Ready to take your YouTube game to the next level and attract the view counts that can open doors to exciting brand partnerships? Whether you’re an aspiring travel vlogger, a DIY expert, or a niche content enthusiast, the quest for more YouTube views is a common goal for up-and-coming video creators. While views are far from the only number that matters to brands, they are one powerful and easy-to-track metric that can signal sponsorship opportunities.
In this blog post, we’re unveiling the strategies tailored to creators like you, all geared towards boosting your YouTube views and setting the stage for coveted brand sponsorships. Take notes and have your phone or camera ready – let’s dive into how to increase your YouTube views and get more traction with brands.
First, What Is a Brand Sponsorship and How Does It Benefit You?
First, let’s talk about the basics. A brand sponsorship is a relationship between a content creator and a brand in which the creator promotes the brand’s products and services in an organic, natural way in exchange for an agreed-upon payment or compensation.
Different types of sponsorships you can negotiate include the following:
- Gifting Sponsorships: Obtaining free products in exchange for their promotion
- User-Generated Content Sponsorships: A brand pays to have influencers create branded content, for the brand to use on their own social channels (vs on the creator’s channels.)
- Affiliate Sponsorships: Earning sales commissions with a discount link or code
- Paid Campaign Sponsorships: A brand casts (and pays you) to promote their brand’s or services on your channels, as part of a campaign.
Each type of sponsorship serves to benefit both parties in several ways, such as allowing creators to help their audience find helpful products and services, and assisting brands to increase awareness and engagement, ultimately providing targeted reach to the creator’s audience and, hopefully, growing their revenue.
Before you can reap the advantages of brand sponsorships, however, let’s first tackle how to become a famous YouTuber – or at least one brands want to work with! The following section reviews key strategies to increase your YouTube views and become a sought-after content creator.
10 Tactics to Increase Your YouTube Views
Brands partner with YouTube creators who have engaged audiences even if they’re not “famous”, per se, for one primary reason: to increase their brand awareness and engagement. And, of course, to grow their bottom line. Therefore, if a brand is going to invest in you as an influencer, they’ll want to know that you have enough viewership and enough engagement to move the needle.
If you’re unsure how to get your video seen or need a refresher for 2023, these ten tactics will help you know how to get more views on YouTube.
1. Niche Down
Given all this talk about YouTube fame, you might wonder, “Who is the most famous YouTuber?” and “How can I replicate what they’re doing?” Not to dodge the question, but whoever they are, they most likely started out with a well-defined niche. Finding your own audience is vital to any successful marketing strategy, including YouTube.
You need to “niche down,” which means picking one topic and sticking with it, ensuring you are able to clearly define your target market and make content that speaks directly to them. If your niche is makeup, for instance, but your channel is full of videos about fashion or decor, you will likely confuse — and subsequently lose — your viewers.
2. Search Engine Optimization
This one is a bit counterintuitive since it’s primarily about searches on Google, Bing, and other search engines. But, because the average internet user loves video content, Google and other search engines do everything they can to deliver it as their first result on their search results. Investing time in search engine optimization (SEO), therefore, should give your videos the best chance at ranking higher and more frequently in the search engine results pages for terms that are intrinsic to your niche.
Doing so means determining the keywords you want to rank for and putting them (and similar ones) to work in the following areas:
- Titles
- Descriptions
- Tags
- Metadata
A great place to start is by taking a look at the other videos that rank highly in your space. Bonus: these optimization tactics will likely also help you rank well in searches directly on YouTube and help you work your content into your target audience’s recommended videos too, increasing the likelihood that you see increased viewership.
3. The Playlist Play
Playlists boost views because they’re designed to keep users locked to your channel. By automatically playing the next video in the list when the current one ends, the chances that your viewer will click away decrease, and your view count across multiple videos in your channel increases this way.
4. Fill Content Gaps
Making the same videos as your competitors will do nothing but lower your viewership. It pays to take time to see what content already exists regarding your niche and create videos that fill in any gaps. Dare to do something different. Answer questions that haven’t been answered, experiment with formats and styles, and use collaborations to bring fresh perspectives.
5. Find a Partner
Other YouTube creators are your competitors, but you can turn that competition into a profitable collaboration that increases your exposure and view counts. In addition to mentioning and tagging each other in content, try stepping your game up with guest appearances and reaction videos. It piques an audience’s interest to see two creators they love unexpectedly working together.
6. Use Cross-Promotion
Don’t assume that your Instagram or TikTok followers will also subscribe to your YouTube channel or have channel notifications turned on. Each time you post a video, cross-promote it on every platform to ensure all of your followers can watch. Consider enabling embedding, as well, to allow your followers to share your videos on their own websites.
7. Use Transcription
Transcribing your videos makes them accessible to people who are deaf, hard of hearing, or who simply prefer to watch videos silently. Google has relatively simple instructions for creating a transcript file for your video, and once you’ve got it, you can add subtitles and captions to your video via YouTube Studio.
8. Increase Retention
Look at your audience retention data to determine when viewership drops off significantly during your videos. If it happens during the 30 seconds required for the view to count (and for you to reap the YouTube algorithm benefits of high watch times), think about how to increase viewer retention.
A few tips for keeping eyes on your videos and improving retention:
- Edit the video to directly address viewers at the drop-off point
- Insert a clickable card to direct viewers to another video that may interest them
- Recreate your video’s intro to make it more relevant or engaging
9. Create YouTube Shorts
Platforms like Instagram Reels and TikTok have proven that people enjoy consuming short-form video content, and YouTube’s Shorts feature is no exception, but rather than simply learning how to get more views on YouTube Shorts, it’s essential to use them as a means of increasing viewership on your main content.
Post Shorts that provide audiences with tidbits of helpful content in less than 60 seconds, and at the end, tell your viewers that they can find more tips and information on your main YouTube channel.
10. Just Ask
Once you have a solid collection of videos on YouTube, refer to previous (relevant) videos in your new content! New subscribers won’t be aware of the all past topics you’ve covered, so don’t be afraid to ask them to check out a specific video or playlist. Plus, reminding long-time subscribers about older videos never hurts, either!
How to Leverage Views for YouTube Brand Sponsorships
Understanding how to increase your YouTube views is great, but it only answers half of the question on how to get sponsorships. To truly understand how to become a YouTube influencer, you must know how to convert your increased viewership into brand sponsorships.
The Process of Getting a Brand Deal
Landing a brand deal may seem easy, but in reality, it’s a process that requires planning, consistency, and attention to detail. The most famous YouTubers almost always have worked on refining their skills for years to get to where they are now.
The following are a series of carefully-executed steps to take to show brands you’re ready to work with them.
Take Care of the Obvious: Branding, Optimization, and Quality Content
Brands want to work with thoughtful influencers who care about their content and marketing. Your channel and its videos should be well-branded and highly optimized, which signals to potential partners that you understand yourself, your goals, and how to get more views on YouTube. On top of that, quality content shows you care about your audience and how they’ll see your brand partners.
Create a Sense of Community in the Comments
Additionally, brands want to know that there’s more to your channel than just high viewership. They want to see that you know how to spark interaction so your audience consistently engages with your content, making it more likely that they’ll purchase products and services when you promote them.
Test Out Your Networking Tactics
If brands aren’t coming to you, you might want to do some legwork to find your own partners. You can search for brands in your niche on YouTube or see if companies that other creators are working with might be willing to strike a deal with multiple influencers. Consider approaching a handful of brands you already love, and use your passion and proven marketing skills to land your dream partnership.
Use an Outside Platform that Connects Creators and Brands
Relationships take time! If you’re a creator just starting out, forming these connections with brands may seem out of reach. Consider checking out other platforms (like MagicLinks!) that already have strong brand ties and all the processes in place to coordinate brand sponsorships for creators.
Many of these companies, including MagicLinks, will require an application, but they’ll often work with creators of various sizes and help them find opportunities that are suitable for where they are in their content creation journey. Moreover, many of them work on platforms outside of YouTube, which can help your overall marketing angle.
Taking Your Creativity to the Next Level
In the fast-paced world of social media creators, the journey to YouTube stardom is both thrilling and challenging. By implementing these strategies, you’re equipped to not only boost your YouTube views (and engagement!) but also pave the way for lucrative brand sponsorships that can turn your passion into profit.
Remember, every view is a potential connection, a potential fan, and a potential brand collaboration waiting to happen. So, whether you’re sharing your passions, entertaining the masses, or imparting your wisdom, these techniques will take your content to the next level.
