TikTok for Musicians: How to Promote Your Music and Go Viral

TikTok is revolutionizing the music industry, giving even unknown artists a chance to go viral and reach a global audience. Let’s discover some effective strategies about TikTok for musicians to create viral content and boost your musical career on TikTok!

Why is TikTok Powerful for Musicians?

TikTok works more effectively for musicians than just boosting their product; below are some great benefits they offer.

Affordable Marketing

TikTok stands out because it does not require much to create content. This character allows unknown artists to market their music with little or even no money. The app promotes diversity for beginners by featuring filters, effects, and snippets that boost creativity, producing influential content that can become trending on social media.

TikTok also prioritizes discoverability in its algorithm, therefore, even upcoming artists are exposed to a large number of users at once. The accessibility and spread of content generation have completely transformed the music industry by providing beginner musicians with a powerful platform to present their music and build a following at the lowest cost possible.

Direct Fan Engagement

TikTok allows musicians to interact with their audience directly through comments, duets, and live performances. This connection develops a strong sense of community and loyalty among fans, encouraging them to share and promote the musician’s work organically. These features make TikTok a vital platform for musicians wishing to grow their reach while interacting with fans creatively.

Viral Potential with Short-Form Content

Another significant advantage of TikTok for music artists is its viral potential. TikTok’s algorithm is designed to promote engaging content, allowing musicians to go viral quickly with just a catchy snippet of their music. This means your content can be shared quickly with a larger audience without the requirement for a full-length music video.

The platform also allows musicians to test new material and ideas, and if viewers like them, these snippets can quickly gain popularity and reach a global audience, delivering unprecedented exposure.

Discoverability Through Trends and Challenges

Musicians can completely boost their visibility by joining or creating trending challenges and hashtags. This discoverability function lets musicians tap into TikTok’s massive user base, reaching new listeners who might not have discovered their music otherwise.

Best TikTok Ad Types for Music Artists

The “best” TikTok ad types for your campaign will change depending on your goals, target market, and content plan. With TikTok for musicians, Mega Digital recommends using these TikTok ad types to boost your channel:

TikTok In-Feed Ads (Most recommended)

TikTok In-feed ads appear as part of the user’s feed and are similar to regular TikTok videos. They can be up to 60 seconds long, but shorter videos (15-30 seconds) often perform better. Costs for in-feed ads typically start at around $10 per CPM (cost per thousand impressions), making them accessible for smaller budgets. This ad type is ideal for all artists, especially those who have a small budget.

Top Feed TikTok

Top Feed TikTok appears when users first open the app, offering high visibility. A single brand takeover can cost between $50,000 to $100,000 per day, but it guarantees massive reach, so it’s most suitable when you release your music.

Branded Hashtag Challenges 

Promoted hashtag challenges encourage user participation and can create viral trends with your songs. These campaigns usually start at $150,000 for a 6-day promotion but can generate millions of engagements and views. If you want your music to go viral quickly, it’s worth a try!

Cost to Run TikTok Ads for Musicians 

To effectively boost your TikTok for music artist account and expand your fan base, it’s essential to understand the costs related to running TikTok ads.

When planning your ad budget, consider the type and frequency of ads, as monthly budgets can range from $1,000 to over $50,000, allowing for flexibility based on your campaign goals.

For your first TikTok ad campaign, you should start with a clear objective and allocate a minimum budget of $1,000 for the first month, focusing primarily on cost-effective in-feed ads. If your budget is more substantial and your campaign goals are broader, consider investing in TopView ads. Besides, setting aside a portion of your budget for Branded Hashtag Challenges or Branded Effects can enhance user engagement and participation.

Once you’ve gathered data and insights from your initial campaigns, gradually increase your budget to ensure a consistent and strategic approach that builds recognition and fosters engagement with your music. 

>>> Read more: TikTok Ads Cost: How Much Should You Budget for Your Campaigns?

4 Tips To Boost TikTok for Musicians

Below are 4 tips that Mega Digital suggests to boost TikTok for musicians and make your music go viral!

1. Produce Engaging Content

The key to success on TikTok is creating engaging content, including videos that highlight your music and talents. You can share clips of live performances, behind-the-scenes footage of your recording sessions, or even short tutorials on how you create your music to interact with your fans. 

To make your video more interesting and visually appealing, use TikTok’s effects, filters, and music snippets to make your videos more engaging. Besides, don’t forget to produce and post your videos regularly with a fixed timeline and interact with your audience by responding to comments to increase engagement with your audience.

2. Create a TikTok Challenge with Your Music

TikTok music helps create viral challenges. To start an attractive challenge, make sure it is entertaining and easy to understand. Your first video should describe the challenge and its rules. Here are some forms of challenges that work well for music artists:

• Dance Challenges: Create a simple and catchy dance tutorial for a part of your song and show it in your video, then encourage others to copy it.
• Lip Sync Challenges: Invite your followers to lip-sync to a viral part of your song like the chorus. This is a great way for people to engage with your music in a fun and personal way.
• Cover Challenges: Encourage your audience to perform their own versions or covers of your song. This challenge can create different versions of your song and reach more audiences.
• Creative Challenges: Encourage fans to create any type of content (e.g., art, skits, or fashion) inspired by your music. This challenge invites your fans to engage with your music in more diverse ways than just listening.
• Duet Challenges: Duet with your fans is also an interesting way to boost interaction. You can post a video where you sing or play half of a song, and invite your followers to complete the duet with their own performances. 

Once you’ve completed your challenge, it’s time to promote it. Whatever the challenge you choose is, to get it started, pick a catchy 15-second excerpt from your song and perform the challenge yourself. Then, encourage your friends, family, and fans to participate and share their videos. A good ten videos can start the trend, increasing visibility and participation.

3. Select the Right Hashtag 

Hashtags help to group videos on TikTok and show them to people who are interested in that type of content. For artists, there are some common hashtags such as the #fyp hashtag, the #musicians hashtag, the #band hashtag, etc. 

Besides the common and basic hashtags, using trending and memorable hashtags is crucial for increasing the visibility of your videos. Use a mix of these hashtags in every post to maximize your reach. You need to research popular and trending hashtags related to music and your specific genre and combine them with more niche hashtags that describe your content.

For example, if you’re a pop artist, you might use #PopMusic or #NewMusic and create the hashtags of your song’s name to make it viral and easy to remember. 

However, the trending hashtags on TikTok change daily, or even hourly, so do your research as to what tag is most popular to add to your caption before posting! And, for every 3-4 music or content-related hashtags you use, try to put one trending hashtag relevant to your video.

4. Use TikTok Ads

To optimize your TikTok ad campaign, you should focus on creating engaging content and interacting with users. Additionally, partnering with a reputable agency like Mega Digital can help you execute an effective advertising strategy, target the right audience, and maximize your budget for the best results.

Success Stories of Tiktok for Musicians  

Despite its playful vibe, it’s hard not to take TikTok seriously since it has become a launchpad for many music artists, turning viral moments into mainstream success. Let’s have a look at some cases we found gained global fame thanks to TikTok

Lil Nas X: TikTok’s Breakout Star

When thinking of artists who skyrocketed to fame thanks to TikTok, we can’t skip Lil Nas X. Back in 2018, he was just another user sharing fun videos until he dropped a snippet of his song “Old Town Road” with the “Yeehaw Challenge.” That video quickly caught on and turned “Old Town Road” into a huge TikTok hit.

The catchy chorus and unique blend of country and trap music sparked a dance challenge that spread like wildfire. TikTok users, from teenagers to celebrities, embraced the #OldTownRoadChallenge, catapulting the song and Lil Nas X into the spotlight.

By early 2019, “Old Town Road” hit the top of the Billboard Hot 100 Chart and stayed there for an amazing 19 weeks. It was a major win for TikTok, showing just how powerful the platform can be in turning a viral trend into mainstream success.

Tyla: From Viral Trend to Chart Success

South African singer Tyla became globally famous with her song “Water,” which went viral on TikTok thanks to a dance challenge she created. The choreography, featuring belly dancing and twerking, quickly attracted users worldwide, including her fans and many other celebs. The #TylaWaterChallenge inspired over 500,000 videos and got more than 450 million views on TikTok.

The viral effect made “Water” to #21 on Billboard’s Hot 100, making Tyla the youngest South African artist in 55 years to achieve this feat.

Doja Cat: Using Memes to Drive Song Popularity

Doja Cat’s hit song “Say So” exploded on TikTok, thanks to a dance challenge that went viral. The catchy dance quickly became a meme, spreading across the platform. People around the world joined in, leading to millions of views and a surge in the song’s popularity.

The viral buzz on TikTok rapidly came into real-world success for “Say So.” The song climbed the Billboard charts, eventually hitting number one. This success highlighted how TikTok can turn a catchy song into a major hit.

Wrap-up

There are millions of songs released on TikTok every day. By creating engaging content, starting fun challenges, using the right hashtags, and using TikTok ads, you can significantly grow your fanbase. Dive in, get creative, and let your music shine!