{"id":4319,"date":"2015-04-16T15:13:05","date_gmt":"2015-04-16T15:13:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bob-baker.com\/buzz\/?p=4319"},"modified":"2015-04-16T16:22:40","modified_gmt":"2015-04-16T16:22:40","slug":"music-marketing-youtube","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/bob-baker.com\/buzz\/music-marketing-youtube\/","title":{"rendered":"Music Marketing with YouTube: Four Ways to Beef Up Your Channel"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is an excerpt from my new book, The Five-Minute Music Marketer: 151 Easy Music Promotion Activities That Take 5 Minutes or Less<\/a> – from a longer section that covers 11 things you can do on YouTube.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Music<\/p>\n

You are probably already aware of this, but just in case: Online video is huge! People are consuming video content at astonishing rates. And the granddaddy of all video sites is YouTube. In fact, YouTube has become the second most popular search engine on the planet, second only to Google, which is its parent company.<\/p>\n

That means you would be wise to put a little effort into developing a free YouTube channel and optimizing it for success. What follows are some basic steps you can take to beef up your YouTube presence when you have a few minutes to spare.<\/p>\n

1) Research options for your YouTube channel art<\/h3>\n

When you create a channel, you can upload a wide image that appears across the top of your YouTube channel home page. The site refers to this as \u201cchannel art.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are some detailed things you need to keep in mind when designing and choosing your channel art. Ideally, it needs to look good on various devices: laptops, tablets, smartphones, etc. While it\u2019s not likely you could design this image in five minutes, you can spend a short time researching best practices.<\/p>\n

Here a good place to start: https:\/\/support.google.com\/youtube\/answer\/2972003<\/a><\/p>\n

2) Craft the wording for your channel description<\/h3>\n

When you\u2019re on someone\u2019s YouTube channel home page, you\u2019ll find links to various sections within the channel. They include Videos, Playlists, Channels, Discussion, and About. YouTube calls this About page the \u201cchannel description.\u201d It\u2019s where you can write a few paragraphs about who you are and what you do. You can also include links to your website and other social media profiles.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s amazing how many people leave this page blank or fill it with only sparse details. But you can be different if you take a few minutes or so to craft the wording that will appear here. Maybe you can even borrow some text from an existing current bio from your website or press kit.<\/p>\n

3) Optimize your video titles<\/h3>\n

\"youtubeThis step and the next one assume that you have already uploaded at least one or two videos to your YouTube channel.<\/p>\n

You may have noticed that while your video is uploading, you are presented with a number of ways to describe it. The three most important elements are the Title, the Description, and the Tags. I\u2019ll use this section to address the first one.<\/p>\n

The Title of your video should be self-explanatory. It\u2019s the name you give it. The more descriptive the title, the more likely it will be found by someone searching YouTube or Google for the words you include.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s an example of a weak Title<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

New Song from January Recording Session<\/em><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a much stronger Title<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

Hammered Dulcimer Instrumental by Atlanta Musician Bill Davis<\/em><\/p>\n

How likely is it that someone will search YouTube for \u201cNew Song from January\u201d? Not very. But there are probably a lot of searches for \u201cHammered dulcimer\u201d or \u201cHammered dulcimer player in Atlanta.\u201d<\/p>\n

Take a few minutes and look at your existing videos. How could you edit the titles so they are more descriptive and more likely to be found on YouTube?<\/p>\n

4) Add a call to action to your video descriptions<\/h3>\n

Another way to let people know what your video is about is to describe it in detail in the \u201cdescription\u201d field. What you put in this important section can be fairly lengthy and can include links to your website and social media profiles.<\/p>\n

But here\u2019s the thing: Only the first couple of sentences of your description will be displayed on your video watch page. There\u2019s a \u201cshow more\u201d link that viewers can click to read the whole thing, but most people won\u2019t do that.<\/p>\n

Therefore, it\u2019s vitally important that you put the most important detail in the first sentence or two. Most video marketing experts agree that should be a call to action with a link, if appropriate. Here are some examples:<\/p>\n