Facebook and Twitter have become the number one social media
sites used by musicians and artists to promote his or her music. Who would not
want to reach 900 million individuals on Facebook and 175 million users on
Twitter? It’s easy: Sign in, construct a status or tweet, and press send. Easy
enough, right? We have all experienced the Facebook band campaign where the
individual artist or band request fans to like their page but leave them with
nothing to look forward to in the future. Granted, there are a couple of posts
here or there, but that is not enough. Let us not forget the artists who are
over infatuated with themselves. So how do effectively use social media to
avoid the pitfalls of it becoming frustrating?
According to Indie Tools, musicians
and artists make three common mistakes that make these mediums ineffective:
1.
Self-Promotion
is the Only Form of Communication
To ensure that your fans do not get bored with you and your social media
page, the artist must change the content frequently. Give the fan something to
look forward to when he or she visit your page. Post a video saying thank you
for supporting the music of the band. This then makes the fan feel appreciated,
and he or she will more than likely retweet or repost the video. This brings
more publicity to the artist or musician. Ariel Hyatt even provided a Social
Media Pyramid that gives ideas on how to change the posts.
2.
Lack
of Branding
In
the entertainment industry, image is KEY! This goes for your website and social
media pages. Always be consistent across the board to avoid any situation that
may confuse the fans. The same picture or logo should be used on every site.
Therefore, everyone can identify the artist or musician. Who wants to look bad? This says something
about your brand and could result in a bad impression.
3.
No
Newsletter
In order to be a successful artist or musician, you need fans to support
your endeavors. This newsletter is a way for you to get e-mail addresses in
exchange for anything you give to the fans.
Believe it or not, this is where a great percentage of the revenue will
be accrued.
Take heed to these three mistakes and make your social media
site worth visiting. Remember, you have millions of people looking and
following you. The first impression is everything, so be sure to: change it up,
be consistent, and always stay in contact.
Isiah,
ReplyDeleteYou are absolutely right in saying that several artists do not know how to properly use social networking websites to their advantage. While social networking has the potential to connect bands and artists with several million people across the world, unless the artist work towards their goal, they will not be able to reach anyone. The first thing that comes to mind is the artists that post meaningless, irrelevant, or content that is not engaging. Before artists click the "share" button on their status updates, they need to ask themselves "so what?" Will fans care about what they are posting? If not, they should re-think their message.
Similarly, if artists are using their social networking profiles to connect and engage with fans, they need to maintain a professional yet personable, consistent voice with their posts and comments. Throughout our education, we've been taught to think of a band or artist as a singular company. If different band members are posting statuses and comments, chances are you can tell the difference in the tone and voice of each person. Although it might hurt the band to come off as the same in every post, there's a difference between being robotic and being consistent... it's up to the artist to find that line.
The opportunities that social networking now provide to musicians are there, it's just optimizing the use of all of these tools that really determines the success or failure of a brand/band.
Hello Isaiah I agree that social channels websites are a tool. Social medias such as Facebook and Twitter are just one part of online music marketing. We have talked a lot about Search Engine Optimization of your site and how it is important to drive traffic to your site. Traffic is more important that how popular you are in terms of friends on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter. It is very important once you have the traffic to your page you focus on your fans. As an artist, you should offer loyal fans free music or insider information. I like how Tyler Perry will send personal emails if you sign up for his email. It important to create two way dialogues and not just views from fans with no conversations or interactions between artist and fans. Artist should responds to comments fans leave treat them like real fans. Mary Mary the gospel group had to conceal tour dates dues to pregnancies but they made it a point to blog and post video blogs with personal apologizes. Remember to focus on the fans what can you offer, how can you make their experience better and is their experience a positive interact with you via your social media campaign.
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