My YouTube Channel Growth Plan

Current Status

I set up my YouTube channel in September 2017 but the rate of growth should be better. To set the scene, here is a breakdown of year-on-year performance to date:

• 1st Year: 4 videos uploaded, 600 views, 40 watch hours, +4 subscribers

• 2nd Year: 3 videos uploaded, 2,000 views, 157 watch hours, +10 subscribers

• 3rd Year: 5 videos uploaded, 2,200 views, 134 watch hours, +76 subscribers (after a Social Media appeal)

• Current Year: 12 videos uploaded, 15,000 views, 417 watch hours, +57 subscribers (and another Social Media “nudge”)

The position today, summarising all of the above is that my YouTube channel status is:

• 24 videos

• 19,835 views

• 748 watch hours

• 148 subscribers

Important Factors

Whilst approx 20,000 views may seem ok, this number is heavily swayed by two of my videos. Croydon - What Happened? has just over 10,000 views at the time of writing this blog, and Dave’s Tinnitus Story has just over 4,000 views. So 70% of my view count comes from just 2 of my 24 videos.

Analysing this further, Croydon was heavily searched at the time I uploaded it as the Council became bankrupt. And Dave’s video was published during the 2019 Tinnitus Awareness Week so that added to the positive traction - Dave is also very well connected on Social Media.

One other video does quite well, a travel video on Seville. This is quite immersive early on and I think more engaging that some other travel videos on my channel - just being honest here, folks!

So it is important to understand the “why” by looking at the YouTube analytics and being aware of factors that can influence video performance.

Current Assessment

I can do way better than this! There are many videos on YouTube showing how you can “go from 0-50,000 subscribers in a month” and suchlike but they are typically from people who already have a massive subscriber base. This blog is my line in the sand to say enough is enough and I need to up my game.

Don’t get me wrong, the general strategies that YouTubers suggest can and do work, but with my summary above I am setting out the base point of my plan and I will report back in a future blog with a progress report.

I signed up with TubeBuddy* and listened to some shows from their podcast and both resources have been highly valuable in preparing my plan.

I have also taken notes from viewing some of there YouTube videos referred to above, and read a number of online articles.

My Plan

Firstly, let’s be realistic, I know this will take time and commitment. Thankfully I have both and undertake to using them well.

Here is what I need to do going forward:

• I need to give you a reason to watch my videos

• I need to provide a level of engagement that will keep you watching

• I need to generate enough interest to encourage you to subscribe to my channel

• I need to be more visible in my videos

• I need to know and target my audience

• I need to find my niche
  

And here is how I will do it:

• I will carry out better research/preparation for the subject matter

• I will consider the full production process when putting my videos together

• I will choose subjects that I believe will have appeal

• I will keep things simple

• I will edit to ensure good flow

• I will be in front of the camera 🤓

• I will play my own game

• I will monitor the analytics and build in the learnings from these

• I will publish videos regularly

Summary

I am not pretending any of this is easy. It may sound it, but it isn’t.

What I have produced so far has been a great learning experience but I am hitting the reset button now and will look forward to seeing the growth that I am aiming for.

What about goals? Hmm, ok then. 500 subscribers and a total of 30,000 views by the end of 2021. I have plucked these out of the air a bit but at least it is something to track to.

Thanks for reading this, please stay in touch and by all means, subscribe to my channel 😁

November 16, 2021 Update

Things are starting to happen, more in the last few days than ever before. With six weeks left of 2021 here is the current position vs my goals:

• 46 videos

• 50, 286 views (beat my target of 30,000)

• 2,167 watch hours

• 303 Subscribers (target 500) - 24 in the last 7 days suggest it could be possible

I will report back at the end of 2021!

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