Factors that determine visibility
If all efforts at solving the issue prove abortive, it may be because you haven’t figured out the root cause of the problem. Google owns YouTube, and similar to its parent company, it works with machine-learning algorithms. These algorithms determine your channel’s visibility based on the following criteria:
Continue ReadingSince it was added as a feature on Instagram and Facebook, Stories has become a major staple of our social media life. In fact, Instagram has the highest number of users this year with over 400 million daily. It has even surpassed Snapchat and Facebook.
Who would have thought that this kind of posting format will hit big? Its popularity encouraged even other platforms to include it as one of their features. Netflix and Airbnb are now following in the popularity of this social media format. Not only that, YouTube is trying to also incorporate it into its platform.
YouTube is launching a “Stories” format and called it “Reels”. The video tech giant is currently testing it with its YouTube creators that has over 10,000 subscribers. It was successful with Instagram. Now, the question is, will it be successful with YouTube?
Do creators and subscribers really need this kind of format in the platform?
YouTube is trying to create a not so similar Stories format for its platform. One is the people who have access to it.
In Instagram, anyone with the account can post their stories. However, with YouTube, posting Reels is only a feature available to creators with large followings. And instead of the normal 24 hours, the Reel gets to stay in their account for a week or seven long days. YouTube is also allowing multiple stories which are very different with Instagram and Snapchat.
Subscribers will be able to find the creator’s stories in the Subscriptions tab, while for non-subscribers, it will be in the “Up next” list. On the other hand, just like Instagram’s Stories, there will also be some editing features in Reels. Creators can add filters, music, stickers to their video stories.
What is also good is that viewers can add a comment on the Reels. They can also comment with thumbs up or thumbs down or even give a heart icon if they like the video.
Since YouTube is only opening the Reel features to creators with over 10,000 subscribers, we can say that it is trying to build its communities. It also aims to promote channels as well as increase engagement.
Other creators have already started using the feature. They used it to create behind the scene accounts for the videos that they are creating and will be publishing in the platform. This creates an exciting feeling for the viewers and YouTube subscribers.
With this feature, YouTube is encouraging its users to stay on the platform, especially for its creators. Now creators don’t need to head to Facebook, Instagram or other social media to post updates on their videos or accounts. They can use YouTube Reels to do that. They can update their viewers easier and in a low key way.
YouTube Reels is also a good opportunity for creators who occasionally creates videos. They can close the gaps by updating its viewers of what is happening to them. On the other hand, for vloggers who are posting frequently, using Reels may be a redundancy for them.
In the end, Reels is about making creators stay with the platform and increasing their audience engagement.
Creators and users have mixed reactions about YouTube Reels. Some say that YouTube is just jumping into the bandwagon of the Stories and it really does not need it. Another is that YouTube is just limiting it to its well-followed creators. It means there is no opportunity for budding YouTubers or small startups to try the feature.
Perhaps, the reason for this is that YouTube is trying to crack down and weed out inappropriate content on its platform. It is also cutting advertising rights to creators who are producing explicit content or graphical images.
On the other hand, other creators think that it is not reasonable to cut out advertising privileges just because the creator is touching the subjects of sex, mental health, and politics.
The problem with YouTube’s algorithm is that creators with high following continue to flourish, while those small and starting creators are bound to fail. This is because YouTube’s algorithm only favors those that have a sustainable following. They monetize them, while those that are small failed to get the monetization that they need since they are not given the right amount of exposure on the platform.
Using Reels, it is only another way to help those who have established accounts to flourish more. If Reels aim is to build community, wouldn’t be right to allow others to use it so other communities will be bigger? Also, it will help small or budding creators to create bigger communities?
10,000 subscribers may just be a small number for others. But with many YouTubers out there, it is hard to compete for attention. Thus, it is not easy to reach this number in a short period of time. Worse, those unfortunate creators have been in the platform for a long time and still fail to hit the 1000 subscriber mark.
It is also hard to gauge if Reels will be able to get audience engagement since the only indicator that you will have is comments and the reactions of the viewers.
Its purpose of audience engagement is good. However, if no one is using it, then it is a useless feature.
With Reels, brands can also use it to promote their product or campaign. They can create a poll, snippets or behind the scene footages.
It will be the same with Instagram. However, the big question is, will brands use Reels if they are already successful in using Instagram? Are they ready to take a risk in using another platform for their brand?
Remember paid ads on social media is not cheap. And trying to use all possible social media and social media features will surely cost your brands heaps of money. So better to think carefully and decide wisely which one will be effective for your brand. And if Instagram is effective for you, will you still move to other platforms, whether that platform has the same feature and purpose?
This feature is new. And it is hard to imagine a lot of people taking and consuming it in a short period of time. Furthermore, if it is not their platform, they won’t bother checking it out or much more use it.
These YouTube Reels is an interesting experiment. However, only the changes in the digital trends will tell if it will be successful just like with Instagram. Facebook and Snapchat has a steady follower on their own Story features, but will that mean the same for YouTube?
Thinking of ways on how to encourage your YouTube subscribers to like or interact on your channel? How about knowing what your audience is thinking? Don’t know what topic to create next on your video? Then you must check out YouTube’s community tab.
YouTube’s community tab allows creators to create activities or posts for their subscribers and visitors that they can interact with. Some of the activities that they can do are post updates, create polls, share some photos and GIFs. It replaces the old discussion tab. You can access your community tab by visiting your channel and below your channel art, the community tab is located in place of the discussion tab.
In the discussion tab, creators are only allowed to post text-based updates. Whilst in the community tab, you can be as creative as posting a GIF, images, links, and texts. Visitors and subscribers can reply text-based comment on your post.
Community tab is enabled on some verified and non-verified YouTube channels with over 100,000 subscribers. It is like a mini-experiment that will be implemented soon for everyone.
If you want to know what content to post on your community tab, it is better to check out the community tab or subscriptions tab on YouTube App of the channels you follow.
But if you want more tips on how to create the kind of content for community tab and how to maximize it to increase your subscribers and visitors, here are some tips that you should consider.
Your subscribers are expecting videos from your channel, so what better way to introduce your community tab is to create a video about it.
Under the video description of your video, include your community tab link. Share also the video on your community to ensure that first-time viewers or subscribers can know how to engage and interact with your channel.
In the introductory video, you will be creating about your community tab. Encourage your subscribers or viewers to enable notifications so they can be notified for any latest activities in your channel. In getting notifications, they simply click the bell icon beside the subscribed button.
Why do you need it? What is it for?
In your first post, explain to your viewers and subscribers what is the community tab for. It is also the best place to welcome them. YouTube is recommending creators to also create a creed or house rules on how to use the community tab.
One of the things that you can take advantage of the community tab is promoting your products. You can create a post or an update about your product or a link to your product’s page. You can also include discounts to further encourage your subscribers or viewers to check out your page. It is also catchy if you will include an image in your post.
It is also a smart move to promote your latest video on your community tab so that your viewers and subscribers will know that you have a new video on the channel. Good thing, YouTube will give a little preview of your video link with an image, title, number of views and age of your video.
Another way to create content on your community channel is to provide some sneak peek preview of the video that you are currently creating. This teaser will pique their interest and make them excited about your coming video.
It is also a smart way to promote old videos for the convenience of your new visitors or new subscribers.
One of the most effective ways to engage in interaction with your community tab is by creating a poll. Ask them what they think of your latest video. Or you can also ask them about the topic they would like to watch on your next video. This is possible since the community tab is allowing poll posts.
Another way to interact with your community is to ask questions. Promote it in advance. Say “I’ll be answering marketing questions this Tuesday. So make sure to comment below something you want to ask me.” This way you are giving your audience time in taking part to your Q & A.
We’ve mentioned it before and will mention it again. Community tab is a great way to reach out to your audience on what they would like to see. This will give you an inspiration for your next video. Double benefit – since this promote community interaction and at the same time content for your next material. Furthermore, this increases views and subscribers because you are creating content based on what people would like to see and consume.
Everyone likes a good meme. So humor your community with occasional GIFs and memes that can laugh at. If they can relate to it, you’d be lucky to have some comments about it.
You can also use your community tab if you need support in a specific campaign. Or if you need them to complete a task. One example is asking them to like a page or asking them to vote for you in a contest. Just make sure to explain why you are doing it and include important links and details.
Community tab is a great way to interact with your subscribers and viewers. It is also a great way to know what they think about your videos and your channel in general. You can also understand your subscribers better with it. Just make sure to post content or updates that will give value or entertain them.
Maximize the use of community tab to help you grow your following or your business. Ask questions, post updates, create polls, creating content on the community tab is endless you just need to be creative in thinking of content to post.
Optimizing your YouTube channel requires more than just making your channel page neat and nice to look at.
Getting a consistently higher stream of traffic for your channel means leveraging the best YouTube SEO practices while keeping in mind the metrics that YouTube actually uses to rank your videos.
Unfortunately, it’s not always clear what factors YouTube takes into account when deciding which video goes first, second or last. There are, however, data that hint at what YouTube finds essential in videos.
So, let’s take a look at some ways you can rank higher on SERP’s, both on YouTube and even Google, based on the factors YouTube seems to use to measure the importance of videos.