I often come across artists who want to increase their following and presence on Spotify and other platforms. We’ve loads of great tips and advice on how to make the best of each platform, and this post focuses on Spotify. Until you get enough of a following you are limited from making the most of what Spotify offers for an artist to gain ‘credibility’ and more opportunities for reaching their perfect audience. If that is one of your promotional strategies, it can be frustrating as you want to get to the next level, particularly if your artist page has already been set up and – crickets. Am I right? Can I get a witness? Here at Female MusicPreneur, we’re not solely reliant on platforms and their strict criteria to help us make a living from our own music. We focus on actions that enable musicians to improve results right away and control their careers.
With that in mind, I’ve put together these 5 tips taken from the social media element of the Female MusicPreneur Mega Marketing for Musicians course: http://bit.ly/fmmegamktg1. Among other benefits, these tips can help musicians to make a mark and effectively build a following that cares. I hope these help.
(Kinda) disclaimer: I assume that you’ll have at least a couple of things in place before you attempt any of these ideas:
Firstly, you have a clear definable brand (e.g., definable by website design, language, colours, look, actions, and the way you communicate) across ALL platforms.
Secondly, you have a clear plan and strategy in place to make sure that your efforts will be rewarded. If you know what you want to achieve, how you are going to achieve it, when you aim to achieve it, and how you will know if has been achieved, and what happened exactly whilst trying (did you achieve or did you not? For instance), it’ll be worth your efforts.
Thirdly, these are tips – nothing is guaranteed, but these have all been tested and we know they work, so hopefully you will be able to make one or more work for you.
So here goes:
- Create playlists for your personal and artist accounts containing popular, relevant, or themed music similar to yours. Think about whether your targeted “to be” fans and followers will like it (Tip, ask your existing followers or list what they are listening to on Spotify and PAY ATTENTION to the responses!); slip one or two of yours into the mix – be sure that your song blends in; share the playlist. When sharing the playlist on your social media pages, mention and hashtag the better known artists in it. If it’s enjoyable to your listeners (targeted “to be” followers), they may share, like it etc. and your music will be found organically. Extra tip no. 1- you could perhaps create a playlist periodically and get people’s interests piqued for the next one. Listeners love that stuff! Extra tip no. 2 – Blog about it. And there’s some more extra goodness! Spotify recently wrote about how to get playlisted with Spotify itself here: Spotify Playlist Article . The Spotify article also mentions the additional benefits of promoting your music and helping to get new fans using metadata. Something I talk about the benefits of and walk through how to use it correctly to build income and exposure in my #1 bestselling book, music business success guide ‘Music & Money‘.
- Collab with your fans. Encourage your fans to share your playlists and make sure you show them love for doing so – perhaps a listener of the month or fan of the month thank you to [insert fan/follower/listener’s name] for sharing this playlist featuring [insert better known or other artists’ names] – just reward them appropriately! Such shares are golden as they should help to garner new followers who are interested in what you do organically. Ask fans to help you to create a playlist do it together. Yes! Collab with your fans. Why? You love them and you get to work with them to spread music love. They will share it because they had something to do with it. Everyone is happy. Nothing beats a good collab! Speaking of which…
- Create a playlist with another artist or band. Work out a promotional strategy together. Share. Think about the music you are using – you could be creative with the type of playlist you make. You could both create content such as a blog about why you chose the specific songs. You can both target your audiences and expand your reach.
- Make a cover and release on Spotify. Maybe make more than one. Just be strategic. Promote the beep out of it and be sure to align it with your sound and style – make it your own. If you’re looking for sustainability and to solidify your brand, think about stepping outside of your genre. Doing so has its pros and cons, but they aren’t discussed in this post, just think carefully about using this approach.
- Create links for your playlist and link back to your Spotify account. Add your Spotify profile, playlist link or URI, button, embed code, etc., in prominent places – top, middle, and bottom of your newsletter and on your website. Basically, wherever you have a web presence. Just ensure that it is not haphazardly placed everywhere. Always keep it classy! Link to your Spotify page – make it your main URL on your social network pages or include in your bio to make a clickable link (where possible). This could be risky as this may affect direct links to your hub (actual website or online space of your very own) for a limited time, but if you really want to attract Spotify followers for a set amount of time and you have a grow your Spotify follower strategy, consider changing your URL to your Spotify one until a set point.
Important extra tips:
- Shrink your Spotify URL into a tiny URL – bit.ly or ow.ly, for example – and use it to track effectiveness of your approaches periodically (during your set time frame) to see if it’s working. Analyse what’s working. Tweak your approach to improve your results.
- It’s best to build followers from people who actually will listen to and buy your music – assuming that is your aim! Otherwise, trying to get any old follower for the sake of numbers is a waste of your time and energy.
- Don’t stop promoting your playlist! Music is forever and a good list will never go out of date. This means repurposing usage of the playlist for future promotions, blog posts, interviews and more (as long as Spotify is going, that is). Bear in mind though, please, please, please do not spam people with “listen to my playlist!” or the like. Just. NO!
If utilised correctly you should be better able to build your Spotify followers, benefit from that presence with Spotify and your other goals, and use the opportunities that arise to boost your income from Spotify and your other channels.
I hope that helps. Leave a comment and let me know if you’ve tried any of these, or if you are willing to. Do share the love. Share this post so that others can read about these tips too. Ta!
Danelle x
Sign up to the Female MusicPreneur free mini course for insights, tips, and creative ways to boost your bottom line. Happy Spotifying! 😉