Increase your number of views on YouTube by creating your thumbnail according to the following guidelines:
- It must have a resolution of 1280 × 720 (minimum width of 640 pixels)
- Use one of the authorized file formats: JPG, GIF, BMP or.PNG
- Its size must not exceed 2MB
- Use a 16: 9 format (this is most common in YouTube readers and previews).
To attract your target audience, create thumbnails that interest them and describe your content faithfully. If your video shows a cat playing the guitar, your thumbnail should represent this and not be a blurred image of you adjusting your camera. For the youtube subscribers this is important.
Use annotations to increase engagement
There are many levers available to you to increase the number of views of a video on YouTube. Annotations allow you to add text, links, and “lighted areas” that is, text boxes that appear when the user hovers over them with your mouse to your videos. As YouTube explains, Used well, annotations can improve engagement, viewership and help you grow your audience. Forgot how to add annotations to your videos? No problem, YouTube has created this very useful guide.
Here are some examples of using annotations:
- Allow viewers to advance through the video and encourage them to continue watching
- Suggest other videos to the viewer
- Add a link to your website
- Add a link to a subscribe button to your channel
- Add a call to action registration, more information, etc.
YouTube considers that a video has been “viewed” after 30 seconds. Consequently, if it’s content is not sufficiently interesting, the number of views associated may not increase. The use of annotations should encourage your audience to continue watching your video, which should increase your number of views. To optimize the use of annotations:
- The text should be kept short enough not to distract your audience
- They should only occupy a small part of the playback screen so as not to obstruct the video content.
- Use neutral colors and more transparent annotations to keep your audience focused on your video
- Do not place them in the center of the reading screen, but rather on the sides
Annotations encourage your audience to take an interest in your videos and will help extend their viewing time to exceed the 30-second threshold.
Organize campaigns and contests on YouTube
Campaigns and contests are the most effective incentive methods to attract new viewers. By organizing a YouTube contest, you will target your current audience as well as all the internet users who discover your channel after having seen the presentation of the contest and the users’ participation.
The key factors for the success of such a campaign are:
- Set goals
- Follow YouTube guidelines and policy for organizing contests
- Choose a suitable price
- Take advantage of your digital reach (e.g., encourage participants to share your content on their own social media in exchange for additional newsletters)
- Use the right tools
- Measure the success of your competition
If you’re short of ideas and don’t know what type of contest to set up, take inspiration from the pro YouTubers.
Your audience will be much more likely to share your content if they are encouraged to do so, for example by a contest. This type of event is therefore a great way to increase your number of views on YouTube.
