In my videos, I usually end with a call to “subscribe to my channel.” But I’m thinking that, if you’ve never subscribed to a channel on YouTube, you may not know what I’m talking about. So here’s my explanation:
YouTube is organized into Channels.
Think of Channels as being like Facebook Pages. Let’s use Harry Potter as an example. Harry Potter has a Facebook Page where you’ll find photos, videos, quotes – all the typical Facebook posts. Harry Potter also has a YouTube Channel with videos. The great thing about the YouTube channel is that it can be organized into groups of videos. So maybe there is a section for spells and one for clips from the movies and another for interviews with the actors. You can see these on the Harry Potter YouTube Channel.
So a YouTube channel is similar to a Facebook Page, a Twitter Profile or a Pinterest Profile – its usually associated with a person or a business.
So what is “Subscribing to a Channel”?
Subscribing is similar to “liking.” If you like Harry Potter novels, you may find the Harry Potter Page on Facebook and click “Like.” Then you are likely to see some posts from that page in your newsfeed. You could also go to YouTube, find the Harry Potter Channel and click Subscribe. Or on Pinterest, you click the follow button.
Subscribing on YouTube is free (except in very few cases, where the button will say “start a free trial” instead of “subscribe.”)
When you subscribe, you’re not only showing support for this channel and their content, you’re more likely to see future videos from this channel. You’ll be able to see all the new videos from your subscriptions in one place.
You can go one step further and turn on “notifications” by clicking the bell next to the subscribe button. Then YouTube will send you an email each time this channel uploads a new video.
What about unsubscribing?
It’s easy – just click the “subscribed” and it will turn off your subscription.