7 Social Media Mistakes Musicians Make and How to Avoid Them

Do you have a love hate relationship with social media? It can be fun, but it can also be a huge time suck and steal away your precious energy that you need to grow your career. 

Here are my top 7 mistakes I see musicians make (I once made them myself!) and how to avoid them. It’s a ibig topic, but I kept it as short and sweet as I could so you can get in motion implementing these changes!

1. Inconsistent posting

The biggest mistake I see artists making is not posting consistently. I get it – it’s hard to stay consistent! It’s a lot of work. However, if you want to grow your audience, social media is based on an algorithm that favors consistent posting. 

If you want your posts to be seen, start with 3 posts a week and for IG/FB post on Stories every day. Share your music, share other music, talk about what’s important to you. Create content that people want (you’ll know because you’ll have engagement). 

2. Quality of posts 

The quality of your posts (or music – yes Spotify and DSP’s have algorithms too) affect the algorithm (whether your posts or music is shown on feeds or comes up in search results).

On SM: You can post selfies but mix in higher quality photos. 

On DSP’s: Only post broadcast quality music on DSP’s. For demos, use Soundcloud instead. If you post below broadcast quality music, the DSP’s algorithms won’t prioritize your music for playlists etc. 

Oh and this is a whole blog in of itself, but make sure your post copy contains “what’s in it for them” – to be successful. 

3. Hashtags

Hashtags are important. They can lead to the Explore page or more exposure if the post is quality. 

Look for hashtags that don’t have huge followings in the millions because your posts will get lost there. Look for hashtags under a million for more success. Another tip – don’t make up hashtags (no one is on those streams!) 

4. No marketing strategy 

Yes, you’re putting up posts—but where are they going? Where are you leading people to? Social media is a TOOL to grow your audience and promote, but it is not the END game. 

You want to use your social media platforms to grow not just your follower numbers. More important than follower numbers are “saves”, shares and comments (engagement). This positions you higher in the platforms algorithm for your posts to be seen by your audience. 

You get saves and shares by sharing valuable content that people want. Be sure to frame your copy to speak to why they should listen to your new single. Ex: “if you’re having a hard day, you need to hear this”. Or “if you’re feeling down I made a little song to cheer you up”

You also need to boost posts – just 1 a week will help. See #5 for posts you should consider boosting. When you boost just start with $3 pr day for 7 days and then review the results (you need a professional business account to boost)

Not using as a tool to grow your list or video views or invite to your Livestream.

Not using current tools like Reels .

5. Not promoting past releases 

Too many artists go SILENT when they don’t have a release. How many people heard it? Right? You need to keep a cycle of promoting your songs going long after the release date. 

Ways to keep promoting after your music is already out: 

• Reels
  • Landscape or nature reels with your music in the background. Favorite post of one of my artists I work with – Sam Shaky. 
  • Video clips of past videos 
• Stories
• Share from Spotify
• Celebrate other artists releases (they’ll return the favor) 

6. Trying to keep up with all social media profiles 

Jack of all platforms and master of none? It’s common. But if you try to post on all platforms you’re going to spread yourself thin. 

It’s best to decide which platforms you want to focus on. Start with where your people are the most and then choose 1 more platform where you want to grow that aligns with your brand.

And you don’t need to jump on EVERY new platform. I often wait to see if it’s going to take off and then also decide if you want to take part in it. The FOMO has people scattered all over the place spending a LOT of their time focused on creating FREE content on ssocials while they should be focusing on their music and growing their career. See #7. 

7. Solely using social media to grow your career (and nothing else) 

It’s really important to know that social media is a tool – a publicity tool to expand your audience but it is not the SOLE tool to grow your career. It’s important to keep perspective. 

Work with a music mentor (like me) who can act as a manager to help build out the phases and move your career forward with the right action steps to reach your goals. Don’t spin your wheels trying to reinvent what’s already proven!  

Start here -> Step Up to the Spotlight Artist Development 6 Week Program.