Independent artists’ guide to influencer marketing

Whatever platform you may be using, adopting an influencer marketing strategy can be a highly effective way to expand the reach of your music and connect with fans.

Guest post from Disctopia

Want to expand the reach of your music on social media? There’s a surefire way, and it’s through influencer marketing. Go through your social media timeline; there’s always one form of influencer marketing on display.

It’s either traditional posts, Instagram reels, Facebook stories or even long videos. Influencer marketing has grown beyond just another buzzword; we are talking about an industry projected to grow to $13.8 billion in 2021.

As an indie artist looking for mediums to expand your audience, you would have heard about influencer marketing—an influencer knowledgeable about the industry and commanding large followership.

In independent music or the music industry generally, an influencer can be an established artist, a critic or a content creator. Simply put, influencer marketers are expected to promote, elevate, and review your music in a positive light.

How Can Influencer Music Marketing Boost Your Career?

With their large following, social media influencers inform and shape their follower’s opinions. Your music career can receive a huge boost from a mere shout-out from an influencer marketer as an independent artist.

Here are the most important benefits of an influencer marketer for your indie music career;

1. Create Viral Moments

Viral moments occur when the content can connect us when we all feel disconnected. However, going viral isn’t enough without setting measurable goals.

Thanks to their ability to reach thousands and millions of your target audience, influencers can help bring about virality.

2. Wider Circulation of Your Content

The wish of every indie artist is to be able to reach the unreached, and that’s exactly what influencer marketing is about.

Putting in place an influencer marketing campaign for your music is a sure recipe for creating widely diffused content.

3. Element of Social Proof

While you are good at your craft, you may need the validation of an influencer to prove you are worth your mettle.

To any follower, the fact that a celebrity is sharing your music and talking about you means a lot. They want to join the bandwagon and feel the hottest music right now.

4. Proven To Be Effective

The combination of influencer marketing and music has been proven to be effective. The effectiveness was on display in 2019 when Lanco leveraged sixty lifestyle influencers for their new single, “Rival.”

With about 147 posts, influencer marketing turned the lesser-known Nashville-based country music band into a sensation. The campaign meets its goals by over 2000 percent.

How to Find The Right Influencer For Your Music

Before you settle for any influencer, you need to ensure they have the reach, resonance, and relevance. In terms of reach, we are talking about both quantity and quality. Look at the number of followers across all platforms and the metrics from these platforms.

Another guiding element should be resonance. There are influencers whose half of their followership are bots. Take out time to skim through their followers’ page. Pay attention to the engagement to published content also.

It would help if you also watched out for the relevance of the influencer to your craft. Don’t get carried away by the millions of followers an influencer has; that’s just scratching the surface. You are likely to get better results if the influencer has some contextual fitting into your music.

Lastly, there’s also the question of finding where your target audience hangs out. You need to have this information before hunting for an influencer. Imagine settling for an influence with dominance on Instagram when your target audience is posting all over Facebook.

 5 Top Social Media Platforms For Influencer Music Marketing

While we can find influencers on all social media platforms, not all social media is ideal for music promotion. As part of this guide, we’ll be recommending just five social media where you should be looking for influencers;

1. TikTok

It’s not because of the over 689 million monthly active users or the 15.06 million daily active users. However, TikTok has contributed to the break into the limelight of hundreds of artists. There’s a lot of impacts an influencer with just 5k followers can make, not to take of having 100,000 followers.

2. YouTube

While TikTok can help you go viral in the short term, you can consolidate this exposure with a presence on YouTube backed by an influencer. One area that indie artists are neglecting is the longevity of the content on YouTube.

3. Triller

More like the new kid on the block, but the platform has all you need to have your big break. While it’s similar to TikTok, Triller’s major component is music and videos. It’s still new, but influencers are emerging to help push the message out about your music.

4. Instagram

All thanks to Instagram Stories and Instagram Reels, the photosharing app has become a music promotion powerhouse. Owned by Facebook, there’s a lot of cross-over audiences that can be to your advantage.

5. Snapchat

The list won’t be complete without a mention of Snapchat. Snapchat added new features such as Snapchat Spotlight, and Snapchat Sound has been the game changer from what started as a messaging app.

Final Thoughts

Look around you; the music industry is filled with influencers that can take your career to a new high. Like we’ll always advise at Disctopia, you can’t do it all by yourself. When it comes to music marketing, a time will come in your career when you’ll need a hand.

We hope this Influencer Marketing Guide can help you leap over barriers and limitations in your music career.