As an independent musician, you know the importance of getting your music out there. One great way to do this is by uploading your music videos to YouTube. But how can you make sure that people are actually seeing them? In this guide, we'll share some tips on how to get more views on YouTube as a musician. Keep reading to learn more!
Part 1: Creating Content on a YouTube Channel
Creating long form content as a musician can be a valuable way to grow a loyal and passionate fanbase. Here are ten vital tips for how to get more views on YouTube.
1. Optimize your title with keywords
Your title is one of the first things potential viewers will see, so it’s important to make it count. Optimize your video title by using keywords that accurately describe your video and are likely to be used by people searching for videos like yours.
2. Create an eye-catching thumbnail
Your thumbnail image is the first thing people will see when they come across your video, so it's important to make sure that it's eye-catching and relevant to your video.
Spend some time creating a thumbnail that accurately represents your video and that will entice people to click on it. This is because a CTR, or click-through-rate, is an extremely important metric to prioritize when trying to get more views on YouTube.
Canva is a great tool to create YouTube video thumbnails. With over 13,000 templates, they make it super easy to design your own thumbnail for your YouTube video. Click here to learn more about Canva.
3. Write an engaging description
Once people have clicked on your video, you need to keep them engaged with a well-written description. In your description, include any relevant keywords, as well as a call to action that encourages people to watch your video.
4. Use keywords in your tags
YouTube allows you to add a few tags to each of your videos which helps YouTube understand what your video is about. Be sure to include relevant keywords in your tags so that people searching for those terms will be more likely to come across your video.
What are YouTube Tags?
Tags are another way to ensure that your video appears in relevant search results. When tagging your video, be sure to use popular keywords that accurately describe your content.
5. Post with the audience in mind
As a content creator, you need to make sure you're publishing videos at the optimal time. After all, what good is recording a great video if no one is around to watch it?
Fortunately, there's a lot of data out there on when people are most active on YouTube. And while there's no perfect time to publish a video, there are definitely some times that are better than others.
Here are a three key factors to consider when posting a video in order to get the most out of your YouTube channel:
Activity
First, take a look at when your audience is most active on YouTube. If most of your viewers are in North America, then you'll want to focus on publishing during North American daytime hours. Use YouTube Analytics and third-party apps like TubeBuddy to find this data.
Type of Content
Second, consider the type of content you're posting. If you're posting how-to instructional videos or other educational content, mornings and evenings tend to be the best times to post. However, if you're posting entertainment content, people are more likely to watch your videos during the middle of the day.
Free Time
Finally, don't forget about holidays and other special occasions. People tend to have more free time around holidays, so they're more likely to be browsing YouTube for content. If you can release a video that's relevant to a holiday or special event, you're likely to get more views.
BONUS: Build anticipation for your next video with the Premieres feature
If you're planning to release a new video, the Premieres feature on YouTube can help you build anticipation and ensure that your audience doesn't miss a thing. By creating a Premiere, you can release your YouTube video at a specific time and date, and YouTube will count down to the event in real-time for all of your subscribers.
In addition, you can also teasingly promote your upcoming video content by sharing clips or trailers in the lead-up to the big day. And on the day of the Premiere, you can interact with your viewers in real-time via the live chat function.
6. Promote your video across social media
Once you've published your video, start promoting it on all of your social media channels. Share it with your friends, family, and followers and ask them to share it as well. This will help to increase its reach and potential for being viewed by new audiences.
7. Collaborate with other YouTubers and Musicians
One great way to get more views on your YouTube music video is to collaborate with other YouTubers who have a similar audience to yours. This can be done by doing things like guest starring in each other's videos, doing joint live streams, or even just promoting each other's videos on social media and in your own videos. This can be extremely valuable in exposing your content to a whole new group of potential fans.
8. Submit your video to blogs and websites
Another great way to promote your YouTube music video is to submit it to popular blogs and websites that feature user-generated content. This can help to increase its visibility and reach a whole new group of potential viewers.
9. Host a contest or giveaway
People love contests and giveaways, so running one related to your music video is a great way to get more views and engagement. You could give away prizes like free merch, concert tickets, or even just shoutouts in future videos. Be sure to promote your contest or giveaway, and you can even encourage people to share the contest or giveaway as a "cost" for entry.
10. Pay for advertising
Lastly, if you really want to give your music video or YouTube video a boost, you can always pay for advertising on YouTube or Google AdWords. This will put your video in front of a whole new audience who may not have otherwise come across it organically
Part 2: YouTube Video Content Strategy
Think you need a record label to make it in the music industry? Think again. With a clever content strategy, musicians can use YouTube to build a following and sell music without ever leaving their bedroom.
Lets examine seven content strategies to utilize when creating YouTube videos.
1. Music Videos
The most obvious type of video content for a musician to post on YouTube are music videos. Music videos are a great way to promote your music and get your name out there. Additionally, they add greater depth to a specific song and allow for fans to connect further with your art. If you don't have any music videos, you can always create some yourself or hire someone to do it for you.
2. Live Performances
Another great type of content for a musician to post on YouTube is live performances. Live performances are a great way to connect with your fans and give them a taste of your live show. If you don't have any live performances, and want to expand into this avenue as an artist, click here to learn more about getting your first live gig.
Music Managers are also commonly utilized to land live shows for a musician. To learn more about music managers, click here.
3. Interviews
Interviews are another great type of content for a musician to post on YouTube. Interviews allow you to connect with your fans and give them an insight into your thoughts and feelings about your music. If you don't have any interviews, you can always conduct some yourself or hire someone to do it for you. College newspapers are likely the best spot to begin, click here to learn more about landing your first interview as a musician.
4. Behind-the-Scenes Footage
Behind-the-scenes footage is another great type of content for a musician to post on YouTube. Behind-the-scenes footage gives your fans a glimpse into the making of your music and the hard work that goes into it.
Behind the scenes content can also be used to promote your music and concerts. Lastly, behind the scenes content can provide valuable opportunities for marketing and branding.
By creating behind the scenes content, you are giving your fans a glimpse into your world and building a stronger relationship with them. In turn, this will result in more passionate and loyal fans who will support you throughout your career.
5. Structured Series Content
You've probably heard that content is king, and that's especially true on YouTube. In order to be successful on the platform, you need to create videos that are both interesting and relevant to your audience. One way to do this is to group your content into related series.
This will help you keep your viewers engaged by providing them with a consistent stream of new and exciting content. Not only that, but when your content has a consistent theme and topic, it will also make it easier for you to promote your videos and build a loyal following.
Bonus Tip: Group related YouTube videos into playlists for your YouTube channel. That way, the structure of the page will be more sound and easy to navigate.
6. Music Lessons & Insight
Music lessons and insight are another great form of content for a musician to post on YouTube. Music lessons are a great way to connect with your fans and give them an insight into your musical skills and knowledge. Showcasing your skills with tutorials will draw eyes from every edge of the community to your YouTube video, so be sure to interact with comments and leave each viewer with a pleasant experience, if possible.
7. Cover Songs & Remixes
Lastly, cover songs are another great type of content for a musician to post on YouTube. Cover songs are a great way to show off your musical skills and connect with your fans by performing songs that they know and love. These covers and remixes will also perform well in YouTube search due to the organic traffic headed to the video title or song name. This strategy has been used by countless musicians to gain success on YouTube and eventually break into the industry.
For example, the musician AK was able to gain his initial audience by remixing popular rap songs. Granted, his skills took him the places he is today. However, even to this day the cover YouTube videos he created are some of the most viewed on his channel.
Joyner Lucas was another lyrical rapper that was able to leverage remixes of the top songs in the hip hop scene to draw attention to his own skills and music catalogue. He is now one of the biggest, most notable musicians in the hip hop genre.
Therefore, we would definitely recommend attempting covers of trending songs to get more YouTube views in such a competitive scene.
To learn everything an independent artist needs to know about cover songs, click here.
Part 3: Utilize ALL of YouTube's Features
YouTube has a variety of advanced features and underutilized tools that allow a creator to engage further with their audience. We mentioned how to build anticipation for your next video with the Premieres feature, but what other tactics can you use to further increase your chance of success on YouTube?
Lets examine what further effort can be taken beyond simply creating content that will result in the best results for your YouTube channel. Here are four valuable suggestions:
1. Engage and Excite Your Viewers By Using YouTube's Community Tab
YouTube has always valued the community. They want to create and communicate content that is meaningful for both creators, as well their audience members who tune in regularly.
By using YouTube's Community Tab, you can easily engage with your viewers and encourage them to participate in the discussion. Here are a few tips on how to use the Community Tab to its full potential:
1. Use it to start a conversation:
YouTube's Community Tab is a great way to start a conversation with your viewers. Ask them questions, solicit feedback, or just let them know what's going on in your life. You can even use it to crowdsource ideas for future videos.
2. Use it to build relationships:
The YouTube Community Tab is also a great way to build relationships with your viewers. Whether you're responding to comments or just chatting with someone in the chat box, you're building a connection with that person. And as we all know, relationships are essential for success on YouTube.
3. Use it to promote your channel:
Last but not least, the Community Tab is also a great way to promote your channel. If you've got some news or announcements to share, post them in the Community Tab. You can also use it to share your latest videos or highlight some of your best content.
By using the Community Tab, you can easily engage with your viewers and make your YouTube channel more successful. So what are you waiting for? Start utilizing the Community Tab today!
2. Add Timestamps To Connect Viewers With The Information They Need
Every YouTuber knows that the key to success is engagement. If you can keep your viewers engaged, they will keep watching your videos.
One way to do this is by adding timestamps to your YouTube videos and description. This way, viewers can easily find the information they need without having to watch the entire video.
Timestamps also help YouTube algorithms understand what your video is about, which can improve your ranking in search results.
In addition, adding timestamps to your video can help you track watch time, a key metric that YouTube uses to determine whether a video is successful. So if you're looking to boost your YouTube channel, don't forget to add timestamps to your videos!
3. Use Cards and End Screens
Utilizing cards and end screens on YouTube is a great way to ensure that your videos are getting seen by viewers. By including links to your other videos on your cards, you can encourage viewers to watch more of your content.
Also, by including calls to action on your end screens, you can encourage viewers to subscribe to your channel or follow you on various other social media channels.
Best of all, these are improved from YouTube's past system of annotations, as cards and end screens can be viewed by YouTube users on both mobile and desktop.
By using these two features, you can help to increase the reach of your videos and build a larger audience for your channel.
4. Create YouTube Shorts To Increase Traffic To Your Channel
YouTube Shorts is a new feature on the YouTube platform and app that allows you to create short, vertical videos. The videos can be up to 60 seconds long, and you can string multiple shorts together to create a longer video.
Here are some benefits of YouTube Shorts:
Easily use your own music in content
Organic traffic comes automatically
Over time, the target audience is automatically suggested videos relevant to what they want to watch, thanks to a strong algorithm
Shorts can go viral easier than traditional videos
Revenue for Creators
As YouTube Shorts continues to grow in popularity, make sure to take advantage of this new feature by creating engaging, short videos for your channel.
Part 4: Repurposing Content
In today's day and age, content is king. Therefore, it makes sense that repurposing content is essential to success. One of the most effective ways to do this is to repurpose long-form content into short-form content.
Long-form YouTube videos can be broken down into shorter sub-sections. These sub-sections could get more views than the original YouTube video, and help amass an even higher number of views by promoting your original piece of content.
For example, if you have a ten-minute video on your YouTube channel, you can break it down into two-minute segments and post them to YouTube Shorts, TikTok, and Instagram Reels. Not only will this allow you to reach a wider audience, but it will also help you to better engage with your followers.
It's a good use of time. When you repurpose content from long form to short form, you're making good use of your time. You've already put in the work to create the long form content, so it makes sense to get as much mileage out of it as possible. By repurposing it into shorter pieces, you can reach a wider audience and get more people engaged with your content.
You can reach a wider audience. As mentioned above, one of the benefits of repurposing content is that you can reach a wider audience. When you create long form content, it's typically aimed at a specific niche. But when you repurpose that content into shorter pieces, you can reach people outside of your niche who might be interested in what you have to say.
You can increase engagement. Another benefit of repurposing content is that it can help you increase engagement. When people see that you've taken the time to create multiple pieces of content on the same topic, they're more likely to engage with it. And the more engagement you have, the better chance you have of growing your audience.
You can create different types of content. When you repurpose content, you're not just limited to creating shorter pieces. You can also use the same content to create different types of content altogether. For example, if you have a YouTube video detailing your latest song post, you could turn it into a blog post or Instagram story. This gives you more opportunities to reach people in different ways and keeps things interesting for your audience.
You can save money. If you're on a tight budget, repurposing content can be a great way to save money. Instead of hiring someone to create new content from scratch, you can simply take what you already have and turn it into something new. This can be a great way to stretch your budget and still produce high-quality content.
You can get feedback from your audience. When you repurpose content, you also have the opportunity to get feedback from your audience before creating new content. This is because people are more likely to engage with something that they've already seen and liked than something that's completely new. So if you're thinking about creating new content, consider turning some of your old stuff into something new first and seeing how people react to it!
FAQs
How can I get more views on YouTube in 2022?
Optimize your title and description with keywords. Create a stunning thumbnail with Canva. Capitalize on Trends. Create short-form pieces of content to promote your YouTube video. Interact with your audience. Create cards, timestamps, and an end screen. Make structured, related content. Once posted, share on social media and repurpose the content as much as possible.
Where do I share YouTube videos to get more views?
Social media is a great way to promote your videos, so start by posting links on your personal Twitter and Facebook accounts. If you have a blog or website, embedding your videos is also a great way to get more views.
You can also try reaching out to other influencers in your niche and asking them to promote your videos to their followers. With a little effort, you should be able to get more people to watch your YouTube videos.
However, before you can even interest others in watching your YouTube videos, you must first make sure that your target audience can actually find them. That means you should post your videos on as many platforms as possible and using descriptive titles and tags.
Does average watch time matter for my YouTube Video?
Yes. Often suggested videos on YouTube are primarily based off of metrics like click-through-rate and watch time. So if you want to get more YouTube views, focus on making your content engaging, and your YouTube videos will begin to appear in the related videos section more and more often. Other strategies to increase watch time can be found here.
In Conclusion
YouTube can be an invaluable platform for promoting your music and connecting with fans.
In the past, musicians had to rely on record labels to produce and distribute their music. This system was often unfair, and it was difficult for independent artists to gain exposure.
However, YouTube has leveled the playing field, allowing anyone with a camera and a computer to upload videos and reach a global audience.
For up-and-coming musicians, YouTube is an essential tool for building a following and growing their career. In addition to music videos, many musicians use YouTube to post vlogs, tutorials, and live performances. This content helps to give fans a behind-the-scenes look at the artist’s life and work. As a result, YouTube has become an essential platform for musicians of all genres.
Utilizing the tips discussed this article, you can begin to implement new strategies and techniques to gain more views on your YouTube channel. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to leave them in the comment section below, and subscribe for more blog posts for independent musicians. Until next time!