You don’t need the support of a major record label to get your music out there. Here are five tips for marketing your own music.

1. Connect with fan accounts to plan promotions.

If you have even a modest following, then it’s likely that several fan accounts have been created to support you. These are the Twitter and Instagram accounts made by dedicated fans solely to celebrate and promote your music.

Fan accounts can be one of your best marketing tools. They already have a strong connection with your target audience and substantial followings of their own. Work with them to plan promotions for your next release or show.

For example, you may provide your favorite fan accounts with exclusive teasers or behind-the-scenes photos to share. You can work with them to hold giveaways, plan to get your own hashtag trending, etc.

2. Share a teaser to pique people’s interests.

When you’re ready to release a new song, take a page out of the film industry’s book. In the same way, a production company releases a movie trailer, you can share a teaser for your new song with your fans.

3. Collaborate with other musicians to double the size of your audience.

One of the best ways to reach new listeners is to collaborate with other musicians. Find artists whose music is similar enough to yours that both audiences will enjoy listening to other artists. Then, after the song is released, continue to work together to promote it.

4. Post about your music as if you were your own biggest fan.

When it comes to promoting your music on your own social media, think about how a dedicated fan would post about your music. Don’t be shy when it comes to sharing. Hype your work up on your feed.

Reply to and retweet fans who talk about your music online. Post about why you love new song and why listeners will like it, too. Utilize your Instagram story as well. In essence, post about your music the way you’d post about your favorite artist.

5. Add your own music to public Spotify and YouTube playlists.

Anyone with a Spotify account can create public playlists. Theme them after moods, times of day, holidays, or whatever else you can think of. Then, add a few of your own songs along with some of your other favorites.

You can also add your own music videos to public YouTube playlists. Because YouTube is more visual than Spotify is, you should consider mixing in videos from your live performances as well as music videos.

Marketing your own music is all about generating buzz on social media. Work with your fans to create promotions, collaborate with other artists, and create and share playlists

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Here’s how to get your music on Spotify’s official playlists.

1. Make sure you already have music on Spotify.

In order to submit your songs for playlist consideration, you have to go through your Spotify for Artists account. Having this account means you already have some music on Spotify.

Getting your music on Spotify requires a distributor. Many independent musicians use CD Baby, TuneCore, or DistroKid.

2. Deliver an unreleased track to Spotify.

In order to be eligible for playlist consideration, a song must be unreleased. However, it also must have already been delivered to Spotify. This means you can’t submit a song that’s already available for streaming.

You can only submit one song at a time as well, not an entire album. Consider going with the lead single to help promote your upcoming album or EP.

3. Complete the submission process at least a week in advance.

Moreover, you must also submit your song for playlist consideration at least seven days ahead of your scheduled release date. Therefore, you should have your release date planned before the song is even delivered to Spotify.

The earlier you can submit your song for playlist consideration, the better. To increase the likelihood of your song being featured on a playlist, give the editorial board as much time as possible to consider it.

4. Submit the song from your desktop computer.

Keep in mind that you can only submit music for playlist consideration from the desktop version of Spotify for Artists. You won’t be able to start the process from your phone.

Once you’ve logged into Spotify for Artists, go to the unreleased music at the top of your home or profile tab. Then, find the track you want to submit and click “Get Started.” Alternatively, you can right-click any unreleased music under “Profile” and select “Submit a Song.”

5. Provide Spotify with as much information about the song as possible.

Submitting your song to playlist considering automatically puts in on your followers’ personalized Release Radar playlists. However, in order for it to go on a more generalized playlist, Spotify needs to know as much about the song as possible in order to figure out where the song fits best.

Include the genre as well as the instruments involved. You can also describe the mood of the song, if it’s a cover, etc.

The more time and information you can give Spotify, the more likely your song will be featured on an official playlist. Plan ahead and put your best unreleased song forward.

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Here’s how to keep making videos when you’re stressed.

Cut back your upload schedule to one video a week.

More frequent uploads can help you grow your channel, but to keep your place in the algorithm, you only need to upload once a week. If you’re uploading daily or multiple times a week, consider cutting back to a single weekly upload.

To make the most of your weekly video, upload it at the same time on the same day every week. Make your subscribers aware of your new upload schedule so they know when to expect new content.

Pre-film several videos at once so you can take time off from filming.

While the YouTube algorithm doesn’t quite allow for time off from uploading, you can buy yourself some time off from filming by planning ahead. First, think of several video ideas you can film in the same day.

Then, pre-film all of those videos at once. You may change outfits in between so your videos don’t all look the same over the next few weeks.

Finally, edit and upload those videos, but don’t make them public yet. Instead, schedule them to keep up with your regular upload schedule. Now, you’ll have some time to relax.

Switch it up with a light, fun video.

If you want to keep filming new videos, then consider switching it up from time to time. Instead of a detailed makeup tutorial, along with Let’s Play, or an in-depth storytime, film a video that’s lighthearted and fun.

For example, you may film a Q-and-A with fan questions collected from Twitter or your Instagram story. Alternatively, you could do a fun collaboration with your friends. For a really fun video, you could even go on vacation and vlog the entire time.

Rework your schedule to allow for more downtime.

If you’ve been feeling stressed consistently, then a short break may not be enough to help you stay relaxed for very long. When stress becomes an ongoing problem, you should consider reworking your entire schedule to allow for more downtime.

This requires permanent changes to your work schedule. For example, you make decisions that one video a week is enough and not go back to daily uploads again. You may also outsource your editing to a professional or restrict yourself to certain working hours.

Make sure you’re taking care of yourself properly.

Finally, the most important thing you can do is take care of yourself first. If you’re not getting enough sleep or eating properly, then both your mind and your body will have an incredibly difficult time coping with stress.

Moreover, make sure you’re doing things to help yourself relax daily. Spend time away from the internet. Drink water. Take deep breaths. Find the relaxation techniques that work for you and keep doing them.

To keep making videos when you’re stressed, alter your work schedule to allow for more downtime. Your videos can become better as a result.

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To capitalize on your sphere of influence outside of YouTube, you’ll need a social media strategy. How are you going to promote your videos on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, etc.? How are you going to make sure you get your video links in front of as many eyes as possible?

Keep track of important metrics.

Social media marketing is a numbers game. As a vlogger, you know to keep an eye on your view count. However, there are several other important metrics you should be keeping track of as well.

On YouTube, you can find everything you need in your channel analytics. Your watch time, demographics, and like to dislike ratio all matter as much as your view count does. 

On other platforms, watch your number of likes, comments, and shares as much as you watch your follower count. A small, active audience is better than a large, passive one when it comes to getting more engagement and, therefore, more views.

Put more focus on the platforms where you get the most engagement.

Social media promotion is all about reaching as many people as you can in as little time as possible. Therefore, you should concentrate on the platforms where you get the most engagement instead of where you have the most followers. You could have thousands of followers, but if your post only receives a hundred likes, you aren’t reaching many potential viewers.

An easy way to measure your rate of engagement on any platform is to divide the number of likes or comments on a post by your number of followers. The result is the percentage of your followers who engaged with your post. So, say for example you had a thousand followers and got a hundred likes on your Instagram post. Dividing that hundred likes by your thousand followers means that ten percent of your followers liked your post.

You can use this formula on several of your recent posts and than average the results together to get a more general idea of how many of your followers see your posts. Repeat this exercise for every social media platform you’re active on. Then, you’ll know where to focus your efforts.

Find the times your posts get the most engagement.

There are plenty of articles on the internet that tell you when the best time to post to any given social media platform is. However, none of them can tell you exactly when your audience in particular is the most active. To find that out, you’ll have to run a little experiment.

Make a chart or calendar that divides each day into hours. Over the course of the next month, record what time you post on social media. Then, write in how much engagement that post received within its first hour.

At the end of the month, average together the numbers of likes and comments you got at certain times. The times that give you the highest resulting numbers are the times when your followers were the most active. Moving forward, make any posts promoting your YouTube videos at these times.

Planning your social media strategy comes down to knowing when and where to post. Promote your videos where you have the most engaged audience at the times they’re most active.

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Here’s how to customize your YouTube channel URL.

1. Enable your custom URL.

In order to enable a custom URL, your channel must first meet certain requirements. Your account must be at least thirty days old with a channel icon and album art already uploaded. You must also have at least one hundred subscribers.

You can check your eligibility and enable your custom URL in your advanced account settings. Click your profile picture then “Settings.” Select “advanced settings.” Then, under channel settings, click on the link next to “You’re eligible for a custom URL.”

2. Choose from the URLs you’re approved for.

The first time you customize your channel URL, YouTube will give you a list of approved choices. You can find them in the “Get a custom URL” box.

You will not be able to change the part in the gray box. However, in order to make the URL unique to your channel, you may need to add a few extra letters or numbers.

3. Confirm your choice.

When you’re ready, read through the “Custom URL Terms of Use.” Then, tick the box to agree to the terms. Finally, you can select “Change URL.”

To finalize your choice, you’ll have to hit “Confirm choice” as well. Now, your viewers will be able to find your channel easily by typing in your custom URL.

4. To change your custom URL, head to Creator Studio Classic.

To change your channel URL, start in YouTube Studio Beta. Once you’re there, scroll down to the bottom left corner and select “Creator Studio Classic.”

5. Go to “Custom URL” under “My channel.”

Once you’ve returned to Creator Studio Classic, select “My channel” in the sidebar on the left. You’ll be presented with several rows of gray boxes. Scroll down and find the one that says “Custom URL.”

You can only change your channel URL three times every twelve months, so plan out what you want your custom URL to be before you go to change it. Have a few alternatives ready in case the URL you want is already taken.

A custom URL makes it super easy for viewers to get to your channel directly. Be sure to add the new link to your social media bios as well.

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Here are five valuable things you can learn from your video comments.

Ignore the hate, but pay attention to constructive criticism.

Most people who have ever posted anything online have been victims to hate comments. While the words of a stranger can hurt, vloggers like you have learned to let it roll right off your back. You know how to pay attention to the kind comments left by viewers who care and ignore the negativity from those who don’t.

However, occasionally, a well-meaning viewer may leave a comment with constructive criticism. While your initial response may be to feel upset, instead, you should take a step back and examine their comment.

First, reread what they’re saying and try to pinpoint exactly what the issue is. For example, did they have a difficult time hearing your audio? Were you talking too quickly? Was it a lighting issue?

Next, skim through for similar comments. If several viewers are experiencing the same issue, then you should consider making adjustments that will make your videos better. For example, if the issue is low audio, then you may purchase a lapel mic instead of relying on your camera’s built-in microphone. If you were talking too quickly, you may add closed captions to your videos.

Constructive criticism can apply to the format of your videos as well. For example, if you’ve been posting five-minute videos five days a week, your comments may reveal that viewers would rather have longer videos twice a week.

You can clear up any confusion by creating a poll on your community tab, Instagram story, or Twitter. Ask your viewers about video length, a preference for using closed captions, or any other issues you want to address.

Look at repeated comments for merch ideas.

Whenever viewers hear you say something funny or clever, they may leave a comment repeating what you said. Oftentimes, these comments receive a lot of likes and replies or are repeating themselves. The more comments you see repeating the same thing, the more your viewers enjoyed what you said.

You can capitalize on your quote, whether it was intentional or not. Take the phrase they loved so much and turn it into merch. You can put it on a t-shirt or a mug. Keep the design simple so it will appeal to a wide variety of viewers.

Take note of popular or interesting video requests.

Your video comments are also filled with video requests. While watching, your viewers may come up with ideas for videos they’d like to see in the future. These could be continuations of series they enjoyed or entirely original ideas.

When you see the same suggestion over and over, it’s a good sign that you should make that request into a reality. As long as the request is reasonable, you can create videos by popular request to celebrate important subscriber milestones, to encourage your viewers to vote for you to win an award, or to add another episode in a popular series.

Occasionally, however, there may be a video request that catches your attention so much that you can’t get it out of your head. 

Your interesting video requests don’t have to be completely random, though. You may find one that’s related to the content you typically make but is something you haven’t thought of before. 

Add subtitles in the languages a lot of your viewer’s comment in.

YouTube is a global phenomenon. Therefore, it only makes sense that a lot of comments are made in different languages. Scrolling through any comments section, you may find viewers who speak English, Spanish, Hindi, Portuguese, Japanese, Korean, or any language in between.

However, what languages do you see most often in your own comments? If you’re not sure which language it is, check the locations in the demographics report of your channel analytics.Then, look up what languages are most commonly spoken in the top countries listed. Now, to reach even more viewers in those places, you should add subtitles to your videos in those languages.

If you don’t speak those languages or have the budget to hire a translator to write the subtitles for you, then you can turn on community contributions. This feature allows your multilingual viewers to submit subtitles they’ve written. To turn it on, go to “Translations & Transcriptions” in your Creator Studio.

Save your favorite comments to keep yourself motivated.

Finally, you can use your video comments to directly benefit your personal well-being. Have you ever found a comment that totally made your day? Did a creator you look up to leave some helpful advice? How many viewers encourage you to keep uploading more?

Don’t just like these comments and move on. Screenshot them and keep them in a folder on your desktop. Then, next time you’re feeling overwhelmed by negative comments, return to this folder. Read over your favorite comments to remind yourself why you’re doing what you’re doing.

The comments section can be a dangerous place, but if you know what to look for, there’s actually a lot to learn. Focus on the helpful comments, and the hurtful ones won’t get to you anymore.

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Here are five ideas to celebrate your next channel milestone.

1. Finally make that video your subscribers keep asking for.

Maybe your subscribers have been asking you to make a certain video as often as you’ve been asking them to share your channel with their friends. Use that highly requested video as an incentive to get them to help you reach your channel goal.

2. React to your old videos.

If there isn’t a highly requested video you want to make, then you can create a different kind of video to celebrate. Take a trip down memory lane with a reaction video in which you watch your own videos.

You could get even more nostalgic and react to videos you’ve deleted, taken down, or made private. 

3. Host a celebratory live stream.

Instead of a video, you could do a live stream instead. Make sure to tell your viewers well in advance so they can plan to watch at the time and day you’ve decided on.

In your live stream, thank your fans for all the ways they’ve supported you. You may even shout out your biggest supporters, special fan projects, or your favorite fan accounts.

4. Release a special piece of merch.

You can celebrate your channel milestone with a special merch drop. Maybe your fans have been asking for hoodies in pastel colors or shirts with a certain quote on them. You can release this merch to celebrate.

A merch drop like this has to be planned well in advance. While encouraging your subscribers to help you reach that new goal, start working on your merch behind the scenes. The collection should be ready to go as soon as you hit your milestone.

5. Do something goofy.

Finally, you can celebrate your next channel milestone by doing something that’s just for fun. Create a video or a project that’s goofy, silly, ridiculous—whatever strikes your fancy.

There are endless ways to celebrate your next channel milestone. Create a special video, drop exclusive merch, or host a live stream.

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Here’s the right way to create a YouTube playlist.

Use Creator Studio Classic for improved SEO.

YouTube Studio Beta makes it super quick and easy to create a playlist. However, it doesn’t offer as many options for SEO or other important edits as Creator Studio Classic does.

In Creator Studio Class, go to “playlists.” Then, press “new playlist” at the top of the page. Add a title and click “create.” To make those important SEO edits, go to the playlist and click “edit.”

Add a keyword-rich description.

YouTube treats playlists the same way it treats videos. In the search results, your playlist will be ranked based on its relevance to the user’s search terms. Therefore, having a keyword-rich description is necessary for success.

Choose keywords related to the title of your playlist. For example, if your playlist was titled “New Release Eyeshadow Palette Reviews 2019,” then your keywords may include the names of a few of the popular brands you reviewed.

Add relevant videos.

A playlist of every single video you’ve ever uploaded won’t be as effective as a carefully curated playlist of related content. Add videos that relate to one another in some way. If the title of the playlist wouldn’t work as the title of the video, then that video may belong elsewhere.

You should create different playlists for the different types of content on your channel. This will help viewers discover videos they’ll enjoy but haven’t seen before.

Rank your videos based on how you want viewers to see them.

When you click on “more” next to any video in your playlist, you’ll be presented with several options for editing the videos themselves. Most importantly, you can reorder them however you’d like.

You can also add or edit notes next to a video. Choose a video to set as your playlist thumbnail, which will automatically put that video at the top.

Check your settings.

Before your playlist is ready to go, there are a few more important things you need to check. Under settings, make sure the playlist is public. If it’s private or unlisted, viewers won’t be able to find it at all.

Next, use the ordering setting to decide how you want the videos to appear in your playlist. If you’re unsure, choose “date added newest” so your most recent upload will appear first. Make sure embedding is turned on so more can share your playlist as well.

Set up an auto-add.

You can keep your playlist growing by setting up an auto-add. This feature automatically adds new uploads to your playlist when the video titles, descriptions, or tags contain a keyword you set.

If you run multiple channels or collaborate with other bloggers a lot, you can create playlists with them as well. You can add them as playlist collaborators.

Because YouTube treats playlists like videos, having more playlists can help your channel rank better in the algorithm. Create relevant playlists to keep your viewers hooked.

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Here’s how to build an audience from scratch.

Focus on gaining followers on another platform.

Many newly popular YouTubers got their start on other platforms, such as Vine, TikTok, or Instagram. While building your YouTube channel, you should focus on growing your presence on another platform as well.

Create content within a very specific niche.

The more specific you can get with your content niche, the better. YouTube is so oversaturated with content that viewers are constantly on the lookout for something new and different. Play up what makes your lifestyle unique.

Continue delivering quality content on a regular basis.

For the majority of creators, building an audience is about consistency. As long as you deliver quality content on a regular basis, people will keep watching. As you add more videos, you’ll attract more subscribers as well.

Engage with your viewers as much as possible.

An audience is like a garden. No matter how big it is, if you don’t take care of it, it won’t be very fruitful. That’s why engaging with your viewers is so important. The more you interact with them, the stronger the community around your channel will become. Then, you’ll have a firm foundation to build the rest of your YouTube career.

To engage with your viewers, you can reply to their comments, tweets, etc. You can also repost fan art, shout out active fans in videos, or create videos that require their participation. Building an audience begins with offering them something different. Then, continue delivering quality content consistently and engage with your audience as much as possible.

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Here are seven hacks for looking better on camera.

1. Stick to solid colors.

Busy, tight patterns can be distracting to your viewers. So, when you’re picking out your outfits for videos, stick to solid colors.

The colors you choose can impact the mood of your video. For example, if you were covering a sad song, you wouldn’t want to wear bright yellow. On the other hand, if you were telling a story about the best day of your life, you might want to shy away from gray.

2. Stay away from sugar directly before filming.

When you consume a lot of sugar, your throat and mouth generate more saliva. This can result in spittle and affect your speaking pattern.

So, before filming, opt for carbs and fruit instead of sugary snacks. You may also want to trade in your coffee for tea to prevent your stomach from quiet.

3. Use light makeup to highlight your features.

Even if you don’t typically wear makeup, putting on a little bit can prepare your face to be filmed in high definition. Start with a foundation that matches your neck and blend it seamlessly. If you don’t want to wear foundation, stick with a lightweight BB cream.

Next, fill in your brows for more definitions. Add a few coats of mascara and a pop of blush. Finish off with a lip stain, lip gloss, or even a simple lip balm.

4. Put a ring light behind your camera.

Ring lights are incredibly popular among YouTubers. These bright lamps fill your frame with flattering light, helping everyone look their best.

Get a ring light for yourself and set it up behind your camera. Adjust it so that it shines directly on your face while you film.

5. Blot your face.

All that light is going to make you sweat. Save yourself from looking oily by blotting your face. You can use specialty blotting paper, but restaurant napkins work well, too.

To further dull your shiny face, set your makeup with translucent powder. Use a matte setting spray as well.

6. Be mindful of your posture.

Slouching may be more comfortable, but it doesn’t do your appearance any favors. When you’re on camera, good posture can help you look and feel more confident.

Sit with your back straight and your shoulders back. Keep your feet flat on the floor without crossing your legs or ankles. Look forward, but don’t strain your neck.

7. Keep smiling!

When you’re nervous, you may forget to smile. If you look angry or upset, though, viewers may decide to click away. Therefore, it’s important to keep smiling throughout your video.

However, there are also times when you shouldn’t keep smiling on camera. As a good rule of thumb, your expression should match the mood of the video. For example, if you kept smiling through an apology video, it wouldn’t seem very genuine. If you didn’t smile once while introducing your new significant other to your audience, however, then your viewers may think you aren’t happy in your new relationship at all!

Doing things to help yourself look better on camera can do wonders for your onscreen confidence. 

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