How to Promote Your Music Online [Part 2: Social Media]

Sara Mekinc

Nov 17, 2020

Welcome to the second part of our three-part adventure! This comprehensive guide was created to cover the three main areas of building an online presence:

➡️ Part 1: how to regularly upload and share your work.

➡️ Part 2: how to promote it across your socials to build your fanbase.

➡️ Part 3: how to pitch to promotors, playlists, venues, and tastemakers. 

Data is an important part of each step, so we’ll look into that as well. Ready? Off we go!

Part II: Share more than your music on social media

Once you've uploaded and shared your music, the next item on your checklist should be making sure you tell people about it. 

You probably think your music is more special than you are, but bear in mind: people are social beings, so our first instinct is wanting to get to know the person behind the tunes. Let them into your world by revealing what makes you tick, or create an interesting public persona. It's worked for DaBaby, Cardi B, and many others.

Let’s see how you can work every channel, from Twitter to Twitch. 

🎨 Get the most out of Instagram. 

Instagram is a visual medium that lets you post pictures and videos, so… post pictures and videos! It's important that the stuff you post is visually appealing and tells your story.

• Your content should reinforce your brand, interact with fans, and promote your work. Do what feels natural – but make sure your music is at the forefront.
• Capture interesting, attention-grabbing moments. Show people your concert shots, “sneak peeks” into your production process, or backstage warm-up. Make sure it looks good on a mobile phone!
• Respond to your fans. Answer their questions, listen to what they like. If you do it well, they’ll reward you with downloads.

📌 An Introduction to Winning Instagram as a Musician

📌 13 Proven Tips to Up Your Instagram Game as a Musician

🐦Promote yourself on Twitter.  

In a way, Twitter is a tabloid that artists can manage themselves. There’s no coincidence that 6 out of the 10 most-followed accounts on Twitter are musicians.

• Get into conversations and use hashtags. Showing your funny side usually helps.
• Talk to your fans and build your network. This will increase the visibility of your content.
• Drop hints for upcoming releases, or give fans exclusive previews. Twitter is all about generating quick buzz.

📌How to Get the Best Out of Twitter

💃 Use TikTok to get your music out.

The “newbie” in the social media group opened up new, creative ways for launching songs, or, in the case of Fleetwood Mac, pushing a 43-year-old song to the top of streaming charts. 

• Study the channel. It’s evolving fast, so take some time to see what content works and who the influencers are. Just don’t take everything too seriously.
• Create custom choreographies or challenges. With “Tootsie Slide”, Drake created a special choreography to go with his new track – a move designed and executed specifically to make the song go viral.
• Create tracks that inspire. “GOODMORNINGTOKYO!” by Tokyo’s Revenge was successful on TikTok because of how diverse its flows and voices are. People went crazy with creating original skits to this “soundtrack”, resulting in over 1M individual videos.

People, especially teenagers, are thirsty for new things, love the app, and love to participate in the latest trend.

📌 Case Study: Curtis Roach Is “Bored In The House”
📌 These 5 Artists Took Advantage of TikTok

🖼️ Connect with fans on Facebook.

Love it or hate it, Facebook is still synonymous with “the Internet” in many countries. If you want to maximize your promotional efforts, this channel should be a part of your strategy.

• Secure your name. Making your page look professional starts with securing a URL with your name in it and selecting “musician/band” in the description.
• Get to know your audience, and advertise smartly. Work out where your traffic comes from, and what times fans interact with your posts the most. Target your strongest audience and areas, where ads are cheaper. When you gain momentum, broaden your scope. Our data can help as well.
• Use Facebook live. Try live-streaming your sets, announcements, or other important events. It’s a nice way of engaging fans, and they are also notified once you start.

📌What to Watch Out for When Livestreaming: Techno Star UMEK Shares His Experience

🎥 Livestream your music and engage fans on Twitch.

If the 2020 pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that livestreaming is the true hero of the world without live shows. Artists who were quick to recognize the power of music were the ones who gained the most exposure, new fans, and, in some cases, even managed to get some $$ out of it.

• Invest into proper gear for best output. Solid performances are easier to monetize.
• Cross-promote through your social media. Promote your streams on Instagram, ask for ideas on Twitter… or simply hang out with fans on Twitch and play Animal Crossing, if that’s your thing.
• Think long-term. If you can make livestreaming a part of your regular online content, go for it.
• Plenty of music pros we talk to believe in Twitch’s potential to become part of an artist’s performance strategy.

📌Five Tips For Making It On Twitch As A Musician

🎙️ Start your own podcast. 

Launching your own podcast isn’t necessarily difficult, but a good strategy always comes first. After all, it’s a whole new and independent channel you’ll need to manage regularly.

• Create your own topic. Why is your podcast different from others? Think about what you can offer besides playing your tunes. Depending on your experience and interests, you can explore the “behind the scenes” stories of your local music scene or teach people to make music.
• Build your typical sound. Podcasts are all about listening, so once you make sure your formats are technically top-notch, set the episodes’ mood with unique intros and outros, call-to-actions, or even teasers and sound effects.
• Spread the word. Once your podcast has cool visuals and proper descriptions, submit it to iTunes, Spotify and/or other distribution directories. Use your other social channels to cross-promote each episode and otherwise engage your listeners.

📊 Monitor your stats and improve your performance. 

With many channels to manage, a growing audience to think about, and an always-changing industry to succeed in, staying agile is perhaps the most important tactic. Besides, not all channels work the same for every musician. 

Having a complete analytics tool helps you stay on top of your game. You can try Viberate analytics which will help you to:

🔎 get to know your fanbase,

🎯 identify your dominant channels and learn from the best in your genre,

👣 effectively track your promotions, new releases, and social media efforts,

🕸️ work on your music network and find new collab opportunities,

🗺️ research potential markets and find new opportunities.

Let's recap...

Did we mention you can stay on top of music analytics with one easy-to-use tool? Do check out what the right music data can do for you – there’s a plan for almost everyone.