It’s frustrating to share insightful content to YouTube, the world’s second-largest search engine, and not get the kind of traffic and engagement your video content is worth.

With nearly 600 million search results for “how to promote YouTube videos without paying,” you might think it’s a lost cause to promote your channel without spending a lot of money on Google ads.

Good news! 

We’ve gathered eight practical tips on how to promote your YouTube videos without paying a dime.

In this guide, you’ll learn:

How To Promote YouTube Videos Without Paying

1. Improve your YouTube SEO

2. Cross-promote related videos

3. Organize your YouTube videos in playlists

4. Leverage your social networks

5. Do live streams

6. Collaborate with other creators and brands

7. Take advantage of industry trends 

8. Produce relevant content

There are several methods on how to promote your YouTube channel for free. Here are our top eight tips on how to promote your YouTube videos without paying:

1. Improve Your YouTube SEO

According to Searchmetrics, 62% of Google searches contain videos, and 80% of these videos come from YouTube.

The higher your video content’s position on the search engine results pages (SERPs), the more organic traffic you’ll get to your channel, which means more views for your videos. Learning how to promote YouTube channels for free starts with search engine optimization (SEO). 

Even if your videos are relevant and unique, they won’t get seen by people if you don’t have good SEO practices.

To optimize your SEO, ensure you: 

• Do keyword research using tools like SEMRush, BuzzSumo, and Ubersuggest 

• Include target keywords at the beginning of your video titles, video descriptions, and metadata

• Use categories and tags to define what your YouTube content is about

• State your target keywords many times so the YouTube algorithm can understand your video context 

• Add subtitles to your videos for clarity and a better user experience 

• Use custom thumbnails to grab viewers’ attention

2. Cross-Promote Related Videos

If you’re a niche YouTuber, you’re probably going to create overlapping content. So, your videos should mention other related videos you’ve made.

You can promote your YouTube videos without paying by cross-promoting your related videos. For instance, you could mention another video in your current video if it’s relevant and ask your viewers to check it out to understand the topic better. 

Cross-promotion is easier if you drop the link to your promoted video in your current video description section.

3. Organize Your YouTube Videos in Playlists

The more videos you have, the harder it becomes to search for specific videos or skim through your content for what might be helpful.

So, how do you solve this problem? 

Make your channel less messy by creating playlists. This is a simple tip on how to promote YouTube channels for free. Playlists are essentially categories to group your YouTube videos, so your channel is more organized for viewers and promotions.

While playlists don’t rank in Google’s search engine results pages, you can use them to extend viewers’ watch time. The longer they watch videos in your playlist, the more likely your videos will rank higher in Google’s SERPs. 

4. Leverage Your Social Networks

Suppose you already have an audience on your social media profiles like Facebook, Instagram, Linked In, and Twitter. In that case, you have an easy method on how to promote your YouTube channel without paying any money.

Keep your social networks updated with your channel’s content — discuss your ideas, setup and shooting phases, and when your videos go live. 

Promoting YouTube channels for free with social media starts with showing up, posting your video link, and mentioning the takeaways. You can take it a step further by asking your followers and friends to share these videos with their networks.

5. Do Live Streams

If you’re looking for a results-driven way to promote your YouTube channel for free, start live streaming.

Live videos are buzzworthy, and since everything happens in real-time, view them as a way to build genuine relationships with your audience.

Some social media platforms have features to stream live videos. But more effectively, YouTube Live streaming is available as a way to promote YouTube channels for free.

You can do YouTube live streams in several forms, including Q&A sessions, project updates, or live tutorials. To get a headstart on live streaming to promote your YouTube channel for free, you can check out the top YouTube Live videos other YouTube creators have made.

6. Collaborate With Other Creators and Brands

When learning how to promote YouTube channels for free, collaboration is a way to fast-track your success.

Collaborating with other YouTube creators and brands empowers you to expand your reach to a larger number of audiences. You can use tools like Klear, Upfluence, and Channel Pages.

All you have to do is look for the right partners. Search for creators within your target audience, YouTube influencers that run businesses complementary to yours, or brands in your niche. 

Then, work on projects together with these brands and influencers, or have them endorse you in their videos. This makes it easy to gain more viewers and YouTube subscribers who already trust the partners you’re collaborating with.

7. Take Advantage of Industry Trends 

Promoting YouTube channels for free is simple when you know what piques your target audience’s curiosity.

Create informational and helpful video content that solves questions people are searching for. You can use research tools such as Google Trends and Answer The Public and social curation tools like Reddit and Quora.

More so, you can pick up on trending topics and hashtags and create videos geared towards them. Industry trends provide opportunities on how to promote your YouTube videos without paying.

8. Produce Relevant Content

Figuring out how to promote your YouTube channel for free is one thing. Promoting high-quality content is another.

Ensure that your YouTube channel has the type of content your audience is interested in. Research your target market and topics they want to see.

Look at what your competitors are doing for insights into your industry and target audience persona.

More importantly, leverage your best content and metrics. Analyze your videos with the most YouTube views, likes, and comments. Take insights from your findings to create user-centric new videos. 

You can dig into your YouTube Analytics for ideas on how to promote YouTube channels for free. 

Final Thoughts: 8 Tips on How To Promote Your YouTube Channel for Free

While there are countless tips on promoting YouTube channels for free, we’ve made a list of the eight most effective ways.

Up your SEO game, collaborate with other brands, use your social media profiles, and check your analytics for ideas on promoting your YouTube videos without paying.

Leverage your social networks to promote your YouTube channel for free. Get more Instagram followers now.