Radiohead have always been one of those few bands that don’t only produce a new unconventional LP, they also release it in an equally unconventional way.

The digital version of their latest album came out on Sunday the 8th May, five days after the appearance on social media of the video of their first single. The first single was the result of two (looong) days of pre-release excitement/confusion/impatience.

The release of said video happened with no announcement, no press-release, nothing. Just silence.

And this is the best, most exciting part (at least for us social media freaks).

Radiohead adopted an incredibly clever pre-release social media strategy which created a buzz that went viral within a couple of hours. They did this by doing nothing. Or, let me clarify, they erased everything.

Yes, you heard it: they erased everything. It didn’t take long (this is a one of the most popular rock bands in the world) before fans realised the official Radiohead Facebook Page had suddenly lost all of its content on Sunday, May 1st.

Every picture, every post, every comment, everything was gone. A blank page with only the name of the band.

Twitter presented the same scenario and so did their official website. There was no trace of Radiohead to be found. A little like those messages you send on Snapchat or Telegram– poof and they’re gone. And that’s why we like it, right? The ephemerality of it.

Of course, everyone (fans, bloggers, random people, music experts) was asking the same question– what’s going on?– and making all sorts of guesses on the title of the new album, the release date etc…

Everyone was confused and everyone was talking about it. On Facebook, on Twitter, on the news and music-dedicated pages. On social media, people were waiting for something to happen; and whenever this something would happen, they’d be there to see it.

Two days (of agony) later, a link is posted on both Facebook and Twitter. People click on the link and are redirected to a brand-new Instagram account that within 5 hours has already registered 55,000 followers and double that by the end of the day.

It’s a (very) short video of a singing bird. At midday a second link is posted on both Facebook and Twitter with a second Instagram video; by the end of the day, the full video of their first single is released on Instagram.

Now Radiohead have re-populated their social channels and have successfully released their new album. Their Instagram account have 490K followers as of today, with no (or very little) effort involved.

We can’t help but acknowledge the effectiveness of their digital marketing strategy.

Radiohead used social media to tease and create a buzz impossible to ignore because of the absence of content. They let the fans and audience wonder, wait and, when the time came, be there.

– Alessia, Social Media Coordinator