Social Media Marketing For Artists: How to Build Your Fanbase Online

Building a fanbase online takes time, consistency, and strategy, especially at the beginning. 

The good news? 

The tools and insights that were once limited to major labels are now accessible to every artist.

Why Social Media Marketing for Artists Matters

When you hear Social Media Marketing for Artists, it can sound like this big, daunting thing that needs a large budget and help from a big team or label. While those things can help, they’re not necessary to grow online today.

Social media has changed the way people discover and engage with music. Before, exposure relied heavily on radio, touring, or playlist placements. Now, algorithms and audiences reward artists who show up consistently and authentically. It’s not only a way to promote new music, but it’s where fanbases are built. 

According to TikTok and MRC/Data (Luminate):

• 74% of users are more likely to discover and share new music on social and short-form video platforms
• 84% of all songs that entered the Billboard Global 200 this year 'went viral' (i.e. had a period of high engagement) on TikTok beforehand

These numbers show how much opportunity there is for artists on these social platforms.

Before she had global hits, Tate McRae built a massive, loyal online audience through her YouTube series Create With Tate and by posting on TikTok. Fans didn’t just like her content – they asked her to keep posting original music.

That early engagement directly shaped her artist career, led to a record deal, and proved how powerful having a loyal, engaged audience can be. 

She’s a reminder that social media marketing for artists is about connection, storytelling, and visibility. You're turning followers into listeners, and listeners into fans. 

But remember, fan relationships are built, not bought. You’re fostering a community of people who connect with you and your music, and thus, with each other. 

And when it comes to fanbase growth, engagement matters more than follower count. A small group of engaged fans who stream your songs, buy merch, and share your music is far more valuable than thousands of passive followers. 

Define Your Artist Brand

A strong brand creates familiarity. It helps fans know what to expect from you musically, visually, and emotionally. It’s your personality, your story, your tone, and how people feel when they see your name and listen to your music - how people identify you as an artist. 

Before you jump straight into posting, take time to understand who you are as an artist – your Artist DNA. You can start by asking yourself questions like: 

• How do you want to position yourself? What’s the narrative you want to share?
• Describe your target audience (Who you want to connect with)
• What are some themes, imagery, & concepts that define your artistry? What’s your aesthetic? (Make a Pinterest board!)
• What is your background and its influence, if any, on your music and identity?
• How do you plan to engage with your audience? What does connection look like for you?

The more authentic you are, the stronger your brand becomes. Artists like Sabrina Carpenter and ROLE MODEL have built massive audiences by leaning into who they are musically and personally:

• Sabrina Carpenter leans into storytelling, confidence, and humor - her personality is a core part of her appeal
• ROLE MODEL’s brand is rooted in simplicity, introspection, and a sarcastic/humorous conversational tone

Their content and music are immediately recognizable before you see their name or face. Not because of a massive budget, but because they have a clear and consistent identity.

Create Content That Connects

One of the biggest shifts in social media marketing for artists is that fans want more than music - they want context. Behind-the-scenes (BTS) content, vlog-style content, song breakdowns, and small personal moments perform because they invite fans into your world. 

According to Edelman’s 2023 Trust Barometer, 90% of consumers say authenticity is a key factor in choosing which brands they support. 

This applies to artists too. When fans feel included and a part of something bigger, you and your music become more than a product. It becomes something they’re invested in. 

Start to build out brand pillars or tiers based on what type of content your audience wants to see and what you want to create. For example, you could have promo, personality, and process as your content pillars, and then break down content ideas under each:

• Promotional Content: Releases, Interview clips, Music Videos/Visualizers, etc.
• Process Content (Music-Related): Clips from writing or studio sessions, rehearsal footage, BTS from photo shoots, early demos, etc.
• Personality Content (Lifestyle/Trends): Vlogs, trends/trending audios on TikTok and Instagram, etc – anything that shows who you are offstage and beyond your music

A great example of this is Sabrina Carpenter’s ‘Nonsense’ outros during the Emails I Can’t Send tour. She rewrote each outro uniquely for each city, creating a viral, fan-led moment. Fans posted these clips online, generating over 650K TikToks using the song.

It worked because it felt genuine and aligned with her personality and brand, not a forced trend.

The biggest advantage of social media marketing for artists is control. You choose what to share, how to share it, and what type of audience you want to attract. 

Don’t stress about going viral. Focus on consistency and quality. Posting with intention, even twice a week, creates a rhythm and reliability. And slow, steady growth through storytelling is what leads to loyal, long-term fans. 

Engage With Intention: Turn an Audience Into a Community

Engagement is one of the most overlooked parts of social media growth. Artists often focus on posting but forget that connection is what builds a loyal fanbase. 

Engagement can look like: 

• Responding to comments on your videos / Commenting on other creators’ posts
• Reposting and sharing fan covers or edits (credit/tag them)
• Starting conversations in the captions, rather than just posting announcements
• Creating a broadcast channel for exclusive updates and content
• Going live on TikTok or Instagram (even for 5-10min)
• Using Story polls, Q&As, stickers, and other engagement features
• Dueting & stitching fans who use your sound or with other creators

You can also engage through content. Fan-led participation, often called user-generated content (UGC), is one of the most effective organic (not paid) marketing strategies.

It’s as simple as following fanpages or encouraging fans to duet a song, share their interpretations, take part in a challenge, or use your audio in videos. 

Joe Jonas and the Jonas Brothers are a great example of how consistent, genuine engagement builds community. Even in the mid-2000s, they were interacting with fans through YouTube vlogs, MySpace updates, and BTS content long before it became a standard strategy. 

Today, Joe Jonas is known for being “chronically online” in the best way. He duets fan videos on TikTok, lives in the comment sections of fan videos (and random viral videos), reposts show clips, and plays into memes and trending audio.

He and a fan even started a trend around the Brother’s song ‘Backwards,’ which led to the “Backwards Girl” on their current tour. Engaging with fans keeps them a part of his and the band’s world, while also creating moments that reach new listeners.

The most successful artists treat their fans like collaborators, not consumers. You want your fans to feel like they’re a part of your process, but it’s important for you, the artist, to keep creative control.

When Sabrina Carpenter retired the ‘Nonsense’ outros, she took control of the narrative. She didn’t ignore fans who loved it. Instead, she created a new inside joke on the Short & Sweet Tour - a spoken intro paired with a staged “mic cut-out” bit to replace the outro.

Fans embraced it because it felt intentional and connected to their shared history with the song, and it created tons of new UGC content around it.

This is what effective engagement looks like: intentional, authentic, and rooted in your relationship with your audience.

Use Platform Tools Like Labels Do

You don’t need a label’s marketing budget to analyze your growth. Most major platforms now offer free, built-in tools that can give you valuable insights like who your listeners are, where they’re located, what content they replay, and what drives shares, saves, and growth. 

Some platforms to use include: Spotify for Artists, TikTok for Artists, TikTok & YouTube Studio, and Meta Insights.

You can also get strategic about playlisting and run digital ad campaigns like TikTok Spark Ads, Instagram boosts, or targeted seeding campaigns once you know your campaign goal(s). Get clear on if you want to direct to a song, project, playlist, ticket sales, merch sales, or another social profile. 

Laufey is an artist who uses platform tools effectively. She has talked about using Spotify for Artists features like playlist pitching and video tools (Clips and Canvas) to drive discovery and fan engagement. 

She also looked at where her listeners were most concentrated, which helped her plan touring strategy and connect with those fans before even performing there. Her strategic use of Spotify for Artist’s tools helped Bewitched become the biggest jazz album debut in Spotify history. 

Some other helpful tools for digital and social media marketing for artists are:

• Bandsintown’s Artist Marketplace – connects independent artists with 30+ third-party tools for distribution, data, and merch (manage tours, marketing, and fan-growth in one hub)
• Un:hurd – a tool to help with marketing automation across Spotify, TikTok, YouTube, and Meta (They do have budget-friendly plans!)

Measure, Learn, and Refine

Growth isn’t linear, and it’s rarely immediate. Early progress might look small - a few more saves, consistent comments, or one post outperforming the rest. 

But don’t be discouraged. Those are all signs of momentum.

Use analytics as a creative feedback loop. Rather than jumping straight to “this post didn’t perform,” ask yourself:

• Did it resonate with your audience?
• Are you posting at your top times? (varies per platform)
• Should you switch up the format? (Text on-screen, captions, emojis, hashtags, etc)
• How can you test a similar idea in a new way?

The best-performing artists online are the ones who iterate. They review, adapt, and adjust rather than abandon strategies too soon. 

Noah Kahan posted 20+ snippets of “Stick Season” before releasing it. Through comments, likes, and stitches, fans weighed on what resonated with them the most. By release day, people already felt connected to the song, helping the album spend 9 weeks in the Billboard Top 10.

This is what separates artists who use social media from those who understand it. Artists who grow online aren’t “lucky” - they’re iterative and consistent. They see each post as data, and they're able to adjust and adapt as needed.

Build Systems You Own: Merge Online & Offline

You don’t have to rely only on social media. You can mix it in with some other tools and use social to push towards those initiatives or vice versa:

• A newsletter (Mailchimp, Beehiiv)
• A Discord Server or Instagram Broadcast Channel/Subscription
• An email list or Laylo number

Maggie Rogers is an artist who uses newsletters intentionally. She sends long-form thoughts, updates, and BTS reflections that feel like personal letters rather than marketing emails, deepening the artist-fan relationship.

These “owned channels” give her stability no matter how algorithms change. They also allow her to identify demand and interested fans to continue reaching out to for merch, tours, new releases, and more.

Integrating small steps like these with your social strategy helps you understand your audience better and gives you ways to reach fans directly when you’re ready for bigger announcements. And you can use them to inform what you do on your socials. 

Fanbases Aren’t Built Overnight, But They Are Built Online

Social media marketing for artists isn’t about chasing viral moments. There’s no shortcut to growing a fanbase online. 

You can build visibility, test ideas, and connect directly with listeners in new, creative ways to create a world people want to be a part of. 

It’s about knowing how to show up, experiment, and connect. You already have the tools to start, and your future fans are already online, waiting to discover you.

✍️ Written by Sabrina Messinger