As an independent musician, you work as both the advertiser and marketer for your career. Instead of enhancing the look of a burger on TV with special effects, you’re faced with the task of crafting a meaningful and authentic presence online. The great thing about user-generated content is it’s not coming from you. These are genuine interactions from your fans, authentically created on their own by their own merit. What’s better than that? You can use this content in your own strategy. Here are some ideas to get the ball rolling…

How To Use User-Generated Content as a Musician

Make Sure Your Content is Monetized

To say the least, you work hard on your music. You spend endless hours perfecting your craft and creating killer content that deserves to be recognized. You deserve to get paid for every iteration of your work, wherever it may end up.

Whether your work is posted on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, or wherever else, make sure to monetize this content and make sure you’re still getting paid.

This post, “How To Monetize Your User Generated Content” tells you everything you need to know.

Don’t Forget To Always Ask Permission & Give Credit

No matter where you share anyone else’s content, always ask permission to do so and give credit where credit is due. Don’t just assume everyone is down to be shared without asking, you never know if it’ll cause any issues down the road.

Repost Fan Photos From Your Shows

Whenever you play a show, there are tons of people with their phones out recording the moment. Those people are also going to post those moments online to document the experience, too. While onstage, remind everyone to tag you in their posts! You can even tell them you’ll be reposting some of them to encourage them to do so.

This content is perfect for increasing engagement on your socials while also shouting out the dedicated fans who took part in the process. Whether you repost to your grid or post on your Instagram Story, this content is great for a quick share. On Instagram stories, there’s the built-in sharing feature that allows you to share stories you were tagged in directly to your own stories.

Easy as that.

Encourage Fans To Use Your Songs on TikTok

TikTok is the ultimate source of UGC. If your music is on TikTok, you can tell your fans to use it to create their own content. Whether they blind react to it or use it as background music, it’s awesome to be featured this way. (Especially with TikTok’s track record for blowing up small artists overnight.)

In addition, you can utilize TikTok by taking those videos and compiling them into a big promo video to use on other socials. This extended exposure is another great way to encourage people to take part.

• If you don’t have your music available on TikTok, what’re you waiting for? — Check out “How To Get Your Music On TikTok” to learn how.

Create a Hashtag For Merch

Did you just drop some new merch? Create a hashtag for the line and encourage fans to post themselves wearing the items with said tag.

Run a Contest

The best thing about UGC is how natural and down to earth it feels. It’s a great way to represent yourself as an artist and your commitment to your audience as authentically as possible. By hosting a contest, you can encourage your audience to participate by tagging you, commenting, or reposting whatever you like. In addition, you can reward the fan with the most UGC content with an additional prize.

You can even kill two birds with one stone by giving away merch as the prize. Then, they can post themselves afterward with the amazing merch they won.

In Conclusion…

We hope these ideas help you utilize some user-generated content of your own! There’s nothing better than seeing your fans engage with you and work, especially in a positive light. By using this content on your own page, you can show your thanks for all the support they give, all while helping attract more fans in the process.

Good luck!