In the ever-evolving landscape of social media, promoting your music as an independent artist in 2024 requires a mix of creativity, strategy, and adaptability. Some artists struggle with social media, while others don't. We wondered why, and dove deep into the social media strategies (or lack thereof) of various artists and gathered our findings in this comprehensive guide to help you navigate this dynamic environment and effectively promote your music career.

What are your goals?

Before diving into social media promotion, it's crucial to have a clear idea of what you are trying to achieve. Your goal can be to get people to listen to your music on SoundCloud or Spotify or to sign up for your newsletter (more on that in a future article). 

Do some research to find out what your goal should be. Also, make sure your goal feels good and you can commit to what it takes to get there. For example, after reading a couple of our articles you may conclude that you want to monetise your music career through exclusive content on Patreon. However, if you do not have the time to make enough content for both your social media and Patreon then this is not the right goal for you. Give all of this some thought before starting your social media journey. The right mindset truly is half of the work here.

Choose the Right Platforms

Not all social media platforms are created equal, and each has its strengths. Focus on the platforms where you feel most comfortable creating and sharing content. It is important that you can post content consistently to build momentum so pick your platform wisely! 

We've created a list of some of the most popular social media platforms out there and their features:

• Instagram: Ideal for visual storytelling, behind-the-scenes content, and building an engaged following through Stories and Reels. Easy to link to email sign up, merch store and streaming platforms etc.
• TikTok: A powerhouse for music discovery, viral trends, and short-form video content. Not great for building a community of engaged followers. Also not great for directing to an email sign up, merch store or other platform that is not Youtube, Instagram, Spotify, Apple Music or Amazon Music (so no SoundCloud link sadly 😿).
• YouTube: Ideal for music/lyric videos, live performances, and in-depth content like vlogs and tutorials. Perfect for building a community of engaged subscribers. YouTube also has the potential to become a source of revenue down the line. Furthermore, it is very easy to link to anything you want on your profile as well as in the description of every video.
• X (formerly known as Twitter) and IG Threads: Great for real-time updates, engaging in conversations, and building a community. Easy to link to email sign up, merch store and streaming platforms etc. through a "Link In Bio" service.
• Facebook: Useful for event promotion, fan groups, and targeting ads. This one is also very easy to link to anything you want on your profile as well as in the description of every video.

Create Engaging Content

Content is king on social media. Your goal is to create engaging, shareable content that resonates with your audience and showcases your personality. Notice how we don't say "showcase your music". Yeah, that's unfortunately intentional. Leading with music "out now, link in bio" falls on deaf ears. Every artist asks people to listen to their music and there are a lot of artists out there releasing a lot of music. 

You will have to lead with your personality to get people to pay attention to you. How you do that is up to you and also depends on the platform you choose in the section above. It is important that you post content consistently so try to keep the production quality on a level that is easy for you to maintain. Some content ideas include:

• Personal Stories: Share your journey, inspirations, and personal experiences.
• Behind-the-Scenes: Show the process of making music, from studio sessions to rehearsals to touring and backstage shenanigans to performing on stage.
• Live Performances: Stream live performances, Q&A sessions, and acoustic sets.
• User-Generated Content: Encourage fans to create content using your music, and share their posts. More on that later...
• Music Previews: Share snippets of upcoming releases to build anticipation.
• Live Streams: Host regular live sessions to interact with fans in real-time.
• Interactive Content: Create polls, quizzes, and interactive Stories to involve your audience in your world.
  

Through commitment and experimentation, you can find a format that works for you, your audience, your schedule and most importantly, for the algorithm. Once you have found your working format you will have to make sure to repeat and iterate on it until it doesn’t work anymore. 

It is advised to keep experimenting alongside the working format so you can have the next working format ready when the previous one is falling behind. This way you can stay on top of your game and keep growing your following.

Social Trends and User-Generated Content

It can also help to leverage social media trends and challenges, especially on platforms like TikTok and Instagram. Participating in viral challenges can significantly boost your visibility. Monitor trending challenges related to music, your skills, your journey or your personality. If the trend fits into your working format that is even better because then people will likely watch more of your content after finding you and potentially follow your profile. You can also create your own challenges and encourage fans to participate using your music.

Fan participation is called "user-generated content" or UGC for short. UGC allows fans to actively participate in sharing your music, creating a sense of community and commitment. As an artist, leveraging UGC increases your visibility and engagement with existing and potential new fans.

TikTok offers the most opportunities for artists to integrate fan content and foster co-creation around their music. Here are the main features you could utilise:

• The "Stitch" Feature: Encourage fans to "Stitch" your official videos, performances, or behind-the-scenes clips. This lets them add commentary or continue the story creatively.
• The "Duet" Feature: Use this for reaction videos, vocal or dance accompaniments, or visual exchanges. Duetting a fan's cover creates a collaborative moment they will never forget. It will also incentivize other fans to create a cover too, in the hopes you’ll duet them as well.
• Sounds: Empower fans to create viral sounds from your tracks. Invite them to use catchy hooks or melodies, leveraging TikTok's audio editing tools to make shareable sound bites.

Encouraging UGC fosters a creative, loyal fan base. You can invite fans to express their love for your music through various forms of content. Here are some ideas:

• Ask fans to recreate choreography with a personal twist.
• Ask fans to start a dance challenge for the chorus of one of your songs (pick your catchiest and most danceable track!).
• Ask fans to duet on an 'open verse' on an instrumental version of your song with their own lyrics/style.

When you get interaction from fans through UGC it is important to highlight and recognise their submissions to boost discoverability and fan connection. You can feature them on your social channels or turn the challenge into a contest with prizes like meet and greets or concert tickets.

Engage and Collaborate with Your Audience

Building a loyal fanbase requires consistent and genuine engagement. Responding to comments, messages, and mentions fosters a sense of community and loyalty. Acknowledging fan comments and UGC makes your community feel valued, inspiring more participation which helps you build your army.

Collaborations can introduce your music to new audiences. Partnering with other artists, influencers, and content creators can significantly expand your reach. Try to identify influential fans or other music creators in your niche for potential collaborations.

When collaborating with another artist you can feature on each other's tracks, cross-promote each other's music and events or create joint content. Joint content could include remixing each other's music and do breakdowns of how you made the remix on each other's profiles or doing literally any of the other content ideas we’ve mentioned here together.

Analyse and Adapt

Creating an effective social media strategy can’t be done without analysing your content’s performance to understand what works and what doesn’t. Use insights and analytics tools provided by each platform to track engagement, reach, and conversion rates and adapt where needed.

It is important that you set specific, measurable goals for your social media efforts and monitor key metrics like follower growth, engagement rates, and link clicks. It can help to export weekly or monthly analytics into spreadsheets to get a clear overview of your progress. 

When you’ve got all your data collected you should analyse it to see which type of content ranks the highest on your goals. Identify your best-performing formats and do more of that type of content while continuing to experiment with new formats that might work even better. Repeat this process on a (bi-)weekly or monthly for rapid growth.

Conclusion

Promoting your music on social media in 2024 as an independent artist requires a strategic and creative approach. It will take a lot of time out of your day to analyse performance and engage with your audience but if you’ve set the right goals and stay consistent with your effort you should be able to yield results.

For more information on social media marketing check out our article on marketing funnels (coming soon).

Good luck!