ByWith the invention of social media comes the rise of influencers. These content creators have worked hard to build a large number of dedicated followers on their respective platforms. Brands (and bands) work with these influencers to promote themselves to more people on the internet.
Influencers are a powerful way to share your music with a wider audience. In 2023, influencer marketing has grown into a $21.1 billion industry!
Here are five ways to use influencer marketing to promote your band. And if you do it right, who knows? You might even go viral!
Table of Contents
Create share-worthy content
Influencers didn’t grow their followings with sub-par content. They need to keep the quality to a maximum. And if they’re going to work with your band, you need to have content that’s worth sharing on their platform.
Your songs are already amazing, obviously! But it’s important to make sure your recording quality is impeccable and ready to share on social media and other digital platforms. If the recording doesn’t sound good, it doesn’t matter how well written the song is!
Music is more than just the songs. Your album artwork is another opportunity to create share-worthy content that influencers will eat up. A good album cover can help you go viral just like a good song!
Since you’re busy with music and band practices, it always helps to use album cover templates to get started. Simply choose a template that best fits your band’s style, customize the information, and you’re ready to share your eye-catching design with everyone on the internet!
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Choose the right platform
When it comes to any type of social media marketing, the platform makes all the difference! Each social media platform caters to a different demographic, and you want to find an influencer on a specific platform to fit your ideal audience.
For example, TikTok’s main demographic is younger people between 18 and 24, while Facebook’s main demographic is a bit older, between 25 and 30. If your band wants to get in with the younger crowd, it might make more sense to focus on finding a TikTok influencer.
Do your research to choose a social media platform that fits your ideal listeners. And of course, there’s no rule that says you have to limit yourself to one platform. You’re welcome to promote your band on multiple platforms. Just be aware that many influencers specialize in certain platforms over others. If you want to promote your band across platforms, you might need to work with multiple influencers.
Find an influencer in your niche
Just like you want to pick a platform based on your ideal demo, you also want to choose an influencer that fits your band’s style and sound. Naturally, an influencer who’s an expert on jazz likely wouldn’t be the best to promote your latest metal album.
Head over to your chosen social media platform and start looking for influencers who match your niche (or in musical terms, genre). The ideal influencer for a band will likely have:
- At least 10k followers
- Familiar with your genre
- Has high engagement with followers
In the influencer world, the more followers they have, the more expensive they’re going to be. That’s why around 10k followers is the ideal for most bands. They still have a decent following, but they’ll still likely fit your budget.
You also want an influencer who’s familiar with your genre, preferably an expert. They’ll be able to speak intelligently about your music and create better content to promote your band.
Finally, you want an influencer who regularly engages with their followers (and vice versa). Someone might have 100k followers, but if nobody ever comments or likes their content, will that really help you gain exposure? Look at the likes and comments on their posts to make sure there’s a healthy back-and-forth between the influencer and their followers.
If the stars align and you find an influencer who meets your marketing requirements, add them to your list. Once you have a few influencers on your chosen platform(s), it’s time to start reaching out!
Start pitching!
Influencers won’t just start promoting your band for nothing. Like any business partnership, it needs to be mutually beneficial for everyone. Write a short pitch explaining why an influencer should work with your band.
You want to keep your pitch succinct, but don’t leave out anything important. Mention at least the following information:
- Background info about your band
- General benefits of working with your band (could be anything, but it’s typically monetary payment)
- Be specific with what you want (videos, mentions, guest appearances on channel, etc.)
- Links to your content and social channels (or files, if using email)
If the influencer likes your pitch, they’ll accept! Then, you’ll be able to work together to come up with a promotional campaign for your band.
Track your results
Just because you find an influencer and your campaign is off the ground doesn’t mean that you’re finished with the process. It’s absolutely essential to track the results to make sure your influencer marketing campaign is actually working.
Before launching your influencer campaign, identify ways to track some of the most important key performance metrics (KPI) to determine success:
- Overall conversions
- Referral traffic
- Reach and awareness
- Audience growth
- Engagement
For example, if you start working with an influencer and don’t see a single rise in your band’s social media follower numbers or album sales (if that’s what you’re going for), is that relationship really mutually beneficial?
You want your hard-earned money to be spent wisely. Tracking the results of your influencer marketing campaign is the only way to determine if your efforts are actually worth it. If you don’t pay attention, you’ll never know!
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Harness the power of influencer marketing
Social media influencers have a big influence on their followers. That’s how they got the name! Why not tap into that influence to promote your band to a new generation of fans?
Influencer marketing can be incredibly effective for promoting new music on the internet. However, it’s not as easy as reaching out and hoping for the best. If you want to promote your band with influencer marketing effectively, create high-quality and share-worthy content, choose the right platform based on your ideal audience demographics, find influencers in your niche, write a killer pitch, and track your results to determine success.
If you do everything right, you’ll be able to “influence” a lot more people to listen to your music! Your band might even become the next internet sensation.