YouTube Growth Hacks Not EVERYONE TALKS ABOUT: How to Grow from 0 to 1000 Subscribers in 2020

I'm seeing in the comments that so many of you have started a YouTube channel this year. The quarantine has really given you the time, unfortunately, to get serious on YouTube. So if you have got started or you're struggling to figure out how to get your channel momentum going, I'm going to share some of the top hacks that I only share with my students and clients to help them hit that first 1000 subscriber mark and beyond. Hey there, my name is Trena, if you are new here. And this channel is a place for business owners, entrepreneurs and content creators who want to grow their business organically through online video. So I honestly cannot remember how long it took me to get to 1,000 subscribers when I started. I started way back on March 16, 2016, but when I went back and looked in my analytics, I saw that I only grew 546 subscribers in that first year. It took me over a year to May 17, 2017 to hit that coveted 1000 subscriber mark. But since then, I've learned a whole lot of what works, what doesn't work. And within the last month, I alone grew 2,000 subscribers. I've also had the opportunity to work with channels that have half a million subscribers. And some of the channels I've worked with have over a million subscribers. So I really can see the inner workings of those bigger channels and see what they've done and the strategies that they do to grow their channel to that length. And because I am spending my time on those clients channels, I will tell you that I have let my channel slack. I've not really focus in on my strategy here. In these hacks that I'm about to share with you are hacks that I have not done on my channel because just ran out of time. All right, let's dig into the hacks and before I share that first one, here's something that you gotta do first. Start. Literally start. You don't need any fancy equipment. You don't need to have like this full in depth strategy before you get started. Just make that first video, post it on YouTube. Those first couple of videos probably aren't going to see a lot of traction, but it's really, really gonna help you learn and get a lot of data back to help you make those next couple even better. So just start. The first hack that I have for you is watch other YouTube channels. Yes, you need to watch YouTube channels to see what are they doing, how are they introducing their videos, how are they keeping people engaged, what does their B roll look like? Are they adding text? Look at all different types of YouTube channels as well. If you are educational channel like me, don't just watch educational channels. Watch, watch vloggers, watch other types of videos. I know I personally love watching Good Mythical Morning with Rhett and Link. It is a nice family friendly channel that my kids and I can all watch in the evening. And I learned so much watching how they storyboard everything and how they keep people engaged and the different camera angles that they get. I also watch vloggers like Nikki Phillippi and racheloveslife just to see how they are delivering their content and keeping people engaged. So yes, you have got to watch YouTube videos. If you want to grow your YouTube, you can't just put the blinders on, only focus on your content. You need to look at what other people out there are doing. Well, the next hack is to pick a lane. Now I'm not going to say the word niche here, but what I mean is what lane can you pick without getting too specific? So a lot of people will think they need a niche. So they really, really nail down to their niche is for busy moms with three kids who need to relax more. But that is so, so niche and you want to think about that bigger picture. So let' think it's mom and think about what kind of content are moms looking for. Are they looking for cleaning tips? Are they looking for organizational tips? When you're getting started on YouTube, to get to that first 1,000, you need to test a lot of topics for that person. You don't need to get very, very specific here. You need to see what is getting picked up and what are people liking to see from you within your bubble. Does that make sense? So I don't need you to go deep down into a niche. I want you to go into a general area and think about that person that's ideally watching your channel and what are the different types of topics that they're looking for on YouTube that you can draw them in on. The third hack is think about a problem that you're solving. Most of the time you're going to get your brand new subscribers because they've searched something on YouTube and they're trying to figure out how to do something, organize their pantry, start a YouTube channel, write a sales page, think about a problem that you can solve for your audience and do videos on that. That's really going to help you snowball those subscribers. Hack number four is you got to spend time planning and ed cannot be boring on a platform where the whole goal of this platform is to keep people watching videos. So you'll see that we try different stuff here on my channel. A few weeks ago, I was sitting outside. I'm sitting here in my living room today. I'm really trying to see what you resonate with when it comes to my background and how I deliver my content. So I'm not saying you need a fancy background. Look, I just sit here in this room. It's probably a little bit echoey today. I just want to see how you're connecting. So think about how you can plan it out, how you can. How you can keep that viewer engaged. I did do a video recently on how to do fancy editing without the fancy software. So if you're trying to figure out how can you make your editing better to keep people watching longer, check out that video. I will link it down in the description box and up here as well. But you need to be studying your audience retention graphs to constantly improve your audience retention so you can keep people watching longer and make YouTube happy. Hack number five is your thumbnails. And this tends to be one of the last things people think about. But you really need to think through your thumbnails because that's literally, literally what stops the scroll on YouTube. So whether people are searching on YouTube, whether they just log in and on the browse page, that image is what's going to grab people's attention. That's how you're going to get people to watch your video. And if that thumbnail isn't thought out, and if that thumbnail doesn't grab people's attention, you can forget getting people to watch it and subscribe to your channel. That also rolls into the next hack, which is thinking through your title. Look, you can't just have something, some SEO stuffed keyword if you want people to click on it. How is that going to stand out? If there's like a list of videos on how to organize your pantry, right? While that may be SEO optimized, think about your audience and what are they really struggling with? Maybe it's something like get your pantry organized with $0 or something that's really going to grab their attention, right? Are you going to show them how to organize their pantry without buying any kind of supplies? Right. What's going to set your video out differently from everybody else's and put that in the title again. Your thumbnail is going to stop the scroll, but your title is going to get people to click on that video. Hack number seven is ask for engagement. Ask for people to comment. Ask for people to like, so tell me, are these hacks helping you right now? Which hack have you really enjoyed hearing down in the comments? But you need to ask people for it and don't ask for too many. Don't sit here and say like subscribe, comment, share. Don't do all 50 of these things because people are going to end up doing nothing. Pick one call to action and ask people. Next, you need to make your channel look professional. People aren't going to subscribe to a channel that they don't think is publishing regular content. So if they go to your channel and it's not set up and it doesn't look professional, they're not going to subscribe. But if they go there, you have that pretty channel banner and you have your videos all organized and featured on your homepage. They're going to be more likely to subscribe. So make sure you watch the video on your screen right now after this or down in the description box about how to customize your YouTube channel homepage, because that's going to help you get to 1,000 subscribers as well. Next hack, fill out your description box. You know that thing right down here. Again, I've done a lot of videos the past couple of weeks on how to make your channel better and I go into full detail on exactly what you need to be saying in your description box and what that templated description box default should look like. So again, I will be linking all of these videos down in the description box for you to watch next. But you have to fill this out. You have to put videos down in that description box as well to get people to watch more content, to get them more likely to subscribe to your channel. Next, hack, promote that video like crazy. Talk about it on your Instagram, go live on Facebook and tell people you just launched a brand new channel and help you hit your First 100 or your First 1000 by subscribing to it. Tell your friends and family, share it to your email list. You can't just put it there and expect it to magically get subscribers. You need to get the help of people that you already have in your zone, right? You need to tell the people who are ready and willing to support you to go subscribe to get the ball rolling. So don't just launch a YouTube channel and forget it. The next hack is thinking through your setup. We talked a little bit about this earlier with audience retention, but you really want to think about how is your audience going to connect with you now. Yes, you may be limited to what your background is going to be. But what's going to be really important for you, more than just your background, is how well your lighting is, which I'm doing, I think a kind of bad job here today with my lightning and your audio, which again, I'm doing kind of a bad job. But these are the things that are going to really keep people watching and want to come back for more. Because if they can't see you or if they can't hear you or there's this weird echoing, they're not going to subscribe either. Really. All you need to do is just set your camera in front of a window and that would be the best place for you to film. This next hack is my favorite and it's literally shake it out. And this is one I struggled with for so long and why it probably took my YouTube channel a little bit longer to grow. I had a really hard time opening up and sharing more of my personality. I come from a more buttoned up, master's degree in business type background, so we're very like blazers and slacked and be more me here on camera. It took me a while to get it out. But people are going to connect with you and subscribe to your YouTube channel when they feel you are being you. If you're too worried about being professional and perfect, they're not going to connect with a robot. They can, you know, read an article or listen to anybody out there. But what they're going to connect with and what they're going to subscribe to as a personality that they feel connected with. And if you aren't sharing it and if you aren't showing it in your videos, that's what's going to hold you back from getting subscribers. I actually have all these hacks broken down into a 15 page roadmap that's going to show you everything that you can do on your channel right now to get more views and more leads to your business. So make sure you go to that link down in the description box. It'll be on your screen right now. I've pulled all those videos that I just talked about, your channel banner, your description box and your channel homepage all into a playlist for you that's on the screen right now. So you can go watch that and make sure you set up your channel right now to drive more subscribers. So click on that playlist and I'll see you over there.