“Yeah, but how do I get YouTube views without spending any frickin’ money?”
That was the question my beleagured and marketing-weary client had asked me. He wasn’t interested in codecs (I might be the only person on the planet who finds video compression interesting) or engagement rates or editorial plans or SEO video optimization.
All he wanted to know was…how to get YouTube views FAST! (Without dipping into his non-existent marketing budget.)
And so…what I told him is what I’d like to share with you. So, here are 7 Steps to Get More YouTube Views Without Breaking the Bank:
How to Get YouTube Views On the Super Cheap Step #1: Make More Videos
This seems obvious. (Like whether to choose “Team Edward” or “Team Jacob.” Clearly you always go with the werewolf.)
But many small biz folks FORGET that YouTube ain’t just the second-largest search engine in the world – which it is – and the largest houser of video content in the universe, but it’s also a HUGE social media platform.
Meaning people go there to “discover” videos and content creators they never heard of. And it’s a hell of a lot easier for people to DISCOVER you if you’ve got more than one video out there in the video hinterlands.
This doesn’t mean you gotta create 12 videos a month. (Gotta save time for all those episodes of “Castle” sitting in your DVR.) But try to shoot for at least 2-4 videos a month. (Before you know it you’ll have 10-20 videos percolating in the YouTube universe and then all you gotta do is…
How to Get YouTube Views On the Super Cheap Step #2: Ask People to Subscribe
The BEST thing about YouTube aside from all the off-key Beyonce covers – is the fact that subscribers to your YouTube channel get EMAILED every time you upload a new video.
Think about that for a second: unlike Facebook and Twitter – in which your content gets lost in a sea of over-indulgent tweets and posts about Miniature schnauzers – each time you upload a video your subscribers get a personalized little email inviting them to check out your wonderfulness.
This is huge. (Huger even than Kanye West’s ego.) This means you don’t HAVE to depend on somebody being on YouTube to see your stuff.
So, how do you get subscribers? Well, you ask people to subscribe in places like:
1) Your video content
2) Your video descriptions
3) Your website
4) Your email signature
4) Every single social media profile you have
You can even create a handy-dandy dedicated “Subscribe to Me On YouTube and make me more famous than a Kardashian” by….
But before people can subscribe to your videos, they have to find them. Which leads us perfectly to…
How to Get YouTube Views On the Super Cheap Step #3: Optimze the $#&@ Out of Your Videos
I hate the term optimize. (Sounds like something the bad guys do in The Hunger Games.”) But when publishing your videos you can drastically boost your video’s discover-ability by:
- Putting keywords in your video title
- Putting keywords in your descriptions
- Writing a much longer description than you think you need
- Putting a link to your video in the description (weird, right? But you never know where this video will be embedded)
- Adding lots of relevant tags (nobody ever tags – don’t be like them)
- Publishing your video on your blog
- Sharing your video everywhere you can think of (Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google +, LinkedIn, the Goodyear Blimp, etc.)
Seriously, by just doing the first three you will be ahead of 97% of the people out there. (And you’ll be tripling your YouTube views in no time.)
Which is great. But if you want to give your videos absolute viewership steroids – and cruise past the competition – then let me introduce you to…
How to Get YouTube Views On the Super Cheap Step #4: TubeToolbox
Okay, so in the interest of full disclosure. This tool I’m about to describe is a) not for everybody and b) does require a bit of upfront cost.
But let me tell you it is…well…it is the single most powerful social media marketing tool I own.
(You can try it out for FREE by using this link. Disclaimer: This is an affiliate link which helps with my bean and cheese burrito fund.)
Basically it works this way, it lets you create target audiences – based on a variety of factors such as keywords or video commenters or video subscribers – and then lets you basically “email” SLOWLY but CONSISTENTLY – hence getting around the spam rules set by YouTube – these users asking if you’d like to check out your video.
It may not sound like much. But you let this puppy run on your computer in the background and you can get 200-250 new subscribers a day. (I can usually count on about 1,000 or so new subscribers in a week.)
Like I said it’s NOT for everybody. It does require you’ve got a computer that can run in the background all the time. But…if you’ve got a couple of bucks to spend, and you’ve got an evergreen video that you think will attract people (and isn’t super sales-y) then you’ll find Tube Toolbox an investment that pays off within days.
Got a video marketing tool you’d like to recommend? Let us know in the comments below!
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