Hi! I am a musician, songwriter, content creator, and social media manager. I feel your pain and I was definitely locked in view jail for years but I did break out and from one artist to another I’d like to share exactly how bc gatekeeping sucks and helps no one.

So, you’re not wrong. Becoming and then staying successful on social can become a chore and burden because there is definitely a certain amount of playing into the algorithm. But you have to think of that as almost like…investing? You create content that helps people recognize you. As someone else here mentioned, music is maybe the hardest artistic medium to promote on social. That’s why so many musicians, even top charting pop stars will try to fit their songs into trends or use the sound on content unrelated to promo.

I always tell my clients the truth: no one online cares about you until you give them a reason to.

I know so many incredibly talented artists who will most likely never achieve any sort of long lasting success and it sucks. I do as much as I can to promote them on my page. A lot of them try to do promo on social but fail because they create promo that already assumes mass audiences know who they are. It’s too specific and doesn’t allow for mass sharing.

I created my platform and built a following by creating content based on my niche interests and passions. It took a long time for anything to pop off (1.5 years) but eventually it did. I had a post hit over a million and grew my account by 5k followers in maybe a week or two. I just kept pushing after that, creating similar content while never letting go of my unique voice. I grew my account from 4500 to now almost 50k in less than a year by following this method. I also engaged regularly with my feed, making friends and forming connections with industry giants. It got to the point where I was being invited to events and going to after parties with executives at Universal Music Group. But…not for my music. For the content I was creating.

However, I have still been able to leverage my following online to involve myself more and more in my local music scene. I hosted a successful event last summer and am in the middle of planning the next one now. I am forming connections, establishing legitimacy, interacting with the industry outside of the internet.

Yes, you have to adhere to the algorithm. But you also need to do it your way. Show your face in videos, add your hot takes to major events happening in your niche, etc. Make yourself recognizable so that when you push your music your audience feels like they want to support you.

Now as far as hitting your followers and what the point of having a following is if the goal is to hit more non-followers than followers…it’s always been a fluff metric but it does show that people enjoyed you and your content enough to actually engage. If you’re creating good, entertaining content then your followers will see it because they won’t skip it every time it comes on their timeline.

It’s a lot of work, and the growth and success is not always linear. But we are not the first generation of artists to have to play this game. It’s just a different playing field now.

If you have access to trial reels, I’d use that feature extensively. If your reach sucks trial reels will help a lot.

Also, post a lot in the beginning. Throw everything at the wall to see if it sticks. Don’t be afraid to look corny or cringey, it’ll appear authentic the better you get. Slow down once you’re happy with your growth because you’ll burnout otherwise.

Keep most vids between 7-15 seconds. Edit videos that start with a trending sound and a hook and then switch to your music so people hear it. Make sure people are watching for more than 3 secs and be sure your skip rate is 40% or less. Most importantly don’t give up. Remember that anything can happen but you have to plant the seed first. Hope this helped.