Tag: likes

Unlocking Your YouTube Channel’s Full Potential: Why Your Channel Isn’t Growing and How to Fix It

Post author By Alan Spicer - YouTube Certified Expert
Post date 28 April 2023

Are you struggling to grow your YouTube channel despite your best efforts?

Frustrated with low view counts and minimal subscriber gains?

You’re not alone.

Many creators face the same challenges, but the key to success lies in understanding the crucial YouTube analytics and metrics that can help you identify areas for improvement. In this blog post, we’ll dive deep into the world of YouTube analytics, provide actionable tips, and share proven strategies to help you unlock your channel’s full potential.

How To Track Success on YouTube? – Track YouTube success by monitoring key metrics: watch time, audience retention, CTR, unique viewers, traffic sources, and engagement metrics (likes, dislikes, comments, shares). Optimize content with SEO, compelling titles/thumbnails, and audience-focused topics. Engage viewers and analyze data for growth.

Essential YouTube Metrics for Growth

There are handful of metrics that aspiring youtubers need to get to know in-depth if they are to understand how to grow and WHY they are growing.

Watch Time and Audience Retention

Watch time is the total amount of time viewers spend watching your videos, and it’s one of the most critical factors in YouTube’s algorithm. In fact, YouTube prioritizes videos with higher watch times in search results and recommendations. According to a study by Tubular Insights, the top 1% of YouTube channels have an average watch time of 3 minutes and 19 seconds, while the bottom 50% only manage 1 minute and 21 seconds.

To improve your watch time, focus on audience retention – the percentage of a video that viewers watch before leaving. Aim for a retention rate of at least 50%, as videos with higher retention rates tend to perform better.

Actionable Tips:

Hook viewers in the first 15 seconds with a compelling intro.
Structure your content with clear, engaging segments.
Use annotations, cards, and end screens to promote related content.

Click-Through Rate (CTR)

CTR is the percentage of viewers who click on your video after seeing its thumbnail and title. A higher CTR indicates that your video is enticing and relevant to your target audience. According to YouTube, the average CTR for most channels falls between 2% and 10%.

Actionable Tips:

Design eye-catching thumbnails that accurately represent your content.
Write compelling titles with relevant keywords.
A/B test different thumbnail and title combinations to optimize performance.

Advanced Metrics for a Deeper Analysis

Ok, now its time to dive into the harder metrics of the handful to understand.

Unique Viewers and Traffic Sources

Unique viewers play a significant role in understanding your YouTube channel’s performance. As an estimate of the total number of individuals who watch your content, this metric sheds light on the size of your audience, which is essential for assessing your channel’s reach and potential for growth.

By tracking unique viewers, you can identify which content resonates most with your target audience. This information can guide your content creation strategy, helping you produce more of the videos that attract and retain viewers.

For example, if you notice a surge in unique viewers for a specific video or video series, it’s a strong indication that your audience enjoys that particular content.

Capitalizing on this insight, you can create similar videos or expand on the topic to maintain and grow your viewership.

Furthermore, analyzing traffic sources can unveil valuable information about where your viewers are discovering your content. YouTube provides a breakdown of traffic sources, such as:

YouTube search: Viewers who find your content through the platform’s search feature.
Suggested videos: Viewers who click on your content when it appears as a suggested video alongside or after other videos.
Browse features: Viewers who discover your content through the home page, subscription feed, or trending section.
External sources: Viewers who arrive at your content via external websites, social media platforms, or direct links.

Understanding your traffic sources enables you to optimize your content and promotion strategies. For example, if a large portion of your traffic comes from YouTube search, it’s crucial to focus on search engine optimization (SEO) by using relevant keywords in your titles, descriptions, and tags. On the other hand, if most of your viewers come from external sources like social media, investing time in promoting your content on those platforms and engaging with your audience can further boost your channel’s growth.

In summary, unique viewers and traffic sources are vital metrics for assessing your YouTube channel’s performance. By examining these analytics, you can refine your content and promotion strategies to better connect with your target audience and accelerate your channel’s growth.

Engagement Metrics

Engagement metrics serve as valuable indicators of how well your content resonates with your audience and the extent to which it encourages interaction. Tracking likes, dislikes, comments, and shares can provide you with actionable insights that can be used to refine your content strategy and foster a stronger connection with your viewers. Let’s delve deeper into each of these engagement metrics and their implications:

Likes: A high number of likes is a clear sign that viewers appreciate and enjoy your content. This positive feedback not only boosts your channel’s credibility but also increases the likelihood of YouTube recommending your videos to others. To maintain a high like count, consistently produce content that appeals to your audience, and consider asking viewers to like your videos as a call-to-action.
Dislikes: While dislikes can be disheartening, they also serve as constructive feedback, indicating that there may be areas in your content that need improvement. Analyzing videos with higher dislike counts can help you identify potential issues, such as controversial topics, misleading titles, or poor production quality. By addressing these concerns, you can enhance your content and reduce the number of dislikes on future videos.
Comments: A high number of comments typically suggests that your content sparks conversation and encourages viewers to share their thoughts, opinions, or questions. Engaging with commenters can further strengthen your connection with your audience and create a sense of community around your channel. Additionally, responding to comments can provide you with valuable feedback and ideas for future content.
Shares: Shares play a crucial role in increasing your content’s visibility and expanding your audience. When viewers share your videos on social media platforms or other online channels, they effectively endorse your content and introduce it to new viewers who may not have otherwise discovered your channel. Encourage sharing by creating share-worthy content, including engaging stories, helpful tips, or unique insights, and using a call-to-action to remind viewers to share your videos with their networks.

Fostering Community Engagement

You are growing the channel but you need to keep them engaged and coming back to the channel to help the snowball roll.

Responding to Comments

Engaging with your audience is crucial for building a loyal community. Make an effort to respond to comments on your videos, as this can foster a sense of connection and encourage viewers to return for future content.

Leveraging Social Media

Promote your content on social media platforms and engage with your audience to extend your reach and drive traffic to your YouTube channel.

Finally…

By understanding and tracking the right metrics, you can make data-driven decisions and unlock your YouTube channel’s full potential. Start implementing these strategies today, and watch your channel grow!

Key YouTube Metrics for Channel Growth

Metric	Importance	Actionable Tips
Watch Time	Crucial for YouTube’s algorithm; higher watch times improve visibility.	Hook viewers in the first 15 seconds.
Audience Retention	Higher retention rates lead to better video performance.	Structure content with engaging segments.
Click-Through Rate	A higher CTR indicates enticing and relevant content for viewers.	Design eye-catching thumbnails and compelling titles.
Unique Viewers	Provides insight into audience size and content resonance.	Analyze which content resonates with your audience.
Traffic Sources	Reveals where viewers are coming from, allowing for content optimization.	Tailor promotion strategies based on top traffic sources.
Engagement Metrics	Offers insight into audience interaction with your content.	Encourage likes, comments, and shares to boost visibility.

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How to Grow a Facebook Group

Post author By Alan Spicer - YouTube Certified Expert
Post date 21 February 2022

Whether you are just heavily interested in a particular subject and would like to find like-minded individuals to socialise with, or you are looking to build a community for promotional reasons, Facebook groups are an excellent tool in your arsenal. Still, as useful as Facebook groups can be, they have to have members—often lots of them—to achieve that potential.

There are several ways to grow a Facebook group, and, fortunately, the majority of those ways have nothing to do with spending any money. In this post, we’re going to take a deeper dive into what Facebook groups are, why they might be useful to you, and what you can do to ensure the success of your group or a group you are part of.

What is a Facebook Group?

A Facebook group is essentially a place for people with a common interest to get together and discuss that interest, much like any other internet forum. The interest in question can be anything that doesn’t break Facebook’s rules and guidelines, and anyone can set up a group.

The reason Facebook groups are so popular is, ultimately, down to the popularity of Facebook. With billions of people already on the platform and familiar with how it works, it is often far easier to set up a new Facebook group and get new members interested in joining than it is to build a community on places like Reddit, even as popular as Reddit is.

Group admins have the ability to set the rules of their Facebook group, removing members if they don’t follow them. They can also have the group be public, private, visible to all but only members are allowed to participate, invite-only, and more.

All standard Facebook rules apply within groups, so doing or saying anything that breaks Facebook’s terms of service can still get you in trouble, even if the admins of a group allow it.

Are Facebook Groups Worth It?

The natural question you should be having at this stage is; are “Facebook groups worth the effort?” The answer very much depends on what you are trying to achieve, but we’re going to hazard a guess that, yes, they are worth it if you are reading this page.

Firstly, if you are just looking for a community to talk about something you are interested in, Facebook groups will certainly be able to give you that. That being said, there is a strong chance that a group already exists, and you might want to consider joining one rather than making one. We’ll get into whether you should start a group a little later on.

If you are looking to Facebook groups as a tool for promotion, it is certainly worth it, but you will have to put the time and effort in to make things work. Like most things in life and online promotion, there’s no quick fix to reaching your goals.

Things to Consider Before Starting a Facebook Group

It’s all well and good concluding that a Facebook group can get you what you’re looking for, but that doesn’t automatically mean you should make one. Running a successful Facebook group is not without effort, and even if you’re willing and able to put in the effort, there’s still no guarantee of success.

Before we look at how to grow your Facebook group, let’s take a moment to ponder whether you should be starting or running a group at all. And, remember, this is independent of whether a Facebook group could be good for you in terms of goals. A Facebook group might be an amazing tool for promotion, but if you don’t have the time and willingness needed to make it work, it won’t help you.

Do I Have a Good Subject Matter for a Facebook Group?

This is especially important if you are planning to use your Facebook group as a promotional tool. If you just want to create a community to talk about something you’re interested in, it doesn’t matter what that interest is, because your only goal is to find people to talk to about it. If you are promoting something, however, your subject matter needs to be relevant but still interesting enough to foster genuine discussion.

For example, if you are promoting a YouTube channel about technology, such as new gadgets, that subject may be too broad to create a successful Facebook group around. Remember, the beauty of these groups is the ability to find people with the same specific interests as you, not general interests. But, if you zero in too far and create your group around, say, a specific type of technology, like mobile phones, you run the risk of people in the group not being interested in your general technology YouTube channel.

Do I Have the Time to Run a Facebook Group?

Running a successful Facebook group, whether for personal or promotional reasons, takes time. This is especially true in the early days of the group, where you will need to get out and about to garner interest and draw attention to the group. As things progress, the group will need less and less of your time to keep ticking over, but you will need to be actively working to get to that stage.

And, if promotion is your goal, this applies even more to you. If you just want to talk, you can always get the group started and then dip in and out as you please. If you want to promote things, you’ll need to keep your hand in constantly, or the members of the group will stop seeing you as someone of interest.

What Rules Should My Facebook Group Have?

There are two types of rules to consider; Facebook enforceable rules, and arbitrary rules. Facebook enforceable rules are things that Facebook provides a mechanism for, such as having the group be private and invite-only. Arbitrary rules can be literally anything you want, but you have to enforce them yourself, such as by kicking people from the group.

The best rules will vary from group to group. The only advice we can really give here is to be as unrestrictive as you can within the scope of your group. For example, it wouldn’t be wise to allow misogynist language in a group for survivors of domestic abuse. On the other hand, it would be unwise to ban adult language in a group about alternative comedy.

How to Grow Facebook Group

So, you’ve decided you want to start a group and you have the time and willingness to do so. How do you make it grow?

Have Compelling Reason to Join

The first thing you need to do is make sure your potential members have a compelling reason to join your group. The most effective way of achieving this is by offering something they can’t find elsewhere.

Of course, if you have a topic that there is no other group for, that would be the ideal situation… but it’s an unlikely one. There are a lot of groups on Facebook. If you haven’t got a unique subject matter, have a good look at the competition, and see if there is anything you can offer that they can’t. This could be more relaxed (or stricter) rules, or even just your expertise if the subject matter is something you are particularly knowledgeable about.

Leverage Your Existing Audience (if you have one)

If you already have an audience—perhaps you run a YouTube channel or blog—be sure to promote your Facebook group to them. This may seem counter-intuitive if the main reason for creating the group is to promote the thing your audience knows you for, but having a larger number of members gives your group more legitimacy in the eyes of newcomers.

We’re not suggesting paying for fake members, of course. That rarely works. Bought users will not engage, and a large group with no activity often looks less appealing than a small group with no activity.

Branch Out to New Audiences

Obviously, you will want to stay within the subject matter, but when letting people know about your group, don’t limit yourself to things like your own audience from other places. Reach out to other communities and try to find new people.

Always be sure to be respectful when you do this, however. Just barging into a subreddit or a YouTuber’s comment section and spamming about your group is unlikely to win anyone over.

Encourage Members to Promote the Group

Once you have members, encourage them to let others know about the group. Don’t just tell them to go get more members, of course, they’re not your employees. Just politely mention it from time to time, and be sure to emphasise the fact that everyone benefits from more members, as there will be more discussion.

Final Thoughts

Whether you want to talk about your favourite series of novels or promote your YouTube channel about miniature castle building, Facebook groups are a powerful tool to achieve your goals. And, what’s more, it’s free! All it takes is a little time and effort on your part to build an active community.

Tags facebook, facebook ads, facebook groups, facebook likes, following, groups, likes, make money online, money

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10 Tips to Grow ANY Facebook Page

Post author By Alan Spicer - YouTube Certified Expert
Post date 10 January 2022

Facebook pages can easily be seen as Facebook’s attempt to break out of the personal headspace that Facebook occupied for so long, and, if that was Facebook’s goal, it’s been quite effective. Pages have become an almost essential part of any online presence, be it an individual, company, or brand. But, like any too for promoting something, Facebook pages are only effective if they are used correctly.

Simply creating a page and calling it a day might be the kind of thing someone with millions of followers on other platforms can get away with, but if you are trying to build up a following from, shall we say, more modest numbers, you’re going to have to work a little harder than that.

This brings us to the purpose of this post. We’re going to look at a number of methods to grow Facebook page followings, but before we do, we’ve got a little crash course on Facebook pages for you.

What Are Facebook Pages?

The easiest way to think of a Facebook Page is as a public-facing profile alternative. Now, if you are a public figure and make no attempt to keep your Facebook profile private, this may seem a little strange to you, but you should try to remember that Facebook is mostly used as a platform for keeping in touch with friends and family.

The vast majority of Facebook users have a friend list full of people they know in real life, such as colleagues, friends, and family members. They don’t necessarily want their posts and comments to be visible to the wider world. Especially if they have any kind of notability. This is why a large number of Facebook users make their profiles and content only visible to people they are friends with.

Facebook pages allow those users to maintain that separation between the wider world and their private lives, but still have a public presence on Facebook—the largest social media platform in the world.

Do I Need a Facebook Page?

If you’re a reader of this blog, there’s a good chance you need a Facebook page. If you’ve stumbled here from a search engine looking for information on Facebook pages and are not looking to promote anything or boost your online presence, you probably don’t need a page.

For the people who are promoting things—perhaps a YouTube channel, or a podcast—we would recommend having a Facebook page even if you don’t feel the need to separate your private life from the public eye. You may feel that way now, but things can change. And there’s nothing stopping you from sharing anything you would have put on your Facebook wall onto your page as well.

That’s the key element here. You will be making a conscious choice to share something publicly, and that should protect you from unintentionally sharing anything that you wouldn’t want public, such as personal matters, or controversial opinions.

10 Tips to Grow Facebook Page Followings

And now to the meat of the article. Please note that our tips are in no particular order. Let’s go!

1. Post Regularly

One of the biggest tips we can offer for growing a Facebook page’s following—or any following on a social media platform—is to post regularly. This is especially true for smaller pages.

There are two main reasons that regular and consistent posting helps grow your Facebook page. The first is that it will mean anytime a new person arrives at your page, they are going to be seeing relatively recent content. If they get to your page and the last thing you posted was eight months ago, they might understandably conclude that the page is inactive and move on.

The other reason is that every post you make on your page increases the chances of someone new discovering your page. Whether it’s through your content being shared or through Facebook organically showing it to users, the more posts you have, the more things there are for people to stumble across.

Just be careful not to let your drive to post regularly affect the quality of what you’re posting.

2. Share Inherently Useful Content

Continuing on nicely from that last sentence, it’s not enough to just post anything on a regular basis, you also need to make that content worthwhile for your potential followers. For most of us, that rules out just posting links to your latest show/video/song/book/etc.

Of course, if you are already an established personality or brand with a huge following, just having a Facebook page that posts updates like that is useful and will get plenty of engagement. If you’re trying to grow a brand, however, you need to give those users a reason to come to your page other than… well, you.

An example of this might be an author who writes books on interior design. They could post tips on interior design, giving people a reason to follow your page for that content. Then, that author has a new book out, they’ll not only have a following but one that is primed for that product.

3. Focus on a Niche

Once again following on nicely from the end of the last point, we have your niche. While this may not be possible for everybody—it’s hard to stick to a niche if you’re a pop musician, for example—if you have an area that your content or services revolve around, make sure the posts on your page stick to that niche.

Being more focused with your content will undoubtedly lower the number of potential users coming to your page, but it will ensure that the users who are interested in what you’re posting are more likely to find it. It will also make those users far more likely to stick around, and increase the chance of them engaging with your posts because they are truly interested in the subject matter.

The trick is finding a balance between narrowing you’re niche so far that the audience is minuscule, and broadening it so far that your page has too much competition to make an impact.

4. Invite People to Like Your Page

We often don’t like to bother people, but inviting people to like your Facebook page is something that not only yields good results but can be done with the click of a button thanks to Facebook’s “Invite People to Like This Page” button. The like invite will show up in their notifications, and they will be free to ignore it if they don’t want to.

5. Promote Your Page Outside of Facebook

Facebook is big. It can be easy to forget there’s a whole Internet out there, and it’s important that you don’t neglect to use that Internet when you’re trying to grow your Facebook page.

Obviously, we’re not suggesting you start spamming comment sections or tweet threads, but promote responsibly wherever you can. Sometimes simply letting followers know you have a Facebook page is enough.

6. Use Facebook Live

If you have it in you to make video content, Facebook Live is an excellent tool for garnering more interest in your Facebook page. These videos not only get put into various feeds when they are live, but they also remain up (if you allow it) after the fact, acting as lasting content for your page.

As per our above tip about niches, try to keep this content in line with the subject matter (or matters) that your page represents. There’s no sense attracting people who won’t be interested in what you do.

7. Run Giveaways and Other Promotions

There are no hidden tricks here, this is exactly what it sounds like. If you are in a position to run competitions or promotions… or just give stuff away, it’s an effective way to generate interest for your page. Just be careful not to violate any local or international laws with any contests you run. Always check the law.

8. Join Relevant Facebook Groups

We’ve talked about getting off of Facebook to promote your page, but what about on Facebook? Finding relevant groups and participating can be a great way to generate interest. Like with anywhere else, be sure not to spam, and adhere to the rules of any group you join.

9. Utilise Calls to Action

If you’re writing blog posts, recording podcasts, posting videos, or generally making content elsewhere on the web, don’t be afraid to use a call to action. It could just be a line at the end of your article, a polite nudge at the end of a video, or really any mention. You’d be surprised how much of a difference it makes.

10. Advertise

You can advertise away from Facebook, but we’d suggest using Facebook’s own advertising platform if you want to advertise a Facebook page. It is more likely to land in front of a user who will be interested, as the very fact that they are seeing it means they are a Facebook user, whereas a Google AdSense ad could easily wind up in front of a person who is not on Facebook and has no intention of joining.

Tags facebook, facebook likes, facebook page likes, followers, grow a facebook page, likes

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Why Do YouTubers Ask for Likes?

Post author By Alan Spicer - YouTube Certified Expert
Post date 4 August 2020
1 Comment on Why Do YouTubers Ask for Likes?

You’ve seen a million YouTubers doing it—”please like and subscribe and ring that bell!”.

Whether it’s a verbal reminder at the end of the video, a graphical popup part-way through, or something else, it seems every YouTuber on the platform wants you to like their video.

But why do YouTubers ask for likes? Likes play a significant role in the success of a YouTube channel. Likes, comments, shares and even dislikes are a form of engagement and is a positive sign that plays into the youtube ranking algorithm.

Reason 2 – Simple validation would be a sensible enough explanation. After all, social media is largely predicated on the fact that people are constantly seeking external validation.

Now, we’re not saying that those YouTubers who ask you to like their video aren’t still seeking that juicy external validation—they very well maybe—but that’s almost certainly not all there is to it.

Well, actually, yes. But, as always, we’re not going to just skim the surface of this topic, so let’s dive a little deeper.

Do Likes Make YouTuber’s Money?

It’s reasonable to assume that, if asking for likes is not purely a vanity thing, it must be a monetary thing. The truth about this aspect of YouTube is a little fuzzier than you might think. We can say, quite clearly, that likes do not make YouTubers money.

Kind of.

When you click like, the YouTuber you are watching doesn’t get a few cents dropped into their Adsense account.

However; you are improving the standing of that channel in the eyes of the almighty YouTube algorithm, and that makes their channel more likely to succeed financially going forward. To understand how this works, it helps to understand what YouTube looks for in its content creators.

Engagement Is King

YouTube is in the business of watch time and engagement.

Even a rudimentary understanding of online marketing will tell you that having a smaller number of engaged fans/viewers/customers is far better than a more significant amount of disinterested ones.

This is why business owners are willing to pay extra for targeted advertising—because they know a hundred ad impressions with the right people are more valuable than a thousand ad impressions with random viewers. Those hundred ad impressions are far more likely to yield leads because the people watching the ad are already predisposed to want the thing you are advertising.

YouTube think along the same lines when it comes to viewers. Now, at the end of the day, an ad impression is an ad impression. YouTube get paid if someone watches an ad regardless of whether that viewer was engaged.

But they place far less value on viewers who are not engaged than they do on ones who are. In short, it is the engaged viewers that YouTube are looking for, and it is the channels that create those engaged viewers that YouTube likes to promote the most.

How Do Likes Help With Engagement?

Simply put, a like is an engagement because it is an extra action that the viewer takes that they didn’t have to.

Sure, it’s not a particularly intensive action—it doesn’t take much effort to click a button—but it does take some effort, and that effort shows that the viewer is more engaged than the millions of viewers who don’t click like.

Also, a significant amount of viewers just don’t think about the like button when they are browsing. It is not a statement on the content they are watching; it just doesn’t occur to them to like the video.

When, like YouTube, you are dealing with two billion users a month, even small changes in the percentage of users that like videos can represent a ridiculous number of people.

Do Dislikes Hurt a Video?

The next question that usually follows this discussion is, if likes are so good for a video, are dislikes bad for the video? And, actually, no. At least; not inherently.

Sure, if someone dislikes your video, closes the tab, and never comes back to YouTube, that will reflect poorly on your content, and YouTube’s algorithm will factor that in. However, the action of disliking a video when considered in a vacuum is still engagement.

That means that if your viewers give your video the thumbs down, but then go on to watch more videos, it’s all good as far as YouTube is concerned. They still see that as engagement, and, as the viewer stuck around, there’s no downside.

Where it could be considered detrimental to a channel to dislike a video, however, is in your personal recommendations. Those videos YouTube put down the side when you’re watching something; they’re based on a lot of data, including your likes.

If you repeatedly like a particular kind of video, you will see more of that kind of video. If you like a lot of videos by a certain YouTuber, you will see more videos by that YouTuber.

Naturally, if you dislike videos, you are less likely to see that kind of video in future, or the YouTuber behind it. How much an individual dislike affects a video’s overall recommendation is unclear, but it certainly affects whether or not it will be recommended to you.

Watch Time Matters

Of course, there’s more to it than merely liking and disliking videos. YouTube wants to see that engagement, whether it is liking, disliking, or leaving comments, but watch time is the ultimate gatekeeper to a YouTuber’s success.

You see, it is watch time that is YouTube’s endgame metric when it comes to measuring success.

The more time people spend on YouTube, the more opportunities there are to serve those people advertisements and the more money YouTube makes.

Watch time is the single, most important metric in the YouTube algorithm’s decision-making process.

The more time people spend viewing a specific channel’s videos; the more YouTube will push that channel because they know they can rely on it to keep viewers on the site.

This is why we specified that dislikes are not harmful in a vacuum. There is nothing inherently damaging about getting a thumbs down, but there may be damaging implications.

If a viewer dislikes your video and then leaves the site altogether, the fact that they left YouTube from your content will count against you in the eyes of the algorithm, even if the thumbs down itself doesn’t.

Why is Engagement Important?

So, if watch time is so important, why does engagement matter at all? Well, it’s true that watch time is the significant metric that YouTube covets above all, but engagement is still an important part of their decision making processes.

Engagement shows that a YouTuber is not just drawing in casual, disinterested viewers, but active viewers who are involved in the platform. These viewers are far more likely to pay attention to advertisements and, as a result, click on them when they see one they like.

It is also the case that engagement is only possible from a signed-in YouTube account. YouTube does count views and watch time from anonymous viewers, but it is considerably more challenging to provide relevant advertisements to these viewers.

And, as we covered earlier in the post, it is the highly targeted advertisements that companies prefer to pay for since they yield better results.

If you want to know how to book that yield and get better cpm advertising rates, helping you make more money from your videos, check out my deep dive blog into how to increase youtube video cpm.

High levels of engagement are an indication that your videos are attracting logged-in YouTube users who can be served relevant ads based on their preferences and watch history, and that makes YouTube happy since targeted advertisements are both worth more and more likely to be clicked.

It Works

All of this is digging a little deeper than most YouTubers are thinking, however.

While there are plenty of YouTubers that are fully informed about the intricacies of YouTube’s algorithm, there are far more that don’t concern themselves with that level of detail, but nevertheless know that likes are a good thing for their channel.

And, of course, a good number of YouTubers that are purely after that external validation we mentioned earlier. So, for those YouTubers, why bother asking their viewers to like the content?

Quite simply; because it works. YouTuber after YouTuber has experimented with asking viewers to like a particular video as a way of testing if it makes a difference, and they invariably find that it does. It may be because a lot of viewers simply don’t think about liking until they are prompted, or that they didn’t think liking was that important to this particular YouTuber.

Whatever the reason, asking viewers to like a video has been proven time and time again to be effective. So regardless of why a specific YouTubers wants those likes, they know that asking for them will usually get them.

Tips on Asking for Likes

As silly as it might sound, there is something of an art to asking for likes in a YouTube video.

Doing it incorrectly most of the time will just be ineffective; however, there is also a chance you could actively put viewers off of liking your video or even watching future videos.

One of the first recommendations we would make is to avoid asking people to like (and subscribe, for that matter) right up top. In the case of subscribing, at least wait until you’ve introduced your channel, so the viewer knows if your content is the kind of thing they would even want to subscribe to.

In the case of likes, however, it is often seen as presumptuous to ask your viewers to like a video they haven’t even seen yet. This can create a sense of resentfulness and may even result in viewers refusing to like the video even if they did find the content useful or entertaining.

It is good practice to wait until approximately halfway through the video before considering using any visual cues, such as a “like and subscribe” graphical popup, and to wait until the sign off to verbally ask your viewers to like the video. By this time, your viewers will know whether they do, in fact, like the content.

Another tip is to ask, rather than tell. If you just say, “like the video” once again it can be seen as a bit presumptive. Instead, say something like, “if you liked the video, consider giving it a thumbs up”. That way, you are merely giving your viewers a polite, gentle reminder that the like button is there, but leaving it entirely up to them to decide if they think you have earned it.

Which brings us to the final suggestion we can make for getting those likes; earn it. All the YouTube science in the world won’t help you with subpar content. Before worrying about reminding viewers to click the like button, make sure you have worked out all of the major kinks in your videos. Your content doesn’t have to be perfect—few YouTube channels are—but any glaring problems should be addressed before you start asking people to give you a thumbs up.

Conclusions

There was a lot to cover there, but the basic theory behind likes can be summed up easily.

Likes are a significant metric that YouTube uses to determine which content to recommend to people, though they are by no means the only metric. They play a vital role in personal recommendations.

That is, if you like a particular type of video a lot, YouTube will endeavour to show you more of that kind of video. Dislikes can also play a positive role in your channel’s exposure, as can comments (regardless of the content).

All of it is as seen as engagement that your content is creating, and YouTube likes to see plenty of engagement.

All of this is secondary watch time, however. The longer people spend on YouTube, the better. And if they happen to be spending vast amounts of time on your videos, that will reflect very well for you in the YouTube algorithm.

Finally, don’t be presumptive about your viewer’s opinions. Ask them to like your videos, don’t tell them to. And only do so at a point in your video where there has been enough content for your viewer to judge if they do actually like it.

None of this guarantees you likes, of course. The only thing that can do that is quality content. But by knowing how the system works, you are better placed to leverage that quality content when you make it.

Top 5 Tools To Get You Started on YouTube

Very quickly before you go here are 5 amazing tools I have used every day to grow my YouTube channel from 0 to 30K subscribers in the last 12 months that I could not live without.

1. VidIQ helps boost my views and get found in search

I almost exclusively switched to VidIQ from a rival in 2020.

Within 12 months I tripled the size of my channel and very quickly learnt the power of thumbnails, click through rate and proper search optimization. Best of all, they are FREE!

2. Adobe Creative Suite helps me craft amazing looking thumbnails and eye-catching videos

I have been making youtube videos on and off since 2013.

When I first started I threw things together in Window Movie Maker, cringed at how it looked but thought “that’s the best I can do so it’ll have to do”.

Big mistake!

I soon realized the move time you put into your editing and the more engaging your thumbnails are the more views you will get and the more people will trust you enough to subscribe.

That is why I took the plunge and invested in my editing and design process with Adobe Creative Suite. They offer a WIDE range of tools to help make amazing videos, simple to use tools for overlays, graphics, one click tools to fix your audio and the very powerful Photoshop graphics program to make eye-catching thumbnails.

Best of all you can get a free trial for 30 days on their website, a discount if you are a student and if you are a regular human being it starts from as little as £9 per month if you want to commit to a plan.

3. Rev.com helps people read my videos

You can’t always listen to a video.

Maybe you’re on a bus, a train or sat in a living room with a 5 year old singing baby shark on loop… for HOURS. Or, you are trying to make as little noise as possible while your new born is FINALLY sleeping.

This is where Rev can help you or your audience consume your content on the go, in silence or in a language not native to the video.

Rev.com can help you translate your videos, transcribe your videos, add subtitles and even convert those subtitles into other languages – all from just $1.50 per minute.

A GREAT way to find an audience and keep them hooked no matter where they are watching your content.

4. Learn new skills for FREE with Skillshare

I SUCK reading books to learn, but I LOVE online video courses.

Every month I learn something new. Editing, writing, video skills, how to cook, how to run a business – even how to meditate to calm a busy mind.

I find all of these for FREE with Skillshare – Sign up, pick all the courses you want and cancel anytime you need.

5. Shutterstock helps me add amazing video b-roll cutaways

I mainly make tutorials and talking head videos.

And in this modern world this can be a little boring if you don’t see something funky every once in a while.

I try with overlays, jump cuts and being funny but my secret weapon is b-roll overlay content.

I can talk about skydiving, food, money, kids, cats – ANYTHING I WANT – with a quick search on the Shutterstock website I can find a great looking clip to overlay on my videos, keeping them entertained and watching for longer.

They have a wide library of videos, graphics, images and even a video maker tool and it wont break the bank with plans starting from as little as £8.25 ($9) per month.

Tags ask for likes, asking for likes, click that like button, engagement, instagram likes 2019, like, likes, likes on youtube, thumbs up, why ask for likes, youtube likes

DEEP DIVE ARTICLE HOW TO GET MORE VIEWS ON YOUTUBE HOW TO MAKE MONEY ONLINE YOUTUBE

Do YouTubers Get Paid for Likes?

Post author By Alan Spicer - YouTube Certified Expert
Post date 19 June 2020

In 2019, the YouTube video with the most likes was Despacito by Luis Fonsi. Although the video was uploaded in 2017, it has ridden the wave of competition and is still at the top of the list, unbeaten, in 2019. Currently, it has 6 billion views and 38 million likes. This is every YouTuber’s dream – to go viral.

When Fonsi wrote Despacito, he never dreamed it would be such a massive hit. He released the song anyway because he believed in it. You, as a creator, never know which of your videos will become a sensation. You just have to keep making videos and putting your best out there.

So, What is the significance of YouTube likes? Do YouTubers Get Paid for Likes? – YouTubers do not get paid for likes. However, a like is a form of engagement that can help the video do better in the long term. The more likes, comments, and shares a video gets the higher it can rank. A good rank in search can mean more traffic to the video, more advert views and clicks.

How YouTube Likes Work

Up till 2012, videos on YouTube were ranked according to how many views they got – the view count.

This was a good metric, but if a video had a misleading title, people would only watch a few seconds of it then leave. A marketer who had attached their advertisement to such a video would feel short-changed, as their advert would not get watched. Marketers also objected to some of the content being uploaded.

A lot of the popular videos aired controversial topics like racism and terrorism. Marketers who didn’t want to be associated with such videos pulled out, leading to loss of revenue for YouTube.

This was bad for business. To stop this exodus, YouTube had to police the platform and suppress objectionable channels by not recommending them regardless of how popular they were.

YouTube then changed its metric to how much time viewers spent watching a video. Videos that captured viewer attention for longer time periods now got ranked higher. This was good for marketers as it would ensure that their product was seen by the viewer. This, however, meant that creators now had to spend more resources trying to make their videos longer while still retaining the viewers’ interest. Creators started delaying the core message of their videos for as long as they could without annoying the viewer.

They also had to change the frequency and content of uploads so as to make longer videos. This was not easy. An example of how this changed things for creators can be seen in this video. Longer-duration videos also meant more resources spent on making and editing new videos.

Ultimately, two main factors now determine how often a video will appear in search results and recommendations:

· Behavior

· User Queries

Behaviour

The YouTube algorithm tracks viewer behavior for the purpose of making recommendations based on what they watch.

This is why your YouTube homepage will never be similar to someone else’s homepage. Your activity determines what other videos YouTube recommends to you.

Factors determining how YouTube recommends and ranks videos that you need to know include:

· What people watch

· Consistency in uploading videos

· Time spent on watching a video (retention time)

· How fast a video gains popularity

· What videos don’t get watched

· How new a video is.

· How people engage with a video- likes, dislikes, shares, and comments

· Explicit feedback i.e. not interested.

User Queries

YouTube will rank videos according to how often users search for them. A commonly searched for video is obviously popular, so YouTube will rank it at the top of search results and recommend it as well.

This is because the goal of YouTube is to keep you on that platform for as long as possible because it increases your chances of seeing advertisements.

The goal of YouTube is to ultimately recommend videos that viewers want to watch. Its algorithm will, therefore, use the metrics above to determine whether or not to recommend a video and how often the video will appear in search results.

This means that your video not only has to be good, but it has to match keywords used in searches.

Can YouTubers Make Money from Likes? – Not directly. Likes show how good your video is, measuring its popularity. Depending on their number, the only effect is to increase the frequency of visits to your channel. When a viewer likes your video, they are ‘teaching’ YouTube that your video is good and should be recommended more often.

This is why YouTubers encourage their viewers to like, share, and subscribe to their content. The more the engagement, the higher the rank of the video, the more it will appear in results and the higher the number of viewers will increase.

So don’t underestimate the importance of YouTube likes. If anything, try to get as many as possible. Below you can see a number of things you can do to increase them.

How to Get More Likes on YouTube

Now that you know likes can be fuelling your channel growth, its time to start getting more of them!

Ask for them

At the end of your video, request your viewers to like your video. Don’t assume that they’ll like it anyway. Encourage them by also explaining how the likes will help your channel grow.

Make it easy

In addition to verbally asking for likes, include prompts at various points in your video to remind your viewers. Just be careful not to overdo it as your video will end up looking tacky.

Invite subscribers

Having subscribers means that your content is so good people want to receive more of it. In a way, you are assured that you will have a number of likes because your videos will have a dedicated pool of viewers.

It also teaches YouTube that your channel is popular and should be recommended frequently.

Social media

Promote yourself on other platforms- share your videos on other social media networks. People who may like your work may not be frequent users of YouTube, so go out there and look for them. Don’t wait for them to find you.

If you need help to promote your videos on social media I wrote a huge article on the best places to share your youtube videos for more views on my blog.

Advertise

If you can afford it, advertise. Some creators advertise their new uploads for a short period of time to increase their fan base. Cast your net wide.

Now that we have seen how important likes are and how they increase our chances of getting noticed on youtube, let’s see how we can turn that into money.

How YouTubers Make Money

The more money you make on YouTube the more you can invest back into content, growth and success. Making money on YouTube can be a burning desire but you don’t always have to use the YouTube Ads program.

I make a good chunk on my income from affiliate marketing and I wrote a huge deep dive into Affiliate Marketing for Beginners on my blog – it explains all the jargon and steps you through everything you need to do to get started.

Advertising Revenue

Channel owners can link their channels to advertisers and earn revenue based on how many people view the adverts. An example is Google AdSense.

This is a feature of the YouTube partner program, which enables you to monetize your channel. To make money from AdSense, you have to have at least 1000 subscribers and more than 4000 watch hours in the last 12 months.

This is why consistency in video uploads is important. Few uploads equal few watch hours. Lastly, you have to live in a country where Google AdSense is available. You can choose what ads will come with your video, and where they will appear.

When someone clicks on an ad or watches your video for at least 30 seconds, you earn revenue depending on the advertisers’ bid, the length of the video, and the type of content.

Affiliates

A company could approach you and ask you to endorse their product on your channel. You then talk about it, describe its features, and encourage your viewers to buy the product. You include a link in your video description where people can buy the product. To encourage a purchase and also reward their viewers, a number of YouTubers, in collaboration with the company, offer discounts for viewers who purchase a product through their channel.

Every time a purchase is made a percentage of that revenue goes to you as the owner of the channel.

Still, you don’t have to wait for a company to approach you. You could approach companies whose products are related to your content and make a deal with them. For example, if you have a food channel, you can advertise products for a company that produces spices.

Selling Merchandise

YouTubers with a substantial following and a well-developed brand also make revenue through selling merchandise. Once you have a dedicated base of subscribers, you can begin to make merchandise related to the subject content of your videos.

You can make branded t-shirts and caps or sell products like makeup kits. If you upload how-to videos, you can offer more information through a premium subscription service or sell a how-to manual in text form.

Ensure your products are unique and high quality, as disappointed customers will spread the word about you and this could affect your popularity on YouTube. You want to go viral, but not for controversial reasons.

YouTube Premium

Many people find it annoying to have a video they are watching interrupted by advertisements. Well, this is the price we pay to enjoy YouTube for free.

HOWEVER, if you really cannot stand constant interruptions, why not try YouTube Premium? This is a paid ad-free service offered by YouTube as a response to our grumblings against advertisements. Viewers can watch videos and listen to endless playlists without interruptions.

If you have a channel on YouTube premium, you earn revenue every time your video is watched. Viewers can also download your videos to watch offline, and this will still contribute to your watch times.

Donations

Donations are not necessarily a revenue stream, but they can support up and coming creators until they have enough views to generate their own revenue. When you make really good content, you gain many committed fans who wouldn’t mind supporting you financially so you can continue making more content.

To this end, MANY creators have a Patreon account through which fans make donations. Although Patreon takes 10% of this money, it can still be enough to keep your channel going.

Creators in turn offer their donors (patrons) extra content like behind-the-scenes footage as a reward or thank you for their support. Patreon is also a great platform for creators who need financial support for their work but want to maintain their independence.

So instead of signing contracts with commercial companies that will exploit their talent, they upload content on YouTube and earn revenue through their channel and the support of their Patrons.

Make Long Videos

Make your content as interesting as possible for as long as possible, at least for up to 10 minutes. The longer time people spend on your video, the higher the chances of earning more revenue, and the higher it will rank among search results.

Remember, YouTube wants people to spend time on videos so they can see adverts.

Collaborations

You can reach out to creators who post similar content to yours and suggest a collaboration. Not everything needs to be a competition, and we can also grow together. Collaboration will open up new horizons for your viewership and get your subscribers from a different niche category than the one you cater for.

A good example of collaboration was that of Lindsey Stirling, a violinist who dances while playing the violin and the Piano Guys, a group of men who make original instrumental music and do classical-style covers of popular songs. Their collaboration was actually demanded by fans and was a huge success, opening up new markets for both groups.

Targeted Content

Make your videos with a certain target market in mind. This will establish your niche, and also enable you to propose a brand endorsement to a company that targets that particular group of people. For example, if you have a food channel, you can focus on organic recipes and built viewership based on this.

You can then approach an organic food company and offer to advertise their products.

Use Targeted Keywords

Use top keywords in your video titles, descriptions, and video tags. Specific keywords attract different viewers with different interests. The type of viewer you attract will also determine the type of advertisers you attract.

Keywords that attract advertisers who pay more for adverts will also earn you more money.

Conclusion

In summary, likes will not directly earn you revenue on YouTube, but they will increase your channel’s visibility to raise your chances of earning marketing revenue.

If you need help in making better videos to get you more likes then maybe check out my resources page where I show you all my equipment, secret tools for amazing graphics and youtube seo tools!

You can follow these tips discussed in this article to get more subscribers and more likes. So keep creating!