Are you looking for ways to increase your YouTube video views? You are at the right place!
Firstly, let’s talk a little about YouTube. It is not only a source of entertaining content but also a great tool for marketers. That is why most marketers are incorporating YouTube marketing into their digital marketing strategies. However, simply producing videos does not guarantee marketing success; you will have to more than just create something catchy.
An important aspect you cannot afford to overlook is –engagement. The faster you get organic views after you publish your video, the more YouTube will promote the video to more viewers.
The faster you get (organic) views from the moment your video is published, the more YouTube will promote your video to new viewers.
To achieve great engagement, you will have to understand the YouTube algorithm.
The algorithm sorts videos and ranks them according to;
What YouTube viewers watch
The time users spend watching videos
Likes, dislikes and shares
What viewers don’t watch
Users’ feedback
What is View Velocity?
To determine the rankings, YouTube uses a metric known as the View Velocity. The term View Velocity was coined by Matt Gelan. It measures the number of viewers who watch your video right after you published it. It is measured over a period of 72 hours. The higher the view velocity the higher your videos will rank. Do note that YouTube also considers the number of active subscribers you have while ranking your videos.
View velocity is only an indicator of how much attention your video is getting from your viewers and it does not influence ranking on its own. Your rankings depend on various factors such as YouTube SEO, video thumbnail design, watch-time, etc. For instance, if your video is search-optimized and has an appealing thumbnail will rank much higher than when it does not embody any of these characteristics.
What is the importance of view velocity?
In addition to letting you know what your audience is really interested in, view velocity helps you understand what keeps your audience coming back to you. However, YouTube’s dashboard does not give you access to how many viewers keep coming back. You will have to sign up for a Morningfame account. It is an analytics platform that shows how your videos perform and also provides you with recommendations to grow your channel. Within the Morningfame account, you can click on the Velocity tab to see how many subscribers watched your videos.
Tips to boost your YouTube Video View Velocity
1. YouTube SEO
This is similar to website SEO. Optimize your video titles and descriptions to get more views by including keywords that people are searching for. This will also help people to find your videos easily.
Like Google, YouTube ranks your videos based on how your content is able to satisfy users’ requirements.
2. Attractive thumbnail
Thumbnails are the first thing your audience will notice in the search results and therefore, it is important to design captivating thumbnails.
Create thumbnails that grab your users’ attention, force them to read, digest the thumbnails and stop them from scrolling through feeds.
3. Use suitable CTAs
Relevant and catchy call-to-actions (CTAs) help position more video content to be viewed and help boost your view velocity.
You can ask your viewers to like and share your content and ask them to click on the bell icon for updates and new content.
4. Increase watch-time
Watch-time metrics measure how much time your audience spends watching your videos. It indicates how informative and valuable your content is. The more the watch-time, the more YouTube will see your content as useful and rank it higher in YouTube search results.
You can incorporate pattern interrupts to keep your viewers’ attention. It captures viewers’ attention by introducing a new idea that is often unrelated. If used correctly, pattern interrupts can be highly effective.
5. Promote
Promotion is very much needed if you want more people to know about you. Some ways you can promote your videos are;
Use social media to spread the word
Send emails to your broadcast list
Try to get help from friendly channels and ask for the mention of your video
Use YouTube Premiere
6. Suggested videos
Suggested videos are great to keep viewers on your channel. You can suggest your latest content at the end of your videos and help the last three videos get a boost in views.
Conclusion
YouTube view velocity is what resonates with your audience and you must leverage it to market your videos online. Although view velocity does not influence your ranking directly, it does have some influence through other metrics as mentioned above. That said, the higher the view velocity, greater the probability of your videos ranking higher in YouTube search results.