How To Promote Your Music On TikTok (No Dancing Required)

A Quick Glance at TikTok

The numbers don't lie. With over 1 billion users per month and the attention of most teenage social media users, TikTok is a powerhouse social media platform. For any brand, public figure, or entertainer eager to build their audience, TikTok has to be at the forefront of marketing efforts. Given TikTok’s use of music and trending sounds as a core feature, many artists and musicians consider TikTok their best chance for building an engaged fanbase quickly.

While TikTok was initially seen as the platform that would launch the next generation of artists, some successful TikTok creators are now realizing that record labels might not be the answer to their career dreams. Regardless, the platform's power to create awareness around new music continues to grow. 

If you’re an artist, manager, or label promoting your music on TikTok, cover these basics first before promoting your upcoming release.

How To Get Your Music on TikTok

Artists can get their music on TikTok in two ways:

Using a Distributor 

Most distributors deliver to TikTok, but it's always a wise idea to speak with your distributor before a release to ensure your designated sound clip is delivered on time. If you decide to release your music via a distribution partner like Symphonic, request they deliver your preferred time stamp (0:15 or 0:30 clip that is engaging & relatable).

Self-Releasing

If you plan on releasing your music yourself through platforms like TuneCore, mark TikTok as a release destination and designate the preferred clip start time.

Before You Create A TikTok Campaign

Prior to launching a campaign that promotes your upcoming release, here are some best practices to keep in mind: 

Focus on TikTok Friendly Tracks

If you want your music to react on TikTok, you must use TikTok friendly songs. Remember that the optimal duration for TikTok's music content is between 0:15 to 0:30 seconds long. Focus on identifying the best sound bite that a casual viewer might find catchy or relatable when scrolling through their feed.

Always Keep Your Audience in Your Mind

TikTok is more about the users (your fans) than creators. So, your goal while creating TikTok content shouldn't be to become the center of attention. Instead, it should encourage viewers to create their own videos using your song.

Post Organically To Your Feed

While you may be eager to launch your TikTok creator campaign, remember that posting organic content to your feed is crucial to raising engagement on your profile. Your TikTok campaign videos should not be the only content available for fans to consume on your feed. Jump on trending sounds and hashtags or use duets and reactions to post content unrelated to your campaign. You can still use your song to increase the use of the sound on the platform, but vary the type of content to share different parts of your personality or brand.

10 Ways to Promote Your Music on TikTok without Dancing

According to recent research, less than 5% of creators regularly dance in their TikTok videos. Therefore, by creating a dance campaign, you actually risk alienating a large number of accounts who could otherwise participate in your campaign. Dance creators may have been popular during the early rise of TikTok but now it’s more important to create a TikTok campaign that’s easier for others to execute.

Here are ten ways you can promote your music on TikTok without dancing:

Pop Culture and News

Leverage pop culture, news, or trending topics to create original TikToks. Consider compiling photos, videos, or memes from trending topics relevant to your song’s content and adding your song. You could even simply add your music in the background while discussing pop culture news or topics. 

POV 

A POV TikTok is one of the most popular trends on the platform. These videos are often creators talking straight to the camera in a way that it feels like they're talking to you. For example, concepts like “Send This to Someone Who…” or “POV: Your First Heartbreak” are broad & relatable enough for any casual viewer to participate in, regardless if they are a fan of your music.

Reaction Video

Reaction videos are simply recording yourself watching another video to capture some sort of entertaining, funny, or surprising response. The video watched can be a trending video, one that elicits controversy, or relates to the content of the song you’re releasing. To create your own reaction video, go to the video you’re reacting to, select ‘Share’, and then select ‘React’. Adjust the camera and record yourself watching the video play to capture your reaction alongside the original video.

Did You Know? or “How-To”

Share an interesting fact or insight about a topic, hobby, or passion that you know well. Remember to keep your audience’s interests in mind and choose a topic that they’d find compelling. The fact or topic can also relate to the content of your song, if the lyrics or title allow it. If you have a hobby or skill set that you can use to teach your fans something new, use your song in a step-by-step educational video format. Shoot short 1-2 second clips with text instructions to create an easy-to-follow video guide.

Acoustic Performance Tease

Recording acoustic performances is an excellent way to introduce fans to your new song before it comes out. Stick to short clips and focus on singing the catchiest sections of your song. You may consider adding text overlays of lyrics or sharing a brief story behind the song to give fans more context about the song’s origin.

Creator List

Select a theme and allow other creators to give their own “number one thing” or “top three” list. This list could be products they love to buy or lessons learned during an experience. The lists could be specific to the content of your release (three things to remember when planning your next hunting trip) or broad to appeal to a larger variety of creators (five new ways to explore the outdoors this year). Remember to keep the prompt compelling enough for different types of creators to participate.

Day-in-the-Life Montage

Allow fans to learn about your life by sharing a highlight reel of your day. Capture 2-3 second clips throughout your day, arrange them in chronological order, and then add your music, timestamps, and text overlays to provide details about your day to day life.

Countdown

Inform your followers about when your upcoming song releases through a series of videos made up of behind the scenes & official content that document the song’s creation process. These videos can show snippets of the process with numerical countdown text and a call to action to pre-save via link in bio.

Voice Memo or Song Demos

Test songs out with your fans by posting voice memos or demos of your songs in the early stages of the creation process. You can use fan reaction to gauge whether or not they want to hear more, giving you helpful feedback before spending money on further song production. In addition, if one of these videos starts to gain traction, consider taking fans through the entire process of mastering the song, picking cover art, etc so they feel they have ownership in the process.

Bilingual Versions 

Allow a larger international audience to hear your music by translating your lyrics to other languages. You can have your original music play in the background while translation text pops up on the screen. This way, native speakers can see the translation but still seek out the original version of your song.

Looking for a team to implement your TikTok and broader digital strategy? Book a strategy call with us via our contact page.