Music videos: What’s the best way of marketing them?
Releasing a music video is an exciting time in your career as an artist, especially if it is your first. Bringing your music to life in visual form can be a hugely rewarding experience, and can generate an even bigger media buzz around your release. Not to mention, fans respond extremely well to music videos, and will eagerly share your content even more willingly. However, in order to really feel the benefit of releasing a music video, it is essential to put together a strategy around how to market it. There are several aspects involved in marketing your music videos, we’ve taken a closer look at the steps involved.
Selecting a release date
First of all, you will need to select an appropriate release date for the video. You may feel rushed or pressured by those working around you, but releasing a video too quickly can be detrimental to its success. It is vitally important to allow time for promoting the video before its release, allowing you to create suspense and build the excitement. Waiting to release your video gives your fans something to look forward to, and will make them more likely to share their thoughts online. Planning your music video’s release ahead of time gives you time to plan and implement a thorough marketing campaign, giving the video a much better chance of success. You should also ensure that you release the video at a time when your fans are most likely to view it. This includes choosing a time of day when the majority of your fans are online but also choosing an appropriate date. You need to ensure that there are no other huge releases happening that day that may impact the exposure of your music video. For example, if an artist with a very similar style to yours happens to be releasing their own video on a particular date, you may want to avoid it.
Prior planning
In order to give your music video the very best chance of succeeding, it is imperative to plan an extensive campaign to promote it. All of your social media platforms should be involved in the promotion in order to reach out to your entire fanbase and generate the biggest response. Make sure that your content is enticing in order to generate the maximum level of engagement, spreading your video even further around the globe. Teasers are a great way to build excitement and generate buzz around the release of your video, giving fans even more to look forward to. Always remember to hashtag your promotional posts, create a hashtag for your music video that will stick in people’s minds and remember to utilize it in every post you make about the video for continuity. You may even want to integrate a giveaway into your promotion in order to really reach the optimum level of excitement around the release. If you choose to conduct a giveaway, you should encourage entrants to share promotional content for a chance to win, this way you truly receive the benefits.
Sponsored posts
While promoting on social media you may want to allocate some of your marketing budget to paying for extra reach on your social channels. Facebook, Twitter and Instagram all offer extensive advertising options, and dedicating even a small budget to promotional posts could have a monumental impact on your reach. The algorithms behind social media platforms are constantly developing, making it increasingly difficult to reach your fanbase without paying for promotion. Paying for promotion also allows you to further target your posts, reaching out to specific individuals who are the most likely to interact.
Reaching out to the press
Reaching out to press leading up to and following the release of the music video is also a vital aspect of marketing it. Coverage from news outlets and social media posts from influencers can be the most fruitful methods of promoting a music video, and can quickly increase viewers. You may even want to offer a news outlet the opportunity to premiere the video, a mutually beneficial option that could largely increase the number of viewers taking a look at your video and connecting with your content. Any kind of press coverage goes a long way in legitimizing your brand, telling potential fans that you are somebody worth paying attention to.
Continue the promotion
In order to really maximize the impact of the music video, make sure to continue promoting it after it is released. You should continue to draw attention to the video after it is published, encouraging an increase in views. Naturally, be careful not to go overboard and make your fans lose interest or even become aggravated by constant posting. It is important to find the right balance, continue to promote the video but be careful not to spam. A good option to keep your video at the forefront of your promotion without spamming is to pin it to the top of your social profiles, generating clicks from visitors.
While there are many aspects involved when marketing a music video, the most important thing is to plan in advance. Advance planning gives your video the best chance of success, as you can put a great deal of thought into your promotion. The build-up is just as important as the promotion after release, as building excitement is a huge aspect of generating views. As long as you use a carefully strategized campaign and involve the right influencers and media outlets, your music video will already be on the path to widespread success.