Social Media

1. Content

The number one way to insert an artist into a particular space and associate them with specific acts is by creating the right kind of content. For inspiration, refer to what similar pages do the main substance of their posts, the type of captions and hooks they use, the subject matter, and all other details.

Those posts are what the target audience finds engaging and resonates with. Posting similar content consistently will eventually lead to a few viewers from the target audience engaging with it, which teaches the algorithm to push that content to similar viewers. This creates a cascading effect, causing the artist’s content to naturally be shown to the exact people that will become their fans.

2. Collaborative Posts

Collaborative posts are an excellent method to not only send the right signals to the algorithm, but immediately gain exposure to the desired audience. This makes it an incredibly useful tool when starting out, because it can be challenging to build the right connections without an initial follower base.

In order to have the most beneficial collaborative posts, confirm that the pages you create a shared post with have the right target audience. Aimless collaborations may increase general exposure, but they won’t cause the algorithm to push your content to the right people, so the benefit will be short-lived.

3. Trends

One of the main features of platforms like TikTok and Instagram is the existence of trends, and knowing how to leverage them can be key to forming advantageous bonds.

Pay attention to trends that are happening within the space that the target audience occupies and join those, rather than choosing trends in random spaces where not many potential fans would be found.

The greater the proportion of target audience members among viewers, the higher the interactions-to-views ratio will be. This tells the algorithm that the content is very popular among that type of viewer, leading it to boost the content even more.

This applies not only to trending videos, but to trending audios as well. Repurpose audios trending in the correct niche to increase the likelihood of being recommended to users in that space.

4. Remixing Reels

Remixed reels are shown to viewers of the original reel if the original creator reposts the remix. Strategically choose reels that the target audience is engaging with in order for the remixed content to reach the correct people.

The challenge with this approach is doing it in a tasteful manner that does not take away from the artist’s image by coming across as a cheap marketing tactic. Like all other posts, it should be authentic to the artist.

5. Interactions

Interacting with the target online space by commenting is a powerful method because it increases direct exposure to other users in the comment section. When commenting, post genuine and relevant comments to express an authentic sense of belonging in that space, as well as to encourage interaction from other users.

6. Influencer Content

Paid influencer promotion can be an excellent tool for artists who have little to no following in order to get a boost in exposure.

However, the ROI on this method can be dangerously low if not executed properly.

Influencers can charge anywhere from $50 up to millions of dollars, depending on the size of their following. For this reason, it is critical to only pay influencers for posts that clearly have an engaged and active follower base fully aligned with the artist’s target audience.

Otherwise, the funds spent on this strategy will disappear and will not yield any meaningful returns.

Spotify

1. Features & Remixes

Collaborations, including features and remixes, can serve as a powerful tool to boost an artist’s exposure, though there may be difficulty in the actual execution. For many artists, this may not be very feasible due to a wide variety of reasons the genre they are in, a lack of connections to other artists, or a preference to make music alone.

However, for those that are able, collaborating on releases with artists in the same ecosystem can be an excellent way to gain traction.

2. Playlists

As an artist grows, their music will naturally appear on user playlists that aim to capture a specific vibe, and these are great for discoverability.

Artists can create their own playlists like these with their own account, add a variety of music including their own, and give the playlist a relevant name. As the artist grows, users can save these playlists, allowing the artist to accrue organic plays passively.

3. Paid Playlists

While playlists created by users and the artist themselves can be massively helpful, paid playlists can actually have a very negative effect if done incorrectly. Firstly, just like influencer promotion, the playlist should reach the correct target audience. Otherwise, money will be wasted on listeners who are not interested and who will not help the artist grow.

Moreover, many paid playlists, especially those that guarantee a certain amount of streams, are filled with bots. They amass fake streams to give the illusion of effectiveness, when in reality, the result is that funds are being wasted on fans that don’t exist. Another danger of this is that Spotify can detect fake streams and actually punish the artist by taking down their music.

In order to successfully utilize paid playlists, submit to real playlisters with healthy, active listener bases that align with the artist’s target audience.

Advertising

1. Active Streaming Campaigns

Running strategic advertising campaigns on social media that reach the correct target audience can be extremely powerful for organic algorithmic boosting. One of the strongest signals the Spotify algorithm can receive is from a person saving an artist’s track.

A song suddenly gaining many saves in a short period of time sends a massive signal to the algorithm to boost it to other users. Furthermore, ad campaigns that precisely target the right audience will increase the ratio of streams to skips and streams per listener. The higher these stats are, the more the song will be recommended to other users through Discover Weekly.

This means that effective ad campaigns on social media send have tremendous potential to increase a song’s popularity, because they cause Spotify to boost it organically.

2. Playlist Campaigns

Running ads on an artist playlist can also be a solid option for advertising for the same reasons that playlists on Spotify can be useful, as discussed earlier. This is especially effective for driving streams for an artist’s older catalog or a full-length album all at once.

Utilizing These Methods

As algorithmic boosting on social media and Spotify has become the primary driver of artist discovery in today’s music industry, it is crucial to understand how to leverage it in order to maximize an artist’s growth.

With a proper application of these methods, including creating tailored content, playlisting, and running targeted streaming ad campaigns, an artist can create explosive, organic growth on all of the major platforms that are used today.

The end goal here being to build audiences up on these platforms, create a genuine connection with them, and then use email, SMS, and other direct to fan outlets to create a real connection / relationship. Allowing for future ventures such as live shows, special offers, patreons, merch, etc.

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