DanWuTV: Start Collaborating

Alright, STOP, collaborate and listen. Now you have that song stuck in your head (you’re welcome). But seriously if you are looking to increase your number of views and subscriptions (which should be pretty much anyone creating YouTube content), you should be looking into creating collaboration videos. The wonderful thing about YouTube is that it’s a close knit community rather than cut throat competition between partners. That being said, use the community atmosphere to your advantage.

Is creating collaboration videos really that great?” you may ask. The answer is, YES! Why? Well look at it this way, there are millions of YouTube viewers all over the world and the chances that everyone, or even a large percent of them, have even heard of you are slim to nil (unless you are one of the top YouTube partners). So, one of the best ways to get your name and videos more popular is through collaborating. By doing this, the other YouTube partner is introducing you to his/her viewers and you are introducing him/her to your viewers (win, win!). The more collaboration videos that you do with different people, the more your name will spread and (hopefully) your videos will be viewed.

Now that you understand the benefits of collaborating, let’s take a look at how to do it. First, find someone you want to collaborate with. The best people would be those who create content that is relevant to your target demographic. Once you have found someone, decide if you want them to appear, guest-star, or contribute in you video (or vice-versa). After figuring all that out, now comes the fun part. Figure out how to include your collaboration partner. If he/she is close in location to you, you may want to actually meet and film together. If this is not possible there are many ideas to use: video chats, incorporating video from your partner, get creative!

Once the collaboration is complete, be sure to give your collaboration partner due credit and make it easy for your viewers to find your partner and your partner’s viewers to find you. Use annotations, use links in the description, and tell your viewers what to do to watch more in your video (“check out my channel for more videos”, “go check out ….’s channel for more videos”, etc.).

Collaborations are a great way to increase your views, and who knows, you may just make new friends along the way too. Don’t be shy about contacting someone about a collaboration project. Just be friendly and confident (and be sure to share your channel link so that the person you are contacting can easily check you out). If the first person you asks declines, don’t be discouraged, just look for someone else. And if someone contacts you about a collaboration, seriously take some time to consider it. Once you have done your first collaboration video, you will (hopefully) see how fun and beneficial it is and be looking to do another one. So, what are you waiting for? Go find another YouTube partner and get filming. Have fun!