YouTube is becoming a super important inbound marketing channel.
It is also the second biggest search engine in the world after Google itself.
Of course, anyone knows that you can upload videos to YouTube.
But, YouTube is so much more than that. There are so many details, which will help you to grow YouTube like a pro.
Take a look at these YouTube features, you probably didn’t know about.
YouTube polls
Have you ever heard about YouTube polls?
YouTube polls can have an incredible engagement, hundreds or thousands of replies even for small channels.
YouTube polls are available in a Community tab – you need to have at least 1000 subscribers.
Then you will be able to create either text posts or polls.
It is also possible to create polls in live chats.
Text posts
YouTube is not only videos. Within the community tab you can also create text posts. Viewers will see YouTube posts in the YouTube feed on mobile or desktop.
With text posts, you can notify subscribers about an upcoming video, idea, share your experience and so on. YouTube posts are like Twitter inside YouTube.
YouTube Stories
Why use YouTube Stories? It is a great tool to engage with the audience in a lively way. In my experience, YouTube Stories can be a great way to get some subscribers.
On my channel – youtube.com/mrhack – just with 15K subscribers, a random YouTube story can get 2-5K impressions and collect subscribers.
YouTube Stories perform best, when it is just an inside look into YouTuber life. Just share your day, hobbies, maybe friends, how you hang out and spend your free time.
Shorts
Everyone is talking #Shorts right now. And seems this is the main focus of the YouTube product team at the moment.
Maybe you have noticed, in the YouTube mobile app, the second tab from the left was replaced from “Explore” to “Shorts”.
Definitely create Shorts! You can get an incredible exposure and traffic. It is much easier to get Shorts views, than regular videos.
Your video should be vertical and less than 60 seconds to be approved for Shorts. No need to put #shorts hashtag in the title or description.
In my experience with Shorts – some random videos can easily get thousands of views. Even if these views are not monetized, still Shorts drive a lot of subscribers.
Why Shorts are important? Well, it seems it is the most preferable content format for the Gen Z and younger generations.
Super Chats
If you have over 1K subs, you can utilize Super Chats. When you run a live stream via YouTube, everyone who sends a Super Chat, basically donates to your channel. Their message is highlighted in the comments.
Memberships
It is also possible to create memberships on your YouTube channel. So, you can only show content to your members. And transform your YouTube into a subscription business.
But, for this to work, you need to have a highly engaged audience – i.e. viewers are constantly returning to your channel, like and comment and you develop some kind of a personal relation.
Super Thanks
Just recently, YouTube started testing a new feature, which in essence is a Tip Jar for Youtube. It is available for a limited number of channels.
Basically, you can say thank you to your favorite YouTuber and donate some amount of money.
You can check if your channel has Super Thanks available in the Monetization tab.
Live Streams and Premieres
The future and present of YouTube is live streaming. If you have some news or insights to share – just run a live stream. Don’t bother to add some fancy editing – just publish your content.
It is surprising that such a small number of YouTubers are running live streams.
Article by Andrii Gorokhovskyi, blogger @ https://mrhack.io, YouTuber – youtube.com/mrhack, podcaster – anchor.fm/mrhackio
