For years, I treated social media like another instrument I had to learn. Every time I released a song, I’d watch videos from music marketing experts explaining what I should post. I tried the trending formats. I followed the advice. I spent hours making content I didn’t enjoy because I believed that’s what successful musicians were supposed to do.
It was exhausting.
The worst part wasn’t the amount of work. It was that none of it felt like me. I’d spend an evening creating a reel, post it, watch it disappear into the void we call an algorithm, and wonder why I wasn’t just writing another song instead.
When the views didn’t come, it became even harder to stay motivated. I wasn’t only disappointed by the numbers. I was disappointed that I had spent so much creative energy on something that felt disconnected from the reason I started making music in the first place.
Eventually, the pattern became predictable. I’d work myself up to start promoting again. I’d force myself to create content I didn’t enjoy. I’d burn out. Then I’d disappear from social media for weeks or months while I focused on making music.
Ironically, the one thing that always survived was the music.
One day I caught myself thinking, “I really need to get back on social media.” Instead of opening Instagram, I asked myself a different question.
“What kind of content do I actually enjoy watching?”
Not what performs well. Not what the algorithm likes. What would I choose to watch if I weren’t a musician trying to promote a band?
The answer came almost immediately.
I love music videos.
I love album documentaries.
I love watching bands pull back the curtain and show how a record came together. I could spend hours watching Metallica’s A Year and a Half in the Life of Metallica or the short behind-the-scenes documentaries Periphery releases with each album. I enjoy interviews, podcast conversations, rig rundowns, guitar demos, and album breakdowns.
Then I noticed something. Almost none of the content I loved had anything to do with social media trends. It all revolved around one thing. The music. That realization completely changed how I think about promoting my own work. Instead of asking, “What should I post this week?” I started asking, “If I were a fan of my own band, what would I want to see?” That question was surprisingly easy to answer.
I’d want to know why a certain guitar made it onto the record. I’d want to hear the story behind a lyric. I’d want to see the music video. I’d want to watch a short documentary about how the album came together. I’d want to hear why one amp beat out another. I’d want to know what almost didn’t make the final mix.
Those are the kinds of videos I’d watch whether they had 100 views or 10 million.
That became my new strategy.
I stopped trying to make content for an algorithm and started making the kind of content that made me fall in love with music in the first place. Will it get more views? I honestly don’t know. But I know this, if I’m willing to spend months writing a song that almost nobody hears, I can spend a few minutes making a video that almost nobody sees, as long as it’s something I’d actually enjoy creating.
For the first time in a long time, promoting my music doesn’t feel like a separate job. It feels like another way to tell the story behind the songs.
Finding Your Own Content Strategy
The important part of this realization is that your answer doesn’t have to look anything like mine. Maybe you don’t care about guitar demos. Maybe you have no interest in studio documentaries. Maybe you would never watch a rig rundown. That’s completely fine.
The goal isn’t to copy my content strategy. The goal is to find yours.
For years, musicians have been told to create content based on what performs well. The problem is that many of us don’t actually enjoy consuming that type of content ourselves. Think about it this way: would you spend months creating a song you didn’t connect with because someone told you it was more likely to succeed? Most musicians wouldn’t. Yet many of us do exactly that with the way we promote our music.
If you hate watching short trends, you probably won’t enjoy making them. If you never watch motivational videos, you probably won’t enjoy becoming a motivational creator. If you don’t spend your free time watching other musicians do something, forcing yourself to create that type of content will eventually become another obligation.
A better place to start is your own viewing habits.
Open YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, or whatever platforms you actually use. Look at the videos you have watched all the way through. Look at the channels you return to. Look at the videos you send to friends.
Then ask yourself:
Why did I click this?
What kept me watching?
What part of this would I want to see from my favorite artist?
The answer might surprise you.
Maybe you love watching live performances. Your content could be stripped-down versions of your songs, rehearsal footage, or videos showing how your songs translate outside of the studio. Maybe you love songwriting interviews. Your content could be stories behind your lyrics, where ideas came from, or why certain songs took years to finish. Maybe you love studio documentaries. Your content could be short behind-the-scenes moments from making your next record. Maybe you love gear reviews. Your content could be showing why you chose a certain guitar, amp, or plugin for a specific song. The important part is that the content starts with something you already care about.
Your interests are a clue.
The things you naturally click on are probably closer to your authentic content style than whatever someone tells you is currently working.
What This Looks Like in Practice
After figuring out the type of content I actually enjoy consuming, I started looking at my own music differently.
Instead of asking, “What content should I make to promote this song?”
I started asking:
“What parts of making this song would I want to see if this was my favorite band?”
That led to ideas like:
- Why I chose this guitar for this song
- The story behind this lyric
- The gear that created this album’s sound
- The biggest change between the demo and final version
- Why this song became the single
- The first time I heard the finished mix
- The inspiration behind the album artwork
- What almost didn’t make the record
- The hardest part of finishing this song
- The story behind the music video
The point is that none of these ideas require me to pretend to be a content creator. They are simply extensions of being a musician.
Not Every Story Needs a Documentary
One of the reasons musicians burn out is because we compare our content to artists who have entire teams. A band with a record label can release a 20-minute documentary with multiple cameras, editors, and interviews. Most independent musicians cannot.
That doesn’t mean the story isn’t worth telling.
A 30-second video showing the moment you found the right guitar tone is still part of the story. A phone recording from your rehearsal space is still a glimpse behind the curtain. A quick explanation of why a song changed is still something fans of music are interested in.
You don’t have to create a documentary every time. You just have to capture moments. Your audience doesn’t need another musician trying to become an expert at the algorithm. They want to discover the things that make your music yours.
When you create content around the parts of music you genuinely care about, you start attracting people who care about those same things. The guitarist who loves gear conversations, the songwriter who loves hearing the story behind a lyric, the fan who loves seeing how albums are made. Those people are not just watching a video. They are discovering a reason to care about you and your music.
The goal isn’t to make content that reaches everyone.
The goal is to make content that reaches the right people.
The best content strategy might not come from studying what everyone else is doing. It might come from paying attention to what you already love.
