The untapped advertising potential of Spotify
Join Oliver Bliss, winner of the Sookio Bootcamp blog competition. He's looking at the major social media platform your marketing may be missing out on.
When you think of promoting your business online, you probably think of Facebook advertising, Google ads or an influencer campaign on Instagram. But have you considered Spotify? Coca-Cola, Gymshark and McDonalds are all at it and maybe you could be too.
How big are Spotify?
The digital music streaming and media service that revolutionised the way people listen to music and other audio content has its own mass user base of nearly 300 million as of the end of June 2020.
Spotify boasts that they have 170 million monthly active ad-supported listeners, across 92 countries, equating to a large and growing platform to promote on. Plus, Spotify has a wealth of listening data on its users, meaning that your message can be delivered to the right people, at the right moment. These promo ads can also be in video format, not just audio.
How much does it cost to advertise on Spotify?
Paid content is not the only opportunity Spotify has on offer. Ever thought about creating your own organic content? There’s a huge opening here for businesses to promote themselves on the platform, without having to put a budget behind it. Playlists and podcasting are two big possibilities.
Spotify has made huge investments in podcasts on its platform in recent years, making it the second biggest podcasting platform. This has only made it even more appealing to a wider range of users.
One idea for businesses looking to increase their presence on the platform would be to publish their own podcast series. There’s also a great chance at seizing some Spotify SEO opportunities with the right podcast name; you may know all about SEO on Google, but Spotify’s large user base makes it a large search engine as well.
This type of content marketing is particularly effective if you have niche expertise and can really talk in depth around your chosen topic, for example:
Kris Plachey’s podcast, Lead your team: for female entrepreneurs draws in clients for her coaching business
The Growth Show, from inbound marketing software giants Hubspot
Hot Copy, run by two copywriters who will naturally win work off the back of positioning themselves as experts
With each additional listen there’s another person discovering their product or service.
It’s a slow burn though, so don’t expect results overnight. You need to be prepared for long-term commitment to creating consistently high-quality content and nurturing your community before it really gathers pace.
How to promote a playlist on Spotify
A playlist of songs or podcasts could also be a way to reach out to your target audience. Putting together a relevant playlist can create a fun and imaginative way for a brand to engage with their audience.
This is something that Gymshark have jumped on. Their Spotify page is made up of playlists of workout songs based on different music genres, which body parts you are working on, and playlists inspired by their own Gymshark Athletes.
Fitness brands aren’t the only ones who can create their own playlists. Coca-Cola are another giant brand on the Spotify scene. These occasions-inspired playlists are Coca-Cola’s way of showing where and when their soft drink fits into everyone’s’ picture, alongside fitting tunes for the situation.
Playlists can fit in with any brand if you approach them from the right angle. For example, the National Trust couldn’t create workout playlists but they could create tranquil and easy listening music playlists in line with their properties and estates. They could take it further to create short informative podcasts of their different locations. Universities could curate their own podcast series about glimpses into their own specialised research or around the school curriculum.
Another good feature of having listeners follow your playlists is that they get notified whenever it gets updated. Therefore, if playlists are refreshed with new songs from time to time, this sends a notification to the follows and acts as a brand reminder.
Shareability on Spotify
Spotify can create collaborative playlists where every user can add content. Like social media, this can encourage engagement with brands. One idea off the top of my head is Thatcher’s Cider, who enjoy high-profile marketing associations with the likes of Glastonbury Festival, Cambridge Folk Festival and West Country sports organisations. Thatcher’s could create their own Festival-specific playlists and encourage followers to contribute.
To make things easy, Spotify is integrated with other social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram. This means linked accounts can be used to draw attention to a business’s Spotify account, from an Instagram story for example.
Vice-versa, Instagram accounts can have dedicated highlights right at the top of their profile, featuring stories that include their own Spotify content. This further keeps the brand name out there and directs users to other social platforms to further engage with the brand.
How do you use Spotify codes?
Spotify Codes are another handy feature to help your share your creations. They are easy to create and can be used in emails, print ads and other published content to drive users to what you want to show them. With a simple scan of the code from within the Spotify app, users can be transported to a listening landing page.
This example above takes you to McDonald’s relaxed Perfect Harmony playlist. Give it a go – just the thing when you’re enjoying your Big Mac and ice cold Coca Cola.
How can you use Spotify to reach your audience?
It’s not just the big social networks out there that can get some traction for your business, Spotify is a large and growing opportunity with three key features:
Targeted audio and video advertising
Podcasts
Brand Playlists
We’d love to hear your ideas for how the platform performs for you.
This piece was written by one of the students on our first Sookio Bootcamp, a week of remote work experience for 20 young marketers. Read the other pieces in the series about Nike, Bodyform, and Iceland.