Before you announce anything, get every fan who has engaged with you onto your list. Comment-to-subscribe flows and ads aimed at those fans make sure the first single reaches them.
Before I announce a record, I run a teaser period. I use ManyChat comment-to-subscribe flows, and ads to fans who have engaged with the artist, to get them onto the list. Then the first single and the pre-order can't miss them. I do this on every release. It more than pays for itself.
In this post:
- How a comment-to-subscribe flow works, step by step
- Who to aim the teaser ads at, and who to exclude
- What a band's owned audience looks like: The Band of Heathens' ManyChat contacts
- Why email is the channel that sells the pre-order
Why build the list before the announcement?
The announcement is the moment fans are most likely to buy. If they are not on your list that day, you are paying an algorithm to maybe show it to them.
Email is where the pre-order sells. During the 2024 Hayes & The Heathens pre-order, email brought in a quarter of the store's sales, more than any other channel, and its visits converted far more often than visits from paid social.
My contrarian take: don't open with the announcement. Most artists drop the news and then try to collect fans. Collect them first, then announce.
How does comment-to-subscribe work?
You post something worth wanting: a clip of the new song, a first listen, a lyric. The caption says to comment one word to get it. Everyone who comments gets an automatic direct message that sends the thing and asks for their email.
It works because the fan is already doing what fans do on social. They comment. You don't have to drag them to a landing page.
Keep the flow short:
- A post with a clear ask: "Comment SONG and I'll send you the new one first."
- An automatic message to every commenter with the offer and an email field.
- The thing they asked for, delivered right away.
- A tag on their contact so you know they came in during the teaser.
Test the keyword yourself the day you post. Set up a DM keyword too, "DM me SONG", so fans have a second way in.
The comment gets them in. The welcome email keeps them. Make the first email ask the fan to reply with the artist's name. For Todd it was "Hey Todd." That reply lifts your open rates and keeps you out of spam. Then send a short nurture sequence that gives them something each time before the last email sends them to the shop. Here's how the welcome email and nurture sequence work.
In ManyChat this is the Instagram Post and Reel Comments trigger. Two things to know from its help page. It fires once per person per post, on their first comment with the keyword. And the first reply has to go out as a private message.
What to take from this section:
- One post, one keyword, one thing to give away.
- Ask for the email inside the DM, then deliver.
- Tag teaser sign-ups so you can see them later.
Who should the teaser ads go to?
Don't spend the teaser money on strangers. Run ads to people who engaged with the page, watched the videos or visited the website. Exclude everyone already on the list, so you only pay to reach fans you can't email yet.
On Meta you build the first group as a Page engagement custom audience, and you exclude your list with a customer list custom audience. Do the same wherever those fans are and wherever you're concentrating: Google Ads, ManyChat, Meta, X and TikTok.
Fans engage when you give them a reason. A $100 Instagram post promoting the High, Lonesome and Then Some pre-save drew 15,868 post engagements. Every one of those engagements is someone you can aim a teaser at next time.
What does a band's owned audience look like?
Here is The Band of Heathens' ManyChat account. These are fans the band can message directly, on channels it controls.
That is thousands of fans the band can reach by email, text and Instagram inside the messaging tool alone. A list like that is what turns an announcement into sales on day one.
What happens when you announce?
When the first single and the pre-order go out, the people most likely to buy are already on the list, and the email reaches them the day it matters. Without the teaser period, a lot of your best fans hear about the record weeks late, if they hear at all.
From there, the pre-order runs on email. Send fans to a listen page on your own site, and close with the last chance to pre-order email. Our guide to email marketing for musicians covers the emails in between.
Questions musicians ask
How long should the teaser period run?
Long enough to run the flow and the ads before the first single goes out. Set it up before you announce anything.
Who should I exclude from the teaser ads?
Everyone already on your list. Upload it as a customer list audience and exclude it, so you only pay to reach fans you can't email yet.
Does the comment trigger fire every time a fan comments?
No. ManyChat's help page says the Instagram comment trigger fires only on a person's first comment with the keyword on a post.
What should you do this week?
- Build the list before you announce, not after.
- Use one clip, one keyword and an automatic DM that asks for the email.
- Aim the ads at fans who engaged, and exclude your subscribers.
Pick one clip from the new record and set up a comment-to-subscribe flow on it before you announce anything. Your best fans should hear the news from you first.
