We can all agree TikTok is the sh*t. Yup, they have officially beaten YouTube in watch time which in all honesty, is bonkers and never before seen in the world of social media. To beat YouTube? The TV of the 2020s??? That’s bigger than most of you realize. Consequently, a myriad of new users is joining the platform and our articles on how to drive traffic and engagement on TikTok are booming. Thank you. But let’s talk today about how you should trigger the algorithm into showing you niche-related content and users so that as a musician you can start networking efficiently with your peers. Trust us, if your feed is flooded with cat videos, you won’t find that A&R from Universal Music Group anytime soon. Read on to discover the 5 proven methods to trigger TikTok into showing you niche-specific content.
5. Start with a clean slate.
Hands down, the easiest way to curate your feed in advance is to create a new account from zero and set entertainment and music in the interests tab, then endlessly scroll and only stop and like videos of musicians and industry-related content such as beats from producers and advice from label managers. This will be extremely difficult but worth the mental pain. TikTok is insanely good at hooking you with funny, wise, and even conspirational content at times. They push you content that you’ll relate to based on your sex, age, location, IP, web, and phone activity. No matter how tempted you are, DO NOT STOP and watch any video that’s not music-related. Once you do, you’ve just decreased the value of the future videos that will pop up in your recommendations.
4. But if you can’t, long-press the videos you’re seeing and tap Not Interested.
This will take you hours and hours, possibly days, if you’ve already murdered your feed with useless funny content and random videos from around the world that will never help you in any way, shape, or form in progressing with your music career. But… It is a good, tested way out of anonymity and into the business side of TikTok. If you’re sincerely committed to turning around your feed, you’ll stop on any video that’s not pertaining to the music industry, long-press it in the middle of the screen, and hit Not Interested. What you do in that moment is you’re reprogramming the algorithm to reconsider your taste and interests and they will switch up a lot of videos to see what rocks your boat because the platform’s ultimate goal is to keep you on as much as possible.
3. Actively research people and hashtags pertaining to the music business.
Hashtags like: independentartist, musiciansoftiktok, indiemusic, tiktokmusic, newmusic, musicvideo, originalmusic, (your genre) music, etc., will educate the algorithm that you’re putting in extra time, effort, and attention to specifically find music-related content. The cue will be taken and paired with number 4, you should soon start seeing musicians on your FYP page and on your feed as well. As for people, unfollow those who are comedians for example but have nothing to do with the music business. Follow instead, other artists, producers, and important figures in this business. This will achieve several things for you: 1. you will learn directly from the people running the industry, 2. you will have the chance to actually talk to these game-changers and see if you’re fitting the criteria they have in place, 3. you will meet uber-talented people like yourself who you can collaborate with often at no cost, 4. you will get very inspired very fast. Dead serious. This Gen Z is on fire when it comes to smartly promoting their songs to the masses. You need to befriend them on TikTok, copy their strategies, and work your butt off!
2. Create videos yourself that belong to the music industry.
TikTok acts like a mirror. What you talk about, is what your feed will talk about. What you show, is what you’ll be shown rather immediately. What you listen to, will be played back to you. They want you to feel at home. They want you to feel understood, appreciated, and important. That’s human psychology 101: mirror someone’s ideas, verbal and non-verbal language, and soon they’ll trust you for no tangible reason. It’s what happens when you get charmed by someone and you can’t get them out of your head. Well, it’s most likely you just saw your reflection in them and got tricked into feeling familiar and at ease. Equally, if you wanna bypass all the steps previously described, muster the courage to post multiple videos all of which display you being a musician, be it giving your opinion on a certain industry matter, singing your own song, dancing to your old track, dueting with another musician, ANYTHING that clearly shows you’re into music will do.
1. Outsource communities and other social media hubs.
Reach out to places like Reddit, Quora, Facebook Groups, Industry Forums and ask directly and nicely for people’s TikTok handles and do support for support. Meaning you promise to engage with their content based on real feedback and they should do the same with you. This is not a blind follow-for-follow method. This is a let’s help each other out with the algorithm while honestly reviewing each other’s music, visuals, and branding. If you don’t like their material, say this could use more work but never lie. There are so many musicians like yourself who are standing alone and scared looking for good people to grow with. Be that someone worthy of networking and bonding with and by getting other musicians to follow you on TikTok and having their presence known on your videos (likes, comments, shares, duets), TikTok will completely shift who your profile is going to be shown to and equally who and what gets shown to you.
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