How to Promote Music on Twitter in 2020 as a Musician

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Originally Posted On: How to Promote Music on Twitter in 2020 as a Musician – Big Time Musicians

In today’s digital world, social media is without a doubt the most effective way to promote your music and increase your reach to generate new listeners. Of all the social media platforms, Twitter is perhaps most famous for the ability to generate a quick buzz about virtually any topic in a short space of time. As a musician, this can of course be used to your advantage.

Here is a quick guide on how to promote your music on Twitter:

In 2018, Twitter increased its character limit from 140 to 280. This important change gives you the ability to say more about your music rather than simply just providing a song link. You now have the opportunity to engage your audience in a more intimate way by turning your tweets into ‘mini-posts’ rather than just a brief sentence. Make the most of this by using hashtags related to your genre of music or tagging similar artists so that users can type these into the search bar to help them discover you! Generate a hype around your material by being descriptive about it. Don’t just post your music, say something about it and tell your audience what it really means to you. Longer tweets give you the chance to tell the world more about the music that you are making, so make the most of it with these simple steps.

Make each tweet stand out by using captivating words to attract an audience. The key to this is verbs, verbs, verbs! Emotion is important, as well as description. The secret to an effective music marketing strategy on twitter is to give your tweets their own unique sound through descriptive words and really make that character limit count. This doesn’t just have to apply to your tweets, either, but can apply to your entire twitter ‘brand’. Give yourself an interesting bio, this is one of the first things that your audience will read when they see your profile and decide to engage with your tweets so make it descriptive, witty and memorable, brand your profile, get creative and really try to make yourself stand out from the crowd. Take inspiration from artists who you admire – look how they word their tweets and the information in their bio.

One of the smartest ways to promote your material on Twitter is to tweet at a time when there is high traffic and a greater amount of users on the site. As twitter is an app generally accessed by smartphone as well as desktop computers, research suggests that generally after 2 pm Twitter traffic increases because users get free time to sneak onto the platform. However, in 2020 with so many people now working from home, it is even more likely that most people have their smartphones with them at all times – giving them 24 hour access to the app and more opportunities to be online during the day. By keeping a regular schedule for your tweets at the time when most people are more likely to be online, you will find that you get more engagement with your material and attract a higher number of viewers and listeners.

Instead of tweeting important music updates on working days, tweet on weekends instead. You might find that you get little engagement posting an update on Wednesday morning compared to Saturday afternoon. The reason for this is pretty simple, traffic for all social media during the weekends, as expected, is fairly high. People are more likely to use their downtime from working to engage creatively with their social media accounts, making the best time to tweet any time from Thursday to Sunday.

Engage with others and make friends with similar musicians and artists. The easiest way to get more people to retweet or share your material is to be polite, make friends and simply ask them. By engaging with other creators, you increase the chance of being noticed and gaining new followers, plus you can get support and advice from your fellow peers. Furthermore, it takes very little effort to like or retweet someone else’s material and if you are open to the idea of sharing the work of others, it is likely that they will return the favour which can be especially helpful if you are just starting out and you find that they have a bigger following than you do.

If you want more people engage with the material you are creating and to see your tweet, then try to spread as much as you can during the first hour. It increases the likelihood of your tweet reaching a large audience. You can do this by using the instantaneous nature of Twitter to your advantage, by creating a hype or ‘buzz’ around your work. For example, if you have just released a new song or music video you can ask friends or family to retweet to get as many people to notice as possible. Twitter now includes a ‘paid’ feature where you can ‘quick promote’ your tweet, to make sure it appears on people’s timelines even if they don’t follow you or have never heard of you before. This is an excellent tool that you can use to get yourself noticed and distinguish yourself from the masses, and you can select your budget.

Whenever you add your music link in a tweet, always add it in the beginning. Research has shown that such tweets perform a lot better because people are more likely to click on the link if it is the first thing they see. This means more visits to your material which in turn will generate more listeners and therefore more fans of you and your work. Also, if you really believe that something is worth sharing, then don’t just share it once. Your music is important, so you can link your video or song in several different tweets (making sure to space these a few days apart) and find new and creative things to say about it! Use hashtags and descriptive words to promote it and help people to discover your talent.

Your following might currently be small, but if you follow these tips then it will surely grow! It is therefore important to keep your account professional and work related and whilst it is fun to engage with your audience, it is imperative that you do not tweet anything offensive or that you might later be ashamed of. There have been no shortage of news stories written about embarrassing tweets from celebrities resurfacing years after they were posted. Don’t let this be you! Separate your personal account from your work account if necessary and remember everything that you tweet is public and part of your image.

Nobody likes logging into Twitter and seeing the same account clogging up their timeline with spam by repeating the same things or posting the same link several times every single day. It is important to keep your vibe fresh, new and exciting by being authentic and showing the world the real you. Make sure that you don’t simply ‘autopost’ your song to all of your social media accounts with the same caption, as people may follow you on several different platforms and they will want to see variety. People enjoy receiving a unique experience, and so although you may use your Twitter account alongside your Instagram and Facebook account to promote your new song collectively, remember to utilise each platform’s unique benefits and cater your promotion to the style of the posts on each website. For example, whilst Instagram might be great to promote a clip of your new music video, it isn’t really the best place to start a group conversation about your material like Twitter is. Take advantage of the ability to seek out others’ opinions on your work, and engage with your listeners – ask questions and answer the ones that you receive.

Be proud of the music you are making, it is unique to you! This is a key selling point and although there may be influences and inspirations and similar artists, at the end of the day nobody is better equipped to promote your music than you. Be your own biggest fan. It can be hard at times to have confidence, especially when you are just starting out as a musician, but have faith in your abilities and talents and use this kind of language in your tweets. Talk about your own music as you would your biggest idol. If you like the music you are making and you are passionate about it then it is only natural that other people will be too, and there is no better social media platform to capture the attention of others than on Twitter.

Good luck!