The Musicians Guide To YouTube Marketing: How To Build an Audience Through YouTube Video Promotion
Today’s lesson is a WEALTH of highly valuable information on one of the BEST traffic strategies and fan generation techniques online.
In Today’s Lesson You Will Learn:
- Why to include video as part of your marketing strategy
- What kinds of video you can create
- How to tag your videos
- How to promote a video on youtube
- How to promote your videos elsewhere
- How to build a community around your channel
In terms of traffic generation, brand building, and sales, VIDEO is king.
Your efforts online should ABSOLUTELY include video as part of your strategy.
By now, this should not be news to you.
There are all kinds of videos you can make, and many places you can distribute them.
There are services, which we will be covering a little later in the lesson, that can actually help you distribute those videos across the top video sites.
Today we are going to focus on the BIG dog of them all, YOUTUBE. Now there are others – and you should try using them, but the good news is that once you know and understand how to optimize your videos to get lots of traffic on youtube, you can easily feel your way around the others and apply the exact same principles.
Pretty cool eh?
No I’m not Canadian. Love the Maple Leaves though!
I’m excited to share this information with you and for you to go and apply it and then tell me your results!
Don’t forget, that was part of the deal. You are taking this information one day, one lesson at a time, following through with the exercise, and then sharing your results as well as your questions, so i can make this a better course for you and your peers.
Alright, let’s get to it.
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Traffic Academy: YouTube Video Promotion
YouTube actually falls under BOTH Content Marketing and Social Traffic, but since it is technically a Social Media Channel rather than a search engine, I found it most appropriate to include this module in this phase.
So look, YouTube get billions of views on a bad day… It’s been proven that video gets more money than ANYTHING else…
You probably understand the benefits, and know you need to be doing MORE video, but you are probably a little confused, scared of, and unsure about how to do it, and do it effectively.
These things take time to learn. Luckily, you got me, and I got your back.
We will shave a COUPLE YEARS off your learning curve in this lesson alone.
Let’s look even further at the overwhelming power of video:
While YouTube doesn’t receive as many Page-views as Google, it is pretty close. Now let me really drive this point home:
If you accurately promote a video on YouTube, and get great listings for it in YouTube’s keyword search for your chosen terms…
Several things happen:
Your top listing will receive almost as many views as a top listing in Google.
If you have a top listing in YouTube (and even if you don’t), you can usually win a 1st page listing in Google itself due to your video promotion.
That means video promotion can win you much more visibility and market penetration than you would solely concentrating on ranking in Google.
So before we get into the steps and process, let’s look at the types of videos you can make that are easy AND effective.
Types of Videos you Can Create Include:
1. A video case study with a client
2. A video teaching how to do something
3. A video showing people interacting with your product (in a How-To Format, Not a Sales Pitch)
4. An interview with a leader or with a famous person in your industry
5. Reveal a secret or latest information
6. Controversial, funny, inspirational, and hot topic content (Be Careful Here)
7. Contests
8. Cover Songs (self explanatory)
9. Original Songs (self explanatory)
1. Video Case Study – If you were a professional you could conduct an interview with a client, ask for statistics, findings, results, and the overall story. But as a musician you could tell the story of a song, or album, or experience that is particularly interesting, engaging, etc. To really knock this video out of the park, use D2Cam or Camtasia, available at www.camtasia.com, to add screen shots and live video feed of your desktop activity so that you can take the viewer through a live demo or website.
2. Video Teaching How To Do Something – If you know any valuable skill, let’s say a cool and easy way to play a certain song on guitar, or some production technique that always works, etc. What could you possibly teach in a how-to video? Perhaps you can do a video on better time management and organization, how to balance life and work, and how to add inspiration to your work and living environment with inspirational calendars. The possibilities are endless. A good rule of thumb is that anything you can write about, you can craft into an interesting video. The same rules apply – keep it short and sweet, actionable and informative, and be interesting, funny, or engaging.
3. Video Showing People Interacting With Your Products/Merch (in a How-To Format, Not a Sales Pitch) – This may not be as effective as other types of videos, but be creative and talk about your latest merch or upcoming products or packages you are putting together.
If I had tools or software I had created, I would show how they’re used. But I wouldn’t push my own product. I would name other possible tools the viewer can use, but since I’m partial to my own tool, I’m going to use it as my example.
This builds trust because they see you’re giving valuable information without beating them over the head with a sales pitch.
4. Interview with a Leader or with a Famous Person in Your Industry – You’d be surprised how easy it is to get interviews with very influential people including celebrities and famous leaders. Just reach out to 10 people you’d like to interview with a brief one-page proposal about what you’d like to interview them on and how the interview will be used, and I am pretty confident at least one or two, if not several, would be willing to be interviewed.
5. Reveal a secret or Latest Information Update – Another great tactic for creating popular, viral videos is to monitor trends in your industry and hit hot topics as soon as they pop up. If a hot new iPhone is coming out, and you sell phone accessories compatible with an iPhone, then hop on that popularity wagon and do a video about iPhone innovations. You don’t even have to mention your site except to introduce yourself and the company you’re with.
6. Controversial, Funny, Inspirational Content – This is the category of video that can get you massive traffic, but it’s harder for companies to pull off. You can play it safe with inspirational content, but if you can craft a solid video that is really funny or controversial, without sacrificing your professional image, you can rake in views and traffic.
7. Hold a Contest
If you’re not funny or you don’t feel you could pull off such a video – and particularly if you don’t want your company participating in controversial topics or conversation –a great solution is to hold a contest or encourage your customers to submit videos.
An incredible example of this is Wiley Books’ promotion of the book, “Brewing Up a Business.” They held a contest on YouTube inviting people to read the book and then submit a short video showing how they implemented the business advice and approach explained in the book and what their results were. The book was fun and funky and they kept that vibe in their contest and materials promoting the contest.
The result? Over 60 videos from 60 different video makers all discussing and promoting Wiley’s book in a creative and engaging way. Think about innovative ways you can get your audience involved in discussing and promoting your company and its offerings.
Regardless of the type of video you create, you can brand your company without ever pitching it in your videos. Options include:
Adding the URL to your company website at the bottom of each video.
Branding your YouTube channel with your company’s URL, brand identity, and calls to action to your site.
Embedding clickable links or popups within your videos to your web pages and offers.
How to Promote a Video on YouTube:
- Create a video
- Tag it according to targeted keywords
- Create a profile on YouTube & upload video
- Network and collaborate with popular YouTubers
- Promote your video elsewhere
It’ll take time, patience and effort to drive massive traffic to your website from YouTube. However, our
purpose here is to get you moving in the right direction and get you the best results with minimal effort.
So here’s a quick and easy way to promote your video content on YouTube which should get you some immediate 1st page rankings on the search engines provided that you’re not trying to rank for excessively competitive terms with millions of competing websites.
Step 1. Create your video
First of all, video content is the most powerful medium for your message nowadays. It’s dynamic, it holds longer attention spans. It shouldn’t take the place of your written content, but it’s an excellent addition that should be on your website and on YouTube.
TAGGING YOUR VIDEO
Identify keyword phrases that are well searched on Google and YouTube and have a
- good ratio against competition
Tag your video when you upload it with those keywords. Don’t forget to tag it with names of companies, products, or people you mention
Setup Google Alerts for your videos, content, and terms that you want to track, whenever it gets shared, spread, or mentioned.
An added benefit is that most savvy companies and industry celebrities have set up Google Alerts to notify them whenever Google indexes a news or media item that mentions their name or any other keyword they want to track. So if you want to get into the good favor of a potential partner or mentor, or you want to get on someone’s radar, discuss them favorably (or not favorably if that’s your intention!) in one or more videos.
Speaking of Google Alerts, a great way to obtain a pulse of your market and your company’s reputation is to set up your own Google Alerts. Simply go to www.google.com/alerts. If you don’t already have a google account, you can create one for free. Make sure you’re signed in and fill out one or more search terms you want to track. Track your company name, names of visible executives in your company, company products or trademarks, and anything else you imagine. You can also track industry news by including some main industry keywords.
Once you submit your Alert, you will receive email alerts every time Google indexes news or media for the keywords you specified.
Step 2. The next step is to tag your video. It’s relatively simple. Identify the keywords you want your video to show up for. This should include relevant keywords from your SEO research that are well searched on Google or YouTube and have a good ratio against the number of websites competing for them.
You also want to include any relevant people, products, or companies that you mention in your video.
This can be effective for a couple of reasons…
First: let’s say that your target audience searches the name of a particular leader in your industry. Mention that leader in one or more of your videos in a meaningful, informative or interesting way, and tag the video with their name. It’s sure to get viewed by a chunk of your target audience looking for info about or by that person or company.
CREATE A PROFILE & UPLOAD VIDEO
Follow the easy instructions on YouTube to create your free account
Click “My Videos” once logged in, then “Upload Video”
Again, follow their easy instructions!
Step 3. Once you know what keywords you want to tag your video with, create a free account at YouTube and then upload your video. You’ll be able to tag it and you can update those tags later. You can embed your video in other sites like your blog or main website using the YouTube code provided.
NETWORK AND COLLABORATE
That was pretty simple. But once the video is uploaded, most companies stop there. Don’t make that mistake. To really give your video viral legs, you’ll want to take the next two steps.
Step 4. First, consider networking and collaborating with popular YouTubers in your industry or in related industries. Just keep it focused to your audience. If you sell ringtones for cell phones, then it might be worth collaborating with a popular YouTuber who does great videos about iPhones, especially when a new model or innovative upgrade is about to be released.
This is a great way to quickly win lots of new subscribers. If you collaborate with someone who has hundreds of subscribers, and they promote the video on their channel and you promote it on yours, you’re bound to pick up quite a few new subscribers as long as the content is solid.
PROMOTING YOUR VIDEO ELSEWHERE
Include videos in your primary website, blog, and social profiles
Distribute videos to multiple video networks
TubeMogul.com
Offer useful video content to partners and to other industry sites
Here’s how you can really knock your own socks off!
And it’s so easy.
Step 5. First, make sure you embed one or more of your videos on your primary web site. Your visitors will consume video content better than written content, and it will help you differentiate your company from your competition. Great videos to have on your main web site include case studies, how-to videos, and interviews.
Next, consider video blogging or at least creating a post on your blog for each new video you do. This allows you to further promote your video through the bookmarking networks like Digg and Delicious.
You can also post links to these pages to Twitter, Facebook, Google + and any other social networks that your business is active on.
Next, and here’s a great promotion method that gets 1st page rankings on google within 24 hours for moderately competitive to mildly competitive terms:
Blast your video out to dozens of video sites simultaneously. You can quickly and easily do this with free video promotion tools like TubeMogul. You can select more robust, paid options, but the basic video blasting software is free and allows you promote your video across all the major video networks, bookmark it on the major social bookmarking sites, track videos by producer. This is great for competitive intelligence, and it easily tracks which web sites are linking to your video. If your video is tagged with the right keywords, you can see rankings within hours or days!
Another great promotion method is to offer your videos as content to partners and other industry colleagues that they can use and publish. For instance, if you do a video case study, offer it to an industry association, web journal, research or media firm, etc. Also consider any content partners you provide articles to per our earlier discussion of article marketing. You can use those same principles to offer video content.
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Homework:
The key thing to remember is that I HIGHLY recommend that you include video into your bigger mix of marketing strategies, and that you get producing your first videos ASAP.
You can go to Animoto.com or a site like it, and create slideshow videos by adding pictures and words put to music and then automatically creates a video, and you can do that very easily, for free or very cheap if you get the paid account.
The best way to get better at videos is to go and do it. Create your first video. Get ON CAMERA, unless you are too shy, but remember, no one CARES what you look like.
1. Go and get a channel with your keywords… now.
2. Build that channel with playlists and reviews at the very least
3. Start building friends and subscribers by inviting, adding, subscribing, etc. (Go tell all your facebook friends, email list, twitter followers, and other social media fans and followers to go and subscribe and that you are going to be delivering some great video content soon.)
4. (For you Go-Getters) Go and create your first video, and follow 5 steps outlined. This may take more time than you may have, so it is an optional step. The previous three, however, are not. If you can only apply them right now that is fine. Save this email and return to complete step four and go through this lesson again when you get the chance. But DON’T forget to come back and do this when you are going to create your video.
Tip: Create Google Alerts at www.google.com/alerts (This is very easy and a great way to monitor your keywords, content title, brand mentions, and any topic you are interested in.)
Now i know that was A LOT. But you can ALWAYS go back and reread it! I’m not wasting any of your time here with fluff, and I hope you are digesting and applying all the material we’ve covered.
Via Music Think Tank
written by Jamie Leger
