AJANI’S COLUMN: HOW TO START A VLOG – FOR THE DYI MUSICIAN

Music marketing has always encompassed various ways to portray different types of messaging. Whether it’s on television, radio, or print these have been vitally important in getting a brands message to the world. Nevertheless, those channels were limited to the few and kept in place by gatekeepers. If you weren’t a press agent with lots of contacts, an executive, or a person who worked directly in those fields, it was hard to get your story on these mediums.

However, this isn’t true anymore. We have the internet and social media. Anyone with a camera phone can upload a piece of content where it could be shared with hundreds, thousands, or millions of people. As a musician, this is the time to heavily invest in the digital aspect of your brand. In a short period, you can develop a strong fan base –with the right execution of course– who would be willing to consume your music, go to your shows, and pay for your merchandise. However, for this to ever happen, you need to upload content consistently to build an emotional connection and attention with a potential fan.

One of the ways you can do this is through vlogging. Video media is expected to make up 82% of all internet traffic by 2021, which makes it the ultimate medium to produce content through on the internet. In other words, the internet has approximately 4 billion users and video is undisputedly how most people consume, produce, and share information on the internet. Regardless, creating a vlog is a tool you can present and market your brand through video. It’s a different angle to add to your compelling story as a musician.

If you have ever thought about vlogging you should start. However, here are my five tips you should consider before doing so:

1. Get started and press record.

Get your smartphone and hit the record button. Your phone is all you will need. The most important part is to have content. The longer you wait and worry about insignificant things, the more time you burn where you could be developing your video skills and using it to expand your brand. All it takes is one video to go viral or be seen by the right person. However, you lose that opportunity when nothing is uploaded.

2. Upload or get to editing.

When I first started, I use to upload straight on to Facebook and YouTube. After a few episodes, I decided to use the now-defunct Youtube Editor and then iMovie. As I kept on recording and getting better I wanted to add more dynamic elements to my videos. I then went ahead and bought a course on UDEMY, watched tutorials on Youtube, and made the investment in purchasing the entire Adobe suite. Almost two years later I can now produce professional grade video and have the skill to get paid to edit.

3. Distribute your vlog

Get your videos seen. Tell your family, friends, acquaintances, and fans about your vlog. You can produce amazing content, however, if nobody sees it your brand has no equity in the content you create. Set a budget and invest in YouTube pre-rolls, Facebook and Instagram ads. When you have a bigger budget, hire people who are experienced in digital marketing to improve the efficiency of your branding as you grow.

Furthermore, it’s also a good idea to build a fan list through email, chatbots, and text messaging. This is important because social media and their algorithms are always changing every few weeks. On the other spectrum, email and text have hardly changed since these became consumer vehicles in the last 20 to 30 years. Having somebody’s direct contact information where you could deploy an SMS marketing campaign is far more effective than having a like on a social media platform. With dwindling organic reaches on many social platforms, SMS has a 98% open rate and 45% response rate. On the other hand, the average organic Facebook post reach is less than 2%.

Nonetheless, distribution of your vlog is how it will get seen. Don’t rely solely on social media but other digital mediums also. Being able to reach your fans in various ways when unexpected changes come is a great way to whether short-term disruption in the marketplace. As they say, don’t put your eggs in one basket.

4. Equipment

I invested in a camera after I produced between 150–300 videos on my cell phone. I did so because I wanted to do more stuff creatively and I was growing to where I’ll be creating more complex video content. The most important thing you need to know, however, is don’t get caught into the trap of believing you need fancy equipment. This is truer if you’re working on little to no budget.

However, if you have extra cash and want to spend it you’ll have many options to choose from. On the market, there are dozens of DSLR’s and mirrorless cameras that can deliver high-quality video and have professional grade capabilities starting for under one thousand dollars. Importantly, always do your research before purchasing a camera. Use Google. Understand what your needs are and the capabilities you want out of a camera. Ask your family or friends who are photographers and videographers for advice and feedback.

5. Study other video content and use the power of the internet to learn

I look at a lot of video content and study what other video content producers do. Whether it’s Gary Vee or Casey Niestat, I copy a lot of their techniques and incorporate them into my own production. If I see something in their editing and I’m not sure how to do it, I simply take to YouTube and watch tutorials. The internet gives us a world of information that we never had. For decades if you wanted to become a video editor you needed to spend thousands of dollar at some school or university. Information was limited. However, with my own determination, patience, and the use of today’s amazing technology, I learned how to make professional videos.

I’m not the only one who has achieved this. There are millions of video content makers out there who started with not knowing a thing and have become some of the world’s best or known creators. This could be you (if that’s your ambition) or by learning how to vlog and produce video, you can have creative control to articulate your ideas in different ways. Best of all it’s something you can add to your resume. Learning this skill may help you further down the line and yield new professional opportunities.