As a musician, you know that marketing your music is key to success. Without a plan in place however, you are likely to find yourself struggling to get your music heard by the right people.
In this blog post, we will discuss tips for marketing your music, that will help you reach your target audience and increase sales from your music!
It is no secret that platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and TikTok allow you the potential to reach a large audience.
We say potential, because let's face it, it's not as easy as posting, and all of a sudden your content is seen by millions, or thousands, or even hundreds... but, it is possible!
The key is to be strategic about your social media marketing.
DETERMINE THE BEST PLATFORM
First, you need to identify which platform or platforms make the most sense for you and your music.
This is without a doubt one of the most crucial steps, because if you do not have an audience, or know where that audience is, you cannot market to them.
So first and foremost, figure out what platform is best, and then start creating content.
But wait, how do you do that?
Well every platform has something unique about it. For example TikTok is known for short form video content, Twitter is known for sharing quick thoughts, YouTube is known for longer form video content.
The point is, each platform has a type of content that performs best on it, and while sharing your music on all platforms is important, let's face it... it's not a sustainable approach.
By focusing on just one platform, and then maybe recycling content to others, you're able to sustainable create content, so now it's about working smart and not hard to determine what that platform is to you.
Analyze all services (beyond just social media platforms) and the content on each. Then ask yourself:
1) What content do I want to make and can I make?
2) Which platform will that do best on?
This will be different for everyone, but it will provide you the best platform for yourself and your music.
BUILD AN EMAIL LIST
This is a necessity. Social media is a fantastic way to reach new fans, nurture them, and even provides the potential to turn them into die hard fans, but the problem...
You could be banned or removed from social media at any second of any day, and then what? You'd be back to square one...
Moreover, have you ever complained that the algorithm isn't pushing your posts, or that you're getting shadow banned?
Wouldn't it be amazing if you could have the piece in mind that EVERY SINGLE ONE of your followers saw your new post?
Well that's what an email lists provides, because you own it. We know that sounds crazy to say you "own" your audience, but... it's kind of true.
You can determine who gets what content and when. You can automate when they see it etc. It's completely in your hands, and you no longer have to rely on third party social media platforms to "hopefully" push your post out to a wider audience.
What we suggest is to use social media as a discovery tool (to get your name, music and brand out there), and email as a way to nurture your new fans.
It also allows you to share longer form content, which when done right, and formatted in an engaging way, can really boost your credibility, and relationship with your audience.
If you're not sure how to get people on your email list, it's simple, provide them value in exchange for their email address.
This can be an unreleased song, a QnA with only those on the email list or something else.
ENSURE TOP QUALITY CONTENT (that doesn't mean HD)
When it comes to content on social media, your website, email or anywhere else, quality is key!
Let us rock your world for a second though... quality does not mean high definition.
Wait, what?
You heard it right! Obviously for anything professional, like your EPK, high definition pictures will be important (and practically mandatory), but when you're sharing about yourself and your music, you can portray your personality through the clarity / style of the content.
For example, ever see music stars post blurry pictures or better yet, funny pictures, like this one from Harry Styles: https://www.instagram.com/harrystyles/
Swipe across and you see a deer that looks like Harry when he prances across the stage. It's not exactly something that's going to get him on the front of a magazine, but what it does do, is connect with his audience, and that's quality! At the time of writing this blog post, that post of Harry's has 2X-3X more comments than his other posts. Crazy, right?
Quality content is content that does better than the rest, and that is what you should focus on doing.
POST REGULARLY
In addition to posting high-quality content, you also want to make sure you're posting regularly. If you only post once in awhile, your followers will quickly lose interest, whereas posting regularly will help you keep your followers engaged and interested in what you're doing.
Moreover, never feel like you're posting too much! Your followers follow you for a reason, they like what you're doing, and therefore probably want you to post as much as possible.
INTERACT WITH YOUR SUPPORTERS
Finally, don't forget to interact with your followers. Respond to comments and messages, and like and share their content as well.
While this is not necessarily marketing, it first allows you to build a loyal community, that will then be interested in your music, and whatever else you decide to market to them, because the more you interact with your followers, the more likely they are to support you!
You've probably heard that a billion times, but what should you actually be posting!?
Well, to be honest, everything, and anything you are doing, will be doing, or thinking about doing.
The more you post, and the more variety you have in those posts, the more reasons you're giving people to become a fan and follower of yours. Here are some ideas:
- Tour dates
- Your pet(s)
- Links to your music
- Behind the scenes photos and videos
- Relevant blog posts
- You on a lazy Sunday
- Free downloads
- Quotes
- Posts with funny captions (ie. wrong captions only)
- Contests
- Merchandise giveaways
- Your daily life
It is extremely important to style the posts in a way that creates hype, gets your followers engaged, and ultimately gets them to buy into you, through trust, humour, quality music, etc.
So while we gave some ideas above, look back at your previous posts and study what did well (what received likes, saves, shares, sales, and overall great engagement).
Those posts (or variations of those posts) are what your fans want to see, so create more content similar to that.
BEST TACTICS TO USE
Let's suppose you're starting from scratch however, or do not have content that necessarily did extremely well, let’s go more in-depth about how you can effectively market your music on social media.
Start with a hook
Whatever you post, start with a hook. Everyone's social feed is swamped with new content, and so for any chance of standing out, you need to stop someone from scrolling.
You can do that through a catchy creative, or even through the first line of text in the caption / title that calls our your target market.
What do we mean by that?
When we say call out your target market, we mean, let them know this post is for them. For example, there's a good chance that you're an independent artist, so we could use something like...
Are you an independent artist looking to go full time in music?
What that does is "qualify" who the post is for (this is extremely important in social media ads too), but that's for another blog post. Here's a blog that could help you with the though.
So now, people that fall within that demographic are invested in what you have to say.
In addition to calling out your audience, other great tactics to include, which will get people to stop what they're doing and invest their time in your post, is to create curiosity, be bold, or provide a fear of missing out (FOMO).
Whatever method you choose, the best thing you can do is use power words in that hook. Power words include "best, fastest, free, guarantee," etc and are proven to "hook" people to a greater extent than if they were not used.
Examples...
1) "Download my song for free. It's guaranteed to give you goosebumps"
2) "The Best song I've listened to" according to ______.
3) "The new fastest way to get more streams"
Just some ideas, anyway...
Create a buzz
Once you have a hook, the next step is to create a buzz. You can do this by releasing a teaser or BTS video, announcing tour dates, or doing practically anything else that will get people talking about you or your music.
The key is to generate excitement and get people excited about what you’re doing. To best do this, before marketing your music, ask yourself, "why would someone care about this?"
And when you come up with that, share it, share it, share it!
Collaborate, collaborate, collaborate
Another great way to market your music is to partner with other artists or businesses. This can be a great way to reach new audiences and get your music in front of more people.
You can collaborate on songs, do joint concerts, events, or even just promote each other’s music.
Whatever you do, make sure it’s something that will benefit both of you. Instagram's collab feature on Reels makes this extremely easy to do.
By taking advantage of the above tips, you should be effectively marketing your music in no time on social media, but if the results are still not what you're hoping for, remember, social media is a two way street - so always be sure to listen to what your audience is telling you, either verbally or in the backend (data).
You could simply be providing them what they want, but not in a way they want it. It's all about learning exactly how your audience wants to be approached, and how they want their information.
The more you give your audience what they want, (and how they want it), the more effective your marketing efforts will be, resulting in your following growing much quicker.
PLAY LIVE SHOWS
Social media is not the only way to market your music however. Another excellent way to market your music is by playing live shows.
This way you can connect with your fans and give them a taste of your music in the real world.
The great thing about performing live is unlike social media, you will not blend in with millions of other music creatives. Because when you're performing live, and people see you, their attention is on you, only you.
They're not getting pop up ads, or messages, or anything else. They're focused on you!
Not to mention that when people see you perform live, they are more likely to financially support you, through buying your CDs, merchandise, tickets, or simply tipping you on your great performance.
So, if you're serious about marketing your music, playing live shows is a great way to start.
Here are some tips to make the most out of your live shows:
1) Make sure you have a good sound system so people can actually hear your music
2) Play at popular venues that will attract your target audience
3) Make sure you have a good stage presence and put on a great show
4) Promote your live shows through social media and word of mouth
5) Sell your CDs, merchandise, and tickets at your live shows
6) Get people to sign up for your mailing list so you can keep in touch with them after the show
That is going to conclude this blog. We hope you found some value in it, and to leave you with one last piece of guidance, it is...
Be creative and think outside the box to find what works best for you.
With hard work, and a clear understanding of your target audience, you can take your music career to the next level with clever marketing.