How to Run a YouTube Contest to Increase Channel Subscribers

Are you having trouble increasing the subscribers on your YouTube channel? Is your channel's growth slow, and do you need an organic strategy to speed it up? Then, a YouTube contest is all you need to increase the number of subscribers on your channel.

Engaging your YouTube audience entails more than just creating captivating content; it also entails creating a community and fostering engagement. Running a YouTube contest is a tried-and-true strategy for increasing engagement and subscriber count. Such contests can generate excitement, inspire viewers to participate actively, and result in a substantial increase in your channel's visibility and subscriber base.

Running a YouTube contest, on the other hand, isn't as straightforward as announcing a giveaway and seeing the numbers grow. It necessitates careful planning, a thorough understanding of YouTube's policies, and a strategy consistent with your channel's objectives.

This guide will walk you through the steps to running a successful YouTube contest, ensuring that you not only follow the platform's rules but also maximize your chances of increasing your subscriber base. But first, let's look at some unique contest ideas for increasing your YouTube channel subscribers.

Creative Contest Ideas to Increase YouTube Subscribers

User-Generated Content Competition

Challenge your subscribers to create videos related to the themes of your channel. If your channel is about cooking, for example, have them share their unique recipe videos. Set clear rules for video submissions, such as duration and content restrictions, and provide a theme to assist and guide their creativity.

Participants must upload their videos and utilize the contest hashtag. This not only engages your audience meaningfully, but it also fosters cross-promotion because contestants will almost certainly share their creations with their networks.

Trivia or Scavenger Hunt

Organize a trivia contest or a scavenger hunt in which viewers must watch your videos to find answers to certain questions. This can be a powerful technique to increase views on existing content and attract new members. For trivia, ask questions about your channel's specialty or details from previous videos.

Hide symbols or keywords in your videos that viewers must gather and submit via a form or email for a scavenger hunt. Prizes may be awarded to the first few subscribers who successfully answer or complete the quest. Ensure the hunt is challenging enough to keep people interested but not so difficult that it gets frustrating.

Collaboration Video Entry

Invite your audience to enter a contest in which the winner has a chance to collaborate with you on a video. Participants could enter by submitting a short video expressing why they should be picked or how they envision the collaboration. This contest can attract users who are interested in your content and want to interact with you creatively.

It might be especially tempting if you have a large audience, as it allows smaller creators to gain visibility. Furthermore, the joint effort that emerges from the contest might provide new and exciting content for your channel.

Social Sharing and Hashtag Campaign

Utilize the power of social media by hosting a contest involving the sharing of your content or the creation of posts related to your channel. Ask that people share one of your videos with a specific hashtag or submit content related to a theme you specify and tag your channel. This can broaden your audience beyond YouTube and into other social media channels. Keep an eye on the hashtag to track entries and engagement. The winner might be chosen randomly from those who participated or based on the best post.

How to Run a YouTube Contest to Increase Channel Subscribers

Define Your Objectives and Rules

Start by clearly stating your goals for the contest. Is your goal merely to increase subscriber numbers, or do you also want to increase engagement on a certain video or series?

Establish the contest regulations once your aim has been determined. These should include entry instructions (e.g., subscribe to the channel, like a video, leave a comment, etc.), any limits (such as age or location restrictions), and the contest's timeframe. To avoid legal difficulties or contest takedowns, ensure your guidelines are by YouTube's Community Guidelines and Terms of Service.

Select Appropriate Prizes

Your prize should be attractive enough to entice viewers to participate while also being relevant to your audience's interests and the content of your channel. Giving out the latest technology could be appealing to a tech review channel. The incentive also serves as a channel filter, attracting subscribers interested in your content rather than just the giveaway.

Create Contest Content

Create an announcement video for the contest that is as interesting as your usual content. The video should explain why the contest is being held, how to enter, the rewards, and when the winners will be announced. Maintain viewer interest by keeping it concise and dynamic. Make sure the video is search engine optimized with relevant keywords so that it can also act as an entry point for viewers who haven't yet discovered your channel.

Promote Your Contest

Spread the word about your YouTube contest using your social media networks. Tailor your message for each platform to guarantee it reaches the intended audience. Consider cooperating with other YouTubers to cross-promote your contest and gain access to their audiences.

Monitor and Moderate the Contest

Track engagement and entry methods to monitor the contest's growth. Participate in comments to build community and keep the enthusiasm continuing. Additionally, watch for spammy conduct or efforts to cheat the system and handle them by the contest rules.

Ensure Fair Winner Selection

To ensure your subscribers' trust and enthusiasm for the contest, a transparent and fair winner selection is required. Clarify the selection criteria in the contest regulations, ensuring they meet the contest's objective.

One way to ensure a fair and transparent YouTube contest without involving people in the selection process is to use an online giveaway platform. An online giveaway platform simplifies contest organization, allows participants to share more easily, allows you to track participation, and provides a fair and transparent selection process.

Giveaway.com is an online giveaway platform that checks the boxes for ease-of-use, budget-friendly, advanced features, a results-driven procedure, and assisting your brand in easily attaining its marketing goals. It is an online giveaway platform that lets you execute contests by simply specifying the rules, eligibility requirements, and prizes to be won.

Using Giveaway.com to Run Your YouTube Contests

Using Giveaway.com to organize YouTube contests streamlines the process, ensuring it is efficient and reaches your target audience. This platform allows you to easily design, manage, and promote your contests, eliminating the logistical challenges frequently faced when hosting online competitions.

With Giveaway.com, you can easily manage entries and participant data and ensure that the selection of winners is unbiased and transparent. In the context of YouTube contests, your audience may interact with your brand in a fun, interactive way. At the same time, you get vital user-generated content and create a robust community without getting bogged down in administrative difficulties.

A Template on Creating a YouTube Video Contest Campaign on Giveaway.com

Creating a YouTube contest can foster growth and build your community. With Giveaway.com it’s straightforward to do without installing any plugin or browser extension. Sign up and create your project profile, select the giveaway mode, add necessary information about the giveaway and how to participate, and create your video contest campaign.

Here is a boilerplate template of how creators used YouTube video contests to grow their channel and subscribers.

This is a simple YouTube contest that requires participants to complete these simple tasks to claim the prize. The tasks for participants to earn the reward are simple:

• Visit the channel page
• Create and submit a short video

As you see in the image, this is a simple contest campaign to collect user-generated content to strengthen brand positioning and establish authority.

The campaign is a timed draw contest in which the prize can be manually distributed to participants that completed the task.

Easy, right?

Click here to create a similar YouTube video contest that strengthen your brand position.

Conclusion

Running a YouTube contest is a strategic approach that, when executed with precise goals and creativity, can drastically increase subscriber numbers and viewer engagement. We've highlighted numerous contest styles, ranging from user-generated content competitions to social media-driven hashtag campaigns, all intended to engage your audience in interactive and brand-relevant ways.

Remember that Giveaway.com can help you streamline the process of running a contest. You can assure fairness and efficiency by automating the process, from tracking entries to selecting winners, giving you more time to focus on developing content that resonates with your viewers.

Join over 5000+ Creators using Giveaway.com to grow their online presence.