TikTok has taken off over the last few years. As a musician, it offers you the opportunity to jam alongside your heroes, create viral videos, build your following, and much more. In this blog, we’ll provide you with some evergreen advice on using TikTok as a musician.
What is TikTok?
At its simplest, TikTok is a social media app. It is similar to Instagram in that it is a platform with a visual focus.
However, while the latter focuses predominantly on images, TikTok emphasises short-form video. TikTok itself tells us:
TikTok is the leading destination for short-form mobile video. Our mission is to inspire creativity and bring joy.
On a practical level, this means you can make all sorts of edits to your videos, including filters, enhancements, effects, and more. You can also utilise post templates that include face morphing and split-screen.
A brief history of TikTok
TikTok’s origin story doesn’t have the same grassroots feel as Facebook’s. However, it also contains elements of controversy.
Originally a Chinese-made app called Musical.ly, TikTok is actually an amalgamation of several different apps that happened when Musical.ly was bought by another Chinese tech giant called ByteDance in 2018 and was subsequently rebranded as TikTok.
According to Viralyft, TikTok currently has 834.3 million users around the world and, for a time, was the most downloaded app on the Apple App Store.
Both India and the US have had data concerns surrounding the app, alleging that it has links to the Chinese Government.
5 top tips for using Tik Tok as a musician
1. Do your research before joining TikTok
As with any social media site, it’s good to know what you’re getting into before you take the leap.
Before you start a profile, look at other artists in a similar genre to you and local bands in your area. Are they on TikTok? What sort of content do they post? Is it succeeding for them?
While your decision to join should ultimately depend on how much benefit you think you’ll get from it, asking questions like these and properly researching can help inform your decision.
Once you’re on TikTok, your research can help you determine the right approach.
2. Post regularly on TikTok
There is nothing worse than an abandoned social media account.
All too often, you come across Facebook or Twitter profiles that were started for bands that are either long since defunct or just chronically underused.
If you’re looking to get the most out of TikTok as a musician, you should be posting new content regularly – potentially posting short content up to five times a day if you are really looking to grow a substantial following.
3. Use the current TikTok trends
TikTok makes no secret of what is popular.
Whether it’s a video of a guy drinking cranberry juice on a skateboard listening to Fleetwood Mac or (dare we say it) a more serious topic, you can use these trends to try and build your audience.
The “duet” feature is a fantastic chance to showcase your skills alongside some of your heroes. Many of the popular duet videos can go viral, especially if the original artist picks them up!
4. Consider finding a TikTok niche
While it doesn’t have quite the same feel as joining a Facebook group, TikTok users still form communities around various concepts.
If you can utilise this by finding something specific in your music, instrument or style that will appeal to other TikTok users, this could prove to be a significant advantage.
Use selective hashtagging to try and highlight your USP.
5. Use TikTok to learn
In a similar way to YouTube, TikTok doesn’t just have to be about self-promotion. There will be numerous avenues to learn more about your instrument or the music industry as a whole in bitesise videos.
Use TikTok’s search function to look up topics you’re interested in. You might be surprised at who you find to learn from. Many famous artists will do TikTok videos where they break down the parts for their songs or show you behind-the-scenes snippets of rehearsals.
A selection of musician accounts to follow on Tik Tok:
Many of these accounts give the blueprints for some brilliant TikTok content, from duets to guitar lessons and funny videos to TikTok challenges.
Don’t forget; you can also read our ultimate guides to other forms of social media like Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
Are you a musician on TikTok? Do you have any advice on what has worked well for you? Post it in the comments below…
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