How to Stop Embarrassing Your Brand on Social Media

If you’re a musician or a radio station, here’s how to use socials to be so much more effective when you need to include a sales message on your social feeds. Use the tools that already exist. Specifically, Meta Ads.

Let’s be honest. Marketing is the job now.

If you’re convincing advertisers that your station or brand is a marketing powerhouse, shouldn’t you actually act like one?

Unfortunately, most artists and most radio stations don’t have someone who focuses solely on marketing. That’s a problem.

Especially in radio, where the entire business revolves around helping other people market themselves.

So, let’s fix that.

Content Zones vs. Sales Zones

Here’s the mission. You’ve got two spaces online:

Content areas, where you build trust, vibe, and community.

Sales areas, where you deliver for clients or

push your own projects.

Those two things are not the same. Please stop treating them like they are.

The Familiar Breakdown (Radio Version)

You know this story.

A client or agency comes in hot and says, “We’ll buy this schedule, but only if social is part of the deal.”

The salesperson bolts to the GM’s office:

“We have to post the mattress sale on our socials this weekend or we lose the $5 million account.”

Now the GM heads straight to the PD’s office and says,

“We’re posting the mattress sale.”

Cue the collective groan. You, the PD, have been working hard to make your station’s social feed a credible content space, and now you have to drop a giant mattress ad in there.

You already know what happens next.

No one sees it. Literally no one.

Why?

It’s bad content that doesn’t belong in your feed.

Meta knows it’s an ad, and they’re not about to promote free ads when that’s their whole business model.

The client checks back and sees their shiny mattress post got two likes — one from the salesperson and one from the PD.

Now the client thinks, “Radio doesn’t work. You said you had 80,000 followers, and only two people cared about this post?”

And when they ask why, you’ll be stuck explaining that posting a mattress ad to your organic feed is like shouting about a weekend sale in the middle of a Taylor Swift concert. Technically possible. Not effective.

We look bad. The station looks bad. The client loses confidence. Everyone loses.

The Familiar Breakdown (Artist Version)

Now let’s talk to the artists.

Your feed shouldn’t be full of you selling your new song. Yes, it should be there sometimes. But if you’re posting all day, every day, about your new track, you’re burning out your followers.

Use Meta Ads for that.

Your feed is where fans fall in love with you as a person, not where they get hit over the head with promotion. Use your social platforms to develop yourself as someone fans need to follow because you’re relatable, interesting, and real.

If your listeners constantly feel like you’re just selling, they’re gone.

But you still need to sell your music.

How? Meta Ads.

That’s how you push your new song to new fans, grow your streams, and get discovered by people who don’t already follow you.

Your feed builds connection. Your ads drive conversion.

The Fix: Meta Ads

Here’s the secret that shouldn’t be a secret. Meta Ads work.

When you spend even a small amount, Facebook and Instagram will actually deliver your post to the right audience. Why? Because now Meta is getting paid. And when Meta gets paid, Meta gets generous.

You can target by zip code, age, interests, or people who like similar artists or brands. You can reach far beyond your existing followers, connecting with people who’ve never even heard of you but would probably like what you’re offering.

For a radio station, that means reaching local listeners instead of hoping the algorithm blesses your feed.

For an artist, that means reaching potential fans instead of spamming your existing ones.

And when you run an ad like this, it looks like it came right from your page. It feels natural to the user, but it performs like a paid ad — because it is one.

Why This Matters

Followers don’t equal reach. Even if you have 100,000 followers, only a small fraction will ever see an organic post.

Meta is a business. If it looks like an ad but you didn’t pay for it, they’ll quietly bury it.

Clients and fans judge by performance. When that mattress post or single promo gets two likes, people assume your brand is irrelevant.

You hurt your own brand. Constant sales posts erode trust. Your feed should feel like a conversation, not a clearance rack.

A Smarter Strategy

The goal isn’t to stop posting. It’s to post smarter.

Use organic content to tell your story, show your personality, and build connection. Use Meta Ads to do the selling — whether that’s a client campaign or a new single.

For radio, this keeps your feed authentic while still supporting advertisers.

For artists, it keeps your brand human and likable.

And when you do it right, everyone wins.

The advertiser sees real results.

The PD keeps the feed clean.

The artist stays likable.

The fans stay engaged.

And Meta gets their cut, which keeps the algorithm happy.

Closing Thoughts

If you’re in the business of communication — whether that’s music or radio — act like a communicator, not a door-to-door salesperson.

Know the difference between connection and conversion. Stop using your organic feed to do the work of a paid ad. Use Meta Ads strategically to keep your audience, your brand, and your results strong.

Because when that mattress post flops and the client calls wondering why no one saw it, you’ll wish you had just run the ad.

Stop posting. Start running ads.

need help? hit me up. bo@disruptivesoul.com