It seems like almost every day that we here at Artist Steps get the question “what are the best steps to become successful as an artist?” The inherent difficulty here is that the term “artist” can mean any art form. And each art form has its own unique steps to take to become successful. Therefore there is not a one size fits all solution. That is unless you use YouTube. Becoming a YouTuber can help you with your artistic career regardless of the kind of artist you are. Why? Because YouTube is a marketing solution unto its own and is based on self promotion which is the keystone for any creative person who wants to build visibility and earn at the same time. Here now are 10 Artist Steps to Becoming a YouTuber.
1. LEARN FROM YOU TUBE’S OWN STORY. Did you know that YouTube when it was first created wasn’t making any money for quite some time? It wasn’t until it had enough users to monetize the audience these YouTubers had built? Here’s how you can apply the same principle that YouTube used which is to build up your audience. Why is it important to have an audience? Because your value is dependent on the size of your fans.
2. START WITH CREATING GREAT CONTENT. This means that your goal should be to fill your YouTube channel with high quality videos. The good word will spread around and you will be heard by others who potentially will become your fans.
3. BE SURE TO UTILIZE ALL KEYWORD OPPORTUNITIES. Remember Google owns YouTube. So if you want to be found on this search engine then you’re going to want to type text into your video that relates to your art form or expertise or the content of the video. Google will find this text and rank you. Because YouTube is constantly changing their back end format, we are not going to tell you how to do this because possibly by the time you read this it will have all changed.
4. ALWAYS BE YOURSELF ON CAMERA. The idea is that the more intimate you get with your viewers in terms of revealing aspects of your life, the more they will feel like they know you. These are the folks who will become your fans. Be sure to come up with a name for them which relates to your art form or expertise. They will identify with the name if you continually use it when referring to them. This is also a way to build your fandom.
5. CONSIDER THE POSSIBILITY OF NOT BEING ON CAMERA. Are you a bit shy and not the type of person who wants to be on camera? That’s fine. An alternative is to use software like Camtasia to record and show your viewers what is on your computer screen. This is especially useful if you are teaching your audience about something that you can demonstrate using your computer. But even if you are simply showing people your work on your computer, this can work as well.
6. YOU WILL WANT TO SET A SCHEDULE. Whether your program is daily, weekly or even monthly, you’ll want to get into the groove with a schedule. This ensures that you continue to create great content on a regular basis and therefore become more likely to rank with search engines and YouTube’s listings.
7. CREATE VALUE FOR YOUR FANS. Whether you teach something or are just entertaining while living out your life story, remember that the reason people will watch you is because they find some value and meaning in what you do. Meaning and effort interweave with themselves. A person needs to decide if putting in the EFFORT is worth being exposed to your show which should have MEANING to them. Your job is to reel them in.
8. DON’T DO IT TOTALLY ON YOUR OWN. This means that you have few people from whom you can get helpful feedback. If your show format is about revealing your life to the viewers you might even make some online friends in the process, these people can then provide you feedback as well are ambassadors for your brand.
9. THINK ABOUT BUILDING YOUR BRAND. In the end YOU are a brand. Everything you do or say is a part of that brand. What is a brand? It is the sum total of all the things about you that are interconnected in some way such that you become memorable.
10. USE YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA TO CONNECT PEOPLE TO YOUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL. If done correctly social media can be a great way to build your audience. But remember social media involves one of the words in its name: SOCIAL. So you have to be careful about how you promote your program. One way to keep building your audience is to find the connections between your YouTube videos and those who you communicate with socially online. Point out to them the connections your show has to them and they possibly will become fans and supports of what you do.