As a musician, you may run into trouble getting the word out about your songs or compositions. But, thanks to social media platforms like Instagram, you can promote your music art without an ad agency or agent to back you up. Recent data has shown that over 90% of social media users engage in music-related activities on social media.
These include karaoke, using music as background for funny or inspirational videos, or consuming original music art. You can gain an amazing following and spread the word about your music pieces via Instagram in several creative ways. Let's discuss the content ideas you should try out as a musician on Instagram.
1. Demo Your Music with Short Previews
Though you may post the majority of your music on Soundcloud or TikTok, you can use Instagram to boost your following by demoing your music. Instagram users enjoy short, snappy videos that will capture their attention long enough for them to open your profile page. To do that, you can create 30-second clips and demos of you singing, playing music, or composing new pieces. Don't be afraid to show your face and equipment as well, as Instagram users love seeing genuine people doing their best to reach others.
2. Invite Visual Artists to Submit Pieces Inspired by Your Music
You can create something of an event for everyone following your Instagram page by creating an art submission contest. Ask people to create art inspired by your music, lyrics, or personality, and tell them to submit it via email. Create unique pieces of content with user-generated visuals and pair them with the songs that inspired them. As an incentive, you can offer a discount code or free goodies to the best submissions. This is an amazing way to interact with your audience and even find artists who can work with you full-time if you like their style.
3. Perform Live and Engage Your Audience
Instagram is one of the social media platforms with the benefit of having live-streaming features embedded into it. As a music artist, your content type is perfectly suitable for live-streaming and live interaction with online audiences.
Schedule your live event at least a week in advance to give people some headway on when you will go live. Set yourself up so that you can read live chat messages while performing. Answer follower questions, talk to your audience, and let them know how much you appreciate them being there.
Rebecca Smart Bakken discusses different ways musicians can go live on IG.
4. Take Your Audience Behind the Scenes
Creating music is a little more complicated than "feeling the notes" and creating a perfect song or piece. So, taking your audience behind the scenes and showing them your setup, home studio, or co-workers is a neat idea. This can humanize you in your followers' eyes and demystify music in their eyes.
It might also inspire some to pick up a musical instrument themselves once they see how music is produced.
5. Collaborate with Instagram Musicians and Singers
Social media is ripe with potential for collaborative projects with other people in your niche. For example, like-minded music artists from around the world will gladly work with you to create new compositions and songs with a shared contribution. These pieces can be posted fully on Instagram and credited to all the artists who participated in creating them. This will help all artists touch on each other's follower bases and increase their reach to include a more varied audience. Moreover, agencies may spot how well you work together with other musicians and be inclined to reach out to you.
6. Showcase Your Influences
Everyone has their heroes, and music artists are no different. Who inspired you to start creating music? Was it a famous guitarist, singer, or your parent or sibling?
People love it when their influences share their influences, as it further humanizes them. By sharing who inspired you to become a musician and talking about them, you will gain your followers' trust and support. Moreover, other artists or even brands who share the same inspirations might reach out with collaboration opportunities or sponsorship offers.
7. Post Instrument/Singing Tutorials
Tutorials are an easy way to gain your audience's trust on social media. People who enjoy your music might want to give composing a chance but have no idea where to start. They might even try to play your instrument or sing as you do - what should they do?
Creating catchy tutorials with actionable advice for your fans will work wonders for your engagement on Instagram. You can ask your followers openly about which types of tutorials they'd like you to create next so that you can gauge their interests better.
8. Take Part in Instagram Music Contests
Various music contests are going on around the web, and many of them use social media platforms to keep audiences updated on the latest submissions. Taking part in music contests is a great way for you to show what you can do to the world and reach a much wider audience.
People who follow music contests online are not only fans of music, but also professional critics and music industry decision-makers. You may get a spotlight for one of your songs and attract the attention of a prolific agency or musician willing to work with you. Look for Instagram and internet music contests in your music genre and consider submitting a piece or two.
Making an Instagram Impact as a Music Artist (Conclusion)
Whether you're in a popular band or just starting as an indie musician, Instagram can help kick-start your social media fame. You can reach a global audience, share your music, and spread positive word of mouth about your art with people who enjoy listening to it.
Give these Instagram content ideas a try and see if you can carve out your niche. Your followers will also give you great content tips and ideas, so keep your eyes open your social media music career will blossom.
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