Over the past 10 years, Instagram has become a vital platform and an important tool in the artist’s toolbox. It has now surpassed Facebook in popularity amongst artists and stands strong even with competition from the ever-popular TikTok. ‘How do I promote my music on Instagram’ is a question we often get asked, so in this article we are going to explore different elements of promoting music on Instagram.
Best Ways to Promote Music on Instagram
Make Great Content
First and foremost, make sure your content is the best it possibly can be. If a post is rushed or half thought through, refrain from posting it until you have time to give it the time it deserves so you can make sure you are happy with it and that you are giving something of value to your audience.
The best way to make your content great is to be original and authentic. Don’t post anything that doesn’t truly represent you, your music and your brand. You can take influence from your peers and other artists you admire.
Top tip: If you don’t have time to put aside for a complete post – make a story teaser to give followers some content.
The best way to make your content great is to be original and authentic. Don’t post anything that doesn’t truly represent you, your music and your brand. You can take influence from your peers and other artists you admire.
Stay on Top of Your Account
Update your bio and links
It’s really important to keep your account updated. This means an up-to-date bio with details of your new music and projects and also up-to-date links to your most recent songs. You should also keep your story highlights updated as people are often drawn to these when looking through your profile.
Profile picture
It sounds like a simple one, but a fresh profile picture can do a lot and will also keep your content relevant and up to date. There is nothing worse than viewing an artist with a picture that is years old as it is not a true reflection of where you are at.
Consider investing in a photo shoot every year
Or every time you have a big new project, or if you go down a design route, get a graphic designer or a friend who works in the industry to work with you to create the look you want.
Top tip: Change your profile picture every time you release a new song to keep the branding consistent.
Make a Strategy
This is super important. No social media campaign has ever had consistent success without a content strategy. Now it doesn’t have to be a full-blown business plan, but a simple strategy that works for you and can be actioned with realistic goals is all you need. It could even be 5-10 bullet points for things you need to remember to do. You can also use scheduling and apps like Hootsuite or the inbuilt Instagram Business to help you with this.
Use Hashtags
Hashtags can still have a great impact. Do some hashtag research to see what hashtags are relevant and trending in your industry and try to work them into your posts.
How to Promote Music on Instagram Ads
When thinking about the question ‘how to promote my music on Instagram’, Instagram ads can’t be ignored.
Instagram ads don’t have to have a big budget to be successful. Simply pick a budget that works for you and start building your ad. If you have a linked Facebook business account you can actually build your ad from there and it is quite simple, but here are a few tips:
1. Decide what your goals are
2. Set a reasonable and affordable budget. Often something like £2 a day for 10 days is a good marker to start with.
3. Decide on your audience. Follow their guide advice as you go and it will be pretty easy to manage. Try to be as specific as you can and aim for territories you know have worked for you before based on the analytics you can find on Spotify or Youtube.
4. Make sure all your pictures or videos fit the design requirements
5. You are good to go! Track your campaign in the ads manager on Facebook and Instagram.
Top tip: Start small and build as your knowledge and expertise builds
How to Promote Your Music on Instagram for Free
As well as paid promotion, Instagram also has loads of tools that you can use for free! Some great ways to promote your music on Instagram for free include stories, reels, highlights (of stories) and just regular posting. Hashtags also help as they get picked up by algorithms and influencers use them regularly.
Stories
A great way to put out regular content to keep the momentum building around and before a release. Stories are very easy to post and can be done as many times a day as you like. A word of warning though – posting over 10 a day often leads to fewer people seeing them overall and sometimes just one or two powerful stories are all it takes to gain traction.
Reels
Relatively new on Instagram, but very good for promoting video content. You can add longer videos in reels, and they also show up more in algorithms.
Highlights
These are great for separating your story content and featuring it at the top of your profile. So if you are promoting a single for example, you could have the actual video, a live video and a highlight of you talking/promoting the song at the top of your profile so people can see and access it easily.
Hashtags
As previously mentioned, hashtags are still powerful in getting a message out there. Try to keep them up-to-date and relevant and don’t use too many that are similar.
Top Tip: You can also message your ‘super fans’ and get them to download or pre-save your song.
How to Promote a Song on Instagram
Instagram really is a great platform for promoting songs. The basic nature of the platform aligns well with the basic nature of promoting just one song. Great ways to do this include posting the video, a link to the Spotify profile and also directly sharing the song from Spotify via Instagram stories. You can also post links in the story function on Instagram which is very helpful.
Once again it’s important to start with a promotional strategy. This could include teaser video/ audio clips, images from photoshoots around a month before release and then sharing from Spotify or your SoundCloud once the song is released. You can also use it to make videos to get people to download or pre-order via the stories.
Reels also allow you to post longer videos, so a clip of your music video if you have one, or even a live performance of that song can easily be done. As mentioned above, you can also use paid Instagram ads to promote your song.
How to Market Your Music on Instagram
Marketing your music on Instagram can be done for free, or with the aid of Instagram ads and the many different tools Instagram offers.
Once your music is out there for people to listen to and download, you can start to market it!
Marketing used to be done by people working in offices at record labels, but for DIY artists, it’s important to know how to market your music on Instagram.
Luckily there are loads of tools. Some of which we have mentioned above, including stories, reels and sharing from platforms such as Spotify.
You can also make use of the other options Instagram offers.
Live Streams
Instagram actually offers a ‘Go Live’ button so you can start a live stream with just your guitar or chosen instrument from your phone. This is often a great thing to do on release day to increase interest in your song. Create a buzz around your track by playing it live to your followers, chatting with them live, answering questions and just hanging out.
Influencers
You could also try and set up collaborations with influencers. Join their live streams, get featured on their stories or get them to post about you. Some will charge for this, but if you start up a genuine friendship with them it will be friends helping friends!
Collaborate with other musicians
Join their ‘lives’, share their stories and do videos with them to help cross-promote music.
Try prize giveaways
Offer a private live stream, write a song for someone, or even record a special version of your new single for super fans.
There is no doubt that Instagram really is a great platform to promote music on, and there are many free and easy ways to promote your music on Instagram. Follow our website posts for more tips about how to promote your music on Instagram and other great insights to help with your music promotion.
Not a member? Why not… You can sign up now for free!
SHARE THIS ARTICLE:
