8 Ways to Improve your SoundCloud Channel’s Engagement

From aspiring singers to experienced stage performers, SoundCloud has helped a lot of skilled people in sharing their music and promoting their talent, but how come we sometimes find it hard to bring people to our SoundCloud channel?

Here are 8 simple ways to improve your channel engagement and get more people to listen to your music:

1. Establish what kind of artist you want to be

Before any business begins to prosper, aspiring businessmen first think of what kind of business they want to do and what kind of services they want to provide. Singing and promoting one’s music is pretty much the same. Do you want to be a laidback singer who sings chill songs? Do you want to rock it out with the electric guitar? Do you want to be known for making awesome renditions and covers of popular songs?

Knowing what kind of artist you want to be will help you come up with goals that can help you lift your music career. It will also be easier for you to know your target market and focus on that.

2. Know your target market

SoundCloud’s listeners range from indie music lovers to rock listeners to everything else in between. With this wide range of fan plethora, it is essential to know what kind of people you want to share your music with. Begin with an idea of what kind of listeners you would like to have, still keeping in mind what kind of artist you want to be. Expand your awareness in the music community by attending various gigs, concerts, and open mic nights to give you an idea of what kind of fan base you would like to have.

Once you have recognized the kind of people that you want to be into your music, highlight the songs from your SoundCloud channel that you want your potential fan base to pay attention to the most.

3. Choose your best material

After establishing the kind of artist and the kind of market that you want to focus on, it’s time to recognize your best works and highlight them on SoundCloud. Be sure to maximize SoundCloud’s spotlight feature to bring your favorite works on top of your channel. This feature lets you pin up to five tracks and calls visitors’ attention to listen to them first. Remember — first impressions last. The first five tracks that you highlight on your profile should be the best ones to keep your listeners interested and in the zone with your music.

Tip: You can also use the spotlight feature when you just released a new song!

4. Tag, tag, and tag!

That’s right — the hashtags that you see on social media aren’t just there for nothing. Tags can help searchers and listeners in finding the content that they want to see and hear. Tags make your tracks easy to search and give your music more chances of being found by potential fans. Some helpful tags that you can use for your tracks are a genre, artist name (for song covers), album titles (for song covers), similar artists, and mood of the song.

Another reason why it’s important to tag your tracks is that SoundCloud has a recommendation system that suggests certain tracks to avid listeners. With the right tags on your music, it will be easier for potential fans to find your music and for you to grow your fan base.

5. Share on social media pages

Maximize other platforms by sharing your SoundCloud profile on your different social media accounts. Include a catchy caption when sharing that would really get your family, friends and even acquaintances to click that link and listen to your music. This strategy also gives higher chances of having your profile shared by others.

It would also be helpful to host some gimmicks on your social media platforms to bring attention to your SoundCloud. One of the many things that pique people’s interest are contests. You could ask people to listen to your music and post about their favorite track and why. Choose one winner who gets a prize and reminds all the listeners to stay tuned for more. Once you get your prospective fans to be on the lookout for your posts, you could already ask questions and make polls on their opinions and on what they want to hear next.

Social media can really help you promote your SoundCloud, increase your fan base, hear them out, and interact with them in the process!

6. Get to know the community online and offline

Millions of SoundCloud users share their tracks and content every day. Socialize with other users by following their profiles, commenting on their work and sharing their tracks. Give a descriptive comment to their work and occasionally add a constructive comment when needed. Users who receive comments from other users tend to check their profiles out and give it a follow. Consequently, pay attention to those who follow you and give comments on your work. It is best to follow them back to establish rapport with you and your fellow user.

For the online community, it’s easy to say that you talk to fellow musicians and interact with them through platforms, but another effective way to actually give yourself exposure is to get to know the community without using the internet. When attending gigs and concerts, get to know the event goers or, if possible, the performer. This will help you have a wider idea of the music industry and the people who are in it.

7. Put yourself out there

Sharing on social media may seem enough, but for maximum engagement and promotion, don’t be afraid to put yourself out there and give your music the exposure that it deserves! Join gigs, music contests, open mic nights, talent shows, and any event that caters to musicians and performers like you! This is the best way to heighten your music career and promote your SoundCloud while you’re at it. Who knows? There may even be a talent scout somewhere in the audience!

8. Continue expanding your network

Consistency is key in any career, even in engaging your SoundCloud channel! Grab every opportunity to expand your network, be it in an event or on social media. People are always searching for new music, so even when you feel that you’ve gathered enough audience, remember that grabbing opportunities and expanding your network can lead you to the right path of promoting your music.

Like any other stuff that we work on, a successful SoundCloud engagement won’t happen overnight. Be consistent with your content creation and follower interaction to strongly establish connections and possibly amplify your music career. Keep aiming for the highest and do not be afraid to try.