TikTok Organist Offers Marketing Students Key Advice on Social Media Promotion
Anna Lapwood addresses students while standing next to the Forbes Organ at the Performing Arts Center. (Photo/Jay Thompson)
Trailblazing British organist Anna Lapwood started her demo-and-discussion master class not with a talk but with a tune.
After the audience of mostly Orfalea College of Business students took their seats in Harold Miossi Hall on April 16, Lapwood looked down from the 2,767-pipe Forbes Organ, which rises like a massive stainless-steel grille toward the ceiling, and began playing the opening song of the 1996 Disney animated feature “The Hunchback of Notre Dame.”
Her transcription of the lilting, 7-minute “The Bells of Notre Dame” melody filled the hall with goose-fleshed possibilities, or as one of her social media followers wrote days later, “hellfire in major if you listen close.”
Lapwood, 28, who was in San Luis Obispo in advance of her April 17 concert at the Performing Arts Center, is just a few years older than members of Catherine Hillman’s Business 453, Digital and New Media Marketing class, which attended the hourlong talk on how social media has boosted Lapwood’s career and is helping bring organ music to new — and younger — audiences.
Hillman, who has been a lecturer in the marketing area of the college for seven years, brought her class because Lapwood “has a powerful and savvy digital presence on social media.
“I knew she would have some great insights for marketing a celebrity — herself — and she could tell my students what it was like to have that kind of digital presence,” she said. “We often hear about the business side, but not nearly as much the personal side from the influencer. She had great advice for the students.”
Anna Lapwood, left, speaks with Cal Poly Arts’ Director Molly Clark at the Performing Arts Center. Lapwood, a popular organist, spoke to a crowd of mostly business students about marketing and brand building. (Photo/Jay Thompson)
Cal Poly Arts’ Director Molly Clark led the discussion with the award-winning performer, whose burgeoning popularity is expanding audiences for organ concerts by bridging genres and generations through her music choices: movie compositions, Bach and jazz-infused pieces.
“At what point in your career did you see social media as a way to promote your work, or was it something that somebody encouraged you to do, or did you really sort of come by it your own way?” Clark asked the organist, whose day job is director of music at Pembroke College in Cambridge, England.
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“I think it’s funny in a way, because I feel like this generation, and I include myself in that, we just grew up on social media, right?” Lapwood said. “I don’t remember a time when I wasn’t kind of aware of social media as a thing, and I would sort of tweet when I was 12, 13, just explaining what I was doing musically that day.
“And that’s basically what I’ve just continued to do. I just try and share little bits about life as an organist, life as a musician, in the same way I did when I was a teenager. There’s now 1.5 million people watching as opposed to about three, which is a little bit intimidating — but you kind of have to not think about it.”
She outlined her process that started when some of her students encouraged her to try TikTok, the leading destination for short-form mobile video with over 1.5 billion monthly active users. Other platforms have even more users: Facebook has over 3 billion; YouTube, with 2.5 billion; and WhatsApp and Instagram, each with 2 billion.
“And I was like, ‘Oh, but I don’t do dances,’ ” she said. “ ‘That’s what TikTok is. Right?’ They told me: ‘No, no, no, no, no. It’s about sharing what you’re passionate about and trying to provide a sort of window into your world.’ ”
Photo gallery: An audience of mostly business students listened to a discussion and performance by organist Anna Lapwood. (Photos/Jay Thompson)
She posts daily, sometimes “random things” or a space-filling “burner video.” Setting out to create a viral video to resonate with hundreds to thousands of followers usually doesn’t work as “people can tell the moment you are trying” and will tell you “that they’re not interested,” Lapwood said.
“So just don’t be self-conscious about what you share,” she counseled. “Just share the things that make you happy, and other people will relate to that and respond to it.”
She told students that they should consider the age of the followers on each platform: Target Instagram posts for people in their early 20s and younger; TikTok is for mid-20s to early 30s; and Facebook attracts an older demographic.
“But with all of those, I’m basically sharing the same content,” she said. “I’m sharing reels on all of those platforms. So it’s the same content reaching people via different platforms.”
The day of her talk, the “Tik Tok organist” wrote “Woohoo!” to her half-million Instagram followers. “Having a glorious time in venue No. 5 — San Luis Obispo. Gosh this place is beautiful!! Masterclass today, and concert tomorrow @calpolyarts — let me know if you’re coming along.”
The students reaction?
“My students loved her!” Hillman said, citing the advice offered and what they left the talk with.
“I think Anna said it best: ‘If you try to go viral with scripted content, it doesn’t work. People know if you’re being real or not.’ ” Hillman said. “She is very true to her persona in digital media and that was clear when we saw her in person. She also has a lot of passion for what she does, and audiences recognize passion about a hobby or a product.”
What did the instructor think was the best advice Lapwood shared?
“Don’t worry too much about what people think,” Hillman said. “Anna encouraged them to take risks, and not get bogged down in perfection. I love her idea on ‘be happy with 60%,’ because we rarely have days where we perform at 100%.
“If we convince ourselves to be happy with 60%, we’ll be ecstatic when we have 70%, 80% and 90% days. We tend to overthink our own performances, which can cause us to drown in feelings of inadequacy. Hearing that from a 28-year-old who plays an instrument in front of hundreds and thousands of people resonates with the students.”
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