Does promotion often feel like pulling teeth?

Has it been hard for you to get people to share your music?

If so, continue reading. We’re about to clear things up for you.

The truth is, paying for promotion and getting your music on bigger outlets can do wonders for your career. HOWEVER, your core fan base is actually your most effective form of promotion. If you can get all of your fans to share your music, their friends will catch on, and then their friends will catch on. Before you know it, you’ll have an army of people listening and sharing your music.

1. Ask them. This might seem obvious, but it’s so obvious that a lot of artists overlook it. In the marketing world, we call this a “call to action.” Sometimes you have to give people a little nudge and let them know what you need them to do. So for instance, if you post your new video and someone likes it, send them a personal message and thank them for listening and ask for them to share. Simple right?

2. Send an email to your mailing list. Maintaining a weekly or monthly newsletter is an awesome way to keep fans in tune with you. You can send an email out to hundreds or even thousands of people at once (but make sure you have their consent). Send an email out to your mailing list that informs them of your new release and politely ask them to share it if they like it. This also works with my next point…

3. Give them an incentive. When you see a commercial on TV, you’ll usually see an incentive to buy. For instance, “purchase this now and receive a free ____” or “log on within the next 10 minutes and get 10% off.” People love incentives. They make them take action. So when it comes to getting people to share your music, you can tell them that if they share it with a certain hashtag (so that you can keep track), they’ll get a free sticker, or discounted merch, or a ticket to your next show, etc. Get creative.

4. Set up a “pay with a tweet” campaign. This is an amazing tool that a lot of artists are still unaware of. However, I’ve seen it done, and it really works. With a “pay with a tweet” campaign, when you send out your song, in order for the person to download it and listen they have to click a button that shares the song first in order to receive the download link. Need help setting this up? Contact us here.

5. Have a contest. Having an interactive contest is a great way to get your fans involved and taking action. Something as simple as having people share your cover art with a certain hashtag and whoever gets the most likes or has the most shares gets a prize, preferably some sort of merch. People love merch.

6. Work the crowd at your concerts. When you’re on stage you have power. We do this at our events and we know it’ll work for you. When you’re on stage, tell everyone to take our their phones and tweet something (usually it’s a specific hashtag). By doing this, you’ll gain more fan interaction and you can personally reach out to everyone that shared the hashtag and get them to share your song too.

7. Reach out individually. You’ll notice that there will be certain people that always reach out to you, like your posts, like your pics, etc. These people are often your best candidates for helping you with promotion. Reach out to them personally in a private message and thank them for their support. Let them know that you need their help. I bet you can get them to share your song! Notice that we didn’t ask you to ask a random person. Only ask those that are already in tune with you; it’s much more effective.

8. Send them a text. Mobile marketing is awesome because you get right to the source – their phone. People always have their phones handy. So, if you have their number, shoot them a text and let them know you need their help. Ask them to share your song or video. The most they can say is NO, but if you have their number that means you know them so they might be more receptive.

1. The easier you make it for people to share, the better. If they can click one button to share, you’re more likely to get better results.

2. People love to get free stuff. Give it to them (but grab their emails and contact info in the process).

Do you need help with your promo strategy? Contact us here.

This article was written by Brianna DeMayo of ExclusivePublic.com where her focus is helping indie artists see results in their music career. Contact her directly at Brianna@exclusivepublic.com