Best Practices:
Components of a Successful YouTube Channel
There are a few elements that most successful channels have in common. Here are some best practices that are key for growing an audience on the platform.
1. REGULAR UPLOADING AND PUBLISHING
Timeliness and frequency are crucial. All successful YouTube channels upload and publish videos regularly, with very few exceptions. Viewers subscribe to channels that are dependable, so determine your programming schedule and stick to it. The frequency of uploads is dependent on your goals and brand. If you are aiming for higher-quality, production-intensive videos, plan to publish once a week or once every other week.
2. PLATFORM-NATIVE, COMPELLING PROGRAMMING
YouTube programming strategy is quite diverse. Some channels use evergreen content that will continue to pull traffic over time, with videos about popular search topics or subjects such as health, education and science.
Other channels try for a timely or topical programming strategy, making videos about news that people won’t be actively searching for next week or next year. Think election coverage, sports, games, etc. Tentpole programming focused on holidays or big events also works well on YouTube.
Overall, traditional news publishers have found success on the YouTube platform by creating specific, focused videos for YouTube, rather than uploading general news content or packages made for TV.
3. OPTIMIZATION
Channel optimization is crucial for content discovery. You could be making the best, most compelling videos—but how will your audience know if it can’t find them? Pay attention to the following elements when you publish videos so that content is discoverable.
1. REGULAR UPLOADING AND PUBLISHING
Timeliness and frequency are crucial. All successful YouTube channels upload and publish videos regularly, with very few exceptions. Viewers subscribe to channels that are dependable, so determine your programming schedule and stick to it. The frequency of uploads is dependent on your goals and brand. If you are aiming for higher-quality, production-intensive videos, plan to publish once a week or once every other week.
2. PLATFORM-NATIVE, COMPELLING PROGRAMMING
YouTube programming strategy is quite diverse. Some channels use evergreen content that will continue to pull traffic over time, with videos about popular search topics or subjects such as health, education and science.
Other channels try for a timely or topical programming strategy, making videos about news that people won’t be actively searching for next week or next year. Think election coverage, sports, games, etc. Tentpole programming focused on holidays or big events also works well on YouTube.
Overall, traditional news publishers have found success on the YouTube platform by creating specific, focused videos for YouTube, rather than uploading general news content or packages made for TV.
3. OPTIMIZATION
Channel optimization is crucial for content discovery. You could be making the best, most compelling videos—but how will your audience know if it can’t find them? Pay attention to the following elements when you publish videos so that content is discoverable.
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METADATA. Make sure each of your videos has a good title, description and tags. Front-load appropriate search-friendly words to improve SEO and discoverability. THUMBNAIL. A quality thumbnail has a high-quality, visually compelling image that accurately represents your content. ANNOTATIONS. Include an end card that has annotations (links within the YouTube platform) to other videos on your channel. CHANNEL ART. Your channel art should reflect your brand and the personality of your channel. Remember that it will be seen on devices ranging from a mobile phone to a TV. PUBLISHING BEST PRACTICES. After you’ve posted your video, respond to any comments you receive so that your audience knows you are engaged. |
Since his organization publishes a monthly magazine, Ben thinks that higher-quality evergreen content makes the most sense. They’ll upload new content each Tuesday at 9 AM Pacific Time.