Social media has unquestionably been a revolutionary force for musicians in reaching out to their fans. This is especially true for independent or indie artists that otherwise would have great difficulty getting a recording contract. While this may be true and tempting to dive into, you will need to know the right tips and methods for making the most out of the social media scene, so you can maximize your success.
In this series of blog posts we’ll share some of the most valuable tips that will help with social media marketing for musicians, so you can weed out the time wasters and make the most out of your efforts to increase your fan base.
Facebook Is King
Facebook is the quickest and easiest platform to get fans BAR NONE! While the demographics of Facebook have changed more towards the “over-35” crowd, it is still the main platform that most people associate with bands and artists. As good as Twitter is, it is no match for Facebook simply because of the targeting features. So, if you haven’t already, go create a fan page for you or your band and start posting good content twice a week.
Ok so let’s say you got your page but you’re not getting much engagement. What do you do? Make sure you boost your best posts for maximum engagement. Yes pay money my friend, but you can spend as little as $5. But still, if the content sucks you’re still not going to get good engagement or people liking your page.
Think about it this way. Your fans have lots of options and are being pulled in many directions by many bands and other goodies and entertainment. Why would they choose you? How good is the content you’re posting? For your boosted posts you should be getting over 100 likes and over 10 shares, but if you’re not then you need to go look at others in your genre and see how they’re doing it.
Once you start getting some good engagement, people will naturally start liking your page. Just make sure you follow up and respond to comments and thank your fans for their support.
Once you build up this fan base to over 1,000 super fans –people who like all your posts and buy all your stuff- then it’s time to do a crowdfunding campaign and raise money for creating new songs or inviting them to a show. Keep in mind, to get 1,000 superfans you’ll need over 10,000 real fans. How do you get 10,000 real fans? We’ll get to that shortly, but first, think about this… If you have 1,000 super fans you can count on them spending about an average of $100 per year on your stuff (merch, songs, etc.). If you do the math, that’s $100,000 in gross revenue per year. Yeah, $100k, you’re now making lawyer money my friend and you’re in the top 20% of all income earners in the world. Not bad for just getting $1,000 superfans.
Ok and about those 10,000 real fans. This takes advertising on Facebook’s platform and it’s a very detailed strategic process that’s way out of the scope of this post. So if you have any question about the validity and can this actually be done by anyone or how to actually do it step by step, check out Music Launch Pad’s “Super Fan Course” by signing up for a free account today HERE at Music Launch Pad.