How to successfully promote music on social media

Did you just finish your big musical project and now you don’t know how to get it out into the world? Well, you’re in luck! Here’s a guide to promoting your music on social media, so all of your hard work will be worth it.

from the Bridger blog

That’s it – having worked hard on your latest musical project, you can see the end of the tunnel, and we congratulate you! Now that you consider it perfect, or almost perfect, you are thinking about its release, and how to promote it on social media: Instagram, TikTok, Twitch, Twitter… A moment that can be particularly intimidating, considering the infinite possibilities offered by these platforms, but it’s going to be fine, since Bridger is here to guide you. Ready? Let’s go! 

Plan your sharing on social media

Don’t hesitate to get an online calendar like the one linked to your email address, or even a spiral planner, where you can keep a daily note of: how many communications happened; on which networks; around which topics. This way, you can plot out the common thread of your promotional drive while also putting some distance between your potential stress levels and your daily to-do list. Your calendar = your guide, your reference point!  

‍Depending on the size of your project (single, EP, album), you can schedule a campaign of 2-4 weeks in your calendar, around its release date. We recommend that you communicate 1 action on Instagram (in story or feed) + 1 tweet + 2 actions on TikTok per day.  

‍This may seem like an awful lot, but it is exactly what established artists do, so it’s good practice, but it’s also an opportunity to spin out a narrative around your release. The key is to keep your social media alive over the relevant time frame.  

Take the time to set out in a calendar the dates, the platforms and the content you intend to post about on social media to promote your music. You should plan for between 15 days and 1 month, depending on the size of your project, with 1 piece of content shared on each network every day. 

Build your speech

Once you have defined your publication period and rhythm, you can tackle the contents with more precision. The main idea is to publish only things that look like you, that you like, that make you feel comfortable and that express your artistic universe. To frame your reflection, you might start by writing your pitch: 3-5 sentences that summarize the universe of your release. If you like, you could use these questions as a guide: 

• What do I want people to feel when they listen to my music? For example: nostalgia? Optimism? Anger?…  
• In which context(s) do I think my fans would need to hear it? Dancing alone? In a group? Relaxing in the sun? Strolling in the city? 
• Which musical family does my release belong to? Which genre(s), artist(s), culture(s) or subculture(s) do I identify with?  
• How did I make my music? With which tools? As a team? Or solo? 

‍From there, you can divide your schedule by topic, with the elements of your pitch in mind: repost lyrics from an artist from the same universe as you; share a millisecond of your composition as a tease and describe your genre; share your emotion of the day… There’s no need to have all your content ready in advance; what counts is to have a common thread, to build a narrative for your project. 

‍If you get stuck, that’s OK! Don’t hesitate to turn to friends and family with a literary bent, or absorb bios of other artists on streaming sites. 

To stimulate your creativity, try writing a pitch for your project. This will help you identify a common thread that you can use when you talk about it on social networks, from its creation, to its release, to making it live within your community. It serves as a reference feeding the themes of your posts and helps you structure your calendar, which reinforces your artistic identity. 

Take action

With these few leads, you have:  

• Your publishing schedule and rhythm 
• An editorial identity to frame your posts  
• Some content prepared in advance.  

‍Now some ideas for content for all the social media you use. It makes sense to keep the same visual base and the same tone across all the various platforms – it’s better not to confuse people who are subscribed to all your accounts. However, the rules for gaining virality are not homogeneous and we give you the details just below. 

‍Here are some ideas for your content: behind the scenes of the recording, or your creative process (even if it’s in your room); a video clip that you love and that inspires your compositions; lyrics or an excerpt of a text that you wrote or that you like; simply your mood of the day in relation to current events or your personal life… 

‍For all the networks we’re talking about here, it’s possible to have your account verified so that it becomes official. The advantage of doing this is that you will be better referenced, and thus reassure your visitors. Beyond the √, use a high-definition profile picture – the same on every network to create consistency – as well as the same username. Also, you can be strategic when subscribing to other accounts and take the opportunity to send DMs if they’re artists or music influencers whose work you enjoy, showcasing your sounds by asking politely if they can tell you what they think. 

‍To make life easier for your followers, add a unique link that centralizes all your social networks in all your bios. For this, you can use linkfire. 

It makes sense to keep the same visual base and the same tone from one platform to another, to avoid confusing people who are subscribed to all your accounts. For all the networks we are talking about here, it is possible to have your account verified so that it is official, to make it better referenced and to reassure your visitors. For all of them, use the same profile picture in HD, and the same nickname if possible. 

Refine your communication according to the networks used

Instagram

The advantage of Instagram is that you can post a variety of formats: videos (lives, reels that remain available on your profile all the time, or short-lived stories, or stories that you can save in a channel that appears at the top of your profile); images in feeds (1 to 10 in carousel). 

‍In live, you can interact with your followers: for example, play a short clip or answer their questions. You can even invite an influencer to interact with you. If they already have 5k followers, that’s enough to help you if you have 10 times fewer. Plan to pay them; it is their job to animate social media, and the advantage is that they will share the news with their own community. So choose someone whose universe is close to yours to increase your chances of converting their subscribers into an audience. 

‍With the other formats, you are free to express yourself as you wish. The key is to take care to create homogeneity between your profile picture, the keywords of your bio and your feed. When you post, remember to add hashtags, after checking their popularity on the network. And once your project is released in streaming, don’t forget to use the music option proposed by Insta in your story!  

‍You can also use the Instagram Ads feature, even with just $2 a day, by targeting the age and interests of your own target audience to maximize effectiveness. It’s a good idea to fine-tune the settings so that the people targeted by your ad have interests aligned with your music. 

‍TikTok 

TikTok has the reputation of being the network for teenagers who challenge each other with dance steps. If you want to start, good for you, but there are other ways to post videos to carve out a place for yourself.

‍For example, you can take a sound that is buzzing on TikTok and add a verse of your own creation – why not from your release? – or share a log with your sound in BO. Or you can film a music tutorial and show how you compose/play/sing, or ask someone you know who is good at challenges to use your music to launch theirs.

‍\Here, too, you can make a little study of the trending hashtags and then appropriate the ones that fit you and add them to the description of your videos. 

YouTube

The advantage of YouTube is that it allows long video formats. In addition to posting your clips, you can have fun uploading videos in which you chat with another artist about your release, where you collaborate with them in music with a live jam session that could be adapted in accord with audience demand…

‍Again, the key is to make it look like you, and to make sure you fill in the titles of your videos so that they are descriptive, write their descriptions so that they include popular #s, sort them by categories (clips, live, jam…) and put them in playlists that are easily accessible from the homepage of your account. 

Twitch

Twitch is basically dedicated to gamers, but over the past two years or so, it has also become a place where artists and fans can meet! The notion of live defines the platform and it would be a shame to deprive yourself of playing concerts – or even sharing a game session, if you are a gamer – with your music in the background.

‍We won’t go into more detail about Twitch here because its functioning is particular and we have an articlededicated to the subject. 

On Instagram, TikTok, Twitch and YouTube, use the live feature to interact with your followers. Prefer TikTok for very short formats, Instagram for medium ones and YouTube for long ones. Sort your content into your Instagram channels and YouTube playlists. Study the popular hashtags of each network to make them your own. You can also explore their advertising features if you have a small budget available for that. Be sure to target your audience carefully. Don’t hesitate to join forces and collaborate with other artists and music personalities on these networks! 

What do I need to remember ?

Promotion on social media is accessible to all artists. The important thing is to prepare your strategy in advance, and to use content that is in tune with who you are, so that you feel comfortable with what you post, and finally, speak only to people who belong within your musical universe.

If you want to know more and exchange with other artists who have been there, don’t hesitate to join our Discord server or to contact our team on hello@bridgermusic.io!