Sawyer Hill Went Viral on Instagram — And Everyone Wants to Know How

Like many contemporary artists, Sawyer Hill constantly examines the social media platforms that influence music discovery. In January, the 24-year-old singer-songwriter felt a shift in the digital winds.

“I used to scroll through TikTok and all my feed was musicians,” he says. “And then I started noticing that all of my Instagram videos were being shared at a much higher rate – for the same video, the ratio of likes to views was much higher on Instagram than on TikTok.”

This was despite the fact that Hill treated Instagram Reels as an afterthought at the time — often simply reposting TikTok clips there, as many artists do. “I wonder what would happen if I actually put effort into an Instagram video,” Hill recalls. He began promoting his 2023 single 'Look at the Time' – a searing, brooding rocker delivered in a somber baritone – on the platform, and it shot to No. 1 on Spotify's Viral 50 chart in the US in February.

This kind of discovery would be an exciting time for any musician. Hill's story has also taken on added weight at a time when the music industry is pursuing marketing alternatives to the app that has been ground zero for pop virality for half a decade. Some artists have been unable to use TikTok to promote their recordings since negotiations between the platform and Universal Music Group collapsed in late January.

Historically, YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels haven't been able to match TikTok's impact on streams, so most artists and marketers haven't prioritized them to the same extent. (Even with the success of “Look at the Time,” Instagram users' passion hasn't led to the type of streaming explosion enjoyed by TikTok favorites like Djo's “End of Beginning.”) Some optimistic marketers believe that , in a world where TikTok is no longer an option for many acts, artists will finally be able to discover effective strategies to use elsewhere. It's like a point guard being forced to tie his right arm behind his back to gain dribble power with his left.

“Focusing on one or two platforms instead of three could have a better impact,” says Johnny Cloherty, co-founder of digital marketing firm Songfluencer.

That climate explains why, after “Look at the Time” started taking off at Reels, “all these people from the industry side were like, 'this is incredible,'” says Hill.

Virality was far from Hill's mind when he began playing guitar as a child in Fayetteville, Arkansas, using an instrument his brother had abandoned. By the time he was a freshman in high school, he was good enough to join a band full of seniors. “Whenever everyone graduates, they're like, 'We're playing bars now, so you're either going to do this with us or you're going to hit the road,'” Hill recalled.

The choice was easy: He started playing bars at the age of 15. “I always hung out with 30- and 40-year-olds at the bar who would tell me their whole life story,” says Hill.

But eventually he realized there was a ceiling on the local circuit. “We've been playing all these bars for years and it hasn't gotten us very far,” Hill recalls. “We want to play for the masses. And the only real way we saw to do that was through social media.”

It started with TikTok, since “all the music-related stuff was super TikTok-specific at that point.” It didn't come easy to him. “I started to feel what a lot of musicians do: 'These social media platforms are lame and seem so fake,'” he says.

But the imperative to reach a broad audience ultimately overruled the chilling moments. “There are people who make their careers on these platforms,” ​​says Hill. He wanted to be one of them: “I became borderline obsessed with discovering these platforms.”

His first popular video was popular for the wrong reasons. users mocked his song. Hill remained calm. “One day you can have thousands of people in your inbox telling you you're the worst thing in the world, and then the next day you have thousands of people in your inbox telling you you're the best thing in the world,” he says.

His composure was rewarded shortly after when he posted a live video of his performance of 'Look at the Time' which was well received on TikTok. (At the time, he hadn't recorded the song.) After a few more successful videos, Hill caught the attention of AWAL, a label services company acquired by Sony in 2021, where he signed last year. When he turned his attention to Reels earlier in January, he wanted to push “Look at the Time” again because he already knew it was “hyperactive.”

Many artists who are benefiting from a sudden increase in social media attention and getting record deals need to go and learn how to play. For Hill, that's not a problem. “I'm so grateful that I spent my teenage years playing all those bars,” he says. “We're ready to seize the moment and go on tour.”

His advice to others hoping to crack the code on Instagram promotion boils down to “trying hard” and staying flexible. “They're pushing musicians like crazy on Instagram at the moment,” says Hill. “But that can change with a software update.”