social media campaign ideas for musicians

I love seeing super extravagant, authentic build ups to song releases but alas, it rarely happens. If you're prone to waiting until release day and posting your cover art with the words 'out now' then read on, my pretties. 

If your social media campaigns and content don't excite you, then change it up! In order to have the most success AND for you to get the most enjoyment out of it (see that laavly ven diagram) then what you do has to be authentic to you and usually, a little different than everything else on the bandwagon. 

If you really want to make your mark and have longevity in the industry, that 'inner work' or 'brand foundation' has to be done beforehand. Once you know who you are, what you stand for, what you love, what makes you unique AND embrace any unique flaws and quirks, get comfortable with all that and whap it all out there to the world, that's when you'll see results. Phew, I know that's a lot to take on. But it will definitely be worth it in the long run. 

Anyway, I digress, here are some ideas for social media campaigns to get your creativity flowing and ideas brewing! Make it enjoyable, authentic and unique to you. 

1. An insanely detailed lead up with many easter eggs. See The 1975 and Taylor Swift as examples for this. They include so many extra details for only the most hardcore fans to find and it makes the process all the more fun and the music even more special when it finally drops. It starts super cryptically and gains momentum as time goes on and more details are revealed. 
There are some T. Swift deets here: www.buzzfeed.com/eleanorbate/taylor-swift-ts7-album-clues

2. The Jonas Brothers' campaign for XV. This included a game of tic tac toe using the X and V instead of 0 and X, shared between the members and team on Insta stories. A super simple idea executed with kick-ass branding and a very effective result. Interjecting a classic game and encouraging participation from your fans could be the way to go! 

3. The last one is one I worked on with a rock duo. It included an extensively detailed fictional crime narrative in which we created characters for each band member, complete with mega in depth character profiles and dropped bits and pieces of the story through social content and music videos so people could follow the story along, picking up details along the way to the album release at the end. 

It's important to mention here, the difference between truth and authenticity. A fictional story with characters can be a totally authentic way of doing things; it was for these guys as they were totally obsessed with cliche western movies, storytelling and creating exaggerated versions of themselves as their stage personas. The story doesn't have to be true and the character doesn't have to be fully you, as long whatever you're doing feels exciting to you and true to you. 

If you want to watch my whole video on this topic then you can do so here:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvEUmxTaZBc&t=1s

That's all for now chums, hope it was helpful. Happy social media campaign planning!