The Best TikToks For Making Your Song Go Viral

So Matt and I have assembled a nice little Google doc that you can kind of see in the border of this thing over here that I’m going to tap into and we’re going to play you a bunch of the best TikToks that him and I could find. So Matt, I wanted to start with a format that I think both you and I believe in, which is the format of comparing yourself to another artist and bringing yourself into the context of what’s going on. I thought this was one of the better ones. So to give you some context, the band 100 Gecs are the genre defining band of the hyperpop movement and they put out a new record and then Cheem put out this video. Let’s watch it. Yo, did y’all hear that new 100 Gecs? That was crazy, right? But you know what would be really crazy is if there was another artist blending nu metal, pop punk, hyperpop, and even ska. And it would be even crazier if they had other hyperpop artists take some of their songs and remix them. If only.

In my opinion, in that genre, that’s pretty much as perfect as it gets. Yeah. Particularly though, the timeliness of inserting it with a record everyone’s talking about, that is really, really where it’s at. I think that like basically if you’re seeing everybody have a conversation about an artist and you can find a way to insert yourself, that is one of the best things you can do. One of the other things I want to point out with this that I think people don’t necessarily understand enough is like, you can just go look at your 10 favorite artists TikToks and then just steal their best ideas and then make them appropriate to you.

That is true. Everyone is like, Oh, what content ideas should I have? Go look at your favorite artists call today. So I think the way to do that effectively though, is you have to look at what they did and then brainstorm how you can do it even better or else it starts to just water down endlessly. Like a good example is I often I’ve been working with one band on an album rollout pretty extensively. And we kind of just follow a bunch of the other artists that are similar to them. And then we literally just make lists of do this video, but they missed the joke. Let’s brainstorm how to do the joke better than we find how to do the joke better and giving it an extra 15 minutes of just ideating often can make it so that you will one up the person because probably they didn’t think about it enough.

Alright, Matt, you pasted this apes of state video. Why don’t we watch it? Apes of state I think are really cool one just because they like, they’re just a punk band and like they’re a real punk band. And I think that’s really valuable because I think it’s really easy to get overwhelmed by people with like major budgets on TikTok. This is just like some lady in her house. And I think that’s I think that makes them really valuable to look at. One of the things I also think is I think is important is and this is part of where the community building comes from, right? Is like, see what your friends are doing and build on ideas with them. And sometimes that’s a lot easier than taking from a pop star or some major artists in your genre, right? But like, if you don’t have friends in the community to talk to, like, hey, what were your ideas? If you don’t have people in the community to talk to about your ideas, then you’re fucked. And so yeah, just this is why the community building thing matters because you need people to give you feedback and people to brainstorm with, right? Jesse’s saying, hey, if you do an extra 15 minutes of brainstorming, you can get an extra mile out of it, right? He’s right. But also you need to have people to brainstorm with. Yeah. And I think even the thing like that’s sometimes the thing is like having a friend where you’re both brainstorming on each other’s TikToks as you get ideas goes a long way.

Okay. This is a video. Actually, let’s try to do the one we were going to do. Full punk vocal styles. I’m jamming all whiskey at the end. Plastic red nail you know my friend. I sat down to write a song and hope that you can sing along cause this song will rhyme with the first one. Oh Lord. It’s a good one though, right? It’s very good. The first thing I’ll say is, so yeah, I, for people who don’t get the context of this, this style of music, she’s basically going through the cliches of what it is and identifying them and as somebody who knows that style has produced a lot of groups in that style, boy did that nail it. And particularly also, you know, it’s really smart if you look at the hashtags they did now singing probably isn’t the best one, but these are all really small micro genres that you’re making fun of. That’s the thing about her in particular is that April has learned to dominate the folk punk niche because they realized, oh, there’s relatively few other people on TikTok doing folk punk as like their stick, right? So if you understand that, then you can just kill it. And that’s what they did. And I also think that, yeah, I think everyone listening to an artist with under a hundred thousand monthly listeners is kind of a music nerd and they’re kind of a nerd for that genre. So if you make jokes about that genre, it’s going to work. Yeah. There’s a lot of people who, uh, like, you know, it’s like an even an interesting thing, like in music, the fastest way to get YouTube viewers is kind of doing like what, uh, Vin does is like doing the commentary about the cliches of music really, really builds channels fast and that the reason it’s also does so well in TikTok is people love this style of humor. Another thing, uh, thumbnail, one of the other things that I think that’s very smart here is which one is your favorite? As we were telling you in previous streams, making sure to ask a question that gets engagement in the comments. It does you a lot of good. Matt, anything else to say on this one or should we go to the next one? I mean, I just think like if you show you have deep knowledge of your scene and can make jokes about it, other people who are nerds for that will think it’s funny. That simple. Yep. I think that that’s damn good.

So if this is the last night and you’re feeling hollow, I’ll give you my life so you’ll see tomorrow. There isn’t anywhere that I wouldn’t follow. So what I thought was really good about this one is one, all you got to do, put a little money into some cheap go V lights. You got that nice lighting and then it’s a lot of motion while they lip sync to one camera angle from an iPhone and then just some lyric overlay. And yet still this performed really well. But I think one of the reasons this performed really well, one of the things we were talking about that a lot of you mess up as you treat your posts like Instagram posts on TikTok. Whereas what this person did is this song is called Half Life. Then they ask a question, even though they should probably have had a question mark there, but then they tell their story in the top comments. And as you can see, it got a ton of engagement. So I think that that’s an interesting technique a lot of you could be adopting there. Matt, what do you see here? One thing I want to point out, two things I want to point out. One, very simple content concept that he can recycle with every hook he has, right? Two, one of the things that struck me about this video is the font used was different and felt a little artsier than the usual font you see on TikTok. If you use the same font as every other person, or you use one of the more sort of cuddly bubble fonts that we see on TikTok, that’s fine. But if you’re trying to kind of present it as like serious art music about emotion, which is kind of what he’s trying to do, changing up that font is visually stimulating and a little unexpected and kind of has an impact. Yeah. Trying to find your own style so people identify it. Like we talk about a million times at Nozium, I have the hat, usually I have the glasses, the background, Matt has the cigar, the hair. Having your own font too goes real, real far that you use each time. Having colors you use regularly goes real, real far. In fact, when I was looking for that video and which one to use of theirs, they used that green and blue on nearly every video. So it makes it so that you get recognized. People go, “Oh, I liked that one.” And then they’re more likely to follow.

Okay. And the next one is from gods of TikTok, Mr. Kobe Dick, Mr. Dick, if you’re nasty, rock the mic with the voice that’s Raspy. It’s a damn good one, Matt. You chose this one. Talk to us about it. Yeah. So, um, so I was talking to Jacoby about this actually the other day in France. It’s a lot of drum pick there. No, literally what happened was backstage at Hellfest, I saw him and I jumped up and I said, “Hi, I do TikTok marketing for a living. All I do is steal your ideas. Thank you.” And he gave me his personal email. But Papa Roach straight up probably has the best TikTok of any rock band. I have to say, I think that’s been true for years and no one even comes close. Like they are the Kings of rock band TikTok. And when we do content rollouts, they are the ones I steal from the most, honestly. Really, really, really clever band. I think here they’re part, they’re doing something part of a genre that’s very important on TikTok, especially if you’re sort of a rock or metal band, which is the cool things happening at our concert genre. And that if you take video of cool things happening at your concert, people will go because they think, wow, it’s like this great moment, especially like they got the guy on the wheelchair. So it feels like much more of a community thing. You know, that’s like a much cooler thing than just like some girl crowd surfing, you know, even though that could also be cool. Right. But it’s like, if you can share, hi, our shows are a powerful transcendent moment. Guess what? People want to go experience powerful transcendent moments, and they’re going to go to your show. Right. And so, and if you look at their TikTok, that’s a huge subset of their content. It’s just, they’re filming probably all the shows and just choosing the best moments and just running some of those a couple of those a week. I run entire TikToks, so that’s the whole strategy because I’m not going to get anything else because that’s just how the band is. That’s fine. Well, some people are saying nothing cool happens at my show. But what luckily for you, I prepared a TikTok to answer to this, that will show you a cool to a good way of contextualizing things, even if you don’t have people in wheelchairs at your shows crowd surfing. One of the biggest pieces of advice I’ve been doubling down on for a long time now has been fucking, always just be filming your live shows capture that footage because if you capture that footage and you can show people, hey, this is what we’re about, then people will go because if it looks cool, they want to go. Let’s watch this TikTok. Yeah, actually, I’m going to let me say something with that though. Here’s an interesting one. Friends of mine I was having some beers with about a few months ago. They’re like, well, we can only afford to bring a merch person. We can’t afford to bring a camera man with us. I’m like, look, when you’re on stage, your merch person should become the person who’s Iphoning your whole set and then have another person cover for you and you, they cover for them when that band’s on stage that you’re touring with, whatever it is, but like truly making sure someone’s assigned because this video will show you right here. Now, when we’re talking about the rock bands, we’re best at TikTok yet again. Now we have honey’s revenge. I think one of the best at TikTok I have seen in the last year. And this is a perfect video, a example of what Matt was talking about with Papa Roach, but then doing it on a simple level. So let’s watch the, we’ll look what the caption says. Keep watching for the most random stage backdrop. So this video is 41 seconds and you like sit there and you watch and get a ton of that solid hook. I, and first comment is, is there vinyl? Like they leave you with curiosity. You hear that hook. And to me, that hook is tight. But yeah, that’s a good example of capture. Anytime you’re out in public in case something wild happens and also try to find the context you can bring to the footage you get, you talk about this one while I do this. Windrows have found a really interesting path for themselves in this whole game because they’re part of like a European power metal scene. That’s like a little bit goofy. You know, and by a little bit goofy, I mean very goofy. But again, what did they do? They sat down and they identified, okay, how do I highlight that our live experience is like a really fun, goofy party where people have fun and they’re dancing and they’re singing along to some stupid song about dwarf stinging a hole. Right. And that’s like objectively kind of silly, but also there’s a group of people who are really interested in that and think that’s really fun. You know, for better or for worse, I’m friends with some of those people. But again, what they’ve done is, so they’re a band with a gimmick that they’re dwarves, you know, which is what it is. But, uh, but they, but they doubled down on that. Right. And they showcase that to people in depth. And I think that’s, what’s important, right. Is going like, Hey, come to this show. It’s going to be really fun. There’s going to be other people who have like a goofy Lord of the rings obsession 20 years later. And that’s kind of important is to let people know, hi, this thing is for you too. I think what’s even interesting is I bet you, if they had done better job with that caption, this video would be even bigger because that video footage is so striking. And so such a spectacle. I mean, yeah, this is a band I discovered from Tik TOK was, I was like, like they dug straight up. Like I know people have their label and I didn’t know about them and straight up. I just saw it. And I was like, this is so ridiculous that like he’s dressed like Gimli and he’s like doing the thing. I love it. Wild. So let’s now go to, uh, speaking of cool scenarios. (eerie music) – I like this ’cause it’s just a cooler variant on the like, lip sync your song in front of a cool background theme. – Yeah, I mean, that’s an incredible background, but what are the subtleties of that video too? Is the cameraman really moved around and kept the motion going in a cool way, and they really like focused in, like when the drummer’s gonna do something cool, they get the drummer, then they get the fire back in it, they move it in, they move it out, kinda like what Matt’s doing on the screen right now, he’s just keeping the motion going. The caption, as you can see, so some people might not get this if they don’t listen to this type of music, but they’re basically saying Royal Blood, which is a big band in this genre, Muse, which is a big band, and then Queens of the Stone Age, equals them, and that’s a very smart thing, and as you can see, the first comment is, sounds like Royal Blood, which is a popular band in that genre, and they tied themselves to that and gave hints to the community that they’re part of that. So, yeah, but particularly, I think the lesson here is, when you see something cool that you can do something cool in front of, do it and get it on tape and put it on your TikToks. – No, I mean, I think that’s really it, is it’s just like, film in front of cool things, and don’t be afraid to use studio audio, they use studio audio there, right? – Yep, 100%. – Focus on video capture, and then just throw whatever appropriate audio is in later. Yep, you can always blast it from a Bluetooth speaker, so you’re in sync with it. Okay, here’s the next one from Silly Goose, which is a nu metal band from Atlanta. (upbeat music) (rapping in foreign language) (upbeat music) – So, for those of you who don’t get it, they go into Walmarts and subways, they play, I think this is a Waffle House, not a Walmart, sorry, I can’t keep my real America shit straight, but yeah, and then they play their nu metal and capture it, and it does very well, I mean, this video has over a half a million plays. – I like that it nods to the founding document of our hardcore scene, What the Fuck is Up Denny’s? (laughing) – Yeah. – Well, truly, I want my ashes thrown across a Denny’s while a hardcore band’s played when I die. – One of the most important moments, but like, okay, but like, let’s talk about this for a second, right? Is like, that’s the What the Fuck is Up Denny’s video, which if you don’t know, there’s a hardcore band playing, and right before the breakdown, the singer yells, “What the fuck is up Denny’s?” But it’s hilarious because it’s a hardcore band playing at Denny’s, this is hilarious ’cause it’s a nu metal band with like a guy freaking out with like some fluffy haired Zoomer, like trying to eat a sandwich in front of him. That’s hilarious, and it’s so unexpected and weird, you know, is what it is. – They do lots of these and they’re very fun, and they get tons of engagement because it’s spectacle, and people go, “Oh, I’ve never seen that before.” They watch it even if they are not loving the nu metal. Personally, I love that. – And one of the things– – Go ahead. – Oh no, sorry, I was gonna say one of the things with, you know, if you’re a smaller artist, and especially if you’re a rock artist, but that comes up in these last couple videos, is having a DIY vibe to it is very, very helpful ’cause it really helps people go like, “Oh, I’m early to this thing, I should check it out.” – Yeah, so next we have Getting People to Share, which is also from the Windrose Band. Let’s watch this. (wind chimes) (upbeat music) (wind chimes) (upbeat music) (wind chimes) (upbeat music) (wind chimes) (upbeat music) (wind chimes) – I loved your face while that was playing. – Well, you know what’s funny? What I was taking in is, that’s a good video, but one of the things with live videos is,