*IN RELATION TO THE 'HALO' FRANCHISE: Honestly, I'm at wits ends here, folks. I've been a consumer of the Halo franchise since its conception back in 2001. As of November, 2015, I decided to toss my lot in producing content for Halo's community. Each piece of inspired work contains a great history of time, and effort. And when I garner support from various social media outlets, those who see my handiwork make note on the video's excellence. Such works receive spectacular amounts of views and commendable ratings. But yet I've failed to capture the viewer's investment: a website subscription. At times, I'm confused, and troubled on this development. Perhaps I shouldn't dwell too long on this fact; maybe with some given time, and doubled, if not tripled, effort, I could achieve a consistent fan base to make my YouTube commitment worthwhile. Recently, I've unfortunately resorted to the common tactic of publishing "tutorial and gameplay" videos to boost viewer traffic to my domain. But sadly these viewers are people just passing by. The channel subscriber count still remains at four investors. What is it that I'm doing incorrectly? Is it my technique of approaching persons for support? Is it the genre of content that I devote myself to, which is Halo in nature, hindering my plight? Is it the video format, and editing technique(s) that displeases the potential subscriber? What can I do to improve, and foster prosperity for my YouTube channel? I want to contribute to this wonderful gaming community; and I want to bring joy to others with the means at my disposal. Any counsel would be greatly appreciated. Listen, I don't mind proving my worth to others. But I also don't want to work myself into a miserable existence; constantly begging people to direct their viewership to my domain becomes an irritant over time... it's not ideal to be a pest, I suppose.
Can you post a link to your channel so I can see what it's like right now? I have a youtube channel with 3000 subs, (here it is if you wanna see it) so I can offer you some advice from my experience. Back when I first started making vids, the production quality was garbage. Like it was literally just recordings off of bungie pro (you can find them on my channel), and furthermore I had only really just started forge so the quality of the maps was pretty garbage too. However, this was during the time when the ODST hype was beyond real, and I incorporated something into a map that nobody had ever seen before; the closest thing to a functioning drop pod. This garnered a lot of attention and it was how I got my first few hundred subscribers. From that point on, I continued making more maps, and it wasn't for a long time until the production quality on my videos really increased, but I kept producing content that was more or less the first of its kind in forge and I got a lot more attention as a result. I did a lot of stuff in between my maps too like showcasing other peoples maps and tutorials for things I thought people needed. I think the biggest thing is that unless you've already got a giant fanbase of subscribers, people will only wanna watch things that immediately grab their attention. For example, the more thematic maps on my channel all have waaaayyy more views than the more traditional map that I'm both more proud of and generally has more replayability (case in point http://bit.ly/1kb7kH0 vs http://bit.ly/1Pf0YS7 which were both released in the same month. My most viewed video: http://bit.ly/1kb7kH0 take a guess why that's the case lol). People need good reasons to trust you to produce solid, mixed content that you've warranted a subscribe so that they'll come back for more stuff. Of course a lot of it has to do with marketing and selling yourself, but at its core, the stuff you make has to be worth watching. That's pretty much all the advice I can give off the top of my head, you can ask me more questions if you want and maybe some other guys on FH can give you feedback. I'm gonna probably get back in the youtube game myself soon with H5 Forge being released.
Luck and who you know plays a massive help. I knew a friend who knew one of the top brass for Machinima, liked my Last Man Standing idea, and pushed that, only had 200 subs at the time, some 6 years later i'm at over 80,000
I don't have a YT channel personally but I frequent YT for many different types of media, from Magic: The Gathering to Cooking advice. The one thing that stands out from the successful channels is quality content! This means a tight upload schedule, HD everything, which requires a little bit of investment from you, and content pertaining to your subject that is interesting, exciting and funny. Good rapport with your viewers is also a must, Do contests and comment giveaways, reply to comments and respond to your audience, Do day in the life videos and get to know your viewers as well as let them get to know you. In any case a successful YT channel is a personal project that is never finished and is basically a part time job. Hard work and quality content grows your channel. Hopefully this was helpful to you in some way! Best of luck
I'll try to be brief for the sake of readability, but if you want further explanations or have other questions for me let me know. Also, no I do not currently run a YouTube channel so what I have to say is based on what I've observed from other channels, personal experience, other YouTube viewers' experiences, and data YouTube has collected about viewership trends. I'll do my best to respond to your post point by point as well, and try to incorporate other replies. 1) Give your YouTube channel more time. For new content creators it usually takes years for them to garner a large, actively growing following. From your post it sounds like you have given this one month which is no where near the amount of time needed to see any subscriber growth. The only YouTube channels that can gain lots of subscribers in a short period of time are additional channels created by already popular YouTube creators. For example, the gaming channel Game Grumps saw a considerable jump in subscribers instantly on its creation, but this was because two YouTubers who combined had well over a million subscribers on other active channels went and created it bringing a sizeable audience with them. 2) Focus on content, not subscribers (for now). The greatest priority for YouTube channels when starting out is cultivating quality, focused content so that when viewers come to check out the channel there is something to watch. Spend more of your time now building your channel's offerings and refining your content, and less time worrying about your subscribers Once you start feeling like your creative process and quality of your content has hit a stride and your channel is full of videos, then you can worry more about attracting viewers. 3) Establish a clear goal for your channel. YouTube viewers tend to gravitate towards channels that have a clear, focused narrative in terms what they can expect for content. If you're making a Halo channel be specific on how it relates to Halo, like are you focusing on competitive multiplayer content, Forge content, or a grab-bag of Halo related content? The channel intro video non-subscribers see is an appropriate place to explictly define this, but having your uploads reflect your channel's goal is a more effective way of communicating to your audience what your channel is about. 4) Ask yourself why are you doing this? You stated that you're doing it to "bring joy" to viewers, that you wish to entertain them, but is that your only intention with the channel? If you're running this channel purely for fun and you enjoy creating these videos then make sure you keep that attitude when approaching your creative process so that it reflects in your work. If you have the hope of one day turning this into a source of revenue for yourself make sure to be honest with yourself and others when it comes to this discussion. There isn't anything wrong with creating a YouTube channel with the hopes if it becoming some source of income and being transparent in these intentions will make you feel better and your audience more empathetic if you start implementing tactics specifically to increase subscribers or ad revenue. However, don't take this as an endorsement from me to monetize your content or work towards establishing YouTube as a proper source of income because currently it isn't for most users. If you want critique on your content throw up a link to your channel so we can check out your videos and provide appropriate feedback. I'm sure there are users here, like those who've already replied to this topic, who can give you some great commentary on your content for improving it.
Okay. I see what you are saying. You've made excellent points on the type of content people desire to watch. I do recall seeing an U.N.S.C. light frigate aesthetic back in the days of Halo: Reach; and that particular video soared to new heights of notoriety. Additionally, the "No Hope" series was the pinnacle of linear infection campaign(s). I am glad to have met the creator's acquaintance! And I apologize for not providing a link in my initial post. Here is the YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwR2Jy8UWbYMvZqo2b8qIhg
Thank you for the advice. It's a honor to meet the creator of "Last Man Standing." Is it a possibility to reboot the series in Halo 5? --- Double Post Merged, Dec 21, 2015 --- Thank you for the words of wisdom, NEKTryhard. I'll be sure keep the principle of "high quality entertainment" as a cornerstone for my YouTube endeavor!
Point no. 1: You are right. I shouldn't have been so naive in believing I could reach fan base rivaling, say, Forge Labs, or KnighmareFilmz, in rapid time; with only being "in the game" for less than a month, what was I thinking? If I am serious about this YouTube venture, I must commit myself to long term. Come the plateaus of success, or the ravines of despair, I ought not to be unnerved: there's work to be done. Point no. 2: I have no comment on this matter: I agree with you completely. Point no. 3: I have yet to create a "channel trailer" video. I'll set myself a time-frame of one week to complete this task. Point no. 4: Being transparent and forward with a fan base about the future possibility of video monetization is paramount. While a partnership, or ad program, isn't recommended for most users as a primary source of income, it sure is appreciated to receive a "reward" for effort; no matter how nominal the flow may be. I thank you, ToRn1ne, for the undeserved assistance. I cannot express adequately how grateful I am for your wisdom. So for now, I offer the assurance to head your words, and let not this incident be in vain. I do apologize for not providing a link in my initial posting. Here is the YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwR2Jy8UWbYMvZqo2b8qIhg
I definitely want to bring it back but I want the set to be like if it was an ACTUAL real life set, with moving set pieces and stuff, like old school catchphrase, if I can get people to help make it, it would be awesome.
At the moment you basically want to be defining what you personally will bring to the table in terms of unique content. Unless you're a really good player or a great personality I'd steer away from gameplay as this is better suited to other mediums like streaming. Once you've decided concretely about the content you want to create and the level of commitment you want to maintain have a look around at the level of quality you'll be competing against (directly or indirectly) and see what it is that separates the wheat from the chaff. Specifically from looking at your videos if you're going for aesthetic/cinematic machinima then take a look at the small tricks used by more established content creators e.g. They're essentially starting with the same tools in Theater so look at what elevates the footage comparatively, it's all about the smaller details. I have just over 300 subscriptions and the only thing I can tell you about why I keep those is consistency in quality content. Subscriptions aren't achievements for dedication or a thumbs up to one substantial effort they're people saying "I see what you do and want to watch what you put out".