If you want more people to share your videos and get more views and subscribers to grow your YouTube channel rapidly, then this is the article you're looking for!
Do you know that over 60% of all YouTube channels have less than 10 subscribers!? Crazy, am I right?
Small YouTube channels make up a huge majority of all YouTube channels. 75% of all channels have less than 100 subscribers.
So, if you have a small YouTube channel, you're in good company!
Unfortunately for you, this also makes it challenging to grow your channel. Especially getting to your first 1,000 subscribers is the most challenging part of your journey.
How YouTube Works
Let me give you a little crash course on how YouTube operates.
YouTube keeps track of every video that you watch!
Each video is classified and categorized based on its content, title, description, and video transcript. (YouTube uses AI voice recognition technology to automatically transcribe every video).
Each video is sorted into two buckets. Long-term and short-term interest. What are you interested in general? And what do you want to watch right now?
What happens when you open the YouTube homepage? YouTube will present you with a mix of videos based on your long-term and short-term interests.
If you don't have an account, YouTube will present your videos that are currently popular on the platform.
If you have an account but haven't logged in for a long time, YouTube doesn't know what you're currently interested in, so it will recommend videos based on your personal top 10 video topics of the past.
Once you start searching and watching videos everything changes. Now YouTube will prioritize topics based on your most recently watched videos.
We have all experienced this. You start watching ONE video, YouTube recommends another similar video and before you know it, you binge-watched every single video.
That's no accident!
YouTube's number one goal is to keep you on its platform for as long as possible. The longer you stay and the more you watch, the better your experience, the more likely it is that you come back tomorrow.
And most importantly, the more you watch, the more ads you see, the more money YouTube earns.
Makes sense, right?!
How to Get YouTube to Like You
Now that you understand what YouTube wants, it's easy to play their game.
Help YouTube to earn more money and YouTube will help you to grow your channel if you know how to press the right buttons.
Here is what you want to achieve:
Get as many people as possible to watch your videos all the way till the end.
If people start watching one of your videos and a few seconds later click on another video, YouTube will think that your video isn't interesting and entertaining enough and will stop recommending it to other people in the future.
We don't want that!
Get people to watch your video, who are not currently on YouTube.
Think of yourself as a promoter, who is bringing paying customers to a nightclub.
If you're doing a great job, the club owner will love you. Especially, if your guests stay for a long time and order rounds of shots one after another
The YouTube equivalent of this example is, you promote your own videos outside of YouTube. People click on your link. Your video is the first they watch. They get hooked and watch more videos.
You get people to share your video with others.
They also click on your video, watch it, continue to watch more videos, and also share your video.
This is the essence of how viral videos work! 🙂
Now that you have a better understanding of how YouTube works and what you have to do, to gain their favor, let's have a quick look at why people share content on social media before I show you how to get people to share more of your videos.
The "Shortcut" to Getting More Shares for Your YouTube Videos
You can buy YouTube subscribers, views, comments, and watch time. Of course, you also have the option to buy shares for your videos!
Well, I highly recommend you against it! You are not doing yourself any favors because, at the end of the day, the artificial inflation of share numbers doesn't help YouTube's algorithm to understand your channel better.
Instead, YouTube views those "fake sharers" as a group of potential viewers who are interested in watching your videos.
However, because "those fake viewers" are just random people from all over the world, YouTube still has no idea who to recommend your content to. And if you keep getting inconsistent random shares like these, it would be a matter of time for YouTube's AI would spot these anomalies.
In the long run, your channel would not be able to grow and it would be impossible to monetize your channel at all!
Instead, I urge you to put in the hard work and build your channel up with YouTube shares from REAL people.
How to Create Videos That Get You Real YouTube Shares
You might have noticed that there are a couple of ways how you can make YouTube like you more.
Today, we're focusing on how to create share-worthy content, that people want to share with their friends and co-workers.
The more people share your videos, the less work you have put into driving traffic to your videos.
How do you do it?
Some people think it all comes down to have an expensive camera and editing skills.
Nothing could be further from the truth!
If you don't believe me, check out the Pro Photographer, Cheap Camera challenge on DigitalRev.
Now, that's good news for you. You don't have to buy a new camera!
All you need is a good understanding of your audience, who they are, what they care about, what they need, and a little bit of creativity to create something amazing that they want to watch and share with their friends!
To be able to do this, you have to understand why people are sharing. I wrote an entire article about this with the 21 most popular reasons why people share content on social media.
Plan Your Videos for Shareability
Before you start filming or planning your video script, think of a reason why someone in your audience would want to share your next video first!
What would a viewer write as the caption of their Facebook post or WhatsApp message, when they share it with their friends?
Understand Why Viewers Share YouTube Videos With Their Family, Friends, and Co-workers.
It's essential to understand the motivation behind why someone in your audience might want to share one of your videos.
The first aspect focuses on the viewer himself or herself. Some use sharing as a replacement for bookmarking, others see sharing as a form of self-expression, especially when a video conveys feelings or vibes of how they feel or want to feel.
The second aspect of sharing is all about building relationships with family, friends, and co-workers for various reasons.
We all face different challenges in life and one of the easiest ways to show concern for someone in such a situation is to share an educational video with them that addresses one of their current challenges.
It doesn't always have to be purely educational, sometimes an information-heavy video can be a welcome addition when it turns anxiety and worry into clarity and understanding.
Sometimes sharing a funny cat video is all it takes to brighten someone's day.
The third group of people wants to change public opinions. This could be for a specific cause, higher purpose, or even a political campaign.
The fourth group is all about personal self-expression and brand building. They primarily share because they want other people around them to perceive them in a certain way, based on the content they share.
Write a One-Sentence Pitch About Why Someone Would Share Your Video
Before you even start working on your video script, figure out why someone wants to share your next video.
Instead of thinking of random topics, aim at making videos that people want to share with their friends.
Try to identify the essence of your video and explain what your video is all about, and why someone would want to watch it in just one sentence.
It's very important, that you limit yourself to just one sentence!
Why? Because if it takes you 10 sentences to explain the content of your video, it will take your viewers, who are not as familiar with the topic as you are, probably 20 to 30 sentences.
And let's be honest... How many people will invest the time to write such a long video caption? And how many people would bother reading it anyway?
Not many, that how many! 😜
If you can express the value of watching your video in just one sentence, in clear and precise language, that means that your audience will instantly get it. And that they will be able to explain it to someone else in just 2-3 sentences.
Meaning, you get a lot more viewers for your videos, YouTube will love you and recommend your video to many more people.
What It Takes to Create Shareable YouTube Videos
Write your YouTube video script
Next, it's time to write the outline of your script, or a more detailed version if that's your thing.
What you want to focus on is to plant the right seeds inside your video that will guide the viewers' thought process towards sharing your video with their family, friends, and co-workers.
The following recipe works best for how-to-focus videos.
Start your video by explaining very early on, within the first 10 to 30 seconds, who this video is for and what challenge your video is solving.
This accomplishes two things. First, it quickly allows the viewer to identify, is this for me? Is this worth my time watching? You have to hit one or two marks, it has to be either valuable for them alone, or for someone, they know.
Second, it has to hit a pain point or desire that either the viewer or one of his or her friends is struggling with.
If they identify with both, they will be more committed to watching your video all the way until the end.
Structure your video in a way that reveals the big secret at the end of the video. By the time they get to the solution, they already committed to most of the video and are most likely to watch your call to action.
Include a strong call to action
At the end of your video, you have to include a strong call to action.
You want to remind viewers who this video is for, and who else this video might be able to help. This will trigger the viewers' memory and remind them if they know someone who fits your description.
Next, you want to ask your viewers to engage with your video. Be explicit. Tell them how they are supposed to share this. For example: "If you know someone who is currently struggling with X, please forward them the link to my video. I want to help as many people as possible."
Give them an additional incentive to subscribe to your channel by reminding them of some related, upcoming videos.
Film your video
When you film your video based on your script, make sure to set some dedicated time aside to work on your call to action.
This is a very essential part of your video and your future YouTube channel growth.
I recommend writing a cheat sheet with what you want to say as your call-to-action and bringing it along for the shoot.
Add a call-to-action overlay while editing your videos
During your editing process, you want to create a couple of overlays to drive home your message.
Put an animated subscribe button on top of your video, when you talk about why they should subscribe to your channel.
Display social media icons, when you talk about sharing your video.
If you mention a specific persona who might also suffer from the same challenge, you might even overlay some b-roll showing representation of these groups in order to make your audience think, if they know someone who fits the profile.
Conclusion
If you want to grow your small YouTube channel fast, you have to understand how YouTube works and what their primary motivation is.
When you understand their goals, you can align your goals with theirs and create a win-win situation.
Be really clear about who your audience is, and why they would share your videos.
Plan for the share before you write your video script. Then plan different calls to action throughout your video. Remind your viewers who this video will help and what problem you're solving.
In the end, include a strong call to action and ask them to share your video with someone specific.
If you want to learn how to be successful on YouTube you can also check out some of my other YouTube articles.
