Our friends at Quite Great PR have come up with some more innovative and very helpful advice – not just for those starting out in the music industry, but also those artists who’ve been established for a long while, as well as anyone else with a product they need to promote.
Twenty years ago, new bands were not thinking about their social media presence – mainly because social media wasn’t a thing back then. But today, online platforms are more important than ever for emerging bands and artists, and it’s one of the first steps you should take in getting your music out to the masses. However, for some, the world of social media is a complex and daunting place, full of ‘likes’ and ‘tweeting’ – it can sound like a foreign language for those who aren’t familiar with it. Luckily, Quite Great Music PR have put together a guide for those starting out on social media with their act. It’s not quite as overwhelming as you might think.
Creating Your Pages:
It goes without saying, but the first you’ll need to do is set up your pages. However, deciding what platforms to exhibit yourself on can be a mind-boggling task. First of all, we would recommend that you keep it simple and set yourself up on Facebook and Twitter to begin with. These are the mainstays of the social media world so there’s no better place to kick things off with than here. Also, Facebook and Twitter are some of the easiest to get to grips with if you’re just starting out on social media.
Depending on your style of music and your image, Instagram may well be a platform worth investing time in, particularly if you have a stand-out style that you want to market alongside your music.
One thing that you should keep in mind when creating your pages is consistency: making sure that every platform has the same look and feel, using the same images and bios is key when it comes to creating an online ‘brand’. Ok, so you might not want to see your music in such business-like terms as these, but it’s all about forming an online identity that is streamlined so new fans know exactly where to find you.
Choosing a username/twitter tag:
This might seem like a fairly inconsequential aspect of your social media, but in fact, it can make a lot of difference and this is somewhere that you can actually get your creative hat on. Don’t worry if what you initially want is already taken, this probably means that it’s too obvious anyway. A simple option is to add the word ‘music’ to the end of your name, but why not think outside the box a little more? Take Russell Brand for example, his twitter tag is @rustyrockets; you wouldn’t know it was him just from this, but it can become a sort of pseudonym which might just give your act a bit more edge.
First stages:
Once you’ve created your profiles, it’s going to be pretty empty: you won’t have any followers and you won’t have any content. So let’s think first things first. Nobody is going to notice you without followers, so from the off, you should ask all your friends and family who are on social media to like or follow the page. These dedicated mates will form your initial base and after that, it should become much easier. Ask them to invite their friends to like to the page and before long, word will spread and you’ll be gaining a steady fan base.
Also, make sure that you have sufficiently filled in your ‘about’ and ‘bio’ pages for your accounts so people know what you’re all about. If people are listening to your music and searching for you on social media, it means they want to get to know you, so don’t leave them hanging – give them something to read.
Content:
As previously mentioned, at this early stage, you won’t have much original content to work with and even if you have one track or video of your own, don’t go over the top, sharing it ten times a day. In the long run, this will actually be detrimental to you as people will begin to get tired of seeing the same thing and they might even stop following you.
It’s fine to share it every so often, as that’s what the page is for; showcasing your music. But begin by sharing music related articles, videos of bands you like, amusing pictures or ‘memes’ also relating to music. During these early days, you can be fairly liberal and wide-ranging with the content you share but you should always keep in mind that your aim with social media posts is engagement. Don’t just post an article and leave it there; pose a question with, state your opinion and research some appropriate hashtags so your content gets in front of the right eyes.
Once you’ve began to build an interactive following, it’s worth fine-tuning your posting strategy so that it follows some kind of theme, as this will help bring people back to your pages. Perhaps stick to a particular hashtag and work with this whilst it is trending, or have a series of posts that reference a similar topic.
At this stage, you may have to become slightly more creative and make your own posts, rather than just sourcing content from the internet. This might involve a little graphic design (so try get to grips with this if you can), so try editing photos of your act or making templates that you can use as and when necessary.
Those big names who are successful on social media are doing this. They have tried and tested a number of approaches before finding their own recipe that works. Don’t expect to be an internet sensation overnight – it doesn’t work like this. Unfortunately, trial and error is the only way, but once you’ve gone through this, you’ll be all the more experienced for it and social media will no longer be the daunting world it once was!
For more tips and videos, check out their YouTube channel, Quite Great TV.
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