Using TikTok for marketing – how to grow on TikTok as a musician (video)
Image Credit: TikTok
This video from TikTok for Business has advice from Francis Bourgeois and Lady Leshur on how to promote music on TikTok and grow your brand.
Are you an artist looking for ideas for how to use TikTok to promote music? TikTok has released a helpful “Tokumentary” for anyone looking to market themselves on TikTok,. The focus may be creators working with businesses in an influencer-style way, but there’s some interesting takeaways for independent music artists.
Essentially, if you’re serious about your music, you should be thinking of yourself as a business – whether you’re in a band, a solo artist, or a producer making beats and mixing other people’s songs. Social media is a free marketing resource for everyone, and that means you need to put some thought into strategy.
Things run a little different on TikTok. Let’s see what Francis Bourgeois, Lady Leshur and Dannero had to say about how to grow your TikTok account and your music brand. Check out the video and find our summary of the key points below.
What TikTok should I make?
Be yourself! Everyone agrees that TikTok users love authenticity. Uniqueness is something Lady Leshur points out as being vital for success on TikTok.
Don’t overthink it, basically. It might take you a while to get into that mindset, but eventually you won’t feel self-conscious at all.
There’s a reason rival company Meta are chasing the success of TikTok and steering Instagram away from the polished filtered posts of old towards the wacky creativity of TikTok. The platform has no boundaries to what can be successful on the app. So be weird – TikTok is so huge, you’ll find an audience somewhere.
Using music on TikTok is the app’s driving force
As pointed out in the video, TikTok is a “Sound-on” platform, and music drives everything. An appropriate song sets the mood of short videos on the app, complimenting the content, and in many cases being the main feature of the clip.
Lady Leshur suggests that being active on TikTok as an artist has changed her creative approach to making music, always aware that words and actions have the potential to go viral. And Eurovision runner-up Sam Ryder is an example of an artist who achieved celebrity through a mixture of organic success and determined promotional drive.
The algorithm appreciates music, too. Adding audio gives a 16% lift in impressions. And if you upload your songs to TikTok with a distributor like RouteNote, you can make money every time your track is used in a new video on the app.
TikTok is a place where artists can watch their songs be interpreted in new ways by creators, and you never know which way it will go. That’s something you have to embrace. Your music could inspire a global dance craze!
Say yes to TikTok collaborations
Connect with other musicians and brands on TikTok if given the chance. You never know what doors it may open.
But always try and stay true to your own music brand. Otherwise freshness will be lost, and freshness is the thing that makes a TikTok a TikTok.
If you get the chance to work with a business, don’t forget its your music they’re using. Take control of it. That’s something we’re passionate about here at RouteNote, helping independent musicians take charge of their own destiny.
Don’t copy on TikTok
TikTok loves lyrics. Simple, nursery rhyme-inspired songs with easy-to-remember chantable lyrics – like “abcdefu” by GAYLE – are one trend that originated on TikTok.
Beware though – TikTok users know when a creator is jumping on a bandwagon, so try not to cynically craft a song to fit a trend. Try and be inspired by those sorts of trends with sideways thinking. What else could you do instead that’s similar?
As previously noted, content that seems spontaneous and unrehearsed is rewarded with success on TikTok. It’s good to have some connection to your music, like performing covers of your songs, using your own tracks in your posts, and having a link to your latest release in your bio.
But not everything needs to be a promotional TikTok post. If users enjoy your content, they’ll automatically go to find out more about you.
How to make TikTok transitions work for you
Videos that do well on TikTok embrace the hyperactivity of the platform. Static shots have little place on TikTok – instead, clever, snappy transitions have become an art form.
Transitions are where you jump between scenes, changing clothes or location. Try different techniques for your videos to keep your content fresh. Think supercuts, montages and livestreams.