13 ways to promote a single when you have zero fans
Every artists starts with nothing, and if you have zero fans and want to start making a name for yourself, there are at least 13 ways you can do so by promoting a single.
WordPlay T. Jay has compiled the list of do’s, and promoting a single is high on the list, as that’s how record labels promote these days — releasing a single to create traction, then putting out a whole album after.
However, it’s important to remember the market can be fickle, and only the people can choose what they like and don’t like. Your job is to keep creating, and when something is ready, put it out for the world to hear and see. Hone your craft and learn what people gravitate to if you want to see the best results.
1. Solidify your brand
Before even considering a release, make sure your brand is good to go. Have your social media accounts ready and create pathways between them. People will take you more seriously as an artist if your brand is on point with good images, a good name and basic info about you.
2. Pitch songs to playlists on Spotify
Use the Spotify artist platform to pitch your songs to playlists and help get your single out there to new ears.
3. Use CD Baby to create a pre-save with show.co
By creating a pre-save with show.co, even if you aren’t on CD Baby, new fans can save your content and be notified when it is released.
4. Use Distrokid’s hyperfollow
Similar to the CD Baby tool, hyperfollow allows fans to watch pre-saves and get notified when a single is dropped.
5. Involve your friends and family
Invite everyone you know personally to like your social media pages and follow you. They can also set notifications for when you have new posts or releases, and they can push your music to the people they know.
6. Share snippets of songs
Before you release the whole single, take little segments or videos and post those to let people know what’s coming. If people are into the clips, they will likely be into the song, so share snippets as much as you can on social media and face to face. An easy way to create snippets of audio and video is by using www.editframe.com, which is a free tool.
7. Put more snippets our after the full release
After a song is released, put out full or 1-minute clips and stories about the single on different social media sites. You can also use Facebook and Instagram stories to gain more traction.
8. Make a music video
A lot of people think music videos are expensive, but they don’t have to be. All you need is good video shooting and a good performance so people talk about it. The goal there is to reach people one step removed from who you personally know.
9. Create a blog
A good way to tell your story and gain fans is by creating a blog on a place like medium.com. Here, you can tell the story of your song, add audio and visual clips and help people learn more about who you are as an artist.
10. Film the recording process
Similar to the blogging, record everything you do for the single from start to finish. Allowing people to see your process and the work you put in to your music can help them become endeared to you as an artist and promote you themselves.
11. Use Pandora AMP
Pandora’s “Artist Marketing Platform” is a free tool at amp.pandora.com that will allow you to push your music out to people who listen to a lot of Pandora. You can also do custom messages and promote singles with this tool.
12. Use Facebook ads
Use traffic campaigns or video views campaigns to help get more views on posts. A traffic campaign will generally cost about $5 per day, and a video views campaign will generally cost about $1 per day. Traffic campaigns will get you more clicks, but video views campaigns will show your content to more people.
13. Find an influencer
Another paid way to promote is to find a social media influencer — someone funny, cute or attractive, a dancer or any creative type with a lot of followers. This is a way to get your music out to people who don’t know who you are.
In the end, keep in mind the market has a mind of its own, and your best bet to find success is to put out as much content as possible to let the market pick what it likes and run with it.