouTube video links with your followers on other social media channels. Boost your views by sharing the link as a post or putting it in the description of your profiles. A short teaser video can do wonders to funnel users towards your YouTube content.

• Enable Embedding on Your Videos

There can be nothing more frustrating for a content creator than to create a great video but not enabling the embed option. Every time a viewer clicks on the ‘Share’ option underneath an embedding-enabled video, YouTube shows them the ‘Embed’ option. Once the user clicks on this, they can copy the embedded code of the video and paste it onto their website or blog. Enabling the embedding feature is an effective way to increase your YouTube views and reach out to new audiences.

• Know when to Publish your Videos

YouTube tracks the days and hours when your target audience is watching your videos. You can easily find it out from the “When your viewers are on YouTube” report by accessing it from your channel homepage. Identifying peak times when your audience is on YouTube lets you publish your content in time so that your viewers can discover your videos and subsequently increase views.

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• Reach out to the Influencer Community to Promote your Videos

Influencer marketing is becoming an increasingly popular option for brands to reach consumers. Influencers have built-in audiences and a vast social media follower base that re-share and post their content and have the potential to surge views and make videos viral. Since viewers regularly engage with the content of their favourite influencers, even a single share of your video can increase views on your YouTube video and channel by leaps and bounds. 

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Conclusion

At a time when the Internet is swamped with thousands of content creators, each wanting to promote their brands, it can be pretty overwhelming to make your identity stand out. While YouTube offers a productive platform to promote your content, using the right YouTube tactics is as important as creating engaging videos. 

The mantra is simple – focus on building great content, optimise your content, and promote your videos through other social media channels and influencer communities.

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