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"[New] Elevate Your YouTube Videos Without Spending a Penny - The Best Tools"
Elevate Your YouTube Videos Without Spending a Penny - The Best Tools
The Best Free Video Editing Software for YouTube (Top 8 Reviews)
Richard Bennett
Dec 02, 2022• Proven solutions
What makes a YouTube video good? The most important element is obviously you, the creator. Your personality, ideas, and unique viewpoint are what will make your content special and turn viewers into subscribers.
The next most important thing – even more important than the camera you use – is editing.
Editing a YouTube video doesn’t have to be difficult. In fact, it should be simple. Your focus when you’re perfecting your video should be on that ‘most important thing’ we mentioned earlier – your creativity. Editing for a YouTube video should be art, not mechanical engineering.
Below is a list of the top free video editing software ranked according to how appropriate it is for YouTube videos.
| Rank | Editor | Make Cuts | Audio Features | Multiple Video Tracks | Video Effects | Intuitive Score (1-5) | Compatibility |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | OpenShot Video Editor | Yes | Fade In/Out, set volume levels | Yes | Transitions, text, ability to animate. Blur/Saturation/Brightness controls. | 5 | Windows, Mac, Linux |
| 2. | Shotcut | Yes | Detailed audio editing | Yes | You can customize color presets and other effects. No animations. | 4 | Windows, Mac, Linux |
| 3. | Hitfilm Express | Yes | Audio effects and transitioning. | Yes | Every imaginable picture customization. Some FX (more if you pay). Text tool. | 4 | Windows, Mac |
| 4. | VideoPad Video Editor | Yes | Noise removal, equalizer, audio effects. | Yes | Moving text, transitions, filters. | 5 | Windows |
| 5. | Lightworks | Yes | Detailed audio editing | Yes | No premade effects, but you can add text/color edit. | 3 | Windows, Mac, Linux |
| 6. | VSDC Video Editor | Yes | Some audio features blocked in free version | Yes | Filters, transitions, text, and more. | 1 | Windows |
| 7. | Machete Video Editor Lite | Yes | None | No | None | 3 | Windows |
| 8. | Avidemux | Yes | Some audio features | No | Some picture adjustments | 2 | Windows, Mac, Linux, BSD |
Ready to upgrade to a simple, powerful, paid software that’s perfect for YouTube? Check out the free trial of Wondershare Filmora . It is an advanced tool that is focused more on newbie editors who are new to the videography world but want to compete with professionals!
1. OpenShot Video Editor – Open Source (Windows, Mac, Linux)
Pros
- Easy to use
- Includes transitions
- Keyframing
- Alpha Channel
- Unlimited video tracks
OpenShot Video Editor Review
OpenShot completely lives up to the claim that it was designed to be ‘easy to use, quick to learn, and surprisingly powerful’.
The first time you use OpenShot there will be helpful tutorial notes to guide you through the program. The interface is intuitive enough that you may not always need them, but having them should erase any confusion.
All of the basic editing features, like cutting clips up, are easy to access in the timeline. You have unlimited tracks, and it’s easy to drag your clips between them. There’s a helpful magnet feature that fits clips together if you slide them together, but which still allows for blank space if you choose to leave it.
Most other functions – setting volume levels, adjusting the speed, adding movement/zoom effect – are accessible simply by right-clicking on your clip in the timeline and choosing what you want from the menu that pops up.
Is OpenShot Video Editor good for YouTube?
OpenShot is a great, free, choice for YouTubers at any editing skill level.
Beyond simply ordering your clips, OpenShot includes text and transition options within the program. You can even animate the text, and access Animated Titles if you use OpenShot in tandem with a free animation program called Blender. Titles and transitions are vital to a lot of popular YouTube styles.
OpenShot does not provide the same level of detail as the runner up, Shotcut, when it comes to color correction or audio editing. However, the features it does have (volume levels, control of saturation) will satisfy most YouTubers.
2. Shotcut – Open Source (Windows, Mac, Linux)
Pros
- Detailed audio editing
- Color grading, ability to save presets
- Fairly intuitive timeline
Shotcut Review
Shotcut delivers a smooth, detailed, editing experience for free. It is not as easy to jump into as some of the other programs on this list, but it still only takes a half-hour or so of playing around to understand it well enough to make a video. There are also tutorials up on Shotcut’s site that can help you.
You can edit using multiple video tracks in Shotcut, making it easy to combine multiple clips, and basic functions like splitting or copying clips are as easy as clicking the right icon on the toolbar.
All of the video and audio effects, including things like chroma key, you might want to apply to your video are found under the Filters menu. It will look empty when you first open it, and you have to click the plus sign to see what your options are. If you want to create a color tint (like what you might think of as an Instagram filter) then you can do that through the Color Grading option. If you want to do something like invert your colors or add an ‘old film’ look, you’ll find that here as well along with all of the audio editing features (balance, bass and treble, and gain to name just a few).
Is Shotcut good for YouTube?
Shotcut is a great choice for YouTubers. It allows you to do some advanced editing, and it’s easy to learn compared to a program targeted at professional editors.
The only complication with Shotcut for entry-level editors who will primarily use the program for YouTube might be that animations – like moving text – are not available through the program (you can add and customize text, but it just sits there). You can get them from elsewhere and use them in the program (Shotcut has an alpha channel), but it’s a bit more involved a process than simply customizing something that’s already provided.
3. Hitfilm Express – Windows, Mac
Pros
- Compositing mode (2D and 3D)
- The Most effect customization
- Helpful User Guide & tutorials
Cons
- Can be overwhelming
- Its main strength is FX, but you only get a couple for free. Most have to be bought separately.
Hitfilm Express Review
Hitfilm Express is the best free editor if you want to add special effects to your projects. OpenShot’s alpha channel will be enough for most people, but if you think of yourself as an aspiring filmmaker then it’s hard to beat Hitfilm’s range of functions.
This is an editor designed for people who want to make movies, and it’s a lot more intuitive than most professional-grade software. Film-quality FX (lasers, explosions, etc.) are available through Hitfilm Express for a reasonable price ($10-$50, depending on what you want), and even without paying extra for the packs, there’s a lot you can do to give your video a ‘film look’ using compositing layers and the multitude of customizable effects provided through the program.
Another highlight of Hitfilm Express is the extensive selection of tutorials and helpful information they have available both through YouTube videos and their User Guide. You will need those because this program can be overwhelming. It has so many functions and areas you can customize that it is easy to get lost.
That said, basic editing in Hitfilm Express is not difficult to jump into. It’s only when you start getting fancy that things get dicey.
Is Hitfilm Express good for YouTube?
Yes. It will not be the best option for everyone, but it’s not a bad option for anyone either.
If what you want to make is a vlog where you have a series of clips, and intro, and maybe a couple of title effects, then Hitfilm express might be overkill. You don’t want to have to master compositing just to add some text.
If what you want to make is a vlog that’s interrupted by an alien invasion and turns into an action sequence with lasers and falling debris, it’d be hard to do better than Hitfilm Express.
4. VideoPad Video Editor – Windows
Pros
- Easy to jump into
- Moving text
- Huge audio waveforms
- Audio and visual effects
- Lossless exports
Cons
- No longer updated
VideoPad Video Editor Review
VideoPad Video Editor is an extremely easy to use program. It may be the easiest program on this list to jump into, which you could also realistically create your entire video inside (there are easier programs, but you can only do some of your work in them). Part of its simplicity comes from not being as feature-rich as the programs ranking higher than it on this list, however.
You do not get the same range of functions with VideoPad as you do from the top 3 free editors, but it has enough to satisfy people who are just starting out. Creating moving text effects is easy, you have huge audio waves to work with while you’re syncing, and effects like transitions and filters are easy to find.
VideoPad does suffer a bit from being dated. This program is no longer being worked on, and the interface doesn’t look particularly modern. This is a bit more than a cosmetic issue because some features, while not difficult to find, are placed a bit oddly compared to other editors.
One slightly annoying feature of VideoPad is that it will prompt you to buy the commercial version sometimes (the free version is only for non-commercial use). There have been reports of exports being blocked in the free version, but I exported several times for the sake of this review and the issue never came up.
Is VideoPad Video Editor good for YouTube?
VideoPad makes a decent YouTube editor. You can jump right in and start making cuts, adding filters, and ordering your clips. If you have the kind of channel where voiceovers are important (like in gaming or makeup), then you’ll be happy with the size of the audio waves you have to work with for syncing.
The thing about VideoPad is that you’re probably going to outgrow it quickly as you become a more capable editor.
5. Lightworks – Windows, Mac, Linux
Pros
- Detailed color and audio editing
- Multicam editing
Cons
- Exports limited to 720p for the free version
- Difficult to learn compared to other free software
Lightworks Review
On their website, Lightworks claims to have an ‘intuitive interface’ and ‘easy timeline editing’. This is true if you compare it to other professional-level editing suites. Compared to the other programs on this list, Lightworks is complicated.
The first thing I attempt when I review this program is to simply split a clip, and it took me a ridiculous amount of time to figure this feature out in Lightworks (a more advanced editor could have found it faster, but these reviews are meant to help people with less experience). Lightworks does have a whole tutorial series on using the software, so if you are interested in learning to use it there is ample material out there to help you.
Lightworks has a wide range of functions (i.e. detailed audio editing and color correction), and it has been used for big movies like ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’. It is the most professional program on this list, and it’s a great free alternative to something like Adobe Premiere Pro.
Note: there is no time limit on the free version of Lightworks, but it will ask you to renew your free license every 7 days. When it says your license is ‘expired’ it isn’t kicking you off the free version, you just need to renew.
Is Lightworks good for YouTube?
Whether or not Lightworks is right for your YouTube channel depends on your goals as a video editor.
If what you want is to jump in and start making YouTube videos quickly, Lightworks might not be a great choice. It’s not an easy program to just jump into, you’ll have to either take time to learn it or accept that it’ll take some trial and error to get the hang of.
If what you want is to become a professional-level video editor, then Lightworks is a great program to start on (although, Hitfilm Express may still be better). Taking the time to learn it could certainly pay off in the long run.
However, if one of your priorities is for your YouTube channel to come across as professional, then the free version of Lightworks does have some disappointing limitations. You can only export videos in 720p, which is lower quality than viewers on YouTube expect (you probably want at least 1080p). Your output format is limited too. The royalty-free audio and video content Lightworks offers are also not free; you can just buy them through the program.
6. VSDC Video Editor – Windows
Pros
- Diagrams and charts
- How To Get Started Guide
- Lots of features
Cons
- Very confusing
- Paid features show up in the free version, but they’re blocked
Review of VSDC Video Editor
There’s a lot to like about VSDC Video Editor, but you have to do a lot of work to uncover any of it. Accessing even the most basic features is confusing.
One of the first things I tried to do as I tested the program was make a jump cut (where you cut out part of a video so the playback ‘jumps over’ the deleted segment) and, while I was able to do it, it was not an intuitive process. There is a multitude of toolbars and icons surrounding your preview window in VSDC, and none of those icons was for making cuts to your clips. To make any cuts you have to find the ‘cutting and splitting’ option under the Editor tab at the top of the page, which will open a second window in which you still cannot make any cuts. Instead what you can do is place markers, and when you click ‘apply changes’ to exit the window cuts will be made where you placed markers. There is nothing in the window to explain what the markers are for.
Other basic functions, like adding text, are just as complicated.
Is VSDC Video Editor good for YouTube?
I would not recommend VSDC for YouTube. It ranks higher than two other items on this list because they are, do to functional limitations, unable to create full YouTube videos without the support of other programs (at least realistically). You certainly could create your full YouTube video in VSDC, but it’d be a headache.
7. Machete Video Editor Lite – Windows
Pros
- Great for harvesting clips from longer footage
- Lossless exports
Cons
- Cannot swap or add audio
- Only supports two formats (AVI and WMV)
- Slightly awkward timeline
Machete Video Editor Lite Review
Machete Lite claims that you’ll be able to edit your videos “within a few minutes after downloading the program, even if you’ve never edited a video before”, and that is true. It might even be better if you haven’t edited a video before because the interface is slightly awkward if you’ve come from a program with a more traditional timeline setup. Machete Lite is easy to use for the most part, but it doesn’t work like most other editors and that can be awkward to navigate around.
Instead of seeing a timeline with all of your individual clips, Machete treats your entire video as one clip. You will only be able to see where you have inserted a separate video clip or cut out a portion of the video by watching the video back or jumping through it (Machete Lite does allow frame-by-frame scrolling). You won’t be able to see this information at a glance, and you won’t be able to adjust the lengths of clips you’ve added separately.
To take out any portion of your overall video you’ll need to find a keyframe at the beginning, set that as the beginning of your selection, then find a key frame at the end and set that as the end of your selection. You will then be able to delete that selection. This will not work if the frames you have set as the beginning and end are not considered keyframes by the program, so it can be difficult to be precise, but since the program allows you to jump through keyframes it’s not difficult to find a point that works.
Is Machete Video Editor Lite good for YouTube?
Machete Lite is not a good choice for YouTubers unless it is used in combination with another program.
It doesn’t work as a YouTube editor because you cannot edit or swap audio, the transition between clips, or create layers of videos and images.
However, the thing Machete Lite is really good at is cutting out clips from longer videos. You can create a selection of a part of your longer clip and then export it (with no quality loss) as its own video file.
This is what the Machete Lite toolbar looks like when you’ve created a selection. Tools like cut and copy which were greyed out before are now available, as is the save icon on the far right. If you click the save icon, you’ll be able to save that selection as its own video.
You can’t create a complete YouTube video in Machete Lite, but you can harvest clips to use in a different program.
8. Avidemux – Windows, Mac, Linux, BSD
Pros
- Can add subtitle files
Cons
- Not intuitive
- Doesn’t support MOV or WMV
- The website is not informative, no tutorials
Avidemux Review
Avidemux is not an easy program to jump into. I almost wrote that it couldn’t do anything besides make cuts to a clip before I saw a YouTube tutorial about how to find the contrast and brightness tools. If you decide to try it out, remember that you have to choose your output format before Avidemux will let you access tools like Hue/Saturation and Contrast (click Filters under Video Output to find them).
There are no official tutorials for Avidemux you can access from their site, so you’ll have to rely on the forums and tutorials from users if you want to learn it.
You can import multiple clips into Avidemux, but you have to import them in the order you want because you can’t drag them around the timeline after. Everything becomes one big clip.
Is Avidemux good for YouTube?
No. It has more functionality than Machete, which is ranked higher on this list, but the difference is that Machete is excellent at one thing. They both suffer from the same main weakness – you could not complete your full YouTube video either (at least not without a lot of trouble). Machete could still be useful to a YouTuber, though, because it allows for the lossless exporting of segments of clips. You can use it to harvest clips for your larger project in another program.
In theory, you could do some picture editing and snipping in Avidemux and then put your project together/add titles in another program, but your other program can probably do all that just as well if not better. Avidemux isn’t a bad program, but it doesn’t excel at anything. There are a lot of better options which are also free.
What has your experience with free video editors been like?
Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.
Follow @Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett
Dec 02, 2022• Proven solutions
What makes a YouTube video good? The most important element is obviously you, the creator. Your personality, ideas, and unique viewpoint are what will make your content special and turn viewers into subscribers.
The next most important thing – even more important than the camera you use – is editing.
Editing a YouTube video doesn’t have to be difficult. In fact, it should be simple. Your focus when you’re perfecting your video should be on that ‘most important thing’ we mentioned earlier – your creativity. Editing for a YouTube video should be art, not mechanical engineering.
Below is a list of the top free video editing software ranked according to how appropriate it is for YouTube videos.
| Rank | Editor | Make Cuts | Audio Features | Multiple Video Tracks | Video Effects | Intuitive Score (1-5) | Compatibility |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | OpenShot Video Editor | Yes | Fade In/Out, set volume levels | Yes | Transitions, text, ability to animate. Blur/Saturation/Brightness controls. | 5 | Windows, Mac, Linux |
| 2. | Shotcut | Yes | Detailed audio editing | Yes | You can customize color presets and other effects. No animations. | 4 | Windows, Mac, Linux |
| 3. | Hitfilm Express | Yes | Audio effects and transitioning. | Yes | Every imaginable picture customization. Some FX (more if you pay). Text tool. | 4 | Windows, Mac |
| 4. | VideoPad Video Editor | Yes | Noise removal, equalizer, audio effects. | Yes | Moving text, transitions, filters. | 5 | Windows |
| 5. | Lightworks | Yes | Detailed audio editing | Yes | No premade effects, but you can add text/color edit. | 3 | Windows, Mac, Linux |
| 6. | VSDC Video Editor | Yes | Some audio features blocked in free version | Yes | Filters, transitions, text, and more. | 1 | Windows |
| 7. | Machete Video Editor Lite | Yes | None | No | None | 3 | Windows |
| 8. | Avidemux | Yes | Some audio features | No | Some picture adjustments | 2 | Windows, Mac, Linux, BSD |
Ready to upgrade to a simple, powerful, paid software that’s perfect for YouTube? Check out the free trial of Wondershare Filmora . It is an advanced tool that is focused more on newbie editors who are new to the videography world but want to compete with professionals!
1. OpenShot Video Editor – Open Source (Windows, Mac, Linux)
Pros
- Easy to use
- Includes transitions
- Keyframing
- Alpha Channel
- Unlimited video tracks
OpenShot Video Editor Review
OpenShot completely lives up to the claim that it was designed to be ‘easy to use, quick to learn, and surprisingly powerful’.
The first time you use OpenShot there will be helpful tutorial notes to guide you through the program. The interface is intuitive enough that you may not always need them, but having them should erase any confusion.
All of the basic editing features, like cutting clips up, are easy to access in the timeline. You have unlimited tracks, and it’s easy to drag your clips between them. There’s a helpful magnet feature that fits clips together if you slide them together, but which still allows for blank space if you choose to leave it.
Most other functions – setting volume levels, adjusting the speed, adding movement/zoom effect – are accessible simply by right-clicking on your clip in the timeline and choosing what you want from the menu that pops up.
Is OpenShot Video Editor good for YouTube?
OpenShot is a great, free, choice for YouTubers at any editing skill level.
Beyond simply ordering your clips, OpenShot includes text and transition options within the program. You can even animate the text, and access Animated Titles if you use OpenShot in tandem with a free animation program called Blender. Titles and transitions are vital to a lot of popular YouTube styles.
OpenShot does not provide the same level of detail as the runner up, Shotcut, when it comes to color correction or audio editing. However, the features it does have (volume levels, control of saturation) will satisfy most YouTubers.
2. Shotcut – Open Source (Windows, Mac, Linux)
Pros
- Detailed audio editing
- Color grading, ability to save presets
- Fairly intuitive timeline
Shotcut Review
Shotcut delivers a smooth, detailed, editing experience for free. It is not as easy to jump into as some of the other programs on this list, but it still only takes a half-hour or so of playing around to understand it well enough to make a video. There are also tutorials up on Shotcut’s site that can help you.
You can edit using multiple video tracks in Shotcut, making it easy to combine multiple clips, and basic functions like splitting or copying clips are as easy as clicking the right icon on the toolbar.
All of the video and audio effects, including things like chroma key, you might want to apply to your video are found under the Filters menu. It will look empty when you first open it, and you have to click the plus sign to see what your options are. If you want to create a color tint (like what you might think of as an Instagram filter) then you can do that through the Color Grading option. If you want to do something like invert your colors or add an ‘old film’ look, you’ll find that here as well along with all of the audio editing features (balance, bass and treble, and gain to name just a few).
Is Shotcut good for YouTube?
Shotcut is a great choice for YouTubers. It allows you to do some advanced editing, and it’s easy to learn compared to a program targeted at professional editors.
The only complication with Shotcut for entry-level editors who will primarily use the program for YouTube might be that animations – like moving text – are not available through the program (you can add and customize text, but it just sits there). You can get them from elsewhere and use them in the program (Shotcut has an alpha channel), but it’s a bit more involved a process than simply customizing something that’s already provided.
3. Hitfilm Express – Windows, Mac
Pros
- Compositing mode (2D and 3D)
- The Most effect customization
- Helpful User Guide & tutorials
Cons
- Can be overwhelming
- Its main strength is FX, but you only get a couple for free. Most have to be bought separately.
Hitfilm Express Review
Hitfilm Express is the best free editor if you want to add special effects to your projects. OpenShot’s alpha channel will be enough for most people, but if you think of yourself as an aspiring filmmaker then it’s hard to beat Hitfilm’s range of functions.
This is an editor designed for people who want to make movies, and it’s a lot more intuitive than most professional-grade software. Film-quality FX (lasers, explosions, etc.) are available through Hitfilm Express for a reasonable price ($10-$50, depending on what you want), and even without paying extra for the packs, there’s a lot you can do to give your video a ‘film look’ using compositing layers and the multitude of customizable effects provided through the program.
Another highlight of Hitfilm Express is the extensive selection of tutorials and helpful information they have available both through YouTube videos and their User Guide. You will need those because this program can be overwhelming. It has so many functions and areas you can customize that it is easy to get lost.
That said, basic editing in Hitfilm Express is not difficult to jump into. It’s only when you start getting fancy that things get dicey.
Is Hitfilm Express good for YouTube?
Yes. It will not be the best option for everyone, but it’s not a bad option for anyone either.
If what you want to make is a vlog where you have a series of clips, and intro, and maybe a couple of title effects, then Hitfilm express might be overkill. You don’t want to have to master compositing just to add some text.
If what you want to make is a vlog that’s interrupted by an alien invasion and turns into an action sequence with lasers and falling debris, it’d be hard to do better than Hitfilm Express.
4. VideoPad Video Editor – Windows
Pros
- Easy to jump into
- Moving text
- Huge audio waveforms
- Audio and visual effects
- Lossless exports
Cons
- No longer updated
VideoPad Video Editor Review
VideoPad Video Editor is an extremely easy to use program. It may be the easiest program on this list to jump into, which you could also realistically create your entire video inside (there are easier programs, but you can only do some of your work in them). Part of its simplicity comes from not being as feature-rich as the programs ranking higher than it on this list, however.
You do not get the same range of functions with VideoPad as you do from the top 3 free editors, but it has enough to satisfy people who are just starting out. Creating moving text effects is easy, you have huge audio waves to work with while you’re syncing, and effects like transitions and filters are easy to find.
VideoPad does suffer a bit from being dated. This program is no longer being worked on, and the interface doesn’t look particularly modern. This is a bit more than a cosmetic issue because some features, while not difficult to find, are placed a bit oddly compared to other editors.
One slightly annoying feature of VideoPad is that it will prompt you to buy the commercial version sometimes (the free version is only for non-commercial use). There have been reports of exports being blocked in the free version, but I exported several times for the sake of this review and the issue never came up.
Is VideoPad Video Editor good for YouTube?
VideoPad makes a decent YouTube editor. You can jump right in and start making cuts, adding filters, and ordering your clips. If you have the kind of channel where voiceovers are important (like in gaming or makeup), then you’ll be happy with the size of the audio waves you have to work with for syncing.
The thing about VideoPad is that you’re probably going to outgrow it quickly as you become a more capable editor.
5. Lightworks – Windows, Mac, Linux
Pros
- Detailed color and audio editing
- Multicam editing
Cons
- Exports limited to 720p for the free version
- Difficult to learn compared to other free software
Lightworks Review
On their website, Lightworks claims to have an ‘intuitive interface’ and ‘easy timeline editing’. This is true if you compare it to other professional-level editing suites. Compared to the other programs on this list, Lightworks is complicated.
The first thing I attempt when I review this program is to simply split a clip, and it took me a ridiculous amount of time to figure this feature out in Lightworks (a more advanced editor could have found it faster, but these reviews are meant to help people with less experience). Lightworks does have a whole tutorial series on using the software, so if you are interested in learning to use it there is ample material out there to help you.
Lightworks has a wide range of functions (i.e. detailed audio editing and color correction), and it has been used for big movies like ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’. It is the most professional program on this list, and it’s a great free alternative to something like Adobe Premiere Pro.
Note: there is no time limit on the free version of Lightworks, but it will ask you to renew your free license every 7 days. When it says your license is ‘expired’ it isn’t kicking you off the free version, you just need to renew.
Is Lightworks good for YouTube?
Whether or not Lightworks is right for your YouTube channel depends on your goals as a video editor.
If what you want is to jump in and start making YouTube videos quickly, Lightworks might not be a great choice. It’s not an easy program to just jump into, you’ll have to either take time to learn it or accept that it’ll take some trial and error to get the hang of.
If what you want is to become a professional-level video editor, then Lightworks is a great program to start on (although, Hitfilm Express may still be better). Taking the time to learn it could certainly pay off in the long run.
However, if one of your priorities is for your YouTube channel to come across as professional, then the free version of Lightworks does have some disappointing limitations. You can only export videos in 720p, which is lower quality than viewers on YouTube expect (you probably want at least 1080p). Your output format is limited too. The royalty-free audio and video content Lightworks offers are also not free; you can just buy them through the program.
6. VSDC Video Editor – Windows
Pros
- Diagrams and charts
- How To Get Started Guide
- Lots of features
Cons
- Very confusing
- Paid features show up in the free version, but they’re blocked
Review of VSDC Video Editor
There’s a lot to like about VSDC Video Editor, but you have to do a lot of work to uncover any of it. Accessing even the most basic features is confusing.
One of the first things I tried to do as I tested the program was make a jump cut (where you cut out part of a video so the playback ‘jumps over’ the deleted segment) and, while I was able to do it, it was not an intuitive process. There is a multitude of toolbars and icons surrounding your preview window in VSDC, and none of those icons was for making cuts to your clips. To make any cuts you have to find the ‘cutting and splitting’ option under the Editor tab at the top of the page, which will open a second window in which you still cannot make any cuts. Instead what you can do is place markers, and when you click ‘apply changes’ to exit the window cuts will be made where you placed markers. There is nothing in the window to explain what the markers are for.
Other basic functions, like adding text, are just as complicated.
Is VSDC Video Editor good for YouTube?
I would not recommend VSDC for YouTube. It ranks higher than two other items on this list because they are, do to functional limitations, unable to create full YouTube videos without the support of other programs (at least realistically). You certainly could create your full YouTube video in VSDC, but it’d be a headache.
7. Machete Video Editor Lite – Windows
Pros
- Great for harvesting clips from longer footage
- Lossless exports
Cons
- Cannot swap or add audio
- Only supports two formats (AVI and WMV)
- Slightly awkward timeline
Machete Video Editor Lite Review
Machete Lite claims that you’ll be able to edit your videos “within a few minutes after downloading the program, even if you’ve never edited a video before”, and that is true. It might even be better if you haven’t edited a video before because the interface is slightly awkward if you’ve come from a program with a more traditional timeline setup. Machete Lite is easy to use for the most part, but it doesn’t work like most other editors and that can be awkward to navigate around.
Instead of seeing a timeline with all of your individual clips, Machete treats your entire video as one clip. You will only be able to see where you have inserted a separate video clip or cut out a portion of the video by watching the video back or jumping through it (Machete Lite does allow frame-by-frame scrolling). You won’t be able to see this information at a glance, and you won’t be able to adjust the lengths of clips you’ve added separately.
To take out any portion of your overall video you’ll need to find a keyframe at the beginning, set that as the beginning of your selection, then find a key frame at the end and set that as the end of your selection. You will then be able to delete that selection. This will not work if the frames you have set as the beginning and end are not considered keyframes by the program, so it can be difficult to be precise, but since the program allows you to jump through keyframes it’s not difficult to find a point that works.
Is Machete Video Editor Lite good for YouTube?
Machete Lite is not a good choice for YouTubers unless it is used in combination with another program.
It doesn’t work as a YouTube editor because you cannot edit or swap audio, the transition between clips, or create layers of videos and images.
However, the thing Machete Lite is really good at is cutting out clips from longer videos. You can create a selection of a part of your longer clip and then export it (with no quality loss) as its own video file.
This is what the Machete Lite toolbar looks like when you’ve created a selection. Tools like cut and copy which were greyed out before are now available, as is the save icon on the far right. If you click the save icon, you’ll be able to save that selection as its own video.
You can’t create a complete YouTube video in Machete Lite, but you can harvest clips to use in a different program.
8. Avidemux – Windows, Mac, Linux, BSD
Pros
- Can add subtitle files
Cons
- Not intuitive
- Doesn’t support MOV or WMV
- The website is not informative, no tutorials
Avidemux Review
Avidemux is not an easy program to jump into. I almost wrote that it couldn’t do anything besides make cuts to a clip before I saw a YouTube tutorial about how to find the contrast and brightness tools. If you decide to try it out, remember that you have to choose your output format before Avidemux will let you access tools like Hue/Saturation and Contrast (click Filters under Video Output to find them).
There are no official tutorials for Avidemux you can access from their site, so you’ll have to rely on the forums and tutorials from users if you want to learn it.
You can import multiple clips into Avidemux, but you have to import them in the order you want because you can’t drag them around the timeline after. Everything becomes one big clip.
Is Avidemux good for YouTube?
No. It has more functionality than Machete, which is ranked higher on this list, but the difference is that Machete is excellent at one thing. They both suffer from the same main weakness – you could not complete your full YouTube video either (at least not without a lot of trouble). Machete could still be useful to a YouTuber, though, because it allows for the lossless exporting of segments of clips. You can use it to harvest clips for your larger project in another program.
In theory, you could do some picture editing and snipping in Avidemux and then put your project together/add titles in another program, but your other program can probably do all that just as well if not better. Avidemux isn’t a bad program, but it doesn’t excel at anything. There are a lot of better options which are also free.
What has your experience with free video editors been like?
Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.
Follow @Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett
Dec 02, 2022• Proven solutions
What makes a YouTube video good? The most important element is obviously you, the creator. Your personality, ideas, and unique viewpoint are what will make your content special and turn viewers into subscribers.
The next most important thing – even more important than the camera you use – is editing.
Editing a YouTube video doesn’t have to be difficult. In fact, it should be simple. Your focus when you’re perfecting your video should be on that ‘most important thing’ we mentioned earlier – your creativity. Editing for a YouTube video should be art, not mechanical engineering.
Below is a list of the top free video editing software ranked according to how appropriate it is for YouTube videos.
| Rank | Editor | Make Cuts | Audio Features | Multiple Video Tracks | Video Effects | Intuitive Score (1-5) | Compatibility |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | OpenShot Video Editor | Yes | Fade In/Out, set volume levels | Yes | Transitions, text, ability to animate. Blur/Saturation/Brightness controls. | 5 | Windows, Mac, Linux |
| 2. | Shotcut | Yes | Detailed audio editing | Yes | You can customize color presets and other effects. No animations. | 4 | Windows, Mac, Linux |
| 3. | Hitfilm Express | Yes | Audio effects and transitioning. | Yes | Every imaginable picture customization. Some FX (more if you pay). Text tool. | 4 | Windows, Mac |
| 4. | VideoPad Video Editor | Yes | Noise removal, equalizer, audio effects. | Yes | Moving text, transitions, filters. | 5 | Windows |
| 5. | Lightworks | Yes | Detailed audio editing | Yes | No premade effects, but you can add text/color edit. | 3 | Windows, Mac, Linux |
| 6. | VSDC Video Editor | Yes | Some audio features blocked in free version | Yes | Filters, transitions, text, and more. | 1 | Windows |
| 7. | Machete Video Editor Lite | Yes | None | No | None | 3 | Windows |
| 8. | Avidemux | Yes | Some audio features | No | Some picture adjustments | 2 | Windows, Mac, Linux, BSD |
Ready to upgrade to a simple, powerful, paid software that’s perfect for YouTube? Check out the free trial of Wondershare Filmora . It is an advanced tool that is focused more on newbie editors who are new to the videography world but want to compete with professionals!
1. OpenShot Video Editor – Open Source (Windows, Mac, Linux)
Pros
- Easy to use
- Includes transitions
- Keyframing
- Alpha Channel
- Unlimited video tracks
OpenShot Video Editor Review
OpenShot completely lives up to the claim that it was designed to be ‘easy to use, quick to learn, and surprisingly powerful’.
The first time you use OpenShot there will be helpful tutorial notes to guide you through the program. The interface is intuitive enough that you may not always need them, but having them should erase any confusion.
All of the basic editing features, like cutting clips up, are easy to access in the timeline. You have unlimited tracks, and it’s easy to drag your clips between them. There’s a helpful magnet feature that fits clips together if you slide them together, but which still allows for blank space if you choose to leave it.
Most other functions – setting volume levels, adjusting the speed, adding movement/zoom effect – are accessible simply by right-clicking on your clip in the timeline and choosing what you want from the menu that pops up.
Is OpenShot Video Editor good for YouTube?
OpenShot is a great, free, choice for YouTubers at any editing skill level.
Beyond simply ordering your clips, OpenShot includes text and transition options within the program. You can even animate the text, and access Animated Titles if you use OpenShot in tandem with a free animation program called Blender. Titles and transitions are vital to a lot of popular YouTube styles.
OpenShot does not provide the same level of detail as the runner up, Shotcut, when it comes to color correction or audio editing. However, the features it does have (volume levels, control of saturation) will satisfy most YouTubers.
2. Shotcut – Open Source (Windows, Mac, Linux)
Pros
- Detailed audio editing
- Color grading, ability to save presets
- Fairly intuitive timeline
Shotcut Review
Shotcut delivers a smooth, detailed, editing experience for free. It is not as easy to jump into as some of the other programs on this list, but it still only takes a half-hour or so of playing around to understand it well enough to make a video. There are also tutorials up on Shotcut’s site that can help you.
You can edit using multiple video tracks in Shotcut, making it easy to combine multiple clips, and basic functions like splitting or copying clips are as easy as clicking the right icon on the toolbar.
All of the video and audio effects, including things like chroma key, you might want to apply to your video are found under the Filters menu. It will look empty when you first open it, and you have to click the plus sign to see what your options are. If you want to create a color tint (like what you might think of as an Instagram filter) then you can do that through the Color Grading option. If you want to do something like invert your colors or add an ‘old film’ look, you’ll find that here as well along with all of the audio editing features (balance, bass and treble, and gain to name just a few).
Is Shotcut good for YouTube?
Shotcut is a great choice for YouTubers. It allows you to do some advanced editing, and it’s easy to learn compared to a program targeted at professional editors.
The only complication with Shotcut for entry-level editors who will primarily use the program for YouTube might be that animations – like moving text – are not available through the program (you can add and customize text, but it just sits there). You can get them from elsewhere and use them in the program (Shotcut has an alpha channel), but it’s a bit more involved a process than simply customizing something that’s already provided.
3. Hitfilm Express – Windows, Mac
Pros
- Compositing mode (2D and 3D)
- The Most effect customization
- Helpful User Guide & tutorials
Cons
- Can be overwhelming
- Its main strength is FX, but you only get a couple for free. Most have to be bought separately.
Hitfilm Express Review
Hitfilm Express is the best free editor if you want to add special effects to your projects. OpenShot’s alpha channel will be enough for most people, but if you think of yourself as an aspiring filmmaker then it’s hard to beat Hitfilm’s range of functions.
This is an editor designed for people who want to make movies, and it’s a lot more intuitive than most professional-grade software. Film-quality FX (lasers, explosions, etc.) are available through Hitfilm Express for a reasonable price ($10-$50, depending on what you want), and even without paying extra for the packs, there’s a lot you can do to give your video a ‘film look’ using compositing layers and the multitude of customizable effects provided through the program.
Another highlight of Hitfilm Express is the extensive selection of tutorials and helpful information they have available both through YouTube videos and their User Guide. You will need those because this program can be overwhelming. It has so many functions and areas you can customize that it is easy to get lost.
That said, basic editing in Hitfilm Express is not difficult to jump into. It’s only when you start getting fancy that things get dicey.
Is Hitfilm Express good for YouTube?
Yes. It will not be the best option for everyone, but it’s not a bad option for anyone either.
If what you want to make is a vlog where you have a series of clips, and intro, and maybe a couple of title effects, then Hitfilm express might be overkill. You don’t want to have to master compositing just to add some text.
If what you want to make is a vlog that’s interrupted by an alien invasion and turns into an action sequence with lasers and falling debris, it’d be hard to do better than Hitfilm Express.
4. VideoPad Video Editor – Windows
Pros
- Easy to jump into
- Moving text
- Huge audio waveforms
- Audio and visual effects
- Lossless exports
Cons
- No longer updated
VideoPad Video Editor Review
VideoPad Video Editor is an extremely easy to use program. It may be the easiest program on this list to jump into, which you could also realistically create your entire video inside (there are easier programs, but you can only do some of your work in them). Part of its simplicity comes from not being as feature-rich as the programs ranking higher than it on this list, however.
You do not get the same range of functions with VideoPad as you do from the top 3 free editors, but it has enough to satisfy people who are just starting out. Creating moving text effects is easy, you have huge audio waves to work with while you’re syncing, and effects like transitions and filters are easy to find.
VideoPad does suffer a bit from being dated. This program is no longer being worked on, and the interface doesn’t look particularly modern. This is a bit more than a cosmetic issue because some features, while not difficult to find, are placed a bit oddly compared to other editors.
One slightly annoying feature of VideoPad is that it will prompt you to buy the commercial version sometimes (the free version is only for non-commercial use). There have been reports of exports being blocked in the free version, but I exported several times for the sake of this review and the issue never came up.
Is VideoPad Video Editor good for YouTube?
VideoPad makes a decent YouTube editor. You can jump right in and start making cuts, adding filters, and ordering your clips. If you have the kind of channel where voiceovers are important (like in gaming or makeup), then you’ll be happy with the size of the audio waves you have to work with for syncing.
The thing about VideoPad is that you’re probably going to outgrow it quickly as you become a more capable editor.
5. Lightworks – Windows, Mac, Linux
Pros
- Detailed color and audio editing
- Multicam editing
Cons
- Exports limited to 720p for the free version
- Difficult to learn compared to other free software
Lightworks Review
On their website, Lightworks claims to have an ‘intuitive interface’ and ‘easy timeline editing’. This is true if you compare it to other professional-level editing suites. Compared to the other programs on this list, Lightworks is complicated.
The first thing I attempt when I review this program is to simply split a clip, and it took me a ridiculous amount of time to figure this feature out in Lightworks (a more advanced editor could have found it faster, but these reviews are meant to help people with less experience). Lightworks does have a whole tutorial series on using the software, so if you are interested in learning to use it there is ample material out there to help you.
Lightworks has a wide range of functions (i.e. detailed audio editing and color correction), and it has been used for big movies like ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’. It is the most professional program on this list, and it’s a great free alternative to something like Adobe Premiere Pro.
Note: there is no time limit on the free version of Lightworks, but it will ask you to renew your free license every 7 days. When it says your license is ‘expired’ it isn’t kicking you off the free version, you just need to renew.
Is Lightworks good for YouTube?
Whether or not Lightworks is right for your YouTube channel depends on your goals as a video editor.
If what you want is to jump in and start making YouTube videos quickly, Lightworks might not be a great choice. It’s not an easy program to just jump into, you’ll have to either take time to learn it or accept that it’ll take some trial and error to get the hang of.
If what you want is to become a professional-level video editor, then Lightworks is a great program to start on (although, Hitfilm Express may still be better). Taking the time to learn it could certainly pay off in the long run.
However, if one of your priorities is for your YouTube channel to come across as professional, then the free version of Lightworks does have some disappointing limitations. You can only export videos in 720p, which is lower quality than viewers on YouTube expect (you probably want at least 1080p). Your output format is limited too. The royalty-free audio and video content Lightworks offers are also not free; you can just buy them through the program.
6. VSDC Video Editor – Windows
Pros
- Diagrams and charts
- How To Get Started Guide
- Lots of features
Cons
- Very confusing
- Paid features show up in the free version, but they’re blocked
Review of VSDC Video Editor
There’s a lot to like about VSDC Video Editor, but you have to do a lot of work to uncover any of it. Accessing even the most basic features is confusing.
One of the first things I tried to do as I tested the program was make a jump cut (where you cut out part of a video so the playback ‘jumps over’ the deleted segment) and, while I was able to do it, it was not an intuitive process. There is a multitude of toolbars and icons surrounding your preview window in VSDC, and none of those icons was for making cuts to your clips. To make any cuts you have to find the ‘cutting and splitting’ option under the Editor tab at the top of the page, which will open a second window in which you still cannot make any cuts. Instead what you can do is place markers, and when you click ‘apply changes’ to exit the window cuts will be made where you placed markers. There is nothing in the window to explain what the markers are for.
Other basic functions, like adding text, are just as complicated.
Is VSDC Video Editor good for YouTube?
I would not recommend VSDC for YouTube. It ranks higher than two other items on this list because they are, do to functional limitations, unable to create full YouTube videos without the support of other programs (at least realistically). You certainly could create your full YouTube video in VSDC, but it’d be a headache.
7. Machete Video Editor Lite – Windows
Pros
- Great for harvesting clips from longer footage
- Lossless exports
Cons
- Cannot swap or add audio
- Only supports two formats (AVI and WMV)
- Slightly awkward timeline
Machete Video Editor Lite Review
Machete Lite claims that you’ll be able to edit your videos “within a few minutes after downloading the program, even if you’ve never edited a video before”, and that is true. It might even be better if you haven’t edited a video before because the interface is slightly awkward if you’ve come from a program with a more traditional timeline setup. Machete Lite is easy to use for the most part, but it doesn’t work like most other editors and that can be awkward to navigate around.
Instead of seeing a timeline with all of your individual clips, Machete treats your entire video as one clip. You will only be able to see where you have inserted a separate video clip or cut out a portion of the video by watching the video back or jumping through it (Machete Lite does allow frame-by-frame scrolling). You won’t be able to see this information at a glance, and you won’t be able to adjust the lengths of clips you’ve added separately.
To take out any portion of your overall video you’ll need to find a keyframe at the beginning, set that as the beginning of your selection, then find a key frame at the end and set that as the end of your selection. You will then be able to delete that selection. This will not work if the frames you have set as the beginning and end are not considered keyframes by the program, so it can be difficult to be precise, but since the program allows you to jump through keyframes it’s not difficult to find a point that works.
Is Machete Video Editor Lite good for YouTube?
Machete Lite is not a good choice for YouTubers unless it is used in combination with another program.
It doesn’t work as a YouTube editor because you cannot edit or swap audio, the transition between clips, or create layers of videos and images.
However, the thing Machete Lite is really good at is cutting out clips from longer videos. You can create a selection of a part of your longer clip and then export it (with no quality loss) as its own video file.
This is what the Machete Lite toolbar looks like when you’ve created a selection. Tools like cut and copy which were greyed out before are now available, as is the save icon on the far right. If you click the save icon, you’ll be able to save that selection as its own video.
You can’t create a complete YouTube video in Machete Lite, but you can harvest clips to use in a different program.
8. Avidemux – Windows, Mac, Linux, BSD
Pros
- Can add subtitle files
Cons
- Not intuitive
- Doesn’t support MOV or WMV
- The website is not informative, no tutorials
Avidemux Review
Avidemux is not an easy program to jump into. I almost wrote that it couldn’t do anything besides make cuts to a clip before I saw a YouTube tutorial about how to find the contrast and brightness tools. If you decide to try it out, remember that you have to choose your output format before Avidemux will let you access tools like Hue/Saturation and Contrast (click Filters under Video Output to find them).
There are no official tutorials for Avidemux you can access from their site, so you’ll have to rely on the forums and tutorials from users if you want to learn it.
You can import multiple clips into Avidemux, but you have to import them in the order you want because you can’t drag them around the timeline after. Everything becomes one big clip.
Is Avidemux good for YouTube?
No. It has more functionality than Machete, which is ranked higher on this list, but the difference is that Machete is excellent at one thing. They both suffer from the same main weakness – you could not complete your full YouTube video either (at least not without a lot of trouble). Machete could still be useful to a YouTuber, though, because it allows for the lossless exporting of segments of clips. You can use it to harvest clips for your larger project in another program.
In theory, you could do some picture editing and snipping in Avidemux and then put your project together/add titles in another program, but your other program can probably do all that just as well if not better. Avidemux isn’t a bad program, but it doesn’t excel at anything. There are a lot of better options which are also free.
What has your experience with free video editors been like?
Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.
Follow @Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett
Dec 02, 2022• Proven solutions
What makes a YouTube video good? The most important element is obviously you, the creator. Your personality, ideas, and unique viewpoint are what will make your content special and turn viewers into subscribers.
The next most important thing – even more important than the camera you use – is editing.
Editing a YouTube video doesn’t have to be difficult. In fact, it should be simple. Your focus when you’re perfecting your video should be on that ‘most important thing’ we mentioned earlier – your creativity. Editing for a YouTube video should be art, not mechanical engineering.
Below is a list of the top free video editing software ranked according to how appropriate it is for YouTube videos.
| Rank | Editor | Make Cuts | Audio Features | Multiple Video Tracks | Video Effects | Intuitive Score (1-5) | Compatibility |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | OpenShot Video Editor | Yes | Fade In/Out, set volume levels | Yes | Transitions, text, ability to animate. Blur/Saturation/Brightness controls. | 5 | Windows, Mac, Linux |
| 2. | Shotcut | Yes | Detailed audio editing | Yes | You can customize color presets and other effects. No animations. | 4 | Windows, Mac, Linux |
| 3. | Hitfilm Express | Yes | Audio effects and transitioning. | Yes | Every imaginable picture customization. Some FX (more if you pay). Text tool. | 4 | Windows, Mac |
| 4. | VideoPad Video Editor | Yes | Noise removal, equalizer, audio effects. | Yes | Moving text, transitions, filters. | 5 | Windows |
| 5. | Lightworks | Yes | Detailed audio editing | Yes | No premade effects, but you can add text/color edit. | 3 | Windows, Mac, Linux |
| 6. | VSDC Video Editor | Yes | Some audio features blocked in free version | Yes | Filters, transitions, text, and more. | 1 | Windows |
| 7. | Machete Video Editor Lite | Yes | None | No | None | 3 | Windows |
| 8. | Avidemux | Yes | Some audio features | No | Some picture adjustments | 2 | Windows, Mac, Linux, BSD |
Ready to upgrade to a simple, powerful, paid software that’s perfect for YouTube? Check out the free trial of Wondershare Filmora . It is an advanced tool that is focused more on newbie editors who are new to the videography world but want to compete with professionals!
1. OpenShot Video Editor – Open Source (Windows, Mac, Linux)
Pros
- Easy to use
- Includes transitions
- Keyframing
- Alpha Channel
- Unlimited video tracks
OpenShot Video Editor Review
OpenShot completely lives up to the claim that it was designed to be ‘easy to use, quick to learn, and surprisingly powerful’.
The first time you use OpenShot there will be helpful tutorial notes to guide you through the program. The interface is intuitive enough that you may not always need them, but having them should erase any confusion.
All of the basic editing features, like cutting clips up, are easy to access in the timeline. You have unlimited tracks, and it’s easy to drag your clips between them. There’s a helpful magnet feature that fits clips together if you slide them together, but which still allows for blank space if you choose to leave it.
Most other functions – setting volume levels, adjusting the speed, adding movement/zoom effect – are accessible simply by right-clicking on your clip in the timeline and choosing what you want from the menu that pops up.
Is OpenShot Video Editor good for YouTube?
OpenShot is a great, free, choice for YouTubers at any editing skill level.
Beyond simply ordering your clips, OpenShot includes text and transition options within the program. You can even animate the text, and access Animated Titles if you use OpenShot in tandem with a free animation program called Blender. Titles and transitions are vital to a lot of popular YouTube styles.
OpenShot does not provide the same level of detail as the runner up, Shotcut, when it comes to color correction or audio editing. However, the features it does have (volume levels, control of saturation) will satisfy most YouTubers.
2. Shotcut – Open Source (Windows, Mac, Linux)
Pros
- Detailed audio editing
- Color grading, ability to save presets
- Fairly intuitive timeline
Shotcut Review
Shotcut delivers a smooth, detailed, editing experience for free. It is not as easy to jump into as some of the other programs on this list, but it still only takes a half-hour or so of playing around to understand it well enough to make a video. There are also tutorials up on Shotcut’s site that can help you.
You can edit using multiple video tracks in Shotcut, making it easy to combine multiple clips, and basic functions like splitting or copying clips are as easy as clicking the right icon on the toolbar.
All of the video and audio effects, including things like chroma key, you might want to apply to your video are found under the Filters menu. It will look empty when you first open it, and you have to click the plus sign to see what your options are. If you want to create a color tint (like what you might think of as an Instagram filter) then you can do that through the Color Grading option. If you want to do something like invert your colors or add an ‘old film’ look, you’ll find that here as well along with all of the audio editing features (balance, bass and treble, and gain to name just a few).
Is Shotcut good for YouTube?
Shotcut is a great choice for YouTubers. It allows you to do some advanced editing, and it’s easy to learn compared to a program targeted at professional editors.
The only complication with Shotcut for entry-level editors who will primarily use the program for YouTube might be that animations – like moving text – are not available through the program (you can add and customize text, but it just sits there). You can get them from elsewhere and use them in the program (Shotcut has an alpha channel), but it’s a bit more involved a process than simply customizing something that’s already provided.
3. Hitfilm Express – Windows, Mac
Pros
- Compositing mode (2D and 3D)
- The Most effect customization
- Helpful User Guide & tutorials
Cons
- Can be overwhelming
- Its main strength is FX, but you only get a couple for free. Most have to be bought separately.
Hitfilm Express Review
Hitfilm Express is the best free editor if you want to add special effects to your projects. OpenShot’s alpha channel will be enough for most people, but if you think of yourself as an aspiring filmmaker then it’s hard to beat Hitfilm’s range of functions.
This is an editor designed for people who want to make movies, and it’s a lot more intuitive than most professional-grade software. Film-quality FX (lasers, explosions, etc.) are available through Hitfilm Express for a reasonable price ($10-$50, depending on what you want), and even without paying extra for the packs, there’s a lot you can do to give your video a ‘film look’ using compositing layers and the multitude of customizable effects provided through the program.
Another highlight of Hitfilm Express is the extensive selection of tutorials and helpful information they have available both through YouTube videos and their User Guide. You will need those because this program can be overwhelming. It has so many functions and areas you can customize that it is easy to get lost.
That said, basic editing in Hitfilm Express is not difficult to jump into. It’s only when you start getting fancy that things get dicey.
Is Hitfilm Express good for YouTube?
Yes. It will not be the best option for everyone, but it’s not a bad option for anyone either.
If what you want to make is a vlog where you have a series of clips, and intro, and maybe a couple of title effects, then Hitfilm express might be overkill. You don’t want to have to master compositing just to add some text.
If what you want to make is a vlog that’s interrupted by an alien invasion and turns into an action sequence with lasers and falling debris, it’d be hard to do better than Hitfilm Express.
4. VideoPad Video Editor – Windows
Pros
- Easy to jump into
- Moving text
- Huge audio waveforms
- Audio and visual effects
- Lossless exports
Cons
- No longer updated
VideoPad Video Editor Review
VideoPad Video Editor is an extremely easy to use program. It may be the easiest program on this list to jump into, which you could also realistically create your entire video inside (there are easier programs, but you can only do some of your work in them). Part of its simplicity comes from not being as feature-rich as the programs ranking higher than it on this list, however.
You do not get the same range of functions with VideoPad as you do from the top 3 free editors, but it has enough to satisfy people who are just starting out. Creating moving text effects is easy, you have huge audio waves to work with while you’re syncing, and effects like transitions and filters are easy to find.
VideoPad does suffer a bit from being dated. This program is no longer being worked on, and the interface doesn’t look particularly modern. This is a bit more than a cosmetic issue because some features, while not difficult to find, are placed a bit oddly compared to other editors.
One slightly annoying feature of VideoPad is that it will prompt you to buy the commercial version sometimes (the free version is only for non-commercial use). There have been reports of exports being blocked in the free version, but I exported several times for the sake of this review and the issue never came up.
Is VideoPad Video Editor good for YouTube?
VideoPad makes a decent YouTube editor. You can jump right in and start making cuts, adding filters, and ordering your clips. If you have the kind of channel where voiceovers are important (like in gaming or makeup), then you’ll be happy with the size of the audio waves you have to work with for syncing.
The thing about VideoPad is that you’re probably going to outgrow it quickly as you become a more capable editor.
5. Lightworks – Windows, Mac, Linux
Pros
- Detailed color and audio editing
- Multicam editing
Cons
- Exports limited to 720p for the free version
- Difficult to learn compared to other free software
Lightworks Review
On their website, Lightworks claims to have an ‘intuitive interface’ and ‘easy timeline editing’. This is true if you compare it to other professional-level editing suites. Compared to the other programs on this list, Lightworks is complicated.
The first thing I attempt when I review this program is to simply split a clip, and it took me a ridiculous amount of time to figure this feature out in Lightworks (a more advanced editor could have found it faster, but these reviews are meant to help people with less experience). Lightworks does have a whole tutorial series on using the software, so if you are interested in learning to use it there is ample material out there to help you.
Lightworks has a wide range of functions (i.e. detailed audio editing and color correction), and it has been used for big movies like ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’. It is the most professional program on this list, and it’s a great free alternative to something like Adobe Premiere Pro.
Note: there is no time limit on the free version of Lightworks, but it will ask you to renew your free license every 7 days. When it says your license is ‘expired’ it isn’t kicking you off the free version, you just need to renew.
Is Lightworks good for YouTube?
Whether or not Lightworks is right for your YouTube channel depends on your goals as a video editor.
If what you want is to jump in and start making YouTube videos quickly, Lightworks might not be a great choice. It’s not an easy program to just jump into, you’ll have to either take time to learn it or accept that it’ll take some trial and error to get the hang of.
If what you want is to become a professional-level video editor, then Lightworks is a great program to start on (although, Hitfilm Express may still be better). Taking the time to learn it could certainly pay off in the long run.
However, if one of your priorities is for your YouTube channel to come across as professional, then the free version of Lightworks does have some disappointing limitations. You can only export videos in 720p, which is lower quality than viewers on YouTube expect (you probably want at least 1080p). Your output format is limited too. The royalty-free audio and video content Lightworks offers are also not free; you can just buy them through the program.
6. VSDC Video Editor – Windows
Pros
- Diagrams and charts
- How To Get Started Guide
- Lots of features
Cons
- Very confusing
- Paid features show up in the free version, but they’re blocked
Review of VSDC Video Editor
There’s a lot to like about VSDC Video Editor, but you have to do a lot of work to uncover any of it. Accessing even the most basic features is confusing.
One of the first things I tried to do as I tested the program was make a jump cut (where you cut out part of a video so the playback ‘jumps over’ the deleted segment) and, while I was able to do it, it was not an intuitive process. There is a multitude of toolbars and icons surrounding your preview window in VSDC, and none of those icons was for making cuts to your clips. To make any cuts you have to find the ‘cutting and splitting’ option under the Editor tab at the top of the page, which will open a second window in which you still cannot make any cuts. Instead what you can do is place markers, and when you click ‘apply changes’ to exit the window cuts will be made where you placed markers. There is nothing in the window to explain what the markers are for.
Other basic functions, like adding text, are just as complicated.
Is VSDC Video Editor good for YouTube?
I would not recommend VSDC for YouTube. It ranks higher than two other items on this list because they are, do to functional limitations, unable to create full YouTube videos without the support of other programs (at least realistically). You certainly could create your full YouTube video in VSDC, but it’d be a headache.
7. Machete Video Editor Lite – Windows
Pros
- Great for harvesting clips from longer footage
- Lossless exports
Cons
- Cannot swap or add audio
- Only supports two formats (AVI and WMV)
- Slightly awkward timeline
Machete Video Editor Lite Review
Machete Lite claims that you’ll be able to edit your videos “within a few minutes after downloading the program, even if you’ve never edited a video before”, and that is true. It might even be better if you haven’t edited a video before because the interface is slightly awkward if you’ve come from a program with a more traditional timeline setup. Machete Lite is easy to use for the most part, but it doesn’t work like most other editors and that can be awkward to navigate around.
Instead of seeing a timeline with all of your individual clips, Machete treats your entire video as one clip. You will only be able to see where you have inserted a separate video clip or cut out a portion of the video by watching the video back or jumping through it (Machete Lite does allow frame-by-frame scrolling). You won’t be able to see this information at a glance, and you won’t be able to adjust the lengths of clips you’ve added separately.
To take out any portion of your overall video you’ll need to find a keyframe at the beginning, set that as the beginning of your selection, then find a key frame at the end and set that as the end of your selection. You will then be able to delete that selection. This will not work if the frames you have set as the beginning and end are not considered keyframes by the program, so it can be difficult to be precise, but since the program allows you to jump through keyframes it’s not difficult to find a point that works.
Is Machete Video Editor Lite good for YouTube?
Machete Lite is not a good choice for YouTubers unless it is used in combination with another program.
It doesn’t work as a YouTube editor because you cannot edit or swap audio, the transition between clips, or create layers of videos and images.
However, the thing Machete Lite is really good at is cutting out clips from longer videos. You can create a selection of a part of your longer clip and then export it (with no quality loss) as its own video file.
This is what the Machete Lite toolbar looks like when you’ve created a selection. Tools like cut and copy which were greyed out before are now available, as is the save icon on the far right. If you click the save icon, you’ll be able to save that selection as its own video.
You can’t create a complete YouTube video in Machete Lite, but you can harvest clips to use in a different program.
8. Avidemux – Windows, Mac, Linux, BSD
Pros
- Can add subtitle files
Cons
- Not intuitive
- Doesn’t support MOV or WMV
- The website is not informative, no tutorials
Avidemux Review
Avidemux is not an easy program to jump into. I almost wrote that it couldn’t do anything besides make cuts to a clip before I saw a YouTube tutorial about how to find the contrast and brightness tools. If you decide to try it out, remember that you have to choose your output format before Avidemux will let you access tools like Hue/Saturation and Contrast (click Filters under Video Output to find them).
There are no official tutorials for Avidemux you can access from their site, so you’ll have to rely on the forums and tutorials from users if you want to learn it.
You can import multiple clips into Avidemux, but you have to import them in the order you want because you can’t drag them around the timeline after. Everything becomes one big clip.
Is Avidemux good for YouTube?
No. It has more functionality than Machete, which is ranked higher on this list, but the difference is that Machete is excellent at one thing. They both suffer from the same main weakness – you could not complete your full YouTube video either (at least not without a lot of trouble). Machete could still be useful to a YouTuber, though, because it allows for the lossless exporting of segments of clips. You can use it to harvest clips for your larger project in another program.
In theory, you could do some picture editing and snipping in Avidemux and then put your project together/add titles in another program, but your other program can probably do all that just as well if not better. Avidemux isn’t a bad program, but it doesn’t excel at anything. There are a lot of better options which are also free.
What has your experience with free video editors been like?
Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.
Follow @Richard Bennett
Skyrocketing Numbers: Enhancing YouTube Presence
Get More Viewers with Social Media Marketing for YouTube
Richard Bennett
Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions
After uploading your video on YouTube, you may want to sit back and enjoy the massive uptick of views and subscribers. However, until you have established a big following on YouTube, only a few people are going to see your freshly published video… unless you share on social media.
So don’t relax yet, it’s time to spread the word about your video and channel on social media, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, and Reddit.
Why is social media the best place to share your YouTube video? Let’s take a quick look at the statistics of some of the biggest social platforms in the world:
- Facebook has over 2.1 billion monthly active users.
- Instagram has approximately 800 million monthly active users.
- Twitter has approximately 330 million monthly active users.
- Reddit has approximately 330 million monthly active users.
- Snapchat has approximately 200 million monthly active users.
While your loyal viewers might watch your videos on YouTube, YouTube might not be the platform they spend the most time on.
Start by understanding your audience. If your YouTube channel is discussing fan theories for a popular television show, then Twitter and Reddit should be where you direct your efforts. If you are creating video content that has a lot of visual appeal, like travel or photography, then Instagram and Snapchat are better for cross-promotional content.
By promoting on the right social platform, there’s a better chance of discoverability. Additionally, branding that is consistent across all social media increases the trust among your viewers. Consistency does not mean simply putting the YouTube video onto Instagram or sharing it on Facebook.
Content is not one-size fits all!
Regardless of what platform your viewers are spending most of their time on, it’s important to understand how the community interacts. Sharing your video content on Facebook is different than on Reddit. What may be okay on one platform may come across as spam in another.
In this post, we will go through the best practices of sharing and engaging with your audience on 5 of the most popular social media channels.
Table of Content:
Part 1: Instagram for YouTube Channel Marketing
There is a lot of content today and therefore, audiences are more selective about how they choose to spend their time.
Take this example: Before you go to the theater to watch a movie, you might see a poster or a trailer first.
A movie poster lets you know this movie is coming to theatres and the trailer gives you a taste of what to expect before you buy the ticket and sit in the theater for two hours. If the promotional materials don’t entice, you wouldn’t go see the movie.
Instagram can work much in the same way for your YouTube channel. Your Instagram account can be a platform for attracting new viewers and hyping up your loyal following.
1. Using Bite-sized Snackable Content on Instagram
Images and one-minute long videos can engage with your users, help them work up an appetite for your videos, and direct them to your YouTube channel for more.
The great thing about Instagram — compared to YouTube — is that it’s easier to produce content for Instagram every day without exhausting your resources.
Be thinking about what you can post on to Instagram while you work on your YouTube video. You want a really attractive image or short video, which can be something you capture as you work on your long-form video: short preview or behind the scenes footage.
2. Share Your Life
Instagram allows you to consistently post content from your life. This allows you to connect with your audience as they discover more about you, so when it comes time for the YouTube video, they feel that have an established relationship with you.
They see your picture or video on their feed every day after all. You and your followers are practically friends.
While Instagram has multiple ways you can post onto the platform, we will talk about two very different strategies:
How YouTubers Should Post on Instagram Feed
When you post an image or a video onto Instagram directly it will be on your timeline and acts as a tile for your whole Instagram feed page. This piece of content will stay on your page forever, or until you delete it.
Like your YouTube videos, the content you post to your Instagram directly should have a cohesive theme that matches your branding. Keep an eye on your: -
- Aesthetic
- Caption
- Filter
As Instagram has grown in popularity, a lot of tools have been developed to help creators like yourself. Here are a few apps that you can include in your kit:
- VSCO: A photo editor app that will allow you to clean up and enhance details to really make your visuals pop.
- UNUM: An Instagram planner app that enables you to visualize and pre-plan your post.
- Later: A scheduling tool you can use to auto-publish to directly to Instagram.
- Planoly: Drag and drop scheduler and planner, allows you to see the whole grid before posting.
Here’s Liza Koshy’s Instagram feed. As you can see, she has a clear style and also a variety of content. If you haven’t heard of Liza Koshy and found her through Instagram, you get curious: “What does she do?” Instagram is fantastic for building intrigue and garnering interest.
Instagram: Liza Koshy
This will be a good place to post a teaser of your latest video, upload an inspiring image, or share an interesting piece of content that shows the world what you are all about.
Have a different type of content lined up. You don’t want someone to end up on your Instagram page and only see selfies or inspiring quotes.
You won’t know which type of content will hook your next fan… so experiment.
When you post onto Instagram directly, you can’t add a are unable to link in the caption. This has been a bane for marketers and creators since the beginning of Instagram.
Instagram: Pointless Blog
While Instagram is a great engagement platform, it hasn’t been the best channel for those who want to have a direct call to action. The old method was to direct the viewer to your Instagram bio where there is the only place to post a link.
However, once you’ve gained a large following (10K) you will be able to attached links in Instagram Story.
2. How YouTubers Should on Post Instagram Story
Instagram Story allows you to post a series of images and videos over the course of 24 hours. After that, the collection of content — or “story” — from that day disappears.
1. Don’t want your Instagram Story to disappear forever?
There is a feature called “Highlight” which archives your stories so that you can view them later, however, they will be kept on your Instagram profile page. This allows visitors to see your best stories and have prepared content even when you go 24 hours without posting something new.
Instagram: Marianna Hewitt
2. Use Instagram Story to Make an Announcement
While you are uploading your latest video to YouTube, go on Instagram Story and let your followers know.
Unlike posting directly to the Instagram timeline, once you reach a certain milestone, Instagram Story allows you to create a link right in the content. The ability to offer something timely and encourage the viewer to swipe up is a fantastic way to catch your audience when they are most interested in your content. By doing so, you redirect them from Instagram to your YouTube video.
Instagram: Jenn Im
Don’t think of Instagram Story as simply a mean for promoting your video, but a chance to give your loyal viewers an exclusive view into your process, allow them to get familiar with your personality and increase the exposure of your brand as a whole, solidifying your relationship.
Part 2: Facebook for YouTube Channel Marketing
Facebook is the world’s most popular social media platform. With that claim, it can help any new YouTuber find and grow their audience. It doesn’t matter if their channel is about fashion or karate, Facebook is an appropriate platform for interacting with the audience, as long as the content you share is relevant and click-worthy.
There are a number of ways to share content on Facebook:
- Sharing on your own personal timeline allows your Friends to see the content.
- Sharing directly to a particular group or person’s feed assures those in the group or that specific person will see the content.
- Sharing via a separate Page you’ve built for your YouTube channel allows those who are following the page to see the content.
1. Improve YouTube Video Thumbnail on Facebook
Facebook doesn’t make it easy for YouTubers to show their video on Facebook’s news feed, especially if it is hosted on YouTube.
When you post your video from YouTube directly to Facebook, it’ll look something like the image above. Unremarkable. While your audience can still view the video on the Facebook timeline, your fans scrolling by wouldn’t even notice it.
This is Facebook’s way of encouraging you to post videos directly to Facebook’s platform. Which is something you should consider as well, but as you are currently working to grow your YouTube channel, it’s good to focus on this task first.
Well, how do you make the post look better? There is a tool calledThumb Tube that gives you full sized image on Facebook:
Thumb Tube takes your YouTube video link and redirects it so it is now hosted on ThumbTube.com. Yet, anyone viewing the video there is watching on YouTube, not Facebook. This allows you to still capture all the views, likes, and comments on YouTube.
1. Managing a Facebook Page for Your YouTube Channel
Know this, Facebook has been around for over a decade, and establishing yourself on the social network in 2018 is not what it was like in the late ‘00s. Hard truths: building a following from scratch is going to be a lot of work.
1. Growing on Facebook is Hard
Before you go and start committing yourself to Facebook, consider your capacity and your audience: are you able to dedicate time and effort on Facebook? Is this the best platform to reach your viewers?
So Facebook is for you. How should you approach it?
2. Setup a Facebook Page for your YouTube Channel
This separates your personal account from your channel, allowing you to still have some autonomy. You don’t necessarily want your fans to be your friends… On top of that, having a separate page for your channel enables you to keep a consistent branding, which is important in getting more likes and subscribers.
To set up a separate Facebook Page:
1. Go to Facebook, and click “Pages” in the right-hand column
- Click “Create Pages”
- Let Facebook know whether your Page will be classified as a “Business or Brand” or a “Community or Public Figure”
- Name your Page, preferably your YouTube channel name
- Add Profile and Cover pictures
- INVITE!
Treat your Facebook Page like another homepage for your channel. Landing on your page might be the first interaction the audience will have with your brand, so it is important that it is similar to your YouTube channel. This means, the logo has to match, the descriptions need to be aligned, and the cover photo should somewhat resemble your YouTube channel art.
Once you are confident that all the Facebook elements are consistent, it’s time to start marketing.
3. Invite Your Facebook Friends to Like Your Page
Your circle of friends will give you your initial burst needed to grow your YouTube channel, as they like and comment on your videos. The more engagement you get, the more impressions your post will earn not just from your friends, but from your friends’ friends. This expands your network.
However, don’t post the same thing over and over again. It’ll come across as spam to your followers, and it’ll also look lazy if someone lands on your page and see the same piece of content repeated on your news feed.
Facebook is best if you are consistently sharing a variety of content related to your channel.
This does not mean you have to be creating them all. If you were to post five times a week, perhaps only one of the post can be originally created by you. Curate content (i.e. blog, infographics, podcasts, images) that matches your audience’s interest. By always having engaging content that your fans are eager to like, share, and comment, this will give your videos more exposure when it is time to share it.
Pro Tip: Save time by scheduling your Facebook content ahead of time. By batching your Facebook content to be uploaded in one sitting, you can have a week to a month of content prepped ahead of time, so you can go back to focusing on YouTube.
Managing Facebook as a channel to build your YouTube audience can be very effective, but it is a lot of work in itself.
Managing Facebook involves:
- Posting content
- Responding to comments
- Engaging with Facebook groups
- Tube Ritual (Video Marketing YouTube Group)
- Beauty and the Vlog (Fashion and Beauty YouTube Group)
- Travel Vloggers United (Travel YouTube Group)
- Evaluating performance repeatedly
Don’t spread yourself too thin. If YouTube is your priority, all other social media communities should be complementary, not an obligation.
Part 3: Twitter for YouTube Channel Marketing
Unlike Facebook or Instagram, Twitter is a platform where you must be ready with a large amount of valuable content to share, otherwise, you will be lost in the noise. Don’t be afraid to tweet similar content throughout a day. As long as it is done well and isn’t misleading viewers, it wouldn’t be considered spam.
Twitter allows you to get in front of some of the most influential people on the Internet and stay on top of global trends. It is not always easy to get noticed on Twitter, but when your content really resonates, it’s also hard to be ignored.
1. Take Advantage of Trending Hashtags
In order to be successful on Twitter, you must be ready to jump onto a relevant trend. If you are talking about something that nobody is interested in, you might not be heard at all. Keep an eye on the most popular hashtags for that day and get involved with a conversation.
While you should definitely tweet and gain engagement for your YouTube videos, you will also need to tweet out other content.
Constantly keeping an eye on what the world is talking about gives you an idea of what is important to discuss. This may even help guide your next YouTube video.
2. Tag Brands and Influencers
Twitter is a great platform if your channel showcases brands, personalities, or influencers because it gives you the ability to get in front of them. Getting a big brand or an influencer to share your video can earn you a lot more Twitter followers as well as a lot more views to your channel.
An effective way for YouTubers to use Twitter is to be active during an event. If you know that the event will get a lot of attention and the content you are producing is relevant to that audience, then use the official hashtag, tag an attendee, and get that crowd who are actively engaged during the duration of the event to view your videos.
Creators sharing their thoughts on #VidCon
Connecting with people with a lot of clouts can increase your credibility on the topic you are covering.
However, in order for these high-influence people to notice your YouTube channel via Twitter, you must commit to building your Twitter account and audience.
If your Twitter account looks amateurish, for example: if you display picture is still an egg, then any attempts at reaching out to these big brands and influencers will be a loss. Stay active and over time you will gain a following to support you.
Part 4: Reddit for YouTube Channel Marketing
Reddit for YouTube creators can be an intimidating place. Reddit users (Redditors) can sniff out marketing material or misleading click-baits.
You can commit this sin on other platform and get away with it, but on Reddit, this type of posting at best will not be ignored and at worst roasted alive in front of the whole platform.
Because of the anonymity of Reddit’s user base, the comments for posts are often unfiltered.
1. Good Content Gets Seen and Discussed On Reddit
If you can tap into the community values of Reddit, contribute to conversations and share interesting and relevant content there might not be a better platform to grow your YouTube audience.
Many media organizations with a significant following are starting to use Reddit to find stories and viral content . The chances of being discovered on Reddit is much higher than on Twitter, as the upvote/downvote system gives your good work a higher platform to stand on while lowering the bad content to Reddit’s cellar.
2. Don’t Promote Yourself
Reddit is not a platform where you enter, drop your content in, and expect people to engage with it. For Redditors, this is intrusive and unappreciated.
Imagine being at a party and talking to your friends, and then someone you don’t know comes in and starts a conversation about the latest movie, singing a song and asking for feedback, or discussing the coolest restaurants in town. That would be annoying, right?
You cannot go into Reddit blasting your content, because it wasn’t welcomed content.
Before you can get people on Reddit to care about your YouTube channel, you must show them that you care about them — the community.
From day one, you need to be a part of the community, and your reason for being a part of the community cannot be because you want to share content. If you have a hidden agenda, you will be discovered.
3. Understand the Reddiquettes
When engaging on Reddit, you must abide by rules which are called “reddiquette.” There are global reddiquettes and then there are individual community reddiquette.
- Search for duplicate content before posting.
- Consume the content before voting.
- Act as you would in real life.
- And more.
3. Community reddiquettes
These are additional rules that the individual Reddit communities enforce. Be sure to read these rules before posting onto these specific communities. Understanding these rules will help you understand the purpose of this community.
Here is an example of reddiquettes for r/Cameras:
You only have so many strikes with Reddit before your account gets banned. But don’t worry about all that. Be your awesome self.
When you are on Reddit, don’t think of yourself as a YouTuber, think of yourself as a redditor, if you do, you’ll have a bright future on the platform.
4. Subreddits Where You Can Post Freely
While there are some subreddits that demand relevant content, some subreddits will allow you post your videos as long as 90% of your content are from another source aside from your YouTube channel, you won’t be considered spammy.
- r/YouTuber: Get critiques for your videos
- r/Videos: Post any video into the masses
- r/YTPL: Share a whole playlist
Because these subreddits are unfocused and loaded with a variety of content, it’s often tricky to find your specific audience there. Then again, you’ll never know.
Part 5: Snapchat for YouTube Channel Marketing
If your audience craves immediacy and exclusivity, then Snapchat is definitely the social media channel that you’d want to explore.
The ephemeral nature of Snapchat makes it a unique way of marketing your content as what you snap will only be available within 24 hours. Because what you post will only be available for a brief moment in time, those who are following you will dedicate their attention to your content knowing that if they miss it, they might never see it again.
This undivided attention cannot be recreated on Twitter, Facebook, or Reddit, as users can easily scroll pass your content.
The key is to get your audience a personalized experience on your Snapchat. What can you offer on Snapchat that they can’t get elsewhere?
1. Don’t Worry About Professionalism
Snapchat is young, fun, and silly. On Snapchat, your personality needs to be the fuel for your content.
Pull the curtains open and welcome your audience through the private window into your life. Treat your Snapchat audience less as a faceless crowd but as your friends and family. Take them on a private tour, show them unseen footage of your video, and don’t be afraid to use the filters, text, and theme to liven up your content.
Start following some popular YouTubers on Snapchat and you can quickly see how they are using it. Don’t use Snapchat as a place to perform, but instead a place for you to be spontaneous. Remember these content don’t last forever, so don’t take forever planning it out, just start doing it.
Promoting your Snapchat account can be hard if you are not a celebrity. Unlike Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, there is no in-app discovery or suggested users feature in Snapchat. The user will have to search for who they want to follow. Unless someone already knows about you, it’s unlikely that they will be following you on Snapchat. This makes promoting your account to your viewers essential for growth.
YouTuber, Markiplier tweeting his Snapchat username.
Here are a few quick tips for promoting your Snapchat account.
- Make sure your Snapchat handle is present on your YouTube channel and other social media platforms.
- Make yourSnapchat snapcode your profile pic, so people can scan and connect with you.
- Get other Snapchatters to give you a shout-out on their account.
Marketing on social media is essential for not only growing your YouTube channel but your entire brand. If you like more content around social media marketing for your channel, join our community of YouTubers where we are always discussing new tactics and opportunities.
Is there a social media platform that you want to test out but not sure how? Leave a comment below.
Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.
Follow @Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett
Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions
After uploading your video on YouTube, you may want to sit back and enjoy the massive uptick of views and subscribers. However, until you have established a big following on YouTube, only a few people are going to see your freshly published video… unless you share on social media.
So don’t relax yet, it’s time to spread the word about your video and channel on social media, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, and Reddit.
Why is social media the best place to share your YouTube video? Let’s take a quick look at the statistics of some of the biggest social platforms in the world:
- Facebook has over 2.1 billion monthly active users.
- Instagram has approximately 800 million monthly active users.
- Twitter has approximately 330 million monthly active users.
- Reddit has approximately 330 million monthly active users.
- Snapchat has approximately 200 million monthly active users.
While your loyal viewers might watch your videos on YouTube, YouTube might not be the platform they spend the most time on.
Start by understanding your audience. If your YouTube channel is discussing fan theories for a popular television show, then Twitter and Reddit should be where you direct your efforts. If you are creating video content that has a lot of visual appeal, like travel or photography, then Instagram and Snapchat are better for cross-promotional content.
By promoting on the right social platform, there’s a better chance of discoverability. Additionally, branding that is consistent across all social media increases the trust among your viewers. Consistency does not mean simply putting the YouTube video onto Instagram or sharing it on Facebook.
Content is not one-size fits all!
Regardless of what platform your viewers are spending most of their time on, it’s important to understand how the community interacts. Sharing your video content on Facebook is different than on Reddit. What may be okay on one platform may come across as spam in another.
In this post, we will go through the best practices of sharing and engaging with your audience on 5 of the most popular social media channels.
Table of Content:
Part 1: Instagram for YouTube Channel Marketing
There is a lot of content today and therefore, audiences are more selective about how they choose to spend their time.
Take this example: Before you go to the theater to watch a movie, you might see a poster or a trailer first.
A movie poster lets you know this movie is coming to theatres and the trailer gives you a taste of what to expect before you buy the ticket and sit in the theater for two hours. If the promotional materials don’t entice, you wouldn’t go see the movie.
Instagram can work much in the same way for your YouTube channel. Your Instagram account can be a platform for attracting new viewers and hyping up your loyal following.
1. Using Bite-sized Snackable Content on Instagram
Images and one-minute long videos can engage with your users, help them work up an appetite for your videos, and direct them to your YouTube channel for more.
The great thing about Instagram — compared to YouTube — is that it’s easier to produce content for Instagram every day without exhausting your resources.
Be thinking about what you can post on to Instagram while you work on your YouTube video. You want a really attractive image or short video, which can be something you capture as you work on your long-form video: short preview or behind the scenes footage.
2. Share Your Life
Instagram allows you to consistently post content from your life. This allows you to connect with your audience as they discover more about you, so when it comes time for the YouTube video, they feel that have an established relationship with you.
They see your picture or video on their feed every day after all. You and your followers are practically friends.
While Instagram has multiple ways you can post onto the platform, we will talk about two very different strategies:
How YouTubers Should Post on Instagram Feed
When you post an image or a video onto Instagram directly it will be on your timeline and acts as a tile for your whole Instagram feed page. This piece of content will stay on your page forever, or until you delete it.
Like your YouTube videos, the content you post to your Instagram directly should have a cohesive theme that matches your branding. Keep an eye on your: -
- Aesthetic
- Caption
- Filter
As Instagram has grown in popularity, a lot of tools have been developed to help creators like yourself. Here are a few apps that you can include in your kit:
- VSCO: A photo editor app that will allow you to clean up and enhance details to really make your visuals pop.
- UNUM: An Instagram planner app that enables you to visualize and pre-plan your post.
- Later: A scheduling tool you can use to auto-publish to directly to Instagram.
- Planoly: Drag and drop scheduler and planner, allows you to see the whole grid before posting.
Here’s Liza Koshy’s Instagram feed. As you can see, she has a clear style and also a variety of content. If you haven’t heard of Liza Koshy and found her through Instagram, you get curious: “What does she do?” Instagram is fantastic for building intrigue and garnering interest.
Instagram: Liza Koshy
This will be a good place to post a teaser of your latest video, upload an inspiring image, or share an interesting piece of content that shows the world what you are all about.
Have a different type of content lined up. You don’t want someone to end up on your Instagram page and only see selfies or inspiring quotes.
You won’t know which type of content will hook your next fan… so experiment.
When you post onto Instagram directly, you can’t add a are unable to link in the caption. This has been a bane for marketers and creators since the beginning of Instagram.
Instagram: Pointless Blog
While Instagram is a great engagement platform, it hasn’t been the best channel for those who want to have a direct call to action. The old method was to direct the viewer to your Instagram bio where there is the only place to post a link.
However, once you’ve gained a large following (10K) you will be able to attached links in Instagram Story.
2. How YouTubers Should on Post Instagram Story
Instagram Story allows you to post a series of images and videos over the course of 24 hours. After that, the collection of content — or “story” — from that day disappears.
1. Don’t want your Instagram Story to disappear forever?
There is a feature called “Highlight” which archives your stories so that you can view them later, however, they will be kept on your Instagram profile page. This allows visitors to see your best stories and have prepared content even when you go 24 hours without posting something new.
Instagram: Marianna Hewitt
2. Use Instagram Story to Make an Announcement
While you are uploading your latest video to YouTube, go on Instagram Story and let your followers know.
Unlike posting directly to the Instagram timeline, once you reach a certain milestone, Instagram Story allows you to create a link right in the content. The ability to offer something timely and encourage the viewer to swipe up is a fantastic way to catch your audience when they are most interested in your content. By doing so, you redirect them from Instagram to your YouTube video.
Instagram: Jenn Im
Don’t think of Instagram Story as simply a mean for promoting your video, but a chance to give your loyal viewers an exclusive view into your process, allow them to get familiar with your personality and increase the exposure of your brand as a whole, solidifying your relationship.
Part 2: Facebook for YouTube Channel Marketing
Facebook is the world’s most popular social media platform. With that claim, it can help any new YouTuber find and grow their audience. It doesn’t matter if their channel is about fashion or karate, Facebook is an appropriate platform for interacting with the audience, as long as the content you share is relevant and click-worthy.
There are a number of ways to share content on Facebook:
- Sharing on your own personal timeline allows your Friends to see the content.
- Sharing directly to a particular group or person’s feed assures those in the group or that specific person will see the content.
- Sharing via a separate Page you’ve built for your YouTube channel allows those who are following the page to see the content.
1. Improve YouTube Video Thumbnail on Facebook
Facebook doesn’t make it easy for YouTubers to show their video on Facebook’s news feed, especially if it is hosted on YouTube.
When you post your video from YouTube directly to Facebook, it’ll look something like the image above. Unremarkable. While your audience can still view the video on the Facebook timeline, your fans scrolling by wouldn’t even notice it.
This is Facebook’s way of encouraging you to post videos directly to Facebook’s platform. Which is something you should consider as well, but as you are currently working to grow your YouTube channel, it’s good to focus on this task first.
Well, how do you make the post look better? There is a tool calledThumb Tube that gives you full sized image on Facebook:
Thumb Tube takes your YouTube video link and redirects it so it is now hosted on ThumbTube.com. Yet, anyone viewing the video there is watching on YouTube, not Facebook. This allows you to still capture all the views, likes, and comments on YouTube.
1. Managing a Facebook Page for Your YouTube Channel
Know this, Facebook has been around for over a decade, and establishing yourself on the social network in 2018 is not what it was like in the late ‘00s. Hard truths: building a following from scratch is going to be a lot of work.
1. Growing on Facebook is Hard
Before you go and start committing yourself to Facebook, consider your capacity and your audience: are you able to dedicate time and effort on Facebook? Is this the best platform to reach your viewers?
So Facebook is for you. How should you approach it?
2. Setup a Facebook Page for your YouTube Channel
This separates your personal account from your channel, allowing you to still have some autonomy. You don’t necessarily want your fans to be your friends… On top of that, having a separate page for your channel enables you to keep a consistent branding, which is important in getting more likes and subscribers.
To set up a separate Facebook Page:
1. Go to Facebook, and click “Pages” in the right-hand column
- Click “Create Pages”
- Let Facebook know whether your Page will be classified as a “Business or Brand” or a “Community or Public Figure”
- Name your Page, preferably your YouTube channel name
- Add Profile and Cover pictures
- INVITE!
Treat your Facebook Page like another homepage for your channel. Landing on your page might be the first interaction the audience will have with your brand, so it is important that it is similar to your YouTube channel. This means, the logo has to match, the descriptions need to be aligned, and the cover photo should somewhat resemble your YouTube channel art.
Once you are confident that all the Facebook elements are consistent, it’s time to start marketing.
3. Invite Your Facebook Friends to Like Your Page
Your circle of friends will give you your initial burst needed to grow your YouTube channel, as they like and comment on your videos. The more engagement you get, the more impressions your post will earn not just from your friends, but from your friends’ friends. This expands your network.
However, don’t post the same thing over and over again. It’ll come across as spam to your followers, and it’ll also look lazy if someone lands on your page and see the same piece of content repeated on your news feed.
Facebook is best if you are consistently sharing a variety of content related to your channel.
This does not mean you have to be creating them all. If you were to post five times a week, perhaps only one of the post can be originally created by you. Curate content (i.e. blog, infographics, podcasts, images) that matches your audience’s interest. By always having engaging content that your fans are eager to like, share, and comment, this will give your videos more exposure when it is time to share it.
Pro Tip: Save time by scheduling your Facebook content ahead of time. By batching your Facebook content to be uploaded in one sitting, you can have a week to a month of content prepped ahead of time, so you can go back to focusing on YouTube.
Managing Facebook as a channel to build your YouTube audience can be very effective, but it is a lot of work in itself.
Managing Facebook involves:
- Posting content
- Responding to comments
- Engaging with Facebook groups
- Tube Ritual (Video Marketing YouTube Group)
- Beauty and the Vlog (Fashion and Beauty YouTube Group)
- Travel Vloggers United (Travel YouTube Group)
- Evaluating performance repeatedly
Don’t spread yourself too thin. If YouTube is your priority, all other social media communities should be complementary, not an obligation.
Part 3: Twitter for YouTube Channel Marketing
Unlike Facebook or Instagram, Twitter is a platform where you must be ready with a large amount of valuable content to share, otherwise, you will be lost in the noise. Don’t be afraid to tweet similar content throughout a day. As long as it is done well and isn’t misleading viewers, it wouldn’t be considered spam.
Twitter allows you to get in front of some of the most influential people on the Internet and stay on top of global trends. It is not always easy to get noticed on Twitter, but when your content really resonates, it’s also hard to be ignored.
1. Take Advantage of Trending Hashtags
In order to be successful on Twitter, you must be ready to jump onto a relevant trend. If you are talking about something that nobody is interested in, you might not be heard at all. Keep an eye on the most popular hashtags for that day and get involved with a conversation.
While you should definitely tweet and gain engagement for your YouTube videos, you will also need to tweet out other content.
Constantly keeping an eye on what the world is talking about gives you an idea of what is important to discuss. This may even help guide your next YouTube video.
2. Tag Brands and Influencers
Twitter is a great platform if your channel showcases brands, personalities, or influencers because it gives you the ability to get in front of them. Getting a big brand or an influencer to share your video can earn you a lot more Twitter followers as well as a lot more views to your channel.
An effective way for YouTubers to use Twitter is to be active during an event. If you know that the event will get a lot of attention and the content you are producing is relevant to that audience, then use the official hashtag, tag an attendee, and get that crowd who are actively engaged during the duration of the event to view your videos.
Creators sharing their thoughts on #VidCon
Connecting with people with a lot of clouts can increase your credibility on the topic you are covering.
However, in order for these high-influence people to notice your YouTube channel via Twitter, you must commit to building your Twitter account and audience.
If your Twitter account looks amateurish, for example: if you display picture is still an egg, then any attempts at reaching out to these big brands and influencers will be a loss. Stay active and over time you will gain a following to support you.
Part 4: Reddit for YouTube Channel Marketing
Reddit for YouTube creators can be an intimidating place. Reddit users (Redditors) can sniff out marketing material or misleading click-baits.
You can commit this sin on other platform and get away with it, but on Reddit, this type of posting at best will not be ignored and at worst roasted alive in front of the whole platform.
Because of the anonymity of Reddit’s user base, the comments for posts are often unfiltered.
1. Good Content Gets Seen and Discussed On Reddit
If you can tap into the community values of Reddit, contribute to conversations and share interesting and relevant content there might not be a better platform to grow your YouTube audience.
Many media organizations with a significant following are starting to use Reddit to find stories and viral content . The chances of being discovered on Reddit is much higher than on Twitter, as the upvote/downvote system gives your good work a higher platform to stand on while lowering the bad content to Reddit’s cellar.
2. Don’t Promote Yourself
Reddit is not a platform where you enter, drop your content in, and expect people to engage with it. For Redditors, this is intrusive and unappreciated.
Imagine being at a party and talking to your friends, and then someone you don’t know comes in and starts a conversation about the latest movie, singing a song and asking for feedback, or discussing the coolest restaurants in town. That would be annoying, right?
You cannot go into Reddit blasting your content, because it wasn’t welcomed content.
Before you can get people on Reddit to care about your YouTube channel, you must show them that you care about them — the community.
From day one, you need to be a part of the community, and your reason for being a part of the community cannot be because you want to share content. If you have a hidden agenda, you will be discovered.
3. Understand the Reddiquettes
When engaging on Reddit, you must abide by rules which are called “reddiquette.” There are global reddiquettes and then there are individual community reddiquette.
- Search for duplicate content before posting.
- Consume the content before voting.
- Act as you would in real life.
- And more.
3. Community reddiquettes
These are additional rules that the individual Reddit communities enforce. Be sure to read these rules before posting onto these specific communities. Understanding these rules will help you understand the purpose of this community.
Here is an example of reddiquettes for r/Cameras:
You only have so many strikes with Reddit before your account gets banned. But don’t worry about all that. Be your awesome self.
When you are on Reddit, don’t think of yourself as a YouTuber, think of yourself as a redditor, if you do, you’ll have a bright future on the platform.
4. Subreddits Where You Can Post Freely
While there are some subreddits that demand relevant content, some subreddits will allow you post your videos as long as 90% of your content are from another source aside from your YouTube channel, you won’t be considered spammy.
- r/YouTuber: Get critiques for your videos
- r/Videos: Post any video into the masses
- r/YTPL: Share a whole playlist
Because these subreddits are unfocused and loaded with a variety of content, it’s often tricky to find your specific audience there. Then again, you’ll never know.
Part 5: Snapchat for YouTube Channel Marketing
If your audience craves immediacy and exclusivity, then Snapchat is definitely the social media channel that you’d want to explore.
The ephemeral nature of Snapchat makes it a unique way of marketing your content as what you snap will only be available within 24 hours. Because what you post will only be available for a brief moment in time, those who are following you will dedicate their attention to your content knowing that if they miss it, they might never see it again.
This undivided attention cannot be recreated on Twitter, Facebook, or Reddit, as users can easily scroll pass your content.
The key is to get your audience a personalized experience on your Snapchat. What can you offer on Snapchat that they can’t get elsewhere?
1. Don’t Worry About Professionalism
Snapchat is young, fun, and silly. On Snapchat, your personality needs to be the fuel for your content.
Pull the curtains open and welcome your audience through the private window into your life. Treat your Snapchat audience less as a faceless crowd but as your friends and family. Take them on a private tour, show them unseen footage of your video, and don’t be afraid to use the filters, text, and theme to liven up your content.
Start following some popular YouTubers on Snapchat and you can quickly see how they are using it. Don’t use Snapchat as a place to perform, but instead a place for you to be spontaneous. Remember these content don’t last forever, so don’t take forever planning it out, just start doing it.
Promoting your Snapchat account can be hard if you are not a celebrity. Unlike Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, there is no in-app discovery or suggested users feature in Snapchat. The user will have to search for who they want to follow. Unless someone already knows about you, it’s unlikely that they will be following you on Snapchat. This makes promoting your account to your viewers essential for growth.
YouTuber, Markiplier tweeting his Snapchat username.
Here are a few quick tips for promoting your Snapchat account.
- Make sure your Snapchat handle is present on your YouTube channel and other social media platforms.
- Make yourSnapchat snapcode your profile pic, so people can scan and connect with you.
- Get other Snapchatters to give you a shout-out on their account.
Marketing on social media is essential for not only growing your YouTube channel but your entire brand. If you like more content around social media marketing for your channel, join our community of YouTubers where we are always discussing new tactics and opportunities.
Is there a social media platform that you want to test out but not sure how? Leave a comment below.
Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.
Follow @Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett
Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions
After uploading your video on YouTube, you may want to sit back and enjoy the massive uptick of views and subscribers. However, until you have established a big following on YouTube, only a few people are going to see your freshly published video… unless you share on social media.
So don’t relax yet, it’s time to spread the word about your video and channel on social media, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, and Reddit.
Why is social media the best place to share your YouTube video? Let’s take a quick look at the statistics of some of the biggest social platforms in the world:
- Facebook has over 2.1 billion monthly active users.
- Instagram has approximately 800 million monthly active users.
- Twitter has approximately 330 million monthly active users.
- Reddit has approximately 330 million monthly active users.
- Snapchat has approximately 200 million monthly active users.
While your loyal viewers might watch your videos on YouTube, YouTube might not be the platform they spend the most time on.
Start by understanding your audience. If your YouTube channel is discussing fan theories for a popular television show, then Twitter and Reddit should be where you direct your efforts. If you are creating video content that has a lot of visual appeal, like travel or photography, then Instagram and Snapchat are better for cross-promotional content.
By promoting on the right social platform, there’s a better chance of discoverability. Additionally, branding that is consistent across all social media increases the trust among your viewers. Consistency does not mean simply putting the YouTube video onto Instagram or sharing it on Facebook.
Content is not one-size fits all!
Regardless of what platform your viewers are spending most of their time on, it’s important to understand how the community interacts. Sharing your video content on Facebook is different than on Reddit. What may be okay on one platform may come across as spam in another.
In this post, we will go through the best practices of sharing and engaging with your audience on 5 of the most popular social media channels.
Table of Content:
Part 1: Instagram for YouTube Channel Marketing
There is a lot of content today and therefore, audiences are more selective about how they choose to spend their time.
Take this example: Before you go to the theater to watch a movie, you might see a poster or a trailer first.
A movie poster lets you know this movie is coming to theatres and the trailer gives you a taste of what to expect before you buy the ticket and sit in the theater for two hours. If the promotional materials don’t entice, you wouldn’t go see the movie.
Instagram can work much in the same way for your YouTube channel. Your Instagram account can be a platform for attracting new viewers and hyping up your loyal following.
1. Using Bite-sized Snackable Content on Instagram
Images and one-minute long videos can engage with your users, help them work up an appetite for your videos, and direct them to your YouTube channel for more.
The great thing about Instagram — compared to YouTube — is that it’s easier to produce content for Instagram every day without exhausting your resources.
Be thinking about what you can post on to Instagram while you work on your YouTube video. You want a really attractive image or short video, which can be something you capture as you work on your long-form video: short preview or behind the scenes footage.
2. Share Your Life
Instagram allows you to consistently post content from your life. This allows you to connect with your audience as they discover more about you, so when it comes time for the YouTube video, they feel that have an established relationship with you.
They see your picture or video on their feed every day after all. You and your followers are practically friends.
While Instagram has multiple ways you can post onto the platform, we will talk about two very different strategies:
How YouTubers Should Post on Instagram Feed
When you post an image or a video onto Instagram directly it will be on your timeline and acts as a tile for your whole Instagram feed page. This piece of content will stay on your page forever, or until you delete it.
Like your YouTube videos, the content you post to your Instagram directly should have a cohesive theme that matches your branding. Keep an eye on your: -
- Aesthetic
- Caption
- Filter
As Instagram has grown in popularity, a lot of tools have been developed to help creators like yourself. Here are a few apps that you can include in your kit:
- VSCO: A photo editor app that will allow you to clean up and enhance details to really make your visuals pop.
- UNUM: An Instagram planner app that enables you to visualize and pre-plan your post.
- Later: A scheduling tool you can use to auto-publish to directly to Instagram.
- Planoly: Drag and drop scheduler and planner, allows you to see the whole grid before posting.
Here’s Liza Koshy’s Instagram feed. As you can see, she has a clear style and also a variety of content. If you haven’t heard of Liza Koshy and found her through Instagram, you get curious: “What does she do?” Instagram is fantastic for building intrigue and garnering interest.
Instagram: Liza Koshy
This will be a good place to post a teaser of your latest video, upload an inspiring image, or share an interesting piece of content that shows the world what you are all about.
Have a different type of content lined up. You don’t want someone to end up on your Instagram page and only see selfies or inspiring quotes.
You won’t know which type of content will hook your next fan… so experiment.
When you post onto Instagram directly, you can’t add a are unable to link in the caption. This has been a bane for marketers and creators since the beginning of Instagram.
Instagram: Pointless Blog
While Instagram is a great engagement platform, it hasn’t been the best channel for those who want to have a direct call to action. The old method was to direct the viewer to your Instagram bio where there is the only place to post a link.
However, once you’ve gained a large following (10K) you will be able to attached links in Instagram Story.
2. How YouTubers Should on Post Instagram Story
Instagram Story allows you to post a series of images and videos over the course of 24 hours. After that, the collection of content — or “story” — from that day disappears.
1. Don’t want your Instagram Story to disappear forever?
There is a feature called “Highlight” which archives your stories so that you can view them later, however, they will be kept on your Instagram profile page. This allows visitors to see your best stories and have prepared content even when you go 24 hours without posting something new.
Instagram: Marianna Hewitt
2. Use Instagram Story to Make an Announcement
While you are uploading your latest video to YouTube, go on Instagram Story and let your followers know.
Unlike posting directly to the Instagram timeline, once you reach a certain milestone, Instagram Story allows you to create a link right in the content. The ability to offer something timely and encourage the viewer to swipe up is a fantastic way to catch your audience when they are most interested in your content. By doing so, you redirect them from Instagram to your YouTube video.
Instagram: Jenn Im
Don’t think of Instagram Story as simply a mean for promoting your video, but a chance to give your loyal viewers an exclusive view into your process, allow them to get familiar with your personality and increase the exposure of your brand as a whole, solidifying your relationship.
Part 2: Facebook for YouTube Channel Marketing
Facebook is the world’s most popular social media platform. With that claim, it can help any new YouTuber find and grow their audience. It doesn’t matter if their channel is about fashion or karate, Facebook is an appropriate platform for interacting with the audience, as long as the content you share is relevant and click-worthy.
There are a number of ways to share content on Facebook:
- Sharing on your own personal timeline allows your Friends to see the content.
- Sharing directly to a particular group or person’s feed assures those in the group or that specific person will see the content.
- Sharing via a separate Page you’ve built for your YouTube channel allows those who are following the page to see the content.
1. Improve YouTube Video Thumbnail on Facebook
Facebook doesn’t make it easy for YouTubers to show their video on Facebook’s news feed, especially if it is hosted on YouTube.
When you post your video from YouTube directly to Facebook, it’ll look something like the image above. Unremarkable. While your audience can still view the video on the Facebook timeline, your fans scrolling by wouldn’t even notice it.
This is Facebook’s way of encouraging you to post videos directly to Facebook’s platform. Which is something you should consider as well, but as you are currently working to grow your YouTube channel, it’s good to focus on this task first.
Well, how do you make the post look better? There is a tool calledThumb Tube that gives you full sized image on Facebook:
Thumb Tube takes your YouTube video link and redirects it so it is now hosted on ThumbTube.com. Yet, anyone viewing the video there is watching on YouTube, not Facebook. This allows you to still capture all the views, likes, and comments on YouTube.
1. Managing a Facebook Page for Your YouTube Channel
Know this, Facebook has been around for over a decade, and establishing yourself on the social network in 2018 is not what it was like in the late ‘00s. Hard truths: building a following from scratch is going to be a lot of work.
1. Growing on Facebook is Hard
Before you go and start committing yourself to Facebook, consider your capacity and your audience: are you able to dedicate time and effort on Facebook? Is this the best platform to reach your viewers?
So Facebook is for you. How should you approach it?
2. Setup a Facebook Page for your YouTube Channel
This separates your personal account from your channel, allowing you to still have some autonomy. You don’t necessarily want your fans to be your friends… On top of that, having a separate page for your channel enables you to keep a consistent branding, which is important in getting more likes and subscribers.
To set up a separate Facebook Page:
1. Go to Facebook, and click “Pages” in the right-hand column
- Click “Create Pages”
- Let Facebook know whether your Page will be classified as a “Business or Brand” or a “Community or Public Figure”
- Name your Page, preferably your YouTube channel name
- Add Profile and Cover pictures
- INVITE!
Treat your Facebook Page like another homepage for your channel. Landing on your page might be the first interaction the audience will have with your brand, so it is important that it is similar to your YouTube channel. This means, the logo has to match, the descriptions need to be aligned, and the cover photo should somewhat resemble your YouTube channel art.
Once you are confident that all the Facebook elements are consistent, it’s time to start marketing.
3. Invite Your Facebook Friends to Like Your Page
Your circle of friends will give you your initial burst needed to grow your YouTube channel, as they like and comment on your videos. The more engagement you get, the more impressions your post will earn not just from your friends, but from your friends’ friends. This expands your network.
However, don’t post the same thing over and over again. It’ll come across as spam to your followers, and it’ll also look lazy if someone lands on your page and see the same piece of content repeated on your news feed.
Facebook is best if you are consistently sharing a variety of content related to your channel.
This does not mean you have to be creating them all. If you were to post five times a week, perhaps only one of the post can be originally created by you. Curate content (i.e. blog, infographics, podcasts, images) that matches your audience’s interest. By always having engaging content that your fans are eager to like, share, and comment, this will give your videos more exposure when it is time to share it.
Pro Tip: Save time by scheduling your Facebook content ahead of time. By batching your Facebook content to be uploaded in one sitting, you can have a week to a month of content prepped ahead of time, so you can go back to focusing on YouTube.
Managing Facebook as a channel to build your YouTube audience can be very effective, but it is a lot of work in itself.
Managing Facebook involves:
- Posting content
- Responding to comments
- Engaging with Facebook groups
- Tube Ritual (Video Marketing YouTube Group)
- Beauty and the Vlog (Fashion and Beauty YouTube Group)
- Travel Vloggers United (Travel YouTube Group)
- Evaluating performance repeatedly
Don’t spread yourself too thin. If YouTube is your priority, all other social media communities should be complementary, not an obligation.
Part 3: Twitter for YouTube Channel Marketing
Unlike Facebook or Instagram, Twitter is a platform where you must be ready with a large amount of valuable content to share, otherwise, you will be lost in the noise. Don’t be afraid to tweet similar content throughout a day. As long as it is done well and isn’t misleading viewers, it wouldn’t be considered spam.
Twitter allows you to get in front of some of the most influential people on the Internet and stay on top of global trends. It is not always easy to get noticed on Twitter, but when your content really resonates, it’s also hard to be ignored.
1. Take Advantage of Trending Hashtags
In order to be successful on Twitter, you must be ready to jump onto a relevant trend. If you are talking about something that nobody is interested in, you might not be heard at all. Keep an eye on the most popular hashtags for that day and get involved with a conversation.
While you should definitely tweet and gain engagement for your YouTube videos, you will also need to tweet out other content.
Constantly keeping an eye on what the world is talking about gives you an idea of what is important to discuss. This may even help guide your next YouTube video.
2. Tag Brands and Influencers
Twitter is a great platform if your channel showcases brands, personalities, or influencers because it gives you the ability to get in front of them. Getting a big brand or an influencer to share your video can earn you a lot more Twitter followers as well as a lot more views to your channel.
An effective way for YouTubers to use Twitter is to be active during an event. If you know that the event will get a lot of attention and the content you are producing is relevant to that audience, then use the official hashtag, tag an attendee, and get that crowd who are actively engaged during the duration of the event to view your videos.
Creators sharing their thoughts on #VidCon
Connecting with people with a lot of clouts can increase your credibility on the topic you are covering.
However, in order for these high-influence people to notice your YouTube channel via Twitter, you must commit to building your Twitter account and audience.
If your Twitter account looks amateurish, for example: if you display picture is still an egg, then any attempts at reaching out to these big brands and influencers will be a loss. Stay active and over time you will gain a following to support you.
Part 4: Reddit for YouTube Channel Marketing
Reddit for YouTube creators can be an intimidating place. Reddit users (Redditors) can sniff out marketing material or misleading click-baits.
You can commit this sin on other platform and get away with it, but on Reddit, this type of posting at best will not be ignored and at worst roasted alive in front of the whole platform.
Because of the anonymity of Reddit’s user base, the comments for posts are often unfiltered.
1. Good Content Gets Seen and Discussed On Reddit
If you can tap into the community values of Reddit, contribute to conversations and share interesting and relevant content there might not be a better platform to grow your YouTube audience.
Many media organizations with a significant following are starting to use Reddit to find stories and viral content . The chances of being discovered on Reddit is much higher than on Twitter, as the upvote/downvote system gives your good work a higher platform to stand on while lowering the bad content to Reddit’s cellar.
2. Don’t Promote Yourself
Reddit is not a platform where you enter, drop your content in, and expect people to engage with it. For Redditors, this is intrusive and unappreciated.
Imagine being at a party and talking to your friends, and then someone you don’t know comes in and starts a conversation about the latest movie, singing a song and asking for feedback, or discussing the coolest restaurants in town. That would be annoying, right?
You cannot go into Reddit blasting your content, because it wasn’t welcomed content.
Before you can get people on Reddit to care about your YouTube channel, you must show them that you care about them — the community.
From day one, you need to be a part of the community, and your reason for being a part of the community cannot be because you want to share content. If you have a hidden agenda, you will be discovered.
3. Understand the Reddiquettes
When engaging on Reddit, you must abide by rules which are called “reddiquette.” There are global reddiquettes and then there are individual community reddiquette.
- Search for duplicate content before posting.
- Consume the content before voting.
- Act as you would in real life.
- And more.
3. Community reddiquettes
These are additional rules that the individual Reddit communities enforce. Be sure to read these rules before posting onto these specific communities. Understanding these rules will help you understand the purpose of this community.
Here is an example of reddiquettes for r/Cameras:
You only have so many strikes with Reddit before your account gets banned. But don’t worry about all that. Be your awesome self.
When you are on Reddit, don’t think of yourself as a YouTuber, think of yourself as a redditor, if you do, you’ll have a bright future on the platform.
4. Subreddits Where You Can Post Freely
While there are some subreddits that demand relevant content, some subreddits will allow you post your videos as long as 90% of your content are from another source aside from your YouTube channel, you won’t be considered spammy.
- r/YouTuber: Get critiques for your videos
- r/Videos: Post any video into the masses
- r/YTPL: Share a whole playlist
Because these subreddits are unfocused and loaded with a variety of content, it’s often tricky to find your specific audience there. Then again, you’ll never know.
Part 5: Snapchat for YouTube Channel Marketing
If your audience craves immediacy and exclusivity, then Snapchat is definitely the social media channel that you’d want to explore.
The ephemeral nature of Snapchat makes it a unique way of marketing your content as what you snap will only be available within 24 hours. Because what you post will only be available for a brief moment in time, those who are following you will dedicate their attention to your content knowing that if they miss it, they might never see it again.
This undivided attention cannot be recreated on Twitter, Facebook, or Reddit, as users can easily scroll pass your content.
The key is to get your audience a personalized experience on your Snapchat. What can you offer on Snapchat that they can’t get elsewhere?
1. Don’t Worry About Professionalism
Snapchat is young, fun, and silly. On Snapchat, your personality needs to be the fuel for your content.
Pull the curtains open and welcome your audience through the private window into your life. Treat your Snapchat audience less as a faceless crowd but as your friends and family. Take them on a private tour, show them unseen footage of your video, and don’t be afraid to use the filters, text, and theme to liven up your content.
Start following some popular YouTubers on Snapchat and you can quickly see how they are using it. Don’t use Snapchat as a place to perform, but instead a place for you to be spontaneous. Remember these content don’t last forever, so don’t take forever planning it out, just start doing it.
Promoting your Snapchat account can be hard if you are not a celebrity. Unlike Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, there is no in-app discovery or suggested users feature in Snapchat. The user will have to search for who they want to follow. Unless someone already knows about you, it’s unlikely that they will be following you on Snapchat. This makes promoting your account to your viewers essential for growth.
YouTuber, Markiplier tweeting his Snapchat username.
Here are a few quick tips for promoting your Snapchat account.
- Make sure your Snapchat handle is present on your YouTube channel and other social media platforms.
- Make yourSnapchat snapcode your profile pic, so people can scan and connect with you.
- Get other Snapchatters to give you a shout-out on their account.
Marketing on social media is essential for not only growing your YouTube channel but your entire brand. If you like more content around social media marketing for your channel, join our community of YouTubers where we are always discussing new tactics and opportunities.
Is there a social media platform that you want to test out but not sure how? Leave a comment below.
Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.
Follow @Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett
Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions
After uploading your video on YouTube, you may want to sit back and enjoy the massive uptick of views and subscribers. However, until you have established a big following on YouTube, only a few people are going to see your freshly published video… unless you share on social media.
So don’t relax yet, it’s time to spread the word about your video and channel on social media, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, and Reddit.
Why is social media the best place to share your YouTube video? Let’s take a quick look at the statistics of some of the biggest social platforms in the world:
- Facebook has over 2.1 billion monthly active users.
- Instagram has approximately 800 million monthly active users.
- Twitter has approximately 330 million monthly active users.
- Reddit has approximately 330 million monthly active users.
- Snapchat has approximately 200 million monthly active users.
While your loyal viewers might watch your videos on YouTube, YouTube might not be the platform they spend the most time on.
Start by understanding your audience. If your YouTube channel is discussing fan theories for a popular television show, then Twitter and Reddit should be where you direct your efforts. If you are creating video content that has a lot of visual appeal, like travel or photography, then Instagram and Snapchat are better for cross-promotional content.
By promoting on the right social platform, there’s a better chance of discoverability. Additionally, branding that is consistent across all social media increases the trust among your viewers. Consistency does not mean simply putting the YouTube video onto Instagram or sharing it on Facebook.
Content is not one-size fits all!
Regardless of what platform your viewers are spending most of their time on, it’s important to understand how the community interacts. Sharing your video content on Facebook is different than on Reddit. What may be okay on one platform may come across as spam in another.
In this post, we will go through the best practices of sharing and engaging with your audience on 5 of the most popular social media channels.
Table of Content:
Part 1: Instagram for YouTube Channel Marketing
There is a lot of content today and therefore, audiences are more selective about how they choose to spend their time.
Take this example: Before you go to the theater to watch a movie, you might see a poster or a trailer first.
A movie poster lets you know this movie is coming to theatres and the trailer gives you a taste of what to expect before you buy the ticket and sit in the theater for two hours. If the promotional materials don’t entice, you wouldn’t go see the movie.
Instagram can work much in the same way for your YouTube channel. Your Instagram account can be a platform for attracting new viewers and hyping up your loyal following.
1. Using Bite-sized Snackable Content on Instagram
Images and one-minute long videos can engage with your users, help them work up an appetite for your videos, and direct them to your YouTube channel for more.
The great thing about Instagram — compared to YouTube — is that it’s easier to produce content for Instagram every day without exhausting your resources.
Be thinking about what you can post on to Instagram while you work on your YouTube video. You want a really attractive image or short video, which can be something you capture as you work on your long-form video: short preview or behind the scenes footage.
2. Share Your Life
Instagram allows you to consistently post content from your life. This allows you to connect with your audience as they discover more about you, so when it comes time for the YouTube video, they feel that have an established relationship with you.
They see your picture or video on their feed every day after all. You and your followers are practically friends.
While Instagram has multiple ways you can post onto the platform, we will talk about two very different strategies:
How YouTubers Should Post on Instagram Feed
When you post an image or a video onto Instagram directly it will be on your timeline and acts as a tile for your whole Instagram feed page. This piece of content will stay on your page forever, or until you delete it.
Like your YouTube videos, the content you post to your Instagram directly should have a cohesive theme that matches your branding. Keep an eye on your: -
- Aesthetic
- Caption
- Filter
As Instagram has grown in popularity, a lot of tools have been developed to help creators like yourself. Here are a few apps that you can include in your kit:
- VSCO: A photo editor app that will allow you to clean up and enhance details to really make your visuals pop.
- UNUM: An Instagram planner app that enables you to visualize and pre-plan your post.
- Later: A scheduling tool you can use to auto-publish to directly to Instagram.
- Planoly: Drag and drop scheduler and planner, allows you to see the whole grid before posting.
Here’s Liza Koshy’s Instagram feed. As you can see, she has a clear style and also a variety of content. If you haven’t heard of Liza Koshy and found her through Instagram, you get curious: “What does she do?” Instagram is fantastic for building intrigue and garnering interest.
Instagram: Liza Koshy
This will be a good place to post a teaser of your latest video, upload an inspiring image, or share an interesting piece of content that shows the world what you are all about.
Have a different type of content lined up. You don’t want someone to end up on your Instagram page and only see selfies or inspiring quotes.
You won’t know which type of content will hook your next fan… so experiment.
When you post onto Instagram directly, you can’t add a are unable to link in the caption. This has been a bane for marketers and creators since the beginning of Instagram.
Instagram: Pointless Blog
While Instagram is a great engagement platform, it hasn’t been the best channel for those who want to have a direct call to action. The old method was to direct the viewer to your Instagram bio where there is the only place to post a link.
However, once you’ve gained a large following (10K) you will be able to attached links in Instagram Story.
2. How YouTubers Should on Post Instagram Story
Instagram Story allows you to post a series of images and videos over the course of 24 hours. After that, the collection of content — or “story” — from that day disappears.
1. Don’t want your Instagram Story to disappear forever?
There is a feature called “Highlight” which archives your stories so that you can view them later, however, they will be kept on your Instagram profile page. This allows visitors to see your best stories and have prepared content even when you go 24 hours without posting something new.
Instagram: Marianna Hewitt
2. Use Instagram Story to Make an Announcement
While you are uploading your latest video to YouTube, go on Instagram Story and let your followers know.
Unlike posting directly to the Instagram timeline, once you reach a certain milestone, Instagram Story allows you to create a link right in the content. The ability to offer something timely and encourage the viewer to swipe up is a fantastic way to catch your audience when they are most interested in your content. By doing so, you redirect them from Instagram to your YouTube video.
Instagram: Jenn Im
Don’t think of Instagram Story as simply a mean for promoting your video, but a chance to give your loyal viewers an exclusive view into your process, allow them to get familiar with your personality and increase the exposure of your brand as a whole, solidifying your relationship.
Part 2: Facebook for YouTube Channel Marketing
Facebook is the world’s most popular social media platform. With that claim, it can help any new YouTuber find and grow their audience. It doesn’t matter if their channel is about fashion or karate, Facebook is an appropriate platform for interacting with the audience, as long as the content you share is relevant and click-worthy.
There are a number of ways to share content on Facebook:
- Sharing on your own personal timeline allows your Friends to see the content.
- Sharing directly to a particular group or person’s feed assures those in the group or that specific person will see the content.
- Sharing via a separate Page you’ve built for your YouTube channel allows those who are following the page to see the content.
1. Improve YouTube Video Thumbnail on Facebook
Facebook doesn’t make it easy for YouTubers to show their video on Facebook’s news feed, especially if it is hosted on YouTube.
When you post your video from YouTube directly to Facebook, it’ll look something like the image above. Unremarkable. While your audience can still view the video on the Facebook timeline, your fans scrolling by wouldn’t even notice it.
This is Facebook’s way of encouraging you to post videos directly to Facebook’s platform. Which is something you should consider as well, but as you are currently working to grow your YouTube channel, it’s good to focus on this task first.
Well, how do you make the post look better? There is a tool calledThumb Tube that gives you full sized image on Facebook:
Thumb Tube takes your YouTube video link and redirects it so it is now hosted on ThumbTube.com. Yet, anyone viewing the video there is watching on YouTube, not Facebook. This allows you to still capture all the views, likes, and comments on YouTube.
1. Managing a Facebook Page for Your YouTube Channel
Know this, Facebook has been around for over a decade, and establishing yourself on the social network in 2018 is not what it was like in the late ‘00s. Hard truths: building a following from scratch is going to be a lot of work.
1. Growing on Facebook is Hard
Before you go and start committing yourself to Facebook, consider your capacity and your audience: are you able to dedicate time and effort on Facebook? Is this the best platform to reach your viewers?
So Facebook is for you. How should you approach it?
2. Setup a Facebook Page for your YouTube Channel
This separates your personal account from your channel, allowing you to still have some autonomy. You don’t necessarily want your fans to be your friends… On top of that, having a separate page for your channel enables you to keep a consistent branding, which is important in getting more likes and subscribers.
To set up a separate Facebook Page:
1. Go to Facebook, and click “Pages” in the right-hand column
- Click “Create Pages”
- Let Facebook know whether your Page will be classified as a “Business or Brand” or a “Community or Public Figure”
- Name your Page, preferably your YouTube channel name
- Add Profile and Cover pictures
- INVITE!
Treat your Facebook Page like another homepage for your channel. Landing on your page might be the first interaction the audience will have with your brand, so it is important that it is similar to your YouTube channel. This means, the logo has to match, the descriptions need to be aligned, and the cover photo should somewhat resemble your YouTube channel art.
Once you are confident that all the Facebook elements are consistent, it’s time to start marketing.
3. Invite Your Facebook Friends to Like Your Page
Your circle of friends will give you your initial burst needed to grow your YouTube channel, as they like and comment on your videos. The more engagement you get, the more impressions your post will earn not just from your friends, but from your friends’ friends. This expands your network.
However, don’t post the same thing over and over again. It’ll come across as spam to your followers, and it’ll also look lazy if someone lands on your page and see the same piece of content repeated on your news feed.
Facebook is best if you are consistently sharing a variety of content related to your channel.
This does not mean you have to be creating them all. If you were to post five times a week, perhaps only one of the post can be originally created by you. Curate content (i.e. blog, infographics, podcasts, images) that matches your audience’s interest. By always having engaging content that your fans are eager to like, share, and comment, this will give your videos more exposure when it is time to share it.
Pro Tip: Save time by scheduling your Facebook content ahead of time. By batching your Facebook content to be uploaded in one sitting, you can have a week to a month of content prepped ahead of time, so you can go back to focusing on YouTube.
Managing Facebook as a channel to build your YouTube audience can be very effective, but it is a lot of work in itself.
Managing Facebook involves:
- Posting content
- Responding to comments
- Engaging with Facebook groups
- Tube Ritual (Video Marketing YouTube Group)
- Beauty and the Vlog (Fashion and Beauty YouTube Group)
- Travel Vloggers United (Travel YouTube Group)
- Evaluating performance repeatedly
Don’t spread yourself too thin. If YouTube is your priority, all other social media communities should be complementary, not an obligation.
Part 3: Twitter for YouTube Channel Marketing
Unlike Facebook or Instagram, Twitter is a platform where you must be ready with a large amount of valuable content to share, otherwise, you will be lost in the noise. Don’t be afraid to tweet similar content throughout a day. As long as it is done well and isn’t misleading viewers, it wouldn’t be considered spam.
Twitter allows you to get in front of some of the most influential people on the Internet and stay on top of global trends. It is not always easy to get noticed on Twitter, but when your content really resonates, it’s also hard to be ignored.
1. Take Advantage of Trending Hashtags
In order to be successful on Twitter, you must be ready to jump onto a relevant trend. If you are talking about something that nobody is interested in, you might not be heard at all. Keep an eye on the most popular hashtags for that day and get involved with a conversation.
While you should definitely tweet and gain engagement for your YouTube videos, you will also need to tweet out other content.
Constantly keeping an eye on what the world is talking about gives you an idea of what is important to discuss. This may even help guide your next YouTube video.
2. Tag Brands and Influencers
Twitter is a great platform if your channel showcases brands, personalities, or influencers because it gives you the ability to get in front of them. Getting a big brand or an influencer to share your video can earn you a lot more Twitter followers as well as a lot more views to your channel.
An effective way for YouTubers to use Twitter is to be active during an event. If you know that the event will get a lot of attention and the content you are producing is relevant to that audience, then use the official hashtag, tag an attendee, and get that crowd who are actively engaged during the duration of the event to view your videos.
Creators sharing their thoughts on #VidCon
Connecting with people with a lot of clouts can increase your credibility on the topic you are covering.
However, in order for these high-influence people to notice your YouTube channel via Twitter, you must commit to building your Twitter account and audience.
If your Twitter account looks amateurish, for example: if you display picture is still an egg, then any attempts at reaching out to these big brands and influencers will be a loss. Stay active and over time you will gain a following to support you.
Part 4: Reddit for YouTube Channel Marketing
Reddit for YouTube creators can be an intimidating place. Reddit users (Redditors) can sniff out marketing material or misleading click-baits.
You can commit this sin on other platform and get away with it, but on Reddit, this type of posting at best will not be ignored and at worst roasted alive in front of the whole platform.
Because of the anonymity of Reddit’s user base, the comments for posts are often unfiltered.
1. Good Content Gets Seen and Discussed On Reddit
If you can tap into the community values of Reddit, contribute to conversations and share interesting and relevant content there might not be a better platform to grow your YouTube audience.
Many media organizations with a significant following are starting to use Reddit to find stories and viral content . The chances of being discovered on Reddit is much higher than on Twitter, as the upvote/downvote system gives your good work a higher platform to stand on while lowering the bad content to Reddit’s cellar.
2. Don’t Promote Yourself
Reddit is not a platform where you enter, drop your content in, and expect people to engage with it. For Redditors, this is intrusive and unappreciated.
Imagine being at a party and talking to your friends, and then someone you don’t know comes in and starts a conversation about the latest movie, singing a song and asking for feedback, or discussing the coolest restaurants in town. That would be annoying, right?
You cannot go into Reddit blasting your content, because it wasn’t welcomed content.
Before you can get people on Reddit to care about your YouTube channel, you must show them that you care about them — the community.
From day one, you need to be a part of the community, and your reason for being a part of the community cannot be because you want to share content. If you have a hidden agenda, you will be discovered.
3. Understand the Reddiquettes
When engaging on Reddit, you must abide by rules which are called “reddiquette.” There are global reddiquettes and then there are individual community reddiquette.
- Search for duplicate content before posting.
- Consume the content before voting.
- Act as you would in real life.
- And more.
3. Community reddiquettes
These are additional rules that the individual Reddit communities enforce. Be sure to read these rules before posting onto these specific communities. Understanding these rules will help you understand the purpose of this community.
Here is an example of reddiquettes for r/Cameras:
You only have so many strikes with Reddit before your account gets banned. But don’t worry about all that. Be your awesome self.
When you are on Reddit, don’t think of yourself as a YouTuber, think of yourself as a redditor, if you do, you’ll have a bright future on the platform.
4. Subreddits Where You Can Post Freely
While there are some subreddits that demand relevant content, some subreddits will allow you post your videos as long as 90% of your content are from another source aside from your YouTube channel, you won’t be considered spammy.
- r/YouTuber: Get critiques for your videos
- r/Videos: Post any video into the masses
- r/YTPL: Share a whole playlist
Because these subreddits are unfocused and loaded with a variety of content, it’s often tricky to find your specific audience there. Then again, you’ll never know.
Part 5: Snapchat for YouTube Channel Marketing
If your audience craves immediacy and exclusivity, then Snapchat is definitely the social media channel that you’d want to explore.
The ephemeral nature of Snapchat makes it a unique way of marketing your content as what you snap will only be available within 24 hours. Because what you post will only be available for a brief moment in time, those who are following you will dedicate their attention to your content knowing that if they miss it, they might never see it again.
This undivided attention cannot be recreated on Twitter, Facebook, or Reddit, as users can easily scroll pass your content.
The key is to get your audience a personalized experience on your Snapchat. What can you offer on Snapchat that they can’t get elsewhere?
1. Don’t Worry About Professionalism
Snapchat is young, fun, and silly. On Snapchat, your personality needs to be the fuel for your content.
Pull the curtains open and welcome your audience through the private window into your life. Treat your Snapchat audience less as a faceless crowd but as your friends and family. Take them on a private tour, show them unseen footage of your video, and don’t be afraid to use the filters, text, and theme to liven up your content.
Start following some popular YouTubers on Snapchat and you can quickly see how they are using it. Don’t use Snapchat as a place to perform, but instead a place for you to be spontaneous. Remember these content don’t last forever, so don’t take forever planning it out, just start doing it.
Promoting your Snapchat account can be hard if you are not a celebrity. Unlike Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, there is no in-app discovery or suggested users feature in Snapchat. The user will have to search for who they want to follow. Unless someone already knows about you, it’s unlikely that they will be following you on Snapchat. This makes promoting your account to your viewers essential for growth.
YouTuber, Markiplier tweeting his Snapchat username.
Here are a few quick tips for promoting your Snapchat account.
- Make sure your Snapchat handle is present on your YouTube channel and other social media platforms.
- Make yourSnapchat snapcode your profile pic, so people can scan and connect with you.
- Get other Snapchatters to give you a shout-out on their account.
Marketing on social media is essential for not only growing your YouTube channel but your entire brand. If you like more content around social media marketing for your channel, join our community of YouTubers where we are always discussing new tactics and opportunities.
Is there a social media platform that you want to test out but not sure how? Leave a comment below.
Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.
Follow @Richard Bennett
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- Title: "[New] Elevate Your YouTube Videos Without Spending a Penny - The Best Tools"
- Author: Steven
- Created at : 2024-05-25 20:12:56
- Updated at : 2024-05-26 20:12:56
- Link: https://youtube-clips.techidaily.com/new-elevate-your-youtube-videos-without-spending-a-penny-the-best-tools/
- License: This work is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.
