Music Social Media: 6 Tricks For Promoting Old Music

Four bandmates reading a music social media site on a laptop

Author: Hugh McIntyre

Last updated: Aug 8, 2022

Hugh McIntyre is a music journalist, social media expert, and marketing professional based in both NYC and LA. He has spent a decade writing about music and the music industry, primarily for Forbes, but also for Billboard, Fuse, MTV, and many more. He has also managed social media for Grammy-winning musicians, Olympic medal-winning athletes, and CEOs.
FULL BIO

Table of Contents

Introduction
1. Find A Special Date
2. Something Topical
3. Before New Music
4. Throwback Thursday!
5. Preparing For A Show
6. Just Be Clever

1. Find A Special Date

While you may never have thought about it before, any song (or bit of content, really) can become relevant again on certain days of the year or when special dates return.

The easiest example of this would be an anniversary. Keep track of the exact date when you released every single, album, and music video, and then when this date rolls around again, why not celebrate your work of art once again?

You don’t need to do this with literally every song you’ve ever shared every year because it would quickly become tiring both for you and for those who follow you, but it can be a fun way to not only look back at what you have created but to reminisce. Time will pass by faster than you realize. While this is a plan to get more out of the music you’ve already created, you’ll probably end up being glad you put this schedule into effect as it will be wonderful to revisit older tunes.

When reposting songs and videos on anniversaries, try to make things seem relevant and fresh. If you simply post a track and remind people it has been another year, they likely will not be interested enough to click it.

Also, it’s great to sprinkle in some variety when honoring anniversaries. One song may be a year old, while next week’s anniversary post could be celebrating a demo you released five years back. It will obviously take time for you to build up the kind of lengthy, time-tested catalog where you can pull this off, but it’s a wonderful way to subtly remind people you have been doing this for a long time.

How do you make a song go viral on social media?

Hugh McIntyre

There is no easy answer to this, because if there was, everyone would use it, and then the definition of “viral” would have to change.

There are a lot of mediums through which songs go viral, but it’s not enough to say a track has to be on one platform or another to reach a mass audience. If people are loving it, the tune will be heard by millions. But what makes them gravitate toward one title versus another?

Songs that go viral have something to them that is undeniable. They’re insanely catchy, funny, the lyrics are sharp, the beat is the type to get stuck in your head… Or perhaps it’s not just the music, but what comes with it. Music videos often cause the tracks they support to grab headlines and become memes. Sometimes simply the title or the cover are enough to secure a lot of attention.

As you’re making the music you want to make, take time to study hits that have gone viral. What about them made you want to watch or listen? Is there something you can do to the composition or video you’re working on that will make it stand out? A good piece of music is hard to create, but making something the world can’t get enough of, even if for a little while, is a massive challenge. It requires you to analyze what others have done, dig deep into your heart and mind to mine creative ideas, and take a big swing.

Keep in mind that you can build a successful music career and garner many fans with great music, but only by being completely unafraid of trying something wild can you have a shot at going viral. You may find that it’s not what you desire after all, as not everyone wants to give what it takes.

2. Something Topical

To make this work, you’ll need to really dig deep and think long and hard about your lyrics, your albums, your music videos…about everything, but thankfully you know this material better than anyone out there (or at least you should). Look at the calendar and keep track of what holidays are coming up.

Consider if anything you’ve ever done fits in and could be timely once again. Perhaps you’ve recorded a Christmas album or a holiday-themed song in the past which could be reposted as the wintertime celebrations roll around once again. Maybe one of your music videos is highly political, and it contains a message you’d like to spread whenever election season returns. You could have penned a song about something summery, which people always want more of.

It’s also worth keeping an eye on the news and on what is happening in current events because your music can be re-shared around the topics of discussion that pop up every day. Did the President just say something really terrible in a speech and you have a song called “F*ck You”? Well, why not share this song on your social channels once again!

If two movie stars you love just got engaged in a public way, tweet them and offer your greatest love song for their wedding, ensuring your followers see the missive as well. You can have a lot of fun reintroducing your music by connecting it to something happening in the moment, and your fans won’t mind hearing the same songs they already know if it’s relevant yet again.

Hey, what do you think about trying our new Music Career Helper Music Career Helper really quick? It’s totally free and could help get your career moving fast! Give it a try. It’s totally free and you have nothing to lose.

3. Before New Music

When you’re gearing up to release new music, you’ll be focused primarily on the free promotion of your upcoming singles, videos, and albums, which obviously makes sense. In the short-term, there might not be anything more valuable to you as a musician than new music, but bracing your fan base for new tunes and exciting them for a new era can also be a wonderful time to remind them why they loved you in the first place.

The goal is to get them wholly consumed by what will surely be your next masterpiece.

In between posting dates and screenshots and generally amping up your dedicated fan base for what’s coming their way, sprinkle in links to your past albums, your previous singles and music videos that have come before. Use wording showing you want people to revisit the art you’ve created prior to you giving them something new. It might be a stretch for some people, and it might not drive a ton of clicks, but people won’t mind you trying to up your play counts across streaming platforms in this manner.

Where can I post my music to get noticed?

Hugh McIntyre

Again, there isn’t one place where all successful music lives, but if you want your song or album to have a shot at reaching a large audience, it must be readily available in these places:

Streaming Services – These days, the vast majority of plugged-in music lovers access their favorite tunes and artists via streaming platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, Pandora, Tidal, and many more. There are dozens of these companies all around the world. Thankfully, any good distributor will place your work in all of them at once.
Digital Stores – While the public doesn’t purchase songs and albums like they used to, that business hasn’t disappeared, and there are still many who want to support the artists they love by opening their wallets. The same distributor you work with to ensure your work is available on streaming platforms can almost surely send it to digital stores like Amazon and iTunes as well.
YouTube – Music videos live on YouTube, and yours must have a home there as well. It’s where the world watches everything connected to music, so make sure you have your work up there. That includes songs and full-lengths, not just the tunes that received the music video treatment. Failure to do so will almost surely mean no virality is coming your way.
TikTok – For several years now, TikTok has been responsible for creating smashes out of tracks that were unknown (often by artists who were also relatively unknown) just months prior. There’s an artform to making a tune go viral on the short video platform–think dances, challenges, and more–and while we can’t get into all of that here (but there are other articles that touch on it), TikTok is vital to going viral.
Social Media – TikTik is a social media platform, but it stands alone in this regard, but that doesn’t mean the other options aren’t also important. Make sure you’re talking about your song on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and more. And if virality is something you’re after, don’t just post that a new release is available now–come up with a clever campaign! Take notes from other artists and even brands and how they drum up conversation on social sites with their products.
The Media – Blogs, magazines, TV, radio, and newspapers still have a place in the music industry ecosystem, and it’s important to mount a PR campaign when you have something special to share. Sure, it’s rare that any piece of media from these formats goes viral, but having your work highlighted by respected publications and outlets is a great way to create conversation, which all feeds into something being “viral.”

4. Throwback Thursday!

This option is fairly self-explanatory. Throwback Thursday has become a staple on Instagram, and from there, several other platforms, and there is no reason why music can’t be a part of the fun as well. You should absolutely be utilizing this day and this hashtag (#TBT, for those not already taking advantage) almost every week because it’s a wonderful way to create content.

Maybe you have tons of live photos from a festival gig you did years back you never shared, or pics with fans or other musicians that you simply never got around to posting. These are perfect for TBT, and if you’re smart, you can connect pictures to music.

Share stills or behind-the-scenes shots from a music video shoot and pair them with a link to your YouTube page where fans and newcomers can watch your work once again.

If you have a live record or even if there are videos up online somewhere of you and your bandmates rocking out, share them! You can just share older music with a fun line and the correct hashtag, and for the most part, people will be happy to look back. #TBT is simple and it’s meant to be fun, so don’t take it too seriously, but do recognize it as a perfect opportunity to share old work that maybe hasn’t been played in a while.

The most successful posts on social media are eye-catching, entertaining, moving, or smart, but they don’t need to take hours to craft, and they can even be mindless, as long as the person reading (or looking, or watching) feels something in the end.

5. Preparing For A Show

A lot of your social media promotional efforts will be focused on selling tickets to concerts you’re performing at, but this doesn’t mean these events can’t also be a great way to get people to listen to older tracks.

Before an upcoming show, post a link to a Spotify page with your music or link to a specific album, then ask fans which songs they want to hear. This is a fun way to get people involved, and it is a very subtle way to suggest they hit play once again. Post a link to a single you know you’ll perform and remind your followers there is nothing better than singing along; this is a good reminder they should brush up on the lyrics.

Perhaps you have a music video with a certain choreographed dance that always makes shows a lot more fun. You could reshare it, reminding everybody to get those moves down before you take to the stage. These posts can be exciting and a fantastic way to simultaneously remind everyone a concert is on the horizon, and of why they want to go see you in the first place!

How do you promote a song on Instagram?

Hugh McIntyre

Instagram is one of the most popular–and therefore most important–social media platforms in the world, and you must use it to promote yourself and your work, as that’s where the people are. There’s a lot that can be said about pushing a tune on this site, but if you want to give your latest what it deserves in the hope of it becoming incredibly popular, make sure you at least listen to these tips:

Make Your Profile Great – When you think about promoting something on your Instagram, you have to start long before a specific song or album is ready for consumption. Work hard consistently to ensure you have a following on your profile, and that people are actually looking at what you post. Think about it this way–if NBC created the best TV show of all time, it can only find an audience because the channel made itself popular to begin with.
The Content Should Be High Quality – Don’t post just anything on your Instagram! While Instagram Stories are far more relaxed in nature, if you’re sharing something to your main feed, it should be a photo that looks beautiful or a video that took some time to craft. Basically, make sure what you’re showing the world is high-quality, as that’s the type of content that typically performs best. That work ethic will reflect the music you make as well, which also surely takes quits a while to perfect.
Make More Of One Release – Too many artists post one photo, video, or even just piece of text on social media when they have something new out, calling it a day far too early. Every piece of content–a song, music video, or album–should come with it’s own promotional plan. Teasers, reveals, announcements, and more should all be included in a marketing rollout that could include a dozen or more uploads.

6. Just Be Clever

This is obvious, but it is certainly worth stating. Sharing and resharing your old music is something you can honestly do over and over again, as long as you’re smart, funny, endearing…really, as long as what you are saying doesn’t suck, to put it bluntly. Don’t panic thinking people will see through your attempts to continue to rack up streams and earn a few extra dollars off of content you’ve already put out into the world.

Just have some fun with it! I know I keep saying this, but if you’re not having a good time creating these posts and coming up with ways to keep your art relevant, your efforts won’t take. The most successful posts on social media are eye-catching, entertaining, moving, or smart, but they don’t need to take hours to craft, and they can even be mindless, as long as the person reading (or looking, or watching) feels something in the end.

Site Search