Between YouTube’s successful reign over long-form content and its recent success with implementing YouTube Shorts, this platform has so much potential for publishers. With over 1.5 billion monthly users, the demand for YouTube videos nearly outweighs the supply in particular niches. The opportunity to build community is there, but how do you increase YouTube engagement?

It’s important to know that while YouTube is blooming with potential growth for publishers, It is another social media platform. It requires consistency and a plan. YouTube has its own algorithm that pushes content out to active users. Succeeding on YouTube is certainly not impossible, but it will require a calculated social media strategy, just like any other online space. 

Don’t worry; we can help you figure it out. Let’s review engagement, including how to measure it and some best practices that will help you increase engagement on YouTube.

What is engagement on YouTube? 

Engagement is one of the most important goals when establishing a social media presence for your brand. You want your audience to engage with your content. This will signal to platforms that you are a trusted account in your niche, and more importantly, you will build trust and authentic connections with your audience. 

When we talk about engagement on YouTube, we’re referring to the metrics that make your audience react. These can look a bit different than other platforms. Here are the most important ones to watch and questions to ask when updating your YouTube strategy: 

• Viewership: Which videos are people seeing the most? Where are the views coming from?
• Comments & Likes: Which videos are getting the most likes from subscribers compared to non-subscribers? Which videos are people commenting on the most? What do the comments look like? (conversations, debates, compliments, etc.)
• Shares: Which videos are people sharing outside of the platform? 
• Subscriptions: Which videos are securing the most subscribers and why? 

You can see your content’s performance by looking at these engagement metrics on YouTube analytics. This tool will also tell you where your viewers are coming from, which videos your audience is watching the longest, and which videos have the most click-through rate compared to other videos. Knowing which engagement metrics to focus on will help you measure your success on social media. 

Best practices to increase YouTube engagement

Now that you know what you should watch with your YouTube content, let’s discuss some factors influencing engagement metrics. 

Remember, while YouTube may seem pretty different from other social media platforms, its algorithm is similar. YouTube has its sweet spots regarding content that it expects from creators. These are a few of the more important ones. 

Account activity

In other words, consistency. YouTube will not promote and push accounts that only hop on a bit here and there. If you want to build engagement with your audience, you have to show up on the platform. This includes publishing frequently, interacting with other videos and creators, commenting, responding to audience engagement, and more. Be present, not a ghost poster. 

Video length

There’s not really a sweet spot for video duration. Your videos have to fit your audience and your goals. 

Long videos tend to show more engagement because these are generally where your loyal, long-term readers will call home. YouTube likes it when people spend more time on their website. Long videos kind of automatically equal more time spent; however, there are exceptions to this. 

YouTube Shorts are extremely popular right now for generating engagement, and they are only allowed to be 60 seconds long. In this area, you want more videos that keep your audience there instead of longer videos. It’s worth playing a little in both areas to see where your audience is gravitating and using one avenue to direct traffic to the other. 

Targeting your audience 

It is key to create content tailored to your audience. If your videos reach uninterested people, they won’t engage, no matter how interesting and optimized they are. 

Your topics should be specific to your theme, brand mission, audience interest, and niche. YouTube has a lot of competition, and this is not the place to branch too far out. Users on this platform looking for specific information. If you find a way to funnel to them by personalizing your videos, you have a better chance of building a loyal audience. 

Platform Metadata

Outside of your videos, your YouTube engagement is directly affected by how your brand is presented on the platform. This includes optimizing your video titles, descriptions, formats, profile, and all areas where you could put keywords and copy. 

When your setup information is optimized, users can find you more easily through search engines. People who are looking for your content are the ones most likely to engage! 

True Anthem can help with engagement 

Overall, consistency, optimization, and quality are all super important when it comes to boosting engagement on YouTube. Your social media team may be making killer content for your platforms. However, creativity takes time, and so does ensuring you consistently post, schedule, update, and respond to the activity on your platforms. This is where True Anthem can help. 

Our tool relieves social media teams by automating parts of the process, such as scheduling, spotting popular content, optimizing content, and narrowing in on your audience. Send us a message or request a demo to see how we can help.