The question asked by almost every beginner YouTuber is how to get your videos seen.This is not a major problem for the old YouTuber with huge subscribers base.The initial pump up in views in those cases is given by the existing subscribers only.But for the beginners, even if the content is extremely great, getting early views is a major hurdle.
Many YouTube experts suggest two ways to get rid of this problems1) Getting better SEO( Search Engine Optimization)2) Wild promotion in Social networks like Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr etc
If you ask me , my vote will always be for the first category.In fact , I personally had a very bitter experience in the second category.Once your account is marked with random posting of links, it is imperative that in the long run, your account will be blacklisted for suspicious activities.This will have two way ramifications
a) Initially, you will be barred from posting links for one day, then two days and then gradually for longer duration.b) Finally your account may be suspended.
One of my Facebook Ids had solid friend list of 5000. Considering it a big asset for YouTube videos promotion, I used to post the links of my YouTube videos there. But it hardly gave me 100 views.Then I started joining several groups and started posting my videos there.Within a month or so, my account was blacklisted and I was barred from posting any links further.This practically damaged the reputation of my FB account.
So, is posting in social media not at all effective? It’s not that. It’s really effective if you have very limited posts and your posts are for any specific agenda. Suppose, you have uploaded a video on Catalonia Issue in Spain. Now if you are posting the video link in groups meant for such issue, it may seriously garner some interest resulting in decent viewership of the video.However, this may not be confused with random posting.Further,for videos promotion, Reddit or even Tumblr is always a better option.But be very, very careful while promoting your video.The output level may not match with with your desired level and at times the outcomes may be disastrous.
Now I will show you a research done by me on 100 videos with more than 100k views.While analyzing the traffic sources , i found the following results1) YouTube Search results- 55%2)External Sources(Social Media, WhatsApp, link haring through messages etc)- 15%3)Suggested videos-13%4) From Subscription, Notifications,Channel Views- 10%5) Others- 7%
So it clearly shows that the cumulative share of sl no 1 and 3 is staggering 68% and this is a direct outcome of SEO. The better is the SEO Score of your video, the better are the chances that your video will appear in the search results or in the sidebar of YouTube page on suggested videos.I have experimented this on a particular video and while I concentrated wholly on SEO developing for the video, I maintained that I did not post it anywhere in any social media pages.After a couple of days, the video gained 83k views and lion’s share of it( more than 80%) came from search results or suggested videos.
Moreover, the impacts of promotion through Social media are short lasting and after a few hours or maybe a couple of days, the craze naturally dies down. But better SEO ensures that your video gets seen even after years of publishing. The results are organic and therefore growth is also sustainable.
So while winding up, I will suggest you to practice better SEO with selective social media options.
Please share your opinions and your experiences in the comment box.
