How to Instagram Your Music to Success
It’s become increasingly easy for artist’s today to reach and attract fans both far and near. Thanks to social media, you can put your music in front of hundreds of people without leaving your house. Instagram has cemented itself as one of the more popular social media platforms among music artists, and for good reason. With over 800 million active users, Instagram serves as a sort of underground A&R tool, allowing the people to choose their champ directly. If worked correctly you can see success through the platform long before you start to see it anywhere else. Here’s a few tips on how you can do so.
Instagram Like An Instagrammer
We live in an era where there are professional Instagrammers. That’s right. There are people who get paid to post on Instagram, whether it be their own content or ads for someone else. They’re not usually your regular schmegular, run-of-the-mill Instagram user, but niche influencers who have mastered the platform and learned to use it in ways that most people wouldn’t even comprehend. You should be studying these influencers and learning some of the tricks they use, and then applying it towards your own marketing purposes. Create a content schedule. Learn about engagement groups and power likes. Figure out what combination of hashtags works best for your music posts. Study it all, and then figure out how you can apply it towards growing your brand and following.
Get Your Music On Influencer Pages
Speaking of influencers, I personally believe that music artists grossly undervalue the amount of reach they have through these influencer pages on Instagram. I’m sure you’d love to wake up one day and see your music posted on DJ Akademiks or The Shade Room, but the fact of the matter is there are literally hundreds of pages on Instagram that would post and promote your music. These pages have built followings posting content like yours, and they’re usually pretty easy to get in contact with. Shoot them a DM and get the ball rolling. I would recommend finding pages that support artists that are similar in style to you, or who have the type of fans that you’re trying to get in front of. Either way, find a page and utilize their audience. Or…
Create a Niche Page
If you have the time and patience to do so, I would recommend creating your own music niche page. Use it to post about other artists you genuinely enjoy and then push those fans towards your own music. This could be as simple as putting a link to your song or video in the bio, or posting your own content onto the page. You could choose to run it anonymously, or let your followers know who’s behind it. I’ve seen it work both ways. Just don’t go overboard with the self promotion or you run the risk of annoying your followers away.
Run Ads
Instagram’s ad system is one of the best there is, and it’s definitely a tool you should be using. Not only for the flexibility it brings, but for the bang you get for your buck. You can reach hundreds of potential fans for the same cost as a Mcdouble, and that’s insane. Even better, you can set the ad to reach people based on geographic location, interests, age, gender, and so on. Run test ads for small amounts to get a feel for it. Once you do, go full force with one for your next release and watch how it works for you.
So to recap:
- Use Instagram like a professional Instagrammer.
- Reach out to niche music influencer pages to spread your music.
- Think about creating your own niche page.
- Learn to use Instagram’s ad system.
Jacorey Barkley is a freelance Digital Music Marketer based in Atlanta. He specializes in getting music heard using Spotify, Instagram, and YouTube. You can reach him on Instagram @kohreydasavior
