The Fan Finder program matches your content to viewers who have shown an interest in similar subject matter. Then, it shows them your channel ad – which they can skip – in the hope that they’ll click and subscribe.
The first thing you have to do is create a channel ad. Here are YouTube’s suggestions on that:
- Keep your channel ad short and engaging: Introduce the viewer to your content; don’t assume they have heard of you or your channel before. Remember, your channel ad will run as a TrueView ad which the viewer can skip after 5 seconds, so get to the point.
- Entertain the viewer: When in doubt “show” what your channel is about, don’t “tell”. If you have a comedy channel make sure your ad is funny, if you have a music channel make sure your ad has music. You get the drift.
- Aim for a strong message: Keep your channel ad focused on your channel and why viewers should subscribe or check out your content.
- Have a clear call to action: What do you want your viewers to do? This should be scripted and annotated in your channel ad. Don’t forget to explain what subscribe means (example: want to see more content? Subscribe here).
- Branding matters: Make sure your branding is clear and reiterated throughout the ad. You want viewers to remember your channel.
If you’ve already made a great channel intro video, then you might not have to do any work at all. Just submit and wait for the subscriptions to roll in.
Here’s an example of an approved YouTube Fan Finder video.
There is absolutely no reason you shouldn’t do this in the next couple of days. Get the jump on everyone and get your channel ad out there. Not only will it help you find new fans, but more importantly, it will help you focus your channel. Focus is more important than ever. If you want to make money at this, you have to find a logical mix of content and up-date on a regular basis. That’s a hard one for me. My content is all over the place and I envy those folks who have a dedicated cooking channel or stamping channel or skateboarding channel.
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