MEDIA IMPACT PROJECT
  • ABOUT
    • MISSION
    • OUR TEAM
    • WHAT WE DO
    • FELLOWS & PARTNERS
  • PROJECTS
    • AFRICA NARRATIVE
    • ACTION CAMPAIGNS
    • CHARITABLE GIVING ON TV
    • FILM DIPLOMACY
    • IDEOLOGY & ENTERTAINMENT
    • IMMIGRATION ON TV
    • JOURNALISM STUDIES >
      • VIRTUAL REALITY
  • PUBLICATIONS
    • Are You What You Watch?
    • Africa in the Media
    • CASE STUDIES
    • IMMIGRATION ON TV
    • METRICS GUIDES FOR JOURNALISTS
    • VIRTUAL REALITY
  • BLOG
  • NEWS & EVENTS
  • CONTACT
  • ABOUT
    • MISSION
    • OUR TEAM
    • WHAT WE DO
    • FELLOWS & PARTNERS
  • PROJECTS
    • AFRICA NARRATIVE
    • ACTION CAMPAIGNS
    • CHARITABLE GIVING ON TV
    • FILM DIPLOMACY
    • IDEOLOGY & ENTERTAINMENT
    • IMMIGRATION ON TV
    • JOURNALISM STUDIES >
      • VIRTUAL REALITY
  • PUBLICATIONS
    • Are You What You Watch?
    • Africa in the Media
    • CASE STUDIES
    • IMMIGRATION ON TV
    • METRICS GUIDES FOR JOURNALISTS
    • VIRTUAL REALITY
  • BLOG
  • NEWS & EVENTS
  • CONTACT
Picture
< Best Practices
Managing Workflow >

Audience Development

NOW YOU’RE UPLOADING HIGH-QUALITY, WELL-OPTIMIZED NATIVE YOUTUBE programming. What’s next? Audience development, of course. Audience development strategy is crucial to Ben’s channel-building mission. 

1. GREAT CONTENT. Compelling YouTube programming is focused and catches the audience’s attention in the first five seconds. A good thumbnail and title sets expectations for the content and delivers on that expectation in the video. Pay close attention to your analytics to see how long viewers are watching each video (that’s your audience retention rate), how many viewers are converting to subscribers, and any feedback you receive in the comments section. Note: Understanding comments is useful in the aggregate, i.e. are they positive overall? Negative? We’ll dive more deeply into analytics later.

2. COLLABORATIONS. Partnering and engaging with other creators is a great way to grow your audience. Perhaps you develop a video that is hosted by another YouTuber. Maybe you can integrate with that channel’s content by appearing on screen or contributing content. 

3. DIRECT THE TRAFFIC. Drive traffic from other platforms to your YouTube channel. Embedding your YouTube videos on your organization’s website is a great way to introduce a current audience to your channel. Depending on your website’s traffic, embedded videos can also be a great viewership driver. When you tweet a video from your YouTube channel, make sure to tweet the video in a playlist link. This will encourage viewers to keep watching more videos.

Collaborations are brewing in Ben’s mind. He’d love to work with the Vlogbrothers or VSauce on a science video. He’ll want to work closely with his organization’s social media manager who is a crucial part of the YouTube channel’s strategy.

Next Section >
The Norman Lear Center's Media Impact Project researches how entertainment and news influence our thoughts, attitudes, beliefs, knowledge and actions. We work with researchers, the film and TV industry, nonprofits, and news organizations, and share our research with the public. We are part of the University of Southern California's Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.