TikTok is an excellent social media platform to share and promote your music. Your song can go viral on TikTok really fast.
Unlike other social media platforms, TikTok’s algorithm doesn’t depend on the follower count. It ranks videos based on their engagement level. TikTok also allows users to use that same song when making their own videos. And this is what makes TikTok music promotion so interesting for music artists. If a video inspires one viewer, then there is a good chance that it will inspire others to create videos with the same audio clip.
For You Page is the main TikTok feed, which is formed based on TikTok’s recommendation engine. So if your song officially distributed is used in one of the videos that appear on someone’s For You Page, then that video will inspire these TikTok users to make their own clip as well.
So thanks to this TikTok algorithm and the effective music marketing strategy, your track can gain more exposure and go viral in a blink of an eye.
In this guide, you will learn how to promote music on TikTok to grow your fan base and all of the secrets of TikTok’s success in the diverse music industry.
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Use hashtags
Music promotion on TikTok is a creative process. Creative and unique hashtags are a popular TikTok trend in modern digital culture. Hashtags can boost your chances of getting your music discovered quickly. You can use general ones or something specific to your content.
The Discover tab can give you insights on current popular hashtags other active users are using on the TikTok app. So check it out if you don’t know what you should include in your post.
Create challenges with your song
TikTok challenges tend to go viral when they are entertaining and can be done in various ways. Encourage your followers and fans to participate in your TikTok challenge or contests specific to your music marketing landscape.
On TikTok, 15-second short video format works best. So you should study your track and find several 15-second clips with the most viral potential (like the funniest video, for example). Make sure that your TikTok moment connects with the theme of your challenges, whether through the track or lyrics to guarantee the viral success of your audio clip.
Since videos tend to go viral very fast on the TikTok platform, there’s a good chance that your challenge will become popular on other platforms as well. But make sure that your track is TikTok-friendly. After all, you should give people a chance to put their own twist on the trend you have started.
Popular challenges on the platform usually involve lip-syncing, dance routines, original dance, comedy memes, and costumes. But you can’t expect your video to go viral overnight. You should be proactive in your viral marketing strategy if you want to get results from your TikTok campaign. For example, you could work with a famous influencer to promote the contest or challenge.
If you are running a contest, then you could offer exciting prizes for the winner. It could be a free gig ticket, cash reward, or signed merch.
Collaborate with popular influencers
Find TikTok influencers who might like your music based on the user’s interest profiles and collaborate with them. By working with famous TikTokers, you can reach the TikTok target audience and attract potential fans to your TikTok account.
To do this, you can either do it by yourself or go through channels that can reach out to them for you.
For example, many well-known brands are leveraging the TikTok Creators marketplace, which is a platform connecting brands with influencers (popular TikTok creators).
At SoundCampaign we are also providing artists an opportunity to pick the ideal TikTok influencer they want to collaborate with. We work with thousands of artists helping them become viral and attract a massive audience on the platform through promotion of their music on TikTok.
To take advantage of our large connection base, you first want to look for a few well-chosen influencers who are already interested in music that is similar to yours, such as the genre. That way, you have something in common and will increase your chance of them liking you.
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Post related videos
We already know that popular TikTok influencers can help promote your song to their followers and fans. However, you don’t always need to depend on other people to promote TikTok content on this social media. You can start by creating your own profile on the platform and posting videos that feature your music on your artist’s official TikTok account.
Don’t forget to ask your family, friends, and followers from other social media platforms (like Youtube users that follow you) or other artists to share your videos as well. This will create a chain and help you go viral.
Just make sure that you create content that is unique and actually good. If it’s not worth sharing, then it won’t go viral.
There are various ways of promoting music on TikTok to experience TikTok’s viral nature. For instance, you can post a funny video on your TikTok channel. But make sure that it’s related to your music style. Even if the single video uploaded by you goes viral, you would still be known as an artist or musician. As other active users will then be encouraged to check out your profile and other music you might have.
Use TikTok’s Spotlight program
The platform’s Spotlight program allows musicians to upload their own songs on a dedicated music channel. Spotlight showcases a feed of user-generated content and once music artists upload their song, it becomes available to other active TikTok users.
The TikTok algorithm behind the Spotlight’s program is aimed at helping independent and unsigned musicians gain more exposure among other users.
Use TikTok Pro Analytics
TikTok launched its own analytics dashboard that allows music creators to track their videos and profile views, audience demographics, follower dynamics and TikTok’s active audience grew. Not all songs and not all dances are equal in terms of engagement and success. And TikTok Pro also allows music artists to gain valuable insights on their content to determine which of their videos work best.
It offers three main views – Content Insights, Follower Insights, and Profile Overview.
- Content Insights shows detailed insights on all videos, including the total number of shares, likes, and comments that each video gets.
- Follower Insights shows the audience a breakdown by followers’ activity, territory, gender, and evolution graphs.
- Profile Overview shows the total number of profile views, follower evolution, and video views.
Which Track Should You Promote on TikTok?
From lip-syncing videos to dance tutorials, cute animals, pranks, and science experiments, there’s something for every TikTok user to enjoy on this video-sharing app.
But as mentioned earlier, your track should be TikTok-friendly. Remember, not all kinds of music thrive on the platform because it needs to give people something to lip-sync to or develop content around.
Popular songs on TikTok tend to have catchy unforgettable lyrics as well. So listen to your tracks in full while reading the lyrics. Then play the tracks in 15-second clips to find melodies or lyrics that complement TikTok’s content and theme.
Photo by Vlad Bagacian.
Final Thoughts
TikTok has already changed the landscape of the music industry, allowing new unknown artists to make headlines and enter the music business without much effort. So TikTok is one of the most exciting ways to promote your music. Major music labels are also moving quickly to sign artists with tracks that perform well on this streaming platform.
So start enforcing these tips straight away, and watch as your music gets the exposure it needs to go viral!
Don’t forget to share your new music across other platforms, like Apple Music, Youtube, Soundcloud, etc. This is a great way to boost your TikTok music promotion campaign, reach more people with your content and finally make a buzz in the music industry. It only takes a few clicks to share your TikTok videos on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, other social media platforms, and streaming platforms.
For example, Spotify is also a great place to promote your music. You can easily aim for a placement on Spotify’s Release Radar playlist which is the most popular music playlist on the platform. To do this, you need to use the most effective methods to get on Release Radar. You have two options – do it on your own, or entrust it to the pros. That’s what we do for music artists at SoundCampaign. You can submit your song to us, and then we will send it to independent playlist curators so that they can review your track for playlist consideration.
That way, not only can you focus on creating great music for platforms such as TikTok, but we can do the part of connecting you to more listeners on others like Spotify!
by artists for artists