So you brought your new music video to perfection and introduced it to the public. The next step would be to get as many people as possible to watch and enjoy your content. But it’s where the rubber meets the road. With 300 hours of video published on YouTube every minute and 5 billion videos watched per day, it becomes really daunting to get those sought-after views and pass the one-million mark.
Here’s where music video promotion comes into the picture. A relatively new concept, this stands for well-planned marketing campaigns devised to increase your fan outreach and engagement. Thinking to take this route and get more people to buzz about you? In this feature, we’ll give you a 4-step success recipe.
Step 1: Take a hard look at your audience and rivals
To excel in video promotion, you should first understand the ins and outs of your target audience, i.e. people who are likely to watch your video. This can include your current fan base and also those who will jump on the bandwagon later on and become lifelong admirers of your talent. Remember: knowing your audience and their behavior means having a leg up in satisfying their immediate and future needs.
One more thing you just can’t ignore is getting to know your competitors. Search for singers and bands who have similar music style and look at how they promote their videos. Besides, you can try to collaborate with them — that will help you increase your music awareness and attract new fans.
Step 2: Optimize for search engines and social media
Another high-priority task is to make your video searchable for potential fans, i.e. implement best SEO practices. But apart from refining your video title and description, adding captions, and using relevant tags, your content should be shareable and linkable in its own right.
Your social media following is everything
Social networks are the video promotion channel you can’t overlook. Remember, the more popularity you have on YouTube and other social media, the more concerts and music sales you get.
But with so many posts appearing in social feeds, making yours noticeable is no low-hanging fruit. To maximize viewership and engagement, be ready to do the heavy lifting.
First, considering the fact that 63-78% of social media time is spent on smartphones, optimize your videos for mobile. Harness the power of square and vertical videos so that viewers wouldn’t have to rotate their mobile screens.
As almost every social video autoplays without sound, start your footage with compelling, memorable visuals, enticing users to turn on the sound and watch your video till the end. To make the content even more appealing to the eye, use subtitles highlighting key ideas. Also, don’t underestimate the importance of thumbnails. Choose the most catchy one — according to your audience’s taste.
Step 3: Bank on paid social media channels
Let’s face it: social media rules. To wit, the number of social network users surpassed 3 billion in 2018, up 13% year-on-year. Such an active social behavior doesn’t seem to change overnight, so get the most out of it. In addition to sharing your video in various social accounts, go for paid promotion channels.
For example, you can benefit from Facebook ads. The platform offers viable sponsor video options — according to your budget. But mind the fact that Facebook considers a view to be anyone who has watched just three seconds of a video, so the high overall viewership doesn’t necessarily reflect the real state of things. To avoid your money being burnt into thin air, work out a detailed Facebook advertising plan.
YouTube
Although more expensive, YouTube ads are a more result-yielding promotion option. On YouTube, you can precisely target your audience and run an ad before other popular videos that relate to your music genre. A great thing is that here only meaningful interactions matter: you’ll pick up the check only when someone watches the full 30 seconds of your ad. To get it started, just set up a Google AdWords account and opt for the most relevant campaign.
One more paid channel you just can’t let slip through the cracks is Instagram, where you’ll find at least two exciting promotion opportunities. To leverage Instagram’s growing popularity, you can advertise your music video both in the feed and stories.
Beware of advertising fraud
Whatever social network you choose for your video promotion, you’ll need a solid video marketing strategy. This way, you will be able to drive results and avoid generating fake social media popularity with bot activity, which is a very big business today.
There are many third-party marketing agencies that aren’t fully transparent and charge for dummy followers as well as for bot views and comments. Even if you have a strong temptation to hire such an agency to get as many views as possible within a couple of hours while making it dog-cheap, try to resist it. Take your time to sift through reliable databases of marketing services providers which use nothing but genuine advertising. Ask your potential vendor for real case studies and testimonials, read customer reviews, and pay attention to word-of-mouth recommendations.
Step 4: Generate conversation with niche communities
Another point your video marketing strategy can’t dispense with includes sharing your music within niche communities.
Think Reddit, the place featuring the best of the Internet and the place when things really go viral. The allure of this platform is that you can closely specify the topic and submit your video to the relevant subreddit, thus reaching out to more like-minded people. When the target is hit, let real users promote your content — through upvotes, like, and comments.
Facebook groups and forums
Other places to share your video are Facebook groups and music forums. Post your video, add an author note, and start a conversation. However, in an attempt to engage more people, don’t be spammy. The majority of forums have strict rules about sharing links, so make sure you comply with their policy. Focus on quality, not quantity: post only in topic-specific communities.
Blogging
If you have a personal website or a blog, additionally promote your video there. Another variant is to team up with popular bloggers who cover the niche you’re in.
Easier said than done… but here’s help
If you’re about to release your new music video, these recommendations can definitely come in handy. However, if you are a novice marketer or lack video promotion expertise, it may take quite a time and effort to go about this devil in the details.
So that your video doesn’t flop, consider partnering with an adroit video marketing company that has a proven track record in creating innovative, tech-driven video promotion solutions. Such an experienced and trusted advisor will surely give you a good night sleep while expanding your fandom.
