More than anything, teens want to be heard on social media. They've even taken to trolling Kylie Jenner's Instagram, using labor-intensive etiquette to gain more followers and likes. That's what makes musical.ly—a Vine-like social app for creating and posting 15-second music videos ("musicals")—so popular with teens, with over 70 million users (or "musers", as they're called on the app) as of May 2016.
Many of us dreamed of instant stardom in our childhood. Musical.ly brings that dream to life, having spawned a number of social media stars who have launched their own music and fashion careers as a result. Plus, it's fun: Who doesn't like lip-synching or dancing like a lunatic to their favorite songs (or at the very least, watching others do so, with often-hilarious results)? The app also includes video effects and filters, with options to slow down, reverse and "time trap" (much like a skipping record) the 15-second-long videos. Here are a few ways PR professionals and communicators can use the app creatively to boost brand awareness to the teenage set and beyond.
Hunt for Influencers
In just a year, 15-year-old musical.ly star Baby Ariel grew her following to over 11 million fans, making her the top muser on the platform. Cross-promoting to YouTube, Ariel was quickly recruited by musical.ly, teaching tutorials as well as creating sponsored videos, like the one below with Lion's Gate, in which she reviews a film series popular among teens. Communicators can look for other musers with large followings and recruit them to test-drive their products. Many musers provide an email address on their profile to this purpose (or to get discovered by record labels, as musical.ly star Jacob Sartorius did).
Bridge the Age Gap
If your brand is looking to grow its audience both with teenagers and in the 35-and-up age group, musical.ly has provided a perfect platform for posting videos of goofing around with mom and dad. A quick scroll through the app's discoverable stories will likely yield at least one music video of teens dancing with their families (often at the parents' expense). Baby Ariel's channel includes multiple tutorials with her parents and grandparents.
Hold a Competition
In order to grow a user base on the app (and appeal to a younger audience), some brands are already making use of the app's hashtag-friendly climate to hold competitions on the platform. In June 2016, ABC's "Good Morning America" partnered with musical.ly to run a contest calling on contestants to use the #GMACHALLENGE” hashtag in their musicals for a chance to meet pop star Demi Lovato.
Cross-Promote
While the app's creators won't cop to a paid feature on their website, they advise users who want to make it to the top of the platform's charts to scout "Featured"—the tab used for account discovery—for trending hashtags, and to post musicals on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. With a watermark-imprinted graphic overlay and a layout unique to the platform, content that has been generated from musical.ly is easily recognizable to those familiar with the app. Musical.ly stars Lisa and Lena, twin teenagers from Germany, used their massive musical.ly following to grow one of the most highly followed Instagram accounts in Europe, and have even launched a clothing line as a result of their social media fame.
Engage Audiences in Real Time
With live streaming the biggest thing to hit social media platforms since selfies, musical.ly has launched a sister app, live.ly, for musers to film their musicals live. Live.ly is great for starting instant conversations with audiences, thanks in part to an overlaid scrolling chat feature that allows musers to post and respond to fans while their musical is being filmed.
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