Artist Marketing, Branding, Entrepreneurship, Facebook, Instagram, Social Media, Twitter, Youtube
With every new year comes a whole lot of new year’s resolutions; these can often be hard to stick to, and sometimes are even difficult to come up with in the first place. So for all of you artists out there, we’ve put together a list of 5 relatively simple to follow social media new year’s resolutions that will be sure to keep you stress free, all while helping you earn new fans and followers!
Spend 30 Minutes Per Day on Social Media
Seems simple enough, right? Spending a minimum of 30 minutes a day on social media can help you see a dramatic change in your online presence. Use this time to check your major social platforms, talk to current followers, reach out to potential fans/collaborators, and post new content. Dedicating this small amount of time every day may not seem like much, but it can really make the difference in the long run.
Engage More With Your Followers
Why do you think it’s called social media? If you’re only using your social channels to post content, you’re only fighting half the battle. Engaging and conversing with followers and fans on social media is an absolutely crucial way to build your fanbase. Respond to comments on your posts, thank followers for sharing your content, and use hashtag searches to find relevant posts and accounts where you can create your own conversations.
[Tweet “Why do you think it’s called social media? If you’re only using your social channels to post content, you’re only fighting half the battle.”]
Find Your Best Social Platform, and OWN It
Although being present on multiple social platforms and having a huge following on various channels would obviously be ideal, it isn’t a necessity – especially if you’re just starting out. Do some research to find out who your core demographic is, and what social platform they typically use the most. Also think about which platform would be best to promote your specific type of work and reach potential followers. For a rundown on different popular social platforms and what each is best for, take a look at our post here.
Learn a new Social Platform
This one may seem a little overwhelming, but partnered with our first resolution idea, it’s quite easily achievable. Many platforms make things simple with user-friendly interfaces and designs, and there are more than enough tutorials and articles on the internet that are available to help with almost any problem you may face. Just be sure to learn a platform that is going to work with your goals as well as the artwork you’re creating. Not sure where to start? Here are a few suggestions for up and coming social networks that speak to artists. If you’re a musician, have some fun with Musical.ly , the social network dedicated to music lovers. If you’re an actor, YouTuber or any kind of content creator who loves live video, check out Hype, which is a combination of Vine meets Snapchat meets Facebook Live! If you’re looking for a professional platform to showcase your creative work (think LinkedIn for artists) Behance, is a great tool to display your portfolio while connecting with other artists.
Put Some Money Into Paid Social Ads
Paid advertisements on social channels are an amazing way to boost your follower growth, as well as put your work in front of eyes that may have never seen it otherwise. And the best part about paid ads, is that you get to choose exactly how much money you want to spend, and exactly when you want to stop. With only a few dollars a day, you can put out content that can help you see a significant change in the way you use social media.
Hopefully this list puts your mind at ease a little bit when it comes to thinking of that New Year’s resolution; just stay focused and stay determined and you’ll be sure to see results. But most importantly, Happy New Year!
Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Social Media, Twitter, Youtube
One of the most important things when it comes to social media marketing is knowing where your target audience lives online. Every social media platform has its own benefits as well as specific purposes that make it unique. While being able to effectively use more than one is ideal, it isn’t realistic for a startup. Do you have the time or resources to focus on more than one platform? If not, taking the time to properly focus on one is better than having a poor presence on many.
We took a look at five of the biggest social platforms and gathered data on average user age, gender, and more to make finding your best social media platform a walk in the park.
Key stats:
- 1.9 billion unique monthly users
- 83% of online women, 75% of online men
- Primarily ages 18-49
Facebook is an excellent social media platform for building a community and engaging with followers. Being able to like and reply to followers’ comments and posts promotes healthy customer relationships and feedback. It is also a great platform for posting multiple kinds of content all in one place. If you plan on sharing a mixture of content including photos, videos, updates and general news, then Facebook is the place to be.
Pros
- Central hub for a variety of content
- Different forms of engagement (likes, loves, wows, comments, shares etc.)
- Biggest social platform
Cons
- Over saturated with other business pages
- Millennials are more present on other social networks
- Low organic reach means heavy reliance on boosted posts and ads
Key stats:
- 1 billion unique monthly users
- 55% male, 45% female
- Primarily ages 18-49
YouTube reaches more 18-49 year olds than any cable network, and it is an absolutely critical place to be if your brand’s primary focus is video content. User comments allow for followers to leave feedback, general brand and content opinions, as well as ideas for new video content they’d like to see. Another great thing about YouTube is that it is owned by Google, meaning it is given priority over other platforms in Google search results! So if you think that your brand would benefit mainly from video content such as how to videos, vlogs, or video reviews, then get on YouTube immediately.
Pros
- Biggest video platform
- Improves search results (owned by Google)
- Great way to build a community
Cons
- Strictly for video content and video content only
- High quality video content can be time consuming
- High volume of negative comments and ‘trolls’
Key stats:
- 600 million unique monthly users
- 38% of online women, 26% of online men
- 90% of users are under 35
Instagram is one of the fastest growing social platforms out there, with a primary focus on visual content. 53% of Instagram users follow brands, making it a great place for businesses to be. It is also a great platform for running photo contests and prize giveaways, using branded hashtags to get followers participating. If your startup revolves around products or services that would best be represented visually (retail, food etc.) then being on Instagram is a no brainer. But be careful! Visual content should be visually appealing, so having high quality photos and videos with proper composition, lighting and direction is key to keep up with competition.
[Tweet “53% of Instagram users follow brands, making it a great place for businesses to be.”]
Pros
- Fast growth
- Majority of users follow brands
- Huge millennial user base
Cons
- Not a big platform for users over 35
- Not the best platform for communicating with customers
- High quality photo and video content can be time consuming
Key stats:
- 317 million unique monthly users
- 22% of online men, 15% of online women
- Primarily ages 18-29
Given that Twitter is primarily a copy based social platform, it is fantastic for creating a dialogue with your customers. Regular news updates along with general questions and concerns can be main focal points for creating personable conversations with your customers. Not to mention, hashtags are huge on Twitter; they can be strategically utilized to improve brand awareness and allow customers to easily find you through relative searches. If your main focus as a brand is offering exemplary customer service, building relationships and creating engaging dialogue directly with your customers, then Twitter is the platform for you.
Pros
- One of the best platforms for building customer relationships
- Hashtags make it easier to be discovered
- Not a lot of resources required
Cons
- Low character limit when posting
- Can be confusing to new users
- User growth is stalling
Key stats:
- 300 million unique monthly users
- 70% female, 30% male
- Primarily ages 18-24
Snapchat is another one of the fastest growing social networks, and is also one of the most personable. With the ability to create real-time marketing efforts that cater specifically to your audience, Snapchat can give your followers a behind the scenes look into your brand. Geofilters can also be used to spruce up live events, getting fans and followers more engaged through the sharing of snaps with your custom branded filters. If events, constant sharable moments and regular follower engagement are a big part of your brand, then Snapchat is a great platform to get started on.
Pros
- Extremely fast growing
- Huge platform for millennials
- Great for creating personable posts
Cons
- Brand becomes more transparent
- Tracking success is more difficult than on other platforms
- No ability to like, comment, etc.
Hopefully this article helps you get off on the right foot when it comes to selecting the best social media platform for your startup. Regardless of whatever platform(s) you choose, just remember that nobody likes to be constantly delivered a sales pitch. Keep the majority of your posts personable and natural in order to promote engagement and attract new followers. This is social media, so let’s keep it fun!
Artist Marketing, Branding, Facebook, Instagram, Music Marketing, Social Media, Twitter
As all things slowly start to hop aboard the digital train, music promotion has already boarded and is finding its seat. Music streaming and digital sales are edging out physical merchandising and advertising more and more each day, and having an online presence for your music is now a must-have. But it doesn’t have to be so hard! We’ve put together a list of what we believe to be 5 of The Best Social Media Sites for Musicians to get you started. Let’s dive in.
Soundcloud is an enormous community of artists and one of the best platforms to share tracks, receive feedback, build a fan base, and find other musicians. Many artists such as Post Malone and Bryson Tiller actually started their careers off the backbone of Soundcloud and were discovered straight from the site itself. With the music scene shifting more towards streaming rather than direct physical sales, this is a great platform to be taking advantage of.
Some of the great features of Soundcloud are:
- Users can like and repost your tracks. Similar to Twitter, when someone reposts your track, it will show up on their personal stream and allow their followers to see it, ultimately putting your music in front of more sets of eyes – Score!
- Comments on tracks are time stamped at the specific time in the song in which they were posted, giving you a neat way of seeing what specific part of your track made people want to comment.
Real-time comments are one of the many great features offered by Soundcloud.
- Statistics on when your tracks are getting plays, reposts, likes and comments are free with any basic account. Paid accounts can offer more valuable statistics such as plays by country & city, the names of the users who are playing your music the most, and which social networks and websites people are coming from to get to your songs.
Just like Soundcloud, Bandcamp is another one of the best social media sites for musicians, labels and fans to get together and share music. While Soundcloud is more social media based with commenting and reposting, Bandcamp is skewed towards creating a more well-rounded sales platform for your music and brand, and is home to more full length albums, merch sales, and more.
Some interesting features offered by Bandcamp include:
- Setting a price or a “pay what you think is fair” option for your music so that you can start making money off of your track instantly. You can even create your own discount and promo codes!
- New artist recommendations that can automatically put your music in front of new fans, ultimately growing your potential follower base without having to lift a finger.
- In depth statistics showing what’s being purchased and when, where fans are coming from and more. A paid account can even link your Bandcamp statistics with Google Analytics for some serious data collection.
- The ability to sell merchandise! You can bundle together your music and merch to make different packages available at different price points.
Although not directly related to music promotion, Facebook is an excellent platform to build a central hub for fans to reach out and have discussions, learn about upcoming shows, singles and more. With over 2 BILLION active users every month, it is also a great place to share content that has the potential to go viral.
Facebook offers many great page management tools that make it easy for you to highlight important info and find new fans;
- The use of a strong header image that shows upcoming singles, gig dates etc. is a great way to advertise important events without actually showing people an advertisement.
Here’s an example of a good promotional header image.
- The ability to pin posts allows you to pin popular content that is performing well to the top of your page where it can stay until you decide otherwise (perhaps a new video or single?)
- Pro Tip: Previous posts that have performed well can be used to grow your fan base by simply clicking on the ‘likes’ button to see who has liked the post, then clicking the ‘invite’ button to invite those likers directly to become fans of your page.
When it comes to directly communicating with fans, fellow musicians, and even labels, Twitter is absolutely one of the best social media sites for musicians to be on. Creating a dialogue and engaging with those that are most important to you is an amazing way to build your fan base, get in touch with other artists for potential collaborations, and even get discovered by labels (fingers crossed!)
In order to get on top of the Twitter game, knowing how to get the most out of the platform as well as it’s features is crucial;
- Start utilizing Twitter Lists. This feature allows you to categorize people/accounts into specific groups of your choosing. Make a group for labels of interest, number one fans, music blogs, favourite artists etc. so that certain people of interest can be found in one place with ease.
Twitter Lists is located in the drop down menu when clicking on your profile icon.
- Pay attention to trending hashtags! Stay current and be aware if any of the content you are uploading will naturally relate to trending topics.
- Reach out to other artists to build relationships, music blogs for possible features, and stay up to date on what your competition is doing.
- Insert links at the beginning of your tweets rather than the end; they are more likely to get clicked on that way. Also be sure to use calls to action! If you ask for a retweet, there’s a better chance you’ll get it.
[Tweet “Reach out to other artists to build relationships, music blogs for possible features, and stay up to date on what your competition is doing.”]
Instagram is one of the most popular and active platforms today, so not taking advantage of it would be a huge missed opportunity. Being the major platform for photo and video content, creating a brand for music on this platform and showing off behind the scenes footage of new song development, musician life, live performances and more is a great way to get your music heard.
Some important tips for using Instagram are to:
- Use relevant hashtags. Up to 30 hashtags can be included in a post and can easily be hidden in the first comment of your post instead of the caption to avoid the look of being too ‘hashtag-crazy’.
- Use the ‘story’ feature located at the top of the app to post a photo or video that lasts 24 hours and shows people what you’re up to in the moment. You can also start live videos from here!
- Follow other artists, labels, and music blogs. By now I’m sure you’re seeing a pattern. Building relationships is CRUCIAL on every platform and is one of the most important aspects of ALL kinds of marketing!
[Tweet “Building relationships is CRUCIAL on every platform and is one of the most important aspects of ALL kinds of marketing!”]
The world of digital music promotion can sometimes be a little overwhelming, especially when it seems like there is an endless number of websites and apps claiming to be the “be all and end all” for selling your work. But realistically, there is no one platform that is best to use, and instead you’ll find that creating a consistent presence across multiple platforms is the best method for successful music marketing. Hopefully this list gets you started off in the right direction, but if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to send us an email :).
Artist Marketing, Branding, Instagram, Social Media
Branding, Instagram, Social Media
Instagram is a platform used to “pretty-fy” your brand. You browse through a wall and there are lovely photos, inspiring visuals and snapshots of an artist or brand’s life. What a great visual tool to tell your story! It is excellent for interacting with loyal followers, its visual platform draws mass amount of attention and it does not have a character limit, allowing users to expand upon captions.
However, like with all social media platforms, it is important for artists and brands to know exactly what to avoid doing when posting content on Instagram.
Here are some things to avoid when using Instagram #smartist style!
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Tagging friends in posts that are not relevant to them.
I get it, you want to promote your event, but there is a classier way to raise awareness. Each of your followers possess different social media needs and interests. You want to target followers who are interested in what it is you are trying to promote. A personal message is the best way to do this. Followers feel appreciated when they know a message is directly addressed to them and that they are not just part of a mass tagging.
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Low quality, blurry photos
You have a beautiful Instagram feed with great quality photos. Then you ruin it with a blurry pic of an event you went to. You know, that photo you took at a conference while you were indoors and there was an ugly fluorescent lighting situation going on. Phone cameras suck, especially in indoor settings. Our favourite time to shoot is at sunrise or sunset/ “Golden Hour”. However we know you can’t control the lighting situation all the time. Get to know your phone camera and play around with your manual settings to get the best picture possible. My favourite photo editing apps are VSCO, Snapseed and A Colour Story. They each have options where you can manually adjust brightness, contrast, exposure etc. and some great filters – go give them a try!
[Tweet “Get to know your phone camera and play around with your manual settings to get the best picture possible.”]
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Instagram isn’t for everyone
For companies who don’t have time to spend on Instagram, it is important to consider why you have an Instagram account at all? It’s hard to have an epic feed if you aren’t promoting something visual. Certain service industries such as software or finance have difficulties with this. If you can relate and don’t enjoy using Instagram, shut it down. However, if you are an accountant who is gong-ho about Instagram, it is still possible to rock it! Take a look at these service based companies who are rocking it on Insta: Headspace, FedEx, and Freshbooks. You just need a creative strategy and focus on the social media accounts you can manage as not to overwhelm yourself with too many social media accounts.
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Mystery Instagram feed
What are you promoting? Some Instagram accounts are random to the point where you have no idea what they are selling. Followers want to learn and engage with your product or service. Since Instagram is a visual platform, it is not only simple, it is also essential to share photos of exactly what it is your followers can experience from your business. This creates buzz and eliminates confusion.
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ARTISTS: Showcase your art and talent!
It’s such a shame when people who have undeniable talents decide not to post their skills! I want to see your amazing paintings, your stunning photography and vids of you singing. The best way for artists to cut through social media clutter is to demonstrate what makes them stand out from the rest.
[Tweet “The best way for artists to cut through social media clutter is to demonstrate what makes you stand out from the rest”]
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Selfies and only selfies.
Yes, I see that you have a pretty face but when that’s all I see – I’m not invested in your story. It is nice to put a friendly face to a business, so a few selfies here and there are no problem. However, the purpose of your Instagram is to promote your business, not to show the world how “on fleek” your eyeliner is.
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Bios that aren’t filled out.
Bios are the only way to lead to a website or sales page on Instagram. Social media is meant to direct followers to where they can interact with and purchase your product or service. If your audience doesn’t know how to contact you, your social media accounts are not fulfilling a key element. In addition, followers want to know about your business. A short description orients your audience to exactly what it is they are experiencing.
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Click bait-y content
Followers do not feel inclined to interact with your brand if they feel you are just after them for your clicks. If your bio or photo caption displays a mystery link with the words ‘click here’ with no context as to what it leads to, your audience will definitely feel uneasy. Make sure your links are clearly marked so your followers know exactly what they are getting into.
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Too many hashtags
Hashtags are a great tool and Instagram’s unlimited character makes it possible to write for days. But too many hashtags can be distracting and look messy. Keep your hashtags relevant to your business and cap it at 20 hashtags per post….MAX.
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Leaving vague and impersonal comments on other Instagram accounts
Of course it is important to interact with your network. However, your audience knows when they are an afterthought. Writing things like “rad!’” “that’s awesome!” or simply leaving a heart emoji under someone else’s Instagram photo is impersonal and a turn off. Writing something more personal such as “Hi @artist25! I love your work, especially the painting of the blue flower! Keep it up!” is much more effective and genuine.
What are your thoughts on these pet peeves? Do you have any Instagram Pet Peeves of your own? We’d love to hear them in the comments below!
Lara is the founder of The Social Media Artist. She helps artists and creative businesses promote their brand on social media so they have more time to do what they do best – create!
Emily Powell is a digital media intern at The Social Media Artist. She is currently studying Creative Advertising at Seneca College
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