The way to examine the variety of subscribers on YouTube, Instagram, Twitter and extra
Whether you run a YouTube channel, blog, or social media empire, it pays to know how many subscribers you have on each platform. The number of subscribers not only shows you which channels are working and which are not, but you can also use them to build stronger and more profitable partnerships with brands.
However, checking the number of participants is not always easy. For any platform like YouTube that makes your followers incredibly transparent, there is a channel where it can be next to impossible to know the number of your subscribers.
Notice that I said "almost impossible", not "totally impossible".
I'm here to explain how to check the number of your subscribers on all major channels and social media platforms.
Why is it important to know how many subscribers you have on different platforms?
Knowing exactly how many subscribers you have on each platform is important for several reasons.
Let's say you're an aspiring marketing influencer. Some of your income will come from brands you pay for sponsorship and endorsements. Exactly how much they'll pay you depends on how many subscribers and followers you have.
If you can show that 50,000 people subscribe to your podcast, 100,000 people read your blog every month, and nearly half a million people follow you on Instagram, you are in a very strong position to command a big payday.
Your subscriber base can also help you make decisions about how to become an influencer or how to increase your company's following in general. Imagine creating accounts on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Pinterest when you started your business and posted equally on all of them.
At some point you need to focus on the platform where you see the greatest success. Your subscriber base is a great way to quickly separate the good social media platforms from the ineffective ones. What's the point of wasting time on Pinterest, where you have half a dozen followers, on Twitter, where you have several thousand?
It's not just social media subscribers to think about, however. Perhaps you have a blog that has over 100,000 visitors each month, but you only have a few hundred people on your email list. This indicates that your email marketing strategy is not working and you should take steps to change that.
How to check the number of your subscribers on YouTube
YouTube is one of the more transparent subscription-based platforms. Log into your account, click your profile photo and go to your channel. The number of your subscribers is displayed under your channel's username.
You can also view your number of subscribers by navigating to YouTube Studio. In addition to the totals, you will find a list of your 100 most recent subscribers.
Visitors to your channel will see an abbreviated version of your subscriber count rounded down to the nearest 10, 100, or 1000 subscribers. YouTube Studio has a handy table that shows how the number of your subscribers will appear to viewers.
YouTube will also notify you in YouTube Studio and by email when you reach certain milestones for subscribers.
How to check the number of your subscribers on your podcast
Podcasts' success goes way beyond subscriber numbers, but the metric that many podcasters want most is how many people subscribe to their podcast. This is often the hardest number to find.
Part of the problem is that consumers can use dozens of different podcast apps to subscribe to shows rather than a single platform like YouTube. This means that the number of podcast subscribers you have is only an estimate.
Most podcasting platforms, from the free to the expensive, offer a way to check your subscriber count. The method (and accuracy) varies by platform. However, the platform should make it clear how to find this number. It's usually on the side where you are posting your podcast.
However, some podcasting apps publish subscriber numbers. You can get a bit more accuracy this way, but you have to do more footwork.
Some of these are Podcast Addict and Castbox, though both make up about two percent of the market. Multiplying either number of subscribers by 50 can give you a vague idea of how many total subscribers you have, but it won't give you a full picture.
One final suggestion from The Podcast Host is to post a new episode and not promote it on social media, email, or anywhere else. In theory, all downloads within about 24 hours of your broadcast being posted are automatic subscriber downloads. So if you have 50 downloads within a day of your episode being published, you probably have around 50 subscribers.
How to check the number of your subscribers on social media
On most social media platforms, your subscriber count is readily available. To find it, all you need to know is where to look.
This is how you can find your subscribers on all major social media platforms.
How you check the number of your followers on Facebook depends on whether you have a personal user account or a company page.
Home users can allow people to follow them by enabling public posts and allowing people who are not their friends to follow them. This is a great option for bloggers and public figures who don't want to have a personal or business Facebook account.
If you are, go to the Friends tab on your profile page and click the Followers subtab. This will show you a full list of followers. You can see the total number even faster by reading the "Intro" section on your profile page.
Facebook Business Page owners must navigate to their page, click the More tab, then click Community from the drop-down menu. This is where you can find the total number of your followers, the posts your followers have on your page, and any posts that have tagged your business page.
Instagram focuses on your number of followers. At the top of your profile, you can see how many people are following you and how many people are following you. Once you have over 10,000 followers, the number will be rounded down to the nearest 100 or 1000 followers.
If you want to get an exact number of subscribers, use Instagram's Insights tool. Navigate to this section in the app and click on “Audience” for an exact number of followers and a growth comparison with the previous week.
If you have fewer than 10,000 followers on Twitter, you can see exactly how many people are following you on your profile page. If your number of followers is higher, Twitter rounds the next hundred followers.
To find out the exact number of subscribers on Twitter, go to the Analytics section and hover over the subscriber number in the top right corner. An exact number is displayed.
Snapchat
The only way to see how your subscribers are doing on Snapchat is by having a public profile. Not only can you see the number of your subscribers in the back end of the platform, but you can also see the number of your followers publicly.
Tick tock
You need a Pro account to check the number of your subscribers on TikTok. When you have set up this type of account, go to the "Settings" menu and click on "Analytics". This will show a graph of the number of video views you have received over the past 28 days and the number of followers you have.
Note: You must wait seven days after creating a TikTok Pro account before analytics data becomes available.
When I talk about subscribers on LinkedIn, I don't mean the number of connections you have. I'm talking about the number of followers you have.
To see how many followers you have, log into your account and scroll down to find the "Activity" section. There you can see your exact number of followers.
Track the number of your Pinterest subscribers in your Analytics dashboard. In addition to your number of followers, you can view engagement metrics, popular Pins from your fans, referral traffic, other top influencers, and competitor data.
How to check the number of your blog subscribers
Users don't subscribe to blogs in the same way as YouTube channels or podcasts. That makes it a little harder to find a subscriber number. Here's how to value your subscribers.
- Create an email newsletter and see how many people subscribe.
An email newsletter is probably the best way to see how many people are "subscribing" to your blog. However, you need to ask users to enter their email addresses without giving them anything other than your updates in return, as is the case with Ahrefs for example.
If you offer them a discount on a product you sell, there is no proof that they actually read your blog every week. They may stop reading immediately after receiving their discount.
- If you already have an email newsletter, count your subscribers.
Checking the number of your blog subscribers can be as simple as opening up your email marketing platform and seeing the number of people you have on your email marketing list.
- If you don't have or don't want to send an email newsletter, use Google Analytics.
If you think your email list is incorrectly reflecting your subscriber numbers, a Google Analytics report can help you estimate the subscribers you have. Navigate to the Audience tab, click the Behavior drop-down menu, and choose New or Back.
This will give you a diagram that separates new users from returning visitors. I would recommend collecting the last 30 days of data to get an accurate idea of the number of subscribers you have.
Conclusion
Your subscriber count is certainly worth knowing, but it's not the be-all and end-all. Measuring engagement on your website, YouTube, and social channels is also an effective way to show brands and other potential partners how valuable your fan base is is.
This is also a great way to find out which social media accounts are worth your time.
If you're still feeling a bit stuck, be it with subscribers or engagement, that's fine – there are plenty of metrics to consider. For more help, check out my guide on how to make social media marketing work for you.
Which platform do you have the most subscribers on?
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