In this episode I chat with Circa from Indepreneur about how to promote your music on social media through storytelling and Facebook Ads. He talks about his music marketing strategies for developing true fans, ones that are much more interested than simply a stream or follow on Spotify. Also, how an artist can leverage social media and Facebook ads to find the best story and audience for your music.
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Important Points:
Circa highlights the significance of narratives, a key factor for successful releases. Share your music’s story to create compelling social media and marketing content, shaping how audiences perceive your music and artistry. Avoid forcing or pre-packaging stories; let it be a genuine journey of self-discovery.
Circa opts for a series of singles released throughout the year instead of a big album launch. He strategically allocates an exploratory budget for marketing. By deeply understanding his audience, he curates music that resonates with them, allowing them to interpret and connect with the songs based on their own experiences. He experiments with headline copies to discover the most engaging approach for maximum performance.
Andrew and Circa both recommend doing split testing to help understand your audience and listeners better—what they want and what they don’t want.
Circa strategically leverages the Spotify API to connect with artists who resonate with his music, submitting music on their playlists for authentic and far-reaching impact.
Andrew and Circa believe in the power of personal fan interaction. Instead of investing in ads, they encourage allocating resources towards fan merch and unique experiences that allow fans to have more meaningful interactions and experiences with the artist.
Podcast Outline:
[02:09] Circa talks about the importance of narratives in successful releases. – Circa
[02:28] Understanding what value your story brings to your listeners will help you create relevant content for your music. – Circa
[03:17] Circa encouraged the listeners to let each narrative take shape naturally instead of forcing pre-packaged stories that feel fake. – Circa
[03:46] Instead of doing a big release, Circa opts for releasing singles and building social media content around it.
[04:35] Circa encourage his listeners to interpret the song based on how it relates to them. He does this by testing headline copies and retaining the ones that perform best.
[06:11] Andrew agrees on the importance of understanding your audience first. Instead of jumping into ads, focus on finding out who listens to your music. – Andrew
[08:05] Circa takes advantage of the Split Testing Tool on Facebook, allowing him to test different ad materials. – Circa
[08:34] Once ads reach statistical significance, tweak it and use materials that work. – Circa
[08:48] Circa encouraged artists to look at what listeners take away from their music. – Circa
[11:22] Andrew shared his experience of people bombarding him with comments when they interpreted his song “Triggered” as an EDM song designed for Republicans upon its release. – Andrew
[12:18] Using split tests, according to Circa, can benefit you in two ways: finding out what your audience wants and don’t. – Circa
[13:12] Circa talks about how Eminem’s music, his story, and Slim Shady character became relevant to many American teens. – Circa
[18:19] Currently, Circa is focusing on engaging his loyal fanbase to engage and have meaningful conversations. Something he practices at the Buddy Course he offers. – Circa
[21:03] Andrew shares how he recently discovered how Instagram ads that lead to his Spotify often generate engaged followers. – Andrew
[22:29] Circa shares how he intended his song “Chew” to be about his bad habit of chewing ice, but many mistook it as a song about Crystal Meth and addiction. – Circa
[23:47] Circa strategically looks for artists in Spotify’s API that reacted to his music and submits his new music to their playlists. – Circa
[28:18] Andrew and Circa talk about how it’s important to drive followers to other platforms outside Spotify to truly engage them. – Andrew & Circa
[32:40] Andrew shared how he engaged one of their fans and how this experience was fun and rewarding. – Andrew
[33:42] Circa agreed with Andrew that engaging a loyal fan and allocating resources for merch and other forms of interaction with the artists can be more rewarding in the long term.
Wise Words:
[02:56] It’s our responsibility to figure out what is the value of our music. What is the value of the content and entertainment that we’re providing, and who is drawn to it? – Circa
[06:21] They want to rush right into getting into ads, and they want to rush right into different ways of promoting their music. Right? But they have no idea who actually would be the right person to listen to the music. They don’t have the whole branding and content strategy behind it. And then a lot of those cases, they’re wondering, like, “Why are my ads so expensive? How come people are clicking, and they’re not following?” – Andrew
[08:44] Find out what headline works best, and then engage in the comments. Find out why it works best for this piece of media. What are people deriving from it? And then go and try to make content that speaks to that narrative. – Circa
[14:02] The utility of music most often is helping us embody archetypes. When we feel as if we’re powerless because of our circumstance, music comes along and turns that circumstance into an enviable cool character. – Circa
Resources Mentioned:
Learn More:
If you enjoyed this interview, check out this one I did with Kyle The Ally on how to get a better cost per conversion with your Facebook ads, how artists should think about risk, and so much more.
