YouTube Annotations for MusiciansYouTube annotations are text boxes and links that you can place throughout your YouTube videos. You can use these annotations to further engage your audience and encourage them to take action.

 

Potential Uses of  YouTube Annotations

The possibilities are endless, but here are a few suggestions for using YouTube annotations:

  • Let your fans know where they can buy your music: “Get my album on CD Baby.com”
  • You could link to a new video from a older video that gets regular views: “Click to check out my brand new video”
  • Add a message that says, “Find out about new concert dates.” Then you could link to a short video that lists your tour dates
  • Add lyrics to your song
  • Offer a discount code at the end of the video
  • Ask viewers to “like” and “subscribe” to your video
  • Translate your lyrics into another language
  •  You can add commentary on your own music video
  • Add thought bubbles to characters in your video

(NOTE: YouTube does not allow you to add links to external sites unless you have a brand channel [which are apparently very expensive and built for big brands like Nike and Coca-Cola that can afford them]. This just means that you should make sure to put a link in your video description and encourage people to click it in your annotations.)

Below is an example of a YouTube video with annotations:

(Users have the ability to turn annotations off if they would rather watch the video without them)

The cool thing about annotations is that you can add, change or remove them at any time. This way you can add time-sensitive announcements like concert daters, contests and limited time offers right in the video. You can even link to other music videos or link to a particular time stamp in your video.

Here’s a quick video on how to use YouTube annotations in your video.

Learn more about YouTube annotations

Do you use annotations in your videos? What methods work best for you? Leave your comments below.

Start selling your music on CD Baby, iTunes, Amazon and more!