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The use of music for artistic expression dates back thousands of years. In the past, even if you were highly talented and skilled, you still had to be in the right place at the right time to succeed.
Take a moment to think about some of the world's most unique and captivating musicians that were simply never discovered by the general population. The good news is that the internet has made it possible for virtually anyone to succeed as a musician as long as they understand how to use it effectively.
In particular, social media is an amazing way to get your brand in front of the right people. Let's explore the key information you should know about social media for musicians.
🤘 Promote Your Music
You can't expect to get very far if you don't promote your music. Many artists make the mistake of posting tracks and waiting for people to find them.
While this is sometimes successful, you shouldn't hold your breath. Due to it being easier than ever to create and post songs, the market is highly saturated.
This is true even for less popular niches and subgenres. You'll need to regularly, unashamedly promote your songs before and after their releases.
A great way to do so is by leveraging your graphic design skills and creating digital flyers. If you can't do so, you can always outsource this responsibility.
🔗 Leverage Social Media Ads
Platforms like Instagram and Facebook allow you to run ads to promote your content. They also come with amazing ways to customize the way you target your audience.
You can narrow down your demographic based on interests, age, gender, etc. This goes a long way toward helping you get your songs in front of people who will listen.
It's important to keep in mind there's a point of diminishing returns regarding how much money you spend. Increasing your budget for social media ads doesn't always equate to better performance. There's often no point in overspending.
🔌 Connect with Fans
Always ensure that you stay accessible to your fans. Take time now and then to reply to your DMs.
If a fan tags you in a post, you can also share and reply to this content. This takes seconds to accomplish and can significantly improve your notoriety. One of the worst things you can do as an artist is act like you're too good to communicate with the people who support you.
If you don't have an interest in interacting with your audience, make this part of your brand. For instance, you could post mysterious, dark content that never shows your face. If people reach out to you in this case and don't get a reply, they won't be surprised.
🤝 Pursue Music Collaboration
Connecting with other artists can help you leverage their audience and increase awareness of your music. It's also an amazing way to create spectacular tracks.
In some situations, you can work with another artist online and have it develop into a lifelong friendship. Don't feel obligated to only connect with artists in your genre.
Crossover collabs are often highly successful and can introduce an entirely new demographic to your sound. Keep this in mind when moving forward.
👩💼 Establish a Professional Appearance
Your branded account should be presented professionally. People should be able to quickly understand who you are and what you do as soon as they make it to your page. A great way to stay professional is by optimizing your profile.
This involves keeping your bio updated and using professional photos. The latter point is especially important, as a selfie taken from your iPhone isn't going to cut it.
🎤 Show Yourself Off
Get in the habit of showing your fans what you're doing. Even a single picture that offers a behind-the-scenes glimpse could generate a large amount of interest in your music brand.
It also helps you appear more human. People love to connect with artists who act like people instead of businesses.
At the end of the day, you need their support to continue to grow and thrive. Don't post content simply for the sake of it, though. Make sure it's something your followers will find interesting.
👨💻 Stay Active
It's essential to stay active on social media once you begin using it. Your fans expect to see consistent updates about your music and life.
Maintaining consistency also allows you to leverage the algorithms on each platform. To clarify, social media platforms love it when people post regularly.
If you do so for long enough, the algorithm could pick up your content and start showing it to exponentially more users. This is how a large number of unknown artists gain traction. As previously mentioned, quality is important when posting content.
Avoid uploading as much as possible simply to meet your minimum quota. This can do more harm than good, and it could even cause you to lose followers.
🎥 Don't Neglect Youtube
It's essential to leverage YouTube when posting music content online. This platform is ideal for music videos but also lets you post various other types of content.
For example, you could post lyric videos to your songs or videos that use visualizers. As of July 2023, Google says that approximately 2 billion monthly users are logged in and watching YouTube shorts.
The possibilities with this platform are endless and are only bound by your creativity. It's worth noting you can also promote your content on YouTube, similar to other social media platforms.
🎙️ Don't Neglect Social Media for Musicians
By leveraging social media for musicians, you'll substantially increase the size of your audience. This could be the deciding factor that dictates whether you reach your goals. The information in this guide will help ensure you get started on the right track.
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