How to Use Instagram to Promote Your YouTube Channel

Are you wondering if Instagram is a good place to raise awareness of your YouTube channel?

Of course! Here’s why.

With more than 1 billion active users, Instagram is one of the hottest platforms for business promotion.

Next, the Instagram community is used to watching promotional content while they’re browsing the platform.

In fact, about 800 million users follow at least one business account, and many of them do so to get updates on the latest products and promotions.

So, you can depend on it to get some valuable exposure for your YouTube channel.

And with about 600 videos uploaded to YouTube every 10 minutes, the competition is getting serious by the second, so let’s get to business!

1. Take Care of Your Instagram and YouTube Profiles

If we’re going to do some serious Instagram marketing, we have to get your Instagram profile in proper shape. Many people will want to see your profile before checking out your YouTube channel and should find an optimized, good-looking, and informative profile.

Here are the things to take care of:

• Make sure that your Instagram name doesn’t have dots or periods. This makes it easier to remember and search for later
• Have a short but informative profile bio. The bio is an excellent tool to let people know what you’re doing
• The link to your YouTube profile in the bio. This is a must, obviously, and try to make to shorten it using the tools like Tiny URL or URL Shortener
• Use hashtags in the bio. If you’ve got a hashtag to represent your YouTube business, it should absolutely be included in your Instagram bio, too.

Here’s an example of a profile that meets most of the points above (the reason why there’s no mention what the person does because the owner of the profile is Andrew Rea, a well-known chef and filmmaker).

Next stop, your YouTube profile.

To make a good first impression, you need to make sure that every title, description, meta tag, and keywords are optimized.

The YouTube profile of Rea is also great to share here. The visuals are great and consistent, the copy is natural and reads well, and the branding is consistent with Instagram.

So, to begin the promotion, you need good-looking and optimized YouTube and Instagram profiles to work with. People need to see that you know what you’re doing and your content is worth checking out.

Next, we’re going to build interest in it by sharing some content.

2. Share Teaser Videos and Photos on Instagram

If you’re doing YouTube, chances are you know how important it is to share teasers to get more people excited for new videos. Instagram is a perfect channel for that. Whether you’re promoting a product video, an event video, or something else, you can try to make a short teaser and share it with your followers.

Here’s one more example from Andrew Rea. In this post, he shares the details about his new video and invites viewers to go to the bio to find a link to it.

Instagram influencers like Rea who target international audiences also translate some of the content they post. For example, they might greet the followers or write an announcement in a foreign language.

“The overwhelming majority of Instagram users are located outside of the United States,” says Erasto Kaseja, the head of international marketing research at PickWriters. “So it’s only natural that you should try to use the language of your followers once in a while to engage them.”

Writing in foreign languages is especially common for YouTubers who go on tours, like Conan O’Brien.

Credit: TeamCoco, Instagram

Keep in mind that your Instagram bio is an excellent place where you can share the link to the teaser. For example, here’s the bio on Gordon Ramsay’s Instagram page that invites the visitors to check out his new video on YouTube.

Note the shortened link and a hashtag.

Source: Gordongram, Instagram

Be sure to post teasers along with some details to let your followers know that your new video is coming soon.

3. Share Behind-the-Scenes Content

Content like behind-the-scenes and bloopers is a great way to grab the attention of Instagram users and make them want to learn more. For example, many people are interested in knowing how famous YouTubers make their videos and how the whole video production process works.

By taking your followers behind the scenes and sharing some interesting moments from the production process that make you relatable, you can attract more attention to your YouTube channel.

Here’s how Julien Solomita, a popular American YouTuber, shows off his new shooting equipment in this short and awesomely edited clip.

Credit: Julien Solomita, Instagram

The Try Guys, an American YouTube comedy group, often take their followers behind the scenes and show what they did for the next video. Here’s one of their posts showing the filming process.

Credit: The Try Guys

Note that the post features a call to action, inviting the viewers to check out the new video. You should do the same.

Here are some ideas for content:

• Take a picture of your studio
• Share a video of you working on a video in a video editing app
• Show a funny moment that happened during filming (a blooper)

Your creativity is the only limit here.

4. Attract Attention by Using Instagram Stories

Instagram stories proved to be a game-changing feature for both businesses and private users. With 500 million daily active users, they are a great way to generate more exposure, drive traffic to your business, and even collect some feedback from followers.

Here are some ideas on how to use Instagram stories for the promotion of your YouTube channel:

• Try doing a Q&A session where you ask a question related to the latest video
• Ask your followers what kind of videos they’d like to see on your profile (provide some options, too)
• If you’re working on an exciting video, share a sneak peek of the upcoming project to generate some interest
• Share behind-the-scenes content featuring you working on your videos
• Poll your followers to collect their feedback and ask for new ideas for videos.

Cristine Rotenberg, a well-known YouTuber who runs a channel called Simply Nailogical, often uses stories for promotion of upcoming videos. For example, here’s one hilarious story where she shares the news of her new video.

Thanks to the See More feature at the bottom of the screen, the viewers can go to the video by simply swiping up. It’s that simple and can really drive traffic to your new content.

5. Engage with Your Followers on Instagram

The promotion of your YouTube channel on Instagram should not resemble one-way communication. As people interact with your content, they give you a great opportunity to engage with them and build relationships.

Interacting with the followers goes beyond replying “Thank you” to the comments they make. While showing your gratitude is important, too, try engaging by providing answers to their questions, asking them what they would like to see next, and recommending other content.

Take a look at how even one comment can increase engagement with content. Keith Habersberger, a well-known YouTuber, often replies to comments made by his followers. Here’s one of them, and it got 632 likes and nine replies in three weeks.

More people are likely to follow you and remain engaged if you acknowledge your followers. So take some time to respond to comments and make your followers feel valued for their feedback.

6. Get Started with Using Analytics

Promotion is great, but if you do it without measuring the performance of your Instagram marketing, you’ll never know if it’s actually helping you. For example, you need to see the difference in views before and after Instagram promotion to check if the marketing effort was successful in attracting more traffic.

Since YouTube has very limited and basic options for analytics, consider using more advanced tools. For example, one of the ways to access video viewing stats is TubeBuddy, a free plugin that provides Channel Analytics.

By using this handy Chrome extension, you can check out performance stats, see analytics, and even compare your channel’s popularity with competitors.

Instagram is a great place for promoting YouTube channels. With millions of users and a variety of ways to share content and connect with your audience, it should be one of the most important marketing channels.

Start by preparing your YouTube and Instagram accounts and proceed by sharing amazing content that people would want to see. Keep watch on analytics to know how well you’re doing and create the content that performs the best.