Although YouTube does not provide an official count, reports indicate that the network hosts millions of active channels.
To some, that may seem like an overwhelming amount of YouTubers to take on. Lucky for you, YouTube boasts over two billion active viewers monthly, so there’s no shortage of subscribers.
The challenge is to attract their attention, satisfy their need for high-quality content, and make them follow you.
It’s a lot simpler to say than to accomplish, naturally. However, you may employ several easy strategies to improve your chances of achieving YouTube growth.
To grow your YouTube following, you must promote your channel to more people. This article provides some tips on how to get more subscribers on YouTube that have worked for other popular creators.
- How to Get Your First 1,000 YouTube Subscribers
- Tips for Growing Your YouTube Channel
- Common Mistakes to Avoid When Growing Subscribers
- Safe and Trusted Methods to Grow Your Subscribers
- Success Stories: Growing a YouTube Audience
How to Get Your First 1,000 YouTube Subscribers
Before we discuss how to gain subscribers on YouTube, let’s clarify why you want them.
You’ll also need 4,000 hours of Watch Time to make money from your YouTube channel. Additionally, you must apply to and be accepted into the YouTube Partner Program. So, yeah, focusing only on monetization is wrong. You should prioritize your audience over making money.
Why Growing Subscribers Matters for Your Channel
With all the current YouTube changes, subscribers may appear less significant, but they are still crucial. Let’s examine why YouTube channel owners still need them.
| BENEFIT | DESCRIPTION |
| Monetization Eligibility | First, you need 1000 subscribers to get money from your videos. YouTube requires this to make ad money from your videos. That subscriber barrier is your key to monetization, not just a number. |
| Viewer Trust and Credibility | More subscribers can prove your channel’s legitimacy. Although this may seem pointless, it convinces potential new users that your content is valuable. You want users to stay longer and watch your videos, increasing viewer retention. |
| The Chain Reaction | Who watches your new video right away? Your followers! When you post something new, the notification bell alerts people who have enabled it, which can help you get those first few views. This initial activity shows YouTube’s algorithm that people like your video, making it recommended faster. |
| Ability to Use YouTube’s Features | At certain subscriber counts, YouTube unlocks specific features and benefits. For example, at 100 subscribers, you can create a custom URL. At 1,000 subscribers, you can access the YouTube Partner Program (among other criteria), and as your subscriber count grows, you can unlock additional channel features like Super Chat and channel memberships. |
Proven Strategies to Attract New Subscribers
Here are a few growth techniques on how to get YouTube subscribers fast. Don’t feel like you have to use all of them to make your channel bigger (though it might be beneficial)—trying just a few could send your subscriber count through the roof.
1. Create More YouTube Shorts
After YouTube Shorts launched in 2021, producers and brands have patiently observed how it will affect YouTube.
In 2025, Shorts isn’t just YouTube’s approach to the short-form trend; it’s part of their platform strategy.
When you launch the app, YouTube will show Shorts content first and promote it on the homepage. Because it can link to a long-form video, Shorts is a key strategy for expanding your channel.
2. Create thumbnails that will stop the user from scrolling
YouTube video thumbnails are crucial. Your video may be helpful, humorous, or mind-blowing, but without an engaging thumbnail, it will be ignored.
Best SEO Companies examined the thumbnails of the 740 most popular videos of 2020 to determine what would boost views. Although this study may be outdated, popular YouTubers still use these strategies.
They found this:
- Faces: Videos with people in them got an average of 921,000 more views than videos without people (72% of the most popular videos).
- Branding: On average, 1.2 million more people watched videos with a name or brand in the thumbnail than videos without one.
- Text: Seventy percent of the popular videos had a title or some kind of text explaining what they were about.
- Emotion: Videos showing sadness had an average view count of 2.3 million, more than videos showing happiness or fun (1.5 million) or anger or fear (818,000).
- Vibrancy: The thumbnails for 88% of the most popular videos were bright, and videos with more vibrant colors received more views on average.
3. Get to the point.
”Hello, I’m X, from Y, and today I’ll…”
It took three seconds for them to lose interest. Long, talkative video intros where you explain and justify everything before getting into your topic are gone.
Due to TikTok’s rise in short-form video, when scene-setting is impossible, viewers expect to hear everything upfront.
Longer YouTube videos may make getting to the point faster seem less crucial, but we disagree. YouTube’s algorithm relies on watch time. If visitors stop viewing your video after a few seconds, the ranking system assumes it’s bad.
Dr. Izzy Saeley calls the opening 30 seconds “the hook,” ranking it second behind the thumbnail and title. When a viewer clicks on a video, you must prove that it is the one they want to see. Either value, amusement, or intrigue are upfront.”
Izzy uses the video title, thumbnail, and hook to create a “curiosity gap.” “It makes the viewer think, ‘Oh, I am curious what the answer to that is.’” Your video’s rest should answer that question.
4. Film a series
To make your viewers want to return, why not break up your video into several shorter ones instead of one long one?
Build a series on something your audience loves and wants more of. Take Adriene Mishler’s “Yoga with Adriene” as an example.
After releasing follow-along yoga routines of various lengths, she took it to the next level with her 30-day journeys. Besides one-time videos, she spends much time making classes that drop daily for a month. Her Flow series began in January 2024, and the first lesson has 1.5 million views.
5. Advertise Videos on Your End Screen
Here’s how it works: The more people view your videos, the more they subscribe.
The real question is: what’s the secret to getting viewers to watch two, five, or even ten of your videos?
Use your End Screen to promote another video.
This simple “Next Video” button may attract more people to your channel.
You can do it too:
- First, add ten seconds at the end of each video to use as your End Screen.
- Insert a relevant video link into YouTube’s End Screen editor.
That’s it 🙂
Tips for Growing Your YouTube Channel
There are multiple tips to grow your channel and increase YouTube subscribers. Let’s get to it!
Optimizing Your Content for Discoverability
SEO, or search engine optimization, must be a top priority on YouTube. As the world’s second-largest search engine, YouTube is an excellent place for new creators to gain exposure because their videos are easily discoverable through the search engine. So, here’s the deal:
Use Relevant Keywords
Google and YouTube are major search engines. YouTubers add 500 hours of video every minute. That’s a lot of traffic. Without search engine optimization, no one will find your channel unless you have a loyal Twitter or email list.
Aim for low-competition keywords in your profile, title, and description that receive many monthly searches. But yeah, saying that is simpler than doing it.
You can start by using the Keyword Tool to find keywords with high search volume. Next, assess its expected rivalry with TubeBuddy. Look for keywords with a good mix of high search volume and low competition.
Optimize Your Profile
After choosing keywords, improve your profile. This requires filling up data boxes and placing keywords correctly.
Consider using a relevant keyword in the name of your YouTube channel, for instance.
For instance, if you build a YouTube channel on SEO tips, calling it “SEO Guru” instead of “Kyle’s Channel” would boost your search rankings.
Fill out “About Us”. The first 48 characters will appear in YouTube search results, so use relevant keywords. Your profile page can tell new visitors about you beyond its search value. Don’t expect them to watch all your videos—tell them what’s on your channel.
Master the Art of Titles
When someone is interested in your thumbnail, it’s time for your title to get them to click and view. The title must be interesting and useful for search engines, just like a good blog title. You can get more people to click on your video by putting it on homepages, search results, and other related videos.
Don’t use clickbait; instead, focus on giving helpful information. Give them an answer to the question, “What’s in it for me?”
What will they do? Have fun, learn something useful, or learn the latest news? There are likely dozens or even hundreds of other videos in front of them, but your title should tell them why they should watch yours instead.
Does your video cover everything? Is it recent? These are the thoughts that people will have in the very short time between seeing the images and names of the videos and finally clicking on one.
Besides adding value, ensure your title has relevant keywords so YouTube knows what your video is about and where to put it in search results. Find the tricky balance between being innovative, adding keywords, and giving something of value. It’s not easy to do that, but there isn’t a set way to be successful. You’ll have to try different things and see what works best for your channel and following.
Work on Google Search Results
YouTube videos often appear at the top of Google’s search results. If you optimize your videos correctly, they can do the same. To reach the top of the results, you should focus on keywords with video results on the search engine results page (SERP). When you put “promotion tricks” into Google, you’ll see a list of videos close to the top. Though, these aren’t always the same videos you see when you use the same word in YouTube’s search engine.
Making material with a high click-through rate (CTR) is what you should do if you want your videos to show up on YouTube and Google search results. Your YouTube videos will likely appear in Google’s SERPs if they do well there.
Engaging With Your Audience to Build Loyalty
Engagement and meaningful interaction with your audience are now standard social media growth advice, but they’re still crucial. Building genuine relationships with people is a great strategy to keep them returning to your channel.
Trust is built through reputation, credibility, and honesty. This is the finest strategy for gaining audience loyalty.
Active involvement on social media builds brand loyalty. It requires listening to and responding to your audience’s comments, questions, and concerns. Curating and disseminating meaningful, quality material that evokes interest, curiosity, and emotions is also involved. This multidimensional strategy makes customers feel heard, respected, and emotionally linked to your content, strengthening brand loyalty.
Using Social Media to Promote Your Videos
The first thing you should do to get people to watch your YouTube videos is to use social media sites that let you post videos. Here are some specific ideas to think about:
- Use sites like Instagram, Facebook, or LinkedIn to share the whole video
- Use short-form placements like Instagram Reels or TikTok to share a clip of the video
- Post a story on Instagram or Facebook that links to your YouTube video
- To help spread the word, have your team members or friends post the video to their social media profiles
Determine your priorities by considering your current platform(s), the engagement behavior of your target audience, and the potential success of the video’s concept. However, if you want your content to improve, share it on at least one social media site to get more people to see it.
Common Mistakes to Avoid When Growing Subscribers
No matter your YouTube experience, you’ve probably done one of these blunders. That’s fine! You learn by doing, discovering what works for you, and improving.
Here are the top errors to avoid.
Overusing Clickbait Thumbnails
Clickbait thumbnails are crucial to YouTube marketing and growing followers. High-quality content is created using branded components, language, layout, emotions, mobile optimization, and animation. YouTube channels may guarantee their video marketing approach reaches their target audience by testing and tweaking thumbnails.
But here’s the deal: clickbait thumbnails are not your answer to how to grow YouTube subscribers. Although they can attract attention, using them excessively can demoralize viewers and harm your channel’s reputation. When your thumbnail doesn’t match the video’s content, viewers may feel misled and click away immediately. Increased bounce rates and a drop in your video ranking could result from this. Creating visually appealing thumbnails that accurately and truthfully communicate the video’s content is essential. Balance is necessary to build credibility and keep the audience interested.
Inconsistent Posting Schedules
Inconsistent posting hurts your brand and makes your profile appear neglected. YouTube rewards activity. Its algorithms emphasize postings from active accounts in consumers’ feeds. Without frequent posts, the platform marks your account inactive and ceases to distribute your material.
The result? Audiences forget you. Absent, forgotten. Considering consumers scan through many postings daily, losing exposure means losing prospective customers.
It goes beyond algorithms. Your fans demand regularity. Your infrequent updates may make them think your channel is failing or question your professionalism. Credibility matters for small influencers and brands.
Ignoring Audience Analytics
In YouTube marketing, it’s critical to understand your audience. A lot of artists overlook this crucial phase. Ignoring your audience means making educated guesses about their identity and preferences rather than using data. This may lead to unhelpful content, poorly targeted content, and inefficient marketing. Ignoring your audience is more than just not knowing who your customers are. It means making assumptions about their desires, inclinations, and behavior without researching or gathering facts. Inappropriate communication strategies that fail to reach your target market or generic content that fails to address audience demands are examples of this carelessness.
Safe and Trusted Methods to Grow Your Subscribers
Imagine having a “subscribe” button for everyone you meet. While several innovative and viable strategies exist to boost your subscriber base, we can’t suddenly transform every handshake into a subscription.
Yet, there are great ways to get more subscribers on YouTube.
Buying Subscribers
You can buy YouTube followers—yes, you read that right. This is similar to obtaining startup capital; it helps your channel appear more established. It is a popular choice among new channels because it frees them from worrying about stats and lets them concentrate on making content. If you’re having trouble getting followers on YouTube, this might not be the end-all answer; instead, think of it as a stepping stone.
Collaborating with Other Creators
Whenever you ask yourself how to get YouTube followers, think of cooperation with other creators. Working with other creators, especially those with larger or complementary audiences, can boost your subscription count. It presents your channel to subscribers who trust and like similar material. It’s the best networking. Remember that some creators want compensation to work with you so networking might seem like lobbying.
Create YouTube Shorts
You may think of YouTube Shorts as the 100-meter sprint of sports. Fast, concise, and over quickly, yet powerful. These short films will grab the attention of someone scrolling, seeking fast pleasure. Frequently dropping shorts will encourage new viewers to subscribe. Yet even that may be exhausting. Modern AI technologies boost productivity, so you can use them to find ideas.
Why Safe Follower Growth Is Essential
Growing your following safely is essential for long-term success and a devoted following. Purchasing followers from reputable businesses can help your YouTube channel gain the momentum it needs to succeed. Paid advertising combined with organic growth is ideal for reaching your objectives, and it’s probably the best way to get subscribers on YouTube. Building a sustainable channel while adhering to YouTube’s rules requires genuine engagement and consistent growth. With this well-rounded strategy, you can get more viewers and maintain their interest in your content.
How to Balance Organic and Paid Subscriber Growth
A creator seeking full-funnel marketing cannot rely just on paid or organic media techniques. Each path has its advantages and complements the others. When organic reach declines, paid social media expands reach. However, organic strategy lets marketers push things for free to dedicated followers. Paid social media advertising without an internet presence makes people dislike the creator.
Paid promos combined with organic ones create coherence and popularity.
Success Stories: Growing a YouTube Audience
We know that growing and gaining YouTube subscribers is challenging. Yet, many people manage to build a loyal following and share their knowledge.
Case Studies of Creators Reaching Their First 1,000 Subscribers
Ramses Villalva
The story of Ramses Villalva’s YouTube subscriber growth, who grew his YouTube channel from zero to 1849 subscribers in less than a month, demonstrates that smaller creators can achieve rapid growth. Ramses only uploaded one video to his brand channel when he started it in January 2024, but it quickly gained popularity and nearly 94k views. The secret to his success was the well-defined approach centered on authenticity, comprehending YouTube’s algorithm, and capitalizing on trends. Although expanding a channel may seem complicated, Ramses stresses that it is possible if you understand how YouTube’s algorithm works. He started a snowball effect by producing content that kept viewers interested and promoted interaction, which led to his video receiving more views and being shared with a larger audience. He gave the following advice to aspiring creators: identify your target market, concentrate on producing content that appeals to them, and maintain consistency. The YouTube algorithm will assist in directing your videos to the appropriate audience with the correct approach to content thumbnails and titles, so your first 1000 subscribers are only the start.
Badass Creatives
A targeted approach helped Badass Creatives reach 1000 subscribers in less than a year. The channel was launched in May 2023 by creator Malerie Whitfield with the goal of long-term growth through Evergreen content. She stuck to long-form videos that fit with her experience in digital marketing rather than experimenting with YouTube Shorts. Regular posting, learning from every video, and utilizing her blog’s existing content were the keys to her success. Malerie reached the 1000 subscriber milestone by focusing on a particular demographic and using techniques from content producers like Pat Flynn. Her experience demonstrates that YouTube growth is attainable with perseverance, a distinct niche, and regular content.
Lessons Learned From Successful Channels
No one tells you that YouTube’s success starts with mediocrity. Not satisfied with your content popularity? You’re not alone. Even YouTube legends had to endure many challenges before reaching fame.
Fortunately, you may learn from others’ errors and read about their techniques on how to boost YouTube subscribers. And those techniques are:
- Keep going no matter what
- Don’t be lazy while scripting and finding video ideas
- Work on custom thumbnails and optimization
- Pay attention to analytics
- Create calls to action
- Find something that makes you unique
