Insider tips

Get started

• Create a channel. Thoughtfully upload channel art and customise your layout so that viewers see what you want them to when they get to your channel.
• Think of your channel as your visual discography.

Tip: Know your channel art guidelines and thumbnail photo guidelines.

Manage and plan a strategy for your channel

• Think about how to organise your successes to powerfully showcase your catalogue or discography through the use of playlists and sections.
• Try out other content types that work on YouTube. If you are a songwriter or producer, give your fans, collaborators and co-writers a peek into what you love to do when you are not in the studio or creating music.
• Tease upcoming content with features such as YouTube Shorts.
• Go live. Live streaming from your channel is a great way to share a real time look into everyday life and the creative process.

Tip: Uploading non-music content such as hobbies and other passions outside of music may have a positive impact on watch time and drive channel subscribers.

Think about upload cadence

• You don't have to always upload on the same day at the same time, but having a relatively consistent upload schedule is recommended.
• Experiment with content length and don't feel like you have to stick to 2–3 minutes when creating content. YouTube creators have found success with a wide range of content lengths.

Tip: Take a deep dive into content types and associated strategies.

Optimise your videos

• Title your videos, and keep formatting consistent across all uploaded content.
• Tag your videos.Tags are descriptive keywords that you can add to your video to help viewers find your content. Not sure what to tag? Think about frequent collaborators or co-writers, your roster/members, or any other key terms that are relevant to your catalogue or organisation.
• Do not overlook thumbnails; they can help capture a viewer's visual attention. Make sure that your thumbnails are clear and compelling as they indicate suggested page content and play a part in a user's search experience as they look for your channel.
• Make sure that your thumbnail is hi-res, and doesn't violate our community guidelines.
• Think about descriptions. Descriptions are another way to help capture a viewer's attention and are important when it comes to searchability and influencing viewers to watch your videos.

Tip: Drive your existing social audience to your channel when you can.

Consider using YouTube Premieres

• Premieres help build excitement and buzz and can accelerate the velocity of a new video on YouTube.
• Make sure that you enable your watch page early.
• Tease your release in advance on social.
• Be present in the live chat when you can.
• Set your Premiere to go live at a time when your core audience is awake.
• Don't forget to remind fans to subscribe to your channel once your video becomes a regular upload on your channel.

Tip: Consider using YouTube Shorts to tease upcoming content or releases.

Engage outside of uploading.

• Respond to comments, especially in the first hour after an upload, which can drive up engagement.
• React to comments by selecting the heart beneath a comment to show appreciation, or select a thumbs up to like a comment.
• Pin comments to give visibility to your comment or highlight a positive comment from a fan or collaborator.
• Ask visitors to subscribe, and then to tap the Notification bell on your channel.
• Generally, users will come back if they feel like you are active on your channel and reading their comments.

Tip: Identify similar creators and engage them on the platform. Their subscribers will notice and want to discover your channel as well.

Know your YouTube Studio metrics

• Impressions: how many times your thumbnails were shown to viewers on YouTube through registered impressions. Think of impressions as indicating the number of opportunities that your content was given to earn a view.
• Impressions click-through-rate: how often viewers watched a video after seeing a thumbnail. Simply put, it is how often viewers click on a video after seeing an impression.
• Watch time (minutes): refers to the total amount of time that viewers have spent watching your content and gives you a sense of what is actually being watched (as opposed to clicked on and then abandoned).

Tip: Want a deeper dive? See what else you can discover about your videos in YouTube Studio analytics and metrics.