The following is our shortlist of mistakes to avoid that will stay relevant for many many years to come, no matter the medium or format, along with solutions to help you prevent becoming a victim of these common pitfalls and turn them into strengths of yours instead.

1. Stop: Trying to Keep Up With Everyone Else’s Social Media Presence

Everyone will tell you that social media is king, but not everyone will remind you to participate only to the extent that makes sense for you.

It is certainly recommended to post as much as possible, but for those of you who aren’t Instagram or TikTok lovers to begin with, it may actually hurt you more to post just for the sake of posting than to be selective with your content.

The name of the social media game is authenticity, and it’s far from authentic to post a piece of content you don’t believe in. Those who are chronically online can sniff out forced promotion from a mile away, so instead of feeling obligated to post something just because, aim to post what you really want the world to see and what you are confident in.

Instead: Make a Plan that’s Realistic for You

If you struggle with coming up with ideas for posts and dread the looming “what should I post next” dilemma, the biggest hack is to go big before going home. Film one big long-form video (ideally a music video) that you can then chop up into a dozen snippets, BTS videos, teasers, etc. and slowly post over a long period of time. One filming day and one editing day can turn into months of content.

Another similar strategy is to plan one big media day to film/shoot everything during. Adding a photoshoot with a couple different outfits to the filming schedule is an excellent way to get both video and static content to work with in one day.

Doing it all at once will eliminate the need to 1) constantly come up with new ideas, and 2) have to create something on a deadline, which are usually the two biggest culprits of social media inactivity.

2. Stop: Automating Your Social Media Ads

Perhaps unsurprisingly, music and social platforms want you to pay for their services whenever possible, and ad campaigns are a great means to that end. 

When you create an ad campaign to promote your music through Spotify or Instagram/Facebook (both run by Meta), they will offer to push it to a suggested target audience and number of users, making the process seemingly very simple. However, these target audiences are not actually very targeted – automated ad campaigns tend to push ad content to what seems like a large number of people, but a very small number of them will actually belong to the demographic that listens to your music.

As you track your ad campaign’s progress, you may not see the results you want (conversion from viewers to streams/follows) despite the ad having reached a large number of users. This will then prompt you to run another campaign and pay more money to the platform.

Instead: Choose Your Own Target Audience

You may think that platforms know best because they have all the data, but so do you! With a public or business account, almost every platform allows you to view your own insights to better understand your following (or listenership, on Spotify for Artists).

Use your insights to run more precise ad campaigns. You’ll not only be saving money, but you’ll also increase your chances of viewer-to-listener conversion. Begin by studying your following’s age, gender and location to best figure out where to push your content. 

Your audience demographics will very likely differ by platform, so make sure to cater your ad content specifically to each. Allow your campaign a week or two to really take, and another week or two after its run to study how it’s influenced your media activity and listener trends.

3. Stop: Contacting Every Music Account, Outlet, and Industry Person

Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. Does it really make sense to be hitting up a music discovery Instagram page when you haven’t released your music to streaming services yet? Or emailing demos to a label when they haven’t been mixed and mastered?

By contacting someone in the music industry every time you come across their social media profile or email address, you may be setting yourself up to hurt your own feelings. When you don’t target people strategically, you’ll only increase your chances of getting a “no” because they may not work with the type of music you make or be offering the service you’re looking for. A pop radio station will not answer a hard rock pitch, and a folk blog will not accept hip hop artists. Save yourself the time and energy by being selective with your outreach.

Instead: Research and Create Personal Relationships

Do research on blogs, review sites, labels, music discovery accounts, promotion platforms, and anyone else you’d like that specializes in your genre of music. Make a list of who you’ll be contacting, and craft a message that is specific to them.

Whether you get what you’re looking for right away or not, building a relationship with the people you’re contacting is a great long term investment. They may ask you to send them new music whenever you have it, or alert them of an upcoming release in the future. You never know when your network is going to come in handy, so it’s worth taking the time to selectively contact those who you’d like to work with at some point and maintaining personal ties.

4. Stop: DMing Media Outlets

Though it may seem like the easiest communication channel, Instagram DMs are not the place to turn when you want to contact someone who can truly help you with your music.

Almost all media outlets, websites, companies, and big accounts have a social media manager or team behind them whose sole job is to run their social accounts. They are not journalists themselves, and receive far too many messages to relay every single one to the person you’re actually hoping to reach.

Above all, it’s simply unprofessional, as email is still the ruling means of communication in any big industry. Only use DMs to ask for the email address you should use to get in touch if you don’t already have it.

Instead: Pitch Where They Actually Read

Structurally, emails can do what DMs simply cannot, especially when it comes to links. Here’s what you should include in the perfect email:

1. The pitch: 3-4 sentences maximum to present your project, keeping it short and impactful, and using descriptive language when describing the music so your creative direction can be understood quickly.
2. The bio: 3 sentences introducing yourself as an artist, who your influences are, and what you’re currently doing.
3. Private links: SoundCloud, Untitled, or YouTube allow private link sharing, so include your music using one of these (not a streaming platform or file attachment).
4. Dates: Include the date of your upcoming release and shows if you have any.
5. Visuals: Include the link to a Dropbox that contains press photos or videos for outlets to use if they write about you.
6. Socials: Include your social media profile links so they can be visited and/or added elsewhere.

In terms of wording, be polite and professional. Being overly casual is frowned upon and will likely get ignored. Respectful messages have a much greater chance of getting a positive response.

Also, Groover can help you with promoting your music! The music promotion platform allows you to contact the best media, radios, playlists, labels and professionals of the music industry. Guarantee being listened to and have feedback within 7 days.

Finding and listening to music has never been easier or more complicated for the millions of users on streaming services. It’s up to you, as songwriters, music producers, independent artists to get noticed by promoting your music well!

Want to gain visibility or find a professional audience for your music?

Send your music to Groover – guaranteed to be heard and feedback within 7 days. Promoting your music has never been easier!

L’article 4 Mistakes to Avoid When Promoting Your Music (and what to do instead) est apparu en premier sur Groover Blog.

Most importantly, if you’re hanging out on Groover’s blog, you’re probably looking to promote your music. However, the fear of many musicians who want to start on TikTok is that the platform is not adaptable to to their image as an artist.

In this article, you’ll understand exactly how to do this. A few disclaimers before we start! First, these ideas are taken from trends and the idea here is not to simply copy them entirely, but to adapt what works on TikTok and what is relevant to you as a musician. Secondly, get rid of the idea that what works on this social network is young people dancing. There is a huge variety of content creators on TikTok, with very innovative ideas. Finally, it’s rarely a good idea to force yourself to do things that don’t feel like you. If these ideas really don’t speak to you and you don’t recognize yourself in the platform, maybe you belong somewhere else; and that’s fine too.

On that note, here are 4 content ideas to get your music known on TikTok!

“If I had a verse on this song …”, the trend to get your music known on TikTok

If you haven’t seen any yet, you’re not hanging around TikTok enough! Some emerging artists take the production of a track that is trending (on TikTok or on the charts) and put their own verse on the track, as if they had been a feature on it. Here’s an example made by rapper Zai1k who raps his own verse over Stacey Ryan’s trending verse in order to make his own music known on TikTok.

Advantages of this type of content?

The public will immediately recognize the song since it is known or easily recognizable. Moreover, for the same reason, the algorithm of TikTok will be able to push your video since it contains a track with a potential “buzz”. Despite the fact that you are posing on another artist’s song, it is your own verse! This way, you can fully demonstrate your abilities, which really differentiates this format from a cover. On the other hand, since it’s not an original production or an exclusive sound made by you, you can explore different musical styles: afrobeats, trap, drill, …

Disadvantages of this type of content ?

Obviously, it’s not really an original track and chances are that you will have to copy the original topline used in order for your part to fit musically. Your artistic identity may not be extremely audible, since you’re riffing off of someone else’s sound.

Any tips for this type content?

Considering this, make the identity of your musical project visible by carefully choosing how you film your video: decorate the place where the video is shot, change the lighting, use filters, etc. Finally, take this TikTok content for what it is: a way to be identified by the audience of artists you like, and to generate relevant growth on your own social profiles. To go further, don’t hesitate to do a little staging, like Adamé did by giving the impressions of a missed call to his video performance.

A tutorial

TikTok is a rather spontaneous social network, where people tend to show themselves naturally… and it works! Without necessarily falling into voyeurism (which also exists…), many users are curious to understand what influencers do and how they do it. Make-up tutorials, a time-lapse of a painting, phone hacks… this type of content is one of the most effective on TikTok! To promote your music on TikTok, the equivalent is to show content like: “how I recorded this sound”, or “what the production is made of” or “the making-of this video”…

@thelucky20 someone get on this😵 #producer #liluzivert #ssgkobe #ragebeat #bangermusic #makingmusic ♬ original sound – Lucky 20

Benefits of this type of content?

Firstly, you bring your followers behind the scenes of the creation of your music and videos. In addition to being interesting, you allow them to feel close to you, to access a part of your professional life. The magic of music that can fascinate many people! Don’t hesitate to break down this wall with those people who will come to your concerts one day. Moreover, in a pragmatic way, it’s content created from things you live naturally: no need to put thousands of things on stage, it’s already you! In short, it’s perfect way to make your music known on TikTok!

Disadvantages of this type of content?

Simple shots of your video, or track by track of your production will have little negative impact. The cool thing about this content is when the artist is able to embody an action to take the audience into their world. However, showing off or bragging will make it harder to have effective content to get your music out on TikTok.

Any tips for this type of content?

If you’re not too social, try to convince a friend to be the presenter! This way you don’t put your image on the line and you’ll create the feeling that this is a media outlet that follows you in your daily life as an artist. Don’t underestimate the interest that people are capable of having in what you do: are you recording in the studio? Shoot it! You’re going to buy a kind of tape for a video? Shoot it! You listen to a song after a studio session? Shoot it! These common moments for you can be exciting content and used to promote your music on TikTok.

Viral content to get your music known on TikTok

On Tik Tok, there are always “trends”: particular content that everyone picks up on. For example, this dance on Stromae’s song, do you recognize it? It’s up to you to use these musical trends to your advantage to make your music known on TikTok. And for that, you have two options:

1. Copy viral content. You can take an existing trend and adapt it to your reality. Don’t hesitate to use one of your sounds to illustrate this!
2. Create your own trend. If there’s a moment in your single that motivates your to dance or simply to give attitude: exploit it to get your music known on TikTok! At best, you can hire an influencer to launch a challenge on your track. Their followers will pick it up and give your sound a spin! At the very least, don’t hesitate to stage it yourself. The impact of your video may be less, but it will be a great use of TikTok!

@tatemcrae1

oh shit….. should i drop this oneeee

♬ shes all i wanna be – tate mcrae

| Hire an influencer

The subliminal message

Sometimes it’s hard to keep up with trends, so here’s some content that’s the equivalent of a selfie on Instagram and will probably never go out of style… ever. On TikTok, it’s not photos but videos. So an animated selfie could contain: a silent face cam of you, for starters; then some stock footage of your week! For example, footage of nature, the subway, the car, your studio session… A kind of compilation of the past month for example. You know what I mean: in the background, you will obviously put your single. There are TONS of videos like these on TikTok: check out Sam Ryder’s.

Disadvantages?

There are none! You can publish this kind of content very easily and regularly, as long as you vary it with others. The advantages are obvious: to put your sound in context, as if it was the soundtrack of your own life, and simply… to post quickly and create content to maintain a regular presence on this social platform. And always with a real impact to make your music known on TikTok!

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Conclusion

With these 4 content ideas to make your music known on TikTok, normally, you are ready to take off: no more excuses! This content will help you create and engage a sense community on TikTok in order to promote your music. So in the midst of all this content, it will be important to post clips of your music videos, or other original creations! On the other hand, don’t neglect those ideas you’ve been given. TikTok-friendly content is what will make people interested in the clips you post. Without them, you run the risk of having very low statistics on TikTok, because the algorithm favors content with viral potential, i.e. the ones on which we based this article on…

Now it’s up to you to find your balance and use TikTok in a way that will serve your musical project and artistic identity!

Translated by Betty Gonzalez Gray

I am Theodore, editor-in-chief of NewTone media and I accompany emerging artists in the development of their musical career, through our agency, Qualité Musique.

Next articles:

> How to use TikTok to promote your music?

> VOG gets his music on a TikTok playlist after using Groover

Upload your tracks on Groover and gain visibility for your music

L’article 4 CONTENT IDEAS TO PROMOTE MY MUSIC ON TIKTOK est apparu en premier sur Groover Blog.