7 Easy Tips for Musicians to Create Great YouTube Videos

This is part of my YouTube series where I try every week to learn more about growing my YouTube channel. You can check out my other links here!

Today’s topic: How to rock your content and make videos that people can’t wait to watch.

Tips for Creating Great YouTube Content

The class I’m taking didn’t mention any actual content topics, so you’ll have to come with content ideas prepared, I guess. I might make a post about content ideas in case you get stuck, but for now, let’s take the ideas you do have and make them awesome:

1). Focus on Music Content

Obviously this will be the majority of your content if you’re a musician, but you can switch it up to keep new ideas coming. I don’t have nearly enough musical content on my vlog, but I do have my originals, some covers, DIY music videos, and behind-the-scenes videos about new songs. Any of these might be a great idea for you!

2). Content Length

There are two types of videos you should post: Short (between 2-3 minutes) and long (between 10-15 minutes). The shorter your video, the more likely people are to watch the whole thing. However, longer videos can also be good for your channel as long as they are worth the longer watch time. Don’t purposely stretch a video to 10 minutes if you have 5 minutes of content, but if you want to go in-depth on something, go for it! Your music videos can all be about 3 minutes, and anything else can be longer. See what types of videos do best for you and focus on those.

3). Use Emotions and Humor

The class I’m taking talks about expressing your emotions openly and being ‘over-the-top’ about it. I don’t necessarily recommend this. If you’re a laid-back person, it’s important to be yourself. Being fake is usually pretty obvious, especially in video. I do think it’s important to emote and be personable, but don’t overdo it unless it’s natural to you.

He also talks about being funny and how it’s important, but I would say to overall just be yourself. If you act natural, you’ll find people who like the *real* you, vs getting popular from a fake personality and having to keep it up long term.

It’s best to be known for who you really are, rather than a fake personality. Click To Tweet

4). Cliffhangers

If you’re doing a video series, it’s a good idea to create cliffhangers between videos. This will make people look forward to what’s coming up next and will entice them to subscribe. For example, if you’re making a music video, film some behind-the-scenes video and when you post that, include a brief snippet of the actual video. That will make people want to come back when it’s posted!

5). Call To Action

This is the most important part of your video (one that I forget to do often). You need to ask people to like, comment, subscribe, whatever it is you want them to do, make sure you ask! It may sound too salesy or cheesy, but again be yourself here. In my video below, I included some call to actions by YouTuber Leon Lush. He has very original calls to action that are funny and memorable. I’m sure there are others, but it’s important to make these organic to you.

6). Free Giveaways

Instead of selling your single, why not give it away and get new fans? Or even give the first 100 people a free download to encourage people to act soon? You could also do this with photos, merch, meet-and-greets, whatever you have to give away! Talk about it in your video (or make a whole video about it!) and get people excited for it, then lead them to your website or wherever they can go to get their free thing.

7). Quality Control

This wasn’t mentioned in the class, but I think it’s important to mention: Make sure your video looks decent. You don’t have to have a fancy set design or anything, but it’s important to make your video visually appealing. Get a tripod so we don’t get seasick watching. Use natural lighting or get a cheap light so we can see your beautiful face. Clean your room up a bit. Just little things that will make a difference to your video’s overall quality. Trust me, your audience will notice stuff like this! And just so you know, I’m not above this rule. I’ve definitely filmed an entire video without realizing my dogs knocked over the garbage in the background. I need to follow these rules just as much as you, so don’t think I’m preaching to you here!

Here is my video which goes into detail about these tips plus a few other ideas. Check it out if you want! I try to keep my vlog and blog different so it’s not the same info on each.

So which of these tips are you going to use first? Let me know! I’m curious to see how it works out for you.