Social Media Marketing for the Musician
The internet brought accessibility to musicians; there are more opportunities and more ways to be heard than ever before. However, this also means there’s more competition than ever before. Knowing how to use your social media platforms the way each one is intended is key for standing out and growing your audience. Besides, social media is your number one FREE promo tool. Here’s an outline of the biggest social media platforms.
Keeping your page active by posting a variety of content is important on Facebook. Videos are the highest ranked content, which makes them particularly valuable to share often. This doesn’t mean that you have to post a music video every time; behind the scenes footage of gigs and recording, previews for new singles, and upcoming announcements are examples of popular content. Staying visual leads to more interactions, so be sure to post photos whenever a video isn’t available.
Outside of posting content, regularly replying to comments on your posts is a great way to keep fan engagement. Facebook also has an easy-to-use advertising platform. You can promote content and events even on the smallest budget to a targeted audience of your specifications. (Volumes uses this feature often with much success, we approve!)
Limiting posts to 140 characters can seem like an ineffective way to promote your music, but Twitter has created an opportunity to open up conversations between you and other individuals around the world. Whether it’s a convo between you and a fan, a producer, or even a celebrity this platform is critical for networking. On the promotional side, you can tweet about the progress of an album as you work on it, getting ready for a show, or other daily updates that keep people interested.
You want to create tweets that are attention grabbing but also retweetable to increase your audience reach. Use more verbs and less nouns to create action grabbing posts that appeal to emotion. Adding a “pls RT” note at the end of your tweet can motivate fans to take action. Most importantly, placing links at the beginning of your tweet opposed to the end typically results in more click through results.
Capitalizing on visual content leading to the most engagement on the internet, Instagram allows you to exclusively promote your music through photos and videos. This platform also allows you to promote content in a similar fashion to Facebook, specifically fit for your budget and your targeted audience. Promote your upcoming project by dropping the cover art, show off photos from a recent photo shoot, or drive traffic to new release by posting a short video clip.
Instagram Stories and Instagram Live have given artists the advantage of gaining follower devotion through sharing your daily life. Musicians stream videos of them working in the studio, practicing before a show, or even eating at their favorite restaurant. Everything goes.
The cliche “there’s only one you” is the most important way to approach social media. We’re faced with an overwhelming amount of content on the internet every day, so you have to make yours count. Capitalize on what makes you unique, and followers are more likely to be engaged by your life than just your music.
