Promote YouTube Video + Channel – 11 Ways for YouTube Promotion

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Do you have a YouTube channel and wonder how you can increase video views on YouTube?

If your answer is yes, read on to learn how to promote YouTube videos.

The fact is that it doesn’t matter how much time you invest in creating your videos; if you don’t market and promote your videos, your work will never be seen by the majority of your audience. It’s like throwing a big party without letting anyone knows the location of the party.

And this is the time to change it and become one of the YouTubers everyone sees.

Why should you believe me?

Because I used these techniques to promote my YouTube videos and have received more than 3 million views so far.

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YouTube video promotion is an art that anyone can learn with a little discipline.

In this guide, I have presented strategies and techniques that you can follow to market and promote your YouTube videos.

These tips are tested, proven, and work for videos from almost any niche. Think of this post as a checklist to follow once you’re done producing your videos.

Best ways to promote YouTube videos:

  1. Video Title (Optimize it for more clicks)
  2. Video Tags – Utilize the 500 characters limit
  3. Use a good thumbnail
  4. Use Intro and outro video for Branding
  5. Promote videos on Social media channels
  6. Start a blog for YouTube channel
  7. Use YouTube Playlist
  8. Use Call to action
  9. Interview Influencers In Your Niche
  10. YouTube’s Creator Academy
  11. Share your latest video with your YouTube community

So without further delay, let’s learn the art of YouTube video promotion!

Also see:

How To Promote A YouTube Video or Channel & Get More Views

I have covered all major YouTube promotion techniques in the sub-topics below.

Note: In upcoming posts in our YouTube promotion series, I will explain these sub-topics in detail. If you are a professional YouTuber or are planning to become one, you should subscribe to our blog updates or download our iOS/Android app to stay updated.

1. Video Title (Optimize it for more clicks)

The titles of your videos are a major deciding factor between them being widely seen & shared across the internet, or only getting a small number of views. The titles of your videos are a crucial factor in whether they are viewed and shared on the Internet or receive only a small number of views.

It’s a good idea to do proper YouTube keyword research to find what people are searching for and then crafting a great title around that.

Youtube Video Title
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Here are some tips for writing great video titles on YouTube:

  • Keep them short and to the point.
  • Add the current year if you can (Ex: Best Tips for 2018).
  • Make it attention-grabbing.
  • Include keywords at the beginning of the title (where possible).
  • Use “Power Words” (Ex: Best, Awesome, Incredible).
  • Use emotional triggers words (Ex: Sensual, Lonely, Passionate, Censored).
  • Capitalize your headline title. Use this tool to help you.

2. Video Tags – Utilize the 500 characters limit

One of the biggest mistakes that hinder the growth of your YouTube video’s organic promotion is incorrect tag usage.

Tagging in YouTube works differently than it does in a blog post. If you’ve never paid attention to YouTube tags, now’s a good time to start. You can even go back and edit all of your old tags.

Here are some rules for using YouTube video tags:

  • Use a unique branded tag so that your videos are shown in related videos. Ex: Use your brand name in all videos. (See below screenshot.)
  • Use your main keywords as the video tag.
  • Use a variation of your keyword as a tag (take help of the YouTube auto-suggest feature).
  • Find the tags used by high ranking videos & use those in your video. You can use the TubeBuddy Chrome extension to help you find tags used by others.
Video Tags
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Do remember, YouTube video tags are an important factor for the organic ranking of videos.

3. Use A Custom Thumbnail on YouTube

Verified YouTube accounts can take advantage of the custom thumbnail feature. A good video thumbnail helps you stand out in the related video and suggested video section.

Here are some tips for thumbnails:

  • Have a resolution of 1280 x 720 (with a minimum width of 640 pixels).
  • Upload in either .JPG, .GIF, .BMP, or .PNG.
  • Keep it under 2MB.
  • Try to use a 16:9 aspect ratio as it’s the most used in YouTube players and previews.

I don’t want to confuse you with these technicalities, but it’s important for you to know this so that you can craft a thumbnail that works well on desktops as well as mobile devices.

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You can use Thumbmaker to design a thumbnail for YouTube videos in minutes.

Make sure, you follow the latest standard of YouTube thumbnail:

  • Have a resolution of 1280×720 (with a minimum width of 640 pixels).
  • Less than 2 MB in size
  • The aspect ratio of 16:9 works best
  • Use your image in the thumbnail to invoke emotions

Watch this video to learn more about creating clickable thumbnails:

Subscribe on YouTube

4. Use Intro and outro video for Branding

There are a few branding things that you should do from now on which will ensure every video stands out. One of those things is using a branded intro and outro.

  • YouTube intro: A 3-5 second clip that runs at the beginning to showcase your brand.
  • YouTube outro: This runs at the end and can be as simple as showing related videos for your channel or asking users to like & subscribe to videos.

Getting a YouTube intro & outro video is easy, and you can create them yourself using Camtasia or you can hire someone from Fiverr.

Below video outro is an example of quality that I got from Fiverr (

Take a look at this video and see the outro I got created for me from someone on Fiverr: (Browse to 3.53 seconds for video outro)

Subscribe on YouTube

If you don’t have a channel logo yet, do get that designed, too.

Check out: How To Build A Personal Brand (and why you need one)

5. Share Videos On Social Media Channels

If you are a video blogger, you should have some social media properties for your YouTube channel. This gives you an opportunity to create a community outside of YouTube & direct traffic from other popular social media/social networking channels. These

These are the sites to promote your YouTube videos:

  • Facebook page
  • Twitter profile
  • Instagram profile
  • Pinterest profile

You can use a tool like SocialPilot to schedule videos to be shared on your social media channels.

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You can read about SocialPilot here.

One important tip here:

  • Always share your video after a regular interval.

I typically share each video at least 10-15 times within eight months after publishing. Also, use hashtags when sharing so that others can easily discover them.

6. Start A Blog For Your YouTube Channel

If you are a full-time YouTuber, you shouldn’t miss out on creating a blog for your YouTube videos. These days, it’s pretty easy to embed YouTube videos onto a blog & you can start a blog.

I recommend you to create a blog & use a video-specific WordPress theme. If you are already making money from Youtube, It’s better for you to use Managed WordPress Hosting so that you don’t have to worry about blog maintenance.

Bonus Tip: You can also buy a domain name & redirect it to your YouTube channel. This way when someone asks you “How can I find you on YouTube?”, simply share the domain name. Use this coupon from GoDaddy to buy a domain name for $2.

7. Utilize YouTube Playlist Or Add Video To An Existing Playlist

A YouTube playlist is a great way to get more views on your existing videos. When you are done uploading a new video, add it to a playlist (either one you create or an existing one).

If you are creating a new playlist, follow these steps:

  1. Give a meaningful name to the playlist & have a keyword in the title of that playlist.
  2. Add a detailed description of the playlist and put your keyword(s) in there.
  3. Group similar videos into one playlist.
  4. A single video can be listed in more than one playlist.

YouTube playlists also appear in search results. By doing this, further discovery of your videos is increased.

Create Playlist
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Watch this below video to learn about creating a Playlist on YouTube:

Subscribe on YouTube

8. Use Calls To Action

People on social media sites need to be told about the actions you want them to take.

At the end of the video, or even somewhere in middle, ask viewers to like & subscribe to your channel. At the same time, you can ask them to share the video with others who might benefit from it.

Most of the prominent YouTubers use “Call to action” technique to amplify their video reach with existing subscribers. If you have never done this before, start doing it from your next video onward.

You will be amazed to discover that by simply asking your existing subscribers, the number of shares increases to a great extent.

9. Interview Influencers In Your Niche

This one is not a direct YouTube video promotion technique that will boost your channel, and it fits perfectly in the overall strategy of your channel promotion.

Interviewing an influencer gives you an opportunity to get access to an already thriving community in your niche. Not only you will grab the attention of others who follow that particular influencer,  you will also get noticed by the industry as a whole.

You can find the top influencers in your niche & you can interview them using Google Hangouts, Zoom or Skype. For Skype, you can use a tool like Ecamm call recorder. The free version of Zoom allows video recording of up to 45 minutes, which is what I use these days.

10. YouTube’s Creator Academy

Learning at Youtube Creator Academy
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One mistake most of the growing YouTube marketers make is they just focus on publishing more videos & stop learning.

YouTube is one of the fastest changing platforms, and it’s important for you to learn about all of the existing and emerging tips and tricks.

Youtube Creator Academy
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You can use Creator Academy by YouTube to learn some pro tips for making the most out of your YouTube videos (and your channel as a whole). When I started learning here, I was surprised to learn so many growth hacks & tricks which I would have otherwise missed.

11. Post to your YouTube community (Bonus)

YouTube is silently building a social network and you can promote a video on YouTube by using the post to community feature. Simply click on the + icon on YouTube web or mobile app, and click  “Create post“.

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Now, type the message and link to the video that you want to promote. You can add .gif or images or even run a poll to make it more engaging. Your community can like and also comment on your post which is a great signal for higher engagement. This is yet, one of the untapped free video promotion techniques.

Now, your turn…

Promote Your YouTube Videos And Get More Views

Well, these are some simple promotion strategies & techniques that you can use from today onward for your YouTube videos.

These tricks and tips will surely help you get a lot more traffic, and ultimately, more YouTube subscribers.

Now it’s your turn to share how you are promoting videos on YouTube after you hit the ‘publish’ button. Let me hear about your promotion strategies! I’ll keep updating this post with all of the best suggestions from the comments section.

If you find any of the listed tips useful, share them with your YouTuber friends! And don’t forget to join me on YouTube!

Was this helpful?

Thanks for your feedback!
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Authored By
A Blogger, Author and a speaker! Harsh Agrawal is recognized as a leader in digital marketing and FinTech space. Fountainhead of ShoutMeLoud, and a Speaker at ASW, Hero Mindmine, Inorbit, IBM, India blockchain summit. Also, an award-winning blogger.

33 thoughts on “Promote YouTube Video + Channel – 11 Ways for YouTube Promotion”

  1. Poonam

    I have read your complete article related to the YouTube Promotion. You have given very advanced and most popular tips to grow the YouTube Channel. If anyone follows all rules as mentioned above surely their YouTube channel will be boosted fast.

  2. Prabhudatta Sahoo

    These are all amazing tips to promote but I think the problem before that which comes in to picture is that whenever we feel like making a video we do make and upload them to the channel. There are a couple of things which goes wrong there and I believe that having them eradicated would bring much more result than not having them eradicated.

    1) I have seen myself not looking at the lens than looking at how I look most of the time when I am making a video but that is not right and the video came out to be something like looking at the forehead of the person who will be watching the video.

    2) Initially, when someone starts a channel it seems more than needed kind of action in the comments section of the video. That should not be the case and we should really be authentic as much as we could be.

    3) Then is the youtube channel name being put in the video heading which is confusing and thereby not getting the traction I wanted. It makes sense after having an authority kind of thing but when I am starting out I made this mistake and my mistakes did cost me a lot of views because people were not able to figure out what my channel is about and they were confused.

    4) Inconsistency which you have already explained in another article. I would not agree to have the frequency increased as it takes a lot of work to upload one single video in YouTube but to be consistent as to if you decide to put one in a week so be it but being consistent really pays off.

    5) Finally, I would say that the ultimate thing that really matters is the quality and if it is not good enough then no one is going to watch anyway so no point having a video made if it is not making any sense or the AVL is not good i.e. Audio Video and Lighting.

    These are my learnings which I have come across and wanted to share my experience with what you have already shared. Cheers!

  3. iaan

    Amazing tips.. just read the whole article without turning my face around , very interesting one. I too had a YouTube channel, whenever i feel like to make a video will just create and publish not even think about promoting but after knowing opportunities like this i dont want to miss my audience will start from today.. Thank you so much for sharing

  4. Amarbir singh

    Hi..Great Job harsh..i have a you tube channel and i was searching in you tube ..how to promote it.I never new you have such a beautiful article on this subject here.you have provided the complete in formation on how one can promote his you tube channel.I thankful to you for this.you seem to be an ocean of knowledge…god bless you

  5. Paul

    Great post Harsh! This is very thorough. I will definitely follow this as I just started a Inspirational/Comedy Youtube Channel. I have found it easy to post the videos but tough to follow through to doing all the marketing aspects of promoting the videos. It is just something I need to just do it!

    I have often found that sometimes resistance and fear try to make me put off the steps for later (procrastinate). But thanks so much for the valuable steps. Now I need to implement

  6. Varun Sharma

    Great article Harsh Sir, I had a dream to make my youtube videos go viral I love to work on Cricket Niche, I tried and failed tried again and failed for once more time.I always have a question in my mind “why my video is not ranking?” my struggle of the sleepless night working on Premier and After Effects gone in vain.
    After failed for 2-3 times, I left to work on youtube thought I will never get visitors on my channel.
    Your Blogging tips have helped me very much in blogging field and now it’s time to apply this trick & tips and youtube channel too.

    Thank you for this article Harsh sir.hope this time I will get succeed.

  7. Vineela

    Amazing tips.. just read the whole article without turning my face around , very interesting one. I too had a YouTube channel, whenever i feel like to make a video will just create and publish not even think about promoting but after knowing opportunities like this i dont want to miss my audience will start from today.. Thank you so much for sharing

  8. shridevi

    Hey, I m following all these techniques and really it worked for me. Now I am having more 7000 subs and 5 lakh views per months.

  9. kesavan

    I own a channel in youtube i have posted nearly 20 to 25 videos till now but only few have got traffic. This post has given me lot of ideas to explore i have not used proper tags to videos and i have learnt how important it is through this post. Thanks for sharing

  10. Tejas Gaikwad

    I have recently started youtube channel and now having 4K subscribers, this article helped me to understand the exact strategies of youtube. thank you for sharing the article i liked it.

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