Modern social media have become a competitive ground for many influencers. Starting a YouTube channel is simple, but growing one takes a bit of strategy and dedication. With over 2,5 billion monthly users, the platform offers amazing opportunities for creators to share their passions and build an audience. Whether you are just starting out or already have some experience, it is all about implementing the right strategies if you want to stand out in a crowded space. In this guide, we will run through 13 techniques to help you grow your YouTube channel, get more engagement, and turn viewers into loyal subscribers.

We wrote this article after speaking with Ann, a YouTube Marketing Manager at LALAL.AI. She shared some great tips and advice on how to grow your channel. In this guide, we will go over 13 techniques and expert tips that have been shown to work well to help you grow your YouTube channel, get more engagement, and turn viewers into loyal subscribers.

Choose Your Niche and Main Topic

Your niche and the main content topic are the starting points for your channel. It decides what kind of content you want to create and who you will attract as an audience. Narrowing down your focus allows you to become an authority in a specific area, making it easier to stand out. Ask yourself:

• What topics do I love talking about?
• What skills or expertise can I share?
• Who is my target audience?

Some examples of niches include tech reviews, cooking tutorials, fitness, gaming, beauty, or travel. Once you have chosen your niche, stay consistent with it to build a loyal following. The main topic is the type of content you will consistently post on the channel. For instance, If your niche is beauty, you may choose makeup reviews or brand history as your focus. Choose something that will make you more visible among similar content – try to do something unique within your chosen niche.

It is also a great idea to make separate channels for different topics. The way YouTube works is that it suggests videos based on what other people have watched. If your channel covers many different topics, the algorithm might have trouble categorizing it, so your videos won’t be shown to the right people as much.

Do not forget to choose your channel’s name wisely. A catchy, relevant, and easy-to-remember name makes a great first impression, which helps your channel be memorable to potential subscribers.

Fully Optimize Your Channel

A complete and professional-looking profile is a great way to build trust. Make sure you:

• Add your channel’s info describing what you are doing
• Upload a great profile picture and banner
• Let people know how to get in touch if they want to work with you
• Add social media links to your other resources
• Add watermarks to your videos

Expert tip: In your channel banner, highlight what your channel offers (e.g., “Top Tips for Content Creators”). Make it obvious why viewers should stay.

A good-looking and complete profile shows people you are serious about your channel. People are more likely to subscribe and engage with content from a creator who looks professional and trustworthy. If you have a consistent brand, viewers will recognize your content across platforms and build a stronger connection with your audience. Providing contact information and links makes it easier for brands, sponsors, or other creators to reach out. Adding links to your social media and other resources ensures viewers can connect with you across platforms, creating your own ecosystem. It will also help you grow your audience beyond YouTube.

Expert tip: Simplified navigation is essential - create playlists and write descriptions that clearly explain what the channel is about.

Invest in Video Quality

If you want your videos to stand out, you must ensure you have high-quality visuals, clean audio, proper lighting, and good editing software. Knowing how to use all of these effectively is also important. The visual quality of your videos is often the first thing people notice. If your footage is blurry, poorly framed, or low-resolution, it can make your content seem unprofessional, which could mean fewer subscribers.

Expert tip: Sound is king! Poor audio drives viewers away faster than low-quality visuals. Invest in a microphone before a camera.

Audio is also crucial, as people are less forgiving of bad audio than bad visuals. Distorted, noisy, or unclear sound makes it harder to engage with your content so that people might click away. It's crucial to remember that top-notch production shows your dedication to your craft and makes your channel more appealing to viewers, collaborators, and sponsors alike. That is one of the main factors that can make your YouTube channel grow faster.

Mind YouTube Algorithms

If you focus on improving the key metrics, you can give your content a better chance of being recommended by YouTube’s algorithms. The platform uses these signals to decide which content to promote to users. The key metrics that matter are watch time, audience retention, engagement, and click-through rate (CTR).

YouTube looks at watch time as a way of working out how engaging and valuable a video is to viewers. If a video gets watched longer, it tells the algorithm that the content is worth promoting. The audience retention metric shows how long, on average, people stick around to watch a video. You can also use the audience retention chart to see which parts of videos people find most engaging.

Expert tip: Aim for 50–60%+ of viewers watching your video. Higher rates put you in top-performing content.

Engagement metrics like likes, dislikes, comments, and shares are also vital. They show the algorithms of how people interact with the content. Finally, CTR, which reflects the number of times people click on video thumbnails, plays an essential role for algorithms as it represents how well the thumbnails and titles are working.

Expert tip: Boost likes, comments, and shares by asking viewers for feedback, votes, or answers to questions.

Repurpose Your Content as Shorts

Repurposing your content is a great way to get the most out of your efforts and reach new audiences. Even for beginners, it is a great way to grow fast on YouTube. By turning full-format videos into bite-sized format, you can tap into the growing popularity of short-form content like YouTube Shorts. It also helps you get promoted on the platform, as people interested in your Youtube Shorts tend to later get your videos shown on the homepage. In addition, Shorts are also monetized! Content repurposing is also great for cross-posting on other platforms like Instagram or TikTok to attract the audience from there.

Expert tip: Do not forget to create original, standalone short videos, not just excerpts of long-form content.

AI Video Cut makes the repurposing process really effortless. It identifies the best bits of your videos and turns them into short highlights that are ready to upload. There are preset prompts collection that will fit the most of your needs. And even if they don’t – there are also custom prompts to define and create the result that you would like to see.

Here is a simple how-to guide:

1. Upload the file from your PC or insert a video link.
2. Choose a template prompt and its parameters or select a custom prompt.
3. If you choose a custom prompt, define what you would like to see as a result.
4. Select an aspect ratio suitable for later posting, language, and the captions style (if you need any).
5. Click “Submit” and wait for your video to process.
6. Enjoy the results! Don’t forget to share your feedback with us so we continue to improve.

And that is how you can easily repurpose your longer videos and make them suitable for short formats on various social media platforms.

Create Thumbnails and Titles That Attract the Viewer

Expert tip: CTR depends on the Thumbnail. Bright, high-contrast, and concise (max 5 words). Thumbnails should complement, not duplicate, the video title.

As mentioned earlier, retention rates are significant for algorithms, so it is essential to make your titles and thumbnails attract the attention of a potential viewer. However, be careful not to make them look like 100% clickbait. If your titles or thumbnails are misleading, viewers will get frustrated and leave the video early. This has a negative impact on your CRT and makes it less likely that the algorithm will recommend your videos. An engaging thumbnail should make people curious, while the title should clearly show what the content is about and why it is worth watching. Do not forget about SEO titles for your creations that include relevant keywords so your video shows up in search results when people look for related topics.

Fill in the Video Description!

Do not leave the description blank! Add a brief summary of the video, relevant keywords to improve discoverability, links to related videos or resources, and social media handles or website links. It can also be used to add relevant keywords to attract the audience.

Use Info Cards

Info cards are a great way to get people engaged, keep them coming back, and help your channel grow. These interactive elements appear as small pop-ups during your video, guiding viewers to other content or external links.

You can use info cards for things like:

• Highlight older or related videos
• Promote an upcoming video in a series
• Direct viewers to playlists

Post Consistently

Expert tip: Stick to a regular schedule (e.g., same day and time each week). YouTube algorithms reward predictability.

It is a good idea to set a realistic upload schedule and stick to it. If you keep it up, your audience (and YouTube) will see that your channel is active and reliable. A regular schedule also gets people excited about new content. Recommended posting frequency is about 1-2 times a week. For YouTube Shorts, try to post 2-3 Shorts daily for greater growth or at least 3 Shorts per week. The key is finding a happy medium between posting regularly enough to stay relevant and engaged with your audience while maintaining high-quality content.

Interact with Your Audience

Get people to stick around and become a loyal community by talking to your viewers. Here are some ways to do it:

• Reply to comments
• In your videos, ask people for their opinions or suggestions
• Use polls and questions in YouTube’s Community tab
• Host Live-streams for real-time interaction
• Encourage user-generated content
• Run giveaways

This connection helps build trust and encourages people to return for more.

Add Calls to Action

A call to action (CTA) is a direct request to viewers to take a specific action, such as liking a video, subscribing to your channel, or visiting a linked resource. It is really a must-have to include CTAs in your YouTube videos, as almost all influencers do now. CTAs can help you get more likes, shares, and subscriptions, which will all help your video perform better. If you get more engagement, your video will appear more in search results and recommendations, which means more traffic to your channel.

Collaborate With Brands and Influencers

Expert tip: Partner wisely! Choose collaborators whose audience overlaps with yours. Go beyond mutual shoutouts – try challenges or discussions that engage both audiences.

Collaborating with other people can help you reach a new audience. Team up with other creators in your niche or brands that are a good fit for your content. Keep an eye out for chances to create content together or get sponsored videos. Collaborative videos often get more interaction because they bring together the fans of both parties. This can also lead to future opportunities, such as invites to events, group projects, or access to exclusive resources.

Additional Expert Tips

Analyze your competitors. You need to track trends in the niche, which formats are catching on, and which topics are at the peak of popularity. Remember audience measurements as well. YouTube Analytics is your primary tool for understanding who is watching videos, where people are coming from, and how they find the channel. Experimentation helps you find suitable formats. You should try something outside the standard formats to test how audiences respond to new approaches, formats, and topics.

Good to Know

1. How do I make my YouTube channel grow faster?

The key is to create content that solves problems or entertains people in your niche. Use SEO techniques to make your videos easier to find, and create eye-catching thumbnails to get people to click. If you keep posting and interacting with your audience, you will build trust and encourage growth.

2. How do I get 1,000 subscribers on my YouTube channel?

If you want to reach 1,000 subscribers, you need to give your audience something they value. Try different formats, like tutorials, reviews or storytelling. Share your videos on social media and join online communities where your target audience is active to get more views.

3. How can beginners grow on YouTube fast?

When you are just starting out, you can gain visibility by taking advantage of trends in your niche and using YouTube Shorts to your advantage. Start off small but make an impact – focus on making each video as engaging and useful as possible. Building relationships with early viewers through comments is also a great way to turn casual viewers into loyal subscribers.

4. How can I grow on YouTube with 0 subscribers?

Starting from zero can seem a bit overwhelming, but it is really important to have a clear idea of what value your content is going to offer. Introduce yourself in your first few videos and team up with other small creators to expand your reach. You can also use your personal networks, family, and niche communities to help you build an initial audience for your content.

Building a successful YouTube channel is a process that takes time, effort, and consistency. The growth is unlikely to happen overnight (though there are some cases where it has), but these strategies will put you on the path to transforming your channel into a thriving platform. Keep creating, keep learning, and let your channel develop!