Artists on Social Media in 2025

In today’s world, one of the most significant ways for artists to do well is to have a great social media presence. A ton of artists have benefited from social media from Benson Boone and Gracie Abrams, to Olivia Rodrigo and Lauren Spencer Smith.?

First, artists need to be consistent on social media because they can promote their songs in unique ways, maybe even starting a new trend on social media. This can be done through posting snippets of an unreleased song multiple times in the span of a week or two. After doing this, the song may catch on people’s social media feeds, causing it to go viral if people start to like it. An example of this could be in 2023, Lauren Spencer Smith posted a snippet of her then unreleased single, “Fingers Crossed”, which eventually went viral on TikTok. After that happened, she released the song(reference to video below from 2022 teasing the song on TikTok), and it launched onto a global stage in a short amount of time.?

Another thing that artists can do is have broadcast channels on Instagram. This is a growing trend with musicians' pages where if you follow your favorite artist on Instagram, you may be asked to join their broadcast channel if they have one. Personally, I haven’t seen many artists using this strategy, but have seen artists’ fan pages utilizing this tool. Also, with the broadcast channels, artists can send content to their followers that is on their page directly to their messages, causing the person to check out their Instagram page.

In addition to broadcast channels, artists can create advertisements for their new or upcoming releases on social media. I have seen this predominantly on Instagram, but this can be used on TikTok, Facebook, YouTube, etc. This is a great way of trying to reach a wider audience that doesn’t involve making a video with their songs. The ads usually consist of the person performing live with one of their songs in the background. Also, this can come up on one’s feed through the social media algorithm tracking who and what they listen to on a regular basis.

Another way for artists to market their music is to go live on TikTok with them either playing their song live, or play it in the background, encouraging people to listen to it. TikTok Live is especially unique compared to other platforms because one doesn’t need to follow that particular artist on TikTok. The livestream will come up on their “For You” page through the social media algorithm creating their content for them based on what videos they like and who they follow on the platform.

I like this concept of artists having a solid media page(s) because many artists have been successful with their songs due to their songs going viral on social media. Also, social media is usually where their target audience is at, especially for up and coming artists. Having an exceptional TikTok and / or Instagram account(s) can help them because they can use all of the strategy and tips listed above as their basis of what their social media “brand” should be.??

Being consistent on social media can help artists by being able to market their songs in order to gain a bigger audience. As mentioned in the beginning of the article, one can post a small part of their song. If the song reaches that big audience, it can go viral; where the song can be placed on significant playlists on various music streaming apps and be played on popular radio stations. Also, this can help an artist by getting a boost in their streaming catalog on Spotify, Apple Music, iHeartRadio, etc. and gain more followers and engagement on their social media pages. With this, and artist can be able to play live shows, may be even selling out small venues if their song becomes that popular, and be able to sell merch at those shows.

Some recent examples of artists being consistent on social media have been Benson Boone and? Gracie Abrams.

One of the breakout artists this year has been Benson Boone, especially with his smash hit, “Beautiful Things”, which went viral on TikTok. On his TikTok, I noticed that his first post was a teaser of “Beautiful Things” from a year ago, which is probably why he got a TikTok account in the first place in order to promote his single. He also did this with his song “Slow it Down”, which was a follow up to “Beautiful Things”. On his TikTok, he has about 30-40 that are just to promote “Slow it Down”, which did pretty well, since he went to the Top 20 in the Billboard Hot 100 and is still being played on the radio. Also, Benson is starting to promote his new album by adding a new song teaser, “Young American Heart”, to the sounds on Instagram, YouTube Shorts, and TikTok in order for more people to listen to his music.

Another artist that year that has done well is Gracie Abrams. She has had a big year with the release of her second album “The Secret Of Us” back in June, and the Deluxe version in October. On her TikTok, she started promoting her album in May shortly after announcing its release on Instagram a month prior. In May, she promoted songs “Close To You”, “Normal Thing”, “Tough Love”, “Blowing Smoke”, “I Love You, I’m Sorry”, and “That’s So True” on the deluxe version. The song “Close To You” became a hit, but not as big as its lead single “Risk”. The song “Tough Love” started a trend on social media with lines, “No chance I waste my twenties on random men / Not one of them is cooler than all my friends”. The song “I Love You, I’m Sorry” and “That’s So True” both became huge hits due to social media for having bridges and lyrics that millions of people have lip synced to on social media.

Sarah Weissberg is a Sophomore Pop Music major (voice concentration) with minors in Music and Entertainment Industries and Music Honors Program. She is aspiring to work in the music business one day. She is originally from New City, New York and currently attends William Paterson University in Wayne, New Jersey.