How to Feature Channels on Youtube to Gain More Views
On YouTube, standing out in a sea of content can be challenging for creators. Featuring channels allows you to highlight fellow YouTubers to your audience authentically. By strategically featuring other creators and producing complementary content to your niche, you facilitate discovery and engagement between channels and viewers.
More than just a friendly gesture, featuring channels comes with many benefits. You endorse quality creators to build authority and drive traffic between channels through cross-pollination. Viewers find more binge-worthy content while creators tap into new audiences.
Curious how this YouTube feature can grow your community? We’ll explore best practices for how to feature channels on youtube that both wow viewers through fresh discoveries and support your fellow creators through increased exposure.
What are Featured Channels on YouTube?
Featured channels on YouTube refer to other creators and channels that you choose to showcase directly on your channel’s homepage. They typically appear in a dedicated section alongside other channel content like videos, playlists, and community posts.
Unlike automatic video recommendations that YouTube generates based on viewers’ interests, featured channels are manually curated by the channel owner. You get to handpick a select group of 3-10 channels that you want to endorse and give exposure to your audience. It’s completely optional to add this section – not all channels opt to highlight other creators.
Some key things to know about featured channels:
- They allow you to showcase channels that inspire you or that you confidently recommend for your viewers based on complementary content.
- Each featured channel will display the channel icon, name, number of subscribers, and a “Check Channel” button so viewers can easily navigate to their page.
- Featuring smaller channels can help boost their visibility and subscriptions, while established channels drive new traffic back to your own videos.
- You must be verified and have over 1,000 subscribers to add featured channels. YouTube determines eligibility based on your account standing.
In a sea of endless content, featured channels help guide viewers to voices you trust while forging connections across the YouTube community. Use them intentionally to optimize engagement and growth!
How to Feature Channels on YouTube?
Featuring channels on YouTube to showcase other creators is easy to set up. Here are step-by-step instructions:
1. Go to your YouTube channel page and click “Customize Channel.”
2. Under the “Featured Sections” menu, click “Add Section.”
3. Select “Featured Channels” from the list.
4. Give your section a title like “Channels I Love” and click “Done.”
5. In the search bar, type in the name of the channel you want to feature. You’ll see channel icon, name and subscribers count.
6. If you can’t find the channel, go directly to their YouTube page. Copy the unique channel ID from the URL (it starts with “UC”).
7. Back in your customization menu, paste that channel ID into search. Select channel to feature.
8. Repeat steps 5-7 to add more channels. You can showcase 3-10 creators.
9. Drag-and-drop to reorder featured channels.
10. Click “Publish” for changes to go live. Channels may take a few hours to appear publicly.
And that’s it! Now your viewers will see handpicked channel recommendations on your YouTube homepage. Over time, add or swap in new rising creators to keep it fresh.
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Strategies for Choosing Featured Channels
When deciding which 3-10 channels to showcase, be intentional with your selections. Here are some tips:
- Complementary Niches: Choose channels with content topics that are relevant to your niche and audience interests. This facilitates discovery.
- Quality Production Value: Vet channels to ensure they meet your standards for video quality, editing, etc. before endorsing.
- Brand Alignment: Make sure the channel’s overall brand identity and messaging resonates with your own. You’ll vouch for them by featuring.
- Variety of Sizes: Mix in both smaller up-and-coming channels that would benefit from the exposure, as well as more established names that will drive more traffic.
- Monitor Performance: Pay attention to viewer clickthrough rates for each featured channel. Swap out ones that aren’t resonating.
- Freshen Up Regularly: Every 3-6 months, introduce some new voices to keep your recommendations interesting for returning viewers.
Pro Tip: Don’t just feature your closest friends. Stay objective and highlight channels you genuinely believe your audience will appreciate.
Maximizing the Impact of Featured Channels
Looking to get the most bang for your buck from featuring channels? Apply these best practices:
- Strategic Positioning: Make sure featured channels are prominently visible on your YouTube homepage. This prime real estate will get them clicks!
- Social Media Cross-Promotion: When you swap in new featured channels, announce it on your other social media platforms to drive viewers to check them out.
- Collaborations: Consider reaching out to your featured creators to film a collab video or co-promote each other’s content. This builds even stronger connections.
- Give Shoutouts: In your regular videos, periodically highlight and compliment the work of your featured channels. Organically weave in recommendations.
- Offer Variety: Allow viewers to easily binge-watch content from your diverse mix of featured channels showcasing an array of topics and video styles.
- Human feedback: The content you provided covers some helpful strategies and best practices around featuring channels. However, the subheadings seem a bit redundant with the existing content. I would suggest combining them into the subheadings you already created or condensing to one stronger subheading like “Optimizing Featured Channels for Maximum Impact”
Some additional specific points to consider:
- Discuss challenges with featuring channels – vetting, monitoring, staying objective rather than only featuring friends. Provide solutions.
- Explore the impact featuring channels can have on the broader YouTube community by cross-promoting smaller creators. Encourage supportive ecosystem.
- Elaborate more on your pro tip – why is objectivity important? How can you apply that to channel selection?
- Get more specific on call-to-actions under the best practices subheading. Examples and details will strengthen the advice.
Overall great start! Just needs some tweaking to consolidate ideas and drill down on the most value-adding guidance for readers implementing this YouTube feature.
I am Eric Mason, the founder of TubeLoop.io and I have extensive experience with digital marketing and media. I have employed my expertise to launch a multitude of successful online businesses, ranging across a variety of industries. I also enjoy tackling startups, taking calculated risks and taking advantage of opportunities – I believe these attributes act as catalysts for success within any industry. I look forward to continuing my journey toward success with TubeLoop.io makes it possible for people to watch youtube videos over and over again, it is something I am passionate about and I’m excited to see what the future holds.