Browsing Tag

YouTube Promotion

How Artists Can Maximise Their YouTube Promotion Campaigns

Posted on 3 April 2023
YouTube Promotion Campaigns

With the average music video costing £1,500 – £5,000 for independent artists to shoot, unless you have some very benevolent and talented videographer connections, music videos are one of the hardest investments for independent artists to rake back their investments from.

By learning how to utilise the marketing opportunities offered by YouTube, you will have the best shot at investing wisely in your music videos. In this article, we will cover the top seven ways to maximise your YouTube promotion campaigns and touch upon the new music promotion trend, which is putting more momentum behind megastars, such as Miley Cyrus, and helping independent artists to make an impression in an oversaturated scene.

Contrary to popular belief, it takes a fair amount of work to stand out on YouTube. The streaming service may have 2.1 billion active users, and over 1 billion videos are watched every day, but as there are approximately 800 million videos and 37 million channels to compete with, grabbing attention is easier said than done. The rate of uploads to YouTube is only speeding up too – 3.7 million videos are uploaded every day – that is sixty hours of video uploaded every minute of the day!

How to Make the Most of YouTube Promotion Campaigns

  1. Verify Your YouTube Account

Just like getting a blue tick on Facebook and Twitter helps to build your credibility on the platform, verifying your YouTube account and obtaining the valuable blue tick on YouTube will help to improve your standing. Unlike with some social media platforms, you don’t need to be a popular public figure to gain your blue tick; you just need to verify your account.

The verification process will entail ensuring you have provided all of the information required to complete your profile; for additional algorithmic brownie points, include links to all relevant social media pages and websites. To make it easier for people to contact you, provide your contact information too.

  1. Get Short

Unless you have been hiding under a rock for the past few years, you will have noticed the TikTokification of other apps, such as Facebook and Instagram; Spotify and YouTube are now jumping on the same short video clip bandwagon.

It is no longer enough to upload your official music videos and lyric videos; the diminishing attention spans of music fans may be cause for concern, but there is no reason why independent artists can’t use the new YouTube Shorts trend to their advantage.

Whether you’re launching a new single, EP, album, or music video, whet the appetite of your audience by showcasing a snippet (or multiple!) of your music to garner traction with music fans who may not have felt inclined to sit through the entire track, video, or LP!

  1. Invest in Ads for Your YouTube Promotion Campaigns

Targeted YouTube ads are a great way to find large niche communities on a relatively small budget. YouTube ads can also help you target users with specific behaviours and intentions, making it far more intuitive than using Facebook and Instagram-sponsored ads.

To maximise Your YouTube Ads campaign, do plenty of research first; getting trigger-happy with your ad campaigns is as futile as throwing money down the drain. Platforms such as soundcharts can help you gather all the necessary data points you need to build an effective campaign. Once you know who you want your music, music videos and shorts in front of, ensure your ads are engaging and attention-grabbing.

  1. Create an Interesting Thumbnail

Thumbnails should never be an afterthought when uploading new content to YouTube. Don’t be tempted to use a grainy screengrab from a music video; always use a high-resolution thumbnail paired with a compelling caption so your audience knows what they are clicking on before they delve into the video.

Contrasting colours are great for capturing attention, as are whitespace and negative space. For more tips, read this guide on how to create the perfect YouTube thumbnail.

  1. Stop, Collaborate, and Listen

Many marketing tips and trends come and go; one of the only ones that stand the test of time is that collaboration is key to success when expanding your reach and your audience. In addition to sharing fan bases, it can also put you in touch with other valuable people within the music industry.

Whether you’re collaborating with fashion designers, visual artists, other artists, producers, influencers or videographers, collaboration is one surefire way to boost your streaming numbers if you work with the right people!

  1. Share Your YouTube Videos and Shorts

Social media platforms such as Facebook may not be the best for sharing YouTube video links as anything that will pull social media users away from the platform is considered algorithmic bad cake, but promoting your videos is still a necessary evil!

Before your new music video debuts, share a link so your audience can watch the premier as it happens, make another post when the video goes live, and don’t be shy about sharing your streaming milestones; this will give your fans who may have missed your original post another chance to view the video. If you get your ducks in a row before your hotly-anticipated music video debut, you can also reach out to music journalists and blogs to see if they want to exclusively premiere your music video. This kind of arrangement is beneficial for both parties; you can put even more traction behind your new release, while the blog or online music mag will get some exclusive content to share with their readers.

  1. Don’t Neglect the Comment Section

You wouldn’t get far without your music fans; never think you’re above expressing your gratitude for their time and comments! Always find the time to connect with your audience, whether they are commenting on the YouTube video itself or a social media post. To drive up engagement, you can be direct in asking for feedback or find other ways to encourage others to get involved with your music.

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For more help and advice on YouTube Promotion Campaigns, contact A&R Factory to find out more about our artist & development services, or you can contact us about your music video premiere today by using our artist submission page.

 

Article by Amelia Vandergast

 

What is the Best Way to Promote YouTube Videos? Read Our 6 Top Tips for Music Video Promotion

Posted on 28 November 2022
YouTube Video Promotion

With a viral music video, independent artists’ careers can change overnight, but racking up those initial streams and amassing the hype around your new music video takes plenty more than a stroke of good luck and a killer music video. Even if Tarantino himself directed it, you need to put in the work with music video promotion to ensure it makes an impact.

With over two billion people worldwide using YouTube, the video streaming platform which swung into our everyday lives in 2005, is a hotbed of music marketing potential. In this article, we will cover some of the best ways to hit the ground running on your music video marketing campaign and cover what is the best way to promote YouTube videos. Covering everything from shelling out for YouTube ads to more budget-friendly options, such as getting strategic with your keywords and thumbnails to putting the groundwork in with your existing fanbase.

The Top Six Ways to Promote Your Music Videos on YouTube

1.       Utilise YouTube Ads 

YouTube ads may come at a cost, but they are the number one way to promote your music videos on YouTube. If you have spent any amount of time on YouTube, you have likely encountered your fair share of YouTube adverts between watching the videos you have searched for.

With YouTube ad campaigns, you are completely in control. After you have set a budget, which will determine the cost per view, you can choose your target audience, the format of the YouTube ad, how your ads appear, and the keywords associated with your ad.

To get started, you will need a Google Adwords account, and to run an effective video promotion campaign, you will also need to have an idea of which audiences you should be targeting. You can get these insights from YouTube Analytics if you are already active on YouTube, Spotify’s Artist Insights and Google Analytics. This step may be incredibly laborious, but if you are serious about making an impactful impression with your YouTube ads, treat it as a necessary evil!

2.       Verify Your YouTube Channel

Verifying your YouTube Channel takes just a few minutes, but it can have a substantial effect on your streaming stats in the long run. Verifying your account will give you access to statistics that can help you run your ad campaigns better, allow you to promote everything from merch to tours to physical copies of your music under your videos and improve the SEO of your YouTube channel. With improved SEO, you will bring more organic traffic onto your channel, which will translate to more streams on your old and new music videos.

To verify your account, head to YouTube.com/verify and enter your phone number to receive a verification code; once entered, you’re all set! However, before making the verification request, you must have uploaded at least three videos on YouTube.

3.       Clip It & Mix Up Your Content

Video clips aren’t just king on TikTok; they are also great for placing on your YouTube channel to illustrate your songs and your brand as an artist. Via YouTube clips, which often work best as ads, you can let your fans and future fans into your musical world.

In addition to using YouTube as a platform to showcase your music videos and albums, it is also a prime location to jump on the hype of vlogs and behind-the-scenes videos, which give fans an intimate view of you as an artist.

By creating and publishing content of this nature, you get the chance to build a community around your music, rather than just appearing as a ‘faceless’ artist. If you’re feeling stuck for content, you can always curate playlists of your favourite music from other artists.

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4.       Master SEO & Keywords in Music Video Promotion

SEO may sound complicated to complete beginners but as an artist wanting to promote your music, there are a few key things to master that will take your promotion to the next level.

For optimal YouTube SEO, always use an appropriate title for your videos, a meta description that will appear beneath each video and the appropriate tags. For music videos, keep the title as simple as just your artist name and track title. For other content, look at the current trends on YouTube and form your titles and descriptions around them. Google Trends and YouTube Autocomplete are two of the best tools to help you get started as an SEO wiz.

5.       Don’t Forget Your Thumbnails

Would you click on a poorly framed and blurry thumbnail on YouTube to check the video behind it? Of course, you wouldn’t. You would assume that the video quality would be just as poor.

To create eye-catching and alluring thumbnails, make them colourful and impactful. Instead of attempting to get a clear shot from your music video, take some stills while you are filming your music video, which can be uploaded to YouTube as thumbnails. If you need to do additional editing after the shoot and you’re not a Photoshop pro, you can always use tools, such as Canva; you can either pay for the service or use the free version.

6.       Connect with Your YouTube Audience & Collaborate

Every artist wants an engaged audience, and while you are starting out, that is the perfect time to nurture your fanbase by responding to YouTube comments and showing your appreciation to your subscribers! Keeping up with showing appreciation to your fanbase gets tougher the more popular you get, but a simple like can go a long way!

For most independent artists, it is easier to gain a following on social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Always promote your YouTube videos across these platforms and push your followers to subscribe to your channel; it can work wonders for the overall reach of your YouTube channel.

To get more fans onboard and bolster your music video promotion, collaboration is often key. While some artists pride themselves on being 100% DIY, collaboration is one of the best ways to combine the forces of fanbases. For your music videos and lyric videos, find other creatives that can bring their artistic touches to your videos, and always credit them in your meta descriptions.

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If you have a new music video to promote, submit it to A&R Factory. Our award-winning blog will boost the signal on your new video and help you kickstart your music video promotion campaign.

Article by Amelia Vandergast