I’ve only recently started uploading content to my YouTube channel in its current format. Back when YouTube (and the rest of the web) were much less complicated, I had a channel that did fairly well.
Platforms for social networking, such as Facebook and Twitter, had recently been introduced. Not even Instagram had been considered. Additionally, there weren’t many creators who were accessible to the public online. Everything is really different now. This is the method and rationale I use to promote my YouTube channel on social media.
These days, it’s difficult to get your material in front of people’s eyes. And it’s not that your stuff is bad—unless it is—just it’s that nobody knows you even exist. And the battle for our attention is getting considerably more intense. Only if it is advantageous to YouTube will it promote your material. They want individuals to join the platform and remain there for as long as they can.
As a result, YouTube favours view time and engagement over all other factors when deciding how to advertise your video on the site. This includes suggested content on other people’s videos as well as the search results. The remainder of this essay therefore presume that you already produce captivating content that hooks viewers. Also, it is assumed that your YouTube SEO is strong. After all, receiving some visibility for your films is useless if YouTube cannot understand the true nature of your content.
It’s kind of a catch 22 when you only have a few hundred subscribers on YouTube. For more people to find your content, you need views and interaction. And in order for people to access and interact with your content, they must be able to find it.
What can you do, then? So, this is what I do.
Why Use Social Media To Promote Your Videos?
Note: I had planned to cover both Facebook and Instagram in this piece, but it ended up being much longer than I’d thought, so I’m separating it into two. This article discusses Facebook.
The audiences I already have elsewhere appear to enjoy the content I post there. It makes sense to use those other channels to draw viewers to YouTube because my YouTube content is related to what I post elsewhere (mainly photography).
These are individuals with whom I have previously established a connection. My content has already attracted their attention on those other channels. As a result, people are also more likely to interact with it on YouTube.
If you already have a following elsewhere that you can transfer to YouTube, growing your subscribers there will be much easier. easier but not simple It still requires a lot of effort and time.
I use a lot of social media sites, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and others. But Facebook and Instagram are the two where I interact the most. So I concentrate my efforts there.
Not all of the strategies I employ will work for you. But perhaps this will give you some inspiration so you can modify what I do to suit your needs.
ON FACEBOOK, HOW DO I PROMOTE MY VIDEOS?
I make an effort to maintain a consistent content theme across all of my sites. That is primarily photography for me. That’s what the majority of people associate me with, and it’s also what I try to centre my YouTube content around.
For illustration, check out the most recent video on my channel. On location at Devil’s Pulpit on a recent trip to Scotland, behind the scenes of a picture shoot And for the remainder of this piece, we’ll utilise this video as an illustration.
SOCIAL MAINTENANCE ON A ROUTINE
I have a sizable archive of photos that I’ve taken over the years as a photographer. I consequently frequently share both new and old work on Facebook. By doing this, I can maintain interaction on various channels even when I’m not producing fresh content just for them.
I’ll make observations that I believe my readers might find intriguing or humorous, or I’ll pose a query. And on occasion, I’ll try out some slightly out-of-the-ordinary content to see what happens.
By continuing this interaction, more of my friends and page followers will see the content I do post in relation to new videos. Facebook shows more people my fresh material because consumers are frequently engaged with it.
PRIOR TO THE START OF SHOOTING
My photography is mostly done on location (not a fan of the studio, sorry). It means I also frequently film my videos on location. I’m often photographing at the same spots again and over with new subjects. Hence, if I intend to film a new video at a location I’ve visited before, I already have footage that is pertinent.
That might be a fresh setting, but the subject is someone I’ve already photographed or a former subject’s acquaintance. It might allude to a prior shot or a subject I covered on Facebook. In any case, I can provide pertinent stuff that at least portion of my audience can relate to if I can make a connection to earlier content.
To let my viewers know that a new video will soon be available, I publish this content in advance. That provides individuals the opportunity to ask questions about what I’ll be doing. They occasionally offer suggestions for things they’d want to see. It increases interest. I’ll practise like this for two or three days before the shoot.
Via a tool like Hootsuite, such content may be scheduled to post on Facebook automatically. You can cover yourself in ten minutes at the computer. Facebook now has its own scheduling tools available. But, scheduling several platforms from a single location is simpler if you choose to do so. Buffer is another another well-liked scheduling application.Research is advised because there are a lot more options available. The majority of these services provide a free account that is more than sufficient for the requirements of a tiny YouTuber.
I have never actually been to Devil’s Pulpit before the shoot there. For the first time since I was a child, I went to Scotland to visit friends. Even though I didn’t have any pictures of the actual area, I made it a point to post about where we were going and who we were with.
WHILE CAPTURING THE VIDEO
As I’m actually performing the shoot and gathering the video content, I try to make it a practise to upload some behind-the-scenes photos to Facebook. It could be my equipment or the lighting setup. One of us doing something stupid, all of us doing something stupid, or just a beautiful panoramic of the place itself.
Even though most of my locations are out of signal range, I’ve thought about performing Facebook Live streams (as well as on YouTube) throughout the shoots. Hence, even if I wanted to, I couldn’t do it. Nevertheless, if you want to receive some immediate feedback as you’re developing it, this can work for you.
It’s difficult to submit images while shooting while you’re out of signal range. But, nothing prevents me from taking the pictures throughout the day, leaving the post inactive, and having the app transmit them when it receives signal once more. That’s what I typically do.
Sometimes there’s just so much going on during shots that it’s challenging to get images for social media during the actual shoot. For the Devil’s Pulpit video, all I could do was take a picture of drone footage that would later play on my Windows tablet (you can see it down below).
AFTER THE SHOT BUT PRIOR TO THE EDITING
I consider content from the day that I can share right away as soon as the clip is shot. Well, I’ve been thinking about this while I’ve been shooting. I mentally remember important occasions during the day that I can publish (and occasionally write them down on my phone in case I forget).
Recently, I’ve also started obtaining group selfies just after the shoot. I’ll also tag the other attendees so that their pages and timelines will also be updated with the content. Their friends and followers are curious about what they do as well. And perhaps some of them will find my work interesting.
I would still do this, video promotion and all. I work with fantastic individuals. Thus, after the day is over, I want a picture of the whole group. This normally just appears on my personal profile because of this.
I’ll use Adobe Premiere to export some screen captures from the video and add those to my page as well.
I was away from home when I made this film, and the only companion I had was my pathetic Windows tablet, which is hardly a powerful editing tool. That implied no editing and no screen captures. But, a phone photo of my tablet’s screen while some drone footage is being played back does the trick.
I did upload a few screen captures from the movie to my feed later, when it was time to really edit the video.
If it’s a picture shoot, once I’m at the computer I’ll process a handful of my favourites first. Yet I don’t necessarily have to post the pictures myself. My audience will see those if someone else who was part in the shoot shares them and tags me, just like if I had shared them myself. So, I rarely republish it (at least not right away). I don’t want to continuously bombard their feeds with the same material.
I frequently tag businesses that might way be related to the video. They may have sent me equipment to test out or play with, or it could simply be a product I currently own that I truly enjoy.
I still use hashtags periodically even though they are typically less beneficial on Facebook than they are on other sites. IFTTT allows me to automatically post content from Instagram to Facebook, so those hashtags are transferred over from there.
Until I anticipate the main edit to be finished, I’ll typically plan them to post once or twice every day.
As Soon As The Main Edit Is Done
I started editing this video not long after I returned from Scotland. I didn’t want to release all of the recordings I had made on the trip at once. For starters, I didn’t have enough time to edit them all simultaneously. I must balance my career and my real life. Moreover, I simply wanted to space them out a little.
Nevertheless, once the final film has been generated and edited, I’ll do a few very brief tweaks while the main video uploads to YouTube. These modifications range from roughly 15 seconds to a few minutes.
At the lower right corner of each of the little videos, I overlay my YouTube Address. In this manner, the link will constantly be visible to them as they watch the movie. I’m lucky to have a URL that’s brief and simple to remember. If your URL is unusually lengthy, it might be worthwhile to use a site like bit.ly to create a personalised short link to your channel.
Although I don’t post these right away, the main video has already been uploaded by the time I’m finished creating them. I’ll now enter my title, description, keywords, playlists, and other information. Likewise, have the YouTube video ready to go online.
When The Video Is Available
These additional little tweaks will be used when the video is ready to go live, which will depend on when Analytics tells me my YouTube visitors are most active.
One is a portion of the completed video. The longest of the short videos, it functions as a kind of trailer. nonetheless usually not usually not, my page or usually not my page. my personal profile……. normal….. this… Usually, I’ll share it in a few groups that are relevant to the kind of substance the video contains.
This video was uploaded directly to Facebook. I don’t embed or link to YouTube videos like I have here. I’m using YouTube in this case because the “Closed” setting has been applied to every group where this trailer is present. Hence, I am unable to embed from Facebook.
Instead of posting the trailer in some of the groups, I’ll upload a snapshot from the shoot, along with photos from the making-of or screen captures, and links to the movie. For instance, I shared this on a photography community I belong to.
In the image’s description, I provide details about the camera and lens, as well as the flash and settings. Then I added these and a link to the complete vlog on YouTube to the first two comments on that post.
Again, I frequently don’t need to add these pictures on my own profile or page since people who were engaged in their development do so and credit me.
As you can see, Ziggy tagged me in the identical picture when she shared it to her timeline. If I shared the same image, it would only bore my viewers with redundant information.
Bloopers or other footage that doesn’t make the final cut is sometimes used to create the remaining tiny edits.
This should be added to my page or profile along with tags for any potential subjects. But if they are groups that we are all a part of, they may also go in groups on occasion.
They are beneficial since my following and friends will notice them and provide comments. Their buddies will see them and remark as well. Aside from that, who doesn’t enjoy making fun of their friends? These quick videos have a high rate of engagement, which encourages Facebook to promote my other content.
Lastly, I’ll provide a link to the video on both my Facebook page and occasionally my personal profile. I don’t anticipate this to generate much interest. I don’t anticipate Facebook showing it to many users.
It’s a common misconception that using only a direct link to the video will work to your advantage with YouTube’s algorithms. I don’t know if it helps, if it helps at all, and how much it might help. But I still carry it out.
I might post another little edit the next day, presumably to groups rather than my page. But I won’t just throw anything in without thinking. Generally, it’s in response to a query regarding the filming or photo session. This enables me to make jokes with my peers in those circles and informs people who are unaware that I publish video on YouTube.
But don’t simply spam. Join the community you are a part of if you are in a group. Be a part of these organisations because you want to, not because you think it will increase your number of viewers or subscribers. Get genuinely involved in the neighbourhood.
Another picture from the shoot will be added to my page or profile. Or perhaps someone else will tag me.
AFTER THAT?
Finally, I’ll typically write a blog post on my personal blog rather than this one. Although I haven’t finished one for the Devil’s Pulpit video as of this writing, I have written one for a trip to Glencoe a few days prior to the photo shoot.
They feature more information, pictures, and other elements that weren’t included in the actual vlog. It’s possible that I just decided not to include them in the video because they didn’t fit or because there wasn’t enough footage to cover everything. Or perhaps I’m simply trying to avoid making the video last too long.
Blogs are excellent for increasing video discovery. Search engines adore information that is text-based. Another domain that links to and embeds your content on YouTube (and their platform).
I occasionally share this on my personal Facebook Page as well. Where appropriate, I will tag individuals or organisations, and they frequently share it as well.
Beyond this, I use the videos as a kind of library for reference. I will link to a video or related content if it has information that assists someone in the future. But only if it truly helps them and provides an answer to their query. I’ll also explain why I posted the content’s link and how I believe it would be helpful or an answer.
Again, spammers are despised. Therefore be genuinely active in the communities you support.
PAID FACEBOOK PROMOTION
I was asked if I ever run sponsored Facebook promotions. Just no is the response. Simply put, it strikes me as a false economy.
Everyone I know who did it experienced a brief increase in traffic followed by a significant decline for the next three months. Yet the three-month dip represents a bigger loss than the benefits from the quick increase.
Thus, it’s simply not worth it unless you pay to market every other piece you publish. I’m not sure about you, but my movies aren’t yet profitable enough to cover that kind of expense.
