Are Paid Shout Outs Worth it?
- Musician Guidance
- Jul 30, 2021
- 5 min read
Updated: Jul 11, 2022
A question I get asked an unbelievable amount of times is if paid shout outs on social media (specifically Instagram) are worth it.
Before I get into whether they are worth it, I want you to know that 99% of the paid shout outs you are being offered by accounts on Instagram are complete scams.
Some are obvious to detect, however some are a lot more difficult, so here are three ways to tell if the account is a scam.
1 - Watch the views that the accounts recent posts get
I recently took the time to closely watch many of these accounts. I was looking for a couple potential red flags, including the view count (on videos).
What I observed is that the posts would get a low amount of views, usually about 40 views in the first 3 hours and then later on (appeared to be at about the 3 hour mark) the view count would jump to 20,000 views. What brought about the sudden jump?
While the accounts may tell you it took that long to catch an algorithm, or whatever else they come up with, unfortunately it is not truthful. The reality is that bots were sent to provide those (fake) views.
2 - Check the comment to view ratio
If the views appear to steadily increase, take a look at the comments. Many of these accounts have tens of thousands of views and no comments, which in itself would be reg flag.
Other accounts seem to have a pretty good ratio of views to comments, however, you need to take a look at those comments.
A lot of the time it is a couple accounts commenting many times, to make it look like the post receives engagement. Not to mention, many of these comments are also bots, with extremely generic comments (many of which relate nothing to the post).
3 - Are they guaranteeing followers?
I cannot state this enough, followers cannot be guaranteed. Followers are ultimately customers of you and your music. People will follow you if they enjoy your content, feel connected to you or other reasons.
If the account does guarantee followers, you can be sure the account is a scam and the followers they provide you will be fake (bots). They will not interact with your content at all, which will lower your engagement rate and make your account look ‘dead.’
Before moving on to provide guidance on whether real (legit) paid shout outs are worth it on Instagram (and social media in general), there is another question to be answered.
Several artists approach me asking, “I know this account is a scam and the followers they provide me will be bots, but I still think the fake views and or fake followers can help me with branding and/or marketing purposes.
I understand where you’re coming from, because social proof is a big factor nowadays, but here is why you should still not do it.
1 - It will impact your placement in the Instagram algorithm
Instagram is no fool. They know which accounts have bots. The last thing they want to do is promote accounts that break their terms of use.
Therefore, even if your account does not get flagged by Instagram, you will have no chance in catching any algorithms, which in the long-run will make it extremely difficult to grow your page.
2 - The bots will not like or comment on your posts
Those fake followers you get will not engage in your posts, leading to an extremely low engagement rate and even if they do, it’s outrageously obvious.
As stated earlier in this blog, the comments are generally from a couple accounts which look extremely fake (no profile picture, bio selling bots, or some other characteristic giving away they're a bot).
Even if they are from accounts which look ‘legit,’ the comments themselves are extremely generic and often will not relate to your post at all.
So what is the problem?
Any label, agency or manager looking at your account will see extremely low engagement and instantly be turned off.
Why would that turn them away? These professionals ultimately make their money by investing in artists. A low engagement rate shows people are not interested in their content.
If people are not interested in your content, it will take more work for such professionals to grow your following, for the same price that they could get with working with musicians that have much better engagement.
At the end of the day, it is too risky for them, especially when there are much safer options out there.
So now with all that information, are real (legit) paid shout outs worth it on Instagram (and other social media platforms)?
Here are a few things you need to know about these shout out pages.
1 - Broad Niche (not targeted)
Many of these pages promote musicians of all types, which is great from a general music standpoint, because musicians can always use another stage to share their talent.
The problem for you is that due to this, the followers of such accounts are from all areas. Some will be followers to only hear pop song covers, some might follow to hear acoustic originals, some might follow to hear classical music, etc.
Due to this, the actual group of people that will be interested in your music is much smaller than the amount of followers the account has, yet the account will charge you based on the total number of followers they have.
Therefore, you will not get a good bang for your buck so to speak.
2 - Little Chance to Share Anything About Yourself (cannot build connections)
Paid shout outs like these can be called surface level promotion. While it does give you a stage to share a brief glimpse into your music, that is about it.
There is usually not a chance to share anything about yourself, about your music journey, about upcoming projects, etc, which is what has the ability to relate to others and form connections with music lovers.
The perks to paid shout outs on social media
With all that being said above, there certainly are some perks to this type of promotion. You just need to understand what results you are looking for. If you’re looking for conversions, such as followers, streams, selling merchandise etc, this is not the right way to promote.
However, if you are looking to spread awareness, (rather than expecting to get any conversions), then it can be impactful. These accounts do allow you to reach a number of musicians and music lovers, so while they may not be interested in the music you create, it is an opportunity to get your name, your music and your brand out there.
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