Carla Marshall has 10+ years of experience in video marketing, social media management, content marketing, DRM, and SEO. She was previously Editor in Chief at ReelSEO.com, and as a journalist and video marketer, she's covered news stories, creator journeys, and digital-first publishing initiatives across all the major online video platforms. She is YouTube Certified and a judge for the Shorty Awards, as well as the UK, US, Canadian, Global, and EU Search Awards.

Carla Marshall

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How do you get your first 100 subscribers? We've got more than 10 tips and suggestions to help you get there. Getting started on YouTube and grinding up to 100 subscribers can feel like the hardest hurdle to overcome. Where do you start with so much to think about? We've come up with some awesome suggestions to help kick-start your channel and think more like a YouTuber and less like someone chucking videos randomly onto the internet!

If you want to take your YouTube channel to the next level then make sure to download vidIQ. It will help you research YouTube, analyze videos, audit your own channel, and take actionable steps 

Man pointing at YouTube subscribe button with 100 subscribers and vidIQ logo background

Getting started on YouTube and grinding up to 100 subscribers can feel like the hardest hurdle to overcome.

How to Get 100 YouTube Subscribers FAST: Creator Tips for Success

Here are 10 ways to reach the largest audience with the most impact:

Promote in the first 24 hours to get velocity or what we like to call View Per Hour

Share a playlist link, not a video link so that people can watch more of your videos

Share on other social media platforms like Linkedin and Facebook groups

Upload videos to Facebook directly using our vidIQ tool

Use your email list to push your YouTube channel

Use Incase you missed it posts on social platforms to remind people to watch

Man with social media icons for YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, and email on blue background

You've made a great YouTube video, now you need to share it.

10 Awesome Ways to Promote Your YouTube Videos for FREE

So you can monetize your content. That's a question being asked by many video creators. So here's 10 practical tips you can start using today to help grow your channel!

Be visual and exciting when asking people to subscribe

Use the branding watermark using a red subscribe button

Put the subscribe button in the endscreen

When sharing your channel use the auto subscribe URL

Pin a subscribe link to the top of your comments

Add vaule to other channels to increase your audience

Make sure your channel page is optimized with a great banner, trailer and sections

Man thinking with hand on chin, YouTube subscribe button, and vidIQ logo in corner

How to get 1000 Subscribers on YouTube so you can monetize your content: that's a question being asked by many video creators. So here are 10 practical tips you can start using today to help grow your channel!

How to Get 1000 Subscribers on YouTube: Creator Tips

Rob started out on YouTube in 2012, building up a tech channel before joining the vidIQ team. He now educates over 450,000 subscribers on the vidIQ channel which has over 25,000,000 video views. Today he is hard at work sharing everything he has learned on the YouTube platform; educating video creators on how to grow their own channels and turn hobbies into careers - just like Rob did in 2017.

Rob Wilson

Smiling bald man with stubble wearing a black t-shirt on a white background

Build a better community, save time responding to comments and use YouTube's secret comment weapon! All of which is part of growing your channel to gain my subscribers and better serve your audience with the message you want to spread.

Here are 10 YouTube Tips to improve engagement:

React to comments by giving a thumbnails up and heart button

Use the pin comment for content you want people to see

Go through the spam tab to make sure real comments were not put in there

Man whispering tips with text comment tips, YouTube, like, and heart icons on blue background

Here are 10 YouTube Tips to improve engagement, build a better community, save time responding to comments and use YouTube's secret comment weapon! All of which is part of growing your channel to gain more subscribers and better serve your audience with the message you want to spread.

How to Get MORE YouTube Views by Building a Community Around Your Content

We created a quick video to help describe how you can take advantage of the Pokemon Go phenomenon:

Install the vidIQ Chrome Extension to Get These Stats.

Pokémon Go logo surrounded by related keywords like gym, battle, Pikachu, and gameplay.

Pokemon Go is a worldwide sensation right now, and if you are a YouTube creator or marketer, you must be on this.

How To Get More Views on Pokemon Go YouTube Videos

Rob is extremely passionate about helping YouTube creators grow with data and insights.

Rob Sandie

Black and white headshot of a man with curly hair wearing a suit and collared shirt

A large part of creating high quality content involves passion and dedication, but when you look a little deeper, there’s a science to engaging audiences too.

Here are 8 tips to help you reach the right audiences on YouTube and keep them coming back.

Match your expertise to the type of content you want to produce. Be consistent too.

Before you start thinking about the audience you want to reach, ask yourself what you’re good at. Are you a total movie buff? Experienced make-up guru? Comedian at heart? Choosing to focus your channel on an area that you’re well-versed in sets you up to succeed. When you speak to your passions, your knowledge and personality shine through. Bonus: you’ll come across as genuine and authentic (we’ll speak more on that later).

Do your research on the audience you wish to reach, and start speaking their language.

Once you’ve figured out the type of content you want to produce, it’s time to consider your audience. When it comes to targeting the right one and getting them to engage with your content, you need to do your research. Find out the names of relevant fan communities, learn their lingo, and incorporate their official names and vocabulary into your speak. From Tumblr to Reddit, communities congregate in specific places and you want to help shape those discussions.

YouTube may be the hub for television, movies, music, and entertainment in general, but it’s still a social media platform at the core. Like any other social media platform, you want to get involved in conversations and, well, socialize. Like and comment on videos that catch your attention, give shout-outs to other influencers and content creators, ask interesting questions, and engage with your subscribers. The YouTube community values authenticity above all, and being genuine in your videos is what keeps viewers involved. Don’t treat your channel simply as a means to self-promote. If you’re going to engage in some self-promotion though, be transparent and have fun with it!

Use the YouTube tools available to help measure and build audience engagement. Try other tools too.

YouTube’s attention score measures the length of time and attention viewers give to your videos. This insight is great for identifying what excites your audience and what you can do to improve. If your score reveals that viewer attention is high during the latter half of the video, but low during the first, then perhaps you should work on your hook. Viewers will generally decide within the first 5 seconds of a video whether they want to continue watching. With that in mind, make sure your opening gives enough context to keep viewers intrigued.

Video annotations are another way to engage your audiences, prompting them to take action. Use clickable annotations to link to other relevant videos or blog posts. You can even encourage viewers to subscribe to your channel here. The key here is do this smartly and sparingly.

With YouTube popularity growing every day, new tools and services are available too. Take for example vidIQ’s Chrome Extension that displays detailed metrics allowing you to look more deeply into keywords, historical data, and more. By leveraging what’s out there, you’re just upping your odds of succeeding.

Get comfortable looking into your channel’s analytics to find out what works. This is important as it can help you replicate success. Tools are helpful, but what’s better is staying on top of all the information in general and setting aside time to do so. vidIQ’s web app is the go-to place to do this as you can monitor your videos, your competitor’s channels, and find key insights to help when producing future content. Setting aside time to capitalize on research will payoff in the long run.

Optimize your videos for search (for YouTube and the web in general).

Optimizing your videos for search will help build traffic, much like how SEO is a critical component of ensuring written content succeeds across the web. Craft your video headlines and descriptions carefully, incorporating any trending topics and keywords that are relevant to it. Avoid the urge to overuse video tags though, and only use those that actually apply to your video. vidIQ Pro’s proprietary Keyword Research Tool makes it super easy to discover powerful tags to help improve your videos’ search ranking.

As search engines crawl text when processing search queries, adding an audio transcript (where you describe, in writing, the contents of your video) can help them index higher in search. Not only does the audio transcript add additional context to your video, it also gives you an opportunity to throw in some more keywords to help people discover your content when searching.

Partner with other content creators and share the YouTube love.

Collaborating with other content creators is an effective way to grow your audience. Whether you’re partnering with YouTubers that focus on similar topics, or just users that interest you, both will act as an introduction to new audiences.

Don’t be afraid to mention other YouTubers your fans should check out! Unsurprisingly, YouTubers know other YouTubers, and earning your way into the ranks of this influential network will help drive your traffic through cross-channel promotion.

Share your videos on other social media platforms and content discovery engines.

Other social channels are great places to share YouTube videos. They provide an opportunity to tag/mention friends, brands, and other content creators too. Not only will this attract more viewers, it’s also a great way to generate and keep a conversation going outside of YouTube. Pick the channel where your desired audience is the most active. Then, make sure the content you’re adding contributes to the conversation. Seeding your content into discovery engines like StumbleUpon can also be a good way to drive additional traffic to your videos.

Silhouettes of concert crowd with raised hands and bright stage lights in background

Building a loyal YouTube audience doesn’t happen overnight.

8 Ways to Reach the Right Audience on YouTube

The general wisdom is to produce, produce, produce – which is the YouTube marketing equivalent of the fool’s adage, “Any decision is better than no decision.”

But content, and its consumers, have been around for a long time. And the thread that connects them has always been simpler than strategy, more powerful than promotion, and greater than hype.

At vidIQ, YouTube and YouTube marketing is our business – so we get it. It seems necessary to surrender to the daily scramble to produce, produce, produce on your channel. It’s easy to lose sight of the real goals of video marketing, to get lost in the endless lists of “YouTube Tips and Tricks” and to worship the newly-deified metrics of “Subscribers” and “Total Views.”

Instead, sit back for a moment – just one moment in this hypnotically hectic world of newsfeeds – to consider the wisdom of great creators who have come before you.

It’s more comforting than cat pictures, I promise.

Quote Credit: BrainyQuote Original Photo Credit: Vinoth Chandar

“Of all our inventions for mass communication, pictures still speak the most universally understood language.” – Walt Disney

Walt Disney - Mass Communication Quote Credit: BrainyQuote Original Photo Credit: James Vaughan

It’s not enough to communicate, video marketing can make you understood.

“Wherever you go, go with all your heart.” – Confucius

Quote Credit: BrainyQuote Original Photo Credit: FrontierOfficial

Commitment to your content and campaigns is integral to success.

“Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work.” – Aristotle

Aristotle - Pleasure in Work Quote Credit: BrainyQuote Original Photo Credit: BiblioArchives / LibraryArchives

Do only what you enjoy, if you want to do it well.

“Time you enjoy wasting, was not wasted.” – John Lennon

John Lennon - Time Wasted Quote Credit: BrainyQuote Original Photo Credit: Fabiola Medeiros

Don’t waste time on pursuits you don’t enjoy.

“Information is not knowledge.” – Albert Einstein

Einstein - Info Not Knowledge Quote Credit: BrainyQuote Original Photo Credit: Marius B

“A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool.” – William Shakespeare

Shakespeare - Wise Fool Quote Credit: BrainyQuote Original Photo Credit: Mykl Roventine

You don’t know everything, and that’s okay.

“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.” – Helen Keller

Helen Keller - Do Much Together Quote Credit: BrainyQuote Original Photo Credit: Melanie Holtsman

It takes a village to succeed in content.

The last 20 years, and the mass adoption of the internet, have created the illusion that human beings can build complete digital worlds, will new markets into existence, and create content for viral consumption, all at once and all by themselves. But, as with all human endeavor, we stand on the shoulders of giants.

Look to the history of marketing – or, heck, just the history of history – and you’ll find an unbroken chain of collaboration, experimentation, and creation.

At vidIQ, we know YouTube and we know you know content.

Maybe we should create something together?

Click here to download our free Chrome extension

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With video marketing moving at the speed of light, it’s easy to get wild-eyed about your workflow.

8 YouTube-Worthy Tips from History’s Greatest Content Creators

See why some videos take off. Sign up free for scores, analytics, and optimization tips.

The vidIQ score takes into account a ton of different stats to determine the likelihood that of your video surfacing in YouTube Search, Related Videos, and the Front Page.

We look at total amount of engagements (accross YouTube, Reddit, Twitter, Facebook), velocity of that post, and views. We use a logarithmic function based on all this data and come up with a 0-100 score.

The videos with most velocity, engagement and views on YouTube will be a 100/100. If you have none of these you'll be closer to 0/100.

By finding videos that are achieving a higher vidIQ Score, you can better identify what's working on YoutTube.

YouTube video analytics dashboard showing Sherlock Series 4 teaser with engagement data

vidIQ Score: How We Rank YouTube Videos

Install the vidIQ extension to see real-time scores on every YouTube video.

Nowhere is this more pronounced than in the YouTube comments section, which is famous for its seemingly endless assortment of unsavory characters claiming “First!” post or bashing a video just to elicit a reaction from other viewers or the video’s creator. Seeing their comments section regress into an episode of Jerry Springer is every brand’s nightmare. Today, we’d like to provide some tried and true options in how to deal with YouTube trolls:

Faced with the prospect of dealing with illicit commenters, many brands and agencies choose to simply disable YouTube comments rather than playing moderator and dealing with the mess. This, however, is an enormous mistake! Engagement (and especially commenting) is factored heavily in whether your video appears in YouTube Search and Related Videos – if you block YouTube comments you will limit the viral potential of your video and cripple your SEO. In fact, there’s a direct correlation between videos that receive engagement from the owner of the video and views, as well as whether that video is likely to receive additional engagement in the future.

More YouTube comments and more engagement results in more views, more subscribers, more comments, and more engagement

Probably the most obvious lesson that the owners of Amy’s Baking Company chose to ignore is the old Internet adage “don’t feed the trolls!” Ignoring a troll is a troll’s kryptonite – as a YouTube creator you should always err on taking the high road and staying out of a good ol’ fashioned flame war. Instead, focus your efforts on the commenters that matter. Identify influential viewers by looking into which commenters have the highest number of subscribers, and then respond to those users. These “influencers” are your most important viewers, and unlike trolls (who usually don’t have many subscribers) are actually worth your time! Many partnerships and cross promotional agreements between channels have been forged within the YouTube comments section, resulting in thousands or even millions of views.

Sort your YouTube comments by reputation and commenter influence with vidIQ

Instead of responding negatively to your audience, if you’re going to respond at all try being positive! A perfect example of this in practice can be found in the video Low Calorie Chicken Wraps Recipe by the culinary masters over at Being Fat Sucks. In a previous video, a viewer commented that one of the hosts had an uncanny resemblance to our good friend Severus Snape from Harry Potter. The comment snowballed into a frenzy, and every video with the Snape-ish looking host was spammed with YouTube comments about his appearance. Rather than responding negatively, the creators acknowledged their audience by having the host dress up as Snape in their next video. And guess what, their audience loved it!

Believe it or not, YouTube is a social network. In fact, it’s now the 3rd largest in the world (behind Facebook and Google+)! Adopting Social Media Best Practices will go a long way in setting the tone for your YouTube comments and creating an amazing community around your content. By rewarding constructive commenters with thoughtful responses you’ll create an environment that fosters positivity rather than thrives off the negativity that trolls love. Home Depot is a great example of a company that has done this extremely well. In the example below, a viewer expressed his frustration that Home Depot didn’t provide a link to the second part of the video. Home Depot acknowledged the commenter and replied immediately, currying the favor of their audience and increasing engagement.

Home Depot YouTube comments are an example of the best YouTube comments you can make as a brand

Know of another technique to successfully stymie YouTube trolls? Respond in the comments section below!

Woman meditating in yoga pose near waterfall surrounded by lush forest nature.

If there’s one thing that the Amy’s Baking Company PR trainwreck proved, it’s that trolls are legion.

A Lesson In YouTube Comments: Stay Calm, Keep Them On!

Trying to keep up with your YouTube channel’s comments and engage with your community can seem like an uphill battle.

To the brands that have pleaded with us to make their lives easier by building YouTube comment moderation and YouTube management tools to satisfy their needs; we hear you! This has been a huge area of focus for us, and we’re making our YouTube tools better every day. Here are some of our powerful features that are making YouTube comment management less of a headache for the enterprise:

No community manager has enough time to respond to every YouTube comment made on a popular video – community managers want a simple way to find their best YouTube comments by the viewer who has the most subscribers. To solve this, vidIQ allows you to sort your YouTube comments by reputation in order to discover and engage with your most influential viewers – these viewers are what we at vidIQ refer to as your Top Influencers. These top YouTube viewers are the ones who you want to connect with and encourage to evangelize your video.

Don't try to respond to every YouTube comment – sort your YouTube comments by reputation and only respond to influential viewers

vidIQ offers advanced comment sorting capabilities that allow you to narrow down your YouTube comments to a specific time period. Rather than having to visit each individual video’s page, vidIQ takes the tedium out of YouTube comment moderation by allowing you to view all of your most recent comments across all of your videos in one convenient location, saving you time.

Some of the best YouTube marketers we’ve encountered prefer to reply to comments from a personal channel vs. their brand’s channel in order to reveal the human behind the brand and prevent their brand from engaging in distracting conversations. With vidIQ you can reply to comments from another YouTube account, making YouTube play nice with large brands.

Although YouTube already supports threaded / nested comments (which Facebook just introduced for Pages), they don’t provide you with the ability to easily find every comment a viewer has made or a viewer’s YouTube comment history. We do. Knowing the context of a viewers’ comment and whether or not you’ve had other interactions with that user in the past is critical, especially if you have more than one community manager.

See all YouTube comments by a specific user to see the user's comment history

Introducing Real Time YouTube Comment Moderation

No longer will you need to wait for a YouTube comment notification email to arrive – manage and respond to your YouTube comments in one place with vidIQ’s live comment dashboard.

YouTube real time YouTube comment moderation tool

To learn more about these features and others, visit vidIQ and grow your YouTube audience today!"

Dashboard showing 1,439 synced new comments under the Comments tab for social media monitoring

To further enable our users to build a community around their content, we recently announced Real Time Updates, which will allow you to use vidIQ’s advanced YouTube comment moderation tools to manage and grow your YouTube audience on a split-second basis.

YouTube Tips for Creators