19 ways to promote your YouTube channel for higher reach (with tips)

Despite the rise of new social media platforms, Google and YouTube continue to reign supreme, especially when it comes to video marketing. A well-crafted YouTube channel can help your business improve brand awareness, reach a larger audience, and generate higher traffic to your website. However, it is not just about creating and uploading videos. Your team must know how to promote your YouTube channel to truly harness the power of the platform. 

YouTube marketing is complicated and does not always have a one-size-fits-all solution. That is why we have put together a complete guide to promoting your YouTube channel.

Why is it important to promote your YouTube channel?

While video is a powerful content medium, it is also an extremely competitive space. Simply creating content and hoping for the best is no longer enough. To stand out, businesses and social media managers must take a proactive approach to promoting their YouTube channels. 

Actively promoting your YouTube channel helps you reach a wider audience, leverage the YouTube algorithm for higher views, improve your engagement metrics, and drive more traffic and revenue for your business. 

Let’s explore the benefits of promoting your YouTube channel for your business: 

• More views mean more reach. 
  • When more people click on your video and watch it through, the platform takes notice. This engagement tells the algorithm that your content is valuable. As a result, the algorithm picks it up, helping you reach a wider audience. 
• The more you share, the more people know about your business, products, and initiatives. 
  • Businesses spend considerable time and resources on video creation. So, why should they just occupy one small corner of the internet? An active promotion strategy ensures your videos reach your target audience across multiple channels. 
• Popular videos rank on Google for relevant keywords. 
  • If you’re wondering how to rank higher on more Google searches, promoting your YouTube channel is a good option. Higher engagement and a wider audience establish the authority of your video, boosting its chances of appearing in Google local search results. 

How to promote your YouTube channel: 19 proven ways to explore 

Choosing the right promotional method for your YouTube channel can be daunting, with conflicting opinions everywhere. The challenge ends here. We bring you the top 19 ways to promote your YouTube channel with examples you can implement instantly. 

Let us explore each of these ways in detail. 

1. Choose the right keyword in titles and descriptions

While we focus on promoting the YouTube channel across multiple platforms, do not underestimate search engines. While evaluating your channel, YouTube checks titles, descriptions, tags, and more. With the right YouTube SEO techniques, you can ensure that the algorithms and search engines themselves promote your videos and the overall channel. 

The things to keep in mind here are:

• Use YouTube’s search bar, Google Keyword Planner, or third-party SEO tools to find the right keywords. Make sure that these keywords are relevant to your target audience. 
• Analyze the titles in your competitor videos to see what’s working. 
• Strategically incorporate the keywords in video titles, captions, and descriptions for higher visibility on search engines. 

If you are a real estate brand, you can optimize video titles by including keywords surrounding your location, niche, and target audience. For example, instead of saying “California’s real estate guide,” you can title the video “How to find a midrange modern home in California?” The second title is direct, optimized for search queries, and can rank higher. 

2. Customize the thumbnail for each platform 

Do you know what plays a critical role in getting clicks on your videos? It is the thumbnail. One of the biggest mistakes most brands make is using the same thumbnail for all platforms, regardless of the platform specifications. 

If you do that, too, you may have noticed:

• Words getting cut off from the titles 
• Shared videos not getting as many clicks as the original video 
• Lackluster reception overall for the video

Tweak the thumbnail according to individual platform requirements. This will ensure that your audience has a consistently good experience, no matter where they see the video. 

Consider this: YouTube thumbnails are 1280x720 pixels with a 16:9 aspect ratio. However, Reels cover images are 1080x1920 pixels. You can afford to have a busy and complex thumbnail for your YouTube video, but you must tone it down for Instagram Reels. 

Paying attention to various image size requirements can pay off in terms of engagement and click rates.

3. Pick the right hashtags for your videos 

Hashtags play a vital role in content distribution in almost all social media platforms. So, whether you promote your video on Instagram, Pinterest, or Twitter – picking the right hashtag can immensely boost your reach. 

Here are a few tips to find the right hashtags for your videos: 

• Run a Google search for the most popular videos in your niche and see what hashtags got the videos there.
• Use the hashtags with the highest search volume on Instagram and Facebook for a wider reach. Conversely, you can niche down and pick a low search volume hashtag along with it to reach your exact target audience. 
• Use a social media management tool like Birdeye that leverages AI to help you pick the perfect hashtag for your videos. 

Birdeye’s built-in AI helps you pick the perfect hashtag for your post within seconds. Explore Birdeye Social with our free trial now. 

4. Boost your reach with online forums 

The more organic clicks you get on your videos, the higher your reach within YouTube. Promoting your YouTube channel and individual videos on relevant online forums is a great way to secure organic traffic. 

For example, if you are a self-storage company, you can find homeowner forums or rental assistance forums where people need expert opinions on storage options. You can answer their queries and lead them to your video for additional information. 

Pro Tip: Use link shorteners while sharing your videos on online forums. They are easy to read and make your content visually appealing to readers. 

5. Run a contest 

Do you have a great following on Twitter or Instagram? You can leverage that influence to give the YouTube channel a leg up. One of the most popular ways to do this is to run a contest on social media channels. 

• Invite your audience to like, subscribe, and share your videos.
• Encourage the viewers to comment, answer specific questions, or tag their friends on your videos.
• Announce attractive prizes to your audience with a lucky draw model.

Pro Tip: Run a transparent contest and follow up with awards to encourage people to interact with your channel. 

6. Host a giveaway 

After a fun contest, a giveaway brings a horde of attention to your YouTube channel. People like participating in games, especially where there is a lucrative prize at the end. A giveaway is quite similar to a contest—the only difference is that you only ask people to follow or subscribe to your channel. 

There are usually no other questions or rules involved. 

Pro Tip: You can further promote your brand by doing a giveaway for relevant products or services for your target audience. For example, restaurants can partner with local artisan food brands to award a gift basket, while real estate brands can offer interior design packages or furniture in giveaways. 

7. Collaborate with other YouTube channels 

Most YouTubers feel that leaning on bigger names can help you effectively promote your up-and-coming YouTube channel. For businesses, this means collaborating with relevant brands, local businesses, popular creators, or micro-influencers.

The key to striking the right collaboration is to:

• Identifying channels that share similar target audiences
• Audit potential collaborations to identify engagement rates, popularity, and reputation in the industry
• Chalk up a strong collaboration plan that details the commitment from both parties and ensures your channel gets a boost
• Conduct an influencer marketing audit to find the right influencers for your business 

Pro Tip: The reputation of the channel matters a lot for successful business collaborations. We strongly recommend checking Google reviews and overall social media reputation before picking your partner. 

8. Repurpose into YouTube Shorts 

Short-form content is easily one of the most popular formats across all channels. With reducing attention span and an increasing tendency to scroll on, short-form content is the only way to attract new audiences.

The good news is that you don’t have to leave YouTube to promote your channel with short clips. Repurpose existing content into short, engaging clips that can lead to the original video. 

YouTube Shorts is an exciting new feature that allows you to embed links to your longer videos in the description, boost your growth, and reach a wider target audience. 

Pro Tip: Instead of just clipping the original video, create exciting intros and outros that engage your audience and pique their interest, leading to clicks and subscriptions. 

9. Increase distribution with email lists 

While social media promotions can reach newer audiences, there is a case for promoting your YouTube channel with your existing engaged audience. And that is what email marketing lists bring. 

Some of the ways to improve video distribution for your YouTube channel include:

• Embedding relevant YouTube videos into promotional emails
• Sending out trailers and previews to relevant audience groups
• Driving organic traffic to your YouTube channel 

For example, if you manage the channel for a healthcare brand, you can segment your audience and share relevant healthcare tips, store information, or service videos for better reach. 

10. Embed your YouTube video to your website 

Most businesses have traffic generation campaigns in place for their websites. So, why not leverage a high-traffic channel to gain views for your YouTube videos? Yes, embedding your YouTube channel feed or specific videos can significantly help improve your reach. 

Embedding videos on your website improves: 

• Organic traffic received on your YouTube videos
• Awareness about your growing YouTube presence, encouraging your potential customers to seek you out on the video platform 
• Click rates and overall engagement rate of your videos

11. Conduct live streams to attract user attention 

The “Live” section features prominently on YouTube’s homepage—right under the search bar and in the navigation bar on the left as well. Additionally, YouTube promotes your live sessions to relevant audiences who may be interested in your content. 

Consistently conducting live streams may help you get on the explore page and reach a wider audience, translating into a higher awareness for your YouTube channel. 

Live streams also help your audience interact with you in real time, boosting overall engagement and popularity on the platform. 

12. Encourage the audience to comment on your video 

Soliciting comments from your viewers is another effective way to hack the algorithm and make your videos promote your YouTube channel. Comments are one of the most important engagement metrics, especially on YouTube, which are almost next to subscribers. 

The more you encourage the audience to comment on your video, the bigger the YouTube algorithm rewards your channel. 

Some of the best ways to get viewers to comment on your YouTube video include: 

• Asking a question at the beginning of the video. 
• Encourage the audience to mark their attendance in the comment section. This also has the added advantage of building a community for your channel. 
• Running contests or giveaways on your YouTube channel. 

Want to take your engagement game one step further? Ensure you like every comment and respond to the ones that personally mention your business. That way, your audience has more incentive to write back to you. 

13. Explore YouTube Ads

For new channels looking to get ahead of their competitors, YouTube Ads are a great way to reach newer audience groups. You can set up campaigns encouraging viewers to interact with your views, subscribe to your channel, or share your videos. 

While YouTube Ads can be expensive, they are one of the most effective methods to reach more people quickly. 

Of the many formats available in the YouTube ad program, we recommend choosing in-feed ads, in-stream, or skippable ads. Viewers tend to pay less attention when you interrupt the content they are already engaged with. 

14. Dive into analytics to create compelling content for your audience 

Knowing where to promote your YouTube channel helps you invest in the right space, see higher returns for your efforts, and grow your audience much faster. Businesses can now choose from over ten to fifteen promotional channels from the top five social media platforms, online forums, email lists, and more. 

But how do you know what to prioritize? 

The answer lies in your YouTube analytics. You can access audience demographics, subscriber vs. nonsubscriber information, content preferences, watch time, and more. 

The reach tab also shows how your audience discovers your channel and helps you run campaigns accordingly. 

15. Convert videos for audio podcast channels 

Businesses producing webinars, educational videos, or any video that can be converted into an audio talk track have a great opportunity. They can repurpose these videos into audio-only podcasts for podcast streaming platforms like Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Google Podcasts. 

Podcasts are a very popular medium for young professionals to consume content. However, entering yet another marketing domain can be a strain. So, it is wiser to convert YouTube videos into audio podcasts and drive traffic to your YouTube channel instead. 

16. Transcribe it for your blog 

While most consider social media platforms the ideal space to promote a YouTube channel, the buck doesn’t have to stop there. Improve opportunities for engagement and organic traffic with a quick transcription of your video for your business blog. 

Transcribing your video for a blog improves the reach by:

• Indexing it for your search engines for traditional text-based search queries 
• Increasing organic clicks and views on the video 
• Boosting awareness for your content to a wider audience 

This is a great way to have your video rank for search queries where traditionally long-form articles perform well. And as more traffic comes from organic search, the YouTube algorithm shows it to more viewers. All in all, it’s a quick and efficient way to boost your YouTube channel. 

17. Watch out for relevant trends 

Every social media platform loves trends, but choosing the relevant one for your channel is important, especially when you run a business account. When done right, the trend can ensure that your videos reach a wider audience on YouTube, catapulting your reach.

Social media algorithms show related videos and similar content to what people are already watching. Jumping on trends is the easiest way to ensure your videos fall into what people want to watch. 

We know following trends in professional accounts can be a challenge, so here are a few examples to build on:

• Social media managers can capture the office atmosphere to incorporate trending music 
• You can partner with relevant creators or influencers who can lend the trend’s aesthetic to your business content 
• You can create content around the trending hashtags or keywords in the context of your brand

18. Utilize the community feature 

YouTube has transformed from a video streaming platform to a social media-esque platform in the past few years, and the community feature plays a big part in that. 

You can now create content to interact with your audience, post announcements, tag other creators, and boost the reach of your channel. An active community feature ensures your channel reaches your audience even when you don’t post a video. 

Some ways for businesses to leverage the community feature include: 

• Interactive content like quizzes and polls to engage your audience
• Promote your videos with relevant information to solicit clicks 
• Promote playlists to help the audience find relevant videos with ease 

19. Promote user-generated content on your channel 

Looking for a way to get more people to reach your YouTube channel? Well, posting user-generated content is the best way to go about it. Businesses can encourage their customers to become their subscribers by promoting user-generated content.

Posting testimonials, reviews, customer experience videos, and more makes your business more relatable to your audience. In addition to promoting your channel, it also serves as a tool to convince potential customers to do business with your brand. 

Spread the word and go viral: Key to promoting your YouTube channel 

A successful social media marketing strategy does not stop at creating content. The promotion and optimization of content distribution models is what makes for a truly successful campaign. YouTube marketing is a competitive space, making businesses need to invest in promoting their channel. 

Promoting your YouTube channel improves viewership, boosts brand awareness, and expands your target audience base. Optimizing keywords, creating engaging thumbnails, and collaborating with other creators help drive growth. 

Cross-promotion on social media, emails, forums, search engines, and advertising channels also amplifies the reach. You can turn your channel into a thriving online presence by consistently creating high-quality content and engaging with your audience.

FAQs on how to promote your YouTube channel 

Use Birdeye to streamline your YouTube channel promotional efforts 

Location-based businesses can unlock a treasure trove of opportunities with an active YouTube channel. However, the channel often lies in getting it in front of the audience and realizing its true potential. Social media management is hard enough, but multiple accounts and a video-only platform can add to the challenges. 

This is where Birdeye shines through with its multi-platform posting features, AI repurposing tools, and automated content management tools. With a few automation and workflow setups, you can ensure your video reaches far and wide. 

Birdeye is an all-in-one social media management platform that helps location-based businesses improve their marketing strategies. 

Whether rewriting the caption for different platforms or choosing the best thumbnail, Birdeye does it all and more. 

Watch a free demo now to learn how Birdeye can help you step up your YouTube growth.