The question comes up constantly among artists: “Ok, I know I need to be on TikTok… but what do I actually post?” That’s often where everything stalls. Not for lack of ideas, but because people still think of the platform as a promotional showcase, when it actually works much better as a space for storytelling, experimentation, and closeness with an audience.
The real challenge isn’t posting more for the sake of it. The real challenge is building content that makes people want to discover you and then stick around. To do that, you need to move beyond pure promotion and learn how to turn your artistic project into living, breathing material.
This article is based on a French Groover+ workshop, Best Practices on TikTok in 2026 for Artists, hosted by Lisa Mallier.
🎬 First reflex: stop only posting for your releases
Many artists only use TikTok around a single, a music video, or an EP drop. That’s better than nothing, but it’s not what delivers the best results. Why? Because the algorithm — and users — need to place you in time. If you only appear to announce something, you quickly start to look like a billboard.
On the flip side, if you regularly share content that reflects your universe, your references, your methods, your struggles, your behind-the-scenes, your instincts, and your humor, then promotion becomes natural. It slots into a larger narrative. And it’s that narrative that makes people want to listen to your music.
This logic applies even for artists who are short on time. You don’t need to produce complex videos, what matters most is thinking in simple, repeatable series that build a habit with your audience.
🧠 The 7 most relevant content types for an artist
1. Behind-the-scenes of creation
This is probably one of the most powerful formats for a music project. You can talk about how a song was born, where a lyric came from, why you changed a topline, how you found a sound, a texture, a title, an image, or a performance intention.
This type of content works because it transforms a finished piece of work into an open story. It gives access to your process. And that process is just as interesting to fans as it is to the casually curious.
You can pair this with this Groover article on blowing up on TikTok and this guide on music promotion via TikTok.
2. Project storytelling
You can also talk about your project in a broader sense. Who are you? What’s your approach? What are you trying to express through your tracks? What connects your music, your visuals, your writing, your obsessions?
This format is especially valuable when you’re launching a new artistic direction or a new chapter. It lets you draw a line between your identity and your songs. And it often converts better than purely promotional content, because it creates attachment before the listening even begins.
3. Narrative carousels
The TikTok carousel is still underused by many artists, yet it can be remarkably effective. It lets you repurpose visuals, studio photos, concert images, screenshots of notes, polaroids, lyrics, posters, or tour moments.
The key isn’t just showing beautiful images. The key is adding a narrative. One idea per slide. One stage per slide. One anecdote per slide. A mini photo vlog. A mini creation journal. A before-and-after. A release story.
💡 A carousel that tells a story is almost always more valuable than one that simply looks “beautiful.” On TikTok, narrative beats visual perfection.
4. Simple face-to-camera formats
Many artists think they need to be ultra-smooth, ultra-funny, or ultra-comfortable on camera to make it work. That’s not true. What really matters is being clear, sincere, and present. A simple format can perform very well if the message is right.
- “Let me tell you why this track matters so much to me”
- “The moment I knew this chorus had to stay”
- “What I couldn’t say any other way than through this song”
- “The hidden reference behind this music video”
These are quick to produce, require little editing, and can generate far more followers than some heavily crafted posts.
5. Covers, but with an angle
Covers are still useful, especially when they’re consistent with your universe. But today, a standalone cover without a narrative angle or connection to your project carries less strategic weight than it used to. The real question to ask yourself is: what does this cover say about me?
For example, you might explain why you chose that song, what it changed for you, how it connects to your own music, or what it taught you as a performer.
6. Content tied to your other passions
This is one of the standout points from the webinar. Today, many users follow an artist not just for their music, but for their overall personality. If literature, film, fashion, sports, journaling, vintage synths, or writing are part of who you are, they can also feed your strategy.
This isn’t scattering your focus. It’s enriching the perception of your universe. As long as the connection remains coherent, this kind of content reinforces what makes you singular.
7. Replies to comments
This format is far too often overlooked. Yet replying to a comment with a video is both simple, smart, and high-performing. You turn an interaction into new content, you show that you’re listening to your community, and you keep the conversation going.
Someone asks when the track is dropping? Reply in a video. Someone wants to know how you wrote a certain passage? Reply in a video. Someone reacts strongly to a lyric? Reply in a video. It’s content already validated by the genuine interest of a real person.
✍️ How to make each piece of content stronger without spending 3 hours on it
The biggest blocker for artists is usually time. The solution isn’t necessarily to do more — it’s to simplify the method. A TikTok piece of content doesn’t need to be heavy to produce in order to be relevant.
- Start with a strong hook
- Add on-screen text to provide context
- Write a caption that extends the interest
- Choose a handful of useful hashtags, not an auto-generated list
- Repurpose your existing content by adapting it to TikTok’s language
A simple example: you have an Instagram studio carousel. On Instagram, it lives through its aesthetic. On TikTok, you can take the same images and add text like “The day this song finally found its chorus” or “3 moments I almost gave up on this track.” You’ve just turned a showcase piece into a narrative one.
To strengthen consistency between TikTok and other platforms, you can also read this Groover article on Instagram features.
📅 A simple method for staying consistent over time
The hardest part isn’t coming up with one idea. The hardest part is keeping it up. For that, you need a realistic method. The webinar emphasizes some very useful habits: batching, drafts, scheduling, consistency over perfection.
Concretely, you can film several pieces of content in a single session:
- 2 face-to-camera videos
- 1 narrative carousel
- 1 studio or rehearsal clip
- 1 reply to a comment
Then save everything as drafts, schedule if needed, and maintain a sustainable rhythm. One well-thought-out post per week, kept up consistently over time, is worth more than a burst of content followed by two months of silence.
🚀 What to remember before you start
You don’t need to become a content machine. You don’t need to chase every trend either. What you do need is to understand one essential thing: TikTok works really well when an artist stops trying to only promote — and starts telling stories too.
Telling the story of a track, an obsession, a day, a doubt, a scene, an intention. In short: telling the story of what your project is trying to make people feel. From there, content ideas become far more plentiful. And above all, they become far more coherent.
If you’re still stuck, ask yourself this one simple question before every post: “Does this content help someone better understand my music, my approach, or my personality?” If the answer is yes, you’re probably on the right track.
Want access to workshop replays and artist development resources throughout the year? Join Groover+ or read this article to find out more!
