If you’re running a YouTube channel, whether you’re new to the game or have been uploading videos for some time, at some point, you’ve probably wondered, how long does it take to gain traction on YouTube?
First, understand that gaining traction is only the start of improving your ranking on the platform.
Better yet, traction on YouTube is when you see increasing popularity and views on a channel.
This can take some time, often months to a year, before you can see any significant traction, and that’s if you’re strategic about the quality of your content, SEO optimization, posting consistency, overall audience engagement, and how competitive your niche may be.
Typically, when you upload a video, it will get a quick hit in views, but don’t be fooled here.
Keep in mind that many reasons could impact your views, ranging from new content being more attractive to viewers to the algorithm giving a quick bump in promoting the content.
But in general, to get traction on YouTube, you need to develop a comprehensive strategy that will help your channel grow and get your videos more views.
So, when you’re asking, “How long does it take to gain traction on YouTube?” The truth is the answer varies. YouTube promotes its platform by claiming that running ads may boost your content, and if you follow its terms of service, you can see an increase in overall traction.
The problem is that when you buy ads with an extensive marketing budget, you’ll see an immediate bump in your traction, but that can be an expensive option. Once you stop paying for ads, though, the traffic dries up.
So, how can you boost your YouTube channel and your content then? This is a question that many YouTubers ask themselves and need answered.
Let’s examine different ways you can gain traction for your YouTube channel and videos in less time.
Quality Content
To quickly gain traction, you’ll need to have outstanding content. In other words, the quality of your content and original videos are essential for you to attract organic viewers and keep wanting more.
Strategize and create a content calendar to plan your content carefully. Another critical point is to invest in quality equipment. Take a few YouTube courses on video editing skills to help your overall production value.
Post Consistently
Consistency matters for your YouTube channel to gain any traction.
For example, one of the biggest reasons that TV shows became viral and hooked a weekly audience is that they were televised weekly.
People knew when and where to find their specific entertainment, and until streaming came around–which created binge consumption–people were driven to set aside time every week to catch their favorite shows and characters.
And your content should be the same. Create a publication calendar and stick to it, no matter what. Let your audience know that every x-day, you’ll drop the following video so they have a reason to subscribe and return to your channel.
Handling the day-to-day of content creation and publishing is a lot to take on, especially if you’re on a limited budget and with a small crew.
Or if you find your content isn’t taking off like you’d hoped, you should consider partnering with a full-service YouTube marketing agency like Raffiti Media.
We’ve created videos that have produced hundreds of millions of organic views for our clients and can help you achieve the same type of traction.
Promote Off YouTube
Another factor is to promote your video content on platforms and communities where your target audience is already hanging out. Engage with them in a way that benefits their interests and concerns and drives traffic back to your content on YouTube.
You can be on Subreddits, social media, or wherever your target audience hangs out, and engage them with answers and comments on the most important trending topics.
The benefit of engaging your target audience is that you can create a community of followers, but more importantly, you’ll be able to get ideas to create more engaging content for them.
Optimize Your Content And Channel
YouTube operates as a search engine, providing seekers with relevant content based on their search queries.
To rank and appear in front of a broader audience, you’ll want to optimize your content, descriptions, and thumbnails so that the YouTube algorithm can place your content in front of the relevant target audience.
The better optimized your channel and content is, especially if you pair that with great content, you should see a surge in views and grow your brand quickly.
Have Your Channel Hyper-Optimized
On top of using SEO strategies, it’s essential to have your content and channel optimized as well.
Creating video content around a single topic or keyword makes getting branded as an expert easier under whatever you post. Expertise and a singularly focused content channel will increase your viewership and build your channel engagement.
For example, if your content is about outdoor adventures, you should hyper-optimize on a singular topic or keyword related to content that your audience wants to consume. Don’t go too broad; instead, the idea here is to drill as deep into one idea as possible.
Imitation Is The Sincerest Form Of Flattery
Imitation is an excellent tactic for YouTube newbies needing more views and followers. It involves mimicking the activities of successful YouTubers to identify what works while making necessary changes that suit your individual channel.
This method allows you to learn from other content creators’ successful efforts, eliminating much of the trial-and-error associated with starting a new channel.
This technique can also grow your audience quickly and meet monetization criteria faster.
By imitating other types of content, you will appear as similar and relevant content for the types of searches that these other videos appear and rank for.
Simply observe other content creators who have reached a higher level of traction and success and reverse engineer how to produce the same content that is engaging for your audience.
By imitating top performers in your niche, be careful that you’re still adding your unique element and branding to the content.
You don’t want to regurgitate what others are doing; you’re looking to perform and audit the type of content they have that resonates with their audience and see if there is something similar you can produce for your audience.
Reuse Top Performing Content
Another way to gain more traction and grow your YouTube channel is to create high-quality content and share it with your audience.
As you find what resonates and is well-received by your target audience, you’ll want to find ways to repurpose and reuse some of those better-performing videos. You can do this by reusing existing engaging, valuable, and actionable content in new ways.
And when you conduct an audit of your content, you can quickly see what types of content are doing well with your audience and continue to produce something that provides them with answers and value.
Engage Your Audience – The Importance Of Community
If you want to gain traction in YouTube, one of the ways is to foster a sense of community through engaging your audience and consumers.
When you interact with your audience by responding to viewers’ comments and feedback, you’ll create a sense of appreciation with your audience, which will help foster a community around your content.
By fostering a community, you’re creating loyal viewers who can act as ambassadors to people in their sphere by mentioning and sharing your content.
Collaborate To Increase Exposure
Finally, consider doing collaborative or cross-promoting content with others in your niche or with related topics.
Find a channel or publisher with similar audience demographics or think of creative ways to tie in complementary content and promote it with each other’s audience.
For example, if you’re publishing content on ways to DIY home repairs, consider tie-ins with realtors, contractors, or retail marketers and find a common topic that you can bring both of your audiences together.
When you are trying to answer how long does it take to gain traction on YouTube, the simple answer is it can take a while.
You can build your community, create valuable, high-quality content, post regularly, and optimize your content and channel, but it could still take a while.
The idea here is that by cross-promoting, you’re exposing your content to a broader audience and them with yours. Make sure that the content you create during any collaboration is valuable and helpful to both your brands, and you should see an incredible opportunity to gain more viewers and grow your channels!
If you’re uploading videos and operating a YouTube channel, don’t rely on luck and the boost you get from new content. Instead, you need to have a comprehensive strategy to make your channel sustainable over the long term.
Raffiti Media specializes in YouTube, providing full-service management for you to succeed.
We provide a three-tier system comprising YouTube consulting, Social Video Management–including production, and complete brand and channel management.
If you’re looking to gain traction in YouTube and want organic traffic to make your channel sustainable, book your FREE one-on-one call with Raffiti Media today!
