Be yourself.
Be confident and authentic with the content you create. If you are holding back in your videos, viewers can tell, and it makes your content less engaging. Make videos that you find funny and someone else will likely find it funny too! Do not start your channel thinking it will be a job or source of income. Instead, it should be a passion project you undertake because you love creating.
Research popular comedy channels.
Note the styles, branding, editing, and so on that popular comedy channels use. While it is important to develop your own style, looking at successful channels can help you understand what viewers find appealing. If possible, try to find a creator that makes the type of comedy content you are interested in creating.
Choose a format for your videos.
Pick a type of comedy video to upload. There are many different comedy video types on YouTube including sketches, animation, commentary, parody, machinima, and more. Focusing on a particular type will help you grow a loyal fan base that enjoys a certain style of content. You can certainly make more than one type of comedy video, but you should commit to uploading each type regularly. Otherwise, building an audience might prove difficult, as they never know what type of content to expect.
Write a script.
Plan your video out in advance to create a polished final product. You do not have to write out exactly what you will say, but jotting down some general ideas in advance will help you clarify your vision and avoid rambling. Also, it should save you a significant amount of time when recording and editing.
Learn how to edit your videos.
Use editing for comedic effect, maintaining interest, and professionalism. Editing is one of the most powerful tools for comedy videos. Sound effects, scene changes, and more can transform a video, and the ability to reshoot scenes or tweak your video and audio to perfectly match your vision is incredibly helpful. When creating and editing a video, remember to break its visual pattern. One continuous shot of a person looking straight at the camera is much less engaging than many camera angles, costumes, cuts, and so on. These small inclusions can boost the all-important watch time of your videos significantly!
Use exciting titles and thumbnails.
Create short, snappy titles and engaging thumbnails to draw viewers in. Good YouTube titles should be both searchable and attractive. Try to create a title that is eye-catching while incorporating words people are likely to search. For your thumbnail, focus on making it colorful, exciting, and relevant to the video.
Include video descriptions.
Write a full description to increase a video’s optimization for the algorithm. Use the description field to write a quick summary of your video with keywords that increase its searchability. You can also include links to different sections of your video for the convenience of your audience. Feel free to experiment with tags, too.
Use end screens.
Include other videos and your channel icon on the end screen. Similar video recommendations automatically appearing will encourage viewers to continue watching, while hovering over your channel icon will bring up a big red subscribe button. These eye-catching pop ups act as a non-verbal reminder to subscribe and keep watching, helping bolster your audience and watch time.
Create longer videos.
Upload longer videos to increase your watch time. On YouTube, longer videos usually perform better than shorter videos because they have a higher watch time. Watch time is one of the biggest factors the YouTube algorithm uses to decide if it should recommend a video, and due to their length, shorter videos are at a disadvantage. While longer videos are ideal, do not prioritize video length over content. A natural, more engaging, shorter video is strongly preferable to an uninteresting longer video, and will likely have a higher watch time anyway because its content is more entertaining.
Use YouTube-related extensions and tools.
Optimize your videos for the YouTube algorithm with the help of extensions and tools. Extensions like https://www.tubebuddy.com help you find keywords that are highly searched, but are not overly competitive or dominated by videos from larger channels. This can be helpful when deciding if you should create a video or after the video is done and you are making a title and description.
Develop a recognizable style.
Use the same stylistic elements across videos to increase channel recognition. Building an identifiable brand with a short intro and/or outro, specific fonts and colors, and more can increase the professionalism of your channel and make your content feel more familiar. This contributes to the sense of consistency that is key for successful YouTube channels.
Use a background.
Create a themed, aesthetically-pleasing background for your videos. Depending on the type of content you make, your background may change, but if you regularly film in a certain space, try to build a visually-interesting background. This will give your viewer another visual to focus on, increasing watch time, as well as build your brand and provide more material for bits.
Upload consistently.
Set an upload schedule and stick to it. Following a schedule can be difficult, especially when making creativity-based content, but consistency is a vital part of a successful YouTube channel. By setting a regular upload pattern, your viewers will know when your videos come out, boosting the chance they build your content into their schedule.
Incorporate trends into your videos.
Capitalize on popular topics and content to boost your channel. Making videos on the right topic at the right time can help your channel blow up. When looking for trends, try checking https://trends.google.com/trends/ for trending Google searches and https://www.youtube.com/feed/trending/ for trending YouTube videos.
Be original.
Create unique content to stand out. While this might seem to contrast with the importance of trends, you should always have some originality in your videos because the main draw of your channel is you. Viewers choose to watch you because you offer something others do not, so focus on creating original content, even when using a trend or someone else’s video as a starting point.
Collaborate with others.
Record with other people for new energy and cross-promotion. Adding another person to your video brings a different sense of humor and new ideas, potentially strengthening your content. If your collaborator is a YouTuber or a famous personality, you also gain access to a new audience, as well as cross-promotion from someone else looking for publicity.
Promote your channel.
Share your channel on other social media platforms and in real life. If you have a following on a network like Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook, promoting your channel on those platforms can help new viewers find your content. Also, telling your friends and family about your channel can bring more views and watch time to your videos, helping their standing with the YouTube algorithm.
Engage with your community.
Interact with viewers through your videos, in the comments sections, and on social media. Creating personal connections with your community is a great way to build a committed viewer base. Try asking questions in videos and putting suggestion comments you use onscreen, replying to comments on YouTube and other social media, or even giving your community a name. You can also make a Discord server to give your audience a space to interact with you.
Ask viewers to subscribe.
Remind your audience to like the video, subscribe, and turn on notifications. Some viewers will entirely forget about the many ways to engage with a channel, so gentle prompting can be very helpful. Subscribing means YouTube is much more likely to recommend your videos to them, helping you grow a loyal audience. Consider asking viewers to interact at the end of the video, as those who watch the video in its entirety are much more likely to engage. Also, asking people to subscribe before the video even starts can feel pushy and unearned.
Use quality recording gear.
Consider investing in a microphone and camera that record good audio and video. While it is not necessary to buy pricey equipment, using a camera that can record 720p or higher and a microphone with decent sound quality will make your videos significantly more attractive. There are many inexpensive webcams and lapel mics that meet these specifications, so do some research before making your purchases.
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