TikTok music promotion – Make your songs go viral

Have you ever wanted to listen to a song because you've previously heard it on TikTok? These new types of media can be really helpful when it comes to music promotion. To gain traction on platforms like Spotify, which is estimated to have over 40 million songs available, marketing really makes a difference. There are some things you can do to differentiate yourself from other artists and get the public’s attention. If you learn how to use them in your favor, you can achieve what's necessary to further your musical career. Streaming services are the most well known way for a musician to sell their music online. Especially if you're an independent artist, gaining listeners on those platforms is essential in order to continue to produce new songs with quality.  Having your tracks on streaming platforms is already a huge step to start making money from it, but that's not all. You also need to make sure people know your music is there. Social networks are a nice tool you can use to reach this goal. If one of your songs goes viral on these platforms, it will assist you to release other potential hit songs. Furthermore, it gives you the space you need in the industry to show your talent and that you're worth listening to.

Role models

A lot of relevant names in the musical scenery nowadays made use of TikTok music promotion to grow artistically. Take Lil Nas X as an example: the rapper had his first hit because of TikTok. His song Old Town Road went viral overnight when a dance challenge to the track was created on the platform. And this wasn't a one time thing. Other musicians also became popular due to their success on the app, like Doja Cat with Say So.  TikTok music promotion is so powerful that it can also revive the fame of older songs. This happened with Potential Breakup Song, by Aly & AJ. Originally released in 2007, the track gained popularity on the app in 2020. The duo even shared an explicit remake of the song after the 2007 version went viral. The new version has over 3 million views on YouTube . On TikTok, the sound has 971.6K videos. In this case, the song became famous because of lip syncing and acting videos. A good amount of them had a Y2K vibe that really matched the song, apart from being a huge trend in social media.

Make good use of what TikTok has to offer

TikTok, as well as Instagram Reels, is a platform that combines music and videos in a creative way. For that reason, using the app is a great opportunity for artists that want to bring more attention to their songs. You can create dance challenges, do lip syncing, transitions and many other types of videos. Don't forget to be authentic: always choose the option you believe goes better with your sound. Your content might catch the attention of viewers and help you start building a fanbase.  You need to understand the strengths of these trendy media platforms and apply them in your content. Both of them, TikTok and Reels, are very visual. So put effort into making your videos visually pleasing and make your sounds match the concept of it. These two factors, video and music, need to complement one another. Think of it as a whole, and not as two separate things. 

Value your followers

Once you learn how these platforms work, it can become a place where your fans will be able to connect and interact with you more directly. TikTok is famous for permitting a closer relationship between the creator and the public. Get your listeners to know you more and identify with you. Make them see that you value them as fans by taking requests and answering their comments. But don't forget that your main objective is to encourage people to listen to your music on streaming services. Use your content to direct them to where all your discography is!

Know your public and get them to know you

Knowing what kind of listeneres and viewers you have is a very important step to define what is the best type of content for you to make. If you can predict what they will like, you can invest more time and effort in this specific niche and catch their attention more easily. Once they see and like the kind of content you produce, they're going to stick around for more. Something that also enhances the chances of getting people interested in your profile is building a stable and consistent persona. People need to recognize you easily and differentiate you from other users. Your persona needs to represent your values and what you want your music to transmit to those who are listening.  It all needs to be in harmony: the content, the visuals, the music and the public. It will give the impression that you know exactly what you want to get known for, and what you want people to feel about your artistry. That's essential for your TikTok music promotion.

Share snippets

It's also a good strategy to use TikTok to build the hype around your future releases. Sharing pre-save links for your songs, for example, is really important. It shows streaming services that people are interested in listening to what you're producing, even before it's available. A lot of beginner artists use TikTok and Reels to encourage people to pre-save their tracks by sharing a snippet of it along with the link. It can raise the public’s curiosity and make them look forward to the day that the music will be out. Choose the best part of your unreleased song and share a teaser with your followers. In the meantime, it can help your profile grow. Many people will listen to the spoiler you gave and visit your page to check if the song is already available on streaming.  This is an efficient way of building expectation around your releases. It also encourages your social media followers to go to your page on streaming services and online stores. There, they'll be able to not only listen to the music they were originally interested in, but check out all your other songs. 

How to beat TikTok's algorithm

When it comes to algorithms, being consistent is key to a good result. TikTok seems to have a preference for users who post frequently: their videos usually get delivered to a wider audience. Focus on a few content strategies, put all them in action and you will start to see the numbers.  Posting more videos is also a good strategy since not all of them will actually make it to your public’s feed. The more videos you have, the bigger are the chances of them going viral. It's better to post too much and make sure other users are receiving your content than posting less and having no one to see it. Study how the algorithm works and prepare TikTok music promotion strategies based on it. This way, people that have the profile you're searching for will receive your content. And they will probably start following you or at least interact with your videos, which is already a big win!

Distribute your music online

To put all these strategies in action, you'll need a trustworthy distribution service like Magroove. We distribute your songs to social networks that have their own audio libraries, such as TikTok, Instagram and Facebook, completely for free. That being done, people can start using your music on their videos, which takes a big part on your success.  With Magroove, your music will be distributed not only on social media. It will also be available on over 40 streaming platforms and online stores, like Spotify, Deezer, Tidal, Amazon Music, Google Play, Apple Music and more. All the main apps that your public may use to listen to their favorite songs. Being available on lots of services is crucial to meet the needs of all your potential fans and consumers.

Keep growing!

As you saw, TikTok music promotion can be done completely for free! All you need is to put effort into producing good content, that you would also like to watch. Keep yourself up to date with the trends and try to incorporate them in your videos. All while mantaining your authenticy, of course!  Planning is very important as well. What is the best strategy you can put in action at the moment? Each one of them will help in a specific way so trace your plan and start working! Combine these platforms and strategies to make yourself relevant in the music industry.