Musical.ly campaign best practices
There's a big opportunity right now to break your artists on Musical.ly. Here's what you need to know to run a successful marketing campaign on the platform.
The snippet
The most important decision you'll make is selecting which 15-second segment to use. Lip syncs are the most popular style of performance on the app so your snippet must feature identifiable lyrics with prominent nouns and verbs. Any hooks or drops that you can fit in are a bonus. Watch this video for inspiration from some of the most successful track snippets to date.
Note: Despite the massive user base, uploading snippets properly remains a challenge on Musical.ly. There are various steps required to ensure that (1) your title appears correctly (2) your song is searchable from the "Discover" section and (3) the correct artwork is displayed. Send us a note and we'll help you get set up.
Timing
The Musical.ly audience is in school during the week, so start your campaign on Thursday or Friday to maximize exposure over the weekend. We'll update you on changes once school gets out for summer, but stick to weekends for now.
Artist participation
Get your artist on the app with a complete profile, just as you would for Twitter or Instagram. Create a video announcing the campaign and post it to Twitter with an @musicallyapp mention. This not only builds awareness for the campaign but alerts the Musical.ly editors to your launch, which will dramatically increase your chances of getting "featured" on the app's homepage (the main objective). Reference these Flo Rida and Meghan Trainor announcements as examples, but steer clear of disingenuous catastrophes like this one from Adam Lambert. Kick off your campaign with a series of artist-generated musicals featuring your track and the designated hashtag. Watch the tutorial videos below for a Musical.ly crash course. Pro tip: always use FAST mode.
The narrative
A simple narrative will dramatically improve the velocity of engagement around your campaign. Build the campaign around a central trend that fans can be a part of. The easiest way is to create a challenge. Desiigner's #pandachallenge and Kent Jones' #dontmindchallenge are great examples. What's your narrative?
Engage
Fans (called "musers") are on Musical.ly to feel significant and become famous, so do your part. Help the best user-generated musicals of your track get discovered by reposting them to Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Mention the muser whenever possible and always reply to comments.
Amplify
It's perfectly acceptable to enlist influencers to kickstart and amplify your campaign. Experienced influencers will even run their own contests that encourage fans to take part in your challenge for a chance to win a BFF or Duet. What's a BFF or Duet? How do you engage with Musical.ly influencers? That's where we come in. Click below to get in touch and we'll show you how.