Engineering Video Excerpts for Online Platforms

How to Make a Channel Trailer

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

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Your channel trailer is the video viewers who are not already subscribed to you will see when they visit your channel page. It is your chance to make a quick pitch to them about why they should subscribe. You can use your channel trailer to let new visitors to your channel know what kind of videos you make and to convince them to subscribe. Here are 5 tips to make an effective YouTube channel trailer.

Part 1: 5 Tips for Making a Great Channel Trailer

Here are our top 5 recommendations for anybody creating a YouTube channel trailer:

Reach Out – It’s All About Your Viewers

Use your channel trailer to try to connect to the individual viewer watching it. Greet that one person as one person, as a ‘you’, instead of as a member of a group (i.e., avoid saying ‘you guys’).

The more you can make your trailer about the person watching it, the better. You are telling them about yourself, but you are doing it for their benefit. Address them directly (i.e. ‘If you like…’ or ‘you don’t want to miss’.) and make everything you say about them. For example, instead of saying ‘I post tutorials about’, try ‘you can learn about’.

Flaunt Your Personality – It’s All About You

One of the golden rules of YouTube is ‘be yourself’. People will subscribe because they enjoy your personality and want to see more of it.

Use your trailer as an opportunity to showcase your unique perspective. Be yourself, and be the person that is excited to be making great YouTube videos. You are at your best when you let people see how much you care about something, so show your viewers how much you care about delivering great video content. This is what will make people want to subscribe.

Talk about All the Cool Stuff You Do

The best channel trailers give viewers a window into your channel. You need to show people what to expect from you as a personality, but you also need to tell them what to expect in terms of your videos.

Your channel trailer should include information like: what kinds of videos you make, why you make them, and what your upload schedule is.

Be specific. Instead of saying you make videos about makeup, say you make look tutorials and talk about your favorite styles. Instead of saying you are a gamer, tell your potential subscribers what games you post about and what some of your favorites are.

A specific schedule is important for getting people to subscribe. Generally, viewers do not subscribe to channels that have not posted in a long time. They subscribe because they do not want to miss out on new content, and if you follow a schedule, they will trust that that new content is on its way.

Ask Them to Subscribe

Do not forget to ask the person to view your trailer to subscribe.

A lot of people go into YouTube thinking people will subscribe if they like their videos, and so making great videos is the only way to get people to subscribe. This is not true.

Making great videos is the first step to getting subscribers, but the second step is to ask for them. Not everyone subscribes to every channel they visit and enjoy. A person who enjoys your videos is more likely to subscribe if you prompt them to.

30 Seconds

The ideal length for a YouTube channel trailer is 30 seconds, or between 30 seconds and 1 minute.

The people viewing your trailer did not come to YouTube for the purpose of watching it. They are unlikely to give it much time before they continue browsing. This means you need to grab their attention tightly right away, but it also means you need to keep your trailer bite-sized.

Thirty seconds should be long enough to tell people what your channel is about, show off your personality, and ask them to subscribe. If you take much longer, viewers will click away before they hear your full pitch.

Part 2: How to Add a Channel Trailer Using Wondershare Filmora

Here are a few simple steps to setting up your channel trailer.

1. Turn on channel customization. Go to My Channel and click the gear icon over your channel’s banner. Switch Customize the layout of your channel from off to on.
2. Upload your trailer video like you would any other video.
3. Go to your channel and click on the For new visitors tab, which should appear after you’ve turned on customization.
4. Click Channel trailer and choose your video, or paste in its URL.

If you want to find a video editing solution that empowers your imagination and creativity yet takes less effort, please try this robust and user-friendly video editing software Wondershare Filmora. It provides special effects, stock photo & video, sound library, etc., which will definitely enhance your productivity and helps to make money by making videos much accessible.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

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