To answer what music streaming brands need to know about music on social media during this holiday season, ListenFirst looked at the social media posts of 8 music streaming services: Spotify, YouTube Music, iHeartRadio, Amazon Music, Apple Music, Tidal, Soundcloud, and Pandora Music. Here are the top five takeaways the industry needs to know about sharing on social media during the holidays.
Insight #1. Past Hits And Highlights Are Often The Most Effective Holiday Posts
An iHeartRadio gallery post sharing pictures of past Jingle Ball performances generated 63,530 responses with a Tweet showing a video of Jingle Balls’ greatest past moments received 25,571 responses. Meanwhile Spotify’s top performing holiday related post between December 1-14, 2020 was an Instagram gallery talking about Mariah Carey’s classic “All I Want For Christmas Is You” which generated 31,520 responses. Considering how much of the holiday season is about nostalgia; sharing holiday content that connected with the audience in the past is often going to be what performs the best on social media.
Insight #2. There’s A 5% Increase In The Real-Time Conversation Around Holiday Music YOY
While there’s been a huge increase in interest around Christmas Trees during the pandemic; interest in Christmas songs is only up slightly this year. There were 393,595 Tweets mentioning Holiday or Christmas Music between December 1-14,2020, up from 373,691 Tweets mentioning Holiday or Christmas Music during December 1-14, 2019. Since how people listen to recorded music is one of the few things that hasn’t changed during the pandemic, there’s no reason for people to be talking significantly more or less about holiday music on social media this year.
Insight #3. This Holiday Season, BTS Is Musical Act Generating The Most Responses For Music Streaming Services
Between December 1-14, 2020; Amazon Music, iHeartRadio, SoundCloud, YouTube Music, Spotify, and Pandora Music shared 15 posts mentioning BTS that averaged 64,269 responses. During the same time period, iHeartRadio, Apple Music, Pandora Music, and Amazon Music, and Spotify shared 22 posts about Taylor Swift that averaged 19,452 responses; while HeartRadio, Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora Music, and Tidal shared 19 social media posts mentioning Shawn Mendes which averaged 18,678 responses. These are the musical acts that the social media audience most wants to see music streaming services post about this holiday season.
Insight #4. One Holiday Song Moving The Needle On Social For Streaming Services And One That Could Move The Needle
An iHeartRadio Instagram post about the Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello duet “The Christmas Song” received 21,377 responses while a Pandora Music Tweet promoting the same Mendes and Cabello collaboration received 16,441 responses between December 1-14, 2020. It appears this cover is the new holiday song that’s moving the needle the most for music streaming services on social media.
The song that music streamers might be sleeping on? Tyler Joseph from Twenty One Pilots Tweeted about the song “Christmas Saves The Year” he recorded in his basement and that link generated 76,745 responses on Twitter.
#5. Virtual Holiday Events Gain Traction During The Pandemic
Pandora Music got 19,273 responses for a Facebook post promoting a Carrie Underwood virtual event around her new Christmas album while an iHeartRadio Tweet about a Louis Tomlinson live stream billed as a holiday season gift received 11,282 responses. With live concert and other in-person appearances an impossibility this holiday season; creating virtual events and promoting them on social media, is the next best way to connect fans with their favorite artists.
Want more insights about how the social media audience is engaging with holiday music on social media? Request a ListenFirst Demo today!
