Updated 60-Day Music Promotion Plan
Nearly two years ago, I made a 60-day plan to promote your song. Many of you shared how much it helped you gain new fans and stay on track. However, times have changed, and new apps can now help promote your music. This blog post will update that plan. I’ll provide a detailed daily plan on how I would promote my joke band, IncelHypebeast’s, new hit song, “Industry Plant Based God.” This plan will offer insights into what to post each day to be as effective as possible, helping you learn how to promote yourself.
Preparation is Key
Before we start promoting, let’s ensure we have everything we need. Most importantly, have the next two songs you’re going to promote produced, mixed, mastered, and have the album cover videos, lyric videos, and music videos completed. This preparation will allow you to stay ahead when things go wrong. Consistent, sustained promotion is crucial, and having a ton of content ready ensures you remain on track even during bad weeks.
Choosing the Right Release Day
We’re going to release your song on a Wednesday. I often get asked which day to release music, and I always suggest Tuesday through Thursday. Fridays are flooded with new releases from popular artists, and your music might get overshadowed. Saturday and Sunday see less internet and social media activity, making them poor choices for releases. Monday is busy for people catching up on work. So, Tuesday to Thursday is your best bet.
Daily Promotion Plan
Release day and music video release day are the only two days I recommend flooding social media and your community. Other days should involve steady reminders and storytelling to keep your audience engaged without overwhelming them. This plan starts on the day of releasing your song.
Day 1: Release Day
On release day, put your song on all streaming services and release a single screen video on YouTube. Make a lot of noise. I have a detailed video on making a huge splash on release day, which you can find in the description. In the TikTok era, it’s important to remember that even if you have no followers, your TikToks get served to new people. Start with a strong TikTok idea but save your best ideas for later to build momentum.
Day 2: Tell a Story
Tell a story about the song on Instagram. Maintain interest and keep the conversation around the song. Reward the best stories mentioning your song and send audio messages to others as a personal thank you. On TikTok, post another video of the song, possibly a text overlay video with the hook of your song and lyrics as text on the screen.
Day 3: Update Playlists
Update your Spotify artist playlist with some of your favorite songs and new releases. Promote the updated playlist on Twitter and Instagram stories. Add the single screen video to your YouTube playlist and share it. Post another TikTok, perhaps behind-the-scenes footage or something fun showing your personality.
Day 4-5: Weekend Light Promotion
Weekends see less internet activity, so keep promotion light. Share personality posts on Instagram stories and Twitter, showing how people might feel listening to your new song. Post a TikTok daily and repost a video from the week before on Reels.
Day 6: Facebook and Instagram Stories
Make a Facebook post and share it on your Instagram stories. Remind fans they can follow you on their preferred platform. Post the best-performing TikTok from the week as a YouTube short and an Instagram Reel.
Day 7: Behind the Scenes
Post behind-the-scenes videos or talk more about the story of the song. Schedule the best-performing TikToks to go up on YouTube as shorts a week after their release.
Day 8: Vulnerability
Share something vulnerable that ties back to the song. For example, talk about self-destructive behavior and how the song reflects a change in your life.
Day 9: Contextualize the Song
Use imagery or scenes from movies to create posts that keep reinforcing the hook of your song. Post on TikTok and repost a video from the week before on Reels.
Day 10: Spotify Music and Talk
Create a Spotify music and talk episode, playing music you like and talking about it. Tag smaller groups you play in the episode on Instagram and Twitter.
Day 11-12: Weekend Engagement
Engage with your followers by asking questions on Instagram and promoting your song in the answers. Use Instagram’s functions to drive engagement and bond with your fans.
Day 13: Ask for a Follow
Ask for a follow with a hyper-follow link in your unique way of speaking. Share any press you’ve received to convert people who haven’t taken your song seriously yet.
Day 14: Story Variation
Bring back a variation of the story you shared on day one. Change some words and details to keep getting traction. Post memes or beautiful imagery with your song in the background.
Day 15: Release Lyric Video
Release your lyric video or visualizer. Talk about the visuals or mood of the song. Single out some lyrics and expand upon them. Post the best-performing TikToks as YouTube shorts and Instagram Reels.
Day 16: Playlist Updates
Remind people about the lyric video and add it to your YouTube playlist. Ensure your song is in all your Spotify playlists, including your artist playlist and discography ones, and share those.
Day 17: Playlist Sharing
Share your updated playlist of similar artists on Spotify and tag them. Post the hook of your song in your lyric video to TikTok.
Day 18-19: Weekend Light Promotion
Schedule a tweet and Instagram post for early Sunday morning to catch early birds. Use Facebook Creator Studio for Instagram and Facebook scheduling, and Tweet Deck for Twitter.
Day 20: Instagram Live
Do an Instagram Live with everyone who worked on the song or another artist. Play the song during the stream to reach new audiences.
Day 21: Get Creative
Find a new way to talk about your song. Share a recording story, reference something in the lyrics, or explain an aspect you haven’t before.
Day 22: Focus on Lyrics
Zone in on a lyric from the video and tell a story about it. Make jokes about similar lyrics in other songs and tie them back to your song.
Day 23: Story Variation
Share another variation of the main story of the song. Post it on Instagram with a caption.
Day 24: Update Music and Talk
Update your music and talk episodes, possibly bringing on a guest. Tag the smaller groups you play in the episode on Instagram and Twitter.
Day 25-26: Weekend Engagement
Ask your followers a question on Instagram and promote the song in the answers. Do a Q&A to bond with fans and drive engagement.
Day 27: Flashback Post
Post a flashback to your past and put it in context with your new song. Show how far you’ve come to keep fans engaged in your journey.
Day 28: Preview Music Video
Preview the music video with a striking image. Remind people to listen to the song and get excited for the video release.
Day 29: Release Music Video
Release the music video and go wild with promotion, treating it like release day. Turn the music video into TikToks to repeat the hook of the song.
Day 30: Keep Pushing
Continue pushing the music video and being shameless about promotion. Add the song to your music videos playlist and tell a story about the video in your YouTube stories.
Day 31: Update Playlists
Update your similar artist playlist on Spotify and tag new artists. Share user-generated content across platforms to keep engagement high.
Day 32-33: Behind the Scenes
Share behind-the-scenes footage from your music video. Create curiosity about the video by showing the imagery and what went into it.
Day 34: Show Interactions
Post interactions with fans on Twitter and Instagram, showing your personality and shedding light on the song.
Day 35: Instagram Live
Do another Instagram Live with everyone involved in the video. Play the video during the stream and invite others to join.
Day 36: Visuals
Post about one of the visuals in the music video. Give a glimpse of what’s in it and make a post about it.
Day 37: Hard at Work
Show a picture of you working on an upcoming song. Play up how the latest song is just the beginning and how it influences the new one.
Day 38: Music and Talk
Do another music and talk set, pushing your new song to similar artists’ fans. Make a graphic for it on Instagram and tweet it out.
Day 39-40: Weekend Promotion
Mix up the techniques from the previous weekends. Look through your analytics to see what worked best and repeat those strategies.
Day 41: YouTube Stories
Post behind-the-scenes content on YouTube Stories. Keep building momentum for your music video by reminding people to watch it.
Day 42: Thirst Trap
Post a picture from when you were younger with the hook of your song in it on Instagram and TikTok. Review user-generated content and post the best on YouTube shorts.
Day 43-60: Continue Promotion
Either start promoting a new version of your song or continue pushing the original song. Sustain the promotion until the next song comes out, using the same techniques.
In the TikTok era, extended promotion is crucial. Keep showing people you’re taking your song seriously and remind them to listen. Continue these patterns until your next release, and be flexible with promoting good user-generated content from previous songs. Study my video on what to do on release day for more detailed guidance.