How to promote your music on social media?

Nowadays, you need more than just a great track to be discovered. If artists want to succeed, they must use an essential tool in their marketing and promotional toolbox: social media.  

2024 has marked a year full of new trends, changing user preferences, and a redefined creator-follower relationship. Staying up-to-date with current best practices is key to developing a practical, relevant, and rewarding social media strategy. 

Let's learn how to promote your music on social media in 2024! 

The First Step: Artist Branding   

Companies aren't the only ones that need strong branding—artists need it too! Your artist brand is key to making you stand out amongst the crowd. Your brand helps fans connect with you, understand who you are, and build a community around your music.  

How do you brand yourself as an artist?  

First, figure out what your unique artist brand is. Ask yourself: 

1. What do I value as an artist?

2. What kind of music do I create?

3. Who is my audience of listeners?

This should provide the starting steps to determine what makes you unique. Are you an eccentric rock performer with a flair for bass? Are you an ethereal Icelandic goddess? You may not be Flea or Björk, but you have something special to bring to the table—use it!

Use Your Profile(s) and Aesthetic 

An easy first step towards branding yourself on social media is through your profile. Your profile makes up a large part of the first impression visitors have of your page, music, and personality. Try to keep the same username, profile picture, and content style across your social platforms.

Second Step: Choose the right social platforms 

We get it: there are a lot of social media platforms out there. How do you know which ones to choose? It all comes down to how much time you can dedicate to your social strategy, where your audience is, and your experience.  Let’s take this step by step.

How much time are you willing to dedicate to social media promotion?  

Managing many social media accounts can be time-consuming, especially as you begin to grow. So, what can you do?  Keep in mind that some social platforms require less time to maintain than others. Snapchat, for example, revolves around daily 24hr stories. If you have your phone on you, you can update your Snapchat story throughout the day, with little time or consideration needed. 

You can also use a feature such as multi-posting to save time. Multi-posting is when one single post is distributed across social media platforms. Meta business suite is a great tool for coordinating multi-posting and scheduling for Instagram and Facebook.  

On which platforms is your audience of listeners?  

The age and relevance of your audience matters when choosing social media platforms. Do you appeal to a younger, tech-savvy audience who frequent platforms such as TikTok or Snapchat? Once you determine where your audience is, meet them there.   

Which social platforms do you have prior experience with?  

Depending on your level of tech-savviness, learning a whole new social media platform can be a bit difficult. With new social media sites popping up more and more frequently, it can be hard to keep up with the newest trending platform. Navigating can be confusing, tedious, and fruitless (if your audience isn’t there). 

That said, trying out a new platform can be a great learning experience and potentially rewarding for your social exposure. Assess your digital savviness and research if your audience is on the platform before starting.

Third step: Find and use resources that best fit you  

Many resources exist to help artists manage their social platforms, create content, and connect with their following. We’ve listed a few of our favorites that can take your social media game to the next level:  

Canva  

Think of Canva as an easy-to-use Photoshop. Design posts, create posters, and edit videos using Canva’s existing database of images, elements, fonts, and templates.  

CapCut  

CapCut is a free app for creating short-form content such as TikToks and Reels. You can add voice overs, trim clips, transitions and more. CapCut also has hundreds of trending templates you can use to easily make quality videos.  

Buffer  

Buffer is great for scheduling your social calendar on multiple platforms. Plan your posts, captions, and hashtags ahead of time, schedule a posting date, and Buffer will handle the rest.  

Linktree  

Linktree makes sharing multiple links easy and simple through smartlinks. With just one link, your visitors can gain access to your website, Spotify, merchandise store, or other social platforms. This is great for Instagram bios. 

Best Practices for Social Media Music Promotion  

Use Appropriate Hashtags

Hashtags play an important role in social media discovery. We wouldn’t recommend going overboard, but 5 to 10 good hashtags are usually a great place to start. You can even create your own hashtag, using your artist's name or other keyword, to use on all your posts.  

People Care About Consistency

Be consistent on social media! Not only with the frequency of which you post, but also with the type of content you produce. Make sure every post makes sense in the grand scheme of your artist brand. If you don’t think you can maintain a rigorous posting schedule, post less often, prioritizing quality posts and a consistent schedule.  

Consistency reinforces your branding and makes it easier for fans to recognize you whether on Instagram or elsewhere. You can maintain consistency in content by:  

• Using specific colors or imagery

• Using certain emojis or fonts

• Having a distinct tone of voice in captions and bio

• Posting on a regular schedule

Be Creative and Authentic

Authenticity speaks a thousand words. Stick to your tone of voice, personality, and genuine self. Don’t be afraid to try something new.

Ideas for Music-Related Content Creation 

1. "Behind the Scenes” - Show the process that goes into creating your new track, album, or project.

   
   

2. “Day in the Life of a ___ Artist” - What makes your day unique? Do you have a special artist ritual or recording process?

   
   

3. “Track Teasers” - Social media promotion leading up to a release of a track can be incredibly important—and fun! Whether you tease sound bits, lyrics, or the track’s name, this is a great way to keep fans engaged and ready for your new music.

   
   

4. “When you need a song for ___” - We see a lot of artists choose this format. They choose a track to curate a specific feeling or mood, and then pair this with some catchy video clips.