Tracking user engagement and other performance metrics is made easy since there are a lot of tools and platforms that can be used. Most of these methods depend on content, such as the views on YouTube, likes, and comments on Instagram and Facebook, and retweets on Twitter. 

Music creators, on the other hand, measure user engagement through plays. To drive engagement, most musicians promote their music through blogging platforms. Some of them, however, don’t know that there is a more effective approach to gain more plays and grow their audience. This is through SoundCloud marketing. 

Why SoundCloud?

SoundCloud doesn’t work the same way as Facebook or Instagram. The uploaded posts and reposted content of accounts within your network are arranged chronologically on your newsfeed. SoundCloud has no content filtering, unlike Facebook and Instagram where the algorithm decides which posts appear on the newsfeed.

Image: SoundCloud recent posts. Screenshot was taken on August 10, 2019

This means followers or listeners can easily locate the most recent post of SoundCloud music creators; they won’t find it difficult to find older posts too. The value of a follower on SoundCloud, YouTube, and other audio-based platforms is, therefore, higher than on other social media sites.

Even big names in the music industry are starting to reach out to their fans and potential fans through SoundCloud. They have come to terms with the fact that the music industry is constantly evolving, and SoundCloud is where the fans are nowadays. 

Here are some effective SoundCloud promotional tactics you can use.

Like to download gates

When you upload a track on SoundCloud, you can customize the buy button. Instead of Buy, you can change it to Free Download and direct the users to the download “gate” where they will be asked to follow, like, or repost the track. 

You are essentially giving them a free track in exchange for certain actions that can benefit your SoundCloud account or a particular record. 

RIP soundcloud groups
Like/Download gates are probably going to be the next thing to go

Hope you producers have a backup plan!

— Nick Minieri (@nickdawg) August 23, 2016

You can even bring this tactic to the next level by partnering with more popular artists. They can promote your music using the like to download gate. As a result, both of you get the chance to reach more audiences. 

SoundCloud promotional channels

SoundCloud has promotional channels that are considered as SoundCloud labels. These channels can host an artist’s music and inform their audience about it. When the records promoted by these channels do well on SoundCloud, these channels will also experience an increase in traffic and engagement. Several SoundCloud labels have actually become successful in building large networks, with some labels going into distribution, record signing, and copyright monetization. 

If you have the budget, you can pay popular SoundCloud channels to repost your soundtrack. At a certain price, you can also ask individual channels to repost your track into groups. 

Do your pitch

SoundCloud promo channels, especially popular ones, receive hundreds of submissions monthly, but they only choose one or two tracks. It’s pretty much like how book authors strive to get the attention of publishers before the e-book era began. Even freelance authors need to do their pitch to be featured on a high-traffic blog or website.

There are unwritten rules in pitching your track to these promo channels, most of them are rooted in proper ethics.

If you decide to submit a track don't just post your soundcloud link. Honestly – ALL PROMOTIONAL CHANNELS

— Trap Party 🔥 (@TrapParty) May 9, 2014

One tactic that will work with musicians is to reach out to the owner of the promotional channel. Since most of the owners are young, they are usually on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Reach them through these social media sites. Start by complimenting them on their recent upload on SoundCloud, then build your pitch from there. 

It might be awkward to use social media as a medium for your pitch, but there’s no harm in trying. The key is not to be too assertive so the channel owner won’t ignore you.

Trading of reposts

Trading of repost is simply an agreement between two SoundCloud account owners to repost each other’s tracks. The two accounts should be equal in terms of network size, although reposts are never equal as each account’s play-to-follower ratio is different. 

When it comes to network size, there is some tier on SoundCloud. For example: 

• An account with 5,000 followers may not want to trade with an account with only 1,000 followers.
• Meanwhile, an account with 30,000 followers might consider repost trading with an artist with 25,000 followers. 

When trading reposts, there are other things you should consider besides the number of followers. You also need to look at the background of the artist before you pitch for a trade. If you see that the artist doesn’t do any reposts, that could mean that his music label prohibits him from doing so. You also need to check out the type of music the artist is making and find out if the artist is open to reposting tracks that do not belong to their genre.

These are just some of the promotional tips to help you reach out to millions of users on SoundCloud. Apply them, and watch your audience grow on the audio platform.

Date: August 13, 2019 / Categories: Marketing, / Author: Disturbinsilence