Running a successful YouTube channel takes more than simply producing and uploading videos. It takes a strategic approach that helps expand your reach, grows your subscription base, and increases your engagement on your channel.
There are various ways a publisher and marketer can approach those tasks, but one shortcut people ask is, “Should I buy YouTube subscribers?” Well, the answer may surprise you.
In this blog post, we’ll discuss what it takes to be successful as a YouTube publisher, and we’ll delve into the pros and cons of buying YouTube subscribers.
We’ll also provide alternative strategies to build a substantial subscriber base that is more sustainable and cost-effective for you than buying subscribers that are effective and worth the investment.
What Are YouTube Subscribers?
If you run a YouTube channel, subscribers are the people you want to target your videos and optimize your content for. These are the people who will consume your stuff and are ones that you may target to sell or pitch your services to.
In a nutshell, YouTube subscribers are users who have chosen to follow a particular channel on the platform, receiving updates whenever new content is posted.
These people are essential for marketers on YouTube, and they are a valuable metric to track since they represent your most loyal and engaged audience.
The reason subscribers matter is that they are more likely to interact, like, click, share, and comment on video content on the channel than casual viewers.
A subscription list will provide significant organic reach, which becomes an invaluable asset for any marketer looking to promote their brand, product, or service on the YouTube platform.
Keep in mind that while most content is entertainment or education-based, the foundation of YouTube is a search engine that provides results based on search results.
And because it acts as a search engine, the YouTube algorithm prioritizes content from subscribed channels, making it more likely to appear in recommendations and searches like the parent company that owns it, Google.
Because engaged subscriber channels help with rankings, the number of subscribers a channel has can directly impact its visibility and reach on the platform.
Since there’s value in having an engaged subscriber base, some marketers believe that finding the fastest solution to growing a subscription base is crucial, asking, “Should I buy YouTube subscribers?”
To answer that question, let’s look at the benefits, pros, and cons of buying subscribers.
Understanding the Appeal of Buying YouTube Subscribers
Before we dive into the appeal of buying YouTube subscribers, know why it may be so tempting.
Ultimately, YouTube subscribers are not only a measure of a channel’s popularity, boosting rankings and relevance to the search engine algorithm, but they also represent a dedicated audience that will drive engagement, increase conversions, and improve the overall success of marketers on the platform.
A large subscription base to your YouTube channel can significantly boost exposure, especially if it is optimized for search results. There are several reasons why people buy YouTube subscribers.
The primary motivation is the desire to increase visibility, credibility, and monetization potential, which is why it’s tempting to answer the question, “Should I buy YouTube subscribers?” with a resounding YES.
But there’s a catch (more on that in a bit).
Since having a large subscriber base for your channel can boost organic growth, you’re hacking YouTube’s algorithm.
You may see an immediate boost in engagement, credibility, and viewers from buying YouTube subscribers.
This will allow marketers and publishers to increase their monetization potential through ad revenue, sponsorships, and brand deals.
Because having a large subscriber base can be so attractive, it’s natural to see why people answer the question, “Should I buy YouTube subscribers,” as a way to boost their channel quickly.
Pros of Buying YouTube Subscribers
If you’re still on the fence about paid subscribers, there are a few excellent benefits to consider.
For example, by purchasing subscribers, you’ll see an immediate boost in your traffic and viewings of your content, helping boost your brand with instant credibility and giving you increased social proof.
Social proof is crucial with any online platform. Since you don’t have a way to meet face-to-face or provide a tangible experience with your products, having social proof is gold in the online world, leading to increased traffic as more people are drawn to the channel and engage with your content.
Another key pro is that buying YouTube subscribers will catapult your monetization opportunities as a content creator. That’s because the more extensive subscriber base makes qualifying with conditions required for ad revenue and other income streams on the platform much easier.
Finally, as a tactic to grow your channel quickly, buying YouTube subscribers can save time and effort in the long run.
Building an organic subscriber base takes time and resources–creating high-quality content consistently and promoting it effectively.
However, when you purchase subscribers, you can accelerate this process and focus on creating compelling content that further helps grow your channel.
Some of the more significant pros to purchasing subscribers on YouTube include:
- Increased exposure
- Quicker (short-term) growth for your channel
- Wider reach to the target audience
- Accelerated income potential
Cons of Buying YouTube Subscribers
While buying YouTube subscribers may appear to make your channel profitable quickly, some issues are associated with that strategy.
Let’s discuss those negatives to help inform your decision-making around the question, “Should I buy YouTube subscribers?”
Violates YouTube Terms of Service
First, buying YouTube subscribers is against YouTube’s Terms of Service. Your channel could be suspended or even banned if caught doing it.
The purchased subscribers are often simply fake accounts or bots, meaning that these accounts are not real people looking to consume your content but algorithms that make it appear to be an active person without any true person behind them.
One thing that YouTube is doing is cracking down on these fake accounts and shutting them down. As your viewership and subscription rates fluctuate, it will negatively impact your site’s credibility, harming your channel’s reputation and relevancy to the search engine.
Inconsistent Engagement Metrics
Second, you will need more than buying subscribers to gain real engagement. The subscribers you buy will not be real people interested in your content, so they won’t watch your videos, like your videos, or leave comments.
This can make your channel look suspicious and even damage your reputation.
That means you can see more traffic, which won’t increase engagement, likes, shares, or conversions. Because of that, your channel may suffer, and your brand credibility (not to mention comments on your content) may also suffer, further driving away organic traffic.
By buying subscribers, you may end up hindering your channel’s growth because YouTube’s algorithm uses a variety of factors to determine which videos to recommend to viewers, and one of the primary factors is engagement.
So, if you’re buying subscribers from fake accounts, videos are not getting any engagement, which the YouTube algorithm will further penalize.
Damaged Channel Reputation
Finally, when you purchase subscribers, organic audience members will begin to question the legitimacy and value of your content, which can damage your relationship with legitimate subscribers and potential brand partnerships.
Consumers, viewers, and other YouTube content producers will be able to tell that your subscribers are fake, making it less likely that they will consume your content and watch your videos.
While buying YouTube subscribers may provide a short-term boost in numbers, the long-term adverse effects it can have on your channel’s growth, engagement, and reputation far outweigh any potential benefits.
Alternatives to Purchasing YouTube Subscribers
It will take a lot of time and resources to create, produce, and promote enough content on YouTube to get the type of attention and traffic you want. This is why at Raffiti Media, we provide a proven system to help manage your YouTube channel and help get it cash-positive quickly and for the long term.
To get the traction and engagement you need for your YouTube channel, you’ll want to answer the question, “Should I buy YouTube subscribers,” in the negative.
In other words, don’t do it. Instead, there are a few alternatives that can help you grow organically.
First, as mentioned, hiring a proven YouTube management service can significantly boost your channel.
Second, you’ll need to conduct some keyword research. Yes, keyword research is similar to trying to rank on Google. Since the parent company of YouTube is Google, you should go about your ranking strategy as much as you would with traditional content.
You’ll need to find high-ranking keywords with lower competition to include in your video descriptions and thumbnails.
Next, you can consider PPC ads offsite that drive viewers to your page–the key here is to make your ads compelling and to have a clear CTA or call-to-action. Again, a YouTube management company can help you find the relevant keywords to promote your channel and help drive organic traffic to your videos.
By utilizing search engine optimization (SEO) techniques, you’re informing the algorithm more about your content and making it easier for people to find the type of content you’re producing. You’ll want to optimize video titles, descriptions, and tags and create compelling thumbnails.
Equipped with good keywords to target and include in your content, the next step is strategizing a production calendar to create high-quality, engaging content consistently. This step is the one that takes the most time, energy, and resources and is essential for gaining subscribers.
This is another area that Raffiti Media stands out in; we help create relevant, engaging videos for our clients that are guaranteed to increase traffic and, most importantly, conversions.
This engagement is a natural way to grow your channel and is one of the most important criteria the YouTube algorithm includes in its ranking process.
Of course, you’ll need to create high-quality, relevant videos optimized with good keyword research, which is the most essential way to grow your YouTube channel.
If you have excellent optimization and dull content, it won’t matter. Also, if you have great videos that answer what people are searching for and you engage with your audience in the comments outside the platform, your channel will surge in organic growth.
Creating high-quality content that resonates with your audience is crucial for long-lasting success on platforms like YouTube. You’ll need to research and optimize your videos to align with what viewers are searching for; the relevancy matters.
Engaging with your audience is also essential for maintaining their interest and loyalty. Activities like liking and responding to comments, conducting polls to gain insights and actively seeking feedback help you understand your audience’s expectations. This will enable you to create content that meets their expectations and keeps them coming back for more.
Another alternative to buying YouTube subscribers is through collaborating with other content producers. When you collaborate with other content producers, you’re exposing your brand to their audience and vice-versa.
You can also participate in other online forums, social media platforms, and online communities where your target audience is already consuming content.
Another excellent strategy is to run contests and giveaways that make it fun for your audience and an easier way to encourage your viewers to subscribe to your channel.
Finally, you’ll need to track your video performance and subscription rates. A way to do this is through YouTube Analytics, a powerful tool on the platform to help you better understand your audience and what they’re interested in. Equipped with these data points, you can produce better content your subscribers are already interested in.
By employing these alternative options, creators can grow their subscriber base authentically without buying subscribers.
In the end, buying YouTube subscribers may seem like a feasible way to grow your channel, but in the end, it’s not a sustainable solution, ultimately harming your channel’s reputation.
Instead, take the time to create high-quality content, engage with your audience, and interact with your target audience to drive them toward your channel and grow your subscriber base organically.
It takes a lot of time and resources to create a following for a successful YouTube channel. To help producers and marketers start and grow their channels, you need Raffiti Media.
Thank you for checking out our post, “Should I buy YouTube subscribers.” At Raffiti Media, we’re driven to help you grow your channel organically so you have more time and resources to dedicate to your business. If you want to grow your YouTube channel and need help, book your FREE one-on-one call today!
