Hailed as the YouTube of audio, SoundCloud is a platform that no musician should ignore. It allows artists to build a loyal following from its network of over 175 million active monthly listeners. Needless to say, if you can make it big on SoundCloud, you've got it made. But the problem is, making it big on SoundCloud is a challenge, even for talented artists. What does it take to grow your following and boost your plays on SoundCloud?

Let’s cover 7 ways you can get more followers on SoundCloud.

1. Share on other platforms

The first step when figuring out how to get SoundCloud followers, is to use the music-sharing platform as part of a coordinated online marketing strategy. Post links from your SoundCloud profile on your other social media accounts including Facebook and Twitter. If you have a website or blog, include a SoundCloud follow button so your visitors can easily follow you without leaving your website. When you upload a new track on SoundCloud, share it with your fans and followers on these other online networks and embed it on your blog.

2. Network with bloggers

Blogs are a great marketing channel because they are able to reach a new, targeted audience. You should take advantage of this by networking and building relationships with prominent music bloggers. This way, you can get them to write articles about your new tracks that will send traffic to your SoundCloud account and increase your following. In addition, since they need to promote their blogs, bloggers are usually active on a number of social channels. By using bloggers to promote your article, you will reach both their subscribers and their followers on various social media networks.

3. Cooperation over competition

Rather than competing with fellow artists for fans' attention, you should cooperate with them. Collaborating with other musicians will allow both of you to expand your audience, because you will get access to their fans while they get access to yours. Join SoundCloud groups and look for other artists that you can work with to promote each other's music. That way, you can share your tracks across various platforms and learn from each other, allowing all of you to expand your audience.

4. Effective tagging and description

Most people discover music on SoundCloud by searching, so you need to ensure that tracks are tagged effectively and have proper descriptions. Let potential fans know what kind of music you’re making in the description and tags to boost your search ranking and visibility on SoundCloud. Make sure your tracks capture all the searches of people who would be interested in hearing your music. Include a distinct genre and add as many tags as you can, without appearing spammy. You can use tags about the production, such as the label, instruments, release or the location.

5. Remix a hit pop song

You can ride on the popularity of a popular song to bring traffic to your SoundCloud profile by doing a remix. You should then title your remix based on the title of the original song. Many people will be searching for the original song, and as a result, a portion of them will stumble upon your remix. If the cover or remix is good, you can convert this traffic into followers.

6. Post to forums

Posting to relevant forums and groups is another great way of promoting your SoundCloud profile. Join Facebook groups and Google plus communities that are related to your genre of music. Do your research and find out the forums and subreddits where you think there are people who would like your music. Try posting your music there but make sure to do it in a tasteful way that fits within their guidelines because you don't want to spam anybody. Build relationships with the other members active on the forum by sharing and commenting on their music.

7. Buy plays and followers

Feel like you have a better idea how to get more followers on SoundCloud after reading the last 6 points? Well, don’t forget to use this often overlooked tactic: buying plays and followers. This works because people judge music based on other people's judgment of the same music. If a lot of people appear to be fans of your music, then it’s perceived to be above the cut. If no one is listening to your music, it’s easily forgettable. Buying plays and followers will help you at first by making you look popular and making people take you more seriously. When other users see you have a ton of followers or plays, they will automatically think more highly of you, and will be more willing to follow you.

Buying plays and followers is considered to be a risky tactic, with fears that it might lead to termination of your account. However, this largely depends on where you buy the plays and followers. If you buy from a low-quality provider, you might get follows from bot accounts, which will lead your account to get flagged by SoundCloud’s algorithms. In this scenario, you will suddenly lose followers and plays as SoundCloud kicks the spam accounts off the platform. On the other hand, buying from a high-quality provider will get you followers and plays from real-looking, genuine accounts. These cannot be detected by SoundCloud algorithms, and will spur natural growth of your account going forward.

Interested in learning more about where to buy real-looking SoundCloud followers? Check out the top 5 companies for buying SoundCloud followers that we’ve already tested and reviewed.

Date: July 27, 2016 / Categories: Getting Discovered, / Author: Viv