Channel Brand

Before dreaming of YouTube success, let’s go back down to earth and understand our brand. Branding isn’t just the design of your channel, but the message of your channel and its presentation visually, audibly and textually. All great YouTube channels have a unique brand that stands tall. Everyone who watches PewDiePie or Ryan’s World would be able to explain to you what the channel does in a few words. That’s what we like to call a strong, established brand. Unfortunately, a common mistake with inexperienced YouTubers is the yoyo-disease, where creators don’t focus on a specific niche or type of content. This lack of definition for content disengages the audience, leaving their subscriber count stagnant and their revenue pot in decline. Thus, before you start making videos understand what type of videos you’ll be making and stick with it.

Creative Content

Like painting the Mona Lisa, creating a YouTube video requires creativity and skill, maybe not as much of both but indeed some. Creative content is at the top of any YouTuber’s list. All creators hope to find a new way to create engaging and fun content that attracts new viewers and increases their revenue. Therefore, even though creating unique content doesn’t require the reinvention of the wheel, it certainly involves expertise in content creation.

Moreover, all content creators require consistency with their style. Attaching a consistent style to your content lets people know you better and encourages them to watch your videos later. Consistent content is a bit like a great Netflix series. It’s thrilling throughout each season, but most episodes follow the same formula and story, making you come back for more.

Attention-Grabbing Thumbnails

The art of the thumbnail is genuinely unique. If you don’t know, thumbnails are the tiny little images you click on when you see a video you like. They can skyrocket your viewer conversion rate if done correctly. Channels like Zoella, The School of Life, Ted-Ed, and The Futur are great examples of channels that utilise their thumbnails professionally with conversion in mind.

Moreover, we also have the art of the clickbait thumbnail, the most popular option for those looking to shock or have fun with their viewers. Channels like Memeulous, ScreenRush, and Hooked are great examples of clickbait thumbnails.

Optimised Descriptions & Titles

Having watchful content sometimes is not enough, especially when millions of videos are uploaded daily on YouTube. Here’s where the title and description step in. Making your title and organic description as relevant to your video as possible will help you. For example, naming a funny clip you shot simply as ‘Funny Clip 01’ won’t do much in terms of grabbing attention. However, if you went on to specify what’s happening, for example, ‘FUNNY: GUY GETS HIT BY A PIE’ will scream more at your potential audience and give them a more extensive overview of what they are about to watch. Lastly, make sure your video description include important links to your other channels.

Consistency & Presence 

Being consistent on YouTube is one of the few ways you can give yourself a chance at some sort of success. It doesn’t just help retain and grow subscribers but also lets you know what type of content generally does better for you. In addition, creating more consistent content will give you the analytical power to strategise for content that provides your viewers and you more value. So, for example, if you find a video that reached three times as much engagement and views, you could do part two and see how that does. Or even better, create a fully-fledged series that entices viewers to come back for more.

Your presence should also be on other channels, like Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and others — depending on your niche. This social strategy will help you engage with your viewers and let them become more devoted followers of your channel.

Collaborations

Depending on your style and niche, collaborations might be a viable option to help develop your channel further. Also, collaborations allow you to introduce yourself to the other channel’s subscribers and vice-versa, bringing both channels more attention. Whilst not all channels can easily collaborate, for example, if you’re creating Photoshop tutorials, the opportunity for a collab might be minimal. On the other hand, Vlogging channels, for example, can have a phenomenal route to the world of collaboration. For example, YouTubers like KSI and the Sidemen channel are known for their consistent collaborations throughout their various channels that hold millions of subscribers. As a result, all of their viewer counts have increased, as have their sponsorships with brands.