How to Get People to Watch Your YouTube Videos

With all of the Google updates and algorithm changes and Pandas and Hummingbirds, it's hard to know what type of optimization techniques you can use to get your video content seen. Providing quality content is always the best way to get your videos ranked, but what other strategies can you use to make your video content relevant to the search engines? If you're an online network marketer using videos, try these 5 strategies to give your videos the juice they need to get noticed both by viewers and the search engines.
Set up your YouTube Channel
If you can get your video watched and shared, your content obtains a higher relevance authority in the search engines. How do you get people to share your videos? Setting up a YouTube channel with a focus on your intended niche is the first step towards getting your videos viewed and then shared. Having graphics and filling out your 'About' section with keywords relevant to your niche will also help your channel. Targeting your channel will get your content seen by the people you intended and will generate subscribers. Targeting means naming your channel relative to your niche - you wouldn't post How-to videos for car repair in a channel named XboxOnefans.
Once you have subscribers, always make sure to go into advanced settings when you're uploading your videos and choose the option to notify your subscribers when videos are uploaded.
CONTENT, CONTENT, CONTENT
Who is your audience? What are they looking for? If you can answer the first two questions then the strategy for this is easy... GIVE THEM WHAT THEY WANT! Sometimes that isn't so easy but content is more compelling when it tells a story. It's hard to know for sure what people are really looking for. For example, there are YouTube channels that have over 1 million subscribers and all the channel owner does is solicit questions from his viewers and then answer the questions in video replies.
Pretty much if you have a passion, stance, agenda, or pet peeve, you have an audience. For ideas look at what other channels have posted that are generating views.
Participate, Join the Conversation
When you watch and comment on someone's videos, they will reciprocate and answer you back. One strategy that can get you views is commenting on other videos that are relevant in your niche. Do not spam them with your video link in their comments. When someone spams a video through the comment section it typically is blocked or deleted by the video owner.

Another strategy is to reply to a video with a video. Sometimes when you stir up a debate, other viewers will jump into the middle of the conversation. An additional benefit to getting comments on your videos is, the comment along with a link to your video is posted in the commentators Google+ profile page and everyone who is in their circles will see the post.
Use Playlists to Aggregate Relevant Keywords
Have you done a search on YouTube and found that the top 2 or 3 results were not videos, but playlists? Depending on your keywords, you can utilize playlists to give your videos a little more oomph! To use this technique, set up your playlists like this:

1. With your browser in "incognito" setting or log out of all of your Gmail accounts (if using Google), do a search on YouTube for your keywords.
2. Identify the top 5 videos for your keywords and save the URL's for those videos
3. Now log into your channel and create a playlist named after your keywords
4. Add your video and the top 5 videos using their URL's to your new playlist

Social Sharing
Social bookmarking can give any video a high degree of relevance. Not all of us can come up with that next viral video that will take Facebook by storm. But don't discount the power of connecting your social media profiles with your YouTube channel for extra pop. Make sure that your Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ profiles are connected with your YouTube channel so that every time a new video is posted, your video is automatically shared. It's an automated process and too easy NOT to have it set up.
To give your videos a little extra social juice, make sure to embed your video in a blog post on your own site as well. If you don't have a self hosted blog or website, you can use sites like Tumblr, Blogger, and WordPress.org as alternatives.
Hopefully you haven't fallen into the trap of paying for YouTube views or likes on your videos. As more and more people are using video as a medium for their content, the search engines are paying attention to the activities of your viewers. If you want to bolster your chances for views and you don't seem to be getting traction, tweak the title or make another video that targets the same keywords. The quantity of videos and regular posting of content along with the right title can also get you headed in the right direction