How to Increase Your Social Media Engagement Through YouTube

Videos are extremely popular in today’s world. People have switched from cable to streaming services, and from watching network television to YouTube. By 2022, it is predicted that video content will account for over 82% of all internet traffic. Hence, it’s a huge market for you to improve your social media engagement and online footprint. 

Creating high-quality videos goes a long way in attracting leads. Videos give people a much more intimate and personal look than, say, an Instagram post. There is also a much greater chance that you develop a genuine rapport with your audience on YouTube than on Snapchat. 

Also, having a YouTube channel can drive your social media numbers up. Creators with very successful YouTube channels tend to have very active Twitter and Instagram accounts as well. This is because they choose to engage with their viewers on multiple platforms and promote their accounts.

YouTube is one of the biggest content networks on the planet. It has nearly 1.9 billion users. That’s a market that you can’t choose to ignore. The only market that outnumbers that is Facebook, with 2.7 billion monthly users. Other than that, not even Instagram or Twitter or Snapchat have that kind of engagement. YouTube is truly a global marketplace. 

Twitter and Snapchat have largely American users, while only 15.8% of all YouTube viewers are Americans. Most of the traffic that the site gets is spaced out between Europe and Asia. Hundreds of millions of people in countries like Brazil, Russia, Japan, India, and Germany watch YouTube. 

Niche audiences have one great advantage over a general audience. They keep coming back for more. These aren’t the days of public television when there were no alternatives. When it comes to what you can watch, YouTube has limitless options. Hence, if you try to appeal to everyone, you may end up appealing to no one. You need to attract a specific niche audience with either your style of communication or your content. 

Building a niche audience requires that you come to YouTube with either a unique plan or a distinctive style. If you do, you may be able to establish a core group of fans that will keep coming back for more content. Take, for example, the myriad tech YouTubers that are out there. Many of them simply review phones and tablets and get by. However, there are some like Mrwhosetheboss and MKBHD that get millions of views on nearly every video. LinusTechTips is another channel that manages to consistently get high views due to their commitment to exploring advanced electronic items. 

Another example is the video essay. There are so many video essays on the internet about literature and films now that the market has become saturated. Yet, creators with a unique style like Evan Puschak of Nerdwriter and Kristian Williams of KaptainKristian have thrived. 

Many YouTubers tend to promote their social media handles through their YouTube channels. Instagram, Twitter, SnapChat, and Facebook links are always preferred. There are many ways to promote these handles. 

CTAs or calls-to-action can be used for promotions and sponsorships, as well as for social media handles. As of late, these have become common on YouTube. They can feature at the beginning of a video, at the very end, or sometimes right in the middle. This depends on how a creator chooses to incorporate the CTA in their video. Some creators simply tell their audience to “like, share, and subscribe,” while others display their social media handles in the corner of a video. 

Description links are usually used by YouTubers to promote their handles. Many tend to have a default description template. This ensures that whatever the description is, it will be followed by social media links. You can even use an agency to help you draft a description template.

YouTube cards are usually placed at the end of a video to link to other URLs. These can be used as a tool to promote different channels and social media handles, as well as affiliate marketing. YouTube cards present an advantage for smartphone users. Since most users watch videos in landscape, they must rotate to portrait and scroll down to find the description link. YouTube cards allow for access with just a single tap. 

Nothing works greater than this for social media engagement. Endorsements from other YouTubers usually come as a result of collaboration (collabs). Usually, two YouTubers will work on a project together and promote each other’s channels as a result. Endorsements that occur without collaborations are rare, but they can occur. 

The effect of endorsements from Influencers and fellow YouTubers tends to help your view count on YouTube. It also sends a lot of potential followers to your Twitter or Instagram account. However, be careful not to depend on this as a continuous stream of potential subscribers. Endorsements usually result in a short-term spike of activity followed by a steady decline. 

YouTube can be used to promote social media. Likewise, social media can be used to promote YouTube. Most large creators post on various social media channels every time they upload a new video, and some even prepare their audiences before a video uploads. 

YouTubers use Instagram stories, tweets, Snapchat stories, etc, to give a little heads up to their audiences before uploading. This is a cycle that keeps subscribers interested in the upload schedule and engagement. Sometimes, these social media handles can even be used to promote special offers, etc. 

Hence, using social media in tandem with your video presence is the key to expanding and sustaining your online footprint.