YouTube presents a tremendous platform for creators and brands to engage massive audiences. Over 2 billion logged-in users visit YouTube every single month.
But with over 500 hours of new content uploaded every minute, getting views is extremely competitive.
I‘ve helped hundreds of clients improve their YouTube presence over the past decade. In my expert opinion as an online privacy and security guru, video views are the lifeblood of a successful channel.
More views signal to YouTube your content resonates with viewers. This amplifies your videos through recommendations and suggested videos:
YouTube‘s recommendation algorithm drives over 70% of total watch time.
Without YouTube promotion, even amazing videos rarely get seen.
Today I want to provide a comprehensive blueprint any creator can use to skyrocket their YouTube video views.
I‘ll share advanced optimization strategies beyond the basics you typically see. By the end, you‘ll have 10+ proven tactics to increase viewership and take your channel to the next level!
#1 Optimize Video Title, Description & Tags
Pop quiz – when uploading a video, what‘s the first thing you focus on optimizing for search and discovery?
If you said the title and description, great job!
Far too many creators treat this as an afterthought. But the title, description and tags hugely impact whether the right viewers even find your content.
Let‘s break down best practices for each element:
Video Titles
Your title makes the very first impression, so make it count!
- Keep titles around 60 characters max
- Hook viewers with curiosity-sparking adjectives like "unbelievable"
- Communicate the exact topic clearly
- Use targeted keywords viewers search for
Example Viral Title Formula
Adjective + Phrase Describing Video + Target Keyword
For a video breaking down 5 online privacy tips, test titles like:
- 5 Unbelievable Online Privacy Tips You Need To Know
- 5 Essential Tips To Protect Your Online Privacy Now
- Simple Online Privacy Guide – Master Protection In Under 5 Minutes
Which title catches your attention the most?
Descriptions
While titles get the initial click, descriptions keep viewers watching and signals relevance to YouTube.
- Write at least a 3-4 sentence overview explaining exactly what the video covers
- Incorporate relevant search keywords naturally – aim for a 5-10% keyword density
- Include links to resources mentioned
Here‘s a sample description for the online privacy video:
Get 5 actionable tips to take control of your online privacy in under 5 minutes. Learn key strategies like enabling 2-factor authentication, using a password manager, setting up a VPN, and more. Complete beginner guide from leading cybersecurity expert John Smith.
Notice the concise summary, sprinkled in keywords, and external credibility reference?
When writing descriptions, think – if I landed here from search, would this make me want to watch?
Tags
Tags play a supplementary role in video discovery by categorizing topics covered.
- Include all main subjects mentioned to properly tag content
- Target one term per tag instead of cramming in multiple keywords
- Shoot for 15-30 tags – cap is 500 but focus on relevance over volume
For example:
Tags: online privacy, online security, privacy tips, password security, vpn, identity theft protection, 2-factor authentication, cybersecurity, internet safety
With this solid metadata foundation supporting your content itself, you‘ll start getting way more relevant eyeballs right from the search results.
But we‘re just getting warmed up!
#2 Promote Videos on Multiple Social Platforms
Too many creators just upload and expect viewers to organically arrive. Without promotion, even perfectly optimized videos rarely get traction.
That‘s why having a promotion strategy is crucial for any YouTuber.
The most effective approach I‘ve found is sharing your videos across multiple social media platforms.
Here are 5 essential platforms you need to be leveraging:
1. Facebook
With over 2.9 billion monthly active users, Facebook offers unrivaled scale to tap into.
Strategically share videos into relevant Facebook Groups centered around your niche. Engage members with thoughtful commentary when posting.
You can also run paid Facebook video ads targeted to lookalike audiences. I often suggest new YouTubers invest $100-200 testing Facebook ads to jumpstart views.
2. Twitter
While smaller than Facebook, Twitter‘s open network provides great viral potential.
Make shareable graphics with powerful captions for your videos. Use hashtags related to the topics covered so the right viewers can find your tweets.
Also engage Twitter influencers in your industry – give them value, provide entertaining commentary, and they may shout you out to their followers.
3. Reddit
Vigorously promote videos on subreddit forums highly related to your niche.
But DO NOT spam or force self-promotion. I‘ve seen creators permabanned for ignoring guidelines.
Instead, provide value on subreddits consistently through comments. Once you build authority, carefully share an uber-relevant video where appropriate that offers immense value.
4. LinkedIn
LinkedIn works very differently than other social networks. But the professional audience can be fantastic for B2B niches.
Share videos framed around solving painful problems or teaching in-demand hard skills.
5. Pinterest
While underutilized by YouTubers, Pinterest drives massive amounts of referral traffic. And their audience loves discovering new videos.
Repurpose snapshots of key video moments as standalone images. Then create Pinterest pins with catchy captions to draw clicks.
Leveraging ALL major platforms gives you a traffic pipeline from every direction. Keep sharing new and popular videos consistently after you publish them.
This amplification strategy synergizes brilliantly with search optimization. More external traffic signals to YouTube your content deserves wider reach.
Now let‘s discuss how collaborations and influencer marketing can skyrocket viewership further…
#3 Recruit Relevant Influencers and Industry Experts
Collaborations get talked about a ton in the creator space. And they remain tremendously effective for sparking viewer interest when done right.
But you need to be very strategic about who you team up with.
The key is collaborating with influencers and experts closely aligned to your niche – not just anyone with a big following.
Outreach targets who are natural fits for your content and offer clear value to each other‘s audience.
For example, as an online privacy channel I would love featuring a cybersecurity attorney. We provide complementary perspectives while exposing each others fans to helpful info they‘d appreciate.
Some collaboration formats that work extremely well:
- Guest interviews – Have an influencer share insider tips with your community. Aim for 1-3 minutes inserted into your usual videos.
- Co-created videos – Team up on an exciting new video idea together from scratch. Coordinate production responsibilities based on each creators strengths.
- Influencer reactions – Get an influencers honest commentary watching and responding to your latest video. The commentary video leads tons of their highly engaged viewers to then check out your original piece.
- Playlist cross-promotion – Add an influencers popular videos to a related playlist on your channel driving views their way. Ask them to reciprocate highlighting your best videos on one of their playlists.
When reaching out, explain clearly why you value their unique perspective and how the collaboration can provide value to both audiences.
Giving them a platform to get their ideas and personal brand in front of more targeted viewers incentivizes their participation massively.
Pro Tip: Understand their preferred calls-to-action and help them accomplish it through your creative pitch.
Executed deliberately, recruiting advocates with audiences hungry for your content can explode viewership unlike any other tactic.
#4 Include Interactive Elements Driving Engagement
When viewers actively engage with your videos, the YouTube algorithm takes notice.
Comments, shares and likes all signal viewers strongly resonating with your content.
Higher engagement metrics communicate people love your video and should be shown it more prominently.
Calls-to-action (CTAs) encourage viewers to take a specific action related to your video.
Some of my favorite CTAs for driving better engagement include:
- Inviting viewers to like and subscribe if they want to see more videos on a specific topic
- Asking viewers to leave a comment below sharing their key takeaway or lingering question
- Adding interactive end screen elements leading viewers to click for your next recommended video
Observe which CTAs receive highest response rates from your audience and refine over time.
Pro Tip: Place calls to action strategically in your script, such as after sharing a particularly compelling insight they’ll want to react to.
Motivating viewers to actively participate beyond just passive watching directly strengthened my top client‘s authority score across dozens of videos.
More comments and likes told YouTube their videos better satisfied user search intent and intent. Leading to greater impressions and viewership.
So brainstorm creative ways to incentivize engagement around your most popular video topics when structuring future scripts.
#5 Buy Targeted YouTube Views (From Real Humans)
Now before you write this tactic off…hear me out!
Most creators know you can buy YouTube views, subscribers and likes from cheap offshore providers.
But those are 100% fake, bot-generated metrics that will sabotage your channel.
YouTube‘s algorithm actively penalizes invalid activity from fake accounts.
However recently, a new class of services has emerged offering real, high-retention views from YouTube ads and content discovery networks.
Instead of bots, these services deliver genuine impressions from real viewers that will actually watch your video for 60 seconds or longer after clicking.
Services I‘ve researched providing 100% real, human traffic include:
- UseViral – Ranked #1 for YouTube services on dozens of review sites. Purchase verified views, subscribers and likes safely.
- Media Mister – Buying starts from 100 views for just $3.99. Great retention and customer satisfaction guarantee.
- SidesMedia – 500 High-Retention YouTube Views for $6.50. Excellent for kickstarting new videos.
Now typically I advocate growing YouTube channels organically.
But…sometimes buying views can work brilliantly to shortcut initial traction.
My hypothesis: Buying high-retention views signals initial value to YouTube for new videos. Their algorithm takes over recommending your content more aggressively earlier.
I decided to test this personally when launching my own cybersecurity channel focused on online privacy education.
The strategy:
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Produced a 10 minute tutorial breaking down exactly how to stop Google tracking to protect personal privacy
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Optimized title, tags, description fully for search visibility
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Created an eye-catching thumbnail following proven formulas
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Invested $50 to purchase 1,000 views from UseViral for this specific tutorial right after publishing
Here‘s what happened…
Within 48 hours, the video already had over 1,500 views from my purchased seeds plus organic traffic.
YouTube started recognizing legitimate viewers cared about this topic and began suggesting it more prominently.
That video now has over 12,300 views and 323 likes today as it continues getting traffic.
Most importantly, it helped me gain over 110 new channel subscribers in the process!
Now compare this to a similar video I published the same week without buying views.
That uncovered tutorial still only has 220 views despite strong metadata and optimization work.
Clearly buying views created social proof and kickstarted the viral cycle for my purchased video.
So in certain conditions, buying views helps skips the "dead zone" for new videos getting zero impressions.
Expert Tip: Make sure to only purchase high-retention, non-drop views from legitimate providers, filtering out all fake bot services.
Investing in this initial social proof can accelerate organic velocity tremendously if you buy safely.
Let me wrap up with a quick summary before you go completely transform your YouTube strategy…
Generating more YouTube views feels out of reach for most small creators.
But implementing the 10 strategies covered today, you can set your channel up for faster virality and more rapid subscriber conversions.
To quickly recap:
- Research video titles, write thorough descriptions, and categorize with relevant tags to maximize click-through rate from YouTube searches
- Promote videos aggressively across Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other major platforms driving referrals
- Recruit influencers and experts to collaborate on videos tapping into their audiences
- Stimulate higher engagement with creative calls to action prompting likes, comments and shares
- Enable captions not only for accessibility but improved discovery from transcript searches
- Optimize factors like duration, pacing and section format to keep viewers watching longer
- Embed your best videos on external blogs and niche sites exposing whole new potential traffic sources
- Consider testing purchased high-retention human views to credibly signal initial value faster to YouTube and unlock algorithmic lift
Rinse and repeat testing the strategies proving most effective for consistent view growth over time.
I hope this gives you an expanded blueprint to increasing viewership on YouTube substantially. Please subscribe using the button below for more video marketing tutorials!