We’re answering a big social media question:

How can I get more YouTube subscribers with FanBridge?

If you have a YouTube channel, you’ll want to read this carefully and catch up with our previous post on using email campaigns to build your channel. In this post, though, we’ll cover how to use your Facebook Fan Page to direct more traffic to your YouTube channel and get more subscribers and viewers.

Your Facebook Fan Page is the first place that many fans commit to following your content. As a smart marketer, you know that Facebook Likes are important, but what you do after the Like is where you’ll create the real value of your marketing efforts. How can you energize your Facebook fan base and turn them into YouTube subscribers and viewers?

Part 2: Get YouTube Subscribers from a Facebook Fan Page

The easy step here is to post a link to your video on YouTube. This way, you’re sharing the content directly into your fans’ newsfeeds. This is important, but it isn’t a reliable method of driving huge amounts of traffic. Facebook’s Edgerank will only display your content to a small percentage of fans – anywhere from 10-16% for the average page – and will favor photo content over links to videos. Does this mean that you shouldn’t share your video content as a Facebook post? Of course not! Fans can share newsfeed content while updating their friends about their content interactions through open graph and the ticker.

It’s time to make your content a powerful force and not just another boring item in the newsfeed. 

1) Images > Video

Remember when we said that video links don’t have as much weight with Edgerank? The Annoying Orange shares videos by posting a screenshot with a link to the YouTube video in the text. Many of the images for the posts are “sneak peeks” that excite and engage fans who feel like they are getting special, exclusive content. While fans can’t watch the video without leaving the feed, more fans are likely to see the post. Strike a balance by posting both video embeds in the feed and screenshots with links. It can be a good way to post about the same content while still creating variety and not compromising Edgerank through repetition.

2) Featured Video Module

AwesomenessTV uses the FanBridge Facebook app to have a content-rich portion of their Facebook Timeline. They’ve made a video the featured part of this page, so it appears in the top area and above the fold (the area of the page seen without any scrolling). The video can be watched within the page, so fans aren’t forced to leave Facebook to consume content yet can access regular YouTube features like subscribing and sharing.

AwesomenessTV chooses to Like-gate their video. This means that fans also have to Like the page before viewing the video. We like this because you’re growing your Facebook fan base, but if you’d rather focus on views instead of Likes, you can choose not to Like-gate your content.

3) Subscribe Link

Just like you know to make it easy for fans to join your email list (because you are a smart marketer and have been following the FanBridge blog, right?), you’ll want to make it easy for fans to subscribe to your YouTube channel, too. The best advertisement for your YouTube channel is your great original content, so add the link along with your videos. If you’re posting videos to your newsfeed as a link, include a link to subscribe in the text portion. You can also include multiple links in the text that accompanies a photo post. While the YouTube link to the video itself should be the focal point of the post, you can always add a short line at the end, like “Want more video updates on YouTube? Subscribe to my channel.”

Want to cut out extra steps a directly subscribe fans? Use this link: http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=YOURUSERNAME. Just be clear about what the link does so fans can effectively opt-in to your YouTube channel!

If you’re using a custom tab like the FanBridge Facebook app, you can also include a banner that links to another site. Create a “Subscribe to my YouTube channel” banner and use the above link to directly subscribe fans that click.

Building a fan base is about bridging multiple channels together. With some small changes, your Facebook Fan Page can become a driver of traffic to your YouTube channel to help get more subscribers and viewers. Images, links, and custom tabs all help make your Facebook Fan Page an exciting, engaging, and (most-importantly) content-rich place for fans to go.

Not using FanBridge to grow your YouTube channel?