Thomas Ferriere - Social Media For Musicians

Effective Uses of Social Media Marketing in the Music Industry

By

Thomas Ferriere

Copyright 2020 by Thomas Ferriere - All rights reserved.

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Introduction

Why Is Social Media So Important for Musicians?

P

romoting yourself online as an artist can be hard, and if were honest, frustrating. Youd rather focus on your music, but instead, you have to divert valuable time and energy to worrying about the marketing side of things. Its understandable and, in a way, admirable that you might feel that way.

That said, social media for musicians can be a way to take your music to the masses and here are a few ways and reasons why.

1. More Accessibility

Obviously, the biggest reason why social media is a big boon for musicians is because it can help people become exposed to your music who might otherwise never have the chance to do so. That increased accessibility works on several levels. For one thing, it helps people who cant come to a concert or physically be there for a performance hear your music. This is all the more important in the age of COVID-19 when we dont know when crowded pubs or concert venues will be a thing again.

Putting your songs on SoundCloud and YouTube and embedding them into Facebook and Twitter posts can be a great way to build engagement with audiences while getting plays and thus attention and revenue for your music. Its a win-win, and all thanks to the greater accessibility and exposure that social media provides for musicians.

2. Building a Following

Unless you just want to play for family and friends, you need a following. To do that, you need to make people aware of your music, and as weve already noted above, social media can be a great way to do that.

There are several ways this can work. Having a page on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and other platforms can allow you to interact directly with and thus grow your audience. You can also conduct polls, contests, and other means of audience engagement.

This can also be a great way to get the word out about new events. To sell out those post-coronavirus concerts, youre going to need to get people in the seats, and you wont be able to do that if people dont even know that your band exists.

Finally, social media sites like Instagram and Pinterest provide another forum in which to harness your bands aesthetic. Posting band-related photos and art along with music clips can be a great way to start to build an aesthetic and aura to match your music, all while your audience enjoys and shares it, growing your fanbase.

3. Its (Mostly) Free Advertising

You already have enough costs as a starting musician. Marketing costs can be one too many, but you still need marketing. Social media can be an elegant solution to that quandary.

Yes you can and once you make enough money should spend a bit of money getting your material professionally promoted by SEO and social media managing experts, or by placing paid promotional ads. That said, you can get a lot of mileage out of just being social media-savvy, and that doesnt cost a penny.

For all these reasons, social media is an incredibly important, cost-effective advertising tool for burgeoning musicians.

Chapter 1

Four Common Mistakes for Musicians to Avoid on Social Media

S

ocial media marketing is a double-edged sword. When done well, it can propel an individual, a company, or yes, an artist to prominence. When done poorly, it can take those same figures and drag them down into the depths of infamy.

You naturally dont want that to happen to you, which is why youll want to avoid committing these mortal social media sins.

1. Being Too Self-Centered

The Me Generation may have been decades ago, but social media has given rise to a new focus on ones self. On the one hand, thats good, and when harnessed properly, it can be a breath of fresh air. After centuries of female nudes by (mostly) male artists, the art of the selfie has given women newfound control over how they depict their bodies and choose to frame and imagine themselves.

On the other hand, theres a reason why selfie culture also has a reputation for being a bit too, well, self-centered. Self-expression is healthy, but no one likes a showoff unless they can back up the incredible amount of swagger and self-confidence their selfie-centric self-interest suggests.

Musicians run the same risk with posts that are too self-centered. You know the clich lament of the musician angered by selloutsit used to be about the music ! Thats how your fans can feel if your social media posts start to deviate away from your music and start to become more of a platform for your rants on personal issues or (flame war warning) politics.

Just like a selfie, theres nothing inherently wrong with a self-focused post, and as a selfie, when done well, it can be refreshing. If you find any amount of success, fans are bound to want to know a bit more about you or peer behind the scenes, and social media can provide a great way for them to do this. While this can be a great way to be sincere or earn a quick LOL, if youre overindulgent, you may leave your fans thinking TMI or worse, WTF?