I didn’t set out to gain 14,000 subscribers in less than a month. My goal was much simpler: figure out whether YouTube Shorts were worth the time and effort.
What happened over the next 30 days not only exceeded my expectations, but changed the way I think about growing a YouTube channel.
Like a lot of creators, I kept hearing the same advice: You need to be posting YouTube Shorts in order to grow on YouTube.
I totally ignored that advice – mostly because I’m stubborn.
As someone who built her channel from the ground up, I figured my viral moments would do the heavy lifting. And for years, they did.
In fact, I remember growing from 6,300 subscribers to 20,000 in a matter of days thanks to one single viral video.
Looking back, I realize I was foolish to ignore the advice, because shorts really do grow your channel, as you’ll soon learn.
I watched other content creators whom I admire double and triple their subscriber count in a short amount of time – and guess what they all had in common? They had a robust YouTube shorts strategy.
The Benefit of YouTube Shorts
We live in a busy world and there’s a lot of competition for attention.
Viewers might not have time to dedicate to watching a 15-minute or 30-minute video.
But, I can guarantee you that they can find time to watch a seven second or 30-second short.
If you whet their appetite enough, they’ll click on the longer form video, and might even deep dive into your content.
There’s no denying that YouTube shorts help tremendously with discovery.
I can’t count the number of times someone has said they found me from my shorts.
Why a YouTube Shorts Growth Strategy Is Necessary
I have three goals for my channel: make a positive impact, make money and grow my numbers. Shorts support all three of those goals.
YouTube Shorts are like a movie trailer – they are designed to let your audience know about your full video and get them excited. Then, hopefully, they will watch your full feature.
I also lead a very busy life, so I don’t always have time to create longform content.
However, I can always find the time to throw together a 10-second short in a heartbeat. It makes my job easier and keeps my audience sated.
Anyway, let’s get to why you’re here.
My YouTube Shorts Experiment
In late June, I set out on an experiment.
I decided to release shorts with more regularity. Not every day, but several times a week. I limited the amount of longform content I was putting out and really dug deeply into my shorts.
For the record, on June 22, my subscriber count was a little over 260K – nothing to sneeze at, but certainly far from my immediate goal of 400K.
As of July 23, I had over 276K subscribers.
During that month, I had several shorts go viral:
- On June 26, I released a social commentary short of a little girl being disrespectful. That video has racked up 1.4 million views and counting.
- On July 4, I published a BBL short that, at the time of writing this, has 655,000 views.
- On July 14, I released a short critiquing singer, Rihanna’s performance at a Jay-Z concert. That video has 168,000 views so far
- On July 21, I put out a video on a woman who went viral for a fashion fail. That video is growing by the hour and is now at 663,000 views.
Prior to June 26, I had many shorts that had racked-up thousands of views and brought in new subscribers.
During this experiment, I continued to release longform content, and while those videos brought in subscribers, the numbers were eclipsed by the numbers brought in by the shorts.
It was clear to me that shorts were driving meaningful subscriber growth on my channel.
Funny enough, I carried my discipline on YouTube over to Instagram and TikTok – two platforms I barely put any effort into.
On Instagram, I am closing in on 10,000 subscribers just from publishing those same shorts on the platform.
Keep in mind that for more than two years, I had plateaued on Instagram with 2,400 followers.
TikTok has moved a little slower, but I have had a few viral moments. I also know what I have to do to grow on that platform.
The Biggest Lesson I Learned About Growing With YouTube Shorts
A month ago, my This Bahamian Gyal YouTube channel looked very different.
Growth was steady, but I needed something more explosive.
Taking YouTube Shorts seriously changed everything.
The biggest lesson for me was to not get stuck in simply doing what has worked. You have to experiment with different formats because that is where you might find success.
Going all in with Shorts has made me want to start streaming, something I have never done, and I’m going to do it.
If you haven’t devised your own Shorts strategy, do not hesitate. Do it now.
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