Social media platforms are powerful tools used to reach, engage and convert a large audience at the same time. As an independent or upcoming musician, it is only natural that your aim is to get more listeners for your music. Asides signing up on music distribution sites or being signed by a label, it’s also important that your social media presence is strong. This is because social media has become a valuable asset for various industries, including the music industry. Musicians use these platforms to promote their music, engage their fans and further grow their fan base. Looking to boost your social media presence and strategy? We’ve highlighted social media usage tips that’ll help you engage your audience:
Do an analysis of your fans / the people that listen to your music:
As a Fresible Music user, you have the opportunity to make use of live analytics feature on the site that gives you real time information about the people that are listening to your music, such as their geographical locations. You can merge this with Instagram, Twitter and Facebook analytics to determine exactly who your audience is. By knowing who your fans are, it’ll help you tailor your content to their specific interests. For instance, they may like videos more than still-pictures, they may engage well with live videos, etc. An understanding will help you develop an effective social media strategy
Post consistently & give regular updates:
Being consistent with your posts keeps you in the minds of your audience. Picture an upcoming artiste that only posts once a month versus another artiste who posts more frequently. The person who posts more and gives regular updates will be at the top of the mind of the audience and will stay more relevant. Keep in mind not to over-flood your audience and followers with random posts. You can create a pattern for your posts e.g. posting ‘Freestyle Friday’ videos.
Share interesting visual content:
People are more inclined to engage and relate with interesting visuals as opposed to plain texts. Share clear and interesting videos and pictures on your social media pages. Some ideas include:
-Photos of you in the studio
-Snippets of upcoming projects
-Live videos
-Q & A sessions with your followers
-Photos and videos of shows you’ve done
-Photos and videos of moments in your personal everyday life etc.
Be sure to make use of appropriate and trending hashtags when posting content to boost your visibility.
Optimize your social media pages:
Your social media profiles have to be up to date with necessary information you want people to know once they visit your pages. Include latest releases in your bio, create highlights on Instagram so people can easily access information, use professional looking icons, pin your most engaging or important post at the top of your Twitter page, tag people in your posts and many other steps to be taken.
Collaborate with other musicians:
Collaboration is a good way to boost awareness about your brand and your music. During the lockdown period for instance, many people took to Instagram live to engage with their audience, with hundreds and thousands of viewers tuning in. Joint live videos were common with two people in the same industry coming together to interact and share ideas with their audience. By collaborating in such a way with other musicians (especially those with higher numbers of followers), you’re creating more awareness about yourself.
Engage with your followers:
Don’t just use social media to keep telling people what to do; use them as platforms to connect and show your fans that you care.
-Reply to comments and messages as much as you can
-Host social media contests to engage with them, which will in turn earn you more followers
-Ask them to ask you questions they may like to know about you and your music
-Share posts relevant to you. For instance, ask them to share screenshots of them listening to your music or photos of them at your show and further retweet, like, share and even comment on them.
Run social media ads:
Connect your Facebook and Instagram pages and begin to run ads. Facebook ads are pretty affordable and allow you target specific audiences. Running these ads serve as promotional tactics to get your music to a larger audience. Be sure to make sure the ad designs and captions are catchy and interesting enough to convert a passive viewer to an active follower and fan. Make use of “call to action” buttons when creating your ads such as “learn more”, “sign up”, etc.
These tips serve as a great starting point to implementing a social media strategy that’ll engage fans. Through your audience analysis, you can come up with other great creative ideas to connect with your audience.
