Proppa's Ultimate Social Media Guide

Up until recently I’ve been a bit reluctant to talk to you guys about social media content. Sure, I’ve always been able to make and post content semi-regularly. But my ratio of followers to engagement never proved that I was good at it. I don’t know how it just clicked, or why i decided to start really caring, but recently I’ve had a few epiphanies concerning social media. Since these epiphanies, I’ve had 2 viral videos and a few semi-viral videos on both Instagram and TikTok. My engagement is waaayyy way up. And even normal old posts that are similar to what I used to do are seeing a major increase engagement. Time I start sharing the knowledge.

Before we move on, know that this post is long. It’s gonna tell you a lot of things that you don’t want to hear, but have maybe heard already. Right now, I have a handful of my favorite DJs in my inbox asking to work. None of this shit was happening for me till I started playing the social media game, my music didn't change.

Let’s get past the ego part. You are not too cool to make content. You are also not too uncool to make content. This whole “I’m gonna look stupid” thing is bs. We are DJs. We are attempting to do a profession that keeps us in the limelight 24/7. If you can’t deal with presenting yourself to a bunch of people online then you’re in the wrong profession here. Many people have referenced other artists to me “well he/she doesn’t make stupid reels content”. No, maybe they don’t, but they fall into 1 of 3 categories.

1. 🏳️ marked safe from the Tiktok era—they got famous before all of this tiktok/insta nonsense became the norm.

2. 🔎 They ARE doing content, just not in a way that’s immediately apparent to you. In this post, I’ll talk to you about how artists like PAWSA and CLOONEE are marketing in sly and ingenious ways.

3. 💵 They are rich or have connections or both and we don’t so suck it up

I see so many people posting about “this stupid social media stuff is cringe, nobody cares about the music, I just wanna make music, the algorithm is broken, yadda yadda yadda.” I used to be the person who posted this kind of stuff, so I’m calling myself out here. Guess what, things have literally never changed since the dawn of the music industry. Marketing has been an integral part of the industry forever. In fact, it’s actually easier than EVER to become a full time musician BECAUSE of social media marketing. If you saw what some of these famous pop stars and bands from back in the day had to do to market their music, you’d flip your selfie camera on immediately and start filming TikToks with a smile. Not only were there much more restrictive mediums to promote music like TV, magazine, and radio—but often times the artist(s) had no say in the way they were portrayed. Even beyond that, you needed to have a “marketable look” in order for any majors to consider you, doesn’t that sound a bit like Instagram and TikTok just...worse?

Anyways, enough of me yelling at you, here’s my Instagram numbers from the recent month, compared to my Instagram numbers from June—the month before I started figuring this out:

There are a bunch of takeaways just from looking at these numbers, but the most important aspect I’ve realized in retrospect is non-followers. Of course we wanna reach non-followers, it seems like a given. But rarely do we make content specifically to grab those non-followers’ attention. I always made content with the mindset of “if my (then) 6000 followers all engaged with my posts, I’d be doing well”. I now realize how much time I wasted trying to get THEM to see and like my posts. THEY are not my target audience, I already have them. Now, about 75% of my posts are with the intent of capturing a new audience, with the remaining 25% speaking directly to my already established audience. This has been the key

Now that all of the basics are out of the way, lets get into the details

Making content

There’s obviously a fundamental requirement here for basic technological literacy, which you have if you’re a producer. You have to spend time figuring out some things. There are levels to this shit and each level has chances of going viral. If you don’t have pro video editing skills, learning how to navigate the recording and editing in apps like Insta, TikTok, Snapchat, and CapCut is of HUGE benefit to you.

What I use to make content:

• My phone

• OBS Studio

• Final Cut Pro

• Snapchat

• Capcut

When it comes down to it, there are ultimately 2 categories of instagram posts conveyed in 2 possible methods:

CATEGORIES:

• Content to attract new fans—Typically trendy, does not assume the audience knows anything about you or your music. You can have a lot of fun with this (reference my roommate videos on insta)

• Content to make your current fans happy—This is the more personal stuff. If you abuse this type of content then your followers and friends will be less inclined to engage with it, you have to do it methodically. 

METHODS (self explanatory):

• Reels/Tiktoks—Trends, hooking content, clickbaiting, really good music—This is where you hook people to watch a video where they ultimately end up listening to your music. You can also speak to your current followers through this method but it’s not as affective. Will elaborate

• Carousels/Stacks (photos and videos)—this shit is almost 99% guaranteed to only reach your followers, so you gotta be sure it’s worth of engagement. But if it’s good, your followers WILL respond

HOW TO COME UP WITH IDEAS

This is the secret sauce. This is the meat of it all. Content ideas. When you don’t start with a good idea, the content falls flat on its face. No matter what.

What I came to realize is that we have to treat content ideas no different than we treat music production ideas. We all use references all the time. We all pull ideas from other songs and apply them to our own. Even further, we all do REMIXES too–Where we literally pull the ideas as is and put our own spin on it. With that said, the BEST way to get VIRAL ideas is… REMIXING CONTENT.

I started doing this on my own a few months ago, I called it “copying” until I heard Goshfather calling it “remixing content”. It makes perfect sense. You take a viral content idea, apply your own spin on it and use it to promote your own music, you’re remixing content. I’ve come to realize that pretty much most big creators, not even in the music space, are just remixing content.

When I made my viral Waka Flocka reel with snapchat filters, I got that idea from this Don Darkoe video and put my own spin on it. I acknowledge it in the comments and to anyone who asks. I bet he got the idea from something else too. This is what we do as producers and what we should do as creators.

vvv MY BEST ADVICE TO KEEP GETTING NEW INSPIRATION AND TRAIN YOUR ALGO vvv

When I like a video and it sort of inspires me to make content (even if it isn't related to music) I first like the video to let my algo know that's the type of content I want. I then hit share and share it with my own instagram inbox, and then text the link of the video to myself. The share helps train your algorithm further, the texting to yourself is saving for later.

Now, when you're trying to brainstorm content ideas, first make sure you completely quit out of the instagram app. Make sure next time you open instagram it's a fresh session. Open up your texts with yourself and click on any video that seems like the best inspo for what you need. Start scrolling down from that video without exploring instagram anywhere else, and the algorithm will start favoring videos that are closely related to the one you initially opened. I'm constantly finding new ideas for videos this way. It's how I figured out the roommate video scheme, it's how I started working DJ content and meme/jokes into my feed.

Just like in production, we develop ideas unil they become our style, our formula. We could have multiple formulas too. This is an essential part of sustainable content creation. As you're trying new ideas, and PAYING ATTENTION TO WHICH ONES ARE GETTING THE MOST SHARES, REPLAYS, ETC., you need to take those succesful ideas and develop them further. Having formulas that are easy for you to recreate makes the content process easy, keeps your audience familiar with you, all that good stuff.

Right now, the two formulas that I'm constantly developing are my Roommate Snapchat videos, and my OBS Split Screen Videos. These videos do consistently well for me. Other than that, I'm constantly looking for new ideas to fill in the gaps. With that said I'M EXTREMELY CAREFUL TO NOT OVERUSE ANY OF MY CONTENT STYLES. I DIVERSIFY MY PAGE TO NOT BORE MY AUDIENCE. Not to mention that if you lean too hard into one content style, it's hard for promoters to consider you for bookings. They want to see you in the stu, and djing, and on the road, and being a homie in the scene. So diversify.

What helps engagement, what tanks engagement

THIS IS ALSO EXTREMELY IMPORTANT. READ THIS IF YOUR ENGAGMENT SUCKS. PLEASE DEAR GOD THIS IS SO IMPORTANT.

It's easier to first list what tanks engagement that what helps so let me start there

What tanks engagement:

• Reposting videos to your feed from stories, especially with story text on them. Instagram wants to differentiate content from stories and feed, keep it fresh. They know when content is reshared between the two and don't like it

• Follow gates from hypeddit, will elaborate later in the writeup

• Lots of talking in the beginning before you get to your point. If you're gonna show people a song on the internet, remember they have no attention span left. Literally any talking is gonna get them to swipe past your video. Just show them the damn song.

• Starting your video with "whats up guys/hey fam/whats up yall" basically acting like the people landing on your video already know you. Instant alienation. Naturally YOU YOURSELF scroll past videos like this if you don't have a direct connection to the creator. Doing this was okay in 2015 but in a world where we fight over vast algorithms, that ain't grabbing nobody's attention.

• Directly asking people to support your music, or very obviously and plainly claiming the song you're sharing is yours. I'll get into this more, but people just don't want to support random people on the internet anymore. It's not a bad thing. There are so many people fighting for attention online right now, you really have to be substantial to catch attention. People are more inclined to support an artist if someone else shows them that artist. You can make content that leans into this sentiment and tricks people into supporting you. "my new track/i made this.../etc/" is an instant swipe past the video, you do it to.

• Using phrases like "out now" "link in bio" "buy/purchase now" "Follow/Subscribe" "discount/sale/deal" "Share/tag/comment" "kill/gun/etc." or offensive language. These are all things that instagram immediately flags. They don't want you directing traffic off of their app, and if you're gonna make sales they want you doing it with THEIR features. They flag bad language for obvious reasons. But you get it. Find more sly ways to say "out now".

• Any content made for djs or producers. Unless what you're sharing with them is extremely substantial, you're severely siphoning off your potential audience. Djs and Producers are such a miniscule part of your audience. And even so, when they're scrolling instagram they're generally looking to be entertained. So throw a net over the largest possible audience you can, and make your content geared towards everyone (or at least all fans of electronic music in general)

• Videos of a CD/CIRCLE spinning with your music playing posted as a reel. Post that shit in carousels with other photos and stuff but STOP POSTING THOSE AS REELS AND TIKTOKS. THEY DON'T WORK AND THEY WILL NEVER FUCKING WORK.

Now let's move into...

What helps engagement

• (You'll notice nearly everything in this list could be dumbed down to comments and shares)

• Nostalgia. Anything nostalgic really drives up comments and shares

• Not letting people hear as much of the song as you probably want to. This forces replays, makes them follow for a part 2 or more of your music in general

• Getting IMMEDIATELY to the point of the video. if the point of the video is to show your music then get right to the point. Don't give them 10 seconds of buildup if there's nothing substantial happening in the buildup. I allow maximum 1 second buffer before getting into the meat of the video (nostalgic vocal, big synth/drop, etc.). Anything longer loses the audience attention span.

• Using text on the screen and in caption that starts a conversation. You need to actually try to start a conversation though. Not just "rate this drop" or "should I drop this". That's lazy and way overplayed, that doesn't drive up meaningful conversations. Ask a meaningful question that requires people to use multiple words. My roommate videos use jokes that make people comment and add to the joke. My Waka Flocka Snapchat video said "my manager told me to use more of instagrams features when posting my music" and there are so many comments about my manager it's crazy. THAT'S what drives more engagement.

• Saying LESS. You can have some long text posts, they actually do great sometimes, but only when you do it sparingly. You don't need to add 5 "wait for the drops" or a life story behind every 30 second ID you have. The less you say the better. Keep it tight. Short punchy text and speaking in your videos that makes people engage. No more.

• Any slight bit of editing. As long as you don't overdo it, a tiny bit of post camera movement or effects goes a long way. You can do this stuff in capcut. Even camera shake helps soooo much on the drops. Static videos from the studio really need that slight bit of movement.

• Anything that doesn't feel scripted, try-hard, too perfect. I literally fake those snapchat roommate videos. I record them, add the handshake and zoom/movement with music in final cut pro. Degrade the footage, throw it in snapchat and add the text, and then post it. I'm actually trying hard to make sure my videos DON'T feel scripted and instead feel natural. Low quality videos really slap. They just do.

I wanna just talk about a few things here. One of the most important things is that just going on video and saying something along the lines of "This is my new remix of ______ out now on _____" will never work. People do NOT respond to that in your face promotion. They want to stumble into your music on accident.

Some tricks to VIRALITY

One of the most important things I've learned over the last few months is this..

SEPARATE YOUR CONTENT HOOK FROM YOUR GOAL. THE CONTENT IS NOT YOUR MUSIC, THE CONTENT IS MADE TO DRIVE PEOPLE TO YOUR MUSIC

This is the key to everything I was saying in the lists about what helps and tanks engagement. If you're able to make this distinction in your head, your engagement will skyrocket. My most popular videos featuring my music are almost never "about my music". The music is my ulterior motive, my primary concern is entertaining whoever is watching the video. I make jokes, I tell an inspiring story, I give tips, etc. Whatever is happening in the video throws the net on the broad audience, the music complimentary. If they notice the music and like it, they'll investigate it. I would rather have 100k views and 500 people click on my song than 1000 views and 100 people click on my song. Sometimes that conversion ratio isn't as important as reaching new ears.

I want to show you how much of a difference wording has on virality. HERE IS A ROOMMATE VIDEO THAT DID WELL. Now HERE IS A ROOMATE VIDEO THAT DID NOT DO WELL

Notice how in the video that did well, there was a relatable joke. Everyone in the comments is relating to the roommate joke or expanding upon it. In the video that didn't do well, I alientated a significant portion of new viewers because I'm talking about a festival specifically in Chicago. I said "it's done" as if the view knows what I'm talking about already. I learned a LOT from the mistakes I made on that video. CAST A LARGE NET

A few more rules...

As I mentioned above, follow gates are really bad for your page. It's a lot to explain, but essentially follow-to-download on hypeddit for social media creates dead followers. Whenever you follow someone, instagram will show you their latest few posts immediately on their feed. If you don't interact with any of those posts, instagram will basically never show you any more of their posts unless you go searching for them. This inevitably happens every time you follow someone from a third party app like Hypeddit. If you rack up a ton of dead followers, Instagram stops recommending your posts to your followers and the discover pages in general. A VERY SIMILAR REACTION ACTUALLY HAPPENS WITH THE SPOTIFY ALGORITHM AS WELL. Basically, what I'm saying is, keep your follow to download gates strictly on Soundcloud or apps that don't have an algorithm to disturb.

One more thing I want to discuss is BOOSTING POSTS. I basically, highly advise AGAINST BOOSTING POSTS. DO NOT BOOST POSTS. I can go on about this for hours as someone who used to boost posts because they were fed up with engagement. If your content isn't being engaged with, no amount of money is gonna force random people to actually enjoy the post. There are actually 3 major setbacks to boosting posts on both Instagram and Tiktok

1. You mess with your algorithm. Essentially even if you specify region, when you boost a post it is going to snag all accounts it possibly could. This often includes bot accounts, hacked accounts, dead accounts, randoms that are barely within your realm, etc. These are ALL ACCOUNTS THAT YOU DO NOT WANT IN YOUR ALGORITHM. THESE ARE NOT ACCOUNTS THAT WILL SHARE YOUR POSTS, FOLLOW YOU, OR TRAIN YOUR ALGO TO AN AUDIENCE. THE LIKES YOU GET FROM BOOSTING POSTS ARE THE OPPOSITE OF THE AUDIENCE THAT YOU WANT. THEY ARE ACTUALLY HURTING YOUR ALGORITHM. Unless you want to be boosting every single post, stop doing it.

2. You are completely robbing yourself of an opportunity to learn from statistics. The stats you get off of your profile, and responses from real humans are so important. When you boost a post, you can't get a real reading of how that post actually performed, and you will never learn about engagement, you won't learn from your mistakes. It's essentially like using a ghost producer, or taking steroids in the MLB. You will be stuck doing it forever till you burn out cause you'll never learn to post without it. STOP DOING IT.

3. EVERYONE CAN TELL. Literally, everybody could tell that you boosted a post. It looks arguably worse than a post that just did bad engagement. It's extremely obvious. Just don't do it.

Leave post boosting to the labels and promoters. They have people that work for them and specifically handle those types of things/know exactly what to do to not disturb the force. it's like playing with nuclear chemistry, leave it to the pros.

When/How often to post

This is a tough subject. Because it ultimately comes down to the type of content you do. If you do extremely high quality content (VFX and crazy edits), it’s okay to post infrequently. HOWEVER (big HOWEVER) you have to be damn sure that your content is GOLD. Because THE MODERN AUDIENCE ON SOCIAL MEDIA DOES NOT RESPOND WELL TO HIGH QUALITY CONTENT. THEY WANT RELATABLE SHIT.

So let’s act like you’re not all VFX artists. We’re just musicians making content from our studio and our gigs. And in that case, you technically should be posting every day, even multiple times a day if you can. It's not required, and you are fine to post 2-3 times a week. BUT every day is really good.

MYTH: Posting every day/multiple times will overwhelm/annoy your followers

REALITY: We are reaching for non-followers, don’t overthink that. Your followers aren’t hawking over your profile all day. They appreciate seeing you shine, I promise, from experience.

MYTH: Posting every day or even more than once a day will hurt your algorithm

REALITY: Instagram and TikTok favor profiles with high activity, no matter what. Your fav meme pages post 3-5 times a day

MYTH: Posting daily will make you run out of content ideas

REALITY: Posting daily helps you dial in your content strategy and create easy to follow formulas that make frequent posting easier

MYTH: Posting daily is too much work

REALITY: Don’t complain about that shit if your dream is to be a full time, touring, electronic music artist. That’s silly. Look at what we’re trying to do with our career. How bad do you want this shit?

How do I keep up with that schedule? That's insane?

Well, for starters I'll reference back to having formulas. Having a go to content formula that's easy to set up and execute, and guaranteed to at least do average numbers and keep your pages running is key. If I don't have anything to post, I know I could do a quick OBS split screen and be good.

That said, one of the most iMPORTANT things I've learned in this is that MUCH LIKE MUSIC PRODUCTION, IT'S IMPORTANT TO HAVE UNRELEASED POSTS READY TO FIRE OFF ALL THE TIME. On any given day I have like 3-4 drafts or scheduled posts on my socials. I can create half a week of posts in one night and be done with it for a few days. Have a back catalogue of videos, photos, cool things ready for action, it's so important.

Okay but where should I post and when?

The breakdown is:

Instagram - 1-2 times a day

Tiktok - 1-5 times a day

Instagram

There’s a bit more strategy involved here. If you're gonna post twice a day:

You CAN post (either/or):

• 2 reels

• 1 reel & 1 carousel/photo+video post

You SHOULD NOT post:

• 2 carousel/photo+video post

Tiktok

Post as much as you want, whenever you want honestly. As I'm writing this—I put up 3 videos yesterday with the second one being around 7pm. That one is currently going viral at 150k views and 17k likes. The Tiktok algo works in mysterious ways, they encourage you to post as much as possible. My way of being the most efficient about this, is that my videos get workshopped on tiktok first and then perfected for instagram. Anything that does well on tiktok, I know it'll probably do well or even better on instagram, especially with some slight tweaks. I can look at the average moment where people swipe away from the video and make sure I hook them quicker than that on instagram.

Time of day

Stop worrying about what time of day you're posting, I think the only real thing is that you don't want to post later at night. I post literally between 10am-7pm depending on the day. I have videos go viral the next day after laying with 60 likes for 12 hours, so i really can't say there's any truth to a specific time being "best".

SOME FINAL THOUGHTS AND RULES

It's really easy to get discouraged but please don't. Testing out different methods is ultimately gonna start out bad, you might think it's not working because the engagement when you try new things might be low, but it's important to keep working on it. Just like music production, it takes practice. Lots of it. You can't expect things to start getting better over night, but you also can't expect your social media to ever do better unless you start making an active effort to change. If you want this bad, you'll do it.

I'm probably gonna make updates to this as I see fit and learn new tricks. I know this is long but the information I shared here is SO SO SO valuable. Discuss in the comments. Love ya'll 🫶🏻