YouTube Help How can I get my viewers to engage more and subscribe to my channel?

[Optimum Beats]

Hi, I'm a music channel with a little over 2k subscribers that works with a lot of small remix artists to try and get their music out there to a bigger audience. I often do get quite a lot of views relative to my subscriber count however not many people seem to engage and stay subscribed.

My videos usually follow a very precise format you see, I animate my channel logo to the beat of the music and provide a visualiser alongside the music (check out one of my recent videos for further details). Since what I upload is music there's not much more visually I can add but myself and other channels in this niche try our best. Examples of successful channels like mine are Trap Nation, Proximity, etc and quite a lot of smaller channels have tried cloning these bigger channel's visual style; but I've tried my best to make a unique face for my channel, one that won't be forgotten.

I know that a lot of people may think that there are enough similar channels to mine, and that I probably should give up at a channel like this. However, I love working with the artists I do and seeing some of them be able to get a whole new audience whilst my channel grows in the process is great (a good example of this is a remix I uploaded of George Ezra's Shotgun made by Danny Dove, since the video released it has amassed over half a million views and they have had a whole new audience come their way).

Recently my views do seem to be increasing again as my videos are once again gaining popularity, over the last 2 weeks I've been getting an approximate 2k views every 48hrs. So currently I think it is a critical time to ask this question.
My question is, with all this traffic going through my channel, how can I convince more people to subscribe to me? I have attached a picture below of my recent views and watch time in comparison to the subscribers I gain since it seems very disproportionate to me. I have also attached a picture of how my channel page looks, as you can see at the moment it follows a very precise format.

And the proportion of my viewers that are subscribed to my channel is very low as of now:

So I really hope somebody can give me some ideas, because I've put a lot of time into this channel since I started it in early 2017, although I have had months of uploading regularly, then not uploading at all since it's hard to stay motivated at the times a channel looks like it isn't going anywhere. So in reality, I have probably spent about a total of 2 years working on this channel. I am however very keen to make this work, since I have met some amazing, very talented people that I love working with, and I hope one day to grow it into something very successful. I just need some fresh new ideas to make subscribers stick to the channel.
Thanks in advance.

 

[AurigaDave]

I would say (I am no long time expert) that don't give up, you subs count will go up and down, as your hard core sub base builds and you lose those not really interested...what is your goal, as 2k susb who love you and regularly watch is IMHO better than 5k who only watch every now and again? If you are aiming to monetize..that is a different ball game! you need to get view time up, and again that requires regulars...do you get comments? they help you see what your subs like/dislike etc

 

[Optimum Beats]

I would say (I am no long time expert) that don't give up, you subs count will go up and down, as your hard core sub base builds and you lose those not really interested...what is your goal, as 2k susb who love you and regularly watch is IMHO better than 5k who only watch every now and again? If you are aiming to monetize..that is a different ball game! you need to get view time up, and again that requires regulars...do you get comments? they help you see what your subs like/dislike etc

Hi thanks for your reply it means a lot. I have periods where I get a fair few comments on my new videos, then sometimes I get very little, I have a good idea of the type of music my audience like but my goal is to try and grow this channel to a much wider audience, so I try different sorts of tracks every now and then.

In terms of aiming to monetise, monetising a page like mine is harder than using the normal YouTube Partner Program, since channels like mine in the Electronic music genre use both original tracks by our artists and use remixes of otherwise copyrighted songs. (This is usually a good way of growing my channel since the music gets introduced to a lot more people this way.) I would need to be partnered with a Multi Channel Network that deals with the music industry and record labels (a good example of this is EDM District (now known as The District)). Because of this my channel would have to have grown substantially (eg: 50-60k) before I could even think about earning money from this. I actually match the requirements for the YPP but my sort of content needs another network involved.

As of writing right now however I only get 2-5 comments most videos, this sometimes happens and then a month later I will be getting a lot more it all really depends, I used to have regulars on the channel but I stopped uploading for a period since I simply didn't have the time to work on the channel for around 5 months. Getting back regulars and increasing watch time might prove difficult like this you see, since I'm intending to make this channel a lot bigger than it already is. Should I try daily uploads or is a 1 every 2 days scheme I'm doing right now sufficient? Should I maybe try uploading longer tracks to increase watch time?

I will try and stick at it though like you say, my channel blew to over 1k subscribers back in 2018 when I uploaded a remix of George Ezra's Shotgun and I have never seen my channel getting that many comments, views, etc. I would come back home in the evening and have about 20-30 new comments and I could see subscribers increasing every 10 seconds, I just want to reach that point again. Hopefully one day

 

[Steve the Barman]

I think it's just one of those things. Be patient and they will come. Always pin a comment and ask a question, that does help. I've started to get a about 5-10 daily comments now (3k Subs / 2500-4500 views a day), so deffo not huge, but they come on older Videos. They never come on new uploads...except for the same few people. But the one thing i have found, is always reply to a comment with a question. Espesh if you can do it within a few mins/hour after they comment. More likely to engage them.

 

[Chewbacca sketches]

This sounds like I'm talking down to you, but have you been sharing you videos?

I know it can be scary to put your videos somewhere OTHER than you tube (I still struggle with putting them on Instagram) but if you just put them on, let's say, twitter or Facebook along with some life updates and what not, it can really unite your audience.

Don't just post vidoes, you'll be sniffed out and ignored almost instantly, but just try to give an update every time you want everyone to know about your upload.

Also just a bit of motivation, LOVE your music. I plan on listening to a lot of it while I work.

 

[Optimum Beats]

I think it's just one of those things. Be patient and they will come. Always pin a comment and ask a question, that does help. I've started to get a about 5-10 daily comments now (3k Subs / 2500-4500 views a day), so deffo not huge, but they come on older Videos. They never come on new uploads...except for the same few people. But the one thing i have found, is always reply to a comment with a question. Espesh if you can do it within a few mins/hour after they comment. More likely to engage them.

Thanks for your reply Yeah, I've always tried to make sure I reply to everyone that comments on my channel, even at the point where my channel initially blew up from 20 subscribers, however I always tended to reply with a "thanks for listening" or something along those lines. I used to have a fair amount of people commenting on my videos every upload who were regulars and I guess I should have been more engaging back then. Although I still do get a few comments every now and then so I'll try and increase my engagement, thanks again.

This sounds like I'm talking down to you, but have you been sharing you videos?

I know it can be scary to put your videos somewhere OTHER than you tube (I still struggle with putting them on Instagram) but if you just put them on, let's say, twitter or Facebook along with some life updates and what not, it can really unite your audience.

Don't just post vidoes, you'll be sniffed out and ignored almost instantly, but just try to give an update every time you want everyone to know about your upload.

Also just a bit of motivation, LOVE your music. I plan on listening to a lot of it while I work.

No it doesn't sound like that at all, I appreciate all the help I can get!
Now here's the thing I have tried sharing my videos on other platforms in the past, every now and then I use Instagram at the moment, although I guess it falls into the section of where I "just post videos" like you said, maybe I should switch up how I use my social medias to try and grow the channel.

I guess I should start adding updates, etc. I guess I've shied away from writing other things in captions in the past in an attempt to appear more "professional". I have also shied away from making polls and stuff since I don't have as much of a social media following for it to be deemed worthwhile.

However, as of recently I have only been using Instagram as a means to promote my channel, I have an inactive Twitter account and never really attempted to use Facebook since I've always seen that as an "older" social media which might be deprecated in terms of growing a channel such as mine. What do you think should I make sure I use all these platforms?

Thanks.

 

[ASMRSadie]

Sometimes just asking for them helps. Even if you have a picture at the beginning or end of the video asking people to subscribe. IΓÇÖve heard the same even from big youtubers. IΓÇÖve had my channel a little over 5 years, have just over 7600 subscribers and I still now and again will say something like, ΓÇ£donΓÇÖt forget to subscribe, give this video a thumbs up and leave a comment down below what you want to see next.ΓÇ¥

 

[Optimum Beats]

Sometimes just asking for them helps. Even if you have a picture at the beginning or end of the video asking people to subscribe. IΓÇÖve heard the same even from big youtubers. IΓÇÖve had my channel a little over 5 years, have just over 7600 subscribers and I still now and again will say something like, ΓÇ£donΓÇÖt forget to subscribe, give this video a thumbs up and leave a comment down below what you want to see next.ΓÇ¥

I've tended to restrain myself from doing that in the past from the fear of it getting annoying, but I guess it should be no problem if I do it every few videos right? Thanks!

 

[TubeBuddy]

I've tended to restrain myself from doing that in the past from the fear of it getting annoying, but I guess it should be no problem if I do it every few videos right? Thanks!

We tried not doing at TubeBuddy, and were unhappy and changed and saw huge results. Remember not everyone watching has seen you before, so they might not be thinking to subscribe until you remind them. Some people go down rabbit holes and will watch like 50 videos from a creator, and if they are never told to subscribe they might forget to. I've seen it happen more than you'd think.

 

[Optimum Beats]

We tried not doing at TubeBuddy, and were unhappy and changed and saw huge results. Remember not everyone watching has seen you before, so they might not be thinking to subscribe until you remind them. Some people go down rabbit holes and will watch like 50 videos from a creator, and if they are never told to subscribe they might forget to. I've seen it happen more than you'd think.

Okay thanks a lot this has all been great help, I'll give it a go